Photos, Pictures and Figures

Peoria Democrats Dinner, with my wife. I am on the right.

The joke here (from Jerry Coyne’s website) is that this gene is frequently tampered with during experiments.

It is convenient to forget your previous marathon when you sign up for your next marathon.

Nature

The moon over the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Sequoia National Park.

I’ve seen all of these while out running or walking, but never together.

I’ve got to get back to a yoga class…..

I noticed that I am overall stiffer and my back is staying “mildly sore”, especially when I sit for too long. So if I can’t discipline myself to do a bit of yoga (daily) on my own, I’ll have to get back to a class of some sort.

Other reasons why:
(in each case, click on the photo too see the larger one at the source)

These photos are from asterix611 on Flickr (creative commons license); there are hundreds of “outdoor yoga” photos…mostly shot from “normal angles”. The vast majority of his Flickr photos are excellent “large gathering” and “scenery” shots (many of New York City); these represent a tiny percentage of his photos (example: like these: first from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the second from the John Lennon Day gathering). I want to make it clear that it was *I* who cherry picked the photos to see, NOT the photographer who shot these among thousands of other shots.

Thursday Night Koehler “GOTV” rally

Thursday Night Barbara and I went to the Dave Koehler “Get out the Vote” rally.

Dave Koehler at the podium (incumbent IL-46 State Senator)

Cheri Bustos: D challenger for the US House IL-17

I am in this shot; I am talking to Lynn. I am wearing a blue and gold Navy jacket and a red Bradley sweatshirt. Yes, I have a very gray beard.

Another crowd shot; I am in it.

Bridge to Bridge Run Photos

After the run (184 out of 695); I am still feeling the effects of my illness.

Talking to Deb Fischer (from my university) after the race.

Back in Peoria, August 2012

Whew! We survived the trip back; ok; I survived eating too much sausage (breakfast and lunch).

Here are some photos:

This is off of I-44 in Missouri; this is the Route 66 themed rest stop that I wrote about here. It is called the Conway Welcome Center near mile marker 111; it is east of Springfield.

This is the view of the Austin, TX skyline from the 12′th floor of the Omni in Austin, TX. On the left, you can see St. Edward’s University. To the right, you can barely make out the University of Texas campus and football stadium. The wild “spaghetti” of roads in the foreground is IH-35 and Highway 71.

This is a vehicle in the motel parking lot this morning. Note the “Darwin” sticker in the lower left hand corner. That makes me feel good.

From about 3-4 weeks ago, we went to a Democratic picnic and my daughter met Cheri Bustos, Democrat candidate for the IL-17 US House seat.

Which Rallies are Which?

Some of these are from a Democratic rally, and some are from a Republican rally. Which is which? (in each case, click the thumbnail to see the photo at the source)

(Anne Savage photos from here) Click the link if you really need to ask.

Steamboat Photos and Statistics

Today’s workout 14 mile walk in 3:16 (1:40 at mile 7, 1:36 for the second (downhill) half). Just under 30 minutes from the Sheridan/McClure intersection home (32 going out). It was somewhat warm.

Steamboat Statistics:

Median pace for the 4 mile: 10:07
Median pace for the 9.3 mile (15 km): 9:02

Where I placed: 676 out of 832 (bleah)
My age group: 38 out of 40 (yikes!)

Where my 4 mile split would have placed me in my 4 mile age group: 59 of 119
Where my 15 km pace would have placed me in the 4 mile: 79 out of 119

Moral: don’t start off too fast if it is hot. Take it VERY easy. VERY easy.

Some photos

Me, at the finish

My department chair between mile 4 and mile 5

Mat (my department chair) and I were still together here, just prior to mile 2. That was a big mistake for me.

I just want it to be over.

T finishing the race

Bob pacing a friend in. Bob has run a 90 minute half marathon in the past; he often just runs races to pace a friend.

I followed the woman in the cropped blue spandex and red/white striped top for almost 10K. Then I gave up.

This is the 14 minute per mile group that I worked with in the Building Steam program.

Random photo one.

Random photo two.

Random photo three.

Idea Saturday: Galaxies, Quantum Mechanics and Eyesight, and other topics

[http://youtu.be/iDpOMv_kQqQ]

This is the President’s weekly address about Memorial Day.

Science

What does quantum mechanics have to do with your eyesight?  Roughly speaking, the individual photons in the spectrum of visible light have just the right energy to induce the necessary chemical reactions to carry out the proper nerve signal.  It is true the there are much higher energy waves hitting your eyes all of the time (even when your eyelids are closed), but it is the energy level of the individual photons that matter, not the total energy level of the signal.   Seriously, read the post.  It is both excellent and brief !

Our universe, showing off

Click on the thumbnail to see the full size photo, with explanation. Our galaxy appears like this to others who are millions of light years away…then again they aren’t seeing “us”, are they?

Long but interesting
You might think of this as “are you really an atheist” post. The basic idea: “god” and a “concept of god” are different things, and what many label as believing…well, is it really believing? This lasts 44 minutes but I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed toying around and debating (with myself) the ideas that Dr. Dennett puts forth.

(via: Jerry Coyne)

Political Correctness
If you are from my era and you hear “political correctness”, you probably think of some feminist arguing that, say, women are just as capable of being NFL players as men are, or other such things (yes, I’ve HEARD this said out loud, without irony, years ago). You might think of many other silly things.

But the new political correctness is far deadlier in that it has the backing of big money:

Today, however, the big threat to our discourse is right-wing political correctness, which — unlike the liberal version — has lots of power and money behind it. And the goal is very much the kind of thing Orwell tried to convey with his notion of Newspeak: to make it impossible to talk, and possibly even think, about ideas that challenge the established order.

Thus, even talking about “the wealthy” brings angry denunciations; we’re supposed to call them “job creators”. Even talking about inequality is “class warfare”.

Science might not be immune to such forces; think of, say, a big oil company funding research that shows that burning fossil fuels does NOT contribute to global warming, for example.

On the other end of ideas

FAIL

Life (ups, downs), athiesm (as I see it) and software

Life isn’t life without ups and downs. If you never fail, you aren’t trying something difficult.

Yes. There is no “faith” in atheism. For me, saying that I am an atheist means that I don’t believe in a god of any sort but it does not mean that I KNOW (with certainty) that no such thing exists. I am reasonably sure that the gods that I am aware of are works of fiction, but who knows; perhaps there is a god that no sentient being has thought of, or perhaps the gods worshiped by sentient beings in some other galaxy actually exist.

And yes, I am open to new evidence, though I do not anticipate getting any.

I admit that I don’t know the source of this (here?) but it is hilarious.

On Ignorance and being a bully…

Someone posted this on facebook (to use as a negative example):

Of course, my reaction to this photo was negative.

I kind of chuckled to myself, felt a bit smug and said to myself: “typical Republican”. But then: no, he isn’t; I have Republican friends who are well informed and accomplished (even if confused when it comes to politics). He does represent a nasty strain of the current ones though…..perhaps 50 years or so he would have been one of those racist Democrats.

Then I thought about something that happened in 2010:

I went to Walgreen’s and wore an Obama shirt. Some old geezer said “Nobama”. I said “what”? He said “you won’t see that again in your lifetime”. I asked “what’s that”? He said “you won’t see a black elected again in your lifetime. I responded “You’re wrong”. He said “no I’m not….I read a lot and it isn’t going too good”…I said “you’re wrong.”

Fortunately the cashier (who the old fart was talking to) changed the subject and I left.

There is part of me that wishes that I would have punched this old guy, or at least broken one of his arms or legs…and I could have said that I “got so angry that I lost control”.

But that would have been total BS.

Losing control: if I look a swing at one of these two guys…then yes, you could say that I lost control:

(Wladimir Klitchko and Eddie Chambers; Klitchko is the current heavyweight champion of the world and Chambers is an elite contender)

Somehow, if one of these two said something equally obnoxious, I’d find a way to control myself. (note: Eddie is a fan of the President, but that is beside the point)

Bottom line: this “losing control” is mostly BS..unless you one lost control enough to attempt to assault someone who could easily put you in the hospital (or worse). You assault someone weaker and it isn’t “self defense”, then you are just a bully.