Category: Science
Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military by Neil deGrasse Tyson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
War is not my thing. Often it feels like the author is trying to tell us we need a war if we want to explore space or see new inventions. But it is the opposite of that. He has researched points to prove this is how it has always been, and, please hang on until the end of the book, he has some answers as well researched and thought out of how we can improve our lives, save us from global warming and other imminent disasters, and finally space travel for good not evil. Yes, I prefer Star Trekking to Star Warring.
I could listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson all night. In fact, the other night, I did just that. His voice is soothing, and his articulation is precise. I’m not a scientist or a historian, but I felt this wasn’t over my head.
I highly recommend this book, especially the audio. I picked this up on Libby, a great place to read for free! Libraries are the greatest!
The Woman With the Cure by Lynn Cullen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Have you ever wondered about the vaccines for polio? I remember lining up for shots in grade school. I think those were for smallpox, where they left a big scar by poking your arm repeatedly. Then we went to another school as a district to get sugar cubes. We had already gotten shot for polio, but I guess we needed the other one, too. What do I know? I was a kid.
This book was good as it gave me more of a history of the polio vaccines. We get to know the scientists. We meet the woman who might have had the most to do with this nearly sacred health benefit of baby boomers.
Hillary Huber (Narrator) made this story come to life. She played each character with distinction.
The author wrote a good story though it was full of duplication. The most annoying for this pianist was hearing Moonlight Sonata mentioned repeatedly. I don’t mind it as a piece. I love playing it, but there had to be other pieces of music you could have thrown into the story.
Overall, it was a good story to listen to.
I have been curious since surgery. I found myself heading down the scientific history trail. I’m sure as most medical discoveries, there had been errors and trials
But think for a moment having cataract surgery before the American Revolution. Even if Clair Frazer did the operation, lack of good anesthetic and machines to help guide her hands, it would be terrifying.
My grandfather had the operation in the 1970s. The silicone tacos weren’t used yet. He had to put in contacts every day. He was in his 90s.
For more information check out the link below.
https://eyewiki.aao.org/History_of_Cataract_Surgery
To learn more about Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday click here.
Life in the Fasting Lane: The Essential Guide to Making Intermittent Fasting Simple, Sustainable, and Enjoyable by Jason Fung
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I borrowed this audio copy from the e-library on Libby. I have had a lot of fun listening to this book. Even though it is non-fiction, I found it hugely entertaining.
The narrators, Brian Nishii, Courtney Patterson, Piper Goodeve, had me fooled as I truly thought they were the authors. Their voices were energetic and friendly. I have heard Doctor Jason Fung on YouTubes. By the way, look him up; fascinating and informative videos.
The three authors give you different views of Intermittent Fasting. The Doctor gives scientific, medical information. Megan Ramos gives the advice she gives to her clients, and Eve Mayer talks about her weight loss journey. I like having the book broke up that way. It’s nice not getting overwhelmed by the medical data, or too much advice told in one spot, or too much of a person’s journey without knowing the science of why certain things happened.
Okay, maybe I didn’t explain this well enough. This might show how much I enjoyed this audiobook. I plan to buy this so I can revisit it from time to time. Glad I got to borrow it from the library first.
How to Die in Space: A Journey Through Dangerous Astrophysical Phenomena by Paul Sutter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was the best non-fiction book I have read in a long time! I could not put it down. Paul Sutter is an excellent teacher and author. His sense of humor rescues what could be dry hard science and keeps it fun.
I always wanted to go to outer space. Mr. Sutter might have just discouraged me with his many ways to die.
I highly recommend the Audible version as his voice is so expressive and full of fun. This might be a legit class, and this its textbook. It is a class I would have wanted to take over and over. Maybe eventually, I’d get an A. If not, I still would have loved the education that sunk in.
The point of the poke is to keep those who partake from getting so ill as to be hospitalized. Putting it kindly means wearing masks as uncomfortable as that is. Probably if those who refused to wear them wore them, we could do a lot better by now. Pretending you are invincible is adolescent. And even still, you might just be. But you might be a carrier. What will you feel when a loved one dies because of your pretense? When my grandparents and parents got to the point of lower immunity, I refused to take my children or myself near them if we had the slightest sore throat or cough. Even if I knew it was allergies, I didn’t want to think that my carelessness would cause them pneumonia or other health problems. That was 40 years ago; no plague or pandemic. So that’s my story about that, and I’m sticking to it. And, by the way, if masks didn’t work, why has the flu spread far less this year. I know that isn’t COVID19, but we are all healthier from the flu by covering our mouths, just like when you sneeze or cough. Please, let’s be polite!
The shot was a minor prick of the skin. My bubble and I can claim our second and feel we are safer from the pretenders. Still, we will wear our masks for the rest of you as we try to find a healthier world and work our way back to wealth with more finding work, and playtime will come soon.
I will go edit Pandamapocalypse. I will post tomorrow a word count. I know that this second shot can cause the yuckies for a bit, so I wanted to blog pre-midnight. So far, though, nothing affecting any of us. No headache or upset stomach or anything.
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love books that make you think. This one certainly does that! It took a while to get through it. As you probably know, my reading is done at bedtime. This was not that kind of book. Though it was nonfiction, a lot of it kept me up at night.
There were eye-opening statistics that one might not have thought of before. Predictive statistics that the book talked about were even more eye-opening. One of the most striking was made clear to me, showed that like the chart of a newborn baby can’t predict with the same growth later in life. We don’t expect a baby to continue to grow as much or as fast as a school child as the newborn. If a person kept that same growth rate we’d all be giants. So predictive charts need to look at other aspects during different times, incomes, health and wealth influences. I know I’m not saying this the way the author did. But the points he made similar to the example I tried to put forth, were equally stunning.
My friend recommended this book and I am glad I followed through. On the other hand, I must admit that I would have gotten a lot more out of the book had I had the paper book. Since I have trouble reading tree-books for the eye-sight and font issue, I listen to the text-to-speech. The problem was that I didn’t take the moment to read the charts and graphs presented to help the reader understand how things really are as opposed to how we think they are.
Even so, I found this a super interesting book that in the future I might just try to find the paper book just for the illustrations. Maybe I don’t agree with all his perspectives, it seems I have read somewhere that statistics are rarely pure. Most are bent to reflect the person’s paid position to research to the paid end. Still closing one’s eyes to the possibilities presented in this book are so much more destructive than paying attention and learning what we can from it all.
Give it a try. I picked my copy from the local e-library.
Occasionally the occupant of this room (me) tries a different occupation. As most of you know, I love loom knitting. But I crocheted most of my life and had learned to knit as a teen. But when I found how little pain I got with the loom as compared to the other hobbies, I stayed with the favored one of my hands.
Today I saw a Youtube that I thought was going to teach me a new pattern for the loom but I was wrong. It was a way to cast on for knitting by using a crochet chain. Best of those two worlds! I couldn’t resist. I had to try. Now On Casted (OC) I’m left with the actual knitting of the thing. Sigh! Let’s hope I don’t have to have occupation therapy for this! By the way, I’ve added this to my projects on Ravelry. I’m darravels over there. Here is the creator’s Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/copycat-cc-beanie
Have you watched Blue Planet? It is a favorite for me if I have insomnia. But somehow I needed a background show first to nap, then to attempt this new pattern. BBC was playing Planet Earth II when the nap overtook. Then it changed to Blue Planet. I love the ocean. I had wanted to be a marine biologist at one time but… life. One can learn a lot when busy doing something else. 🙂
Oh, speaking of watching something. (This is Stream of Consciousness Saturday, right?) Before the nap, my honey and I were watching The Kindness Diaries. My friend recommended it as it is about to be taken off Netflix. Bring your Kleenex, not for the sadness but the overwhelming kindness that is shown. I’m on the last one where Leon is in Hollywood. What a beautiful story!
Here is Leon’s site: http://www.leonlogothetis.com/netflix/ And who knew? He has a book!
Needless to say it’s on my wish list.
But if I get as far as Hollywood, I need to see my favorite part of California (Unfortunately, they are the more expensive parts, which is why I don’t live there.)
Santa Barbara, Sunset over the Pacific Ocean at Arroyo Hondo Beach near the city of Goleta in southern California.
And my favorite place to walk:
Near lifeguard station 69 in Newport Beach, California in Orange County (OC)
Okay, Linda G. Hill, do I win? She brings us both
with the prompt of ‘oc’
and
Go over and see how this works. It’s fun and keeps me writing every day. Thanks, Linda!
HOW is this done? I know it isn’t real, at least I hoped not. But still, I posted this on Snopes on FaceBook hoping for and educated answer–where was it filmed, what is that fish? I don’t know how to photoshop but I had hoped for some answers as to how that can be done.
Those damn rope swings….. Like Viral Fishing
I’m not sure if this comes across as video. If not maybe this:
will help you find what I was watching and the mean-spirited answers. Okay, some of the answers were quite funny and there were one or two that I thought held promise for real answers. But this is SNOPES a place where asking questions shouldn’t be treated with such a lack of respect for the person or question. It seems to me that as a country we have taken on such judgmental attitude towards others that no one can feel safe asking questions. Where did the saying, “There is no such thing as a stupid question” go?
Here is what I presented on the flow of comments after that picture on Snopes:
“Just to address the elephant in the room. What is the stupidity you are disapproving of? That I posted it? That the fish is swimming in a shallow lake? That the guy is out having fun swinging on a rope over a lake? First, I am not a computer or photoshop expert of any kinds. I have seen the Discovery Channel River Monsters type shows so there are large freshwater fish out there–maybe not this large. And unless you are the privileged folk who have never had to swim in a lake or camp in the dirt, but who have never had the thrill of swinging on a rope swing into the pond, lake, river–hopefully over deep enough water not to get hurt (and I would have tested that out before swinging as I knew someone permanently paralyzed from jumping into shallow water.) The only person on here that might have hope is the one that took the time to not call names and just explain what it could be. This is why we are not having a good time with the other side of the political aisle. We can’t just be judgemental because our experience makes us superior, regardless of the words we use. It is the lack of compassion and the patience to educate that keeps us separated.”
How can we begin to heal if we can’t feel safe enough to ask questions? Sure some have fallen for ‘fake news’ and we have all been a little gullible at one time or another, but if others can’t feel safe to ask their questions or speak the truth they know without others bouncing on them with superior attitudes, how will the right answers ever be believed? And if there are no safe spaces to present our questions, regardless of our political or religious leanings, we will just create more and more fear and what we fear most will be what rules the world.
So do we take a chance of climbing on the swing and jumping in, or do we fear that unknowable and remain fixed in fear?
What can we all do about this? How?
This Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to us by Linda G Hill. Drop by and join the fun!
Darswords 
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