This blog disappeared from December 1, 2018 thru May 25, 2019

This blog disappeared from December 1, 2018 thru May 25, 2019
When I am not blogging, I am gaining weight.
Publicly logging my meals keeps my caloric intake within normal human levels.
When I am not blogging, I eat with reckless abandon.
Is this stupid?
Obviously.
What is the answer?
Keep Blogging.

During my hiatus... I did take three notable hikes in December 2018 and one hike in April which I saved to my phone, but now want to post here... so I can delete them from my phone.

I also achieved a notable milestone on fitbit, which has thus far not been memorialized on my blog...

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Lynbrook - Rockville Centre Hike

JFK Airport Hike

Sharon, Connecticut Hike

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Notre Dame

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STAR TREK BOLDLY GOES INTO THE CLASSROOM

I was not the best student in grammar school, although I skated through with a some timely help from my parents as well as on the strength of my innate intelligence. This plan kept me going into high school, although it sputtered  quite a bit once I hit biology, chemistry, physics and calculus.  My college career was not an overwhelming success as I had not developed the proper study habits required.  Obviously, I was taking the wrong courses.  I am sure I could have easily 'aced' a class on Star Trek, like the one currently offered at UC Davis in California. Now that's something I could have easily sank my teeth into.
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from theaggie.org (The California Aggie)
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Star Trek as a Social Theory: To Boldly Go Into the Classroom

DAVID MADEY — SCIENCE@THEAGGIE.ORG

January 25, 201818

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  UC Davis students learn how fictional universe mirrors our own

For over 50 years, the science fiction franchise “Star Trek” has captivated millions of fans worldwide. And at UC Davis, you don’t have to travel across the universe to take a ride aboard the USS Enterprise. There’s a class for that.

Anthropology professor James Smith, a “Star Trek” fan himself, is the Captain of the ANT 191: Topics in Anthropology starship crew. The course title is “Star Trek as a Social Theory.”

“This course uses ‘Star Trek’ as a vehicle for understanding critical themes in social theory and anthropology, while also teaching students how to think about ‘popular culture,’ television, and daily life anthropologically,” Smith said.

Each week, students watch a single, 42-minute “Star Trek” episode in addition to assigned readings and in-class discussions analyzing social and anthropological theory. The series acts as a cultural map, mirroring the social constructions of one universe and comparing it to our own.    

“It reflects the optimism of the Kennedy era in the U.S., and also presents an opportunity for us to question some of the assumptions informing that optimism,” Smith said.

Students examine questions like: Should there be a universal standard for making ethical decisions? Does technology make us “more human” or does it enslave us? 

“I want students to think seriously and critically about what these imaginings of future entail so they can learn to understand some of the cultural assumptions that are packed into them,” Smith said.

Currently, the class is watching episodes from “Star Trek: The Original Series” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” but Smith says he may explore more of the franchise in the future.  

On Dec. 4, the UC Davis Human Rights Lecture Series explored how “Star Trek” can be used as a tool for students to examine human rights-related topics. And now, for the first time at UC Davis, “Star Trek” has become the framework for an academic course.

Human Rights Studies Director Keith David Watenpaugh and Chancellor Gary May co-hosted the event at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. The title of the series was “Star Trek/Human Rights: To Boldly Go to Human Rights for All.”

“Certainly in the 50 years since ‘Star Trek’ appeared, talking about, contesting, fighting, and dying for human rights has been a definitive element to being human,” Watenpaugh said.

The “Star Trek” franchise inspired May to pursue the sciences at a young age. With a background in electrical engineering and computer science, May did just that.  

“I’m thrilled to hear about the new ‘Star Trek’ class and I hope to visit it, along with another class called the Science of Superheroes,” May said. “As many people know, I’m a ‘Star Trek’ fan — the original series — and one of the reasons I like it so much is because it deals with broader issues of the human condition: rights, race and ethics.”

As such, May jump-started a 10-year campus-wide initiative entitled, “To Boldly Go.”  The plan seeks to increase UC Davis’ national ranking by strengthening the university’s research expertise and growing a diverse community that represents the demographics of California. A final plan is scheduled to completed this July.  

May is also an aficionado of other superhero franchises like the “Avengers,” “X-Men” and “Justice League” because of their pursuits for good.  

“I want students to feel empowered to be like superheroes — agents of their own success, their careers and their destinies — to do some good in the world,” May said.  

The class will also explore the more specific themes of “Star Trek” such as politics, freedom, translation, empire, capitalism and more. 

“The numerous episodes that responded to human right issues in the 1960s still resonate with us today, and also give us a sense of how people in that era were thinking about rights and also the timeless nature of human rights questions,” Watenpaugh said.

The end of the course entails a creative writing assignment in which students imagine that they are a part of a Klingon or Vulcan High Council. As a member of the council, the students must go revisit the year 2018 and write an ethnographic report on some aspect of the community from the lens of either a Klingon or Vulcan standpoint. The assignment gears students to explore the issues inherently constructed in our society.

“In the Star Trek world, this utopian future emerges after apocalyptic events in our current near future, so there is a message about the end of the world not in fact being the actual end, but rather the beginning of something else,” Smith said.

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Your Food Diary For:

Friday, January 26, 2018

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Instant oatmeal - Apples and Cinnamon	780	162	9	18	1,020	72
	780	162	9	18	1,020	72
L U N C H
Subway - Seafood Sensation	820	100	38	26	1,480	16
Chips - Chips	375	38	23	5	425	3
	1,195	138	61	31	1,905	19
D I N N E R
California Sushi Sampler	600	92	18	12	1,800	16
	600	92	18	12	1,800	16
S N A C K S
Klondike - Klondike Bar, 1 bar	250	29	14	3	70	23
	250	29	14	3	70	23
Totals	2,825	421	102	64	4,795	130
Your Daily Goal	1,972	246	65	99	2,300	74
Remaining	-853	-175	-37	35	-2,495	-56
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 42 extra calories from exercise today

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Saturday Weight 251.3 lbs

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ANOTHER UNIVERSITY TARNISHED

It was apparently only about 150 students who walked out on a graduation speech by Vice President Mike Pence, but still, with all the headlines, the reputation of the University of Notre Dame has been tarnished. Is this how the University has taught its graduates to learn from new ideas?  If so, the university has failed these snowflakes. 

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Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, May 21, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Bagel, Lox and Cream Cheese	600	73	18	40	2,336	13
Oatmeal	300	57	6	12	225	0
Pineapple	200	52	0	2	4	40
	1,100	182	24	54	2,565	53
L U N C H
Yogurt	200	38	0	12	230	24
Cheerios - Dry, 3 cup cereal	300	60	6	9	480	3
	500	98	6	21	710	27
D I N N E R
Cheeseburger w/french fries	940	51	61	47	1,700	0
	940	51	61	47	1,700	0
Totals	2,540	331	91	122	4,975	80
Your Daily Goal	2,110	264	70	106	2,300	79
Remaining	-430	-67	-21	-16	-2,675	-1
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g

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HARVARD CELEBRATES RACISM

There is a difference between liberals and leftists. At least there used to be a difference. A liberal would have been a person who believes in free speech. Liberals were the ones, back in the sixties,  who used to say things like: "I disagree with you but I would fight for your right to say it." Nowadays, the leftist snowflakes on campus cannot tolerate differing viewpoints. They use violence to shut down differing voices. Liberals also used to think that people should be color-blind and be judged on the basis of their actions not the color of their skin. That is in the long distant past. Nowadays, racism is back in style. As an example, I will alert you to a black only commencement ceremony being held at Harvard later this month. As always, I must remind myself that I did not attend an elite east coast university - so the assumption is that I am simply too stupid to understand why this is a shining example of enlightenment. In my under-educated mind, this black only ceremony seems like a clear cut example of racism on parade. Can someone way smarter than me explain why I am wrong? Or is is just possible, that I am not wrong, and this is truly an example of unambiguous racism being celebrated at Harvard.

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    Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, May 11, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Apples & Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal	501	104	6	12	655	46
	501	104	6	12	655	46
L U N C H
Peanut Butter - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich	500	39	22	12	204	22
	500	39	22	12	204	22
D I N N E R
Spanish Rice	400	80	5	10	0	0
Breaded Chicken Tenders	700	55	30	45	1,251	28
	1,100	135	35	55	1,251	28
Totals	2,101	278	63	79	2,110	96
Your Daily Goal	1,976	247	66	99	2,300	74
Remaining	-125	-31	3	20	190	-22
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g

UNIVERSITY STEPS IN TO PROTECT THE SNOWFLAKES

Honestly, when I first saw this story about Michigan State University banning whiteboards from dorms, I thought it was either a great example of fake news, or purposeful satire (The Onion) or just a stupid joke. Nope, it is apparently real. Our universities are raising an entire generation of little delicate flowers, or snowflakes that will break if exposed to anything annoying or unwanted.  Why stop at whiteboards?  What about the dangers of a Post It note? And what if some jerk, writes something annoying, racist, or evil directly on the door of someone's dorm room? Just kidding, this is a rhetorical question. The solution is so obvious. If some evil, twisted jerk write something annoying, racist or evil directly on a dorm room door, all the university would need to do is simply remove EVERY DOOR FROM EVERY DORM ROOM. There you go, problem solved. 

Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, February 23, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Eggs - Poached (whole egg), 4 large	294	2	20	25	588	2
Kirkland - Bacon, 4 slices	160	0	12	12	700	0
	454	2	32	37	1,288	2
L U N C H
Subway - Turkey Sub Sandwich	560	92	7	36	1,620	14
Subway - Sun Chips- Harvest Cheddar	210	27	9	4	320	3
	770	119	16	40	1,940	17
D I N N E R
Spaghetti With Meat Sauce	500	131	3	22	0	0
	500	131	3	22	0	0
S N A C K S
Oatmega Bar - Chocolate Mint Crisp	300	33	11	22	189	8
	300	33	11	22	189	8
Totals	2,024	285	62	121	3,417	27
Your Daily Goal	2,584	323	86	130	2,300	97
Remaining	560	38	24	9	-1,117	70
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g

       Your Exercise Diary for:

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Treadmill 3.3mph, incline 15	60	740
Daily Total / Goal	60 / 30	740 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	501 / 210	5,175 / 4,130

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from the Washington Post....

Michigan State wants to cut down on harassment. So it’s banning a dorm-room staple: whiteboards.

By Amy B Wang February 22 at 2:37 PM 

Sharing a communal bathroom. Buying twin XL sheets. Eating late-night pizza. Leaving messages on a friend’s dorm-room whiteboard down the hall. All could be considered quintessential experiences when it comes to life inside a college dorm. But starting this fall, Michigan State University will no longer allow students to hang whiteboards outside their dorm-room doors, saying the ubiquitous dry-erase boards have become too much of an outlet for anonymous, hateful messages. “It had become more of a distraction than a helpful tool,” MSU residential services spokeswoman Kat Cooper told WLNS News. “You know, once in a while, someone writes something that isn’t very nice.”Cooper told the Detroit News that “in any given month, there are several incidents” of negative messages, some racial and others sexual. Whiteboards have also been decreasing in popularity with the rise of social media and smartphones, MSU spokesman Jason Cody told The Washington Post in an email. “Basically, whiteboards are no longer an essential communication tool for today’s college students,” he said. “They are an attractive nuisance whose utility no longer outweighs their abuse.” For those reasons, the university decided to remove whiteboards from the list of items allowed on dorm doors next semester, Cody said. Though university officials said there was no single incident that led to the ban, the Lansing chapter of the NAACP hailed the decision on Facebook as a response to a recent case in which someone allegedly wrote the n-word on a whiteboard belonging to an African American honors student at MSU. “It’s been a while but MSU Police have informed us that ALL dormatory [sic] white boards will be removed asap,” the group wrote. “Victory!!!” Several people decried the ban and the NAACP’s response to it. (It is incorrect that the whiteboards will be removed as soon as possible.) Many felt it would do little to curb racism. “How is this a victory when every dorm resident will be punished because of one racist idiot? What does this accomplish exactly?” one Facebook user wrote in response to the NAACP chapter’s post. “It seems to me you’re giving more power to the racist. Should we have limited skyscrapers to only 10 stories after 9/11 in an effort to end terrorism? Help me to understand the reasoning and logic.” Another user wrote that the university should have done more to find the student who left the racial slur, rather than “limiting everyones self expression and freedom of speech because one a–hole wrote the n-word.” Another person, he posited, could just as easily write something derogatory directly on the door in permanent marker. The Lansing NAACP did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Michigan State is one of the largest public universities in the United States, with about 50,000 students, according to fall 2016 enrollment figures. About 39,000 of those students are undergraduates. About 18.7 percent of the students enrolled at MSU are students of color, according to the university. Like other large public schools, MSU has seen its share of controversial incidents centered on race. Last fall, an MSU freshman came under fire after she posed with a gorilla mascot at a football game and compared it to an African American girl in an Instagram post, WILX News reported. Her post, which went viral, prompted the student’s sorority to announce that she was no longer a member and for the university itself to issue a statement about the school’s commitment to inclusion. “One of the university’s core values is inclusion, and we are committed to fostering a campus climate that does not condone racial harassment or bullying,” Cody, the MSU spokesman, said at the time. “The university is aware of the recent posting connected to an MSU student. This posting is deeply troubling and is clearly not aligned with our core values. We are addressing this situation in a responsible manner through multiple channels.” Whiteboards at MSU are not provided by the university but are the personal property of students, Cody said Wednesday. Next year, the ban on whiteboards will be enforced by residence hall staff. The university is still working on a more detailed implementation plan, he said. In a letter to the editor of the State News, the MSU campus newspaper, sophomore Jack Kellett said a part of him was relieved when he heard about the whiteboard ban, since he has “witnessed firsthand” hate speech left on students’ doors as a resident assistant.

“Whiteboards on doors, especially with markers attached, are easy ways for anyone to anonymously communicate hostile, divisive rhetoric, some of which threatens the safety of students and contributes to a negative campus environment,” Kellett wrote. “Fewer incident reports for me to make, right?” Unfortunately, the ban would not deter bullies or “make hateful students less hateful", he said. “Rather than asking, ‘what can we do to make it harder for residents to bully/harass other residents,’ the university should be asking, ‘how can we get residents to not bully/harass in the first place?’ ” Kellett wrote. “… I’d encourage the university’s administrators to do a careful reevaluation regarding whether they expect this ban to actually reduce instances of harassment or bullying. What they will hopefully discover is that the problem is a little more complicated than $7 whiteboards.” University officials have said they do not expect the whiteboard ban to eliminate wholesale the problem of harassment on campus. Cody said Michigan State does “extensive things on campus around race, diversity and inclusion,” and pointed a reporter to a website outlining the university’s inclusion and intercultural initiatives.

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WILL POST IT NOTES BE NEXT TO BE OUTLAWED FROM UNIVERSITIES? THEY ARE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER...

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SKYDIVING AND BACKFLIPS

Young people often have a feeling of invulnerability.  I am still 18 months aways from my 60th birthday - still within the past five years I have had to deal with cataract surgery in both eyes and a laparoscopic inguinal hernia surgery just two weeks ago. When I was younger, I remember all too well that feeling of invulnerability that is now long gone.  It is not fun to make concessions to age, but one needs to do precisely that. I can no longer ride roller coasters as the rides do not agree with my repaired lenses in my eyes. I need to be careful in the ways that I extend my right arm - as I had a dislocated shoulder in my late 20's and it never completely healed to full strength. The best news that my hernia surgeon told me was that after the third week of recovery - that I actually could go back and do all the things that I could do one month ago.

You could make the point that one wolud have to have a feeling of invulnerability to jump out of this airplane, and perhaps a feeling of invulnerability to simply fly in this plane.  On a December day in 1979, I did both.  Yep, that is me.  Back in those days it took effort to take a photograph. One didn't have their iphone with them at all times - but that was only because the introduction of the iphone was still more than a quarter century away from being introduced.

Growing up, I know that I disappointed and made my parents angry many times. No matter how hard I try to remember, I don't think I can specifically recall even five specific things that I could have done to anger them - although there were probably hundreds of things large and small. One thing I did, I do remember, very clearly. When I was in college in Binghamton in 1979, I went with a friend to go 'skydiving.'  Skydiving might be an inflated term for what we did. We did jump out of an airplane from 1500 feet. We were not responsible for pulling our own ripcord as a static line released the parachute after we cleared away from the plane. It was all very exciting and it was something I did exactly one time. I remember telling my parents about this during a trip home to Long Island. My Dad was very distressed when I discussed this particular adventure  and he asked what my plans were had I injured myself in a life changing way. I was 18 years old. Young men that age are still wrapped up in their misguided feelings of invulnerability. I did never consider parachuting again - although I was glad to have done it the one time. I am thinking about this today, because in one week I will be allowed to return to my life as it was six weeks ago. I will be happy to lift my heavy sample cases in and out of the car, I will be happy to spend 90 minutes pedaling and burning calories on the elliptical machine and I will be happy to walk up 25 flights of stairs if I choose.  I think that I will continue to shy away from roller coasters and skydiving. As I approach 60 years old (eighteen more months to go) I have to come to terms with the fact that the feeling of invulnerability is gone.

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Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, May 14, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Sage - Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium apple	190	50	1	1	4	38
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original, 2 packet	200	44	0	4	620	0
	390	94	1	5	624	38
L U N C H
Omelette With Ham, Spinach and Swiss Cheese	600	9	33	64	696	2
Butterball - Bacon Style Turkey, 4 slices	140	2	12	8	600	0
	740	11	45	72	1,296	2
D I N N E R
Burrito	850	88	33	51	1,577	6
	850	88	33	51	1,577	6
S N A C K S
Sage - Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium apple	190	50	1	1	4	38
	190	50	1	1	4	38
Totals	2,170	244	80	129	3,500	84
Your Daily Goal	2,633	329	87	132	2,300	98
Remaining	463	85	7	2	-1,199	14
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 703 extra calories from exercise today

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Your Exercise Diary for:

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
MATRIX TREADMILL	99	898
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-195
Daily Total / Goal	100 / 30	703 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	261 / 210	2,058 / 4,130

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Back in 1979, I must have really thought I was invulnerable. On a spring day in 1979 I thought it might be interesting to try to do a backflip.  All I did was jump up a bit and land on my back. I wish I could remember who the photographer was.  Photographs like this were not so easy to take in 1979 with  Kodak instamatic camera.  I look at this picture and I remember that I was always a 'big' guy.  I am pretty sure that this version of myself in 1979 still couldn't share a wardrobe with the version of myself today.

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A 99:00 minute workout on the treadmill... I set the machine for 94 minutes, and it tacked on a 5 minute 'cooldown'

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and finally, I would like to share some wisdom from Jerry Seinfeld....

"...Skydiving was definitely the scariest thing I've ever done. Let me ask you this question in regards to the skydiving: what is the point of the helmet in the skydiving? I mean, can you kinda make it? You jump out of that plane and that chute doesn't open, the helmet is now wearing you for protection. Later on the helmet's talking with the other helmets going "It's a good thing that he was there or I would have hit the ground directly. 

There are many things that we can point to that proof that the human being is not smart. The helmet is my personal favorite. The fact that we had to invent the helmet. Now why did we invent the helmet? Well, because we were participating in many activities that were cracking our heads. We looked at the situation. We chose not to avoid these activities, but to just make little plastic hats so that we can continue our head-cracking lifestyles. 

The only thing dumber than the helmet is the helmet law, the point of which is to protect a brain that is functioning so poorly, it's not even trying to stop the cracking of the head that it's in...".

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on a whim I punched up the registration number of the airplane that I flew to skydive way back in 1979... And in the age of the internet, this is the information that I retrieved in less than one second.

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