Modern Dinosaurs

 This is not about alligators or sharks or any other animal that may still exist in something like the form they had back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. It is not about some lizard or other creature that looks like it belongs in the age of the dinosaurs.

This is about people. More specifically, people of a certain age in their life. If you have reached retirement, you might recognize yourself in some of the scenes I describe. This is your notice that you are not alone.

Perhaps you are younger than retirement age. If you have parents or grandparents who are retired, you might want to consider what I say and reflect how these situations might affect your older relatives.

This is not exactly a rant, although it started out as one a few days ago. More of a dirge for possibilities and opportunities that seem to have slipped us by.

And this is about technology, among other things.

First, the physical problems. They are likely to sneak up on an aging person, who probably is busy living their life and not thinking about muscles, bones and joints that need a little more attention than they used to. The wake-up call may come when they stumble and fall, or have difficulty lifting a pan to drain the water, or they can’t open a jar of their favorite condiment because they can’t get a firm grip on the cap. I don’t know what causes the uncertainty with one’s balance, but I suffer from it, and now my hubby is beginning to recognize it, too.

I have heard that it is possible to get something like ‘occupational therapy’ to help counter these effects of aging. Is it possible to get some of this without spending time in the hospital, recovering from a fall or a scalding first? I don’t know. Happily, I have a wellness check with my doctor in a few days, and I will definitely be asking questions about that. I have learned that half an hour of walking, 5 days a week, help with my balance uncertainty, and help strengthen my leg muscles so that getting around is easier. And there appear to be exercises one can do to help regain some flexibility in your body, which is so important when trying to check traffic when driving. Alas, all of those I have found start out with ‘Sit on the floor’, and getting up and down from the floor is a major, time-consuming effort.

Second, the mental effects. Even without dementia, the brain starts to fail the person involved. It usually starts with embarrassing events like forgetting the word you need to finish the sentence you’re saying. It’s not just in conversation, either. As a writer, I have that happen to me while I am writing. I have become adept at using my dictionary and thesaurus to try and track down the work I was looking for. There are other lapses of memory, too. These days, I have a daily ‘to do’ list, which I consult several times during the day. If something like a doctor’s appointment doesn’t get added to my to do list, it gets forgotten! I now rely on shopping lists, too.

I’ve been told that doing puzzles and playing games helps the brain stay active, that certain herbal supplements will help the brain. Unfortunately, the latest article from AARP that I read on that subject is that puzzles and games help the brain be good at puzzles and games, and that there is no proof that any of the usual supplements are of any help at all. Bummer.

Third, the senses problems. As one gets older, the senses get tired. I have specifically noticed it with eyesight, hearing, and taste. If the world is a bit dim, for instance if the sky is heavily overcast or the sun is somewhere below the horizon, I need more light than our house is set up to provide. I have lamps all over the place. I may also need my crafter’s magnifying glasses. My husband is constantly complaining that I mumble too much. And I’ve noticed I’ve been dumping more salt and pepper onto food, trying to make it taste like it used to.

Of course there are eye exams and hearing exams to help deal with fading eyesight and hearing. I wear glasses all the time now, and still need more help when the lighting is dim or I’m trying to do my crafts. I haven’t heard of anything to help with a fading sense of taste.

Fourth, the technology. We are surrounded with technology these days. It seems to have a planned obsolescence to it, so that 18 months (or less) after you get a new phone, laptop, computer, whatever, you are expected to replace it. And yet, these items are so complex, I am still learning to use it after 18 months, so I am not inclined to replace it and have to start the learning process all over again. Especially not with phones.

There doesn’t seem to be much support to help people learn how to use their technology. I once heard of a class held by the local library and community college to help people solve any problems they were having with their gadgets. I took my e-reader, because I couldn’t figure out how to download any new books to it. It was old at the time, on its way out, but it still worked, so why should I replace it with something even more complicated? No one there could help me figure it out.

And in a related note, the techno-expectations. We recently visited Disney World’s Hollywood Studios for a long and rather frustrating day. We wanted to ride the newest ride, which had a ‘virtual line’, which you are expected to join using an app on your cell phone. My husband has the app on his cell phone, but it kept wanting to update, and update, and... we had to ask a staff member to help us, which they were reluctant to do, because it’s ‘just a matter of using the app.’ Yes, our phones are smart phones, because they are smarter than us. But they aren’t THAT smart. Having gotten our time slot to ride, we then enjoyed the park until about noon or a little after, when we started wearing down (remember the physical effects?). So we started looking for a place to grab a bite to eat. We tried 3 different places, and each one expected us to have ordered our food before we got there by using an(other) app on our phone. The third place could finally accommodate us without using the app, but they let us know this was a special arrangement.

I’m not ready to kick the bucket yet. I’m hoping for another 40 or 50 years. So I have to take care of myself. I know that. I’ll probably have to start relying even more on technology. I just hope I can find a mentor to help me figure out how to get my cyborg parts to work.

The Sky is Falling

If you follow me on facebook, you may have noticed that I have shared many articles on climate change and that I have started using the comment, “The Sky is Falling.”

It seemed more appropriate than saying, “The Boy Cried Wolf.” In that story, the boy is lying, only looking to introduce some excitement into his own life, without regard for the consequences.

Chicken Little, on the other hand, was telling the truth, as best he knew it. Something (a raindrop) had come down from the sky and hit him. He had never experienced anything like that before, so the logical conclusion was that something terrible was happening, the sky was falling! Chicken Little ran around the farmyard squawking his terrible news, trying to warn all the other farm critters.

Even that doesn’t exactly fit the problem of climate change. Chicken Little was very young and inexperienced. But it’s scientists who have been trying to warn the world’s population that the climate was changing far quicker than it should. They have lots of experience at studying climate and how it has changed in the past, and they have a pretty darn good idea where it’s headed.

In the past week, I have read several articles concerning the number and severity of heatwaves that have been happening around the world. Not only has the world been having more of them, not only have they broken records for daytime high temperatures, they’ve broken records for the highest low temperatures as well. That means that after a sweltering day, you don’t get much relief during the night, because the heat that has accumulated all day doesn’t dissipate fast enough.

I think Europe has already broken several summer records during a heatwave in June of this year. There’s no guarantee they won’t have another later this summer. Or this fall, or... whenever. A heatwave can happen at any time on the calendar, because it is a comparison between the present and what has been ‘normal’ previously.

The scientists don’t ‘think’ any particular place will start having a heatwave every year. But it could happen. After all, they wanted us to keep the warming of the Earth to 2°C or less. What are they saying now, that it’s officially reached a warming of 1.8°C? But in Europe, the temperatures reached +4 to +8°C over ‘normal’.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t get much done when the temperature gets to 95°F. I sure don’t want it to consistently reach 123°F. Or higher.

Maybe Chicken Little isn’t the best story for me to quote to try to get my point across, but it’s the one I can remember as the summer heat settles in. So I’ll keep squawking my warning and hope somebody is listening, because...

The sky is falling.

Bring the Green!

Have you read the ‘Green New Deal resolution that’s been introduced in both houses of Congress? Nope, me neither. First, I wouldn’t have any idea where to find it. Second, if I did find it, I fear it would be written in ‘Congress-ese’, which I expect is nigh on impossible for laypeople to understand.

But I was fairly certain it did NOT say we had to get rid of cows, as one news anchor claimed.

So, when I ran across an article that attempted to explain exactly what was included in this resolution (not a bill, a resolution), I took the time to read that.

It makes great sense to me. I agree with it completely. Basically, it states that since climate change is not only real but already effecting the population of the US, costing us time, money and even heath dangers, that it is the responsibility of the administration to do everything it can to assist and encourage changes to infrastructure, social norms, and a whole host of other things to help all of us deal with those climate changes. Nowhere in it does it even mention cows.

What kind of assistance could the government provide? Where do I begin?

We started looking at installing solar panels on our roof decades ago. But at that time, they weren’t very effective and lasted about 10 years, so by the time they ‘paid for themselves’, you needed to replace them. Plus, we were in the midwest, where there were NO companies who offered solar panels or knew how to install them. We got solar panels installed on our roof within a year of moving to Florida. But we still had to take out a loan to do it, and we may never get any of the cost ‘returned’ to us by the government, because we don’t have enough income.

Here’s the first few ideas I have on how the government could ‘encourage’ this change to our infrastructure (moving our electricity needs to solar panels and/or windmills): Make arrangements for homeowners to get loans for solar panels (windmills) at a really low interest rate. Encourage (or require) power companies to start replacing their fossil-fuel-powered power plants with solar panels/windmills and batteries. Why not encourage businesses to install solar panels/windmills on their roofs? Or the side of their building? There have been some wonderful innovations in solar panels; I understand one guy even figured out how to embed solar ‘panels’ in roads, so... why aren’t we taking advantage of these things?

We’d like to get an electric car, but they aren’t any good if you plan to drive more than an hour or 2. And it’s not like you can pull into any gas station and ‘fill up’ when your battery gets low. When I first started looking at electric cars, it seemed you could drive for 4 hours, then you had to stop and ‘recharge’ for about 8 hours. Assuming you could find a place to do that. About 3 years ago, I heard that ‘high-speed recharging’ only took 45 minutes, but while the Kansas City area had nearly a dozen ‘stations’ where you could recharge, it only had 1 place where you could recharge quickly. Some of the theme parks in Florida offer recharging stations in their parking lots, but I don’t know if you pay extra to get one of those, or how long it takes there.

Why aren’t gas stations hedging their bets by installing recharging stations? Investment in solar panels/windmills, a couple large batteries and the recharging equipment could make road trips so much easier for those trying to help save the world. Motels could offer to recharge your car while you catch some zzs. Rest areas could also offer a recharge while your kids and pets are running off their pent-up energy and the family has a snack.

How many people would be buying an electric car if they knew they could get it charged up while they were out and about, rather than ONLY in their garage? Parking meters could become charging stations, so that you could fill up while you shop. Why not put solar panels and (tiny) windmills on a car, to help it go another mile or 2 down the road before you have to recharge?

There are lots of ways to help ‘encourage and assist’ efforts to save the world, and by extension, ourselves. We just need to stop thinking things like, “That isn’t how it’s done.”

Martian Shelters Summation

Okay, so that was pretty much all I found for ideas about Martian shelters: tents of various shapes made of multiple layers of flexible plastic and insulation (probably foam), either buried in the sand or not; tunnels and rooms dug deep underground by robots; and a top-side shelter shaped like half a bagel with a layer of ice between the sheets of plastic.

I did see some reference to making a spun glass (fiber glass) insulation from sorting the Martian sand and melting a particular type of that sand. I’m not sure that would be available for the very first shelters, but maybe it would be a useful building material later on.

For that matter, rocks have been used to build human home for centuries, perhaps millennia. Sand could be combined with other materials to make a type of cement or even mortar. That assumes the colonists can find a supply of calcium silicate nearby, or some other binder to use. If not, they could use polymers, but that would need to be shipped to them from Earth, or they would have to make it on Mars, and I have no idea how complicated a process that might be.

One other idea, briefly mentioned, was to dig holes into a large boulder to create a small shelter, perhaps a type of emergency shelter. I kept thinking about today’s ‘tiny homes’ and thinking a sufficiently large boulder might make a nice small home for someone who really liked his/her privacy.

So, if you are going to be one of those first colonists sent to Mars, don’t expect a mansion. Of course, if you were expecting a mansion, you probably wouldn’t be one of those chosen to colonize Mars. Or anyplace else.

http://www.imagineeringezine.com/e-zine/mars-makeshelter.html

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/a-new-home-on-mars-nasa-langley-s-icy-concept-for-living-on-the-red-planet

https://phys.org/news/2016-12-nasa-ice-house-mars.html

Martian Shelter 1

People are finally giving serious thought to the possibility of living someplace off the Earth. Thought we’d take a look at what those new house designs might look like. Seeing what might be available, once we get to go. We’ll start with Mars, since everybody’s so excited about the possibility of getting there in the next decade or so.

The first shelters will be shipped to Mars from Earth. Maybe they’ll be shipped ahead of time and need to be activated when humans arrive, but probably, the shelter will arrive with them. After all, it worked on the moon, though the shelter in that case was a piece of space ship. It served the purpose for the short time that anybody was there. They even brought part of it back with them. Kind of like living in your car, do you suppose?

So here’s some of the ideas that are floating around for housing on Mars:

1. One suggestion for an early shelter is an inflated balloon-type structure. Think of some kind of thick, air-tight fabric that could be unfolded and laid out in the desired position, hooked up to a supply of air, and blown up. The fabric could be augmented with support structures, and finally, the entire thing could be covered with sand for extra insulation, both from thermal variance and radiation. The average Martian temperature is -80° F, plus the air is mighty thin, so you have to have plenty of insulation. You’d probably have to tie this puppy down before you started inflating it, or risk it floating away in the breeze, but I’m sure the instructions would point that out.

After reading about this proposal, I’m left wondering how the door would be added. It would have to be an air lock, or else opening the door really would mean you’d let all the heat out! I keep thinking an airlock would be made of metal, but perhaps they could fashion them out of plastic or something similar, and they could be added to the ‘balloon’ before it left Earth. Would they only put one door in this balloon, or would they add a back door, too? And who is going to shovel all that sand on top and around? Would they dig a hole in the ground to hold the balloon? Sounds like a lot of hard work, if the ground is frozen or otherwise solid. What’s the circumference of this balloon? Will they have to walk (or drive) all over it to get the sand distributed?

I suppose it has possibilities, but it really sounds an awful lot like a fixer-upper.

Well, phooey. We’ve only looked at one possibility, and I’m out of words. Can’t make these things too long, or so they tell me. We’ll have to continue this search for a new home next week, because there are definitely other possibilities. But don’t get your hopes up; I didn’t see a single split-level ranch on the list.

http://www.imagineeringezine.com/e-zine/mars-makeshelter.html

What’s Up, Doc?

I’ve reached that ‘special’ age where parts of me stiffen and ache. When I get tired of putting up with this nonsense, and I don’t feel a medical doctor is doing enough for me, I start researching the cause and what I can do about it. Yes, I’ve been known to dabble in alternative medicines, but only if it made a kind of sense to me AND had next-to-no side effects.

Aromatherapy? Sure. That’s just a matter of smell, and most of the essential oils have a pleasant odor, so why not?

Chiropractics? I’m a firm believer. It seems most medical doctors only worry about bones if they’re broken or completely out of place, but those x-rays can show a chiropractitioner that a particular bone is ‘in place’ but slightly twisted. For years, I would off and on see a chiro for a low-back pain that would radiate down one leg. It would take a few weeks for him to convince that bone to stay untwisted, but then I was good for another year or so.

Acupuncture? I don’t like needles, so I’ve only had the electronic kind, but it seems to help, at least with sinuses and headaches.

But a person has to be careful. Some ‘remedies’ or ‘procedures’ are nothing but a scam.

For instance, let’s look at a company called Theranos. Stanford University student Elizabeth Holmes created a wearable patch that could adjust the dosage of drug delivery and notify doctors wirelessly of variables in the patient’s blood. At the age of 19, she founded Theranos and worked to develop chip technology that would make blood tests quicker and cheaper, requiring only the blood from a pin prick, similar to a blood sugar test.

In 10 years, she had raised over $400 million in funding, but her work was done in secret, which did not sit well with some health groups. Also, Theranos did the testing themselves and did not allow their work to be peer-reviewed. Problems ensued, and grew, as Theranos labs failed inspections, the small-dose blood test equipment apparently required test tubes full of blood, and it was found that the labs actually used the exact same equipment that other labs used.

Why does this matter? It’s left a bitter taste in mouths of many people, from investors to corporations who chose to ‘partner’ with the new company to government agencies who were shocked when they inspected Theranos labs, right down to the patients who thought things were really changing, only to find out everything was the same. Oh, maybe one thing might have changed; the work done at Theranos labs may or may not have been less accurate than that of other labs.

That’s why I carefully study ‘alternatives’ to regular medicine, whether they involve ‘ancient knowledge’, a new ‘break-through’, or something in between. I did not work up any enthusiasm for Holmes’ blood-lab chip for a number of reasons:

1. Holmes was a chemical engineering student, which - in my mind - is nowhere near a medical professional.

2. She dropped out of school after one year even though her school adviser - when she explained her plans for a blood-lab chip - told her it wouldn’t work.

3. She ran her company in complete secrecy, which is apparently standard for tech start-ups, but NOT for medical companies.

4. She filled the company board with politicians and military types. She filled the company with engineers. I suppose for a product like she wanted, you would need some engineers, but... where were the physicians?

5. Ten years in, there was still NO SIGN of these blood-lab chips. Really? After 10 years, they could do nothing any differently from anybody else? They couldn’t even come up with a desk-top-sized machine that could take a smear of blood and test for something?

Okay, there are problems with the ‘old’ technology; the patient has to be stuck with a needle and have a significant amount of blood drawn (depending on how many and what tests are to be done), and both patient and doctor have to wait for the results to come back from the lab. It would be exciting to have a blood-lab chip that would eliminate both of these, but we don’t. Even after 14 (almost 15) years, we don’t.

In this case, I guess... Tried and true will have to do.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos

Visit Beautiful Downtown Caral!

This South American city was established around 2600 BC, and remained active and inhabited until approximately 1800 BC. This is about the same time that Egyptians were building their great pyramids. Caral is a contender for the oldest city in the Americas.

Archeologists found a quipas* (knotted rope) that may have been the source of the quipu used by the Inca civilization centuries later. They also have found reed and woven carry bags that allowed them to carbon-date the site with great accuracy, so the city’s date may be pushed back even further, since items from the oldest area have not yet been dated.

Caral is located in the Supe Valley in Peru, some 120 miles north of modern Lima. It has temples, an amphitheater and residential houses that could have accommodated a population of 3,000. This doesn’t sound big in our time, but Caral spawned 19 ‘suburbs’ in Supe Valley, which would have housed 20,000 when taken altogether.

Archeologists have found no evidence of warfare in Caral. They have found a number of wind instruments, such as flutes and cornettes (more similar to a flute than to modern cornets) made from bird and animal bones. They evidently traded with the coast and inland. Depictions of monkeys have been found, so perhaps they traded with people from the Amazon.

Caral was part of the Norte Chico civilization, possibly the first example of cities and organization in the Americas. The Norte Chico also inhabited two other arid river valleys in the area and downstream on the coast. Some have suggested that the cities relied on food from the sea, but irrigation ditches have been noted, so farming was known. They grew squash, beans, lúcuma, guava, pacay, sweet potato and maize. The coast supplied anchovies and sardines, with clams and mussels in a lesser amount.

The farmers also grew cotton. Although not edible, it was necessary to make fishing nets, fabric and clothing, bags, wraps and even adornment.

Although the government in Caral is not fully understood, there is evidence that some people could and did exert power to organize workers. For instance, the two main platform mounds (step pyramids) of Caral were built in one or possibly two phases of intense construction, while other portions of the city’s monumental construction were done a little bit at a time.

The Norte Chico did not have ceramics, so cooking would have been done over an open flame; they would not have been able to boil anything. They also did not carve or paint, except for a very few depictions, so the interiors of their buildings would have been bare… unless they used their skill with cotton and grasses to produce decorative materials that have not survived.

Are you ready to visit? Perhaps you want to check out Caral’s official website. Since Caral does not sit atop a mountain, you won’t have to take a harrowing bus ride up a too-narrow cliff-side road, but… it is in the desert, so make sure you take water.

This is the kind of history I like; no battle dates or general’s names in the entire bit of information.

*Quipas – An interesting note about quipas is that some scientists now believe they were not only a form of counting, but could also be used to record a type of shorthand.

RIP

What does one do with a dead mouse?

I'm talking the computer variety, not the rodent.

For that matter, what does one do with a dead printer, because I've got one that's been taking up room in my office for... since before I had an 'official' office. Or a dead cell phone? (I've got 2 of those.)

In all these cases, it costs less to get a new one than to fix what you have. Here we go with planned obsolescence and adding to the landfill again. In my city, those who pick up the garbage & recycling don't pick up computers, computer accessories or other electronics like phones.

This is probably a good thing, because we don't need the various materials used to make electronic gadgets winding up buried. The minerals would probably morph into some kind of ore, given enough time, but does plastic ever break down? Would future archeologists dig down to find old printers and mice, smudged but still in the original shape? I don't think the plastic would even fossilize, no matter how much time was involved.

Now, I understand that computers need to be recycled. I just don't know how to do that. Wherever they recycle computers, do they take the accessories and things like cell phones as well? And do they charge me to let them recycle my dead things?

Recycling should be made as easy as possible, or people won't do it. I don't want to hunt down the computer recyclers; I'm not a private eye. They should make it easy for me to find them. Why don't the places that sell computers and accessories let their customers know where these types of things can be recycled? Why doesn't the city trash collectors include that information in the monthly newsletter they mail out?

As for paying somebody to do the recycling of my dead items... that rankles. I don't notice that I'm paying for my household recycling to be picked up, because my taxes help pay for that, and they won't go down if I don't recycle. But every time I have to pay for the disposal of a dead car battery, old tires, used-up oil... I pay the fee, because the law says I have to, but it leaves me feeling cheated.

But, to get back to the subject. Anybody know how I dispose of a dead mouse?