The Cycles of Life

Cycles of life.

We are temporary.
We're born, we live, we die.
We rot, and from our remains springs life anew.
Many generations come and go as the earth goes on hardly noticing.

Our home- the earth and the solar system- are temporary, too.
Suns are born, they live, and they die.
Their remains become the beginnings of new stars (and solar systems).
Many generations come and go as the galaxy goes on hardly noticing.

And the galaxies are temporary, too.
They're born, they live, and they die, too.
They're born from primordial dust & stars, and recycled dust & stars.
They live while watching uncounted generations of constituent stars live and die.
Finally, they die as their central black holes grow so large that they suck up all of their constituent stars and matter.

And the universe is temporary, too.
It's born, it lives, and it dies.
How it is born is unknown. (Big bang? Creation? Unknowable?)
How it dies is unclear.
Perhaps it's constituent black holes eventually find each other (through gravitational attraction).
They fall in together.
Do they become one single singularity?
And if so, is this the end of everything?
Or does the creation of a single singularity somehow mark a new beginning?

We can never know.
But it seems likely though, doesn’t it?
That if everything else is cyclic, that the universe is cyclic too?

Penn State football scandal

I’m no longer a Penn State football fan, and maybe I’m also done with college football altogether. With the scandal at hand (http://bit.ly/t4RD3u), I no longer feel the affinity that I have enjoyed for some 20+ years. I’ve been to four games in State College PA (one during my honeymoon!), enjoyed the pre-game tail-gate festivities and the post-game wind-downs. I’ve made friends there, and I loved going there. Plans were underway to look at going again on a future anniversary. Not now though, I’m done with it.

I feel bad for coach Joe Paterno, aka Pappa Joe, I suppose, in a way. I guess if he was informed of a serious allegation, but refused to believe it, and thought nothing of it again, well, that’s the best light I can shine on him, and it’s not that good. If he and others were fully aware of what went on there for almost 20 years, then it is a crying shame, not to mention a crime.

There are stories of people aware of wrong-doings, but were unwilling to blow the whistle for fear of losing their jobs. Hmmmm. If you blow the whistle, and lose your job because of it, maybe you have to sell your house and move away. That’s not a good balance sheet, but at least on the plus side, you can look at yourself in the mirror and know that you did the right thing. On the other hand, if you know that a crime has been committed, and do nothing, you maybe save your job, but you can’t look at yourself in the mirror. You saw evil, you could have done something about it, you did nothing. That’s not a good balance sheet either. And then if the world finds out that you knew, and did nothing, well....

The rally in front of Papa Joe’s house yesterday might have been heart-warming under most any other circumstance. Normally, the vision of a college campus rallying to support their heroes is enough to bring tears to my eyes. Well, the tears are there, but for a different reason. The time to rally the cause is past. The time to rally was when the first allegations came out. That was the time to investigate, and to ensure that the truth was exposed. A second allegation was the time to slam on the breaks and ask “what the hell is going on here!?!”

I think that they need to shut the football programme down right now. Think about it- other football programmes have been shut down for things like requiting violations. For allegations of bribery and betting, and payments under the table to players and students. Guys, this is worse than all these things put together!!

Worried about the reputation of the Penn State football programme? Well, I got news for you guys, it ain’t “Linebacker U” anymore. Now and for the future, it’s “Pedophilia U...”

I’m out.

That's it; I'm old...

That’s it. I’m old.

I was asked yesterday by an old lady cashier at the checkout counter at Pharma-Plus if I was a senior. She said, “Are you a senior? Over 65?”

That pretty much punctuates a feeling that I’ve been having for quite some time. Plus, I figure if you’re asked, you must look it. Or at least close to it.

Now, I’ve been feeling my age for some time now. A few of the most noticeable items:

One word: pain.
Chronic back problems started with a jump from a 12 foot fence at a football game in State College PA in the early or mid 90’s, and before that with carrying a window air conditioner during an apartment move in the late 80’s. Stabbing pain leading to regular immobilizing “eposides” at least once a year since.

Sights and sounds.
I’ve been making the “old guy noise” while reaching, bending over to put on boots, etc., for at least 20 years. I’m quite gray now. I started getting gray in high school; now I’m mostly salt without much pepper.

Pathetic injuries.
I recently tore a rotator cuff just catching a ball lobbed at me from first base during little league baseball batting practice. My most recent back "episode" was a "getting out of bed" injury...

Horrid sights.
Recently when I trimmed my goatee very close, I noticed small wrinkly disfigurements on my chin line-- certainly the start of “proto-jowls”, soon to be actual jowls. Yes, jowls. Maybe I can reverse the inevitable if I start now on some kind of radical starvation diet. I’ve had the beard now for nearly 10 years, and it looks like now I have to keep it for good!

Okay, okay. The evidence is in.

Being older than I looked was cool when I was 17; I could easily pass then for 18 or 19, and get served beers in bars. That was way cool.

In the summer of 2011, I had to show my ID in Boston to get a beer, which you’d think would be alright, but really, it was ridiculous. There is no way anyone could look at me, and wonder if I was old enough to drink. The truth was that the beer servers had to ask the question to everyone, or risk losing their jobs. I knew that. Some 25+ years earlier, I was asked for ID at the same place (Fenway Park), when I was 25. At that time I could easily pass for 35, and I was okay with that. Those were the last 2 times I was ever asked if I was “old enough” to drink.

Now I’m being asked if I qualify for senior (over 65) age pricing discount benefits at the drug store.

Crap.

WikiLeaks: Worth another look?

This bugs me: Wikileaks Claims Bank Blockade.

If true, this is very disturbing. Who were the types of people that were most bothered by WikiLeaks? Government and financial institutions. Now, there didn’t seem to be anything noble about WikiLeaks, especially based on the press that they received months ago. But the best way to shut up an annoying person is to discredit them, and point out where they have gone wrong in an unbiased manner. In that way, the “reasonable man” will likely stop paying attention to the discredited--in fact, in most cases this is exactly what happens; interest wanes quickly until there is no interest at all. However, if you force someone out of business, by using your influence or financial clout, one has to wonder why you’re stooping to this. Why try to accelerate the demise of a discredited party? Is there something true in the WikiLeaks rhetoric? This coordinated effort makes me think that there’s something to see there... Maybe we should all be taking a second look? http://www.wikileaks.org/ 

Or maybe even donate?

Cool galaxy observations

Interesting article here:  (Even Low-MAss Galaxies Can Harbor Supermassive Black Holes).
Sometime in 1979 while gazing at the poster of the Andromeda galaxy in my bedroom, it suddenly dawned on me that a spiral galaxy looks something like water going down a drain. Water went down the drain; matter goes down the black hole "drain." Seemed pretty obvoius at the time. Now it looks like that most, or evan all galaxies contain central "feeding" black holes. To take it a step further, eventually all galaxies will gobble up thier matter, until there's nothing left but black holes. What next? Black holes moving away from eachother forever? Or finally attracting eachother, and combining into one single super-duper-massive black hole? Maybe that event causes a recurring big bang?

Yeah, maybe too simplistic.

Sept 6 2011 visit to the Kanata Cruise Night show

My first September visit to the Kanata Cruise Night show. Just a note that proceeds go to CHEO, and the weekly event is attended by the Ottawa Fire Department- they cook up hot dogs there. Don Cherry's also welcomes visitors. This week was a quick visit, and once again, I had only my Android cell phone camera.
I know folks like to show off their engines, and it is cool to see them, but IMHO, the open hood ruins the look of the car. You don't get to see the awesome lines of some of these gorgeous cars in their full glory. Just a personal peeve of mine.

First image is of a cool Cutlass that I have seen there once before this year. It's a 69, and it's in great shape. Had to show two of this one... :-)

   

Next one is a bizarre Lotus thing- I'm not sure if this is real, or if it is a kit car. Likely a customized kit car. You decide:

Next up an old Chevvy Suburban, 1965(?):

And an early 60's Chevvy II (I think a '66):

And a 53 Buick Roadmaster V8: 

And finally, another old Buick Roadmaster; a '38:

Soon, I'll have some better photos from a July show- pics using my Nikon DSLR. Also, some pics from an awesome museum I visited earlier in the year in Fort Myers, Florida. And of course, some more pics from the next Kanata Cruise Night!

Another trip to the Kanata Car show...

Well, took another trip to the Kanata Car Show last Tuesday- and took some more photos of the cars. Last week saw an big presence of British cars, but not the one that I wanted. Some great cars there, and I took a few pics before the rain started all the engines up....
Here was a pretty nifty 1982 Cutlass:

And a big bad Olds Delta 88, an '83 I think:

Here's a way cool Chevelle; looks like a '68 I think:

And a real old British Morris Oxford, I think:

And a pretty awesome looking Jaguar, maybe an early 60's E-type? Whatever it is, it sure is sharp!!

Here's a jag more to my way of thinking though: a big blown American V-8!!

(The suspension would be useful for pulling an RV trailer!!)

An early 60's Pontiac Parisienne :

And a 68 Ford Galaxie 500:

And finally a Mercury Cougar from 1969:

As always, a fun evening at the Kanata Cruise Night!!!

Hopefully, I'll be at a few more this year.

Remembering a friend

As we get older, an unfortunate truth is that people around us start dying; like it or not, death is a fact of life. For myself, at 51 (currently), the passing of people that I know has accelerated.

Peter Borodchuk was a friend of mine in high school in the 1970's. We had some things in common, primarily being shy and quiet; we had another friend, Steve, who was the same. We spent many lunch hours playing a "thumbs hockey game" using a coin and a table-top, similar to table-top football- Steve's specialty was the fleshy part of the finger; Peter used his finger nails (always a bit too long). He was a very warm and friendly person, but being quiet and reserved, didn't make friends easily. I don't really recall any friends other than Steve and myself, nor do I believe that he went to the grade 13 graduation dance.

Peter and I ended up at the same college in 1980, me in an engineering tech programme, and he in a bio-chem programme. We went drinking on several occasions with another friend of mine from college, Bob; Peter couldn't hold the booze as well as some, but we certainly had some fun times. One day when we were shooting the breeze, he told me that he'd like to live in a cabin in the woods; I suggested that that might be a pretty boring existence. He then said to me something that I found odd, but really defined him-- he said that he didn't mind being bored, in fact he kind of liked it.

At some point after the first year of college, we decided that at some point that we would find and share a place together close to the college-- he was living at his parent's home, and I at mine. For me, it was a definite plan, for him, it was more pie-in-the-sky. I came over to his place and told him that I had a place ready to go, at which point he became very nervous. I told him that if he wasn't ready, it was no big deal; I'd be able to find someone else. I think that we was nervous about bringing the subject up to his parents, and at the same time he may have thought that he was letting me down, and that I might be pissed at him. I wasn't.

I think that may have been the last time I talked to him at any length, as we slowly drifted apart in succeeding years at college. About 15 years later, I did a search for him on Google, and didn't find anything. Six months later, I was at a restaurant waiting for my take-out order, flipping through the paper, and see a headline "Local man missing, presumed drowned" (http://bit.ly/mXCZWq), and there's his name. I just stared at it for a while, with my hand over my mouth.

Turns out he had jumped into the spring flows in the Ottawa River to save his dog, which had fallen in. He got washed away in the current, with his poor wife watching helplessly. I went to the service, where there was a large photo of him from his wedding day. He looked happier in that photo than I had ever seen him. Funerals had been a problem for me since my father died, so I had to leave after 30 minutes or so. Anyway, it seems like he ended up with a very happy life. It also seems so unfair that something like that had to happen to such a nice person.

Not forgotten, Peter...

Spitzer get sued

Sad state of affairs. If someone poops in the bathtub, and you say that they pooped in the bathtub (http://www.slate.com/id/2264632/). Then they just might sue you (http://www.advancedtrading.com/regulations/231500451?cid=nl_at_daily), even if it’s very clear that you in fact did poop in the bathtub...

Few will deny that Spitzer has done some great work over many years in shedding the lights on impropriety in US high finance. Pretty depressing to see some uber-rich clown take exception to it, and seek suit against him for doing it. The guy gets off on a technicality, and goes right for the jugular. (Why didn’t OJ go after those libelous bastards at the Los Angeles County prosecutor's office?)

I guess we should just jolly well let privileged people take advantage of their positions. If we have something to say, we should just shut up about it. Or else.

Some cool cars

Earlier this month I was at the weekly Kanata Cruise Night car show at the Hazeldean mall lot just outside Don Cherry's. Took my car there as well. So here's a few photos that I took using my Google Samsung Nexus S phone camera (sorry for the quality).
First, an awesome GTO:

Here is something that looks like a Lotus 7- style kit car (Bill O. suggested that; he was right) owned by a guy in Ottawa, built by a guy on the Quebec side:

A fabulous 69 Buick Riviera (I think):

I'm not really a Ford guy, but how about this T-Bird! 

What a sexy car:

A cool 72 Challenger:

A 71 Challenger:

And an old Chevvy:

Always a fun day at the Kanata Cruise Night. Photos don't really do justice to some of these cars; these people put a lot of time and money into these cars, and it shows. And most of them are just beautiful- even the Chryslers! (Just kidding Mopar guys.)
More photos soon!
Kman

First blog entry

This is my first entry of my personal blog. I have at least one more (will have)- that is my professional blog. I think it will be called ka3.ca.blog. Not sure yet, though. In this blog (The Keith Zone), I'll be blogging about my personal life: my family, my friends and topics that interest me, including sport, astronomy, technology, literature, religion, history and politics. I have a lot to say about these things, I and I feel very strongly about some of them, but I promise not to be insulting to the views of others. I'll be getting started soon!