Day of the Week –
Tuesday and back in town from the place where everything stays, from which nothing leaves, and which we cannot even discuss. And do I have stories to tell…but I cannot betray the trust and loyalty of the gods of Las Vegas…an oxymoron if I ever heard one.
Quote –
“Character matters. It is not the only thing that matters. But without character, nothing matters.” Quote from Russell Moore in Christianity Today.
Gym Talk –
I know that my more recent Gym Talk Nuggets have been a little less risqué than usual. Ok, a lot less. And this one is going to continue that recent trend…not because I have changed, Susie will attest to that, but because I can only deal with the material I am given and I think my sweat buddies are a little less open with me these days. Time will tell. But the other day we were all surprised by one of our own. It shows that you think you know someone and then, in the blink of an eye, with the smallest of utterances, everything stops, time stands still, and we all gape. This gentleman is a successful residential developer with a eye towards detail. Sure there are things about him that we all poke at for our amusement, but he is good natured about it. But he is kind of fastidious. He seems like the type to whom every choice is well thought out and reasoned. So when the subject of coffee came up and for some reason, maybe because one of us asked him, he blurted out that his favorite coffee is…Taster’s Choice. For about a second, you could have heard a pin drop in the gym. Even the music seemed to pause. And then the floodgates of derision were unleashed and he was made aware of how surprised we were on the one hand and how totally errant his taste in coffee was. One of our group offered, no demanded, that he be allowed to get some beans that would put him on the right path. We can only hope, wait and watch.
MTG Was on to Something –
Ok, she wasn’t onto anything…maybe on something, but not onto it. But using that header as clickbait, there is something to be said for space lasers. Just not the Jewish space lasers she referred to. You may be aware that space, rather than being the vast emptiness that existed in the not to distant past, is becoming quite crowded. At least in is in the near space region where we have sent up satellites and part of launch systems that were useless as soon as they separated from their cargo. There are tens of thousands of pieces of debris that are being monitored in space, especially in low Earth orbit (LEO…how cute). And those bits are becoming a real problem. It is not only the large defunct satellites that continue to revolve around us, but the smaller parts of satellites that have collided with other shit up there, devolving into a multitude of small parts. You might think “who cares” and my answer would be that “you care.” Do you like your GPS nav system in your car? Do you like your streaming service? Do you like living in this ever so connected world? Well it could be gone in short order if steps are not taken.
Kessler Syndrome –
Many years ago, an astrophysicist speculated what would happened if space became so congested that two satellites collided, and the debris that was created spewed out colliding with other satellites, creating more debris, more collisions, and on and on. The Kessler Syndrome is the name of this potential scenario, and the risk of this becoming a reality is all too real. So one technology that is being considered is using lasers, not necessarily made by Jews, nor necessarily operated by Jews, but there may be Jews involved on some level, so does that make them Jewish Space Lasers? I don’t know but not relevant to this Nugget either, so we will reluctantly move on. Why lasers? Why not space nets, or space robots, or space magnets, or whatever? Cost is one factor as those other systems (none of which I have really described, but…) need to maneuver close to an object to be captured. A laser could be aimed from another satellite or from the ground. And the energy that is absorbed by the debris, large or small, would act to either push the object into a higher orbit less prone to a collision, or would slow it down enough to allow it to deorbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Years away from a reality, if a reality it is ever to become, but an interesting save for MTG.
Charging Along the Way –
So you are driving in your all electric car and still have a long way to go. Shit man, no YOU are not, but this is a hypothetical so please just fucking go with it. Ok? Great. You need a charge but do not know where the nearest charging station is. How about you just hop onto a road that will wirelessly charge your car as you drive? I had read about this type of tech being looked at some time ago, but it seems that it is now taking shape at least in test roads. After you have the appropriate receiving modules installed on your car (until they would ultimately be a standard option), they interact with magnetic coils under the pavement of the road (at least four inches deep to allow for street maintenance without damaging the coils), and your car gains range as you drive. I suspect that this will not be all that widespread, at least not for a long time, but could be incorporated on roads where there is a need and charging stations are not an option…and no, I do not know where those might be. But imagine if this became the way roads were built and the need for charging just went away. A man can dream, right?
Ageing & Frailty & Cognitive Decline –
We all age. Sorry if that is news to you, but it is true. I can attest. And that process eventually takes its toll. It has an effect. And not every human experiences it the same. For some it hits early, for some it seems to never hit. For some the mind stays sharp and active as the body shows visible signs of decline, while for others the body stays strong while the mind loses it cognitive abilities. And, as you probably guessed, we see this in the two candidates for president of our country. And the interesting thing is that we see in these two men that exact difference. We see in Biden a man who walks with the stiffness that comes with an advanced age where the body cannot be relied upon as in days gone by, where the struggle to overcome the lifelong studder is harder, and where the vitality of speech is not always effective, and we see the occasional memory lapses from which we all suffer at times get more publicity whether more frequent or not. And we see in Trump a man who’s physical vitality is apparent, but whose meandering, incoherent, word slurring, memory lapses, are potentially signs of a diminished mental acuity. And we tend to judge with our eyes more than our ears, so we see the two men’s physical demeanor and the public judges one as much older than the other. But while, personally, I wish that neither of them were running and we had younger, competent, choices, it will be interesting to see whether what I, and others, see as signs of Trump’s declining mental state will continue on that path as the summer months go on.
Dementia Test –
I think I heard that Trump was still touting the test that he took 4-5 years ago when in office where he had to remember a series of random unrelated words in order. And he was able to do so. And for weeks he kept repeating the story about this test, insisting that the doctors who administered it were shocked at how well he did. The fact is that this test is one to determine cognitive impairment. It was certainly not something to suggest any mental supremacy. But I have a question. What was it that the doctors or others saw that led to administering this test on a sitting president? Someone must have thought that there was something wrong, no? Wouldn’t you like to know? And also, as this test was far from anything resembling an IQ test, yet Trump kept proudly reliving the moment, does that actually call into question his IQ? Just a question…
Ronna McDaniel…as an Example of Thousands –
Ronna McDaniel is the former chair of the Republican National Committee. While serving, she was seen as a steadfast disciple and defender of Trump. She parroted every lie and misstatement. She supported his continual pronouncements that the 2020 election was fraudulent, that the January 6 criminals were innocent and political hostages, she seemed to have no issue with standing by and repeating the worse of it. But now that she was ousted in favor of those even more in line with the Trump Party line, she is taking a different stand. The 2020 election was fair and Trump lost just as the results showed. The January 6 folk deserve to stay in jail for their criminal acts. And on and on. And to a large extent she is now merely feeling free to say the quiet part out loud, as thousands of her fellows are still hostages to their cult leader, Trump. I know that politics is a blood sport, and more on that in a subsequent Nugget, but in my adult life I have never seen so many surrender their integrity, their principles, their self-respect, for so little.
Food for Thought –
After a long drive home yesterday, and time getting reacquainted with Nugget…the dog not the newsletter…cooking was not on the agenda. Sorry.
Conclusion –
Lots going on in the world, yet I find myself so far behind with the list of topics I have. Thinking about what to do. But as for you, just stay healthy and be good to each other.
Me.