News and Views

I left my keyboard in Vietnam along with most of our luggage, so this will be short. We visited the ancient temple of Angkor Wat today, and I was more impressed than I expected to be. It is a huge temple complex covering many acres. Visitors are allowed to wander around with few restrictions, able […]

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I have to admit to mixed feelings about Edward Snowden. On the one hand, a government needs to keep some secrets, and betraying those secrets can cause great harm to the country. On the other hand, it looks like our government has been participating in some illegal and immoral actions, and from that perspective Snowden […]

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Climate change deniers like to take graphs of surface air temperatures for the last 10 years and claim that they disprove that the earth is warming. This is “cherry-picking” the data. Look at the following graph from NASA. If you only focus on the past 10 years, you might think that things have stabilized. True, […]

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We arrived safely and on time after a pleasant trip across the wide Pacific Ocean, but Gisele’s suitcase did not. My bag was one of the first ones on the carousel, but in place of Gisele’s bag was a big sign asking us to contact airport personnel. It turned out that the bag hadn’t made […]

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Take a look at this elaborate hoax of psychic powers. Very cool. I like to think I’m rational and don’t believe in the supernatural, but I would be feeling some doubts if I had been there. Turns out it’s a commercial for the new remake of “Carrie”. And check out the cool optical illusions in […]

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It was 68 degrees outside this morning when I got up (after 7) this morning. My outside thermometer shows that it got as low as 63, but I’m not sure I believe that. Either way, since it was barely getting into the low 80s a week ago, this is a wonderful harbinger of fall. I […]

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I have a bunion on my left foot. It’s a condition where the joint in the big toe is shifted outward, and the rest of the toe points inward. Here’s a picture of my feet: The impact is that the foot is wider at that point, and the bunion presses against the shoe causing pain […]

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I took a small solar charger with me on the John Muir Trail, to keep my smart phone and SteriPen charged. The Switch Eight charger by Goal Zero comes with a solar panel and a rechargeable Li-Ion battery. You charge the battery up with sunlight during the day, then use the battery to recharge phones […]

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A couple of weeks before I started the Big Hike, I had some inflammation in the first joint of the second toe on my left foot. That’s right in the ball of the foot and each step was painful. The podiatrist gave me an injection of cortisone and it was feeling pretty good when it […]

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220 miles, 11 passes and an ascent of Mount Whitney. A helicopter evacuation of one of our party with an injured knee. Well below freezing temperatures at one campsite at just under 12,000 feet. I came home with sore feet and 15 pounds lighter (160 going in, 145 now). I think I need to gain […]

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