I was hiking up the Lehigh trail to the top of Elk Mountain to get some much needed exercise when about half way up, I spotted a woman with five dogs in tow, coming down in the opposite direction. Trouble, I thought. On the contrary, she stopped and explained that she was exercising two of her brother’s and three of her own. They were rescued dogs, but they looked well cared for and were very well behaved. We said goodbye and she continued down and I struggled up the trail. I used to struggle to get to the top, but lately, I barely make it. I got to the top and sat down on the ski patrol’s cabin stairs to rest and finish my water. I was there about thirty minutes when the same woman and her dogs came up and we started talking. She is a brand new veterinarian from LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. She is from Honesdale, PA, a nearby town, where her father was a doctor. Her brother just got a doctorate in computer science and is looking for work. Her father quit his practice in Honesdale and moved to Alaska to practice socialized medicine. She has hiked the Appalachian Trail and is planning to hike the Rockies all the way from Alaska to the end. Besides hiking and practicing veterinary medicine, she lectures about abandoned animals and accepts donations for their care. She will also train pet owners to control their pets.

If she comes to town, I’ll be sure to catch her presentation. It’s a worthy cause.

The canyon leading up to Brighton and Solitude ski areas cuts through the Wasatch Mountains and reveals the many epochs that helped develop their splendor.
A new set of mountains, created as components of the earth’s mantle collided and created creases which elevated one mantle over the opposing one. The original features of the elevated mantle still show the layers which at one time covered ancient seas. The coloring of the exposed rocks tells their element composition. The reds tell the iron, the greens, copper and the blacks and darks the carbon. You can tell, by the stratification, that many eons ago the mountain was an ocean floor with many layers of silt, sand and calcified sea creatures. Ancient plant life left its mark also in the sandstone and granite. Trained geologists must have a field day by reading the many clues, but someone like myself can also amuse themselves and let their imagination soar in facing such a grand spectacle of nature–the Wasatch.

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We know her because she gave, as the Queen of Spain, Columbus her jewels so that he could sail the Atlantic to the West to find a new route to the Orient. This of course had a big payoff in terms of gold for Spain and her dominance as a world power.

At the age of ten, her brother, the king tried to marry her to a forty year old monarch. This didn’t work out and she was later married to Fernando of Leon forming the alliance of Castilla and Leon which led to the consolidation of Spain as it is today, that is, after she and Fernando fought the Moors until their ultimate defeat in Granada.

As we well know, most royal families were related. Isabel’s mother was the daughter of a red headed First Lord of Lancaster. It is said that Isabel inherited her radiant fair skin and reddish blond hair from her English ancestor.

As a youngster, Isabel was schooled in sewing, knitting, music, dance, painting and chess which hardly prepared her for fighting a long tedious war and ruling so well.

She has been credited with cleaning up government corruption by replacing officials, who had bought their positions, with professional administrators who qualified for the tasks. She also established the Inquisition and put Bishop Torquemada at its head.

She was very generous with the Moors she defeated and preserved their beautiful palaces and mosques and even used the Alhambra as her palace in Granada after the reconquista. She lived out the rest of her life there where she is buried.

The discovery of America and its abundance of gold and precious stones made Spain very powerful and allowed it to rule the world with its grand Armada and it was pretty much due to the foresight of the Catholic Queen.

How can you answer that question safely? I don’t think you can. Thankfully, I never had to. These are a few ideas about body weight so maybe you can apply the information to your particular circumstance.

As babies, we all had to eat to grow into our adult bodies. We established our eating patterns when we needed a lot of calories to grow into what would become our adult bodies. After the first eighteen or twenty years, depending on your body type, we just have to eat to maintain our grown up weight, about half the calories. In the recent past, life was harder and we had to stay active to survive, and we could eat more without gaining extra weight. Now life is easier and requires less calories to maintain a normal weight, so it’s easier to gain weight to an unhealthy degree. Of course, some of us lead a lifestyle which uses the extra calories and don’t have to worry about unhealthy body weight. These types train for road races, bike everywhere, read or work at a standing desk, use the stairs instead of the elevator; others have jobs that require physical activity, such as mailmen (mail persons) and construction workers. Those of us who like to read, watch TV, knit or any sedentary activity are doomed to gain extra unhealthy pounds unless we become aware of our unhealthy eating habits and act on that knowledge. A friend reads while he walks, and only eats every other day—he’s in good shape. One daughter trains for marathons and eats very sensibly, she’s in good shape. Another daughter roller blades everywhere she goes and changes into her high heels when she reaches her destination. She lives in New York City so I worry.

We all know the dire consequences of being heavy. What we have to do is realize how badly we are treating ourselves. If you are twenty pounds overweight, bring that idea home by carrying a twenty-pound weight with you for a few hours. This will give you an idea what you put yourself through every second of your day, besides the deleterious consequences to your health and your longevity.

Many have earned fortunes by selling schemes that help those that need them to lose weight and can’t seem to do be able to do it on their own.

The plan is simple: eat only enough to maintain your weight at a healthy level. So start right now. I am.

I’m a retired scientist and I offered my services to Roger Federer to analyze his game and find out how, exactly, he beats his opponents. I wrote a brief outline of my idea and offered to meet him and discuss the project. Of course he very politely rejected my offer. And why shouldn’t he? He is now at the pinnacle of his career and if he allows some crazy scientist to examine his game, then everybody with enough stamina, agility, coordination, height and intelligence to learn and apply his winning methods can get my study and beat him or at the very least give him a hard time on the court.

Shortly, after he won the tournament in Cincinnati, he confessed to a reporter that he was afraid that one day, he may not be able to win, and he wasn’t ready to welcome such a day. I guess he’s like all other tennis players, after all, and just keeps playing hoping to win, but really doesn’t have a strategy for winning. That was precisely what I was proposing to do. Find out what he does to win. In short, what is his strategy for winning?

So, I’ve decided to do it on my own. I’m going to watch all his matches. I’ve watched him before in person. He’s lithe as a cat. He is deceptively fast as he reaches for his shots and seems to have plenty of time to punish his opponent with incredible precision shots that are impossible to return. I remember watching him on the U.S. Open grounds, practicing his footwork as he moved sideways from line to line. He was like a ballerina in tennis clothes, moving in perfect balance, serious demeanor and in deep concentration. He practiced his serve: effortless and fluid, impeccable placement. No wonder he wins most of the time. But from now on, I’ll be watching with a purpose. I intend to unlock the secret of his success. The ball is in my court.

First, I must record all his televised games, so that I can form a data base. This is basic research. The tennis announcers corrupt the data with their commentaries. I get easily distracted when they start talking about who’s watching the game, whether he should go for a break of serve, etc. Please, stick to the game and tell us what he did to win the point. That would be useful, at least for my purposes, after I have compiled the necessary amount of data. I’ll do analyses and see if I can find a pattern of behavior that wins him the point. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to write the whole thing down and then, I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse. At least, he shouldn’t unless he wants the head of a horse on his bed.

In the meantime, I intend to see him play in as many tournaments, if possible, live, for sure, on TV. I used to follow him, like everyone else, for the sheer joy of it. Now, I must concentrate on the facts, just the facts, to expand my data base. The US Open is coming up, so I better get going and take my notebooks and camera along in case something interesting shows up. Wish me luck, I need it.

This is not a technical discussion. I don’t have the necessary training. These are my thoughts on what DNA discoveries mean in terms of their practical use for us, the public.

For centuries we’ve been trying to figure out what it is to be human. Now with DNA technology we have a way to find out what makes us work, down to the cellular level. You can have your DNA analyzed and the results can tell you if you are prone to breast cancer, diabetes or many of the diseases that were so difficult to detect and cure before the advent of DNA.

The analysis can reveal if you are part Chinese or Mexican Indian. Furthermore, DNA analysis can tell us how close we are genetically to gorillas. Chimpanzees or pigs. This sort of knowledge has helped researchers in testing new drugs on animals whose DNA is close to ours. This avoids initial drug experiments on humans, sparing them from the inherent danger.

Where as before you could declare yourself a “blue blood.” now you can’t, not without a copy of your DNA report that affirms your heritage.

Scientists are expecting more and more use of DNA analysis to uncover cures for diseases which up to now have been considered incurable. Just recently, a mouse with induced Niemann-Pick, Type C desease has been cured by experimental therapy. Human therapies are sure to follow.

Police work has been helped by DNA evidence left at a crime scene. Many convicts, including some in death row, have been found to be innocent and released based on their DNA.

Another use of DNA is to determine if you are the father of a child.

The future is bright and promising as DNA uses and technology advances beyond our highest expectations.

Yep, Leonardo Da Vinci, the one who painted the Mona Lisa. No doubt he was born with a tremendous amount of artistic talent, but he was driven to continuously improve everything he came in touch with.

He was left-handed and he used this trait to write his notes in a mirror-image secret code, that would discourage anyone from stealing his ideas. Most of his surviving memos attest to his genius and worked successfully when tested in recent times.

He described in his notes:

A parachute, a helicopter, various military implements, catapults, escarpments, fortifications and weapons. He designed the emblem of man that was engraved in gold and sent to outer space so that extraterrestrials may learn what mankind looks like. It depicts Leonardo as a young man, arms and legs outstretched indicating mankind’s physical dimensions.

As a young man, he was a very handsome, a talented musician, an architect of note and a theatre stage designer. He also was a homosexual.

After sixteen weeks of pre-flight training including navigation, engines, aerology, Morse code, communications, elements of flight, physical training, survival and close order drill, we were sent to Cory Field in the Pensacola area for basic flight training. At any point in pre-flight you could wash out for any reason, including a  voluntary dropped on request. A few Mishipmen decided that Navy flying was not for them and quit.

 I met Lt. Bauman at the schedule board. He introduced himself, asked me a few questions, and we proceeded out to the flight line to our assigned airplane.  He was very short, at least two inches shorter than me, and needed extra seat cushions to be able to control the airplane.  I wondered how he made it into flight school since I had just made the cut for height at 5-8 and was always the shortest in formation.

 He went into the pre-flight airplane inspection carefully noting all the points to check. He told me to get into the cockpit and he described all the important features and how to  check all the control positions in preparation to starting the engine.  He stayed on the wing by my side until I signaled the ground crew that I was ready to start the engine.  Then he told me to start the engine.  I started it with no problems and when I had the RPM steady, he got into the rear cockpit and we had a communications check.  After that, he told me to have the ground crew pull out the chocks and he started to taxi out to the takeoff runway. He demonstrated how to make clearing turns while taxiing since the engine blocks the front view while the airplane is on the ground. Then he let me control the airplane as we taxied to the takeoff runway. He called the tower and requested takeoff instructions.  He flew the airplane to an acrobatics area and demonstrated power-on and power-off stalls. When the airplane stalled, I could really feel my organs come up. It wasn’t pleasant, but I was able to learn the airspeed stall point of the airplane, which you need to know to be able to stall the airplane just as you touch down during landing. After I practiced a few times to his satisfaction, he flew to an outlying field so that I could practice takeoffs and landings.

 The outlying fields were all surfaced with mowed grass and had plenty of room for the SNJ to land and takeoff.  They all had a wind sock and you knew the direction of the wind and its force by looking at it.  He demonstrated a landing and a takeoff. After he landed, he and told me to do the same thing while he talked me through the procedure. I took the controls and really enjoyed myself to finally control an airplane after going two years to college and after spending sixteen weeks in pre-flight training.

 Of course I made mistakes and he pointed them out calmly and carefully until I clearly understood the correct way to control the airplane.  I really looked forward to every flight even though I was completely drenched in sweat by the end of each flight. I could hardly wait to prepare for the next flight by reviewing the syllabus.

 After the first flight, I did all the flying. He would cut the engine at any time simulating power failure and I would proceed to maintain airspeed, select a suitable landing site and head for it.  Just before I landed, he would add power and say “you got it,” and I would fly the airplane to our destination. It was fairly complicated: I had to select a suitable landing site, preferably into the wind, but downwind if I didn’t have enough altitude to make it. At first I enjoyed the challenge, but after a while it got pretty old. Of course I never complained.

 Finally, the day came when I could solo the airplane. I got another instructor who would decide whether I could safely fly solo. The check pilot told me to make a few landings, and then got out of the airplane and told me to takeoff and land and pick him up on the field.  I did that and then happily flew back to base.

Back at home base, my instructor was waiting to see how I had done on my check flight. My instructor for the flight said, “He did just fine.” Then my instructor shook my hand and congratulated me.  I remembered to ask him which was his favorite whisky. Which by tradition, I had to give him. He said anything will be fine. The very next day I found him and gave him the well deserved bottle. I went on to the instrument phase of flight training and never saw him again.

“You must write about big ideas in the world.”—Father.

Well, the biggest idea is death, the end of life. I first experienced it when a scrawny neighborhood kid my age ran after a ball behind a backing-up truck. He was killed instantly and I can remember that he had white foam drooling out of his mouth as he lay motionless on the dirt street. They dressed him up in the best clothes he ever wore—a pale sky-blue suit, white dress shoes and a white shirt. They put rouge on his cheeks and lipstick on his lips and cried over him for hours. Every time someone new came through the front door the wailing would start up again, subsiding as they explained the unfortunate accident. Of course everybody knew he would soon be in heaven with God, all the angels, and so forth. After hearing the story several times, you’d think that chasing balls behind backing-up trucks would become very popular among his comrades and might even include a few adults who might want to qualify for the eternal rest. As difficult as trying to figure out what happens after we die is how did we end up being human beings? Imagine the probability of becoming a human in the existing universe versus an insect, an animal, a rock or nothing at all. Humans are so complex that it boggles the imagination when we try to figure out the probability of being human versus anything else. The problem is huge and we have been trying to solve it as soon as we become aware of our existence.

We have developed many ingenious solutions to many problems. How to write, for instance, is a fairly new skill developed long after we could talk. Before writing, acquired knowledge would easily be lost to future generations. Now we can even store music, motion pictures and art electronically, but the basic questions of our existence remain unanswered. Don’t let anyone mislead you into thinking otherwise.

I’ve been listening to the Beverly Sills version of Verdi’s opera and marvel at the beauty of the work which is a musical representation of a slice of life in Paris during the nineteenth century. Many things have changed, but many things have stayed the same. The universal themes of love, loyalty and family are pretty much the same. The power of public opinion on personal behavior stands in relief in comparison to what we now think of private matters. I have to explain.

The story is based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, La Dame aux camélias. It’s the love story of a young aristocrat, Alfredo, and a beautiful tuberculous courtesan, Violetta. At a party in Violetta’s home, Alfredo tells Violetta that he has loved her from afar. She is intrigued and agrees to see him the next day. After that they live happily together on Violetta’s wealth which rapidly diminishes since she stopped seeing other men. Alfredo discovers their financial plight and goes to Paris to help out. In the meantime, Alfredo’s father, tells Violetta that the affair prevents Alfredo’s sister from marrying well and that she must quit Alfredo for the welfare of his family. Violetta, in love with Alfredo, reluctantly agrees. Alfredo does not know of the father’s plea and angrily accuses Violetta of leaving him for another. At another gathering, Alfredo gambles, insults Violetta, gets into a fight and ends up wounding a presumed rival in a duel. Alfredo’s father sees the error in his thinking when he sees the virtue of Violetta’s sacrifice in behalf of his family. He tells Alfredo of his request of Violetta and his regret for doing so. Violetta finally succumbs to her illness and dies after having been pardoned by a remorseful and more mature Alfredo. The opera was considered a dismal failure after its opening performance and Verdi wondered whether it was the singing or his music. Now it is considered one of the best operas and attracts the best singers and the performances are sold out.

When Alfredo’s father, Giorgio, went to Violetta to help his family keep their status in society, he was acting in accordance with the standards of that society. Alfredo’s sister, pure and innocent, could not marry well because Alfredo, her brother, was living with a prostitute. Once Alfredo stopped his behavior, his sister could proceed with her marriage into the level of society to which she belonged.

What changed the dynamic was that Violetta was truely in love with Alfredo and in doing so failed in her role as a hardened courtesan and hence the title of the opera, La Traviata, the misled, lost, or fallen. Her sacrifice turned Giorgio, and he came to admire the nobility in her character and to decry the behavior of Alfredo. She was the victim of her love for Alfredo. And, as one of the songs declares, love is the pulse of the entire universe, hurt and delight to the heart.