This is My Forties

I believe our old views of balance as a linear teeter-totter model are flawed.  I think real balance happens in a trinity/triad/triangle.  If you really think about it, we already knew that anyway.  Think of that teeter totter model again.  What else do you need for balance?  The fulcrum and the system itself (the platform).  Move the fulcrum or the platform and what happens?  You have to re-balance.   Balance doesn't mean the sides are equal; balance is not equality !  The universe will always be in balance.  No matter what you do.  There are limits and laws and they will be followed whether or not you understand/acknowledge/believe them.  Balance is a constant shifting to maintain equilibrium within a system . That's what balance really looks like.  There are laws and limits, but almost endless variation... like pi .  The amount of complexity increases to infinity, but is defined by constants.  All trian...

I am going to march with my fellow scientists on April 22nd, and for many great reasons. Here are a few. It was discovered in 1929 that lead was poisonous in paint ... however, lobbyists fought science on it until 1978 when it was finally banned. It killed thousands of people, mostly children. They blamed it on parents. They said science wasn't proving without a doubt that lead was bad. They wanted to force laws on science that are incredibly restrictive and unreasonable. They are doing this now with our food and our environment. Food corporations spend billions of dollars lobbying to keep themselves in business by encouraging the government to use old or unsound science (that was bought and paid for) instead of the hundreds of well-researched and articulated studies done by independent laboratories. They employ lawyers to whittle down scientific studies... lawyers. Not scientists. They argue over syntax, not content. Their main goal is economics, not health. It is...

I spend an inordinate amount of time out in nature and, like Einstein so aptly suggested , it helps me "understand everything better".  Lately the lesson I have been shown over and over again is how arrogant we are as humans.  For no real reason that I can think of other than our desire to be in control, we write off most of our behaviors to choice.  Why? It makes no sense to think nothing we do (other than suckling) is pre-programmed into our DNA like every other animal and living thing on the planet.  Some of the most bizarre and amazing behaviors exist in other living things... like the bowerbird that constructs beautiful works of art to attract a mate (without ever being taught).  The poisonous frogs that live in the rainforest that dutifully carry their tadpoles one by one to a specific  kind of plant and feeds them until they grow legs.  The octopus that starves herself to death for 6 months to protect her eggs.  You can watch these an...

In any given day I have quite a few questions go through my head... much like a big toddler.  I always catch myself looking at something outside and suddenly going "now wait a minute WHY is it like that?!".  Or I'll be at school and have to jot down all my big questions during lessons so I can look them up later.  Lately my questions have been profound enough that google doesn't have the answers for me.  Here's a few that have been trapped in my brain, looking for hints to their big answers while I live my life.  Trying to figure out how much further and deeper I can take a question and apply it to something practical. - Why do sycamore trees shed their bark in winter?  What is the evolutionary reason?  Does it provide a benefit?  Is it just a random mutation?   There are 3 main hypotheses as to why, but none have been tested . - Both plants and animals evolved the ability to live independently of water at the same time... plants star...

It wasn't until yesterday as I was speaking with a college rep that I realized my passion for geology and storytelling have endless parallels.  No wonder I love them both.  Let's see if I can put it into words. In Geology sediments stack up and are compressed to form sedimentary rocks.  The Law of Superposition states that older sediments will be beneath younger sediments.  Simple.  Common sense.  Now, using knowledge of various natural processes we can determine how the rocks formed, what they were before, what the weather and the atmosphere was like.  The general ages of the layers give a timeline to those processes.  The processes shape the rocks and they can tell a story about the past.  So can we.  So can everything else in nature.  If we understand what we are looking at and what rules made it happen.  What are our rules? Storytelling for me is no different.  The environment of a story is made up of the other cha...

Some women may look at the cicada which resembles a bug-eyed steroid-enhanced ginormous housefly and shiver, maybe even squeal.  Like a girl.  I don't.  A lot of that has to do with the numerous entomology lessons I received from my cousin Sandy when I was a kid.  She turned the creepy-crawly bug into a fascinating adventure into the art of adaptation.  Insects are amazing.  This particular 17 year Magicicada (yeah, that's their Latin name because scientists know they're magical) emergence is one of the greatest examples of the awesomeness of the insect world.  Allow me to share with you my insights and maybe if you see one of these little guys hanging around your house you'll be able to view them with the same awe and respect that I do. For those that aren't aware, this particular brood has been underground for seventeen years .  That's a helluva long time to just be hanging out underground, waiting for an internal clock to go off and tell ...