“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

Voltaire

(Note that underlined text are links to more information to help you understand my opinion better)

Max Wilner-Giwerc, a law student at the University of Chicago makes the point in an Op-Ed published this morning in the San Jose Mercury News, that the current work stoppage in Major League Baseball could be solved with one revolutionary change in the conflict resolution process between players and owners.

Let the fans decide.

Former MLB Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, a former professor of Renaissance Literature and the Seventh Commissioner of MLB for way too short a time, said during the

“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”

― A. Bartlett Giamatti, Take Time For Paradise: Americans And Their Games

1981 Baseball strike in a statement directed at both players and owners: “Remember that you are custodians of an enduring public trust.” He was suggesting that the public, the fans should be the arbitrator in resolving the “mercantile spats,” and “squalid little squabbles” that stood in the way of getting on the field and playing the game.

Wilner-Gewerc disagreed with Giamatti in that we, the fans of the game, do care about the “mercantile spats” and “squalid little squabbles” because they are about fairness, equity and justice and we deeply care about those things in baseball and in the wider world outside baseball (what? world outside baseball? Absurd notion).

The way baseball arbitration works is that in certain salary disputes where a player and a team cannot agree on a salary, both sides can submit their proposals to a third party arbitrator who must choose one of the two proposals as the final solution to the standoff. There is no splitting the difference, it is either this one or that one. Their choice will be made between the two proposals.

Wilner-Gewerc suggests that applying this concept to the current MLB lockout might stand to benefit from this system of baseball arbitration as a way to moderate the proposals from each side and facilitate a faster resolution to the issues standing in the way of starting Spring Training this year. Wilner-Gewerc suggests that the arbitrator assigned to decide on which proposals are to be implemented should be…drum roll please…THE FANS!

I agree with Mr. Wilner-Gewerc. We, the public, should be the final arbiters of the public trust.

Dammit, “Play ball!”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Here is a link to watch the documentary film ” Mission : Joy” made of the 2015 meeting between the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu in Dharamshala, India. It is a film based on Douglas Abram’s book “The Book of Joy..” This link is good until Tuesday, February 15. It is just under 90 minutes long. Please find time to watch it.

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

If an elephant has it’s foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Writing comes naturally for me. What i mean by that is that I write when I get the call to write. It isn’t forced and since i’m not paid to do it, I am not subject to creativity-inhibiting enforced deadlines which constrict the flow of oxygen my the brain.

I know it is natural when the thoughts transcend my plodding hunt-and- peck style of typing and get the words on the screen in a continuous, flowing manner despite my attempts to constrict it with my limited typing skills.

I’m typing with one hand right now because I am donating platelets at the Stanford Blood Center and I have a rather large needle in my left arm. But that isn’t slowing my thought process. The thoughts just get in line behind the thoughts that came first and patiently wait their turns as I search for keys on the laptop keyboard.

This post is titled ‘Stories” because of the role that my writing plays in giving me access to the life stories of others when I share the blog on Facebook.

I don’t routinely look at Facebook unless I have my own story to share. In so doing, I have sort of conditioned myself to only listen to other stories when I have one to share myself. Since I like reading the stories of my friends and family, I tend to write more regularly because I want to hear their stories.

It is a cycle amplified during COVID by the imposed limitations on face-to-face contact due to safety measures designed to slow the spread of the virus. Although I am getting out more now and seeing my local neighbors, friends and church family more often these days, I find that I crave the stories of my more distant loved ones even more now than I did earlier in the Pandemic.

That craving has unconsciously increased the volume of my writing. Because the writing only happens when I feel the call to write, the call to write is happening more often, I’m reading more of your stories. Does that make sense? I share because you share.

My most recent example of this synergy is Maurine’s story about the scattering of a dear friend’s ashes in her yard. Since Maurine is in Arizona, I wouldn’t have heard this story had it not been for social media and the coded bits and bytes that make the transport of her story possible.

So, the cycle continues. And as it continues, I am better equipped to deal with the slings and arrows of the outrageous behaviors around me (and us) because i can hear you, listen to you and respond to you in a timely way. Literary nature is calling more often these days and that makes me happy!

Keep your stories coming. I look forward to hearing them. If you enjoy my posts then pat yourself on the back because you are the inspiration and joy behind stories.

Thanks so much for being a part of my life.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side fo the oppressor.

If an elephant has it’s foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality,.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The issue of voting rights legislation lights me up. And when I get lit up I can be a real pain in the ass. I’m totally ok with that. When we feel pain, we take action to treat it.

I’m directing my attention away from Senators Manchin and Sinema in my attempt to sway Senate opinions on the need for codifying voting rights into federal law. They are intransigent, indignant and immoral on the subject.

I am now focusing my personal energy on attempting to melt and break up the Senate Republican ice shelf that has built up against hearing and voting on the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

There are sixteen Republican Senators that voted in 2006 to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1964 for another 25 years. That means that the provisions of the ’64 Voting Rights Act should be in effect until the year 2041, if I did my math right.

You might ask, as I did, why do we need new federal voting rights protections when we already have the Voting Rights Act. Read this linked NPR piece for why it is needed.

So, I’ve made it a mission to write to each of the sixteen senators who supported the Voting Rights Act in 2006, but for some reason don’t want to face up to voting Yes or No on the two bills that they just filibustered to death here in 2022.

Will it do any good. I have hope that it will especially if enough people do it. In case you decide to write to any or all of these sixteen senators, I’m including a list of the senators and a sample

It’s time to get the elephant off the tail of democracy. This might help a little. It gives me hope to feel like I’m doing something to effect change and that I am doing my part to make love visible.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has it’s foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Legend has it that on October 31, 1519, a priest and scholar named Martin Luther walked up to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany and nailed a piece of paper to the door with 95 “revolutionary” opinions that ultimately led to the Protestant Reformation.

Luther was particularly against the Roman Catholic Church practice of asking for payment in exchange for the forgiveness of sins, a practice called an “indulgence.”

In the spirit of Martin Luther, I have my own set of 55 Theses to be nailed (or taped) onto the entrance to the chamber of the United States Senate:

1. No more automatic weapons in the hands of private citizens
2. Voter suppression efforts must be stopped
3. Re-establish truth; no more counter revolutionary alternative propaganda.
4. Anti government sedition efforts will be tried in a court of law
5. Address reactionary conservatism in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government
6. Federal government institutions are to be protected and encouraged.
7. Re-establish Democracy through law.
8. Once and for all “Make America Great.”
9. Face racism and act on it.
10. Participation in tough love and altruism by encouraging grass roots activism
11. End COVID disinformation and hold the dis-informers responsible in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
12. Re-flip the message back at the political Right.
13. Call out any disinformation when you see or hear it.
14. Speak truth to untruth; Wash away untruth with overwhelming amounts of truth.
15. Government works; the Supreme Court must return to the Constitution.
16. The American Flag belongs to all Americans; fly yours with pride in the Constitution that it represents.
17. Subscribe to any publications that promotes journalism and reports factual information.
18. Call out authoritarianism as undemocratic.
19. Corporate America will use their money to promote and strengthen Democracy.
20. Hold the Republican Party responsible for causing COVID death and institutional disruption through an intentional campaign to spread disinformation and division.
21. All politicians will make decisions to protect their oath which is to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
22. Celebrate diversity; lionize multiculturalism
23. Encourage courage
24. Celebrate our “citizen civic sentries” that stand guard to protect our institutions; poll workers for one.
25. Encourage artistic expression
26. One person never has all the answers.
27. Listening is more than hearing.
28. Talk, email, tweet and listen
29. Educate not indoctrinate
30. Anticipate disinformation and get out in front of it; once it’s out, it is extremely hard to undo.
31. Individual actions matter…write that letter, post or hold that sign, share that humor. It all helps.
32. Celebrate the real heroes: Abraham Lincoln, Desmond Tutu…
33. Life is Beautiful
34. If it feels wrong, it is.
35. If it feels right, it is.
36. Think, but avoid overthinking. trust your soul
37. The climate is changing (Ask Boaty McBoatFace)
38. Listen to Science
39. Trust your heart, your head can be manipulated
40. Seek out knowledge and truth; listen to stories as they will educate your heart.
41. Be observant and vigilant
42. Be open to the truth of others; be willing to reconsider your own.
43. Have experiences
44. Fear is real but it is defeatable.
45. Hope conquers fear
46. Work hard, stay occupied with doing what you can do.
47. Sometimes it’s ok to just be.
48. Wear a clown nose
49. Sing in the shower
50. Write a blog or a journal. It helps to ease the moments of fear and frustration.
51. Accept change and act to make that change be the change that you wish it to be.
52. Have the courage to make change
53. Recognize the frauds, learn how to recognize them and call them out.
54. Be patient and also persistent
55. The truth will set you free.

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Be the light. What epic words those are.

Be the light indicates to me that light is what we all need right now. At this time of the year when light, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, takes a back seat to darkness, it is of more then just theoretical importance

The December Solstice has passed and daylight is slowly, minute by minute each day, beginning to seek equality with the darkness. This light of the world of Science is the movement of energy from atom to atom, molecule to molecule, vibrating electron by vibrating electron until it reaches light sensitive sensory neurons of life forms that can detect changes in light.

The light that Lea Morris is referring to in “Be the Light” is not the light of the physical world rather it is the light of the soul, the spirit, the mind. The darkness that Lea refers to is the darkness of the soul, the spirit, the mind.

The brightest light emerges out of the darkest dark. In the physical world it is theoretically possible for light to be trapped in never ending darkness simply because the force of gravity is so strong that light cannot emerge from the darkness. I am referring here to the “Black Hole” of astrophysics.

The Black Hole of astrophysics does not have an equal in the non-physical light of the soul, spirit and mind. Light cannot, and I will boldly claim, will not be trapped by darkness in the world that humans have the ability to change.

The soul light will emerge out of this time, a collective “dark night of the soul” for all of us because that is how it is meant to be. How do I know that it is meant to be? Maybe I do and maybe I don’t. However, I believe that I instinctively know that we will emerge from this dark period based on the paths of man-made evil and darkness from the 20th and early 21st centuries. The darkness of Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, and Milosevic appeared in their times to be inescapable.

It must seem to many of us that the past five years has matched the level of darkness from the times associated with the above names. Yet, the periods of evil that we as imperfect beings are bound to experience based on our imperfections, have their moments in time and then are ultimately exposed by the greater light of the true human spirit and the light of goodness outshines the light of evilness simply because…

Maybe this is nothing more than unsubstantiated hope. Yet, I believe in unsubstantiated hope. In religious circles, it is called faith. I am a person of faith therefore I believe in hope. I believe that out of hope comes that human construct called love. I believe that love wins.

In the physical world light energy can temporarily disappear. In the human world, the light of the mind, spirit and soul will never disappear. It is timeless and forever.

Listen one more time to the music of Lea Morris as performed by my small but mighty church choir. Music speaks louder than words.

As we emerge into 2022, may this be so and may the new year be a happy one as we emerge from the darkness.

May it be so!

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

My trip to South Georgia Island and Antarctica was a gift both literally and figuratively. I had the opportunity to go because I was invited by a friend that didn’t feel comfortable traveling under the conditions required for going on a cruise in the Southern Ocean.

I visited a place that was so distant a possible destination that it wasn’t even on my bucket list. The chances of going there were slim to none. Thank goodness of having even the slimmest of possibilities, because the slim was just enough to give me the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to a mystical, magical, real place.

Now, it’s time to take advantage of this gift and share it with those of you for whom my travels offer a window to the untraveled and largely unexperienced world since March 2019 when the Coronavirus led to a global pandemic known simply as COVID-19.

The idea of blogging about Antarctic travel really hadn’t occurred to me until I was on the plane from Miami to Buenos Aires. The possibility of having the technology available to make it a reality didn’t happen until we got on the ship in Ushuaia, Argentina, the Gateway to Tierra del Fuego National Park and the greater region known as Patagonia.

Internet access on a ship cruising some of the world’s remotest waters to it’s most remote continent was a challenge and it was far from free. $50 for 500MB and $90 for a gigabyte of the precious ethereal property made me think seriously about whether this was financially feasible for a three week period. How far would a gigabyte of data go? I had never really faced the finiteness of access to the Internet before.

We had been granted our first 300MB of data free, but I quickly found out how quickly one can burn through that ceiling by leaving one’s wifi on even after leaving the internet and turning off your phone, tablet or computer.

I decided to first send out text only posts. Andy, new friend from the cruise, convinced me to try sending out at least one photo per post at lower pixellation. I still burning through data at a somewhat (for my budget) alarming rate. What else could I do? Well, duh, how about typing the text offline and then copying and pasting it onto my blog site? It took me a week or so to figure that out. I guess that solution worked as I used a total of 2.5GB of data for the three weeks on the ship. I had just enough for the las blog post and a few important email messages.

Bottom line is that getting this blog out turned out to be a link to the outside world, anywhere in the world beyond the homes and communities of many of my readers. It was a chance to take a trip through words and photos to places that had been made inaccessible to most by pandemic travel restrictions.

The cost of the shipboard data was trivial in retrospect as I heard and continue to hear about how much you appreciated reading about my distant exploits and getting a visual taste of the experience. The late evenings sitting in the ship Library composing and sending “singingcyclistmusings” was time and energy that I am now delighted to call my gift to all of you. A chance to allow the gift that was given to me to keep on giving as you all share it within your networks and communities.

I was very chincey (sp) in my sharing of photographs during the trip due to the data limitations on the ship. I have assembled a few into a first draft presentation for you to see. It is in the form of a link to a Google folder. I hope you are able to see it and enjoy it. It’s been wonderful hearing from you and if you are one of the many folks that read it and didn’t reply, I have equal hopes that you got as much enjoyment from the writings as I got in publishing them. I have more photos and a trip slide presentation if you’d like to see more and get the trip in story form. Send me a personal email.

Enjoy!

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Kudos to the Polar Latitudes Antarctic tour company and adventure travel organizer Wilderness Travel for a COVID-free and mask free experience for all but the first two days of our Solar Eclipse/South Georgia Island/Antarctica cruise.  Your protocols were spot on in allowing the 110 passengers on board the Seaventure to live and thrive in our mask free bubble for the final 15 days of our 18-day cruise.

Special kudos to Dr. Luann Freer and Dr. Robert Partridge for developing the protocols for this voyage.  There were stories floating (pun intended) around the ship that two cruise vessels were forced to return to the port of origin, Ushuaia, Argentina to quarantine after one or more passengers tested positive for COVID.

So how did our trip manage to go without a COVID hitch for nearly three weeks?  The answer is really quite simple.  We were all required to be vaccinated at least a month before we arrived at our staging spot at the Alvear Art Hotel in Buenos Aires.  The Argentine government required a Negative COVID test no more than 72 hours before arrival in Argentina.  That was a tricky proposition in itself, but that is a story for another day.

We were tested by Wilderness Travel in Buenos Aires.  Every one of us passengers tested Negative.  The next day we were put on busses and transported to the airport where we hopped on our charter flight for the port of embarkation at Ushuaia. 

Still in masks as we would remain for the next two days on the water, we maintained our meal groups that had been established back in Buenos Aires at the hotel.  On the third day at sea, we again received a rapid test.  When everyone again tested Negative, we were determined to be COVID free and were able to roam about the ship and eat with people outside of our pods mask free for the remainder of the trip.

I’m going to make a big deal out of this because this cruise was a model for how to successfully combat COVID and return to some semblance of normal life.  The crew of the Seaventure as well a Polar Latitude and Wilderness Travel staff went through the same protocols.  The crew of the Seaventure, at least those with frequent contact with passengers, kept their masks on for the duration of the cruise.

The protocols worked beautifully which begs the question that if 200 people in relatively close quarters on a cruise ship can create a COVID-free bubble, why can’t this model be duplicated on a larger scale?

I’m going to get political for a brief moment only to make the point that COVID is NOT a political issue.  It is a public health issue.  The people who have turned us into Red and Blue camps around COVID are to be condemned for their actions.  Although I have my opinions on the motivations of these people for creating COVID Free-Spread regions of the U.S., I can say that their actions are, at best, innocently ignorant and at worst criminally negligent in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.  Shame on them.

While under the care of Wilderness Travel and Polar Latitudes from November 21-December 12, 2021, we were able to halt the spread of the COVID.  We did have a small outbreak of a common cold virus towards the end of the cruise, but thanks to immunization against COVID, frequent and thorough hand washing, social distancing and mask wearing, we were able to basically halt the spread of the more dangerous COVID because it simply had no host to infect and simply died out in our 200- member bubble.

Can this be repeated with a larger population?  The answer is yes.  The science is quite simple.  A virus can’t survive outside of a warm body.  Take away the warm bodies that it needs to survive and it will die.  End of story.

The point of this is to point out what a success looks like in ending the global COVID pandemic.  Thanks to those that showed us and taught us about this marvelous, fragile wonderland and, incidentally, showed us how to deal with a deadly virus.