Happy New Year!

I awoke at about the usual time, partly because I stayed up to midnight East Coast time and live in Seattle, but mostly because my cats are creatures of habit, especially when it comes to being fed.

My intent for the day was to make plans and preparations for the coming year, but I mostly hung out with myself and occasionally friends on the internet. I walked 8500 steps, and not the 10,000 planned, because when I passed one of the RVs parked on (Barton I think?) there was a woman inside telling a man to get off her; when I asked if she was ok she said he would not go away. He came to the doorway and would not let her leave so I called the cops and waited until they arrived. I did not take more direct action since he was not striking her but when he did grab her shirt to keep her leaving I considered it; however it turned out for the best that the cops handled it since it was clear neither of them was in their right mind. Eventually she got out the back window and ran off, not wanting to wait for the cops even though the guy was in no position to harm her once she was outside. The police said I had done the right thing but since there was no victim around they most likely could do nothing; often people in a situation like this do not want to interact with police. There was nothing more to do so I just moved on.

I feel a renewed gratitude for being indoors and warm in this weather. I thought about the situation a bit and while I could have been more this or more that, ultimately nothing I did differently would have lead to a better outcome for anybody, so it is best just to accept it as a life experience and not ruminate.

Betsys suggested backgammon and I won the 1st 2 games; I guess all that time playing the app on my phone so long ago taught me something. Ed beat me once in Don't Stop because - as so often happens - I stopped too soon to lock in my winnings. These are both lessons.

The thing I did today that may last the longest is converting the blue wall in the Blue Room into my studio. I had been worrying all about green screens and the Green Room and the many problems setting that up for January 27, and the simple solution had been there all along!

Be Like Trillium

I was inspired by my brother Steve Winnie posting his favorite photo from last year along with a little story of why it stood out. So why not do the same?
My favorite photo from 2021 shows my trillium growing through a pile of rubble.
THE STORY: When I took up my driveway's raggedy concrete to replace with permeable pavers, I piled the rubble where I saw nothing - I forgot about the Trillium sleeping in the bulb. That pile took about half a year to eliminate by means of building stuff with it around the property. Trillium did not wait just because it was buried under heavy concrete. Trillium looks sweet, soft, and weak, but Trillium found a way through the rubble and bloomed!

BE LIKE TRILLIUM

It Would Be A Better World If

 

I did not have any original photographs to upload, and I was having trouble finding them while walking about (maybe it's a mood thing, or flowers being hidden under snow) so today I tried a quip. It worked!

Michigan State University Cyclotron Story

As an undergrad, I hung around an anti-nuclear group at MSU (...and this is not a pronuke/antinuke story, let's just not go there, I promise there's a politically neutral punch line coming ...). Most of us had a certain look - we were skinny young men who had discovered the pleasure of letting our hair grow out and not shaving. Good times! I was the rare social sciences student in the group; most of the others were into engineering or physics (...and loved to talk about stuff that sounded to me like the grown-ups in a Charlie Brown movie WAWK-WAWK-WAWK! ... their enthusiasm was wonderful, but I digress...
) They were also very good at organizing events - flow charts may have been involved.

At the last meeting I attended, the floor was open for discussion. A guy in the back, wearing the canonical flannel shirt and bluejeans, but with a crewcut and the sort of shoulder muscles you don't get at a keyboard, said, "Hey let's shut down the cyclotron!"

The Chair (physics) looked at the Vice-Chair (engineering). The Vice-Chair looked at the Chair. "Why would anyone do that"?

Crewcut: "It's nuclear, right?"

 
I have never before or since seen a room in which so many eyes rolled back in their heads ....

I still don't understand physics beyond the comicbook level, but I learned a valuable lesson that day:

Whether you're an agent provocateur for Lyndon La Rouche or merely gathering information for the Michigan State Police, it's super important to get your hair right.

Snow / Flower

 This beauty is in a rock wall along Roxbury. Notice the snow is dry and granular. 

Home And Cozy

Evening Photo:

 Nature is just saying: slow down!

Morning Photo, before the bulk of the snow:

I used the camera flash in the show, resulting in an interesting effect, then I went inside for coffee.