2017: The year we didn't expect...

After the election of President Obama, I never expected the nation to sway toward anyone like Donald Trump. I believe it matters who is president. I believe intelligence is an important quality for any leader to possess. Trump appears to be a simple con-man with limited intelligence, attention-span, or knowledge. If it does matter who is president, this is a great experiment to determine whether it does once and for all. In the next few years, we might have economic collapse, war, terrorism, and oppression. We will see.

Evolved

It could appear to someone that with politics taking the direction they have this election year, a future of ignorance would be possible. Not about everything. People will want better and better consumer goods and services. Study of climate, origins, and the cosmos might not be funded since they are believed to directly contradict religious dogmas.

Why there is such an opposition to the science of evolution and the origins of the universe is odd to me. Consider that our constituents at the molecular level are replenished from the matter around us. At this moment I am made of of atoms that last week were walking around in a chicken and others were growing on a tomato plant. I don't believe that would contradict anyone beliefs.

And just as true, my body's growth was organized by the operation of a strand of substance that has been passed along for billions of years all the while undergoing modifications, additions, deletions, insertions, and finally combination... until at long last it was delivered into the zygote that would grow into me. I see nothing particularly miraculous about a process like that unless you consider the likelihood of such a fortuitous sequence of events occurring without fail.

The alternative view to avoid contradicting dogma is a first human being made as a mud sculpture. But then somehow, that sculpture manages reproduction using the mechanisms alluded to above.

 While some religious traditions have come to acknowledge their creation accounts as allegory, some fundamentalist ones here in the USA haven't. A figure of 6,000 years has stuck with many because of some dubious calculations by Bishop Ussher in the 17th century. Despite incredible advance of knowledge, many still cling to this time frame and consider a scientific refutation as Anti-Bible or Anti-Creator. Bill Bryson offers a beautiful synopsis of the science behind our current estimate of the age of the universe. Many scientific disciplines converge on a figure of 14.8 billion years. With little effort and some science background, any of us can duplicate the elements of this modern calculation. This convergence is a quality of fact. It is true whether one believes in it or not.

Central Standard

So another day of the weight loss diet. I'm not being that particularly regimented. I'm just now doing the bread, peanut butter, cookie, and candy extra calories. Weekends usually test me because the protocol for the past 4 years has been to buy donuts, candy bars, and other crap at Walgreen to munch all day. Of late, I'm using Cliff bars and popcorn to pass the days. Then nighttime is just carrots. Next week should be the chance to get some hiking done. Maybe we can enjoy some cooler weather.

The never ending quest....

Once again I'm attempting to reduce my calorie intake and shed some unwelcome weight. I've been heavy now since 2012's trouble and slowly adding more and more. I haven't been able to curb my need for peanut butter sandwiches, donuts, and mass quantities of everything. I've been attempting to do better of late. Since I crashed in September and hurt my elbows and shoulders, I've been wary of riding. Plus Bev can only do short rides. Now I am focusing on hiking and perhaps eventually more backpacking. To do that I'll need to drop quite a bit of weight but my first goal is to simply move back into the 38 trousers that I've been out of for a couple of years now. Slowly working my activity level up to whatever I can handle is the best I'll be able to do.

Little bit...

I've managed to lose a little weight since we started the serious approach a few weeks ago. Still over 230 per home scales. There is a lot to lose. Probably will still be working on it at the end of summer. And beyond of course. Every pound off now improves riding in April.

Weekend or weak-end...

I've been doing very well with my calorie reduction but the weekend is coming up and that is usually my downfall. I'll have a tiny meal Bev packed for me but it isn't as many calories as I usually consume so I'll be extra hungry. Without something to fill myself up, I will get hungry and really have to fight the urge to graze.

Concerns...

After a long interval I've seen my Doctor about some of those concerns the wellness center raised. Nothing much was found except a Vitamin D deficiency. I have procrastinated about weight loss till I've gained everything back. Once again I'm trying to lose weight here at the beginning of another year. If I lose 18 lbs, I'll be where I usually wind up at year's end. SO then at least another 25 to 30 lbs to go. Weather isn't favoring bike riding which is my usual answer to energy expense for weight loss. Perhaps it will be better soon.