Lawn clover – can’t we all just get along?

You may have heard the term “pick your battles”.  It’s an important rule to remember.  Today, we’ll talk about it with respect to your lawn’s annual clover appearance.

So you want a great, lush lawn but this pesky clover keeps showing up, and you want to get rid of it?  Leave it.  Until somewhat recently, clover was considered a weed and you can get rid of it with 2,4-D.  But here is why you should leave it:

First, let’s talk about why it shows up.  There are a few reasons clover appears in your otherwise lush lawn:

  • The soil pH is out of range.
  • Your soil is low on nutrients, especially nitrogen.
  • Your grass has been cut too short.
  • The grass hasn’t been watered enough
  • The soil is compacted due to lack of organic matter.

You can test your soil’s pH yourself with a $20 test kit.  Or, your local nursery may test it for less or perhaps even free.  If you don’t add anything to your own to help your grass grow, your lawn is probably low on nutrients–especially nitrogen.  Now here is where clover comes in to help!

Clover takes nitrogen out of the air and converts it into the soil, and it also helps attract bees, and breaks up compacted soil.  It’s beneficial for your lawn, so please, leave it alone.

 

In Defense of the Simulation Hypothesis

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

When you look up at the stars in the night sky, what do you envision?  Are we alone, or is the Universe full of life, and we’re just looking in the wrong places or with the wrong tools?

Scientists and Cosmologists have no idea, and they have interesting theories about why it is we haven’t found anyone else yet.  Before we talk about why, let’s talk about time and distance relative to space travel.

Our star, the Sun is about 8 light minutes and 20 seconds away from Earth.  Light emitted from the Sun, traveling at 186,000 miles per second reaches the Earth in 8 minutes and 20 seconds.  This is to say that if the Sun were to simply disappear right now at this instant, you wouldn’t know about it for 8 minutes and 20 seconds.

The speed of light is the fastest known constant in the Universe.  By contrast, the fastest man-made spacecraft – Voyager 1 – is currently traveling at 38,000 miles per hour.  Launched in the 1970s, Voyager is now 11.7 billion miles from Earth.  Taking 40 years to go that distance, the speed of light would have done it in a few hours.  At our current technological level, it will take 81,000 years to get to the next solar system.  Our current technology makes it prohibitive for us – our our robots – to visit any known close solar system.

The Fermi Paradox states that due to the size of the Universe, statistics indicates that there has to be a Sun-like star elsewhere in our galaxy or others, and an associated-Earth like planet capable of sustaining intelligent life.  The Universe should be full of intelligent life to the age and size of the known Universe.  So why haven’t we seen any evidence?

There are several theories as to why and each of them are plausible.  “The Great Filter” theory states that there is some unknown barrier that stops intelligent life from developing past a certain point.  It could be behind us (in our past) or ahead of us (in our future) and it will work as a barrier toward evolution of intelligent life. 1

It is also possible that life is common, but intelligent life is uncommon and we are a rare breed.  We’re special, and we don’t give each other enough credit.

Another theory is that it’s the nature of all intelligent life to destroy itself when it reaches a certain age.  War, disease, famine and fighting for needed resources eventually destroys civilizations before they can reach a level of intelligence and technology capable of inter-stellar travel.

Building upon this theory, some scientists believe that it’s the nature of intelligent life to destroy others as they appear, in an effort of self-preservation.

Furthermore, other theories suggest that perhaps the distances between space and time are just too great and with the speed of light being the fastest known speed in the Universe, it just simply impossible for interstellar travel to be possible.

There are further hypothesis, and you can research those on your own, as I am only gong to touch on two more here.  I’ll touch on these next two because I believe both of these theories could be correct, and both present their own issues of morality, mortality, and religion.

One particularly interesting idea is the Zoo Hypothesis.  The Zoo Hypothesis implies that there are many advanced civilizations in the Universe capable of observation of or travel to Earth, but they simply don’t because they want us to develop naturally, without external interference.  I’m not sure I agree with it, only because as I understand it, it assumes that the aliens have no use for our resources and/or are naturally benevolent. Perhaps aliens of a certain age or sophistication – type III or IV on the Kardashev scale – have no use or time for being anything other than good, kind beings, which would make the Zoo Hypothesis work.

Then again, if they see us destroying each other and polluting the environment, and they are kind beings, wouldn’t they intervene? If they see us destroying each other and the planet, and they do nothing, they’re complicit, and a spectator to destruction. And that’s not a quality I like in someone, and then I would suggest that they may not kind beings, and also don’t need our resources. They’re simply apathetic, or too busy to care.

The Simulation Hypothesis

The Simulation Hypothesis states that we’re not real.  We’re a computer-generated being, playing out in a game on someone’s hard drive.  Let me explain why this makes some sense.

The Universe is 13 billion years old.  Humanity has been around for 130,000 years give or take.  Likely, there are far far advanced civilizations in the Cosmos that have millions or billions of years of technological advancement compared to us.  Here we are, in our kitchens or living rooms or cars reading this blog post.  See how far we have come in 30 years.  Now imagine a billion years of technological advancement.  As we play Cities Skylines and take care of our “Sims” to make sure they are housed and live in a nice city, it is not out of the question to assume that a civilization a billion years more technologically advanced than us have developed similar simulations – and we are their “Sims”.

Neil deGrasse Tyson puts the odds at “50-50” that we’re living in a simulation on someone’s hard drive.  According to Mr. Tyson we’re equally likely to be real vs. a simulation in some high-tech being’s computer.

If we are a simulation, how did we get free thought? Why do we feel?  What happens when we’re born, and what actually happens when we die?

This hypothesis offers many more questions than it answers, but it’s an important thing to discuss.

I hope I have piqued your interest in “why we are here?” and I encourage you to read further about these subjects if it interests you.

1 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

 

I Don’t Know Enough Deaf People

I don’t particularly enjoy speaking loudly, but that’s not the purpose of this post.  I learned recently that the sound we make when we sneeze – “ah-choo” – is a culturally learned behavior, and it varies between cultures.  In the Philippines they say “ha-ching”, and the Japanese say “hakashun”.  Deaf people say nothing at all.  Amazing.

One time I sneezed at work, and a coworker told me the person they were on the phone with asked if there was a dog barking in the office.  Since then, I tend to change the sound I make when I sneeze just to keep it fun.

Occasionally I fart when I sneeze, but that’s due to a lose o-ring condition, and I’m getting it looked at soon at the next scheduled oil change.

https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-07/why-deaf-people-dont-achoo-when-they-sneeze

 

President Trump: North Korean International Catalyst

I don’t talk much about politics, and the intent is certainly not to talk about it here on a daily basis.  I like to talk about theory; the ‘what ifs’ in our daily lives.

President Trump has not been known or recognized by his peers as someone that actually inspires change.  I didn’t vote for him (and I didn’t vote for Hillary either), and I’m lost somewhere between defending the Office of the Presidency even with Trump in it, and not vomiting.  It’s a weird place to be mentally.  Sometimes I can’t see myself saying that I can’t believe we’re barely 25% done with this term yet.

With that being said, I think we ought to give credit where credit is due.  Over the last 6 months there has been a dramatic shift with the North Koreans, and that is due, in part, because Trump stirred the pot.  Trump said he’s going to deal with the North Koreans.  He said he’ll put pressure on China.  He did both of those things by being a catalyst – he changed the status quo.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/world/korea-summit-kang-kyung-wha-amanpour-intl/index.html

 

(CNN) South Korea’s foreign minister has said she believes President Donald Trump is largely responsible for bringing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea, Kang Kyung-wha told CNN that the US President had played a significant role in bringing the two sides together.

“Clearly, credit goes to President Trump,” Kang told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in Seoul. “He’s been determined to come to grips with this from day one.”

People tend to forget how much Trump has done with regard to North Korea. Six months ago, Trump signed a coal deal with China.  This helped China because they were too dependent on coal from North Korea to block it, but with the deal from Trump they are in a fine position for their coal deliveries.

A month after the coal began arriving into China, they stopped all imports from North Korea.  With China no longer helping North Korea, all the DPRK has is Russia to turn to while the US-backed sanctions continued to bite.

North Korea turned to the black market to try and bypass sanctions, but the International community caught them.

European countries started smelling the roses, and Sweden – a North Korean allay – basically told them they’re going to withdraw their embassy if they did not sit at the table and negotiate.  North Korea can not sit and threaten the ROK, the United States, and the rest of the world with no response.

Additionally, with President Xi in China consolidating power in China making himself essentially President for life, China can no longer kick the DPRK into the tall grass for the next person to deal with.  Xi IS the tall grass now, and best to deal with the DPRK now than later.  Broker peace now, or be replaced.

So in this case, it appears that Trump’s unorthodox decisions have actually worked out in our favor.  Upsetting the status quo has proven to be exactly what was needed.  As much as it pains me to say it, Trump should get some credit for this.  While we are in the early stages of NPRK/ROK peace, it’s encouraging what has transpired over the last 36 hours.

A user on Reddit (SovietWomble) posted a rather lengthy “dumbed down” version of the NPRK crisis into a well done and elaborate version of a playground.  It’s a good read.

Trump may not be the solution, but he is the catalyst – chemically speaking.

 

Don Rickles – A Year Without Laughs

I’d be fibbing if we said we had no laughs in the last year, but I sure miss the man.  Rickles was the finest, funniest “stand-up” comedian I’ve had the honor to see.  His career speaks for itself.  His quick wit, his ability to maintain and entertain and audience, often all of the time at peak levels, is just astounding.  A kind and loving man off-stage, the world is surely less funny without him in it.  I miss him so much.

Photo Credit

Let’s not repeat today’s Facebook MLB game

Wow.  That was terrible.

Today, the Phillies and the Mets played a game that was not televised, but only watchable if you had a Facebook account.  The game was streamed and if you’re on Facebook, you could have watched it.  Here’s a look at what it looked like in full screen (Facebook comments turned off).  This image is from Reddit user “Dooglers”, found here.

Full screen capture of Facebook MLB game 4/4/18, FB comments turned off.

As a fan of the game, for every aspect this MLB and Facebook partnership is terrible.  The highlighting of the Instagram posts while people were batting was completely absurd.  A few times it even gave me the obstructed view that I’ve never quite enjoyed from my own living room.

I’m sure the MLB gained a lot of data from this though.  Hopefully the data shows that this was a complete mistake, and something the MLB should not continue into 2019.

John Kruk was alright though for a little while.  He can stay.

I’m not dead, I’m sure some are disappointed.

“Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires.”  –Charles Caleb Colton

I’m not dead.  I’m here.  I’m alive and well, mostly present and functional.  I’ve been away from this blog for a while, enough for it to be cool, then not-cool, then cool again.  Too much has changed; with me, the world, and life.  These old posts, it’s drivel.  It’s pontificating, mindless bullshit.  I’ll allow it to stay there, because I don’t cover up the past.

I’ve been around.  I never left, but a lot’s changed.  Marriage, kids, a home, two businesses.  In the time I’ve been gone, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been born.  What a difference 10 years makes.  I’m actually not as fat as I though I’d be by now, but I still am surprised at what time, beer and cheesesteaks will do.  I even held the onions once, that didn’t help.

So what’s next?  I have a few things in mind.  I can’t say with any certainty how much or how often, but there will be life here.  And what will be here will be relatable.  You may not like me, you may not like what you read, but may be you’ll be interested.   And if I’ve kept your attention, then I’ve succeeded.

I’m back because people told me to come back.  They’re sick of me having an audience of only a few hundred on Facebook, shouting into the void, and instead have encouraged me to write more here.

The beauty of blogs before social media was that you could simply choose to read this, or choose to pass it by.  Delete your bookmark, forget what you read.  Social media served up a healthy dose of anxiety; unsubscribe! unfollow! unfriend! There’s no judgement here.  Stick around, or leave–the choice is entirely yours without anything binding you.  There is no unsubscriptions, unfollowing, or unfriending.  You simply stay or go.  I’d like for you to hang around a bit.

My name is Jeff, and as the title says, I’m a connoisseur of leisurely things.  Slow and steady wins the race, slow and steady is the pace.  That’s how I write, that’s how I read, and how I live.

Comments are enabled, and I’ll engage you when I can.  I’m not here for arguments, but all [non-spam] comments will be allowed; I believe I don’t have all of the right answers, so I’m always open to other’s rational opinions.

Empathy, kindness, art, music, science, technology, social commentary and the bonds that make us human will be big themes here going forward.  Perhaps a recipe or two of a nice steak, or how to fix that pesky dishwasher.

The ability to help and heal by text far outweighs the benefits of not doing it.  Time is constant, measuring it is a human construct.  Be kind.  Be helpful.

Be present.

You’re not seeing double

I’m a huge fan of the Space Shuttle.  I always have been.  I also have been a large opponent of cancelling the program.  Sadly, President Obama continued former President Bush’s idea of cancelling the program a few months ago.  Look, I get it–the Shuttles are expensive, they underperformed in terms of total flights, and our economy is not right now for more spending.  I get it.

With that said, perhaps I’m sad about my age–I was 6 when Columbia lifted off for the first time, and I remember it.  The program has now ended after 30 years.  I’m now 36 – I’m good at math, ain’t I?’

I’m also sad about the job losses.  Thousands now at NASA are without work.

Lastly, I’m most sad that we do not have an immediate replacement ready to take over where the Shuttle left off.  It’ll be a few years – at best – and in the meantime, we’re relying on our permanent enemies/temporary friends – Russia, China – to handle all of the space-stuff.  I think this is a less-wise decision than cancelling the Shuttle program.

I hope American space progress is not ending.  I hope it’s paused.  And to end, I leave you with a photo of a never-before-seen sight; Shuttles Endeavour and Discovery nose-to-nose, each in a different state of decommissioning.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/08/11/two-shuttles-nose-to-nose/

Promises

Evidently, I can’t keep them. I said I’d post more here, and that was mid-June. I was serious though. This summer is just flying by – I thought I posted the last entry a few weeks ago, and I said even that was too long.

I’m sitting outside in my backyard now, and I’ve been farting loudly while consuming a few beers. Real loud, so the neighbors an acre away have to hear it.

They say it’s supposed to rain later, but it doesn’t seem quite like it.

Other than that, the economy sucks, there’s nothing on TV, and I’m addicted to Twitter.

I’ll post some useful stuff here soon, but today isn’t the day for it. I’ve spent the day cleaning, food shopping,. and getting my windshield replaced, so no more thinking for today.

My Absence

Did I spell Absence correctly? I meant to spell Absynthe. Anyway, yeah I have been gone from here for a bit. MY last post was 2008. That was almost three years ago. A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same. I’d been posting on FB and Twitter more, but as time goes on, this is the only spot where I can really let it out. So I’m back, bitches.

I’m sorry for leaving, but I’m happy to be back. The Mets still suck. I’m now married with a kid on the way in Oct 2011. I’m fatter, but wiser. My alcohol tolerance is increased, but my tolerance for stupid people has decreased.

Thank you for reading. Cutting through all the bullshit, I’m a nice guy. My passion in life is efficiencies – I like to make things work better. I work in a place now where I’m not allowed to do that. I work there because it’s a paycheck. I am always looking for a better opportunity. I love anyone that has a positive attitude, and who wants something better out of life. I’m passionate about returning this country to a major world power, not just militarily, but through education, production, and again, efficiency.

It’s nice to be back.
-Jeff