Blog archive
April 2024
Stimulated by "Caste"
04/22/2024
Tulsa reparations, Religion and Politics
04/09/2024
March 2024
Trumps War with Black Women
03/31/2024
Addressing The Needs of Older Adults Through Pasadena Village
03/25/2024
Coming Soon: More Resources for Older Americans, Online and in Person
03/25/2024
Community Building Locally and Nationally
03/25/2024
Preparing for the Future with Ready or Not
03/25/2024
Volunteering is at The Heart of the Village
03/25/2024
Women's Liberation: Then and Now
03/25/2024
Writing Memoirs Together
03/25/2024
Current Views on Current Events
03/20/2024
Unchained
03/18/2024
Rumr of Humor issue # 2409
03/10/2024
Blacks Portrayed by European Artists
03/03/2024
Rumor of Humor #2408
03/03/2024
February 2024
Caring for Ourselves and Each Other
02/27/2024
Doug Colliflower Honored
02/27/2024
Great Decisions Connects Us to the Worldwide Community
02/27/2024
Letter from the President
02/27/2024
Pasadena Village's Impact
02/27/2024
The Power of Touch
02/27/2024
Villages as a New Approach to Aging
02/27/2024
Addressing Gang Violence in Pasadena-Altadena
02/21/2024
Rumor of Humor Issue 2407
02/19/2024
Thank You For Caring.
02/12/2024
Rumor of Humor 2405
02/11/2024
Curve Balls
02/10/2024
Sylvan Lane
02/10/2024
Rumor of Humor 2404
02/09/2024
Larry Duplechan, Blacks in Film
02/03/2024
January 2024
Pasadena Village Joins Community Partners in Vaccination Campaign
01/29/2024
Rumor of Humor #2403
01/28/2024
Pasadena Village Joins Two Healthy Aging Resource Projects
01/25/2024
Decluttering: Do It Now
01/24/2024
Village Volunteers Contribute to the Huntington Magic
01/24/2024
Villagers Creating Community
01/24/2024
Villagers Reflect on Black History Month
01/24/2024
Walk With Ease, 2024
01/24/2024
Wide Ranging Discussion on Current Issues
01/22/2024
Wide Ranging Discussion on Current Issues
01/22/2024
Rumor of Humor # 2402
01/21/2024
Rumor of Humor # 2401
01/15/2024
Re- Entry Programs, a Personal Experience
01/08/2024
Science: Martian Lander, UFOs, Solar Eclipse
By Bob SnodgrassPosted: 06/15/2021
Present: Sally A, Gretchen, Bruce, Dave, Bob, Dick, Sharon
We had a pleasant meeting as usual, but with only 3 presentations: stalwart Sally presented interesting photos from the Chinese Martian lander, I hope that you all are paying attention to the ambitious Chinese space program which has launched its own space center with astronauts. We should have enough published material for someone to do an informative presentation about the history, failures, and successes of the Chine space program in the next few months. Gretchen who had told me months ago that she was sick of Zoom, gave an impassioned discussion of UFOs and discussion of space invaders going back centuries & more associated with energy release and human malfunction - it was great, but to me a better argument for Jung’s collective unconscious than for aliens from outer space - maybe I argued too vigorously that the only credible UFO reports came from pilots and their numbers haven’t changed much. There is room for differing opinions about UFOs and maybe we should revisit this subject after the publication of the Federal UFO report in the next 2 months. There should be ways to download it for free.
I filled the gaps with a brief discussion of the annular solar eclipse coming Thursday the 17th (the but only to the far north near the Arctic circle) and a longer, perhaps numbing discussion of the HERITAGE project, ongoing since the 1990s trying to find the basis for how exercise improves cardiorespiratory fitness associated with exercise in sedentary humans (39% black). The project found no simple answer and has evolved to studying thousands of plasma proteins before and after a 20 week course of supervised exercise in a ‘bicycle ergometer’ with these results:
No protein contributed more than 3%and few contributed even 1% and ~ 15% of subjects had worse fitness after this supervise exercise - this could be predicted from their protein profile- I’ll send a copy of the latest paper to any masochist who wants one.
Our big problem is our poor attendance or better put, lack of presentations. Those who don’t bring presentations are our friends and often have valuable comments, but 3 presenters are way too few. Science news is abundant and vibrant. We learned only this week that the much discussed dimming of the giant red star Betelgeuse (now clearing up) was/is due to dust from the giant’s cooling outer layers. Red supergiants are the largest stars in the universe. They represent a stage in the evolution of giant stars in which they expand outward, begin to cool and lose mass as they progress toward going supernova with a big blast in the end. This giant will certainly form a black hole someday. Its dimming had been seen as a sign that the end was near, but that conclusion was hasty. Betelgeuse is the 10th brightest star seen from earth and is visible without a telescope, if you get away from the light pollution of LA County.
Remember what an excellent presentation Jay Marx gave us on the LIGO project. Maybe we can find another presenter from JPL. Cal Tech, or elsewhere. In our Zoom era, they can be in their own office. If we can’t improve with more presentations, the board may kick us out of our Zoom slot.