Monthly Archives: July 2021

Beyond space and time

Part 1 – Time travel

When people imagine time travel, they often don’t realize that they are also talking about space travel as well.

How Fast Is the Earth Rotating on Its Axis?

The Earth rotates on its axis once each day. Because the circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles, a spot on the equator rotates at approximately 1,037.5646 miles per hour (1,037.5646 times 24 equals 24,901.55), or 1,669.8 km/h.

At the North Pole (90 degrees north) and South Pole (90 degrees south), the speed is effectively zero because that spot rotates once in 24 hours, at a very, very slow speed. (Source)

In addition to this rotation, the earth is hurling around the sun at 30km (19 miles) per second! And, our sun isn’t stationary in the galaxy, it travels 792,000 km (483,000 miles) per hour (and still takes 230 million years to complete a rotation).

These numbers are mind boggling. Now, going back to the idea of a time machine, if I was able to go back in time to only 5 years ago, the earth that existed back then was millions of kilometres away from where the earth is now. I’d have to travel through time and space.

Part 2 – The light of the stars

When we look at the stars, we only see their history. The closest star, our sun, is not where we see it, it is where the sun was 8 minutes ago, because that’s how long it took the light to reach us. For stars that are light years away, they could already have gone super nova, and wiped out their solar system, and generations later our ancestors will still see that star, not knowing it no longer exists. We are literally looking back in time when we look out into space.

Part 3 – the edge of the universe

A concept I can’t wrap my head around is what’s beyond the edge of the universe? And if you have an answer for me, what’s beyond that? This to me is the definition of infinite… the idea that no matter how far away something is, there has to be something still farther away.

If you had a string that was infinitely long and you cut it in half, you’d have two strings that are infinitely long. Think about that for a while… then try to forget it. 😜

Why should we believe that our universe is the only universe? Could there be multiple universes in the empty void beyond our own? Could our entire universe be an atom in a massive other universe? What secrets do the edge of our universe hold? We will never know because it takes too much time for the light way out there to reach us.

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These are 3 ideas about space and time that peak my curiosity and make me marvel at life, the universe, and everything… while we hurl through space on an insignificant rock around an insignificant sun, in an insignificant galaxy… thinking thoughts that significantly challenge my intellectual understanding.

What the next year will bring

I’m not pretending that I have a crystal ball, and can see into the future, but here are some predictions on the year ahead:

1. Vaccines.

A) In the developed world: despite growing evidence that vaccines are saving lives, there are going to be too many people that choose not to get them and the Delta variant (or another yet to be named variant) will bring prolonged restrictions that the very people refusing to get the vaccine will be the most vocal about.

B) In the developing world: It will be another year from now before many countries have enough vaccines to distribute two shots to every person that wants one… but in some of these countries it will be mandated, and that will be a new front of contention and fear mongering in ‘more free’ countries.

C) Booster shots (a 3rd dose) will not be seriously considered for at least 6 months to a year, if at all… but watch for news as elites decide to get it anyway, and while this won’t influence anti-vaxers to get their shots, many with 2 shots will want the 3rd shot as a security blanket.

2. Conspiracy theories.

These will flourish for two reasons:

A) Social media is too easily exploited by clever use of targeted advertising dollars, and fake news/information travels faster than boring but true facts.

B) The news plays easily into the hands of controversy = clicks = advertising dollars. Example: Share the story of an articulate 22 year-old choosing not to be vaccinated. Let her express her concerns for a minute, give a 30 second response, let her get the last word in. The controversy is more important than the science, and the news cast plays like an anti-vaxer advertisement… for free, with a large audience.

3. American Politics: The next year will decide the 2024 election. It is comical to me that some people still think the last election will be overturned… it won’t. However, I think Trump will make a lot of waves in the next year. While I won’t make a prediction as to weather he rides the wave or sinks, I think contention around the last election will be the counterbalance to Trump’s legal woes, and both of these will play into keeping his name in the news, and on the minds of Americans. If in a year he is not in legal hot water, then be warned that he could be a legitimate candidate in 2024.

4. Climate Change: Freakish weather will make this a hot topic for the next year. That said, not much will change with respect to doing something meaningful about it. Newsworthy, but somehow not change worthy.

5. Cryptocurrency: Countries will begin to adopt their own digital currencies. Paper bills will not be produced by most countries in 5 years, and this will be evident by next summer. Developing countries with massive inflation issues will lead the way.

6. Cancel culture: I’ll end on this, and in all honesty, I think this is a wish more than a prediction. I hope that there is some rebalancing around people being cancelled for poor indiscretions. What I mean by this is that someone saying something stupid can’t be treated as equally vile as someone who commits an evil crime. Human beings make mistakes. Two things matter when those mistakes are made. First, how much harm was caused? Second, what is the response/consequence?

I don’t think public/social media spaces are spaces where restitution and resolutions happen. Instead these sites become cesspools of anger, hate, rage, and an attack on people which prevents conversation and learning. Some of these attacks are worse than the indiscretion, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

I would like to see people provided a chance for redemption, rather than vilification and cancelation. We need to allow for learning and growth.

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That’s 5 predictions and a wish. I’ll set a calendar date for a year from now and see how I did.

Flat earth and flight times

I’ve already shared this clip where you,

“just need to go to 5:46 of this video, and watch until 12:48.

https://youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44?t=346

This 7 minutes is all you need to debunk Flat Earthers.”

But forget about the science for a moment, forget about the videos from space, and forget about what the shadow of the earth looks like on the moon.

What gets me is how flat earthers think time zones and plane travel work? We have decades of flight traffic data, and every day flights take off and land in predictable times between set locations. If the world were flat there would be some split in between 2 locations that would be impossible. Let’s say the split is somewhere between Hawaii and Japan. Take the globe and flatten it out with Hawaii on the Far West and Japan on the Far East. Then how can the flight between these two places be only 8.5 hours? Meanwhile, going the other way, it takes over 11 hours from Hawaii to Newfoundland… how could a plane go from one side of the flat earth to the other side so quickly?

No matter where you decide to draw the lines for a flat earth, we have flights travelling daily that would have to beat all airspeed records to accomplish landing on time, if they couldn’t go around the earth and instead had to fly the opposite way to avoid the edge. Put a flat earther on one of those flights, and that should defy any proof they think they might have. That should be the only evidence needed. Yet I guess it’s not enough.

That’s the weird thing about conspiracy theories like this… They don’t stand up to any evidence and yet people stick to them. To anyone who seriously and vehemently stands by the idea that the world is flat, do me a favour: draw the lines in the sand. Tell me where the edge is that separates east from west, then tell me how the flights between a city on the east and a city on the west can be achieved so quickly?

The cap gun

When I was a kid, I had a cap gun. It was a eight-shooter, with the caps coming in a ring that fit into the revolver cylinder. Put it in your cap gun and you could shoot off all 8 caps before putting a new ring in. But I never used it, I was always saving my caps. I hid them at my grandparents house, under the bathroom sink in the room my great grandfather used before he died.

This room was sort of my play room that I used at my grandparents, who lived on our street. It wasn’t a room used by anyone… except me. Fast forward to us moving to Canada when I was 9 (we grew up in Barbados). Our bags are packed and we are leaving the next morning. I remember the cap gun and about 30-40 ten-packs of caps. I gather them up and take them to my parents to pack.

“We can’t take that in the plane.”

So, after a little back-and-forth with my parents it becomes clear that the cap gun and hoard of caps is staying in Barbados. So I did what any kid would do… I spent the next 45 minutes to an hour shooting off every cap I had. I shot everything and everyone around me. I spent every last round, and then have the empty gun to my cousin.

It was fun, but not as much fun as using the gun all along, rather than saving every cap for this unforeseen occasion. While it was a moment to remember, it wasn’t memorable because I went on a shooting spree, it was memorable because it wasn’t as enjoyable as I had anticipated, and I realized that I missed out by hoarding caps rather than using them all along.

Today, I still laugh at myself when I catch myself doing something like this. A perfect example is when I get a sticker I like… I find myself not wanting ti use it. But I do. I remember the cap gun and all those unused caps and I peel that sticker and stick it somewhere… it doesn’t get ‘stuck’ in a drawer waiting to be never used.

What are your metaphorical caps, and why aren’t you enjoying them right now?

20 years experience

I heard a question yesterday that really made me think. The question was, “Does he have 20 years experience, or one year of experience repeated 20 times?”

Years of experience is different from years of growth. Many students finish grade 12 and graduate. Some did the bare minimum, some got really good at ‘doing school’ year after year, some come out lifelong learners ready for anything that comes their way, and will actually seek out new learning experiences.

The same can be said for teachers, doctors, lawyers, and tax accountants. Some get good at doing the same thing over and over, some are constantly learning and becoming better… many are a mix between the two.

What are you really good at? How long have you been doing it? What do you suck at, despite putting years into it? And for the latter, what are you going to do differently, so that you are adding to your experience, and not just your years of doing it.

I’ll never look at expertise the same again… ‘years of experience’ comes in many different forms.

Not in our lifetime

We have an inherent bias that we believe things will happen in our lifetime, and conspiracy theorists are far more biased in this area than others. The next big event will bring the end of the world as we know it.

From the Bay of Pigs all the way to the Reagan era, World War III was inevitable. Y2K was going to send us back to the Middle Ages. Meteors, super volcanos, earthquakes, super floods, and yes, viruses, are all threats to humanity that will be the end of civilization as we know it…. apocalyptic threats to the human race that will happen any day now.

But the weird part is that somehow these are inevitable to happen in ‘our’ lifetime. We will bare witness. We will be the last generation to know what normal was.

Normal.

What is that? Normal as in a life of traveling by horse and buggy? Normal as in women can’t vote? Normal as in smoking in restaurants? Normal as in life before indoor plumbing, or before social media?

Our world advances in extremely fast and innovative ways, but somehow the human race will find its demise in our lifetime… or so conspiracy theorists believe. People will prepare for the end days, but they won’t live in the now.

“If I hold up this sign that says, ‘The world will end tomorrow’ long enough, one day I will be right.”

…that’s assuming the end will happen in your lifetime… but it probably won’t. We will see so many changes in our lifetime, but so will our grandkids… and maybe they will see the end times, but the simple reality is that it’s unlikely to happen in ours.

Humans, the earth, or the universe probably need a few more generations to really screw things up for us, for our planet, and odds are that this will happen after everyone living today is long dead. The end might be near, but it’s farther away than our short lives.

Breaking routines

The past few weeks have been challenging for me to maintain my healthy living goals. My exercise has been the bare minimum, I missed a meditation day, and I’ve only shot arrows twice in the last 2 weeks. Daily blogging is the only think I haven’t missed.

I can blame getting busy at the end of the year, but I know I could have done better. What’s worse is that I’m heading into a summer where my routines are going to be completely disrupted. For one thing, I’ll be out of town a lot without my bow, and so I’m going to get very little shooting time. Beyond that, I’ll be without my home gym.

I thrive on routine to keep my healthy living goals, and this summer is going to be a challenge and a test for me. I will need to figure out a routine that works, and stick with it, or I know my healthy living chart will be a disappointment. I have 2 months ahead that I need to show discipline… that I need to plan, such that my fitness is actually a priority and not just an afterthought.

This will especially be a challenge because my motivation has been low, and my workouts have been about maintenance and doing the minimum. I think I’ll have to find a new goal or two to work on. I should state those here because I know making my goals public pushes me, but the goals in my head right now aren’t ones that I think I’m actually ready to make and stick with. If I’m not honest with myself, I’m not ready to declare something I won’t stick to.

So I’m heading forward without a routine and without specific goals. This is not ideal. I’ll hit all 4 targets today, and I’ll do the same tomorrow, but if I don’t set up routines by my first trip at the end of this week, I know I’m going to disappoint myself. That’s not a great feeling, but it’s honest, and so this is a goal I need to set over the next few days. I don’t do well taking care of myself when I get off of my routines, and if I’m not careful, this is going to be a routine-less summer.

Standing wave

I remember hearing that on average human cells are replaced every 7-10 years. However, unlike the ship of Theseus not every cell is replaced. Some eye lens cells last a lifetime and there are other cells, such as some in our hearts, that can live for over 50 years. That said, at 53 most of the the cells that made me me when I was born have been replaced, some every couple days, some over years.

Last night coming home from Nanaimo, back to the mainland on the ferry across the Strait of Georgia, I was mesmerized by the standing wave made by the boat. I watched the wake of the boat out over the railing on an opening on the car deck, and stared at the water dancing across this wake. It occurred to me that despite the wake being consistently the same distance from the boat, as I stared at the wake, I was staring at a constant flow of water being replaced by water coming off of the front of the boat. The wave stays the same, but the water is constantly and completely changing.

Inversely, we tend to try to stay the same in an ever-changing world. We develop metaphorical standing waves that treat everything that comes our way the same. We develop patterns of behaviour where we react the same way to people and situations that come our way. Yes, we learn and we grow, but more slowly as we age. We tend to find comfortable, repeatable ways of facing life’s challenges in the same way. Some of us being more like small sail boats that confront every wave a little differently as our boat adjusts, and others more like a massive tanker ship, that keeps the same standing wave in all but the roughest of seas.

What standing waves do we create in our lives? What do we tend to leave in our wake? I’ve met selfish people that leave turmoil and chaos in their wake and go through life selfishly disrupting other people’s wakes, and I’ve met others that are selfless and worry more about helping others with their wakes than worrying about their own. The most dangerous of all are those that think the are the latter but are actually the former… they think they are what makes the seas calm while they themselves are hurricanes, unaware that they are in the calm of the eye of the storm they create, while those around them face the tumultuous winds and rough seas.

We should all think about the wake we create, and we would be advised to keep out of the wake of people who create disruptive waves. And while we slowly replace ourselves with our future selves, we need not create the same old standing waves if they don’t serve us well and move us in a direction we want to go.

Year-end Message to Parents

Yesterday I sent an email to our students and parents with our updated calendar for next year, and all the year-end and September details they need. Then I sent the email below just to parents:

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Greetings Inquiry Hub Parents,

I just sent a message to you and your child, but I wanted to take a moment and send one just to parents. I have been thoroughly impressed with the resilience of our students during the pandemic. They have put on a brave face and held together at a time when it seems the entire world has gone a little mad. When I see news these days, I often wish the adults would act with the maturity of some of the students at our school! That said, this will be a summer when students might be trying to let loose a little and want to push the envelope as restrictions are lifted. Quite frankly, they deserve the opportunity to have a little freedom this summer… but what that looks like will be different for different students and their families.

One of the biggest challenges that I have found being a parent is that through the teen years there is no perfect balance of our kids wanting more freedom and us wanting less control. Our kids always think they are old enough to do the things they want to do, and we are always worried about letting them make more and more grown up choices on their own… Be it spending their money on things we don’t think are smart, staying out later than we think they should, and everything from alcohol use, to friendships, to boyfriends and girlfriends, to technology use. It’s not easy to figure out, and what’s more baffling is that what works for one kid, doesn’t work for another, even in the same household. Kids don’t come with instructions, and if they did, I am certain they would be translated from another language and hard to follow anyways. 😉

Below I’ve shared two resources that will take a total of 3 minutes of your time. Each will take a minute and a half, the first being a Facebook video and the second being a short read. I hope you enjoy them both, and maybe they might help you the next time you are faced with a challenging moment with one of your children.

It has been a year of loss and challenges for many, and at this time, I hope you all enjoy the time you have with your kids. Mine are 19 and 21 now, and while our relationships are wonderful, I do look back and wonder where the time went? I wonder what more I could have done with them while they were still part of a family under one roof. This is my way of saying, have a safe and wonderful summer with your kids, and as old as they think they are… they are still your kids, make the most of it!

Regards,

Dave 

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You are the roller coaster safety bar for your teen. 

By Josh Shipp

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Dear Mom and Dad, Please Stick With Me

by Helene Wingens (Source)

 

Dear Mom and Dad, 

Please stick with me. 

I can’t think clearly right now because there is a rather substantial section of my prefrontal cortex missing. It’s a fairly important chunk, something having to do with rational thought. You see, it won’t be fully developed until I’m about 25. And from where I sit, 25 seems a long way off. 

My brain is not yet fully developed

It doesn’t matter that I’m smart; even a perfect score on my math SAT doesn’t insulate me from the normal developmental stages that we all go through. Judgement and intelligence are two completely distinct things. 

And, the same thing that makes my brain wonderfully flexible, creative and sponge-like also makes me impulsive. Not necessarily reckless or negligent but more impulsive than I will be later in life. 

Please stick with me.

So when you look at me like I have ten heads after I’ve done something “stupid” or failed to do something “smart,” you’re not really helping.

You adults respond to situations with your prefrontal cortex (rationally) but I am more inclined to respond with my amygdala (emotionally). And when you ask, “What were you thinking?” the answer is I wasn’t, at least not in the way you are. You can blame me, or you can blame mother nature, but either way, it is what it is.  

At this point in my life, I get that you love me, but my friends are my everything. Please understand that. Right now I choose my friends, but, don’t be fooled, I am watching you. Carefully. 

Please stick with me. 

Here’s what you can do for me

1. Model adulting

I see all the behaviors that you are modeling and I hear all of the words you say. I may not listen but I do hear you. I seem impervious to your advice, like I’m wearing a Kevlar vest but your actions and words are penetrating. I promise. If you keep showing me the way, I will follow even if I detour many, many times before we reach our destination. 

2. Let me figure things out for myself.

If you allow me to experience the consequences of my own actions I will learn from them. Please give me a little bit of leash and let me know that I can figure things out for myself. The more I do, the more confidence and resilience I will develop.

3. Tell me about you.

I want you to tell me all the stories of the crazy things you did as a teen, and what you learned from them. Then give me the space to do the same.

4. Help me with perspective.

Keep reminding me of the big picture. I will roll my eyes at you and make all kinds of grunt-like sounds. I will let you know in no uncertain terms that you can’t possibly understand any of what I’m going through. But I’m listening. I really am. It’s hard for me to see anything beyond the weeds that I am currently mired in. Help me scan out and focus on the long view. Remind me that this moment will pass.

5. Keep me safe.

Please remind me that drugs and driving don’t mix. Keep telling me that you will bail me out of any dangerous situation, no anger, no lectures, no questions asked. But also let me know over and over and over that you are there to listen, when I need you. 

6. Be kind.

I will learn kindness from you and if you are relentless in your kindness to me, someday I will imitate that behavior. Don’t ever mock me, please and don’t be cruel. Humor me-I think I know everything. You probably did as well at my age. Let it go. 

7. Show interest in the things I enjoy.

Some days I will choose to share my interests with you, and it will make me feel good if you validate those interests, by at least acting interested.

One day when the haze of adolescence lifts, you will find a confident, strong, competent, kind adult where a surly teenager once stood. In the meantime, buckle in for the ride. 

Please stick with me. 

Love,

Your Teenager 

Return of the bad dream

I have this awful habit of returning to bad dreams, even after I wake up in the middle of the night. It happened last night at least twice. I was dreaming about a house renovation and the builders added some ridiculous contraption above our counter by the sink to dispense soap. In was an ugly monstrosity and it leaked.

I was trying to get this block-headed, massive worker to remove it, but he would only try to fix it. Then he’d move on and I’d have to call him back. This was one of many complaints I had that was not being fixed. During the dream, I woke up, and was relieved that it was just a dream. Then I shut my eyes again, and jumped right back into the stressful dream.

Why?

Why would I want to return to an awful dream where no matter what I did, things were not working out?

Then I woke again. This time, I’m mad at myself for going back into the same dream, and I tell myself to think of something different. Then I fall asleep and return to this never-ending, overly stressful dream.

This only seems to happen with stressful dreams. Good dreams are hard to get back into. Bad dreams continue. They live on past short wake-ups despite being aware of how silly they are, and how annoying they are.

If anyone has any suggestions to change this please let me know. I’m not a fan of waking up tired in the morning after a night of stressful dreams that could have ended 2-3 times had I just moved on after waking up.