A Bloy and his Blog

There’ve been a couple of interesting science stories in the news lately. First, marine biologists have discovered what can best be described as a furry lobster in the South Pacific. Every time scientists discover a new species on our planet I’m amazed. Humans have been on the Earth for how long, and we’re still seeing things we’ve never encountered before.

Yesterday, NASA announced their Cassini spacecraft has photographed water geysers spouting from one of Jupiter’s moons. Scientists are speculating that having geysers on the small moon could mean it has “a warm, water-based environment reasonably close to the surface – one that could be conducive to living organisms.”

Discoveries like these are exactly why we need to maintain funding for exploring our universe, both on and off our humble little world. I wonder how many other exciting things are out there, just waiting to be discovered.

Today while visiting the eye doctor for a checkup, I got one of the proverbial signs of aging. I need bifocals.

It wasn’t exactly a big surprise to me. Over the past six months or so, I’ve been looking underneath my glasses to read small print. When the eye doctor first entered the exam room, she asked me if I had any problems or concerns. I told her that I wasn’t having any problems, but that she was probably going to tell me that I should get bifocals. She then asked, “Are you okay with that?”

read the rest of: Signs of aging

Happy New Year! The start of a new year causes a lot of people to look ahead, and make their resolutions for the year. I’ve never been one to make new year’s resolutions. If there’s something I feel I should or should not be doing, I usually don’t wait until January 1st to make those changes or adjustments.

However, the small heart attack my father had recently (he’s doing very well now, thank you) has cause me to think a bit about exercise — specifically in the winter.

read the rest of: Get that heart pumping

Today on the public radio show, To the Best of Our Knowledge, they asked the question, “What do you regret in your life?”

After I graduated from high school, I stayed in my parents’ home and attended college at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. I had considered attending the University in Madison, but decided against it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back I think chose that path because it was the “safe” thing to do. I may have been a little scared of moving away from home. Sometimes I think I made the wrong decision and should have gone to school in Madison. By doing so I believe I would have gained a level of maturity sooner and would have broadened my horizons a little more than I did by staying in Milwaukee.

read the rest of: The path not taken

At an appointment with my physical therapist yesterday, I was congratulated by her. She felt I had “graduated” and would not have to come any longer.

It’s been twelve weeks now since I broke my wrist and had the subsequent surgery. I have had regular “dates” with my therapist since the end of August. First twice a week, and for about the past month it was at once a week. As she pointed out yesterday, I’ve come a long way.

read the rest of: Graduation of the broken wrist

The lead story in yesterday’s paper was the devastating earthquake in Pakistan. Authorities are now predicting as many as 30,000 deaths as a result of the quake. The U.N. is reporting 2.5 million people in the affected area are homeless. Statistics of that magnitude are difficult for me to comprehend.

In the editorial section of that same paper were two opposing viewpoints on whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools, which caused me to wonder:

read the rest of: Disasters and intelligent design

It’s been six weeks since I broke my wrist (a distal radius fracture to be technical) and had surgery, and I’ve been told I’m coming along nicely. My physical therapist is putting me to work though, currently with all kinds of stretching exercises. With the trauma and immobilization, tendons in your wrist and fingers can really tighten up (take my word for it). Right now my injured wrist can bend vertically about 80 degrees. Compare that to how far your own wrist can bend.

read the rest of: Them bones, them bones