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 September 8, 2025     I just received an invitation to our 60 year graduation reunion at the Albert Einstein College Of Medicine Alumni reception in the Bronx, New York for next month. Many of the participants I have vague associated memories but some more feeling of attachment and interest in communicating with. Some have responded with attached shortened curriculum vitae describing their academic and professional accomplishments including continued work. We're all in our 80's yet continued influenced by the culture of activity, curiosity, and research participation that influenced us in our beginning careers. Some of us are deceased or seriously cognitively impaired. The toll of time has been here.       I just returned from a trip from Kailua Oahu to Glacier National Park with the Road Scholar Tour Company. Besides the adventures in the great outdoors, our lectures and times sharing with over thirty interesting mostly retirees and the history of th...
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 May 17, 2025     This morning, my wife Rebecca invited me to have my coffee and cereal out in our front yard deck. The sun was shining, the trade wind breeze coming from our blue green ocean washed over us. Our garden was green with naupaka, palm trees, nawawili,  and green grass, with sculptures of angels, and ceramic art pieces enhancing the vegetation and delighting our vision. Being one with nature a feeling of wonder and awe. Religious experiences of oneness, connection and bonding with the all, has been written about, studied in the laboratory, set to music such as Poem of Ecstasy by Alexander Scriabin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poem_of_Ecstasy ), and incorporated into the rituals and dogma of various religions as proof and connection to the other or creator who then may seem to promise connection to loved ones now deceased and even paradise after we die for the faithful worshipper. The study of awe, a human emotional state of being, is related to the...
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 April 17, 2025     Consternation, depression, anxiety, loss, and disrespect all come to my mind when being confronted everyday by more stupidity, legal and police like maneuvering, economic threats towards other nations, corporations, education institutions, individuals through threatened tax audits, and civil and criminal legal threats towards opponents to public policy such as the state of Maine as I think of the many instances of our present governments actions. Well, to audit and evaluate our civil service departments seems reasonable, the facts of our present government's actions are much more arbitrary with disregard for the employment and rights of loyal civil service employees who had declared as a condition of their employment to uphold the constitution of the USA.  The misinformation disseminated by the executive branch of the USA I read is designed to negate the stupidity of these actions and even deny their reality. Dismantling the various departments, s...
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March 7, 2025      As a young student I read some of the Odyssey and the tales of Odysseus. Odysseus was a man portrayed as egotistical and full of excessive pride (hubris). "Examples of Odysseus' hubris: Taunting Polyphemus: After escaping the cyclops' cave, Odysseus taunted Polyphemus, which made the cyclops even angrier. Polyphemus then threw a boulder at Odysseus' ships. Cursing Poseidon: Odysseus cursed Poseidon, which caused bad weather during his journey. Leaving his family: Odysseus left his wife and son alone while he fought in the Trojan War. While he was gone, suitors threatened his family. Consequences of Odysseus' hubris: His men caused destruction and death each time he left them alone. All of his men died on their journey home. Despite his flaws, Odysseus was still a respected Greek hero." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus )      Another written tale is in the bible the book of Genesis. Abraham was a wealthy man who heard the...
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 March 6, 2025     Lieutenant Kije is well known in the music world, the world of cinema, and a M.A.S.H. episode concerning Captain Tuttle may be a more modern version.  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Kij%C3%A9#:~:text=Lieutenant%20Kij%C3%A9%20or%20Kizhe%20(Russian,his%20rise%20through%20the%20ranks. ).  I enjoy the music of Prokofiev whose music for the film version of of Tynyanov's novella was written after he returned to Russia from Paris during the Stalin purges. Prokofiev enjoyed great success abroad but missed speaking with the Russian people in his native language, missed the music, folklore, literature and  ambiances of his native homeland. In the film version Emperor Paul and the lady in waiting initiate the parody so that the fictious Kije is sent to Siberia but then ultimately elevated by the emperor to General but since he was summoned the emperor was told he was killed. The five themes in the music are explained in the Wikipedia pos...
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 February 27, 2025     It's been awhile since I've created another post. My interests and emotional attention has been influenced by the USA political turmoil of our times. I am a member of a weekly group of up to seven people who meet every Monday at 1 PM at my home. We have been sharing our personal lives, our interests in various subject, and our understanding and sometimes consternations concerning our countries political problems. The media provides me with various opinions and reported facts that attempt to explain and elucidate the various issues with to me with sometimes clarity and deep concern.      Yesterday, I was walking the two and one-half miles into Koko Crater Botanical Gardens on Oahu with my wife and a friend. At the top turn around we were resting and talking when another hiker came up and he shared his concerns. A lawyer from Idaho now retired well traveled and an adventurer we talked about  this countries political turmoil and the...
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