Day 3850

When we were walking with Dawn this morning we passed this large warning sign that said "Raptors Ahead." I didn't see any dinosaurs, but maybe they're out there. It's definitely been that kind of year. It's pretty warm at sunrise now, but at least we had a nice breeze. We were able to complete our full five miles today before returning home to fix breakfast.

I don't know why I was worried about my dental appointment. Everything went smoothly. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, my dental hygienist always wore a mask and face shield when cleaning my teeth. I told the dentist that I now know why I can never find Clorox Wipes at the grocery store. They were wiping things down every five seconds. Unlike the folks at Home Depot, doctors and dentists know how to keep things sterile.

The folks at the dental office told me that they hoped the governor wouldn't shut them down again. They've had a difficult couple of months and are just starting to get the practice running smoothly again. I was impressed with these guys. They took all the chairs out of the lobby so nobody could sit down. You called when you arrived, and then they called you back when it was OK to enter the office. Only one patient was ever in the practice at a time. At soon as you arrived you went straight to the dental chair. It was all very efficient. In addition to getting my teeth cleaned, the dentist also smoothed out a rough spot on a crown that had been bothering me. It was a good visit and I'm glad I kept the appointment. Now I've got to decide whether to get a haircut before they start shutting down salons again.

The longer this pandemic goes on, the more I realize that the problem isn't which businesses are open or closed. The problem is human nature. A lot of people seem compelled to congregate and talk to each other. Why? If more people acted like me, this pandemic would be over by now. I'm comfortable walking alone, shopping alone, and eating at a restaurant alone. If I feel like drinking, I would never go to a bar.  It's so much easier to just get a cold beer out of the fridge, sit on the back porch, and let my mind wander.

All the news channels today were talking about today's Supreme Court decisions regarding the president's taxes. Almost nobody mentioned that the Supreme Court also decided today to give half of Oklahoma back to the Indians. What? I would think that this would be huge news. From what I can tell, government and business leaders in Oklahoma seem comfortable with the idea of living under tribal law because they think it will mean a ton of new Indian Casinos and lots of tourist dollars for the state.

I've been wanting to see Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise in the morning sky, but so far its been cloudy or raining when the comet is above the horizon. I've got one of two more day to hope for clear skies before the comet disappears behind the sun. It will reappear in the evening sky later in July. Maybe I'll have better luck then.

I doubt that I'll see anything exciting tomorrow. It is Friday though and I still have enough fruit left to make one more smoothie. I've taken this week's trash to the curb and am ready to start looking for Raptors in the morning.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3812

One of the best ways to make the world seem normal again is to visit the Dalmatian kennel. There were fewer dogs this week. Cinder has gone to her forever home. Her new owners renamed her Cinderella and from all we've heard she's enjoying her new surroundings. Murphy, Hank, and Charlie were all glad to see us. Each of these boys has their favorite toys and loves to play. They all seem remarkably well adjusted to life at the kennel, but I'm sure they look forward to finding their forever homes as well.

As usual, the day started with an early morning walk. It's always quiet and peaceful right around sunrise. We've started seeing lots of baby ducks near the lake. We also saw a young coyote running down a neighborhood street. Hopefully Mom can keep her ducklings safe until they learn to fly. The young owls I saw a few months ago have all learned to fly. I never see them any more, although I know they are nearby. I often hear them deep in the woods. This cycle of life repeats every Spring in the park. It's reassuring to see the wildflowers return right on schedule and a new generation of animals repopulate the park. If only civilization was as predictable as nature.

I continue to be amazed that nobody is talking about the virus anymore. Almost overnight we have gone from staying six feet apart to huge crowds milling about on city streets. It's almost as if the entire population has Attention Deficit Disorder. Apparently, we can only concentrate on one crisis at a time. The media certainly isn't helping. Everyone is still pushing their own narrative and suddenly all this unrest becomes about identity politics again. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if Dr. Fauci was right. If the virus is as contagious as he says it is, there are going to be a lot of sick people three weeks from now.

I think Dallas is still under a curfew. I wouldn't know. I haven't gone out at night in years. It's a shame to be nervous about going out at night when you are interested in astronomy. The park is a good place for star watching, but it also a popular place for drug deals. I'd be crazy to wander around in the park late at night. Police sirens routinely wake us up at night as they race down our busy street to deal with things that go bump in the night. All this is routine in a big city. One of the things I liked so much about Fort Davis in West Texas is that you felt completely safe walking down city streets at 11 PM. I can't say this about Dallas. Maybe I'm just a rural person at heart.

It's hard to believe it's June already. In early May, I thought that things wold be better by June. Now, I'm wondering what's next. At the rate we're going, there will be an alien invasion by August. I do wish that things would settle down. I'd like to go to the Mars 2020 launch at Kennedy Space Center in July and maybe head back to McDonald Observatory this Fall.

For now, travel is limited to visiting the Dalmatians on Monday afternoons. That's OK though. Murphy, Hank, and Charlie are all great dogs and we enjoyed spending time with them today.

Charlie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3760

I saw something interesting today. Google and Apple are teaming up to create a new app that can monitor up to three billion people and warn them if someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus is nearby. This is the death of privacy as we know it. Three billion people is one third of the entire world's population. The app is real and will very likely be available on your phone quite soon. I predict that this app will be very popular. I'll probably use it myself. Safety, or even the illusion of safety, almost always trumps civil liberties. Privacy actually disappeared quite a while ago. Google and Facebook know everything about us already. This new app just lets us eagerly opt in to a surveillance state that is already up and running in China.

It won't be long before people realize that others can easily be added to the master database. Sex offenders will be added first. Then will come a long list of people that everyone will argue about for years. Should people with a history of domestic violence be on the list? How about anyone who has committed a felony. There will be all sorts of lawsuits but nobody will be able to put the genie back in the bottle. Eventually commercial interests will want to get in on the action. If bad things can be tracked, why not good things. Match.com will introduce an app where your phone beeps when a suitable match walks nearby. Parents will be able to monitor their children and see if they are hanging around with the wrong crowd.

I'm convinced that the deaths from the coronavirus are only the tip of the iceberg. The big experiment we are undertaking now will fundamentally change society. We won't know for years whether we actually did the right thing. When you begin to suspect that anybody walking past you on the street could kill you just by breathing, I doubt that we will go back to trusting people very soon. Are you going to flinch when the first person who isn't a trusted friend tries to give you a hug? Our own country might fare worse than other countries because we are so politically divided. Jeez. We already don't trust anyone who doesn't agree with us. This virus will only make things worse.

I'm so glad I grew up when the world was comparatively normal. The duck and cover drills and backyard fallout shelters that were common when I was in grade school were nothing compared to this. I don't think that there had been a time in human history when we collectively decided to shut the entire world down. Even during the worst of both World Wars, society was still moving full speed ahead. This is new. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I can't wait to return to McDonald Observatory or get another chance to walk around on the pad at Launch Complex 41. Neither of these activities involve interacting with a lot of other people. Astronomy has always been a lonely profession and launch access at Kennedy Space Center is extremely restricted. I'm not looking forward to Happy Hour drinks or a night of clubbing, but I would like life to return to normal. Everyone has their own version of normal. A functioning society wasn't meant to live like this and at some point the cure will be worse than the disease.

I hope that all of you are staying safe. I'm enjoying getting to know Dawn better and am glad that she is completely unaware of how much the world has changed. I don't do much, but I'm going to continue as many of my normal habits and routines as I possible can. A sense of normalcy is important in uncertain times. I hope my phone doesn't start beeping the next time I see some of you.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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