Big news today from the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal right to an abortion. The decision returns all power regarding abortion to the states. Most red states will likely ban them in all cases (some have already), while blue states like ours (Washington) will keep it legal. Women who got pregnant from rape, or who face dire medical situations, will now have to travel from the strictest red states to blue ones to rid their natural burdens or save their lives. Only a couple good things will come of it. Perhaps people who are not ready to have a children will think twice before engaging in intercourse, but that is doubtful. Many families are going to need to face the stress of unplanned pregnancy. Another good thing, at least as far as blue states are concerned, is that they will see an influx of business from migrating females who either abandon their state for a more liberal one, or who go there temporarily to have the operation. Once again, money will be leaving poorer red states to cover the more progressive, urban blue states.
Friday, June 24, 2022
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Beautiful Mountains: Fun Facts and Quiz
Play my latest quiz Beautiful Mountains on FunTrivia!
Fun facts from the quiz:
1. Prominence is the measure of a mountain's height relative to the surrounding area. In the US, Mt. Rainier clears second place Mt. Whitney by about 3,000 feet (914 meters), despite being slightly lower in elevation. Yet it pales in comparison to Denali in Alaska, which has a prominence over 7,000 feet (2,133 meters) higher.
2. Kirkjufell in Iceland is one of the most photogenic mountains in the world. In the last Ice Age, it was known as a nunatak- a mountain peak that protruded over the surrounding glaciers.
3. Cuernos del Paine in Chile can be accessed by the "End of the World" road. It is actually a set of peaks lodged within a massive structure that may as well be a single mountain. Located in Torres del Paine National Park, the mountain is as close to the southern tip of South America as most are willing to go. Though it may seem like the end of the world, in 2022 the park was one of the most visited in Chile. You know it's something special when people travel that far to see it.
4. Mt. Kailash in Tibet is sacred in four religions and close to the source of four of the longest rivers in Asia. The sources of major rivers near Mt. Kailash include the Ganges, Sutlej, Indus, and Brahmaputra. No wonder then that it is holy in several East Asian religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Bon, and Jainism. Due to its size and religious significance, it has never been climbed by humans.
5. Aoraki/Mount Cook in New Zealand has an indigenous name meaning "Cloud Piercer". The old name of Mount Cook was changed in 1998 to include the historic Maori title, rendering its technical name Aoraki/Mount Cook. The English name was given in honor of the explorer James Cook, though there is no evidence that he actually saw the mountain.
6. Eiger and Jungfrau have such different meanings that it may surprise people to learn they rise from the same ridge crest. From German, Jungfrau translates to "maiden, virgin" while Eiger translates to "ogre". Eiger is a fitting name considering the high number of deaths that have resulted from ascending its "murderous wall". Though aesthetically, it hardly merits the title as it is a breathtaking sight, perhaps even more than the aptly named Jungfrau. Monch is another mountain on the ridge between the two, modestly translating to "monk".
7. Thor Peak in Canada has the highest vertical drop in the world. It looks like something out of a fairy tale with its elongated tooth of granite. Located on Baffin Island, it has a cliff that deviates on average 15 degrees from the vertical. The 1,250 meter drop is slightly lower than the record Trango Towers drop in Pakistan, but evidently that one is not purely vertical and therefore disqualifies. The Avenger has more to boast about.
8. Kanchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world (Himalayaas). An interesting thing about this mountain is that up until 1852 it was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, before a trigonometric survey dethroned it with Everest.
9. Ama Dablam (Himalayaas) looks more like the mountain in the Paramount Pictures logo than any other, though there is some debate on the exact inspiration.
10. Measured from base on land to height, Denali becomes the tallest mountain in the world. From base to height it is even taller than Mt. Everest; Denali measures about 5,600m (18,400 ft), while Everest is merely 11,431 ft/5,364 m. That is probably why it might look like the biggest mountain in the world, judging from photographs alone. It is also in contention as being the most beautiful. Mauna Kea in Hawaii becomes the tallest mountain in the world when measured from underwater base to height, as about half of it is submerged.
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Friday, June 17, 2022
The Amazing Adventures of Curry and Klay
They splashed onto the scene, already legends as the best shooting backcourt the NBA had ever seen. It was the early 2010s, when everyone thought you still needed a strong frontcourt to win a championship. But the Golden State Warriors changed that narrative. Not only were they small and could score prolifically, but they played defense. At their peak, they had the best regular season in NBA history, only to watch it crumble to LeBron James's Cavs in 2016, in what is the best NBA Finals I have witnessed. Then they acquired Kevin Durant in the offseason to become one of the best teams of all time. They were unbeatable. I don't even think my '08 Celtics could beat them.
Curry was underrated compared to Durant, while Klay was underrated compared to Curry. When Klay and Durant got injured in the 2019 finals, things went downhill fast. They became one of the worst teams in the league overnight. Yet they had won a title in 2015 without Durant, which made me believe that the real lynch pin was the hardly recognized Klay Thompson, whose all around game is the best of any shooting guard in this era. Klay spreads the floor for Curry to do his magic on offense. Without him, the offense contracts the same way the Celtics did without Ray Allen. Unlike Allen- another of my favorite shooting guards- Klay is an elite defender. He has the savviest intuition for what a player will do, so as he isn't necessarily the quickest or most talented defender, he makes up for it in reading the defense.
Durant's departure and Klay's injuries saw the Warriors reach a surprising low as they went to the bottom of the league. Surprising to most. When Klay came back this year, the Warriors were suddenly winning again. No one thought they'd make it to the finals, much less when it all again. He didn't even necessarily play well; we all saw what his partner in crime splash brother Curry did. It's simply his presence that makes the Warriors better, on both sides of the court. That is why nobody sees the divine element that makes the Warriors so great- that elusive element of magic that Curry and Klay's chemistry has conjured over the years, even when they aren't 100% healthy. And that is the scariest thing for the league to take away from this finals: they weren't even at full strength.
Monday, June 6, 2022
Unplug
For once I would like to truly unplug, escape the noise of industry, abandon the electronic world we built avatars of Illusion around. We did this already, culturally, after unplugging from nature centuries ago. It was a gradual loss, far lower than the internet's infection rate. It happened nonetheless, that once all that was familiar to us was the sound of wind, rain, birds and insects; whereas now all we can hear is the sound of each other, funneled through our devices against a background of urban activity.
Help, get me out of here! My nostalgia for nature is too great. But the system has such a tight grip on me that it is more or less a prison of civilization I am trapped in, unconsciously a disciple of freedom which is perhaps just a rationalization for the vulnerability of being held hostage in a beehive of coins.
The phone is the cell that holds us. Yet even without it we would be entranced by some other godless mechanical contraption that addicts us by elevating dopamine levels. We've been sedated by nameless beasts that steal our souls for the fantasy of comfort. No wonder mass shootings and suicides are at record highs. Amid all the clamor, gossip, drama, swipings and scrollings, we yearn to break free, to experience what the word truly means; to eject the cord from our medicated minds; to unplug. Nature is now a distant relative, subject to our needs, there for the taking without a hint of guilt, to be constructed into nothing out of pieces of us.