Finally, A Common Sense Diet

 

           

      Available from Amazon/Kindle 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P2P9JTQ

                                                                     

                                                                               

                                                 

                                        Boats, Bikes and Bikinis

     

         It's not the same old beach today,

There now are many faces;

The spring-breakers have all arrived,

From lots of different places.

There are boats, bikes and bikinis,

And vacationers from afar;

Plus some who've travelled many miles,

See tag on the cute red car.

Looking for Life on Mars - and Here

  

The debate here on earth, goes on and on about when a human embryo is to be considered a "life". Space scientists are very busy, probing Mars and other planets, looking for evidence of "life". It is sufficient for them to call any biological or alien organism life - even a single cell. If they were to find a simple one-cell microbe or of a plant, it would be considered a very significant discovery. 

There is a different way of looking at life by the military merchants of death. North Korea, Iran, Russia and China are amassing the tools of war. Their goal is the destruction and the extinguishing of human life. Every individual human has about 50 Trillion assembled cells.

If a single cell is considered to be life, then why is there so much controversy here on earth - about what constitutes life. Biologists, theologians and laymen continue to debate this emotionally charged issue. The pro-life and pro-abortion people are constantly at war over when life begins. I say that all of these groups who are intent on arguing about when life begins and those killer nations who are deciding when it should end - need to do more study. I have a challenge for them.

Whether it is the people who are exploring the planets, the leaders of nations who threaten us or those who are engaged in the pro-life/pro-abortion controversy, Before any of them decide to kill anybody else, I say that they should first be able to study and explain a simple, single living human cell, since the scientists consider a single cell to be "life". 

Let's look at a very curious cell. A good one to study is the single cell called a spirochete, the male reproductive cell. A powerful microscope will be needed because we're talking about a really tiny organism. Being a living cell, it is able to do all the things that any other living organism can do. It is born, it feeds, it does work, it is capable of locomotion, it eliminates waste, and it reproduces. All of that is going on in only a single cell! As Frank Sinatra would say, "That's Life!" Those who are pondering the question of when exactly does a human life begin should look closely at this single cell. 

This little cell has a tail that it uses to propel itself. Where's it going? Using its tail, it swims forward toward a destination, one that it can't know about, but, somehow it does know. How does it know what to do? It doesn't appear to have a "brain", but it knows how to do a lot of "thinking" things. Did it go to some kind of school? Where does it get the magical invisible force that powers it's tail? How does it know how to wiggle it just the right way for swimming? Did its Dad teach it to swim? Does it have a sense of touch to feel when it is bumping into stuff and then be able to turn away? If they do eventually find life in a single cell on an alien planet, I hope that they will also figure out just what it uses as an energy source. Is there a battery - a motor? Where's the brain that tells it what to do? How did this little cell get so perfectly engineered? I'm sure that the threats to human life from our enemies will continue. The controversy with the abortion debate will go on. And the scientists will keeping looking for life on far away planets. 

They should feed all of the knowledge they can learn about this one little cell into the world's largest and fastest computer, IBM's "Watson". Given enough data, maybe then, they will be able to answer the question "what is life and when does it begin"? My guess is that even the most powerful computer in the world will say it needs to have more data. So, until we can at least figure out one little cell, stop the killing!

 

                                      To Sophia (Valentine's Day 1957)

                                      I cannot say in mere words, my dear
                                     How much you mean to me
                                     But my thoughts of you possess me
                                     And my will is no longer free.

                                     Your loving face enchants me
                                      I anticipate your smile
                                      I dream you're walking toward me
                                      In your graceful, swan-like style.

                                      A heavenly inclination
                                      Must have brought me love like this
                                      The world stands still, and my life begins
                                      When I sense your treasured kiss.

                                      I humbly lay before you
                                     These thoughts I hold so dear
                                     Take them to your heart, my sweet
                                     My very soul is centered there.

 

The Most Wonderful Christmas

 

On December 5, about halfway out of the Chosin Reservoir, the war ended for me. When I regained consciousness, I found myself draped over the hood of a Jeep. I knew that meant I had been wounded and not killed because trucks were for our dead comrades. Unaware of what had happened to me, I was dropped off at an aid station.

The corpsman examined me, put a tag on me and moved me out to be air evacuated, along with many others in an old DC-3. We landed at an Air Force hospital in Itazuke, Japan. Time seemed to stand still from then on as I began a flight that would take me halfway around the world. There were hospital stays in Tokyo, Wake Island, Hawaii, Oakland, San Antonio and then my last stop - the Naval Hospital, in my home town of Philadelphia. 

We arrived about 10 PM. I was taken into the hospital and was greeted by many shouts of, "Merry Christmas!". That's when I finally realized that it was Christmas Eve! December 24, 1950. Somehow, I had made it home for Christmas, after all - a true miracle. I was alive, I would heal and I was home. 

My Mom had been praying so hard for me. I had the most valuable gift for both of us - my dog tags.

A Poem about Poems

 

                          

                      A Poem about Poems

                       I can write couplets any time,

                       Two lines and then a rhyme.

 

                       But having so much I want to say

                       I'll need more lines than just two.

                       So, my poems in quatrains I'll write

                       Four lines and two rhymes might do.

                       Or maybe I'll write poems in free verse

                       There are so many stories to tell

                       But there must still be beauty within

                       As in prose that is written well.

 

                       Free verse is easier to write

                       because there are no rules 

                       that other forms require 

                       and it's not easy for me to obey.

      

                       Iambic Pentameter may be the way 

                       Counting syllables and feet is the norm

                       Two rhymes, five stresses, five beats to 

                        build each line

                        A poem with steps and rules that must 

                       conform.  

                                             

                       I just can't do it, rules are hard

                       It's not easy to keep time

                       I'll write poems just the way I like,

                       Always with rhythm and rhyme.

              

Homeostasis

                 Homeostasis and other Miracles 

In some of my essays, I've tried to describe what I think are the true miracles we all live every day. And, yes, life itself is a miracle. Looking at flowers, trees and animals, I see that they also represent myriad miracles and I am in total awe. 

They may not speak as we do but, like us, they are born, breathe, eat, grow, heal, reproduce and die. They have intricate internal mechanisms that provide them with all the senses they need to survive until it is time for them to die. We do too.

The very same intelligence that we have within us, is designed into them, as well. We, and they, don't have to think about what to do in a given situation. All of life is designed with an automatic response system on board - another miracle.

Without thinking, an injury is sensed and an automatic healing process is begun. In the case of trees and plants, they have an additional miracle of being able to regenerate damaged or lost parts, allowing them to survive. Experiments have shown that plants will also register reactions to fear and pain. 

Our automatic system is designed for our survival. When we have an injury, our brain immediately sends messages synthesizes chemicals and sends them to the spot that is hurt and begins the miracle of healing. 

When we are frightened or challenged our brain will automatically produce and deliver the chemicals necessary for us to defend ourselves or to run away (the fight or flee response). 

All of these examples of miracles are amazing. I want to tell you about another miracle named, Homeostasis. It is intriguing because it is the one miracle that makes all the other internal miracles possible.

The term was coined by Walter B. Cannon, the great Harvard physiologist. He used it to describe a particular internal system contained within our bodies. This incredible mechanism makes it possible for us to go about our lives without the need for conscious concern.

Homeostasis is the ability of the body to stay in balance and under regulation. A host of automatic responses are controlled this way so that we don't have to think about what to do. It's easy to imagine Homeostasis as an internal engineer, compete with a detailed plan to control our survival. Let's look at an example of homeostasis in action.

The ability to regulate the body's temperature is done quite effectively. Homeostasis makes sure that we will not get too hot or too cold (within our survival limits). In an effort to maintain stability and balance, it operates as a safety device - a preset internal thermostat. 

For instance, when we are getting too hot, the system reacts by opening the pores. This allows the perspiration to exit and creates additional skin surface making the process of evaporation more efficient. This cooling of the skin will help bring the internal body temperature back into balance. The rate at which we breathe will be reduced to limit the amount of heat generated by oxidation (respiration).

Additionally, there will be an involuntary relaxing of the muscles and a tendency to spread our extremities and to lie still. These automatic moves and urges are designed so that we are limited in our ability to generate heat.

Conversely, in situations where we are faced with very cold conditions, there are other responses that will be activated to maintain our balance. First, the pores will close tightly, reducing the amount of skin surface exposed to the cold. Our breathing rate will become more rapid allowing more fuel (oxygen) to be burned for heat (oxidation). All our muscles will be contracted in an effort to prompt movement which will produce some heat. If the cold continues and we do not, or cannot, start moving, involuntary movements will begin, what we call shivering.

Homeostasis simply insists that we must survive. So it's efforts continue. The hair on our bodies is made to stand erect in an effort to contain body heat. This is a primitive duplication of the same thing done by fur-bearing animals. We will find ourselves automatically curling up into a fetal position so as to reduce the amount of exposed surface thus conserving the body's core heat. 

This homeostatic mechanism tries very hard to keep us alive in both extremes of temperature. We don't have to think about it or have to decide what changes must be made - it is all done for us, automatically and efficiently. It is one more example of the many miracles we live with every day. In our body, a major miracle itself, Homeostasis is the miracle within.