The 9th Deadly Sin

Almost to the day 9 years ago I mused about the "8th Deadly Sin" (07/14/2017).

I quote below the first paragraph,

I will assume the reader knows about the Seven Deadly Sins.  What the reader may not know, however, is that there is no actual Biblical reference to the specific number (7) associated with the bundle of misdeeds we’ve come to know today.  Both the Old Testament and the New Testament address the various wrongful acts and thoughts and principal vices from different writings by the prophets and disciples but we will not read anywhere that says, “Seven Deadly Sins”. The Ten Commandments, on the other hand, are indubitably unambiguous about the number '10' and the specificity of what man is supposed to do and not do as written on those two stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai, as depicted in the Old Testament.

Later, I added:

Strictly speaking, if we must go by the definition of principal vices, we should add more to the number today. After all, modern civilization has brought additional behavioral burdens and moral challenges to society not known to the prophets and religious leaders two to four thousand years ago. There could be more, depending on how one navigates through the new morality.

So, back then I said, If I were to add  just one cardinal sin to the existing list, I come up with hypocrisy.  

But now it is time to update the list.

Complacency is one of those English words derived originally from Latin, then adopted by the French as a  pure sense of what is pleasant and satisfying that later devolved to the exclusion of everything else, often giving in to the pitfalls of reckless abandon. Complacency became that state of being purely satisfied and pleased with everything while totally disregarding the dangers and consequences that could arise from total nonchalance.

If the latest election in  this year's New York primary is any indication, voters' apathy was at its direst. Where 1.1 million registered voters participated in 2025, only ...

"A total of 531,000 New Yorkers voted in this year’s primary, according to data from the New York City Board of Elections. That’s a turnout rate of one in six registered Democratic voters... as a result, the primary winners were picked by the smallest number of electors composed mainly of young, activist voters.  The majority of registered voters stayed away from the polls.  

In Colorado, the same results happened.  Why? 

Political pundits had much to say.  Sociologists had their versions. Behaviorists and political psychologists had their points and ponderings. Historians probably had the best analyses.  Granted they all had a point here, a point there, but if we must or if we can distill it into one word, it would be complacency on the part of the electorate in a democratic process.  And profoundly so in a republic system of government - where the electorate chooses who will represent him or her on the business of governance at the federal level.

This is not just true in the U.S. but among many nations around the world as well.  It may manifest itself in various degrees but typically mild in places lagging behind in technology and economic development but a lot more severe in well developed countries.  Why?

The development of civilizations in our history is marked by the rise and fall of empires. Each empire paved the path of civilization(s). Now, as far as we can tell the aspirational foundation of every empire was based on the S-curve, as illustrated below.  Every empire started out developing with an upward surge (growth) by its people towards an apex with the hope that it will continue on indefinitely.   That was always the plan.

Civilization's history, however,  can be understood through a macro-modified curve, illustrating growth and decline.  It is actually more of a normal distribution curve, as shown below, for example.  Whether it was the Persian empire, the Ottoman, Greek and Roman empires, etc., it was always about an upward, deliberate and purposeful trajectory towards the apex and then followed by  a slow downward slope towards a decline.  So far, that story was written with the same script for all empires that came and went. It is now about understanding this curve and finding ways to rewrite the  USA's   future story that Americans need to focus on.  It should be about keeping the true S-curve above.

 

Understanding the Actual Distribution Curve

The distribution model represents the evolution of civilizations, showing phases of growth, maturity, and decline.

The curve apparently traces the technological advancements, social structures, and educational developments of every civilization, including forms of government, ethical and moral code, laws and accountabilities applied to and for its citizens.  Obviously, the cycle is influenced by economic, environmental and political changes.  All from within.  It is only after these internal structures are weakened from within before outside forces could apply the proverbial coup de gras.

Studying the historical patterns is a way, and it is the most effective one actually, to truly learn from the pages of history. But we never do as a species.  So, we come to this: "Complacency in politics poses significant risks to democratic systems. It can lead to a lack of engagement among citizens and a disconnect between political leaders and the populace".

This does not absolve any citizen even though those in power may neglect their responsibilities, believing that systems will self-correct without active participation.  Furthermore, historical examples show that complacency can lead to the erosion of civil rights and liberties, as citizens become passive and disengaged.

Continuous engagement and vigilance are essential to prevent complacency from taking root in political systems.

Active participation in democracy, such as voting and community organizing, is crucial to counteract complacency. Continuous engagement and vigilance are essential to prevent complacency from taking root in political systems.

The 250th Birthday that the U.S. just celebrated recently is actually a mere ten generations (every generation defined as 25 years).

A generation is both a long time and  a very short one.

It took one generation to begin an empire.  Alexander the Great started one but died barely past his 30th birthday.  Julius Caesar was dead at 55 years old on March 15, 44 BCE. A single lifetime to create an empire; ten lifetimes to make one last, on average. A generation is long enough to create one but ten is  not long enough to make it last to follow the perfect S-curve indefinitely.

Complacency. It was and will continue to be the perfect malady to afflict the citizenry of past empires and the very same one that is today causing what ails America and perhaps much of the developed world.  It was as if every empire had its "kryptonite" built into its DNA. Kryptonite that is well hidden in human nature that shows up by the tenth generation as soon as the empire's life reaches "that state of being purely satisfied and pleased with everything while totally disregarding the dangers and consequences that could arise from total nonchalance".

Generations of today must not only read between the lines here but are enjoined to be more perceptive of the ill effects of complacency that permeates a society that is seemingly oblivious to the low but persistent siren song that aims to lull everyone from the easy life of leisure and extravagance of too much free time that their forefathers ten generations ago strove hard to create a new nation they hoped will go on indefinitely. Complacency is that blinder that hides those working behind the scenes to fundamentally change everything that a free society strove hard to create.

 "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same".

------------- Ronald Reagan

P.S. Interested to read, "The 8th Deadly Sin", copy and paste link below: 

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2017/07/

The Scariest Two-Word Combination in the English Language

Democratic Socialism. This should scare anyone in the free world. Let's get through a few metaphors about this two-word combination. "Democratic" in this case is a cloak to cover the dagger that is "Socialism".  Cloak-and-dagger is indeed what describes an insertion of ideology to destroy the free market system that is the foundation of capitalism. Democratic Socialism is dressing up the socialist wolf with sheep's democratic clothing. It is the virulent agent that will chip away at the health and well being of a country that for the last 250 years was able to withstand all sorts of infectious attacks from within and without. It is an ideological and serial philanderer that over decade after decade made many futile attempts since October 25, 1917 at the then capital city of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) to  seduce society and governments and failed repeatedly but kept trying anyway. Today, its so-called "successes" can be summed up between the old USSR and Cuba and Venezuela and several others in between. And there's a list filled with horrific aftermaths of failed seductions. We'll get back to this later.

The slogans of Democratic Socialism were and are still the same siren songs that in Greek Mythology lured unwary sailors into heading their ships into the rocky shores of destruction.

Harsh metaphors? Perhaps but let's take a quick but discerning look into  what socialism had done in places from Europe, Asia and South America. The photos below show how incomprehensible it must have been that during the pre-collapse era in the late eighties into the final end of the old communist USSR in 1990, citizens of a military superpower lined up for hours everyday at grocery stores nation-wide and scenes even later showed a throng of people lining up at a McDonald's fast food restaurant.

Less than a year ago I wrote on July 21, 2025, "The Mamdanization of America". As much as I had hoped against it happening, the recent primary election in New York just marked the Mamdani effect when three socialist candidates the NY City mayor endorsed won, unseating even a popular incumbent Congressman.

One of the mayor's campaign promises was a "pledge to ultimately open five city-owned grocery stores—one in each of New York City’s five boroughs. His Administration is still examining locations for stores in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, and is encouraging property owners to recommend sites to the city online." Further, these will be a “network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit". A totally insane rebuke of the economic system that exists today but how quickly people forget about the old Soviet Union.

Last November 16, 2025, I wrote, "New York City Voted, Was it Murder or Suicide?" where I quoted Ayn Rand:

“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.”

― Ayn Rand

Are the results of the latest NYC primary election the proverbial canary in the coal mine?

Not quite a national phenomenon yet but the fact that it is gaining traction, albeit slowly, presents a potential to influence the next generation.  A generation, say,  to develop within the next twenty five years which points to the year 2050.  Sounds familiar?  Four years ago, I wrote, "2050: The Ebb of the Tragic Trajectory of a Once Powerful Nation". 

I wrote then in discussing the two challenges that confront the nation then and today, "One is about conserving the ideals and belief systems of what brought this country its decisive success for over two centuries.  The other half is about liberally forging and fundamentally changing the country into something else.  Worse is the slow but almost penetrating allure of socialism". I warned about it in 2021, long before Mamdani was even a politician, nor was socialism even considered a worthy subject in U.S. politics.

One thing that is for certain though is the feel good effect of a promise.  The one doing the promise feels good about it and the prospective recipient of the promises is buoyed up by the thought. But let us not forget that it will take others - the taxpayers - to fulfill the promises and they may not be too happy with the whole idea.

I also wrote, "Anyone Can Promise You a Rainbow" on  01/22/2015, of the then incumbent President and his pledge to continue with his agenda.

The President lives in an island universe where the wealth of the people is represented by bowls of jelly beans.  There are a few big bowls and many smaller and even tinier bowls of jelly beans across the island universe.  The President wants some of the jelly beans from the bigger bowls to be moved to the smaller and tinier bowls even if only for one reason: That those with the big bowls can afford to give away some of their jelly beans.  Without adding a single jelly bean – the President does not create wealth – he wants to redistribute the jelly beans because that is best for the island universe.  Actually the main reason is this: Owners of the bowls of jelly beans, big and small, can cast only one vote each. The displeased owners of the big bowls are smaller in number while those with the smaller bowls are large. As any politician knows, one only has to get the approval of the many (the recipient of the redistributed jelly beans) and it is all right to get the ire of a few.

The above is the epitome of  the socialist politician's mantra of "Tax the rich". The socialist will promise a rainbow that seems to begin bright at one end; but it always terminates in despair at the other.

Read the quote below when Fidel Castro campaigned to oust the then Cuban president Batista.  

 Irony of ironies is that Cuba's government and economy today can only be described as a sad portrait of poverty in the midst of relative prosperity in the Caribbean and a stark contrast to the bright rendering of capitalism just ninety miles away across the straits of Florida, USA. 

Fidel Castro's slogan against Batista was "History will absolve me". History did not absolve him; instead, he made Cuba the poster child of the failure of communism. What was unforgivable was Castro's failure to realize that the country that exported communism to Cuba already failed in 1990 USSR.

The  Bolsheviks and Castro's revolutionaries fought against the monarchy of Tsarist Russia and Batista's oligarchy, respectively; only to replace those with  more repressive regimes, if not even more so, with unwavering brutality against the people in the name of reform.  Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge ravaged Cambodia's society for almost four years between 1975 and 1979. It was all aimed at creating an agrarian socialist society.  Cambodia is still struggling in the aftermath of a genocide perpetrated against close to two million people who died under Pol Pot's rule (Recall  the movie, "The Killing Fields"). But let us not forget that Stalin and Mao caused an even more devastating swath of persecution and death. Stalin's regime may have been responsible for the deaths of close to 9 million people while "Mao Zedong's policies and economic mismanagement, particularly during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, are estimated to have caused the deaths of approximately 45 million people".

All abject failures despite socialism's many attempts with new dresses, costumes and facelifts in different places around the world afterwards.  Just to name a few, let's mention a few countries with socialism's ruinous fingerprints: from Hungary to Yugoslavia to Czechoslovakia to East Germany to El Salvador to Argentina to Venezuela and Cuba's attempt to export the brand of social repression in the name of socialism even to places in Africa. 

How often do we hear the same chants today against oligarchy and the rich.  This prompted me to explain the phenomenon and aftermath of being allowed to continue in, "Mountains to Molehills", July 2018.  It was my way of explaining why there is a need for billionaires in a successful  free market system because far from hording their money under mattresses, they provide the fuel for the engines of capitalism.

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2018/07/mountains-to-molehills.html

America and the whole world must brace for what may come by understanding what the scariest two-word combination will ultimately mean.

We Might As Well Be All Alone

Our sun is just a star, a medium-size one at that. The next closest star to our sun is Proxima Centauri - one of three in the 3-star system called Alpha Centauri (A and B being the other two). Let's for a minute, just for perspective, imagine our sun as a grain of sand on the kitchen table. Proxima Centauri is another grain of sand but it will neither be on the same table nor within the same kitchen.  In fact, it will not be out  in the yard either. It will actually be four miles away.  Our home planet earth, which is one millionth the size of the sun, would be  the size of a virus going around - orbiting - that grain of sand.

By resorting to that analogy we had just put into perspective what it is like to imagine a distance of 25 trillion miles.  That is how far the nearest star is from us.  Our planet earth will then be invisible to anyone, if there is anyone out there around our nearest neighbor-star. Beyond that, from a scattering of six to a dozen stars "nearby", if there are observers from there, our solar system will be viewed by them from 50 to 100 trillion miles away. We,  as they are to us, will indeed be even more invisible from one another.  And, more significantly, by the sheer vastness and emptiness of space in between, earthlings and ETs will never meet. We might as well be all alone.  Why?

This is not philosophical pessimism but a belief that by just its incomprehensible vastness  the universe simply precludes the tantalizing idea that we will ever see ET come by to visit us. Likewise, which is  even more humbling,  we too will never get to visit another world either.  It is true that the possibility of life somewhere else in the cosmos would seem like a statistical foregone conclusion; however,  physical contact between  interplanetary inhabitants would remain technically infeasible if not utterly impossible.  And, even more so, we can forget intergalactic excursions as well.  

We can only realistically imagine it from our perspective because to see it from an extraterrestrial's point of view is pure speculation.  However, the conditions we face are the same to confront ET since the laws of physics should be the same anywhere else in the cosmos. In other words we and ET will face the same insurmountable barriers that  separate us from one another; primarily, gravity and distance.

Any spacecraft, ours or ET's, must first overcome the gravity of its home planet before it is able to leave to travel from points A to B anywhere in the universe; then it must carry enough fuel for a long sustained journey and, critically, enough fuel to slow the craft down before reaching a chosen destination.  So, distance will determine how long it would take to get to any interstellar location depending on how fast any spacecraft can manage.

Let's take a look. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) launched in 2018 was the fastest space vehicle ever to leave earth and it was sent to study the sun.  It attained a record speed of 430,000 miles per hour.  That is very fast, considering the fastest aircraft - the North American X-15 - could only do 4,520 miles per hour or about 6 times the speed of sound.

Fast indeed, but the Solar Space Probe will have taken 6,100 years to reach Proxima Centauri, if it were directed to travel towards it. 

Light,  the fastest thing in the universe, travels at 186,000 miles per second. The Parker Solar Probe by comparison traveled at a snail's pace,  at a mere 119 miles per second.  However, as fast as light is, it still takes 4.24 years for it to travel from Proxima Centauri to us. 

But let's be ambitious and say that we are able to build a spacecraft that can travel at 10% the speed of light. That's 18,600 miles per second! 10 % the speed of light might seem like a relatively low target but reality is the biggest spoiler. It took 1.5 million pounds of liquid oxygen propellant to lift the Delta 18 rocket to send the Parker Solar Probe, a mere half the weight of a compact  car, on its solar journey.  Imagine how much energy will be needed to send explorers on  a suitably large spacecraft towards Proxima Centauri at 18,600 miles per second. Imagine the stresses the human body or any biological organism larger than a cat can withstand in order  to reach 10% the speed of light. 

But let's imagine that we've done that.  It will take a spacecraft speeding at 18,600 miles per second 43 years to reach Proxima Centauri! For the safety of the astronauts, gradual acceleration and deceleration (upon reaching the vicinity of the destination) would be necessary so that the total trip could conceivably take over 60 years one way.  Therefore, we can forget a round trip.  Astronauts with an average age of 35 to 40 years old at launch date,  will all be centenarians by the time they get to Proxima Centauri if they survive the trip. 

Between our solar system and Alpha Centauri is empty space.  There will be no stopovers and no turning around.  At the halfway point, communicating at the speed of light, it would still take one year for a message to reach the spacecraft and another year to get a response back and vice versa.  It would take two years to complete a single conversation of merely asking a question and waiting for a response. Let that sink in for a minute.

So, even if we've managed to overcome gravity, distance and time are  eternally unforgiving. And to fund such a trip will require perhaps all the resources of the entire planet's economy. We earthlings, who live in a world divided by culture and ideology, a history of constant conflicts, wars and distrust between nations, face an almost insurmountable challenge  to embark on such an endeavor that will require a staggering amount of expenditure and sustained interest across one or two generations of the population. 

Enrico Fermi, one of the distinguished physicists involved in the Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic bomb towards the end of WWII, asked in 1950 the now well known question, "So, where is everybody"?  He asked that of his colleagues over lunch one day as they were discussing UFOs, extraterrestrial beings and their potential visitations to earth. That question became the principle behind the Fermi Paradox.  It is worth reading up on it if the reader is so inclined.

Indeed, to this day, scientists and researchers have not come up with any credible evidence of UFOs and UAPs.  Here is a quick thought. We have a sophisticated system to detect asteroids lurking around the solar system that could pose potential dangers to earth.  An asteroid tracker is posted and regularly updated by NASA that cover all near-earth objects or NEOs. There are multiple trackers as well from smaller organizations and private individuals.  Asteroids the size of cars and school buses have been detected and identified.

Notice that grainy videos and photos presented as evidence are all about UFOs or UAPs already flying around "here".  How come, none have been detected before they entered our atmosphere?  If indeed they came from outer space, ground based military radars that watch out for ballistic missiles on re-entry would have detected any extraterrestrial crafts or motherships of interstellar travelers streaking across the sky just like meteorites do.  NORAD and other ICBM detectors have been operating since the 60s.  Such alien visitors would have been detected as near earth objects even long before they enter our solar system.

Perhaps, the Fermi Paradox is right about the idea that the great filter that inhibits contact between interstellar beings, if there are others aside from us, is the vast distances that separate everyone.  So, Enrico Fermi may have been right to ask, "So, where is everybody"?

It is as if The Creator meant for the universe where  every star, every solar system, every galaxy,  exist far enough away in their own individual worlds, separately from and independently of each other. Why?  That we cannot know.  At least, not yet.

The reader may want to read the previous musing to this - "Second to the Last Word on UFO" - for another perspective, albeit a whimsical alternative to space exploration.

Also, on UFO    https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2021/04/ufo.html  

Second to the Last Word on UFO

Like a chronic persistent itch that comes and goes, visitations by UFOs - now revised with a more "acceptable" definition as  Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAP  - preoccupy the public mind in intermittent doses at irregular intervals. We have it again lately as recent files were released by the U.S. government. Interestingly, neither  China nor Russia did the same nor did the European governments. 

The bottom line is that until such time that the label "unidentified" is completely peeled off without any shadow of a doubt, the idea of alien visitation from somewhere or anywhere outside of our planet or our solar system will remain just that - an idea, videotapes and personal accounts notwithstanding.  Until then, we speculate.  

But there is one strange story. From someone who claimed to be an extraterrestrial alien but a non-believer in UFOs or UAPs.  Please reserve your judgment until you read about what he had to say.

It was on an ordinary day under very ordinary circumstances at an ordinary place when I first met Theo. It was at first nothing more than a casual chat – one that was not likely to happen again because most conversations by happenstance are usually like that. People talk with each other for a while after a chance meeting and then they go on their separate ways never to meet again. On this one ordinary day, however, the conversation took a startling turn I could not have anticipated in the proverbial million years! Theo declared with the unexpected suddenness of a thunderclap that he was an alien – an alien, alien, that is.  Not the international-border-crossing one but a cosmic voyager of some sort.  He also claimed that he was at least many thousand years old.  

You, my dear reader, will not be acting on impulse if your immediate reaction is to wonder why or how I could ever have let the conversation continue, let alone keep a record of it. You may even be tempted to stop reading this right now.  

If possible, I like to swim in my own lane at the fitness pool.  It has four lanes so if I get there early enough in the afternoon on a weekday I get to do just that – have a lane to myself.  However, no matter how well I time it the pool does get busy even at odd hours, so lanes are shared.  It was a Wednesday and I was midway through my regular twenty lap freestyle when on the turn someone from the side motioned if he can share the lane.  There was really only one polite response - the hand signal that said “sure, okay” - and I kept on swimming without stopping.  On my return to the same end of the pool, this gentleman of about my height of five-foot-eleven but even leaner, with thinning short hair, was already in the water. I figured I’d rest and resigned to not do all 20 laps continuously but instead swim 5 and 5 drills. I thought I’d observe him for a while and maybe he won’t stay for very long if he’s not such a good, efficient swimmer.  He didn’t seem to have an ounce of fat in him but he appeared to be in his seventies, almost frail looking.

I was wrong.  He swam with such ease and style that surely, I thought, he had to have been a competitive swimmer in his younger days.  His flips at each end of the pool were done with the precision of a trapeze artist.  He may even have made the varsity team in college, I thought.  I stopped longer than just for a while as I watched him go back and forth.  When I did finally resume swimming he was passing me like I was treading water.  Then he was done.  I rested briefly as he was about ready to get out of the pool. I asked him how many laps he did.  “Thirty laps”, he replied.

Jokingly, I said, “Wow, tell me what it is you eat or drink. If it’s legally and commercially available, I’d like to get some”.

By way of a response but ignoring what I just asked, he introduced himself, “I’m Theo”.  I told him my name and we shook hands.

Then he said, “You must be wondering how I am able to swim as I did with this 76-year-old body. What if I told you I’m really 76,000 years old?  I’m from another part of the cosmos, really”.  He smiled with the “I’m not crazy” expression on his face.  He got out of the pool and said, “See you around”. 

I felt foolish. I thought to myself, what the heck was that all about?  I went to swim a few more laps but my concentration was unsettled and my rhythm was erratically discombobulated.  I kept thinking about me and my idea of making small talk with just about anybody.  I thought it was a gift.  My wife hears this from me all the time that no matter whom it is I meet for the first time he or she will talk about his or her life in no time.  I have this genuine sincerity to listen and people sense that and they talk.  If psychiatry was all about listening I could have been a psychiatrist.  Or, at least, pass for one.  People would confess to me personal stuff in the first few minutes of talking.  But this Theo was something else.  He was not telling me about personal stuff.  He was telling me lies!  How could I have given him that impression?  Did I have “Mr. Gullible” written on my wide forehead? This is one episode I won’t be bragging to my wife about.

I got out of the pool after completing however many laps I did because I lost count.  Before I could gather all my stuff, the door that led to the shower room opened and there was Theo all dressed up in his street clothes, smiling or grinning, looking dapper like he was on his way to a book club.  I thought to myself, “Oh no, he found a sucker and he wants to pile some more on me before he leaves”. I’m being duped into providing amusement for this guy. But his engaging smile forced my sentiments to shift to neutral.

He said, “Listen, I was not being facetious or even joking.  I certainly didn’t want to make you feel foolish.  You seem like a very smart guy so that was not my intent.”  I smiled and kind of mumbled some futile words.

Sometimes we are compelled to listen when someone makes claims like Theo’s purely for its entertainment value, I began to rationalize.  We allow this kind of conversation to continue for a bit longer than it should until we’re completely assured of our own normalcy and recognize those who are not.  However temporary it may be, it makes us feel good about affirming our own sanity.  Once I’ve established that I was actually okay, relatively speaking, then it was just going to be an amusing anecdote and what a tale it would be to tell my friends.  So I let the conversation go on for a while.  He looked so ordinary for such an extraordinary claim.  

“I was hoping I’d piqued your curiosity enough and you are dying to know more about your first extraterrestrial.  Or, you may just want to know if I’m nuts or I’m for real.  So, can I buy you coffee, and a pie, perhaps? That café a couple of blocks from here has at least three kinds of pie to choose from.  It’s my treat, what say you?”

If there ever was a perfect moment to get out of an awkward situation, it was presented to me right there and then.  But I was caught between being rude and searching for  polite words to decline. But then this gift of mine to listen to people was compulsively pushing from the other end, tilting the balance.  

“Take your time to shower.  I’ll go ahead, get a table.  Two minutes and you’ll be there.”

And the best I could come up with was, “Are you for real?” He did look normal with a speaking voice of a learned man to match. Those could be deceiving but there was no reason to be fearful of him.

“Over coffee and pie is the best way to answer that.  I know you’re dying to know.  See you there”. 

When I arrived at the cafe a few minutes later, Theo waved me over to a corner table.  His steaming cup must have just been refilled because the saucer on the side had nothing but crumbs and a used fork on it.  He already had his pie.  I ordered. When the waitress left, Theo said, “So, you want to know if I’m for real”.

“Look Theo, coffee and pie is a fine way to have a conversation.  Honestly, you don’t have to explain anything to me.  I’m not one to judge and I don’t have any reason to be concerned but if you’re just wanting to talk I’m listening.” 

"First, dispel the idea of space travel as envisioned by human science fiction writers or even by Elon Musk. The universe is unimaginably and unforgivingly huge. UFOs or UAPs, or any kind of space vehicles will not survive or are survivable during any interstellar travel. It is impossible, it is infeasible.  In other words UFOs are fiction! Period. I leave you to do your own research on that".  

Theo began his story. 

“The world where I came from did it this way.  I trace myself to a trillion of exact clones, each a mere one hundred times the size of a virus, released almost one to two million years ago from a double star system that was at that time a few  light years from your solar system along the same path circling the Milky Way.  The planet of my ancestors orbited a medium sized star, slightly larger than your sun.  Its partner star two hundred million miles away had a much bigger mass - a hundred times bigger. The bigger star as most stars that size had a shorter life span.  My ancestors’ advanced technology knew that and had actually predicted its end and the consequent fate of their own star system as well.”

“They embarked on a huge scientific project to insure their survival. So, they started sending out payloads aboard billions of space probes for the sole purpose of finding a new home. As good as the science was, the scientists and engineers were not able to target specific points in space.  For propulsion they used the partner star’s impending implosion and subsequent explosion to scatter the probes across the galaxy. So, billions of probes were sent out to orbit the dying star.  The probes orbited the rapidly spinning star, at least for a few hundred years, until some of them were sling-shot into unknown directions at very high speed.  Some were propelled even faster as they caught tongues of plasma ejected from the big star at unimaginable velocities.  The exploding star sent the rest of the probes even further away.  That ushered the abrupt end of life for my ancestors but not before sowing seeds through those probes.”

“Aboard each probe were hundreds of spherical vials each with microbes.  I just use that term so you will understand the context.  They were actually organic microscopic data carriers – not unlike strands of DNA, except that they were carriers of highly advanced organic material with far more adaptive capabilities than DNA, a trillion of them cloned from one specific individual. There could have been billions of individuals cloned. I was one of those.  As was expected, many will not make it but if only one did, it was considered a success.  But the challenges remained astronomical, as you can imagine, pun intended”.

“A trillion copies might seem like a lot but relative to the cosmos, it was like a droplet in the bottomless ocean of deep space. If one clone landed on a habitable world it was to latch on to a living organism.  It had to “learn”, and what I mean here is that it had to do the arduous task of adaptation and evolution through that living organism.  I estimated that I arrived on this planet about two hundred thousand years ago.  By the way, planets like earth are plentiful in this galaxy alone but unimaginably far in between. Believe it or not I latched on to a microorganism – a bacterium.  That hastened my development more than, say, if I landed on a fern.  That would have taken a far longer process if I were to be a human species as I am today.”

“My awareness which was programmed to develop over time was limited by my host.  I saw what a bacterium “saw” or sensed.  Then slowly as I moved from one host to another my senses developed with the host organism.  Recycling is universal. So, much of how I transferred from one host to another was through that process.  My senses and awareness built up over time so that as host organisms moved up in scale – say, from a shrew to a porcupine to a wolf to a bear, my intelligence was enhanced accordingly.  Remember, my potential intelligence was built in and all it took was for me to keep moving up until I got to the level of the dominant species on whatever planet I was in.  Obviously, the planet’s environment was the upper limit as to how high up I can develop the host species. It was meant for me and anyone else of my kind to take the dominant species to as high a level as it could achieve. It is possible that some of my clones landed in more advanced civilization while others to this day remained in very primitive development as when earth life was a billion years ago in another planetary system.  By the way, once we latch onto an organism we become discrete individuals.  In other words, we become that organism until we move to another.  However, I do not know of anyone else who came this way, at least not another that I am aware of.  But I must conclude that if I made it then there are bound to be others.  They had to have taken different paths”.

“Are you with me, so far?”  Theo had to revive me from the effects of a mental wrecking ball that struck my unbelieving mind, jolting me once again but worse than when he first told me he was an extraterrestrial.

It took me a full ten seconds before I could say anything.  “You know how unbelievably incomprehensible this is?”  

"Yes!" Theo replied.  He stood up. "Look, we may not see each other again but thanks for listening".  He shook my hand then turned and headed for the door. I can't remember what I said, if I said anything at all. 

I never saw him again to this day.

Seriously, Why?

The USA is about  to celebrate two hundred fifty years of existence as a republic where  it had become a dominantly successful super power during the last seventy five; yet, why the nagging question about the uncertainty of its ability to hold on to it for the foreseeable future. 

Seriously, why? 

"At the end of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, "well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" He gave a trenchant reply that resonates today: "A republic, if you can keep it."

Why did Ben Franklin say it and what was he thinking then? But let's first make sure we understand what a republic is and how it is different from how democracy works.

"A republic is a form of government where representatives are elected to make decisions on behalf of the citizens".

In a democracy decisions are  made based on majority rule, reflecting the will of the majority of the populace. Decisions may be reached either through direct participations of all citizens or by proxy representatives they elect to represent them.  So, why is that different from a republic?  The majority always rules in a democracy; "a republic emphasizes the protection of individual rights and minority interests, often through a constitution.

Make note: "Democracies can exist within a republic, but not all democracies are republics".

Did Ben Franklin have a premonition about  a republic's ability to sustain itself? Or, had he read and believed that the fate of empires seemed to have had predestined shelf lives throughout history? Had he known that all powerful empires that emerged could only manage on average 250 years or merely ten generations before they succumb to gradual decline, first from internal pressure and self-inflected turmoil before another empire takes over? The process was always a zero sum  game, it always seemed.  One empire declines as another emerges to take its place. Is that what's about to happen? And why?

Seriously, why - to get to the heart of what seems to ail this country - is the theme of neo politics these days focused on fundamentally changing what this country is all about?  After 250 years from a fledgling union of thirteen original colonies to fifty united states of almost 350 million people, why the call for change that is deemed to radically pivot from the course that so far has been guided by what its founders wrote on the 1776 document that they signed virtually with their own blood.  For 250 years the country has done very well. It attained unprecedented wealth and wield influence like no other country before it, saved much of the world twice during two world wars, so, seriously why change what had worked for 250 years?

Just recently in the words of U.S. congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio Cortes, otherwise known as AOC, in a recent interview, a quote below:

"The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answered a question about potentially running for higher office in 2028 by declaring: “My ambition is to change the country.”

Eighteen years ago was when it may have started:

“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” So declared Barack Obama in Columbia, Missouri, on Oct. 30, 2008, on the cusp of his historic presidential election.

Those are just two troubling indicators echoed by many voices from other politicians such as the newly elected mayor of New York City, to the one in Seattle, to a very vocal and popular senator from Vermont and many others who claim to prescribe socialism as the new political elixir. Troubling times indeed, according to those who'd rather conserve the old ideals of two hundred fifty years against the liberal application of remedies that have  been tried in many places that all, without exception, ended in dismal failures each time.  (Please refer to an earlier musing, "Are We Still Talking About Socialism?", March 8).

"Tax the rich" has become a tired mantra from the very same politicians whose campaign donations depend on rich supporters. 

"Most of the government’s federal income tax revenue comes from the nation’s top income earners. In 2023, the top 5% of earners — people with incomes $272,209 and above — collectively paid over $1.27 trillion in income taxes, or about 60% of the national total".

Seriously, why attack the sector of the population that pays 60% of the country's annual revenue?  That is either crazy talk or plain and simple politics of envy.  Another recent AOC quote follows"

"You can’t earn a billion dollars," Ocasio-Cortez told Glazer. "You can get market power. You can break rules. You can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws. You can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that, right? And so you have to create a myth... you have to create a myth of earning it."

So some of her ardent supporters like Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey and George Soros did not earn their billions? Did they break all kinds of rules? These are just a few examples of phenomenal accomplishments achieved in a free market system that she and her ilk would like to abolish. Yes, that's right, only in a free market economy that college dropouts like Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Zuckerberg, Hewlett and Packard were able to build billion dollar enterprises; that AOC and Bernie Sanders want to demonize. Has she even given it a thought that her iPhone was just a generation from its birthplace in a California garage on the efforts of Jobs and Wozniak?

In the world of these radical politicians, "rich" is an evil word, yet private jets that they routinely use to spread their ideology are products of "rich" corporations that pay the 60% that the government collects. For someone who went to college with a degree that dabbled in business AOC was clueless about her reason for opposing the Amazon business proposal to build a new headquarters in New York that would have benefited her district in Queens, an idea favored by the majority of her constituents.  She seems to exhibit also an illiteracy in history for claiming the American revolution was against the wealthy. Here's a newspaper quote: “The American Revolution was against the billionaires of their time, and we are declaring independence from such an extreme marriage of wealth and the state,” claimed a clueless Ocasio-Cortez..." It was in fact about a revolt against taxes that her party is pushing today so, seriously why?

The fundamental question that Ben Franklin may have anticipated was that a republic can be enslaved by the very same politicians chosen by the people to represent them by doing everything they can to remain in office without term limits.  The founding fathers did not anticipate that politicians  were going to make public service a career but for just a period of time before going back to vocations they had before volunteering to serve, not as an occupation until well into their 80s.

This republic instead, to the dismay of the signers of the Constitution if somehow they can see it today, is festered with career politicians corrupted by greed for power and a cozy livelihood with very little to account for.

That is what happened to a republic that takes more into account the loud voices of even the few who choose to change what had worked for two and a half centuries. Term limits will never become a remedy because the very same politicians who opt to remain in power will never write such a law. In a democracy, a plebiscite can vote to impose term limits by the power of the rule of the majority.  But not in a republic. 

The state of Texas, once the Republic of Texas before gaining statehood, is the model of a republic government and the nation can learn from it. 

. Texas legislators are part-time officials, serving in the Texas Legislature.

. Many legislators maintain regular jobs outside of their legislative duties.

. Common professions include lawyers, business owners, educators, and healthcare professionals.

. Some legislators may take leave from their jobs during the session to focus on legislative responsibilities.  

Ben Franklin has nothing to worry about "if you can keep it", because today's career politicians will make sure to keep it.  The republic clearly works for the likes of AOC, Schumer, Sanders, McConnel, and Pelosi, etc. who surely will want the republic to work in perpetuity to perpetuate their grip on power. The people will simply have to endure. One significant note: among the list of long serving politicians on an average of 55 years in office, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a huge majority (check it out). And what is interesting is that these political parties are labeled Republican and Democrat.

Over the years, from as early as 2015, I've written about democracy and socialism from time to time. My favorite and the favorite of many  is "Mountains to Molehills" and "99 Cannibals and 1". Please just copy the link to your search bar and click.

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2018/07/mountains-to-molehills.html

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2016/12/99-cannibals-and-1.html

https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2015/07/democracy-of-ants.html

The Joys and Challenges of "Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen."

I just recently made up that German word. Google will redline it all the time but it will not with Kummerspeck (?) which means (literally, grief + bacon): "A playful term for weight gained from emotional eating or comfort eating". Sincere apologies to  my German readers but they'd understand how I came up with Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen.

The English language has a way of evolving that is unique to it, that makes it a model of efficiency when coming up with a new word, often using portmanteau - combining parts of real words, such as motel from motor + hotel; from smoke + fog, we get smog. Unlike in German which simply strings together several whole words for a new  lengthy compound word with either a more precise meaning, i.e., blitzkrieg which is from two German words: blitz - lightning; krieg - war, which means "lightning war" or rapid assault as a battle tactic or in playing rapid-move chess or as a defensive play in American football; or, indirectly implied as in  “Handschuh” (hand + shoe) to mean "glove" in English. 

Before we get to the heart of this musing, let's get a couple more real German words here. "Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän: Translating to “Danube steamship navigation company captain,” is famously cited to show just how lengthy German words can become. How about, Backpfeifengesicht?, (slap + face): Literally, “a face in need of a slap.” A cheeky term for someone who’s being annoying.

Wasn't that fun? Just so the reader knows how I came up with my own new German word.

My made up word, Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen, means "stay at home senior living" and that is where we are going. Folks with the good fortune of having lived long, thus far, who elect to keep their homes and stay in them, deserve the new lengthy made up word - an allegorical reference to long life. There are challenges, sure, but we find that those can be outweighed by a lot more joys if we seek and practice them.

First of all, anyone who has achieved  eight decades of being alive has at least earned the right to muse about the joys of a homebound life. At this point many of us octogenarians and over have had their shares of travel, of leisure outside the home, the obligatory social mingling, church and other forms of social interactions that no longer  need to be constantly padded or deemed necessary.

Advice to go out more, see "what's out there", find ways to be out of the house, usually comes from those younger by at least a decade or two, mainly friends and relatives alike. They are well intentioned but not necessarily "wohlmeinender Ratschlag", which means  literally, well meaning advice, again in German.

Instead, let's explore, literally and figuratively, the joys of a home-bound-life. But first, we are not talking about living as a hermit. We will still need to do the obligatory grocery shopping, trips to the hardware and garden centers, to the pharmacy, the much needed doctor's visit, the dreadfully but regularly scheduled moments at the dentist chair, and the regular exercise (walks around the neighborhood, at the mall or trips to the gym (for those among us who can). The good news is that we can be fair-weather-practitioners of all of these. There is absolutely no need to do groceries at the slight indication of rain, cold weather or when we're under the weather. I go  to the gym when traffic is the lightest, and not during the hour when young kids are let out from nearby schools or when I simply don't feel like it. Oh, the blessings of retirement and the copious amounts of not having to do anything.  

However, just the idea or reality of not having to do anything can also mean a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things. But it must begin with one thing. Attitude!  Attitude is the primer, the motivator and ultimately the power to move anything from anywhere nearby to somewhere nearby; from the state of idle restfulness to the beginning steps of a reasonable  journey not dictated by distance from home because there are things far deeper in home-bound living.

Guilt-free napping is one of the joys allowed, even encouraged,  in Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen! However, one study had shown that naps do have health benefits even for active workers. Examples of big corporations that allow naps at work, labeled as power naps, are Google, Zappos, Procter and Gamble, Facebook, etc.  Actually, naps can be essential at recharging brain power or boost post mid-day cognitive ability.  Imagine that, seniors. Your favorite couch, between noon and one thirty today, is the most craved after by every hard-charging executive or every muscle-weary assembly line worker.  That alone is enough to give you power over countless folks who are prone to marginalize your existence, either intentionally or by omission.

Take the ordinary cup of hot coffee. Remember when you were still an aspiring climber of the corporate ladder or pipe welder or bean counter in accounting when a cup of coffee was merely a required elixir to get you going from a state of forced wakefulness to a partially functioning commuter or carpooler? Now, you are enjoying the rich and full bodied aroma of steaming coffee, the warmth between your two cupped hands as the sun begins to filter through the window on a cold morning. Or, how about enjoying the coffee as the news on TV confirms the kind of morning weather to expect as you listen to the distant rumble of thunder and the intermittent flashes of lightning from somewhere over the horizon.

One early and chilly April Monday morning in 2007 I woke up to the unmistakably heavy pitter patter of raindrops on the roof. I was pulling the blanket away from my body to get up when it suddenly dawned on me, pun heavily intended, that I had just started a new way of living. It took some getting used to for a while but I did eventually get the hang of it. I realized I just retired two weeks earlier, after thirty five years.    

Like a lot of retirees, there were the usual travel itineraries, the company alumni get-togethers, organized luncheons and theater and sports attendances that later became less and less regular for  my wife and me as the years piled on.  

Then a complete halt to those activities when my wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's four years ago.  I had to mention that as a way to make note for the readers of a certain age that sometimes a diagnosis has an untimely way of intruding like a rude awakening to spoil the view of the sunset of  our lives.  But that is okay because, again, we go back to what I wrote a few paragraphs back about what could be our silver bullet - Attitude!

From a previous musing I wrote about embracing the role of caregiving after my wife's diagnosis. That role naturally became the linchpin that made Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen the natural segue to the new stage of living. Of course, the transition for me is made less difficult because my woodworking hobby is a home-bound past time, caring for orchids indoors is even less distant and naturally household chores speak for themselves. Cooking may not necessarily be a chore if one turns it into a hobby of discovery. Other than the other chores mentioned earlier, my time at the gym to swim gets me out of the house for just an hour at a time.

The relatively wider financial legroom we have now - something we never fail to be grateful for - makes it possible for someone to come every Saturday to clean the house and help with the weekly laundry. She is actually by now  a part of the family we get to see every week. There is so much to be thankful for, indeed.

I can't possibly go through every example so if I must put everything in a nutshell, I go back to Attitude! I turn unloading the dishwasher into a time and motion study.  Someday I aim to unload it in less than 4 minutes. That includes putting them back in their proper places in the cupboard.  So far, I am not breaking the 4-minute mark but it's a challenge. Woodworking is for now an infrequent activity except for the occasional project.  I have not updated it lately but the blog : https://easywoodworking-tolerba.blogspot.com/  is still getting a lot of views.  Soon, readers will see the latest knife project on the Damascus blade.  I've always wanted to have one but not until I found a blank blade for sale that required fashioning a handle for it. It took longer than usual to pull off but it's done.

Damascus blade is made from forging two different steel material - one soft and the other hard steel, folded over many times during the forging process that result in the distinct wave patterns on the face of the blade.

Now, how do I manage to spend time at the workshop and able to respond when my wife needs my help.  Commercially available are several alert gizmos that come with a caller at the press of a button and a doorbell ringer plugged into strategically desired power outlets. I put one in the workshop and another in between the living and family rooms.  My wife has a caller she wears around her neck.

As a household project, I recently installed additional LED sconce lights in the family area that allows for a bright but soft daylight in the family/breakfast area.  For anyone my age, I must say, please take great care with this undertaking where ladders and electricity are involved. Trust me, I did it at a virtually glacial pace. My fascination, almost an obsession with lights, as I explained to my wife, goes back to the time growing up in the Philippines when we did not have electricity until halfway through my high school. It meant that for a good part of our education, my sisters and I studied and did our homework under kerosene lamps. The reader will note from my woodworking blog several projects on light fixtures.

Cooking I do not find to be a burden but one to be taken up just like any hobby.  The motivation is actually strong; after all, I have to eat too.

Below is my own version of a ginger-based Filipino meat and veggie soup - "tinola" - that, if I may say so myself, has become one deliciously sumptuous lunch fare, served with white boiled rice on the side with air-fried eggroll or some chicken adobo.

Again, it is Attitude!  Attitude!

Happy "Bleibzuhauseseniorenwohen" everyone!

HRV, RHR, REM, BRPM, She, etc. ??

Continuing on "The Weight of a Life That Matters", let's explore further along the line of how best to take care of our physiology or, at the very least, have a way to track how we are doing so that the rest of our journey is still fun and relatively free of the usual concerns about fitness and general well being for those among us of a certain age. So let's get right to it.

Those are all acronyms in the title, the first one is likely the least known - 

(HRV) Heart Rate Variability  - but we'll get to it later.  REM, you're likely familiar with because it stands for Rapid Eye Movement and it is the most essential of all our sleep cycles. It is during that time, our dream cycles, when our brain does all the sorting of our memories, regulates our emotions and more importantly,  sharpens our  cognitive functions.

What this means is that our physiology begins and ends with how well our brain is working.  It is the central processing unit (CPU) that regulates and controls everything that is happening to our body - from growing  fingernails to producing insulin, how we feel warmth or cold, discerning the differences between ideas or arguments, to producing red blood cells, etc. It can do that because this particular CPU has 90 billion neurons to rely on that can do 100 trillion connections at a time. To give you an idea of the enormity of that capability, try to imagine counting one connection per second. You will still be counting for the next 30 million years; your brain makes those entire connections at a moment's notice.  It comes with a price, of course. For a body part that is a mere 2% of our body weight, it consumes 20-25 % of all the calories that our body processes from all the nutrients that it consumes. 

Now, the super computer that beat Kasparov in chess was one roomful of interconnected computers, manned and maintained by several technicians and engineers, air conditioned to low room temperature settings and consumed several hundred watts per minute. Kasparov's brain weighed a mere three pounds, powered by what he had for lunch and dinner.

So, first things first.  We need to take care of our brain. It does not demand much. Proper diet is good. But what it needs the most, fundamentally and by necessity, is a good night's sleep. But what is a good night sleep? A decade or so ago short of a laboratory setting, electrode attachments and other monitoring tools, there was little the average person can do to collect and retain data on basic breathing and heart functions when our bodies are physically stressed during exercise or when at rest. More on this in a bit.

Now, our body is a machine and runs like an engine. Our nose, mouth, and trachea make up the air intake manifold. Air exchange is done by the lungs where red blood cells carry oxygen that is pumped through the heart to mix with fuel (food and/or drinks) during digestion and waste in our blood is filtered by the kidney. If we allow our brain a good rest and recovery, exercise our heart and keep our kidneys at optimum filtration capacity we shall have achieved  more than half of what is required for proper maintenance. It is a given that every body part is essential; however, the brain, heart and kidneys are the super parts. This takes us to the acronyms in the title of this blog.

Almost three years ago I parlayed some amount with a purchase of a smart watch.  It was not the most expensive by any means but I was quite surprised at what it is able to keep track of.  Actually, all I needed it for was to keep track of the number of laps and the time it took me to swim 1000 meters in the pool. Before that I merely counted the laps in my head and  check the time it took me to do it on my old watch.  This new watch, however, will also track a lot of other data not related to swimming. It can be used for tracking walking steps and running and even for golf, once the golf app is downloaded to your phone.

First the swimming part. Once set with the proper length of the pool it counts the laps for me automatically and records not just the total time but time for every 100 yards, best and slow time per lap, number of strokes, average stroke per minute and per length, speed in mph, the average heart rate and recovery time in hours. Based on my age, which is part of the input it kept on record, it advises me a recovery time  of 24-26 hours, which actually means I need to rest for at least one day before swimming again. I assume if I were younger than the eight decades of being alive I could probably swim everyday. Below, one of several stats the watch downloads to my phone.

Then here is the other data it tracks and keeps. The watch is linked to my phone and all throughout the day it tracks a lot of stuff that includes the number of walking steps.  For example, even though walking is not an exercise regimen for me, it still tells me that on average I managed 6-7,000 steps! 

Here comes the HRV. It is a measure in milliseconds of time between heartbeats.  Now, there's no universal "good" or "bad" HRV number'. However, that number tends to decline with age. The number can get lower between heartbeats which means a slightly faster normal heart rate.

Age Group Typical Range (ms)

20-29 40-80

30-39 35-70

40-49 30-60

50-59 25-50

60+ 20-45

Important: These are approximations. Someone with an HRV of 25 isn't necessarily unhealthy, and someone with an HRV of 90 isn't automatically in great shape. Your personal baseline is what matters.

• Age (HRV naturally declines with age, and ranges differ for children)
• Fitness level (trained athletes typically have higher HRV)
• Genetics (some people naturally run higher or lower)
• Sex (women often have different patterns than men)
• Health conditions (various conditions affect baseline HRV)

To paraphrase, a higher HRV - longer elapse time from one heartbeat to the next - means that  a high HRV means a lower heart rate as to be working less than a faster one given the same set of conditions. But that is not all that matters. Resting heart rate (RHR) is a much better gauge.  Given the same conditions, a lower resting heart rate indicates that the heart does not need to beat fast to push or pump the same amount of blood while at rest so that there is still a lot of head room when vigorous exertion is needed.

Tour de France cyclists are known to have RHR at between 35-40 beats per minute. A Guinness world record is 28 for one older gentleman who apparently by mere genetics was endowed with a rare, slow running heart when at rest.

The benefit of exercise, swimming in my case, results in my low RHR of a daily average of 50 beats per minute and an average high  of 113 while swimming. The watch also records during sleep my breaths per minute (BRPM). "Vigorous" times, expressed in minutes, indicate level of exertion on a daily basis.

The bottom line is that a smart watch like this is and should be an investment in your health to keep track of some activities that may matter for proper assessment. I think it's a good investment.

For general guidelines in day-to-day maintenance of our health I came up with the last acronym in the title above - 'She'. It stands for Sleep, Hydration and Exercise.

Sleep, as mentioned earlier, has a profound effect on brain health and cognitive ability.  (Refer to my earlier blog - To Sleep Perchance to Dream). Hydration or our intake of the proper amount of water everyday, typically 8 cups per day, deserves our special attention.

Just a few years ago my primary care doctor referred me to a renal (kidney) specialist because based on my blood work results my eGFR was 1-2 points below the minimum. The acronym stands for estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate. Factoid: Today, there are 10,840 stand-alone dialysis centers (excluding those in hospitals) in the U.S., making it almost the largest health-related "cottage industry", second only to the number of urgent care clinics nation-wide at 11,900.  Kidney disease has become  a serious chronic disease. Today it is estimated that there are 100,000 patients waiting for donor kidneys on a wait list of three years or more.

"When looking at your eGFR results, a higher number is better. In general, an eGFR value lower than 60 is a sign that your kidneys may not be working properly. An eGFR lower than 15 is a marker of kidney failure".

Today, there are 37 million Americans with chronic kidney disease (CKD) that come in 5 stages, although the last one is the one that is critical (likely to need a transplant).

This takes us to proper hydration. Not too long ago I was at my renal doctor's office for my check up. She sees me once a year as she monitors and assesses the results of my bloodwork. I mentioned to her that recently I started closely monitoring my water intake and I realized how far off I was with my hydration when I started monitoring via the same app as on my cellphone that picks up data from my watch.  She told me to have another blood work in a month to see what my eGFR is going to be, now that I am strictly keeping to an 8 cup regimen of water intake. I start my morning even before breakfast or coffee with two glasses of lukewarm plain water. Much of my hydration, as recommended, is consumed in the first half of the day - 5/6 cups before lunch.  I do not count the 2 cups of coffee.

Sure enough my eGFR greatly improved (the higher the better, 60 being the bottom floor).  I mentioned this to my primary care doctor two months later during my annual physical. Along with my routine blood work, she ordered an eGFR test as well.  The result was another above 60 reading. For my age that looks fine to the doctors. However, 90 and above is what is expected of young kidneys and the range of 60 and above but below 90 can be an early onset of chronic kidney inefficiency.  As we get older maintaining an above 90 reading is an uphill effort for kidneys.  Doctors therefore look at anything over 60 for the older folks as acceptable.

Anecdotally, not a scientific finding or statement by any means, I would like to believe that perhaps all I needed all along was proper hydration. And, believe it or not, hydration is likely the one less likely given the same attention as we do with diet and exercise in most people's hectic modern life.  So, drink water conscientiously at 8 cups per day.

Exercise by almost universal acclimation is needed so we will not spend any more time on it.  Instead, let's pay attention to the brain - especially towards how best we can keep it healthy as we travel through the latter years.

For a very long time it was believed that we're stuck with the number of neurons at birth, then we tend to lose some to a diminishing number of about 10 per cent in old age.  But there is good news of late.

"In 1962, scientist Joseph Altman challenged this belief when he saw evidence of neurogenesis (the birth of neurons) in a region of the adult rat brain called the hippocampus. He later reported that newborn neurons traveled from their birthplace in the hippocampus to other parts of the brain. In 1979, another scientist, Michael Kaplan, confirmed Altman’s findings in the rat brain; and in 1983, he found special kinds of cells—called neural precursor cells—with the ability to become brain cells like neurons, in adult monkeys".

Considered at first to be true only in animals it is now believed that we can grow new neurons. It is still new in the field of neuro-science but according to Science News Today:

"The adult brain is not a static organ but a living, changing system, capable of reorganizing itself, forming new connections, and, in specific regions, generating new neurons. This remarkable capacity is known as neuroplasticity".

"Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to experience, learning, environment, and injury. It operates at multiple levels, from molecular changes within individual neurons to large-scale reorganization of entire neural networks. Through neuroplastic processes, the brain adapts continuously, sculpted by how we think, move, feel, and interact with the world. This adaptability is not a rare or exceptional phenomenon; it is a fundamental property of nervous systems".

My wife had commented once that even though English is my second language I write better with it now than from way-back-when since  the day I retired (2007). I said that is because I never stopped learning the language; my curiosity level remained high on any subject along with the yearning to keep learning about a host of other stuff deemed to be in a class of so called useless information, i.e. knowing that there is such a thing as "the average muzzle velocity of a sneeze" *.  Actually, I have news for everyone.  There is no such thing as useless information as far as the brain is concerned. To the brain, knowing or processing information is what it wants to do. Denied of new information, nothing to work on to stimulate it, or be entertained by it, the brain loses interest to the point of stagnation. 

I said in one of my earlier blogs that the universe is made up mainly of three components: matter, energy and information.  The brain needs all of them: gray matter that it is made of, energy to keep it going,  and information to keep it entertained, uses it, stores it  and disburses it.

As the saying goes, use it or lose it.

Keep it entertained and it will serve us all well.

* The average muzzle velocity of a sneeze is about 70 miles per hour. The idling hypochondriac brain hears it and asked: "What? What happens then when someone sneezes in a roomful of people at the doctor's waiting room? What if it was in a full elevator?