How do you feel about 8 billion folks and extreme and rapid climate
variations, which are about to be upon us, or rather our children and
grandchildren?  When I tell my 30-yr-old kids this, who thankfully have
no kids and I hope never will, they just blow me off.  I ask them just
exactly what have I ever been wrong about?  They answer that "You
thought Gore would be elected."

Yes, but that is about to change in the next few decades.

There is no life on Mars and probably never was.  Every planetary
scientist with even a medulla oblongata knew that there used to be water
on Mars.  There are the anastamosing (sorry, you'll have to look it up)
flows, and other odd signs.  And there is new photographic evidence from
the rovers that is fairly convincing.  But water does not equal life.

Life on Earth almost certainly was born multiple times in multiple
places at sites of seafloor spreading.  There are no signs of such
geological activity on Mars, though there are plenty of other signs of
geological activity.  A very interesting planet.  I spent months looking
at the Viking stereo photos.  Had dreams about them.  I never saw any
reason to believe that life ever existed on Mars.  I was actually most
interested by the debris flows outside craters, as similar phenomena
occur on the Moon and Earth.

I even have my favorite one on Earth, the Blackhawk Landslide.  Got my
Porsche stuck there in the 70s, and my friend was not too happy to dig
it out with me.  My wife and I visited it on her birthday in the late
90s, but I was wise enough to park our rental car some ways away.  When
we got on top of it and I described to her how it all happened, a rock
gas that occurred when a mountain fell apart, she was very impressed,
but then wanted to get off to Vegas and Cirque du Soleil's "O" and cheap
steaks, and a climb of Charleston.  That was unsuccessful because of
weather, and I had my first experience of hypothermia, as I'm usually
very well dressed.  But the weather came up so fast, I did not take it
seriously.  You are never too old to learn a good lesson.  My wife
helped me get my extra clothes on, since I had lost lost of my
coordination;  I always carry extra clothes.  The point is to get them
on in time.

There was this woman, but my wife was too focussed on our anniversary
and her birthday, which are only a few days apart.  Later she said it
might have been interesting, but we always stay way out in Boulder.

jimbat

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