2017 Summer August 19 Saturday

2017 Summer August 19 Saturday

77 degrees this morning, walk 35:47 minutes.  

Humidity felt high during walk this morning, it was 87% which is less than some other days, but it felt like it was higher.

Pace was 13 seconds slower than my goal.  For some reason, I have been over my goal or close for awhile.  Maybe a sign I shouldn’t lower my goal!

Distance was .20, in the high range.  I don’t really consciously walk more or less, it is whatever pattern seems to work.

Just for the record, elevation gain during the walk was 84 feet and my average bpm was 96!  Also, I burned 295 calories, 219 from walking.

Amazing what kind of  records you can have of a walk (or any exercise) now!  There actually a lot more, but that is enough for right now.

Perhaps the true “miracle" of technology is what they are doing to assist people in living better, both staying healthy and in assisting persons with health problems or disabilities.  That is a positive thing about a lot of the companies, they are doing it to make money, but I also feel they are doing it to make life better for people also.

I see some of the companies (like  Fit-Bit etc.) becoming specialized in health and life-improving products, that may be niches that Apple etc. can’t really produce in .

I think if something makes a persons life more livable, the benefits are  difficult to calculate, they are so high.  Probably   something you really can’t (and maybe don’t want) to put a value on.

I think that is what is so enraging about the medical companies that raise the price on a life-saving drug  that benefits “only”  a few, so they they make $52 million dollars a year instead of 50 million dollars a year.  Pathetic to say the least.  As I say, I am sure there is a special place in hell reserved for these so called “executives”, although thieves and extortists are better descriptions.  

I never really know where this journal/blog will go.  I’ve long given up on any kind of “plan” for what I am going to write, it just pops out of my head as I write.

Not that I don’t think of topics I am interested and would like to write about, otherwise why take the trouble?

Listening to the “Great Course” on the “Industrial Revolution” again.  It is really interesting and I am picking up on some things I missed the first time.  

I am really amazed and sometimes very impressed by what I read.  I see what people do now and wonder “how do they do that”, but  I also look at shipbuilding in the 16th and 17th century in awe also.

Wooden ships took about 10 years to make, and sometimes the wood rotted before it was finished.  One ship could take 100 acres of trees.  After all of that, they would last maybe 12-16i years before they wore out.

What amazes me is the patience of many of the workers, listening to a list of descriptions of the different jobs required and the lack of mechanical and power tools.

Haven’t seen my friend the opossum, perhaps never well again.  We may have been like two ships passing in the night, never to see each other again!  On the other hand, I know they are out there, eating pests and snakes etc., so I feel good about it.

That’s it for now, Saturday, August 19, 2017.