Another winter solstice

In our Northern Hemisphere, winter solstice’s day is my favorite time of the year as it signals light bottoming out before rebounding into the promise that tomorrow, everything will turn around towards a brighter future, for at least the next six months. That transition is filled with hope as the days grow longer, even if the drop into darkness is often less noticed because it’s not really appreciated. 

This is probably why that time of the year is filled with spiritual meaning and used by religions the world over to mark the transition between darkness and light, not to mention into a brand new year! That signals a symbolic rebirth as we’re marking the shortest day of the year and its darkest time that symbolizes death, dormancy, and the end of a cycle. 

Without smartphones, our ancestors were deeply connected to the natural world and its rhythms. The solstice was a crucial time for survival, marking the onset of winter and the need to prepare for the harsher months ahead. Celebrating that moment helped folks connect with the natural cycles and find hope and resilience during a challenging time. 

That’s why many cultures have developed unique rituals and celebrations around the winter solstice, starting with the pagan tradition of celebrating Yule, the festival honoring the return of the sun. Same thing with Christmas that, while having Christian roots, incorporates many pre-Christian winter solstice traditions. Many other cultures have their own unique celebrations and rituals associated with the winter solstice.

I was about to forget the scientific and astronomical meaning, starting with Planet Earth reaching that famous 23.5 degrees tilt relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. Sure, it’s the opposite if you live in Sydney or Buenos Aires as you enter a long, warm summer! In essence, the solstices mark the points of maximum and minimum solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface due to the tilt of the Earth's axis. 

All these considerations comfort my belief that its powerful symbolism of darkness and light, death and rebirth, make the winter solstice the most remarkable day of the year. At least for me. Now, enjoy the day!

The world’s oldest fake news?

Trump is really the man that popularized the words “Fake News” and the more I think about it, the more I realize that we’ve been living surrounded by a universe of fake news from the days we were born. For those of us who don’t believe in organized religion and in life after death, aren’t those concepts perfect examples of altered reality, to use another euphemism, for that form of lies? 

It’s absolutely true that "Fake News" is everywhere and we've always been surrounded by information that may not be entirely accurate or truthful. As far as religion or spiritual beliefs are concerned when they don't align with scientific evidence or personal experience (like life after death), it’s reasonable to say that they could be considered a form of "altered reality" or a type of "fake news." Of course, the concept of "truth" itself is subjective and isn’t easy to define. 

What one person considers "Fake News," another might consider a valid perspective. Religious beliefs often operate on faith and personal experience, rather than scientific evidence. They address questions about existence, purpose, and morality that science may not be able to fully answer simply because it lacks proof and this is precisely what makes it more credible and easier to follow and embrace. 

It’s true that for many, religious beliefs provide a sense of meaning, purpose, and community, while not scientifically provable, these beliefs can have a profound impact on individuals' lives because in the majority of instances they’ve been inculcated since childhood when they were the most impressionable. 

Some will say that the term "fake news" is often used to describe deliberate misinformation that is spread with the intent to deceive or manipulate, while religious beliefs are given the benefit of the doubt and are considered to be held sincerely and with a sense of conviction, except for a few instances of forced conversion, like the Inquisition or ISIS among key examples. 

As far as similarities go between certain religious beliefs and the spread of "fake news" (both involving accepting information that may not be entirely verifiable), we shouldn’t oversimplify and since religious belief seems to be the domain of the “majority”, the non-believers and their positions remain the voice of a negligible “minority” that really doesn’t count. 

I’m not saying that we should disrespect the beliefs of others when they differ from our own, but I believe that critical thinking skills remain essential to evaluate information, identify biases, and distinguish between certainty and conviction.

The shifting appearance of meditation

We don’t see as much written on meditation as we do on trail running, iron man races or even hot air ballooning. The practice behind meditation is much more elusive, diversified, secretive and so subjective that few come forward to translate it into words.

It’s probably why I feel compelled to intervene as I’m closing in on 5 years of daily practice. In a few words, I just find meditation to be just like a moving target. One reaches a certain level or target, and everything suddenly changes and forces the user to switch gears. 

What used to work reliably no longer does and, if anything, this forces the practitioner into being more focused on what is going on. Expecting the unexpected seems to be the rule when one meditates. 

Is there any reader-practitioner around who can confirm this?

Thank God for snow-making! (Part 2)

While I believe that its overall efficiency has increased by 50 to 75% over the last half-century (exact numbers are hard to come by), tt’s pretty obvious that snow-making requires large amounts of water, which can put a strain on local water resources, especially in arid regions. 

This get the attention of environmentalists, yet, much of the water isn’t wasted as it eventually returns to the watershed during the spring melt. Water needed to carpet a ski hill in snow remains relatively fixed from year to year, so there are only so many efficiency gains to be had. 

Compressing air is what really costs a lot and if the power is generated by non-renewable sources, contributes directly to global warming, not to mention the cost of infrastructure and its renewal to simply maintain it and keep up with technological advances in terms of efficiency. This is where in fact all the efforts have been placed by snow-gun equipment manufacturers. 

Environmentalists will also point at chemicals additives used to improve snow quality, that can have potential environmental impacts. As suggested, technology keeps on improving with more efficient snow guns using less water and energy to produce snow. A typical snow-making machine can produce anywhere from 1 to 10 tons of snow per hour. High-efficiency machines can produce even more under optimal conditions that is, when temperatures are below 28°F (-2°C) and humidity levels are low.

Under these conditions, machines can create denser, higher-quality snow. As for water usage, machines typically require about 1,000 gallons of water to produce one ton of snow. This can vary based on the machine's efficiency and the desired snow quality. It takes approximately 3.5 to 4.3 kWh of energy to produce one cubic meter of snow; however, this number can be as high as 14 kWh, or as low as 1 kWh per cubic meter of snow. 

Snow-making accounts for approximately 50% of the average American ski resort's energy costs, which amounts to about $500,000. Given the gradual raising of temperature and of the snow limit, worldwide, snow-making demand might in fact double by 2050 if not stopped earlier by environmental regulations. 

Still today, it seems that future gains in energy efficiency with the prevailing technologies will be incremental, and perhaps not cost effective for systems that have been recently updated. However, areas that have not yet adopted this technology could realize impressive gains in performance and energy efficiency. Ski area operators can choose from a wide selection of snow-making equipment to fit their unique terrain, regional weather patterns, and business plans. 

While snow-making has a significant environmental impact, technological advancements and a focus on sustainability are trying to mitigate these concerns. Continued research and development are crucial to further improve the efficiency and environmental friendliness of snow-making technologies and preventing ecologists to keep on threatening their use. 

In the meantime, skiers like me who can only ski groomed runs don’t have to ruin their brand new skis very early in the season!

Thank God for snow-making!

This snow season is off to a slow start with many snowfalls, but to date, all without much accumulation. If there was no artificial snow-making, this would be a challenging start for skiing as Christmas is just one week away. 

In the forty winters I have lived in Park City, I’ve even seen worse seasons than this one, and must admit that we’ve been extremely lucky to have cold enough weather since November to complement the lack of natural snow with man-made alternative! 

Still, making snow like this is not new, as the first documented attempts at artificial snow-making goes back to 1934 when Warner Bros. invents the first snow-making machine in Hollywood to create a blizzard for a film. The machine used three blades to shave ice from a block and a fan to blow the ice particles into the air. 

But the real breakthrough came in the 1940s when Ray Ringer, a Canadian researcher, accidentally discovers snow-making principles while studying ice formation on jet engines. 

Yet it’s in the 1950s when Art Hunt, Dave Richey, and Wayne Pierce invent the first commercial snow cannon and in 1952, the Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel not too far from New York City, became the first to use artificial snow.

By the end of that decade, in 1958, the "Eastern Ski Directory" notes that 18 of the 104 ski resorts in New York and New England are using man-made snow to complement mother nature’s work. From that point forward, Alden Hanson, the chief scientist for Dow Chemical, and a prolific inventor, patented the initial fan-type snow gun in 1961 (he also invented Lange ski boots’ Flo padding material, Hanson’s silly-putty and of course the first rear entry boot known under that name). 

This led the way to more significant advancements into the 1970s and the development of more efficient snow-making machines that we’ll talk about in the next blog… (to be continued)

Should we help Syria?

It seems to me that the entire “free world” is waiting, sitting on its hands, to see how Syria gets organized after the shocking and surprising ouster of Bashar al-Assad. Shouldn’t the developed world actively help instead of doing nothing, speculating and waiting for something bad to happen? By helping it could negotiate that a more democratic, inclusive state takes root, that all the chemical and other mass-destruction weapons are eradicated and the Russian bases on the Mediterranean are closed for good? 

I certainly realize that the situation in Syria is incredibly complex but it also reminds me of Russia in the context of the USSR implosion, when the international community should have intervened to help and just sat on the sidelines. It’s undeniable that the Syrian civil war has caused immense human suffering. 

A pacific and active intervention could help alleviate this suffering by providing humanitarian aid, protecting civilians, and supporting the delivery of essential services. Further, that conflict had destabilizing effects on the region, fueling the rise of extremism and contributing to the refugee crisis. 

By facilitating negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition groups, an active international engagement could help prevent further instability and mitigate regional security threats. It could also promote democracy and human rights by helping facilitate a political transition towards a more democratic and inclusive 

This would also prevent rogue politicians like Netanyhu from taking advantage of the situation, as he’s already done, conducting his own version of allegedly cleaning up certain weapons in that country and encroaching further on its territory. Sure, there are risks involved with such and intervention, but if we do nothing by not wanting to take some risks, the consequences might be worse. 

Some may fear that intervention might violate the country’s sovereignty or could escalate the conflict and lead to further violence and casualties. They’re also afraid that it could be politically divisive within the international community, but in term, doing nothing might lead to a new tyrannical government like we’ve seen everywhere after the largely aborted Arab spring. 

Helping Syria would be a cheap insurance premium to avoid another Middle-East problem that we’ll up paying at a very high cost. Perhaps our developed world has simply become too anti-Arab to see appreciate this...

The “Belief Business”

It’s pretty easy to see who dominates the car business, but much harder to see which religion (or lack thereof ) dominates the “Belief Business” as I like to call it. It’s hard to get reliable numbers and among those. 

I assume there are a huge percentage of so-called faithfuls who are as “good Catholics” as I am, having never set foot in a church, on my own, for of my lifetime, and the same probably holds true for millions of other “religious folks” counted in the world statistics. So we need to take that religious “world market share” with a huge grain of salt. 

Early this week my wife was asking me how many Muslims were in the world. Having no idea, I asked our smart-speaker who gave me a number and then we reviewed all the religions we could think of. In checking with other sources, I came up with a curated hit-parade of sorts of religions the world over, because the numbers claim vary a lot from sources to sources. 

Just remember that Christianity is still number one at the moment with about 2.2 billion, followed by 1.6 billion of Muslims, 1.6 of atheist or non affiliated, 1.2 Hindus. Buddhists only account for near 500 millions and the 1.1 billion balance is a catch-all category that includes folks and native religions as well as faiths like Baha’i, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, and Zoroastrianism, among a multitude of others beliefs. 

I’m not even mentioning astrology or conspiracy theories... While Christianity is the most widespread religion at the moment, projections indicate that Islam might rival Christianity in terms of followers by 2050. It could also be both challenging and surprising if social media, as we know it, is not going to supplant all these beliefs, at least in that same 2050 horizon! 

Surprisingly, my Mormons friends that have made huge en-roads in poorly educated countries like in South America claim 17 million members, but do they eventually all stick to that dogma? Finally Jews only account for 15 million, but remain an extremely loud minority worldwide, so talk about the tail wagging the dog!