Victor Victor

Hear about Africa from Continental Drifting at

http://www.hearplanet.com/article/1080024

Happy New Year

Flying the Edge of America:

Yellowstone National Park (Part One)

Julia and David left Glacier International Airport bright and early on Saturday, July 12th to ensure they caught the cold morning air and bright blue skies. David was a little worried about this flight as it was over very high terrain, but they had perfect weather to fly so it was the right time to go. To avoid the high ground he plotted a course via all the valleys and low terrain he could find. They flew due south from Glacier via a valley that separates the Swan and Mission Mountain Ranges; this kept them relatively low at 9,500 feet for most of the flight. The scenery between Glacier and Yellowstone is truly gorgeous and more majestic than they had imagined. The USA has to have the most beautiful countryside in the whole world. Every continent has something to offer, but North America has it all, from deserts to snowcapped mountains, and almost everything in between. It is really hard to compete with the natural beauty of North America.

Snowcapped mountain peaks

As they flew past the Scapegoat Wilderness the high valley opened up to elevated plains. On either side of them were snowcapped mountain peaks. They wiggled their way past the Highland Mountains where they saw national forests in every direction. David climbed Matilda up to 11,500 feet to ensure they had lots of separation from the ground, and to lessen the dominance of the mountains towering around them. They passed the Tobacco Root Mountains where the high plains closed back up to a high valley. The Gravelly Mountains were to the west of them and the Madison Mountain Range to their east.

From the air it is very clear that Yellowstone is surrounded by a ring of mountains. What is not so obvious is that these mountains are the rim of a crater left by an explosion of a super-volcano that formed Yellowstone. They flew all the way down the valley to Henrys Lake, which is in Idaho, to avoid the towering mountains before turning west and flying back into Montana. As they turned the corner before them lay the Madison Valley, the town of West Yellowstone, and the Yellowstone National Park beyond it. The landing at West Yellowstone Airport was simple and without incident.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park was the first of its kind worldwide to be created back in 1872. There is both beauty and danger for visitors at Yellowstone. Julia and David figured that if the super-volcano was going to go off during the next few days they would be annihilated instantly, making it a very good place to be. The alternative would be a slow painful death as the earth plunged into another ice age after the explosion. They figured that if it did not go off then exploring it would be a fascinating endeavor. A few years ago there was a BBC TV show all about the volcano. Julia was living in San Francisco and she remembered her mum phoned from England in a panic, because she was living so near to the monstrous thing. Her mom felt it would be advisable for Julia to pack up her life, say goodbye to America, and return home to the safety of good old England. The potential super-volcanic eruption did seem scary to her too, but she decided to stay in the US and continue her life rather than flee back to the relative safety of the old blighty. Her mum did not seem to totally understand Julia’s decision and to this day she occasionally says, “Darling, are you sure about America, don’t forget there’s a big earthquake coming to the Bay Area and Yellowstone is overdue.”

Video of the flight Yellowstone

Continue the adventure, in my next excerpt from Flying the Edge of America.

David Millett Publications

First Taste Backstage Documentary

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6_9739PB2U&context=C3bd4e8cADOEgsToPDskKsK52ca9V78FTi6xwvCBdD

First Taste Backstage Documentary

Free Determinism

By Dr. Malcolm Stewart-Morris

This title is obviously meant to sound confusing since it appears to describe a cognitive conflict. However, perhaps like other phenomena of the time in which we live — think quantum theory for example— an attempt to resolve that conflict may open a door to a better understanding. Let’s try.

Take the blue pill or the red pill

A problem that has appeared involves neurological research revealing that many and some would say all, of our human choices while apparently unfettered have recently been shown to appear in the brain before we become aware of them. How then it is asked can we claim authorship of our own decision making if our brain was there first?

I would suggest that the solution rests with the duality implied by the words “my brain”. And I ask: what is the “my” of this expression? Clearly we experience a sense of personhood that a theologian might call a “soul”. However, that term is not substantive in a physical sense. An argument can be made that the “person” who possesses the body a part of which is the brain, is in fact an epiphenomenon of that very organ. If I am in fact a brain then the “my” disappears. This idea tends to make more friends in the neurological community than the theological of course.

To continue, the human brain has evolved within the physical environment. Decisions dealing with gravity, temperature, environmental conditions and such reside in lower levels of our Central Nervous System and are not generally the affair of consciousness. Importantly the same is true of many genetic and cultural precursors of decision making.

The brain it seems then, is under constant bombardment by micro or mini inputs which dictate sub-selections and which finally provide awareness with the building blocks for conscious decisions. Freud who has been so often disregarded had much to say about these subconscious determinants—ideas now increasingly supported by neurological discoveries.

While therefore, a strong case can be made that our mental structuring might be “theoretically” determinable we do not live in a theoretical construct any more than those who propose that if all the data of the universe were computable the future would be predictable.

The conclusion that can be drawn then, is that while “free will” at some extended level may be illusory so too is a large part of our perception as humans. We are clearly not capable of grasping anything that might be called absolute reality and do well enough to struggle with our all too imperfect understanding of what is determinable let alone determined.

Flying the Edge of America

 

Glacier NP, Hidden Lake

New Zealand

Arthur’s Pass

Arthur’s Pass in the South Island

Arthur’s Pass in the South Island of New Zealand is a small township, surrounded by dark green beech tree forest, 2,427 feet (740 meters) up in the Southern Alps. It is a popular base for exploring the Arthur’s Pass National Park and the road that runs through the town is one of the few ways to cross the South Island.

Pick up a rental car in Christchurch and make the drive to Arthurs Pass you will enjoy the craggy beauty of this huge mountain range. The only word that even comes close to describing the scenery you will see is majestic. New Zealand itself and its Alps more obviously are the result of uplifted ancient seafloor. The range is made of sandstone and mudstone both of which are rather soft rock. Because of this the mountains are crumbling at about the same rate they are being pushed upwards by tectonic action. This makes for a very unique landscape. Vast scree fields are strewn about completely covers the sides of the massifs.

Vast scree fields

The additional forces of glacial sculpting formed massive scree filled river valleys. Some of the mountains have such steep sides and loose surfaces that no flora of any kind can take hold on them. This gives the appearance of an enormous manmade quarry.

Once at Arthurs Pass you can hike Arthur’s Pass National Park. The Avalanche Mountain walk is a trailhead just behind the information center in the small town. This is a 6 to 8 hour loop that climbs almost straight up the side of the mountain then goes on to the peak. It then returns by Scotts trail. You do not have to do the complete hike you can walk as much or as little as you like. If you take the challenge you will hike through native forests filled with Kia and Parakeets and encounter magnificent waterfalls along the way.

The first hour will have you at times rock climbing, 2,000 feet above the valley floor. However, keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to turn around and head back down at a moment’s notice. As you walk and climb you will hear the loud cracking sound made by distant rock slides from the surrounding mountains. This is the processes of mountain crumbling at work.

Arthurs Pass Video

Arthurs Pass Photos

http://david-millett-publications.com

Walking the Offa’s Dyke Path

Day Eight: Trial by hobbling

http://lnkd.in/NCfb25

iTunes Book – Continental Drifting by David Millett & Julia Buss

Continental Drifting