Brown Motion

 As I blogged in my earlier writeup we continue to use our time as a family to go find new ways to entertain ourselves and see this world we live in. In that vein another stumble led us to a National White Water Rafting Center near Charlotte. It is built along the Catawba River as an avenue for citizens to explore the great outdoors and is designed around artificial rapids that are used by the US Olympic teams to practice canoeing (which is a recognized competitive sport). It is a sight to behold.  I have never seen anything like it.  Except perhaps Disneyland.  This is in similar vein as a theme park except dedicated to the sport of rafting on rapids.  Man made rapids. Rapids are series of waterfalls created when river water gushes downhill over drops that vary from few feet to tens of feet. Severity of the drop and speeds of the rushing water defines the level of the rapids. I have done this many moons ago on a river in Pennsylvania.  Remember being able ...

 Each morning I try to catch up on the major stories of the world.  Most times I notice they are bordering on sensational in a sad or horrible way.  Whether it is the ongoing disaster wrought by Covid; attacks on innocents from a deranged entity; damage caused by nature or man (a recent building collapsed in Miami indicating possible negligence) there is drama everywhere, everyday. Amidst this chaos of life there are signs we need to find to make our lives enjoyable. It could be very blasé like someone in the family doing something fun, perhaps cooking a new dish or visiting a new place or meeting someone for the first time. In that vein we recently went to see a ski show on water.  A local lake hosts this team of water acrobats as I would classify them to do skiing but also some stunts while traveling close to 15 knots. Here are some visuals. After the show we watched the sunset to cap off a wonderful evening.

 I might have in prior years debated this idea.  But since I am getting to a point where I am selectively remembering things it does not help to dawdle. So I will press ahead with the (what I think is my) latest thinking. I recently watched a slow but gripping police drama with Denzel Washington and Rami Malek called 'The little things'. The two cops try very hard to track down a vicious killer in the LA area but are unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt if they captured the perpetrator.  Eventually (spoiler) a scuffle ensues and their prime suspect gets killed at the hands of the cop played by Rami. Denzel's character fakes evidence to let Rami believe that he did the right thing in killing the suspect. So was justice served?  Who knows.  Attacking Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 tragedy served a purpose in letting America work out its rage.  But did it make the world safer?  Did it solve a problem?  What did we lose in return? More checks ...