January 2023

Caleb Chapman Soundhouse 25th Anniversary Concert. Crescent Super Band. Drums at kit. David Paich, of Toto, at piano. Toto's Africa. "I bless the rains down in Africa..."

Seeing a strong LDS symbol overseas, such as this temple, helps me appreciate that LDS leaders have more to consider than just the US when dealing with government policy controversies.

Two kinds of populism. The Peron model: Vote Socialism, tax the producers, redistribute the taxes to a surfeit of crony, unproductive government workers and the abundant poor. The Trump model: Undo the creeping Peronist Socialism advancing rapidly in the US. Uphill climb for DJT and his followers as it appears that a majority of Americans prefer the Peron/Biden populist model.

Three or four days of these types of seas is the cost you have to pay crossing the Drake to see Antarctica.

Celebrate Elon Musk seeking to hedge humanity extinction bets by populating a nearby planet.

To humans, landscapes seem immutable. "Ice-scapes" are ever changing. No human will capture this same image again.

Getting to know some of our fellow cruise goers was an important part of the Austral experience in Antarctica.

The Adélie penguin ( Pygoscelis adeliae) is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is its only habitat. 

Port Charcot was the overwintering site of the French Antarctic Expedition, commanded by Jean-Baptiste Charcot from 1903 through 1905.

Antarctica.  No longer an abstraction.  No longer a white blotch on the bottom of my office globe.  Seeing this land spurred a lump in throat moment.  My erstwhile ambivalence about coming on this trip is beginning to fade.  

We are informed by the captain that Drake seas, with up to 8 feet swells are a benign "2" of "10" when it comes to potential Drake restiveness. 

Antarctica Bound

The two most photogenic people I know are FeeBee and her mom. FeeBee and B1B are excelling at raising interesting, well behaved, high achieving kids!