Doing the DNC. Taking it to the streets.

I checked out the delays and detours before I caught my bus. But, the guy next to me apparently didn’t. When we approached Colfax and Federal, encountered the road work detour signs, and went south, he began to complain. “There’s no way in hell, you’ll get across I-25 going this way, what the * are you doing?” he yelled at the driver. Then he changed his target, “If this guy expects us to vote for him, he can kiss my *.” He looked like an aging hippy—graying, long hair tied in a pony, earring, tattoo—all that stuff. But, there’s no telling, anymore, what a guy’s politics are just by looking at his demeanor.

I got downtown, did a lot of walking—but, hey, let the pictures tell the story


Over by the college, I came across some guys from the, "Temple of O," who were dressed up like the toga party in "Animal House". I can't guess their motive, but I have to agree—they are not worthy.

These guys have a lot to say about a lot of other people who are going to Hell.

She's not saying anything. Is she just sitting around, or is there something more going on?

Sunday Vibes in Denver's City Park

A number of events are scheduled to occur in City Park during the week of the Democratic National Convention.

The Yoga Health Festival, taking place on August 24 and 25, starts the week off.

Today (Sunday), smells of incense and sounds of soft drums are in the air. No doubt, the atmosphere will be more politically charged as the week progresses.

But, today, peaceful vibes, are in the air.

Shroedinger’s Cat Versus Eternity

Spook : science tackles the afterlife
Mary Roach
Nonfiction 311 pages
W.W. Norton and Co. 2005

Others may be dying to find out if there’s an afterlife, but Mary Roach looks at what science has to say about it. In “Spook: science tackles the afterlife,” Ms. Roach seeks the answer on three continents. She encounters reincarnation research in India, a school mediums in England; and in the U.S.A., she encounters laptop computers viewable only by those who are temporarily discarnate.

Does she find the answer? No, her findings are inconclusive. Some of the afterlife research is badly designed. Some is downright bogus. Regardless, whatever research she analyses, Mary Roach’s writing is always entertaining and witty.

Roach’s most convincing evidence is based on near death experience (NDE) research and is presented toward the end of the book. NDE research may be the most hopeful route toward understanding the afterlife. However, it is not a straightforward route. There are both neurological and practical factors to consider. Since near death is not death itself, permanent and unyielding, to what extent can experiencing it be generalized to experiencing death itself? For that matter, since much of our experience comes through our senses, which require living organs to function, how can there even be a death experience, at least in terms that are understandable by the living?

The near death experience reminds me of the dilemma that Erwin Shroedinger’s cat found itself in. In Shroedinger’s thought experiment, the cat is both live and dead until an observer opens the box that contains it. Only upon observation can the cat be considered dead or living. That’s the thing — is a person dead or living during an NDE? Roach’s book doesn’t provide any solid answers, but it does ask some great questions.