Articles from Don Sutherland

Walking Through Time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 22:09:54 +0000

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Museums tell stories that collapse the distance between past and present. Within a single room, centuries can stand side by side. A weathered artifact, a painted face, a fragment of text, or a carefully preserved object can carry visitors into worlds that no longer exist but still speak with remarkable force.

Museums compress time by allowing people to move through history not as an abstract sequence of dates, but as a lived human experience. They create encounters between rich stories and the imagination. Each exhibit becomes a doorway, asking visitors to wonder who made an object, who used it, what it survived, and what it reveals about beauty, struggle, belief, power, or memory. The museum experience combines evidence with emotion, knowledge with curiosity, and history with personal reflection. In that meeting place between what is preserved and what is imagined, museums help us see not only where humanity has been, but also how those stories continue to shape who we are as we journey forward in time.

Below are a few photos from the day I spent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) on June 19th. For each, I ask I raise a question for thought.

A shadowed ancient figure gazes across a luminous museum hall, where marble columns, glass cases, and scattered sculptures seem to gather centuries into a single quiet space. The polished floor and soft overhead light create a sense of reverence, as if the past is not displayed but still watching. What stories do you imagine this figure has carried into the present?

Tall ancient vessels rise like silent witnesses in a bright gallery devoted to Greek art, their carved figures preserving scenes of ceremony, beauty, and everyday life. Their worn surfaces suggest both fragility and endurance, reminding us that objects can carry human memory across thousands of years. What stories might these vessels tell if their carved figures could speak?

Sunlight pours through a sculpture court, casting a quiet grid of shadows across the floor as visitors pause before monumental figures carved in stone. The scene brings together movement and stillness: people passing through the present while statues preserve gestures, struggles, and stories from another age. What does this meeting of living viewers and silent sculptures make you wonder about the endurance of human experience?

Visitors move through a quiet gallery where framed paintings, open doorways, and polished floors create a rhythm of looking and discovery. The central painting seems to anchor the room, while the people around it add their own fleeting stories to the museum’s layered conversation between past and present. Which painting would draw you closest, and what would you hope to find inside its world?

Walking out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I carried the sense that every object had survived time not merely to be seen, but to remind us that human beings have always reached for beauty, meaning, memory, and permanence. And perhaps that is the deepest story a museum tells. It is a reminder that we are all passing through time, leaving behind fragments of who we were, perhaps hoping that someone in the future will pause long enough to wonder what they mean. When you stand before the remains of another age, what part of your own story do you begin to see?

The MOU That Made America Small

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 12:39:07 +0000

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“The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.” –Sun Tzu

The most dangerous thing a great power can do is to reveal that it lacks the will, judgment, and seriousness to defend the interests it has declared vital. That is what President Trump’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran has done. It broadcast to allies, adversaries, and wavering states that the United States could be drawn into a contest of endurance with a second-rate power, and then accept humiliation to escape the consequences of its own catastrophic misjudgment. That is not a military failure. It is leadership failure.

Bluster is not strength. It is often the sound weakness makes when trying to appear formidable. The MOU shattered the Administration’s image of toughness because its terms read less like diplomacy than capitulation. It did not restore deterrence. It damaged it. It did not protect American prestige. It spent it. It taught allies that Washington may provoke a crisis, exhaust itself, and then bargain away interests it once called nonnegotiable. How then can allies rely on Washington's commitments?

The Administration’s words attacking critics and reliable allies, alike, are cheap. No insult or partisan deflection can alter the strategic reality. The United States emerges from this conflict diminished. Its adversaries have seen a pressure point. Its allies have received a warning. Its political system has shown advanced decay, as Congress has largely declined to intervene. Silence, in such a moment, is not prudence. It is compliance.

For more than a decade, Iran had threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked. That possibility was not obscure. It was central to any potential conflict. If the Trump Administration failed to plan for it, that was incompetence. If it understood the risk and proceeded anyway, that was recklessness. Either way, Trump started a war he was not prepared to finish and then accepted terms that leave the United States and its Mideast allies worse off than before the conflict began.

The lessons are timeless. First, if one can achieve ends without war, one should pursue diplomacy. Second, if one is not willing to sustain the burden of war, one should not begin one. A failed war followed by appeasement does not produce peace. It produces contempt.

History offers a brutal parallel: Suez. In 1956, Britain and France attacked Egypt after Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Britain still possessed military capacity and imperial pride. But the crisis exposed its deeper weakness: economic vulnerability, strategic dependence, and inability to act as an independent great power against American opposition. Sterling came under pressure. Britain needed financial support. Washington refused relief unless Britain accepted a ceasefire. Suez did not by itself end Britain’s great-power status, but it made decline visible. It told allies, rivals, and citizens that the old image of British power no longer matched reality.

The danger for the United States is similar. America has not suddenly become powerless. It still possesses immense economic, technological, military, and alliance advantages. But great powers do not fall only when they run out of assets. They fall when political leadership squanders credibility faster than institutions can replenish it.

Trump’s Iran misadventure could have profound and long-lasting geopolitical consequences. Allies will hedge. Gulf partners, Israel, European governments, and Asian energy importers will conclude that American guarantees are less reliable when presidential impulse replaces strategy.

Adversaries will probe. China will study the gap between American rhetoric and staying power. Russia will look for openings among demoralized allies. Iran will present itself as the regional power that survived American pressure and forced concessions.

Still, decline is not destiny. The United States has powerful foundations for renewal: an enormous and resilient economy, alliances, capital markets, universities, technology, military power, and constitutional traditions capable of correction. But renewal requires abandoning the theatrical politics that produced this failure.

Congress must assert its constitutional role in war, sanctions, and any agreement affecting vital national interests. The United States must rebuild deterrence through steadiness rather than spectacle. It must establish achievable objectives, restore credibility with allies, cease abusing longstanding partners, build energy resilience through fossil fuel alternatives, and pursue enforceable verification in any future Iran agreement.

Above all, America must relearn strategic humility. Strength is not maximalist rhetoric. Prudence is not weakness. Diplomacy is not appeasement when backed by leverage, verification, and allied unity. War is not strength when begun impulsively and ended in panic.

A great nation can recover from a bad agreement. It can recover from a failed war. It cannot recover if it loses the ability to distinguish strength from bluster, peace from appeasement, and leadership from performance.

Gen Z at the Crossroads of Tomorrow

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 17:19:07 +0000

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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both…

The opening lines of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” endure because they capture three of the oldest and most powerful realities of human life: uncertainty, choice, and consequence. Long before writing, the printing press, or the instant communication of the Internet Age, people faced diverging paths and imperfect knowledge. The future has always been partly hidden. What is different now is the speed, scale, and interconnectedness of the forces shaping it.

Gen Z is coming of age at a moment when nearly every stabilizing system feels unsettled at once. Technology, school, work, education, climate, politics, social life, economic security, and even the pursuit of peace are all undergoing rapid disruption. The future no longer feels like a distant horizon slowly approaching. It feels immediate, unstable, and already unfolding beneath our feet. Uncertainty is no longer a passing condition.

That heightened uncertainty gives choice extraordinary weight. Decisions made by individuals, institutions, companies, and nations now ripple across tightly connected systems with astonishing speed. A technological breakthrough can reshape labor markets, social life, education, and even human identity. A political decision can unsettle alliances or alter lives far beyond national borders. Economic choices can widen opportunity or deepen inequality. Social choices can strengthen community or intensify isolation. Even inaction is a choice, because delay, denial, and retreat also shape what comes next.

The consequences of choices made or not made are both immediate and enduring. They accumulate across time, widening or narrowing the paths available to those who follow. For younger generations, the road ahead is not simply uncertain. It is being built and broken in real time. The future is interwoven with extraordinary promise and enormous peril, much of it unseen from the vantage point of the present.

Nowhere is this tension clearer than in artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change. AI holds immense promise. It can expand knowledge, accelerate discovery, improve health care, strengthen education, and help humanity perceive patterns too vast for unaided judgment. Yet, especially if it is misused, it also carries serious risks of displacement, surveillance, manipulation, dependency, and the concentration of power among those who control its systems. Climate change reveals the cost of choices not made. Despite decades of evidence and more than a century of scientific understanding about greenhouse gases, global society has failed to move decisively beyond finite, polluting, and increasingly outdated sources of energy. Each delayed transition and postponed reform has narrowed the choices left to the next generation. Western Europe’s searing May heatwave is a forerunner of what lies ahead.

Together, AI and climate change reveal a timeless truth: choice matters. The future will be shaped not only by what humanity invents, but also by what it has the wisdom to restrain, redirect, abandon, and repair before consequence hardens into destiny.

Within the impenetrable mist of uncertainty lies a fragile hope. The future is shrouded, but it is not fixed. If the paths diverge, they can still be chosen. Consequences cannot be avoided, but they can be faced with courage, imagination, and purpose. The world Gen Z will inherit is, in large part, the world being created now through the choices society makes and those it refuses to make.

Frost famously concluded:

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Despite the adversity before it, Gen Z has the time, ingenuity, and strength to break from the failed paradigms of the past to take the road "less traveled by." It can still choose a better road. If it does, that may make “all the difference.”

I, for one, am rooting for this challenged but remarkable generation.

In the meantime, where do you think Gen Z's journey will end? What story will its experiences and choices write? What future will it bequest?

The Camera’s Twilight?

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 18:47:40 +0000

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Technological innovation occurs at the confluence of knowledge and imagination. Technology then shrinks, merges, and often reappears inside something more powerful. Devices that once dominated homes, offices, and studios fade when their functions are absorbed by smaller, cheaper, more capable systems.

Television moved from bulky furniture built around broadcast programming to thin, networked screens connected to streaming, gaming, video calls, apps, and on-demand entertainment. Computers followed a similar path. Mainframes gave way to desktops, desktops to laptops, and laptops to tablets and smartphones. The computer did not disappear. It dissolved into everyday life and became a portable intelligence layer carried in the pocket.

Storage media show the same pattern. Floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, external drives, and memory cards once seemed essential. But as storage became smaller, denser, cheaper, and more networked, the physical object receded. Files moved from disks to drives, from drives to flash memory, and from flash memory to invisible cloud systems.

This is a recurring law of technological change: as power increases and size decreases, separate devices are pulled into larger platforms. The clock, calculator, map, music player, flashlight, notebook, scanner, recorder, and video camera all became smartphone features. Specialized tools survive among professionals and enthusiasts, but the mass market moves toward convergence.

The camera is now undergoing the same transformation. For more than a century, it was a distinct object that had to be purchased, carried, protected, and learned. Quality depended on lenses, sensors or film, exposure settings, lighting, timing, and skill. But smartphone cameras now combine better sensors, multiple lenses, faster processors, stabilization, night mode, portrait mode, high dynamic range processing, and computational photography. What once required a dedicated camera, tripod, flash, lens kit, darkroom, or editing workstation is increasingly handled by a device that also manages nearly every other part of modern life.

Now, the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and smartphone cameras is disrupting photography. The application of AI now makes it possible for photographs taken by smartphones to match or even surpass the quality of those taken by high-end cameras. Below are four photos taken by a smartphone and then processed through AI.

Photos: Clockwise from top left: Franconia, NH (July 29, 2025), Portsmouth, NH (July 27, 2025), Metropolitan Museum of Art (July 12, 2025), Marble House at Newport, RI (July 22, 2025)

Below is a photo of the Puning Temple in Chengde, China taken on August 8, 2024 with an iPhone.

This is just the beginning of an emerging revolution in photography. In the coming years, AI capture assistants will likely become standard features in advanced smartphone cameras. They will help users choose portrait, document, artwork, night, macro, and action modes. They will lock focus, optimize exposure, detect blur risk, capture multiple frames, and fuse them into a stronger final image. They will make ordinary users dramatically better photographers without requiring them to understand ISO, shutter speed, white balance, focal length, aperture, or dynamic range.

Eventually, smartphone cameras may become full visual intelligence systems. These systems will not merely record light. They will understand intent. They will recognize whether a user is trying to photograph a painting through glass, a passport document under poor lighting, a moonlit skyline, a fast-moving child, a flower at macro distance, or a museum object behind a reflective case. They will guide framing, optimize capture, anticipate problems, collect supporting frames, and complete the image with AI-aware editing before the user ever opens a separate app.

At that point, the camera will no longer be just a device for taking pictures. It will become a creative partner.

The result will be more than an upgrade to photography. It will be a democratization of photographic creation. The moats that once protected professional-quality image-making such as expensive equipment, technical training, specialized software, studio access, and years of trial and error, will dissolve.

That shift will threaten anyone whose advantage depends mainly on tool ownership, technical scarcity, or gatekeeping. Photographers whose value rests primarily on superior cameras, lenses, lighting rigs, studio setups, or editing workflows may find their traditional advantage weakening. When a person with a phone, a prompt, and strong visual imagination can produce striking images, the market will ask a harder but better question: What do you see that others do not?

The best photographers will adapt. Their value will rest less on equipment and more on judgment, taste, direction, narrative, trust, authenticity, and lived experience.

Camera manufacturers, stock photography companies, commercial studios, and traditional art-world gatekeepers may resist this change. But society as a whole will benefit. The largest beneficiaries will be ordinary creators. People who could never afford professional cameras, lighting equipment, studio space, models, travel, or years of technical training will gain new expressive power. A student, small business owner, teacher, activist, writer, or amateur artist will be able to create images that once required large budgets.

The barrier to entry will shift from money to imagination. In this new world, photography will no longer belong mainly to those who own the best camera or the most powerful post-processing software. It will belong to those with the clearest vision, the strongest taste, the most original imagination, and the best judgment about what an image should mean.

Digital Monsoon: The Rhythms of Ipernity’s Server Cycle

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 14:45:34 +0000

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The Ipernity platform functions much like a great rainforest. Each night, shortly after midnight, the servers clear, the systems refresh, and the site hums with renewed energy. In these early hours, Ipernity runs fast and clean, like dry air beginning to gather moisture. As users upload photos, exchange likes, and leave comments, they saturate the digital atmosphere with activity.

Gradually, as the hours pass, this accumulated load begins to weigh heavy. Latency creeps in like rising humidity. Communication errors rumble on the horizon, the digital equivalent of distant thunder. Then the storm breaks with great fury. "500 Internal Server Errors" pour down, "502 Bad Gateways" roll across the sky, and occasionally, a rare and fearsome "504 Gateway Time-Out" flashes like lightning across the plain. The digital downpour can last for hours, silencing all activity in the dense forest of photography.

But when the server finally resets, a new dawn breaks. Ipernity's server cycle begins again. Like rain reabsorbed by trees, the creativity and connection flow once more, feeding the very system that sustains it.

Within the rainforest, it is not just water that moves. It is life. Countless species of plants, animals, and microorganisms depend on the rainforest's delicate hydrological rhythm, cherishing the lush, self-sustaining world it creates.

So too with Ipernity. Across time zones and continents, a global community of photographers finds purpose and presence within its rhythm. They upload wonder, memories, experiences, and perspectives. They cherish the shared space in which all are welcome and welcomed. They understand that even in downtime, there will be dawn again. Like life in the rainforest, they adapt, endure, and return. They remain drawn by the magic of a special place that lets them see and be seen. There is no place like it anywhere else in the world.

U.S. Nears an Epic Historical Moment

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 23:12:01 +0000

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Something in the intensity with which Windrip looked at his audience, looked at all of them, his glance slowly taking them in from the highest-perched seat to the nearest, convinced them that he was talking to each individual, directly and solely; that he wanted to take each of them into his heart; that he was telling them the truths, the imperious and dangerous facts, that had been hidden from them…

—Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are all but set for a rematch of the 2020 United States election. A consequential general election campaign lies ahead.

Despite his self-coup attempt on January 6, 2021, Trump has taken a big step toward regaining the White House. To many outside the U.S., Trump’s being in a position to regain the U.S. Presidency is a surreal development.

The stakes are enormous. Should Trump prevail, he will likely govern ineffectively and chaotically, but he could do far worse. Europe could be caught between an expansionist Russia and an indifferent United States. In the U.S., Trump would be positioned to free the January 6 insurrectionists, impose restrictions on news organizations, exact vengeance on his political rivals, and even extend his term in Office.

Counterarguments that the Constitution bars such acts or that the courts would block him would be theoretically correct but potentially defective. The impotence of the legal system to hold him accountable for the events of January 6 highlights the practical limits of those arguments. Without willing people and healthy institutions capable of enforcing the Constitution’s terms, the Constitution would become little more than a piece of paper stripped of its vitality and drained of its substance.

If Trump is a genuine authoritarian threat, how is it possible that he has a chance to regain the Presidency? The secret to his political success is that Donald Trump is a charismatic and seductive demagogue. He is skilled at building and sustaining a fanatical following while dividing his opposition.

Despite a fragmented and disjointed speaking style, he mesmerizes his crowds, transports them to an alternate reality, nurtures among them an intense thirst for power and instills in them a burning craving for vengeance. He persuades them that he, alone, is both national prophet and savior. They believe him. They embrace him. They love him. They are willing to do just about anything for him. They are his “army” in a nation awash in firearms.

With diminishing prospects that the U.S. legal system possesses the vigor necessary to hold Trump accountable for his earlier acts, the electorate may well be the last “check” to block his return to the Presidency. Even electoral defeat might not be sufficient to deter him from rejecting the outcome, much less to discourage his followers from attempting to restore him to power.

But a Trump win would be devastating. A Trump victory almost certainly would have damaging consequences for an American democratic system that has already been weakened by years of constitutional retrogression and jolted by Trump’s 2021 self-coup attempt. Perhaps that self-coup attempt will become the American historical equivalent of Pompeii’s AD 62 earthquake that preceded Vesuvius’ catastrophic explosive eruption of AD 79.

If one looks at the global picture, one finds that democratic governance is under challenge far beyond the United States. Hungary has taken on increasingly undemocratic characteristics. Illiberal elements are ascendant in parts of France. The National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2040 report observes:

Key democratic traits, including freedom of expression and the press, judicial independence, and protections for minorities, are deteriorating globally with countries sliding in the direction of greater authoritarianism.

With the rushing anti-democratic currents sweeping the globe, one might be tempted to conclude that democracy in America has already seen its day in the sun. One could be resigned to the fatalistic conclusion that the 2024 election will take place in the deepening twilight that lies between the disappearing sunshine of democracy and the coming darkness of autocracy.

Fortunately, that grim outcome is not a certainty. At least, not yet. The American electorate can still avert that tragic outcome. Americans have not yet become helpless bystanders capable only of witnessing the passing of U.S. history and world events. They still retain the ability to shape the course of their nation’s events, but only if they choose to act.

Acting is still a choice. It is a choice that must be made. Complacency or, worse, passively waiting to see what will happen can only court disaster. As Abraham Lincoln explained, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." Anti-democratic elements are 'hustling.'

With renewed commitment to maintaining the pursuit of a “more perfect union” and continued determination to “secure the blessings of liberty,” U.S. voters can turn aside the latest challenge that confronts them. In doing so, they can prolong the life of the American Republic much as past generations have done at previous pivotal moments in American history.

Thought on the Start of Strategic Planning

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 17:18:07 +0000

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At work, I will play a significant role in the upcoming strategic planning process. To many, that might sound dull, dry, and perhaps even depressing. To those who feel that way, you have my fullest condolences.

Much has changed since the existing strategic plan was adopted and implemented. The COVID-19 Pandemic has run its course leaving profound changes in its wake. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has exploded onto the scene with transformational implications. Just these two developments could create the sense that one is a mere bystander to passing events or a powerless prisoner of fate. Such sentiments are toxic to the strategic planning process. They strip it of bold vitality before it even has a chance to begin.

Stories that set the stage for the process can provide a "clean slate" and build a sense of direction that puts the odds of success one's favor. Good framing can lead participants to see challenges as opportunities in themselves and recognize past failures as chances to improve.

Anyone who has lived (and that's everyone within an organization) has stories to tell. AI might even reinforce storytelling. A personal story with relevance to starting the strategic planning process:

One summer day, I parked my car and walked home. It had been hazy, hot, and humid. As I neared home, the first large drops of rain hit the burning asphalt and parched dirt triggering a powerful scent of petrichor. A brisk cooling breeze set in. The relief from the day's heat, even if short-lived and followed by the punishment of higher humidity, was welcome.

Suddenly, something brilliant white that seemed to be floating toward the ground in front of me caught my attention. The bright light was mesmerizing. It was beautiful. It was dramatic. Down it came until it could descend no farther, making contact with the wet concrete just in front of me to connect the sky with the ground. There was a deafening explosion and then silence.

Had things been different—had I been just a few seconds earlier or 2 meters farther ahead—I might not be here. My now 12-year-old son might not be here.

Differences in small details at a specific moment in time can produce monumentally different futures.The start of the strategic planning process is just such a meaningful moment in the life of an organization. The beginning of the strategic planning process creates the nuances that ultimately make big differences in what the organization becomes. Those nuances are matters of choice even if every event is beyond choice or foresight.

At the very beginning, the recognition that choice matters, along with a courageous willingness to take an imaginative look ahead, are crucial. A status quo perspective--what the organization is right now and all the metrics that describe its current state--is the enemy of its future. As Shakespeare wisely observed, "...every plan breaks easily, because the intention is a slave to memory."

One must go beyond memory. One must leave a past that is beyond one's control to change and the present that this past has birthed behind. One must begin to construct the future. Only imagination can break the shackles of status quo thinking.

A handful of big questions guides the imagination. Such questions include: How will you "write" the next chapter of your organization's story? What will your organization look like in the imagined future? Who will you include in that story? What role will you play? That will be the charge I give those who will work with me.

The questions implicitly assume that the organization has a future, it has the ability to chart its destiny, its people are its essential resource, and that it will shape the lives and wellbeing of people. The answers to those fundamental questions form the rich foundation on which the organization can plan its journey into the future.

Only afterward, metrics, specific tasks, responsible people, and myriad other details come into consideration. Only then, can one be confident that the organization's strategic plan will not 'break easily' when it comes into first contact with reality.

AI as a Pathway for Creativity Draws Strong Reactions

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 21:54:06 +0000

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In an opinion piece written by Washington Post Opinion Graphics Reporter Yan Wu, Wu proclaimed that AI “is opening new pathways for creativity.” “Consider visual arts,” she continued. “Just as photography changed the course of art in the 19th century, AI image generators now stand to revolutionize how humans create.” Wu went on to explain that the key to unlocking this pathway involved the interaction between humans and machines through the prompts develop.

The piece drew strong and often negative reactions. Underpinning the arguments were worries of “Deep Fakes,” concern about AI’s displacing artists, and perhaps a touch of fear of what a ‘democratization’ of creativity might bring in the artistic realm and beyond. A sample follows:

Playnamedis: “I guess, if your experience of art is via representations of it your computer screen or inkjet printer, you might not realize anything is amiss. But it is.”

Amskeptic: “AI steals from our individual perception of reality and fakes out our neurons and muddies our understanding of Reality, it is cotton candy sugary excitement giving us no gift of the efforts of another…”

Charley 42: “Face it. As AI gets even more accurate, the artist will be thrown aside. Who would want to pay much money for something AI could generate exactly what you love or are overwhelmed by in an instant? Plus, you could modify it in an instant and as many times as you want?”

Mindfulpath: “WAPO, why would you give out AI prompts or explain them in detail? It’s one thing to write an article about AI art in an objective reporting, and another to give explanations of how to increase one’s use of AI with more professional prompts… Please stop encouraging AI technology with these instructional prompts.”

Jim Nelson: “Shame on the Post for publishing this horse manure of a column.”

The comments were brutal. But a brutal backlash cannot alter the broader currents of change that are shaping the future. AI has burst onto the scene. It is here to stay. The challenge now becomes how to leverage AI for human benefit.

One commenter recognized that AI is a tool, not the outcome itself. FromMe2U wrote:

Art is the result of human consciousness, creativity and enterprise. The operative word here is ‘human.’ AI is not that. Instead, it is better seen as a tool. AI is akin to the brush that the painter holds in his hands, the chisel the sculptor employs when striking marble, or the pen guided by the hand of an author. Once seen in this way, though AI can be used to help create extraordinary works of art in its generative and regenerative capacities, it is not pre-generative. In art, only the human psyche is that.

Nineteenth Century English art and literary critic Walter Pater offered timeless observations that are as relevant in the dawning age of AI as they were when he evaluated the art of his contemporaries.

He observed, “Art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass.” He advised, “What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions.”

Within Pater’s framework, AI is a tool that allows one to “curiously” test new creations in pursuit of providing “the highest quality” to one’s experiences. That was the point of Wu’s piece.

Finally, there is room both for fine art and AI-generated visualizations. Timeless works ranging from paintings by Claude Monet to sculptures by Auguste Rodin will not be displaced by AI. Their quality, depth and originality will continue to captivate and inspire audiences all across the world. AI-generated work will complement the body of artistic and photographic work by expanding the frontier of the human imagination. Even as AI advances and evolves, people will provide the prompts to translate their ideas into images.

Anchorage's Record-Breaking Summer of 2019

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 22:15:31 +0000

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OVERVIEW

Prior to 2019, July 2016 was Anchorage, Alaska's warmest month on record. Summer 2019 as a whole was even warmer than July 2016.

A warm synoptic pattern that occurred within the context of increased anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing resulted in exceptional and persistent record-breaking warmth this summer. During June-August 2019, Anchorage experienced its warmest summer on record by 2.0°F (1.1°C). Its summer mean temperature (62.815°F/17.119°C) exceeded that of its warmest month on record prior to 2019 (62.694°F/17.052°C in July 2016).

Summer 2019 saw Anchorage record its warmest-ever June, July, and August. Anchorage tied its all-time record high minimum temperature on two consecutive days. Anchorage reached 90°F (32.2°C) for the first time on record. The duration of the excessive warmth and extreme temperatures recorded during the summer would have been very unlikely, if not improbable, without human-induced climate change.

PREDOMINANT SYNOPTIC PATTERN

Summer 2019 featured a remarkable coupling of atmosphere and ocean. A persistent upper air ridge that promoted warm and dry conditions was anchored over the waters with the highest sea surface temperature anomalies.

These conditions promoted a synoptic pattern where the East Pacific Oscillation (EPO) was negative. The negative EPO combined with a negative Arctic Oscillation (AO) to form a negative Arctic Oscillation-negative EPO pattern (AO-/EPO-) that predominated during the summer. During summer 2019, the AO was negative on 81/92 (88%) days. The EPO was negative on 60/92 (65%) of days.

An AO-/EPO- pattern is typically a warm one in Anchorage. For the current climate reference period (1981-2010), the average summer temperature in Anchorage was 56.9°F (13.8°C). During AO-/EPO- patterns, the average was 57.6°F (14.2°C). Climate change has led to summers becoming warmer and also warm synoptic patterns (AO-/EPO-) becoming warmer.

ROLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

The observed global warming since the 1950s is unequivocal with anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions being the dominant driver of that warming (IPCC Climate Change Synthesis Report 2014). The warming is a global phenomenon with 98% of the world having experienced its warmest 51 years during the current 2,000 years (Neukom, et al. 2019).

Since 1880, Arctic temperatures have been increasing at more than twice the rate of global temperatures (GISTEMP Data Set). In recent decades, the rate at which the Arctic has been warming relative to worldwide temperatures has increased. From 1980 through 2018, the Arctic has warmed at a decadal rate of 1.51°F (0.84°C), which is just over 3.5 times the global rate (GISTEMP Data Set). Multiple lines of evidence corroborate the rapid warming that is taking place in the Arctic. Increases in humidity, precipitation, river discharge, glacier equilibrium line altitude and land ice wastage; warming of near-surface permafrost; and, decreases in sea ice thickness and extent, and spring snow cover extent and duration are consistent with rising temperatures (Box, et al. 2019).

Consistent with the Arctic warming, Alaska has recently experienced temperatures that are warmer than they have been at any time in the past century (Thoman et al., 2019). As Alaska has warmed, Anchorage has also experienced rising temperatures. A disproportionate share of Anchorage's warmest months has occurred in 2000 or later.

During the 1961-1990 base period, Anchorage had a summer (June 1-August 31) mean temperature of 56.4°F (13.6°C). During the current climate reference period (1981-2010), Anchorage's average summer temperature had risen to 56.9°F (13.8°C). For the most recent 30-year period (1989-2018), Anchorage's average summer temperature had increased further to 57.6°F (14.2°C). The last time Anchorage had a cooler than normal summer (mean temperature below the 1981-2010 reference period) was 2012 when the average summer temperature was 56.0°F (13.3°C).

Without climate change, the extreme summer 2019 warmth would have been improbable. However, the combination of a rising average summer temperature and increasing variability (1961-1990: mean temperature 56.4°F/13.6°C; standard deviation: 1.4°F/0.8°C vs. 1989-2018: mean temperature: 57.6°F/14.2°C; standard deviation: 1.6°F/0.9°C) has made summers like 2019 approximately 190 times more likely than they had been.

The long duration of the AO-/EPO- synoptic pattern led to the relentless persistence of above to much above normal temperatures in Anchorage that allowed monthly warm temperature records to be set in June, July, and August. Rapid Arctic warming has contributed to an increasing frequency of long-duration upper air patterns (Francis, et al. 2018). Should the world warm 3.6°F (2.0°C) above its pre-industrial temperatures, the persistence of boreal summer weather will likely increase further (Pfleiderer, et al. 2019).

Based on the above evidence, human-driven climate change played a key role in bringing about Anchorage's historic summer warmth. Without anthropogenic warming, the combination of the exceptional heat and remarkable duration of the warmth in Anchorage would have been very unlikely, if not improbable.

DATA AND RECORDS

Summer 2019 Temperature Thresholds:

Lows 60°F (15.6°C) or above: 9 days (previous summer and annual record: 4, 2016)

Highs 70°F (21.1°C) or above: 49 days (previous summer record: 40, 2004; previous annual record: 42, 2013)

Highs: 80°F (26.7°C) or above: 8 days (previous summer and annual record: 4 days, 2015)

Highs: 90°F (32.2°C) or above: 1 day (none prior to 2019)

Daily Record High Minimum Temperatures:

June 8: 54°F (12.2°C) (old record: 53°F/11.7°C, 1978)

June 24: 58°F (14.4°C) (tied record set in 1984)

June 28: 57°F (13.9°C) (old record: 56°F/13.3°C, 2015 and 2016)

June 29: 60°F (15.6°C (old record: 58°F/14.4°C, 1984 and 1990)

June: 3 new records and 1 tied record

July 2: 57°F (13.9°C) (tied record set in 1970)

July 3: 58°F (14.4°C (tied record set in 1979 and tied in 1999 and 2014)

July 5: 61°F (16.1°C) (old record: 60°F/15.6°C, 1984)

July 6: 59°F (15.0°C) (tied record set in 2015)

July 8: 61°F (16.1°C) (old record: 59°F/15.0°C, 1968, 2003, and 2004)

July 9: 62°F (16.7°C) (old record: 59°F/15.0°C, 2003)

July 12: 60°F (15.6°C) (old record: 59°F/15.0°C, 1977)

July 13: 59°F (15.0°C) (tied record set in 1972 and tied in 2013)

July 20: 59°F (15.0°C) (old record: 58°F/14.4°C, 1973, 1983, 2003, 2004, and 2016)

July 22: 58°F (14.4°C) (tied record set in 1984 and tied in 1996, 2013, and 2016)

July 24: 59°F (15.0°C) (tied record set in 1984)

July: 5 new records and 6 tied records

August 7: 61°F (16.1°C) (old record: 58°F/14.4°C, 1979 and 1983)

August 13: 63°F (17.2°C) (old record: 57°F/13.9°C, 2003) ***tied all-time record***

August 14: 63°F (17.2°C) (old record: 58°F/14.4°C), 2001) ***tied all-time record***

August 16: 58°F (14.4°C) (tied record set in 1967)

August 17: 57°F (13.9°C) (old record: 56°F/13.3°C, 1984)

August: 4 new records and 1 tied record

Summer: 12 new records and 8 tied records

Daily Record High Maximum Temperatures:

June 23: 78°F (25.6°C) (old record: 75°F/23.9°C, 1974)

June 24: 75°F (23.9°C (old record: 74°F/23.3°C, 2015)

June 27: 79°F (26.1°C) (old record: 78°F/25.6°C, 1997)

June 28: 81°F (27.2°C) (old record: 80°F/26.7°C, 1997)

June 29: 82°F (27.8°C) (old record: 77°F/25.0°C 1968, 1989, and 1990)

June: 5 new records

July 3: 80°F (26.7°C) (tied record set in 2018)

July 4: 90°F (32.2°C) (old record: 77°F/25.0°C), 1999) ***all-time record***

July 5: 81°F (27.2°C) (old record: 77°F/25.0°C, 1999)

July 6: 81°F (27.2°C) (tied record set in 2015)

July 7: 85°F (29.4°C) (old record: 79°F/26.1°C, 2009)

July 8: 85°F (29.4°C) (old record: 84°/28.9°C, 2003)

July: 4 new records and 2 tied records

August 7: 77°F (25.0°C) (tied record set in 2015)

August 10: 77°F (25.0°C) (old record: 75°F/23.9°C, 1960, 1972, and 2004)

August 12: 77°F (25.0°C) (tied record set in 2005)

August 13: 77°F (25.0°C) (old record: 75°F/23.9°C, 1963, 1977, 2007)

August 14: 75°F (23.9°C) (old record: 74°F/23.3°C, 1990)

August 15: 77°F (25.0°C) (old record: 76°F/24.4°C, 1984)

August: 4 new records and 2 tied records

Summer: 13 new records and 4 tied records

CONCLUSION

Anchorage experienced a historically warm summer. The all-time record high temperature was established, the all-time record warm minimum temperature was tied on two consecutive days, and numerous daily record high maximum and minimum temperatures were set or tied. June 2019 was the warmest June on record. July 2019 was the warmest July and month on record. August 2019 was the warmest August on record.

Ocean-atmosphere coupling produced a persistent pattern associated with warmer than normal temperatures. Anthropogenic climate change, that has driven global and Arctic warming and led to increasing temperature variability in the Arctic region, has dramatically increased the probability of persistent warmth and extreme high temperatures. Absent the contribution of climate change, the kind of warmth seen during summer 2019 was extremely unlikely, if not improbable.

Going forward, the ongoing warming is likely to continue on account of a continuing rise in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. Although summer warmth equivalent to 2019 will likely remain rare over the next decade or two, the probability of such occurrences will very likely increase.

Historic European Heat Offers Latest Symptom of Climate Change

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 19:54:21 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

The second of the most intense pair of heat waves ever to roll across the European continent is now departing Scandinavia and headed for Iceland and Greenland where it will finally dissipate altogether. On account of these unprecedented bursts of heat, the weather record book has been rewritten across much of Europe. All-time national heat records were set in Belgium (41.8°C/107°F), France (46.0°C/115°F), Germany (42.6°C/109°F), Luxembourg (39.0°C/102°F), and the Netherlands (40.7°C/105°F). A provisional record of 38.7°C/102°F was established in the United Kingdom and is currently under review for verification. Norway had an all-time record-tying 35.6°C/96°F temperature. Paris' Parc de Montsouris, where records go back to 1872, recorded a 42.6°C/109° all-time record. Helsinki (Kaisaniemi), where records go back to 1844, reached an all-time record of 33.2°C/92°F. Prior to 2019, Germany had never registered a 40.0°C or above temperature. At the height of the European furnace on July 25, 25 German cities reached or exceeded 40.0°C.

Although both air masses had origins in northern Africa, ongoing climate change played a critical role in driving the outcome. The historic heat demonstrated that the findings of an enormous and growing body of climate science research are not only valid, but also that the implications of climate change are verifying in remarkable fashion.

On that topic, a paper published just last year explained:

Previous European assessments have shown that the number of heat-waves in Europe is projected to increase, with greater increases expected in southern Europe...

Heat-waves were defined as three consecutive days where both the maximum and the minimum temperature exceed their respective 95th percentile from the historical period. All calculations were done for May to September...

We have analysed 50 climate model projections from the CMIP5 (RCP8.5) ensemble and calculated consistent and comparable metrics of climate impacts for HW, droughts and flooding for 571 European cities. More frequent and hotter HW are expected for all European cities. Southern cities see the largest increase in the number of HW days (as much as 69%).

To date, the fastest warming has been taking place in the Arctic. As a result, average annual sea ice extent and the summer minimum extent have generally been declining. During the 1990-99 period, average annual Arctic sea ice extent was 11.443 million square kilometers and the average minimum extent was 6.492 million square kilometers. During the 2010-2018 period, the average annual extent was 10.330 million square kilometers and the average annual minimum was 4.330 million square kilometers. In short, the average annual figure has fallen by nearly 10% while the average annual minimum has fallen by around one-third meaning larger summer melts and slower winter recovery.

What is happening in the Arctic has far broader implications. The combination of the resulting Arctic Amplification (AA) and dramatic slowing of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC) has favored the development of patterns that can bring brutal heat to Europe.

A paper published in Nature explained:

Recent studies indicate that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC, i.e., the large-scale north-south transport in the Atlantic ocean) has seen an unprecedented slowdown in recent decades, something which is projected for future warmer climates as well. This slowdown results in anomalously cold SSTs over the northern Atlantic which can trigger a quasi-stationary Rossby wave response favoring blocking high-pressure systems over western Europe. So, just like AA, a slowdown of the AMOC leads to weakening westerlies in summer over the Atlantic sector, favoring persistent hot-dry extremes over Europe. Recent observational studies indeed indicate that weather persistence in Europe and some other mid-latitude regions has increased in boreal summer.

At this stage, as most Europeans know based on the repeated results of opinion polls, the scientific evidence for climate change with anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions being the principal driver is all but unequivocal. Residual uncertainties exist, but the overall foundation of the science is highly robust. No credible counterargument based on internal variability or solar cycles exists, as the global temperature trend has decoupled from these natural variables.

On a global basis, the last colder than normal month was September 1992 with an anomaly of 0.01°C below normal. Through June 2019, the last 225 months have all been warmer than normal. The last colder than normal year was 1976 with a global anomaly of 0.10°C below normal.

The recent historic European heat waves are the latest symptoms of climate change. Relief is coming. Nevertheless, climate science research warns that the frequency and intensity of such heat could continue to grow in coming decades.

America's Descent into Darkness

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 23:48:56 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

I typically refrain from writing political commentary here. But these are no ordinary times, at least in the United States.

The January 29, 2017 edition of The Washington Post reported:

Sharef once worked for a U.S. government subcontractor in post-invasion Iraq as a translator and a program manager. He got his visas, after two years of vetting, through a special U.S. resettlement program for Iraqi employees of the American government. Working for Americans was filled with perils, he said. He and other colleagues faced death threats; he knew co-workers who were kidnapped or killed.

On Sunday, he and his family — his wife, Arazoo, 41; his son, Bnyad, 19; his daughter Yad, 17; and another daughter, Shad, 10 — boarded a flight back to Irbil after spending the night inside the airport terminal.

The abusive treatment of the Sharef family raises a basic question. Why should any foreign resident ever run risks to assist a country that would only forget and discard them afterward? Little could be more at odds with basic humanitarian decency.

The Sharefs are not unfortunate exceptions. They are among a growing number of people affected by Donald Trump’s executive order that was issued supposedly to protect national security. No credible empirical evidence that demonstrated that the executive order would, in fact, enhance national security was ever provided. In fact, the usual vetting process was circumvented altogether.

Perhaps one should not be surprised by the haphazard approach that was undertaken. The candidate who had threatened to roll back First Amendment protections of the press, asserted that a federal Judge’s ethnicity impaired his objectivity, promised a “Muslim Registry,” and praised ruthless authoritarian dictators is now President of the United States. All of those actions suggested an illiberal nature, absence of reverence for limits of authority, and even greater lack of respect for basic liberties.

Even worse, parts of the U.S. government seem to be reflecting Trump’s illiberal nature in their own actions. The Guardian reported:

Customs and Border Protection agents defied the orders of federal judges regarding Donald Trump’s travel bans on Sunday, according to attorneys who rallied popular protests around the country in support of detained refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

“Rogue customs and Border Patrol agents continue to try to get people on to planes,” Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, told reporters on Sunday. “A lot of people have been handcuffed, a lot of people who don’t speak English are being coerced into taking involuntary departures.”

If the opening days of the Trump Administration are representative, the United States could be sinking into a very dark period in its history. As it descends into darkness, its constitutional framework will undoubtedly be put to the test at a time when at least some of the “checks and balances” one could normally count on won’t be available. At present, it appears that some in the Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate have put power ahead of principle. They have given the Trump Administration wide latitude. A larger number of others have morphed into 21st Century versions of Neville Chamberlain, so timid that they are unwilling to challenge the early excesses of the Trump Administration.

With some of the expected constitutional restraints in disrepair, President Trump is transforming the United States into just another illiberal state. He is doing so, executive order by executive order, policy by policy, and tweet by tweet. Seemingly with each passing day, a once generous and big-hearted country capable of inspiring, is becoming as small and petty as Trump’s narrow worldview.

As an American, I take little comfort from my not having voted for Mr. Trump. I am profoundly saddened to see America so rapidly diverging from the lofty principles set forth in its Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Its rapid fall into a post-Enlightenment netherworld is a most painful journey that, if it is not stopped (more likely by the courts than a seemingly captive Congress), will affect not only Americans, but also peoples all across the world.

November

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 23:22:05 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

In his Chronicles of England, Richard Grafton wrote, “Thirty days hath November…” Yet, thirty days is sufficient time for this transitional month to bring one from one season into another.

November is the elegant bridge that leads from autumn to winter. As one walks across that bridge, autumn’s brilliant colors fade. The sun’s golden rays offer memories of fall’s disappearing warmth, but the days grow ever shorter. Delicate ice crystals from morning frost sometimes glazes the way ahead.

Yet, even as the trees have lost large amounts of leaves, some still cling to their leaves in an endless tug-of-war with winter’s rising wind. Ultimately, the wind will prevail, but not yet.

Those trees provide a reminder that beauty remains everywhere. It can be found in nature, people, and places. One need only seek it in good faith and one will find it.

Some November scenes:

A Long, Dark, Sad Night

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 00:49:03 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

In his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill wrote:

Every nation or group of nations has its own tale to tell. Knowledge of the trials and struggles is necessary to all who would comprehend the problems, perils, challenges, and opportunities which confront us today... It is in the hope that contemplation of the trials and tribulations of our forefathers may not only fortify the English-speaking peoples of today, but also play some small part in uniting the whole world, that I present his account.

Winston Churchill wanted the United Kingdom’s historic experiences and contributions to play a role in “uniting the whole world.” That purpose, which transcended national borders, defined part of the vision that animated Churchill’s extraordinary leadership. It helped fuel his remarkable and courageous perseverance during the darkest days of World War II.

Some sixty years after Churchill’s four-volume work was published, the night of June 23, 2016 was long, dark, and sad. With no Winston Churchill to face down the dark and fearful forces unleashed by Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, two of a number of populist demagogues who have appeared on the world stage at this point in the 21st century, just under 52% of the United Kingdom’s voters decided to disengage from Europe. They abandoned Winston Churchill’s larger vision of uniting the world in, among other things, the enlightened principles that first appeared in the Magna Carta and were later expanded upon in the English Bill of Rights of 1689.

The vote took place in the context of a persistently struggling European economy, considerable uncertainty about the United Kingdom’s economic prospects, anxiety about its place in the world, and worries about secular trends that are reshaping job and career opportunities. All of this provided unusually fertile ground for demagogues who pursue power through national division. Lacking leadership capacity and solutions for addressing contemporary challenges, they shift blame for those challenges onto immigrants and religious minorities. To rationalize their pursuit of power, they discredit governing institutions and leaders. To rally voters, they peddle the snake oil of physical, economic, and legal barriers, all of which make it more difficult for nations to realize their opportunities while doing little to address their problems.

In many ways, the Brexit fight was an uneven one from the onset. That the Bank of England and International Monetary Fund warned of significant adverse economic consequences from a Brexit vote was not enough to overcome the appeal of the darker forces backing exit. Those forces commanded the proverbial high ground on account of their being able to exploit raw passion.

People respond strongly to fear and anxiety through emotion. They react instinctively and abruptly to escape their fears. When anger is added to the toxic brew of fear and anxiety, there is explosive potential for overreaction and irrational choices—the kind of decision that was made yesterday.

In stark contrast, the kind of evidence-based arguments on which the “Remain” side’s case rested require thoughtful deliberation to have impact. Such deliberation weighs trade-offs and evaluates alternative scenarios. Building commitment requires a lot of time. Only at the end of the deliberative process can strongly-held positions emerge and decisive action become possible.

Time ran out. Last night’s outcome saw emotion triumph over reason, excess over moderation, and the current moment over future consequence. As a result, the United Kingdom and European Union will be grappling with the fallout, perhaps for years to come. Both may wind up fundamentally changed, and not necessarily for the better. Although just under 52% of those who cast ballots may have chosen Brexit for themselves, in their short-sighted choice, they may have imposed national breakup on all of the United Kingdom’s residents.

Following the end of World War II, Winston Churchill declared, “Strength is granted to us all when we are needed to serve great causes.” Sadly, there was no leader who possessed the kind of strength to which Churchill had referred. As a result, at the precise moment history served up a new great cause for the United Kingdom, a slight majority of its voters failed that test. That is not the tale Winston Churchill would have wanted to tell. For that I am profoundly saddened.

A Journey through Spring

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Tue, 10 May 2016 19:23:34 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

One moment in early March, the ground was covered by snow. Despite lengthening days, the late-starting winter of 2015-16 struggled to hang on.

But seemingly the next moment, all the snow was gone. Where snow and ice had once hugged the earth, the landscape blushed in the growing colors of spring. Each passing day, the mild breezes of a rising spring kissed new life into the once-barren landscape.

Soon, the ground was covered in an extraordinary explosion of daffodils. Everywhere one looked, and as far as one could see, there were daffodils. One found oneself in the midst of a vast ocean of yellow that seemingly stretched on without end.

One was almost lost in this sea of yellow. As one proceeded over the distant hill, there were even more daffodils. Yellow gave way to stunning variety. Some daffodils were white. Others were yellow. Still others were of more than one color. This was diversity in all of its richness.

One could have basked forever in the sweetness of the countless daffodils. Still, the journey had to continue, and so it did.

On and on one walked through this enchanted land of dreams. In this magical place, there was only beauty, everywhere and at all times. Everything was only beautiful.

After the passage of some time, one came upon trees of all kinds that were in full bloom. Cherry, magnolias, dogwoods, and many more wore their ever chic wardrobes. Here, fashion never went out of style.

No eyes went hungry in this majestic feast of color. Neither did noses. Each tree wore a distinct perfume. Their pleasing scent was carried everywhere the wings of spring’s light breezes took it.

At this time, there was no distinction between shade trees and ornamental trees. All the trees were in blossom.

After some period of time spent among the flowering trees, one moved on. Now, one pressed ever deeper into May. The days grew warmer. The sun rose earlier and set later. The first butterflies flitted about. In the weeks ahead, one could imagine the long-awaited return of the hummingbirds.

Suddenly, one reached a deep forest of tulips. This forest was so dense, that almost no sunlight could reach the ground below. From above, one looked down upon a lush dazzling carpet of color.

If this were one’s final destination, it would have been a most beautiful ending to a most wonderful trip. But on this journey, one never quite reaches a final stop.

So, through the tulips one marched. Eventually, the tulips receded into the past. At that time, one encountered Azaleas. One was now surrounded by red, white, and pink blossoms.

But if one dared to look ahead, one saw green. One now stood at the outer edge of spring. The Azaleas marked the boundary that separated spring from summer.

That day when one’s journey takes one beyond spring and into summer will come. No passports are necessary. But that day has not yet arrived. There is still a little more spring left to cherish.

Even when one finally moves into the neighboring season and its distinctive delights, one will not soon forget one’s joyful journey through spring. That journey will serve as a vivid reminder that beauty still lives, even among events that challenge the idea that the world is a beautiful place.

Beauty remains all around us. It resides within all of us. All who embrace it make the world a little better than it would otherwise be. It is the people who choose beauty who are the ever living blossoms of spring.

An Extraordinary December

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 01:25:17 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

In his “Autumn Hymn,” Richard Newell observed:

Soon shall all the songless wood

Shiver in the deepening snow…

Instead, December 2015 unveiled an entirely different scenario. Large parts of North America, Europe, and Asia basked in unseasonable warmth.

In North America, as wave after wave of warmth washed over the Continent, the “deepening snow” did not come and the “songless wood” did not “shiver.” Rather, the verse of Alice Lord’s “Indian Summer’s Aftermath” much better described what happened in the New York City area:

O dreamy days that linger

With trace of summer yet!

So soft, so mild, so mellow…

O peaceful days and golden!

Ye call back summer flowers…

Larchmont, New York

The New York Botanical Garden (Bronx, New York)

The result was a record-breaking December for the New York City area.

Day after day of the finest temperatures of spring or autumn, depending on one’s preference, saw this year smash the existing record for warmest December by 6.7°F (3.7°C). The second largest difference between the most extreme monthly average temperature and second most extreme monthly figure is 2.8°F (1.6°C).

Statistically, December’s average temperature of 50.8°F (10.4°C) was 3.075σ above the normal average, making it a once-in-950-year event.

Numerous daily record high minimum and maximum temperature records were set or tied.

Record High Maximum Temperatures:

December 13: 67°F/19.4°C (broke record of 64°F/17.8°C, 1923)

December 14: 67°F/19.4°C (tied record of 67°F/19.4°C, 1881)

December 15: 68°F/20.0°C (broke record of 67°F/19.4°C, 2008)

December 24: 72°F/22.2°C (broke record of 63°/17.2°C, 1996)

December 25: 66°F/18.9°C (broke record of 64°/17.8°C, 1982)

Record High Minimum Temperatures:

December 11: 50°F/10.0°C (broke record of 48°F/8.9°C, 1971)

December 12: 55°F/12.8°C (broke record of 53°F/11.7°C, 1899)

December 13: 55°F/12.8°C (broke record of 51°F/10.6°C, 1991)

December 14: 53°F/11.7°C (tied record of 53°F/11.7°C, 2001)

December 15: 53°F/11.7°C (broke record of 48°F/8.9°C, 2001)

December 17: 50°F/10.0°C (broke record of 48°F/8.9°C, 1984)

December 24: 63°F/17.2°C (broke record of 50°F/10.0°C, 1931)

December 25: 57°F/13.9°C (broke record of 50°F/10.0°C, 1979)

The low temperature of December 24 tied the previous record high temperature for the date. It set a new monthly record for the warmest minimum temperature recorded in December. It is the highest minimum temperature registered in the November 10-March 27 timeframe.

In addition, for the first time on record, which goes back to 1869, December had no days on which the temperature fell to 32°F (0.0°C) or below. The previous fewest days on record for December was 6 days. That record was set in 1984 and tied in 2006. There are only 10 cases in November that had 0 days on which the temperature fell to freezing. Moreover, the 11 days on which the minimum temperature stayed at or above 50°F (10.0°C) smashed the record of 5 days set in 1982 and tied in 1998. It also matched the November record for most such days.

December 2015 was so warm that it would have ranked just above November 1999 as the 9th warmest November on record. Even more remarkable, it was warmer than Octobers 1876, 1888, 1889, and 1925.

Christmas 2015 scenes (Clockwise from the top left: Larchmont, New York; Larchmont, New York; New Rochelle, New York; and, Mamaroneck, New York)

As one looks ahead, there are growing indications that Old Man Winter will awaken in January. Winter’s return will come too late to salvage December and the shattered dreams of a white Christmas and joyful sleigh-riding that melted away in its exceptional warmth. Even when winter finally arrives, memories will long linger of the truly remarkable December of 2015.

In the meantime, as December came to a close, a range of flowers remained in blossom and some bulbs had even sprouted.

Larchmont, New York

Finally, for those who may have some interest, a short note on climate change follows. Although attribution science is still in its infancy, at least one paper draws upon a mechanism that suggests that ongoing climate change may have contributed to the extreme December outcome. Dr. Jennifer A. Francis of Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Dr. Stephen J. Vavrus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Climatic Research found that “enhanced warming in the high northern latitudes” had led to “weakened zonal winds” and “increased wave amplitude.” Those effects are most evident in autumn and winter and are tied with Arctic sea-ice loss. Those factors lead to a slower progression of “upper-level waves” leading “weather patterns in the mid-latitudes to be more persistent, which may lead to an increased probability of extreme weather events that result from prolonged conditions, such as drought, flooding, cold spells, and heat waves."

Earlier this year, February saw a situation similar to this past December during which a prolonged period of exceptional cold led to that month’s having a temperature anomaly of 11.4°F/6.3°C below normal. As a result, water bodies, including the Long Island Sound, froze up to a rare extent.

Solidarity with France

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 01:44:24 +0000

Don Sutherland has posted an article:

2015 has been a dark year for humanity.

In January, we mourned the brave cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo who lost their lives simply for exercising their inherent right of free speech, along with others who died in related incidents.

Now, as the year nears an end and the joyous Hanukkah and Christmas holidays approach, Islamist terrorists have again inflicted their deadly and barbaric savagery on the people of France. In doing so, they trampled human dignity and the most basic and inalienable rights of people.

In the wake of this enormous tragedy, all good people everywhere should stand with France and her people. Despite the barriers of geography and distance, tonight we are all French. We must be, if we are part of the human family.

Tonight the world mourns.

Every person who savors life and embraces the most basic humanitarian principles sheds tears for the French people. The French people are an integral part of one human family. Tonight, the human family has suffered an incalculable loss.

Tomorrow the world needs persistent and unwavering courage.

Every person who cherishes free and tolerant societies must stand with France and her people. The world must have the courage to face down the extremists who take the lives and steal the freedom of innocent people as a sacrifice to their monstrous ideology and in pursuit of their repressive goals.

If that courage is lacking, human progress will be in retreat. Everything good about humanity will be put at risk. However, with steadfast courage, the darkness of evil and its perpetrators will recede.

The world will never forget tonight’s terrible events. But with such courage, the human family will survive. Over time, there will be a measure of remembrance and healing. Additional chapters of the remarkable story of human progress will be written.

My thoughts, condolences, prayers, and heart go out to France and her people.

Manor Park’s Stormy Days

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 11:18:52 +0000

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Lying along the waters of the Long Island Sound, Manor Park is filled with beauty. Among other things, one can capture the rising of a fiery red sun, boats anchored in pristine blue waters, gazebos that overlook the Sound, shimmering metamorphic rocks that were once part of the Appalachian Mountain chain, and even hummingbirds gracefully dining on the nectar of a trumpet vine. On some of the typically hot summer days, one can find respite in the Park’s iconic gazebos from a refreshing sea breeze.

Although the waters of the Long Island Sound are usually peaceful, presenting a glassy appearance on calm days and gentle ripples on most others, every now and then, to borrow from Lord Byron, “the sky is changed” and Manor Park and its surroundings are caught in the grips of “storm and darkness.”

During the past six years, two particularly noteworthy storms battered the park. Furious waves lashed the rocks and beyond, storm surges swept over the walls into the park, and howling winds tested the strength of Manor Park’s strongest trees. One such storm was a savage nor’easter that struck the U.S. East Coast on March 12-15, 2010 at the end of what had been a stormy, snowy El Niño winter. The height of the storm occurred on March 13.

Just over two-and-half years later, an unusually strong autumnal blocking pattern coupled with an upper-level trough in the Ohio Valley caught Hurricane Sandy, also known as “Superstorm Sandy,” as it tried to head out to sea and reeled it back toward the U.S. East Coast. As it moved toward and then onto shore on the New Jersey coast on October 29, 2012, it brought fierce winds throughout the New York metropolitan area, huge waves, and an enormous storm surge.

These two storms provide a glimpse of the normally placid Manor Park’s wilder side. Vicious as the wind-wave combination might be during such occasions, there is hidden beauty in the power of the raging elements. Below are select pictures from those two memorable storms.

March 12-15, 2010 Nor’easter:

View from near Umbrella Point

On the path toward the East Gazebo

Waves lash Manor Park’s rocks

Sandy:

View of Umbrella Point

The water attacks a stone bench

The surf batters a wooden fence

View of the West Gazebo

View from near the West Gazebo

An Extraordinary Migration

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 21:50:56 +0000

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Summer’s heat lingered well into September this year. The mercury soared to 97°F (36.1°C) on the 8th day of the month and 87°F (30.6°C) on the 18th. Yet, despite the sometimes furnace-like breath of stubborn summer, the days were growing steadily shorter. Each morning, the sun seemed to sleep a little longer. Each evening, the sun departed a little earlier. Each minute of daylight became a little more precious. Each hour of darkness seemed to stretch beyond what should have been allotted.

The lengthening nights remained unseasonably warm. Therefore, one could perhaps be forgiven for having missed the seasonal changing of the guard as the sun slipped silently across the Equator. After all, the trees had not yet put on their regal autumnal robes. But one look at the still vibrant butterfly bush, abundant milkweed, and plentiful goldenrod presented unambiguous evidence of summer’s departure. The annual Monarch migration had commenced.

More and more, one found those remarkable orange, black, and white-winged beauties in flight, occasionally sipping nectar, and frequently making an effort to absorb all of the sun’s slowly waning warmth.

In the larger arena of nature, one could even catch a glimpse of the kind harmony of which humanity has only dreamed to date. Humanity’s never-ending quest for peace on earth remains unfulfilled. But in the sweet beauty of countless flowers, magnificent Monarchs, and hovering hummingbirds, Paradise has already been found, if only for a fleeting moment.

Scottish poet James Thomson captured a little of this special beauty when he wrote of the butterfly:

See her bright robes the butterfly unfold,

…What youthful bride can equal her array?

Who can with her for easy pleasure vie?

While it may be tempting to see play in the flight of the Monarchs as they sometimes dart among the blossoms and at other times float from flower to flower, they are actually engaged in very serious business. They are in the midst of a journey of thousands of miles. They have no airline, railway, or ship to transport them. They must take to wing all on their own.

Day after day, they will fly some 50 to 100 miles through all kinds of weather and an array of other hazards. For up to two months, they will find no permanent resting place on their journey south. It is a journey they must finish even as gathering fatigue tries to seduce them into abandoning their long and perilous trip. The survival of their species demands nothing less.

This unforgiving trip will not break them. Beneath their seemingly fragile beauty is extraordinary strength. Before the curtain falls on autumn, morning mists yield to winter’s icy breath, and the first flakes of snow spread south from Canada into the eastern United States, the Monarchs will reach their winter home. They will be weak. They will be hungry. None of that will matter much. What will matter is that they will be alive. At long last, they will have respite in the welcoming branches of Mexico’s oyamel fir trees.

In their wake, they will leave behind memories of the recent summer. They will also leave the gift of a narrative of grace, courage, and extraordinary persistence. Next spring, the return of the Monarchs will provide the heroic proof that they had again succeeded in their migration. In that proof, the world will be a little more wonderful.

Painting with Soap at the New York Hall of Science

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 00:42:30 +0000

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Near the end of August, my family and I went to the New York Hall of Science in Corona (Queens). This museum features some 450 exhibits and displays related to science, technology, engineering and math.

Outside the museum, is a nine-hole miniature golf course with a range of holes designed to teach basic principles of space science. For example, the first hole features a rotating circle with an opening. The goal is time one’s shot so that the ball passes through the opening when it is available. If one’s swing is too late, one’s ball encounters a solid wall. If one hits the ball too early, one suffers the same outcome. Once one hits the ball through the opening, one is finished. The concept involved is the “launch window” for spacecraft.

The miniature golf course is located within the museum’s Rocket Park. This park contains exhibits related to the dawn of the space age. Exhibits include a Mercury-Atlas D Rocket and the Gemini Titan II.

Rocket Park

Inside the museum there are numerous exhibits. One can find meteorites that reached the Earth from Mars. There is a model Mars Rover that a child can control through a series of switches. There is a “Connected Worlds” exhibit containing an animated waterfall, and simulated reservoir, desert, and more. Children can move replica logs to direct water to areas that need it, especially when rainfall is scarce. One can also plant seeds to grow new plants and chop down dead ones. Cooperation among the children is essential in order for that fantasy world to flourish. There are also several areas set aside where pre-school children can engage in a range of activities.

Mars Rover “Camille”

Finally, there is a soap film painting area in which one can create a large screen of soap. White light reflecting on the front and back surfaces of the screen creates an array of shimmering colors. Artistic talent is not necessary. Anyone can “paint” with soap.

Three such “paintings” are featured below.

Soap Film Painting

Soap Film Painting

Soap Film Painting

In the end, if there’s one lesson to take away from this visit, it is that the frontiers of knowledge are as limitless as the countless permutations of patterns revealed from within the soap film. So long as there are scientists, the research, exploration, and discovery will continue without end. So long as the flame of curiosity burns from within humanity, there will be scientists who explore the world, research the unknown, and make the discoveries that benefit us all.

The Fog Comes (Then Moves On)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Sutherland) — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 02:55:51 +0000

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In 1878, Carl Sandburg wrote:

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Nearly 140 years later on April 3, 2015, Sandburg’s descriptive poem transcended the paper on which it was written. The words leapt off the pages and a thick blanket of fog rolled across the Long Island Sound on “little cat feet.”

For a time, it sat over the water, shrouding Long Island and also the landscape across Larchmont Harbor in white .

Stealthily, it approached the shore on a light northeast breeze. The last buoy before the rocks of Manor Park soon disappeared as the white cloud hugged the water and slipped ever closer to shore. Soon Umbrella Point with its distinctive mini gazebo and the Park’s two large gazebos, still barren trees, and large glacial erratic would vanish from sight.

And so an early spring day would end on an eerie note.

But then, just as the future is never fully certain, the wind suddenly shifted as the fog had begun to roll up the metamorphic rocks that lined the shore. For a moment, the fog seemed to sit on “silent haunches.” And then, as the gentle northwesterly breeze filtered across the Park, the fog ‘moved on.’

The silently drifting fog of that April day reminds one that there is still much beauty in life that often is hidden from plain view. More often than not, that beauty is shrouded by the countless mundane elements that comprise daily living: tiresome commuting, long work days, seemingly endless chores. Persistence is required if one is to pierce the fog of the mundane aspects of living.

Persistence serves the photographer especially well. A good deal of persistence is often required to capture the magical lighting of a magnificent sunrise or sunset. Persistence is often required to photograph the sweetness of the hummingbirds that add vibrancy to summer’s flowers. Persistence is often necessary to snap a Monarch that splashes the summer landscape with an extra dose of color and the grace of a ballerina.

When such moments are captured, they can live on long beyond the time the photograph is printed or uploaded. It is in those moments that the proverbial fog lifts to reveal some of the remarkable beauty that is all around us. Such beauty is available to all, not just the photographers or artists. With summer now winding down, it is still not too late to seek out and find that beauty.