This magnificent, non-flat Earth | The Way I See It

There is something sublime, even heavenly, about the earthly mountain heights. Who among us doesn’t occasionally gaze on the distant snow-capped peaks? The mind may wonder just what it’s like “up there,” with views of snow sculptures hiding trees, and modest or massive rocks with their thick, white snow-coats that come and go with the storms.

We count our blessings often when skiing, while catching our breath in the 8,000-foot high thin air; any place above the tree line affords magnificent views of nearby, even distant peaks. From Mt. Bachelor’s ski runs and clearings are a “gathering” of peaks: Brokentop, Tumalo, and North, Middle and South Sister reaching above 10,000-feet elevation.

From the top of the Summit lift, at several vantage points before gravity provides its thrill-seeking rush, to the north are Mt. Washington, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams, up to 150 miles distant. At a viewing spot only about 30 yards away, one can gaze to the south, where more Cascade peaks—Thielsen, Scott (hovering over Crater Lake), McGloughlin and, on a very clear day, Mt. Shasta 180 miles away.

From the heights of Mt. McGloughlin, were one to be transported or, for the hardiest of bodies, hike, you would have an unobstructed view of Klamath Lake, the town of Klamath Falls and the eastern Oregon plains, and the Steen and Blue mountain ranges. To the west, you would gaze at the Coastal ranges on the other side of the Willamette Valley, perhaps seeing a bit of the Pacific Ocean.

Back to that view of Mt. Shasta, visible 180 miles away on a haze-free day. There are, between Bachelor and Shasta, tree-covered ridges at about 6,000-feet elevation. So, from the 9,000-foot perch at Bachelor, you are looking at points well above Mt. Shasta’s 8,000-foot treeline, perhaps between 10,000 and 12,000 feet elevation, well below Shasta’s 14,179-foot peak.

Yes, the earth’s curvature is an observable phenomenon because, if the earth was flat, you would see, over the 6,000-foot ridges, down to the level of the city of Mt. Shasta, at about 3,300 feet. It’s not unlike how ships and oil rigs disappear from view beyond, say, 30 miles of ocean from the shore—many thousands of feet of Earth “disappear.”

If you stand at the northern shore of Lake Tahoe, and look towards the south shore, perhaps with binoculars, you won’t see the shoreline—you will see the trees, perhaps a hundred feet above the shore. The water surface shows the curvature of the earth. “Fascinating,” as Dr. Spock would say.

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Getting around to reading vacation-held Daily News editions, I find so many news items become irrelevant history (as in the November election). One news story, about the explanation for the decision that the voting/polling location at Calvary Chapel, “did not violate California elections law,” peaked the interest of my “little gray cells,” as the legendary detective Hercule Poirot would say.

Forgive me for assigning the worst of intentions to whoever was the “busybody” that initially sought to make trouble for a Christian church serving as a polling location (a likely invitation to Republican-leaning voters). It’s pretty obvious to me that the complaint was motivated by crass, partisan “trouble-making,” likely emanating from the same ideological crowd that cheers every aspect of “I.D.-free” mail-in voting and unlimited drop boxes, and vociferously oppose any “voting integrity” measures.

As it turned out, “no harm, no foul,” and congrats for the church-going, civic-minded Red Bluff citizens, doing just what our liberal-leaning fellow citizens do every election: Get out the vote (especially for your side).

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Another counterintuitive “attaboy” goes to Gov. Newsom, who, in an interview/podcast with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, repeatedly admitted the inherent “unfairness” of allowing boys/young men to compete in girls’/women’s sports. Logically, Newsom would follow that up by implementing legislative and other measures to conform to the national mandate from the White House to “keep boys out of girls’ sports.”

It’s only about a 90 percent issue. Nearly that many Americans agree that it is “deeply unfair” (Newsom’s words) for a male athlete, saying “he” is a “she,” to attempt to transfer “his” athletic prowess from the lower tier of competing male athletes, to the top of the heap among biological (physically weaker) female athletes. Enough of this nonsense, Governor Newsom—now do something about it.

Not to get comfy about Newsom, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit just slapped down parts of a controversial California law imposing free speech-busting reporting requirements on social media platforms like X and Facebook.

“California’s AB 587 was hailed by Gov. Gavin Newsom…as ensuring ‘social media transparency,’ but the Ninth Circuit Court ruled for the plaintiff—X—dismissing the law’s reporting requirements ‘with prejudice’” (pjmedia.com, March 6). Democrats, give up trying to censor speech and expressions you don’t like.

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