What I Wish Someone Would Say to All Peace Talks Representatives

“When you know how large the universe is and how small we are within it — what Earth looks like from space, how tiny it is in a cosmic void — it’s impossible for you to say, ‘I so don’t like how you think that I’m going to kill you for it.’  You will never find scientists leading armies into battle.  You just won’t.  Especially not astrophysicists—we see the biggest picture there is.  We understand how small we are in the cosmos.  We understand how fragile and temporary our existence is here on Earth.  We understand there are bigger problems we need to solve as a species than what God you pray to.

Any time scientists disagree, it’s because we have insufficient data.  Then we can agree on what kind of data to get;  we get the data;  and the data solves the problem.  Either I’m right or you’re right or we’re both wrong.  And we move on.  That kind of conflict resolution does not exist in politics or religion.  It does not exist in so much of what we do as human beings on this Earth, that it’s almost tragic”, Neil de Grasse Tyson.

Pale Blue Dot

Natural Wales At It’s Finest…Part II

This song is the title track from my second album “Round River” and once again Mike Alexander has treated us to some of his best photographs of the stunning Welsh landscape to go with it, hope you enjoy 🙂

Natural Wales At It’s Finest

Here’s a collection of some of Mike Alexander’s best photographs, music by me, the title track of my first album “Time Stands Still”

The Ancient Holly

Photo: Mike Alexander
Photo: Mike Alexander

Have You Ever Said Something and Really, Like Really Wish You Hadn’t?…. :-)

…then this is for you…

A 6000 year old submerged forest that reappears from time to time

Something strange is happening, this relatively old post of mine has gone viral today, I think because news of recent storms in Wales revealing the petrified forest on the coast has reached the USA and searches are sending people to my site, which I suppose is nice. So I thought I’d re-blog to make it even easier for everyone 😉 Old news has become new news again….

Mike Howe

Although it is rarely seen, the remnants of a past forested landscape, where there is now sea and beach, is a very interesting feature and teaches us about past sea level rise and our recent glacial history, and makes sense of some of the archaeological remains we find around our coastline in West Wales.

At the end of the last glaciation the sea level was much lower than it is today because so much water was still locked up in the ice sheets to the north of Britain.  As the climate warmed forests became established on land that had been tundra for thousands of years, and this forest extended far out beyond where sea level is today.  Gradually as temperatures rose, the sea ice to the south of the arctic circle melted and sea levels rose, submerging much of the coastal forests.

In some places this action was very rapid…

View original post 338 more words

When Mike Met Michael for an Interview…

For those of you who may be interested, the editor of the excellent Ambient Visions website, Michael Foster, very kindly asked me to do an interview about my latest album release, and here it is…

Heading West by Mike Howe

 

River of Blue Light

River of blue light

 

I went back to the mountains this week.  Out for a walk in the quiet forest as the late winter afternoon light grew dim, long before I could see it I could hear the sound of the river torrent and the rapids swollen by so much recent rain.  And then as I emerged through the dense pine branches dripping with a gentle rain, a bright river of blue and white light appeared and the roar grew deafening in complete contrast to the silence of the surrounding forest…

 

River of light 1

River of light

 

 

 

Heading West Makes It Into 2 “Best Of’s” for 2013

Heading West by Mike Howe

Music reviewer Michael Debbage places “Heading West” at #5 in his top albums in the genre for 2013…

http://www.mainlypiano.com/Mainly_Piano/Michaels_Favorites_2013.html

And it is also in the Audiosyncracy best of 2013, a podcast based upon Jamey Osbournes radio show featuring outstanding independent acoustic new age musicians and their most current work…

https://www.facebook.com/audiosyn

I’m particularly pleased because this album was quite a challenge for me to write and to record.  I had to teach myself how to play the piano and double bass parts of the songs, and this was a brilliant experience.  So recognition like this is very rewarding.  Grateful thanks to Michael and Jamey.

The First Song I Ever Recorded

…it’s about the serenity that comes from wide open landscapes as told by the acoustic guitar