DUE TO MEDICAL REASONS I WILL NOT BE POSTING FOR AWHILE. HOPE TO RETURN BY THE END OF NOVEMBER - DECEMBER. OCT. 17th 2014
I find that at this point in
my life, if I get two consecutive years without a major medical or emotional
emergency I am doing good. 2014 has already provided enough of both for a few
years to come......but somehow I don’t think that’s the way it’s going to play
out. My personal paradigm has shifted and I have to draw on all my previous
learning to “surrender” to what is. Below is a picture taken of me on my first
trip ever to Baja. We (Susanna and I) were camped on the little island off of
the main beach at Concepcion Bay south of Muleje and I was working on
unburdening myself of some baggage – still working on it!
Concepcion Bay 1988
So, I am on Vol. Vll of
Durant’s epic “The History of Civilization”. Thankfully I am out of that period
of European History that was dominated by the church and all the ludicrous,
hateful and mindless ignorance it has always perpetrated. When one reads of the endless machinations of the
church (Judean, Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, Puritan etc, etc) to
maintain the human population in a state of ignorance, poverty and fear it’s
enough to raise the hackles. The present volume deals with the “Age of Reason” and the
beginnings of THE ENLIGHTENMENT – logic, reason, humanism and science. And
still today The Church in all it’s guises is a force to be reckoned with. Not because
of it’s innate wisdom or goodness but because of it’s jealous hold on the
Spirit of humankind. You see, that’s the problem with reading, evaluating,
analyzing and “connecting dots” ......the TRUTH eventually emerges and THE
TRUTH sets one free, and that’s exactly what they don’t want! And they are
still at it, indeed fighting WARS over it – PURE insanity!
Whew, that’s a load off! More to come I'm afraid!
Hurricane Marie went by last
week without making landfall or leaving us with much in the way of rain. The
mountains to the west got a bunch however and that’s good – that’s where the
aquifers are.
Did you know that the Earth
is hit by lightening 50 times every second? That’s eight and a half million
times a day!
Not my pic
Now that you do, can you
imagine the power that represents and why the genius Nickolai Tesla suggested we harness
the energy in it for unlimited FREE electricity for everyone...and why the
government went with the inventor Thomas Edison instead entrapping us in this oil/coal burning dependency. I wonder how long we, the
human race, will put up with the agenda prescribed by the military, industrial,
RELIGIOUS complex before throwing off this yoke that has kept us on our knees
for so long. Isaac Asimov said it best.
ONE of my favorite authors
Here’s something cool as a
breather.
Spacecraft "Rosetta"
This is a spacecraft that has
traveled billions of miles for the past 10 years and will rendezvous with a
comet, eject a soft landing probe on the surface of the comet and begin telling
us things we never knew before. Practical? Who gives a f**k – it’s knowledge!
We have had a number of
potential rain giving tropical storms pass by and one “Chubasco” (a short but violent squall), but nothing
yet. Marie looked like a possibility but she passed us without a flurry, great
surfing on the Pacific side though. This is what one looks like as it
approaches from the south. This was hurricane “Rick” last year.
Approaching hurricane "Rick" from last year
I am always, always awed by
the image of an approaching hurricane – it’s NATURE in the raw, magnificent.
I have mentioned before that
The Vaquita, the smallest of the porpoises, and found only in The Sea of Cortez, is rapidly becoming extinct. At best there are just 250
left and I happen to be lucky enough to see them regularly (not many, maybe a
half dozen a season) while on my whale expeditions. The picture below is not
mine but this is how they appear in the wild.
A vaquita "logging"
They do not put on much of a
“show” and they spend a good part of their day “logging” (just lying quietly on
the surface) as the picture indicates. I was out in my kayak some years ago and
decided to lie back, close my eyes and just drift. I was awoken by the sound of some gentle blowing near me. I
slowly opened my eyes and without moving scanned the surface around me. Not 20
feet away were three vaquitas taking a breather. I knew that I shouldn’t move -
they are very skittish - so I remained partially reclined and just watched them
breath. We remained like that for a number of minutes and then they slipped by
me to take a look and dropped into the deep.
The problem is that The
Chinese pay premium for them to sell their bladders on the food market so they
are caught by drift nets north of me. We are quite certain that they cannot
survive this hunting and there is simply nothing we can do because though there
are laws against it - money talks and we also simply do not have the boats or
personal to enforce those laws – same old, same old.
We are having similar
problems (stupidity) in The Gulf of Mexico where a huge “dead zone” has
developed and will one day soon have very serious ramifications on that entire
bioregion.
This "dead zone" is completely depleted of oxygen
Here’s a bit of interesting
trivia and a relevant follow up.
Nickolai Copernicus
(Kopernik), yes, the man who tried so hard to open the eyes and minds of a
bunch of religious loony tunes who demanded that the whole universe revolved
around the earth, never published his great work, “On the Revolutions of The
Celestial Orbs” for fear of being burned at the stake (no surprise there).
However, on his deathbed on May 24th, 1543, a group of his devoted followers had the book published and brought it to him. He read the title page and died
one hour after.
Mikolaj Kopernik
I think he would have loved
how far we have come:
A team of astronomers announced April 17, 2014, that they
have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the so-called
"habitable zone" -- the distance from a star where liquid water might
pool on the surface. That doesn't mean this planet has life on it, says Thomas
Barclay, a scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute at Ames
and a co-author of a paper on the planet, called Kepler-186f. He says the
planet can be thought of as an "Earth-cousin rather than an Earth-twin. It
has many properties that resemble Earth." The planet was discovered by
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. It's located about 500 light-years from Earth in
the constellation Cygnus.
While swimming my laps the
other day I ran into a really strong current over the reef. Nothing dangerous I
assure you but unusual to be that strong. As I turned against it to start back
to my haul out I saw a large Green Panamic Moray coming straight at me being
pushed by the current. He sees me and opens his jaws to frighten me and I
decide to turn and swim with him rather than into him. Works great, we both
settle into a neutral zone and just enjoy the drift. I also saw three sea
turtles while kayaking the other day – always a treat. No close encounters but
just damn nice to see.
An Estonian friend sent me
this picture taken at a wedding in 1923 on the small island of Vilsandi (off
the western coast of the larger Estonian island Saaremaa) in The Baltic. This is the island where
my mother’s ancestors pioneered and where a small community of
hearty seamen evolved – many to become ship’s captains like my grandfather. He
and my grandmother (who raised me when we emigrated to The United States) are
in this picture as well as my mother (ten years old) and at least one and maybe
both younger sisters. Just for fun for those of you who know me more closely,
see if you can identify any of them.
Better chance below
Here's a little more current history - a shot of me and my trailer shortly (2001-2002?) after Susanna and I (with
the invaluable help of John Hensley) hauled it down here to El Cardonal. You
can see the difference that time makes.
I have to include something
political but I don’t want to rage though there is SO MUCH to rage about! Now
this man was not perfect and he may not have been the best and wisest president
but he was a good man and cared for The American people. He is also responsible
for a big part of my radicalization in the 60’s when I read his memoir and he
discussed South East Asia. I am paraphrasing here: “The United States should at
all costs stay out of the affairs of South East Asia. There is a man there who
is equivalent to our George Washington (Ho Chi Min) and he will be DEMOCRACY’S
strongest ally in that region. I suggest we support him for he is supported and
loved by all his people” (well, until the CIA got into the picture anyway,
right!). When I was drafted for Viet Nam in 1965, these words helped form my
decision as to how I was going to relate to that war.
I had a strong reaction to
Robin William’s death as did so many others. When he and Jonathan Winters would
do their shticks together I was in hysterics and the tears flowed both from the
hilarity of their antics and the release of pain from my own soul. I do not
begrudge him or judge him for taking his own life – I consider that a right and
privilege of anyone. I would nonetheless have liked to have been by his side to
talk while he imbibed any number of painless terminating liquids. I am a strong
believer in the absolute right of anyone to take their own life when THEY see
fit. A terrific loss nonetheless!
This post has been a bit on
the dark side I’m afraid but I don’t write these to be necessarily entertaining. This past
year has been a bit of a rough one for me and I have had much to contemplate.
We are living in difficult times, the old paradigm is shaky at best (thank the
Gods!) and when it falls it will usher in even more difficult times. But as an
old Indian friend once told me, “life is not unlike a river Urmas, there will
be areas of turbulence and swift current. Do not try to hang on, let go, allow
the river to take you to where it is peaceful and still again, the river never
ceases to flow - and it could be a good time”!
In the meantime I’m going to
keep swimming with my “critter” friends and let go.
Swimming with a group of Orcas a few years back - incredible experience!
