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Showing posts from February, 2011

Being Steward of the Wood

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A view of my land from Google Earth. Viewed at 1760 feet altitude. Judging by my tree color I'd say this is early spring. The bermuda grass is just starting to turn green. This is a little over ten acres. Up is straight North. This is a couple of years old as we have planted more trees in the last two years that are not visible here. Obviously, to anyone familiar with this blog, I am a pupil and lover of nature. Earth’s diverse environment (I find the Gaia concept useful) is great because of its diversity. Still, you never know how things are going to play out. There could be draught, or flood, or tornado. The world might heat up and make it too warm for certain trees and shrubs and other plants, for insects and birds, changing a holistic habitat. Last spring we had no bees of any kind on our farm. Little things get amplified when they are connected to the land as a sense of “place” similarly to that found in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek . This coming spring I’m hopeful insect life wil

The Poetry of Tahrir Square

In the mere span of 18 days one of the most entrenched dictatorships in the Islamic world fell to what was essentially the power of peaceful protest. Though more than 300 people died mostly in the early days of the revolt , those were almost entirely due to police actions . The military did not attempt to put down the protest by force. Thus, the military established some semblance of good will in the eyes of the Egyptian people and is now in charge of the transition to democracy . The fact this happened at all is remarkable, but the fact it happened in the traditionally violent Middle East is truly amazing. Mark Shields summed it up nicely on Friday evening’s PBS News Hour : “Joyful, ecstatic. It's bottom-up. This wasn't orchestrated from the top, no artillery, no carpet bombing, no IEDs, unlike Iraq, no body-counts, just a remarkable, remarkable, historic achievement. And I think that it puts a brand-new face for those outside of the Middle East on Islam. I mean, this is -

Ron Paul's Newsworthy Plurality

As I have posted before, I like Ron Paul . I find him the most interesting politican in America . Far more fascinating than Palin, Romney, or Obama . There is no one else quite like him. He spoke a couple of days ago at a conservative activitist gathering in Washington, DC. It wasn't his best speech but what he said seemed highly relevant and honest to me . He throws the word “liberal” around in an evil manner. But, he is quick to criticize Republicans and “conservative” ideals as well. “The liberals want to talk about how to regulate your economic activity and how you spend your money and the others want to regulate your personal lifestyle but government should not be regulating us. We should adopt one other principle for that to work. We should all swear off the use of violence against our neighbors, our friends, and other countries.” Ron Paul won the 2011 CPAC Straw Poll yesterday, the day I first put out my post-Christmas Season flag. He won 30% of the vote of a group of con

Stars and Bars

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The First National off my front porch this afternoon. Fresh out of its plastic package. In December, Jennifer gave me a Confederate Flag as part of my Christmas presents. She loves giving people lots of little gifts. It is more fun for her than big gifts. This was a real treat, I have to admit. A First National Flag . So festive and hopeful, before all the battles and defeats and deaths. It was February 1861, in Montgomery , when the Confederate States of America officially formed. But, when Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the first President of the new government , there were no flags flying over the ceremony. A photo of the moment is strangely void of flags of any kind. The sketch in the Montgomery link of a parade of what appears to be a southern regiment clearly shows but few flags. The Stars and Strips is, in fact, quite prominent . Secession was so fresh that the US military flag still served the newformed regiment. The First National Flag was adopted later, in March 1861, and

A Wish Upon A Star

The recent announcement that, Betelgeuse , one of the ten brightest stars in the sky, might become a supernova in 2012 created a lot of internet buzz. The sensational, tabloid version of the story indicated that Betelgeuse would become a “second sun”, erasing the difference between night and day on Earth, leading to all manner of disruptions and possible apocalyptic doom . Fortunately, this is not the case . While the fact that the red giant star is losing its mass does mean that it will eventually go supernova , exactly when this event will occur could be anytime in the next million years . Still a blink of the eye in galactic terms, but hardly something to concern you and me, temporary fixtures as we are here. Even if Betelgeuse does go supernova next year, it is unlikely to become a “second sun”. Not that the event wouldn’t be noticeable to the human eye. It would. But the luminosity of the explosion would be something on the order of the brightness of a crescent moon rather th

Table for 11 in 2011

The Dillos gathered at Mark and Eileen’s home in Atlanta this past Saturday evening for what has become an annual tradition , First Feast. First Feast kicked off the Dillo collective calendar of events for 2011. ( Swan Cabin , for example, is our summer gathering.) The Feast’s theme this year was Spanish. Kinda vague really; the best Jennifer and I could manage was Portuguese music and some kind of tangy, leafy salad with oranges prominently featured and all the onions that were supposed to go in it forgotten in the refrigerator. Three of the plentiful assortment of hors d'œuvres inspired special attention for me. Clint brought these deviled eggs that are probably banned in a dozen states. The special deviling of the egg is laced with Sockeye salmon. They were incredible, just made to put fully in your mouth (that is, hammered not nibbled), and I enjoyed many of these with a couple of Fat Tire beers poured into a frosty mug so generously provided by Mark. Another was part of Diane