Notes From A Bear's Journey

Illustration of what's orbiting Earth; Source: European Space Agency     In today's world it is easy to be overwhelmed by data.  As just one example, there was this statistic from October in The Week on those pesky robocalls ,  automated calls for which the "caller" pays a mere $6 per 100,000 calls and that's only IF the call is picked up (and now there are also fake MMS text messages telling you that your Amazon/ FedEx/car order is ready, complete with a highlighted link that will likely lead to all of your phone data being stolen if you click on it...and you don't even have to be Jeff Bezos).  Anyway, don't feel alone if you've fallen victim because in just that one month this amounted to 5,700,000,000 calls (that's 5.7 BILLION in one month).  And according to AARP , there are currently nearly 60 different known phone and Web scams currently going on throughout the U.S.   Actually, what caught my eye wasn't so much those calls but rathe...

   Okay, the corona virus in China has made the jump and passed from human to human as both relatives and care workers become infected, even entering the U.S. said STAT .  One could almost think that our planet might be saying "enough."  The earth as one big organism theory (commonly termed the GAIA hypothesis) has been around for ages, the thought being that the planet as a whole acts as a giant cell of sorts, one which will fight off invaders (perhaps even species such as us) as valiantly and as vigorously as any antibody in our own bodies (admittedly, anti-body is an odd term in itself since such cells actually work to help fight off infections).  I couple this with an amazing self-regulating feature of the Amazon rainforest, one we've only recently discovered but one which we may soon lose before we have time to study it, and that is the cordycep fungus which evokes a sort of mind control before taking down the body.*  As shown in Our Planet , the fung...

   The past few days have me thinking about our world of information, and you can add to that the mis- and dis- prefixes.  A quick glance through almost any library reveals the weekly arrivals of books that made the grade (and budget), which meant that thousands of other titles from smaller presses, those both educational and scientific (and throw in poetry, literature, foreign and the rest of the skipped titles while you're at it) were bypassed.  Okay, maybe books aren't your thing but click over to Netflix or Amazon or even better, the "apps" menu and you'll be bowled over by the selection of movies and shows that also arrive weekly, most of them already dated and destined for the dustbin but many new choices both in movies and in series (500+ new series were added in 2019 alone).   And I won't even try to pretend that I keep up with the music since I am reaching the point where the most-streamed songs and concerts are by artists I don't recognize (its a...

Courtesy Schultz Museum   It's a point of exasperation, that, a phrase Charlie Brown would sigh when presented with an overwhelming but often senseless mini-speech by his feminine counterpart Lucy.  But only now with my dog missing from my life and our house noticeably emptier have I thought of its origins.  My wife and I are indeed still grieving but at what point does it become too much or too little?  When does the normal period of "good" grief end and when does grief begin to slowly ooze its way into the world of depression?  Our neighborhood has lost almost all of its dogs, many of them having circled and walked and adorned our streets for over ten years, just as our dogs did; we got to know each others dogs as they pranced and prowled and barked their warnings of "don't come near my owner" or "hey it's you again" with friendly wags of their tails.  But as each dog passed away almost every one of the neighbors moved on to a new puppy, ...

   Ah yes, the question of a bucket list.  Sometimes we wait until we are older and ready to embark on fulfilling that wish list and discover that, wait, we don't really have a bucket list.  Certainly we all talk of things we "want" to do someday, those party-talk fantasies of writing a book or learning a new language, that sort of thing.  But an actual list?  Almost better to just read the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die * and that will somewhat take care of that.   My wife and I are well past the physical point of bungee jumping off of high bridges or skiing down Mt. Everest ( Slovenian Davo Karnicar became the first person to ski down Mt. Everest from the 12,000 ft. summit, then went on to ski down six other high peaks including Annapurna, Eiger, and the Matterhorn; ironically, he died at 56 while cutting trees at his work place); but such desires were never really our thing even when we were younger.  Besides, sometimes not having a bu...

Comparison Graph by BBC    Consider this an emergency interim post of sorts since the wildfires of Australia are now appearing nightly on media outlets and unfortunately, there is still a month to go with their record-breaking temperatures overall.  The fires are approaching Sydney, said NPR , and the wildlife toll has jumped to an estimated 1.25 BILLION animals, including bats, birds, kangaroos and of course, the koala bears which feed on the burning eucalyptus trees (the trees themselves prove part of the problem due to their high oil content).  A quick glance at the NASA satellite map shows the scattered locations of the raging fires, and also shows the enormity of the continent itself; what it doesn't show is the generosity and heart of the Australian people and those not only volunteering but trying to help in other ways.  A quick summary of what happened and what you need to know if you are thinking of heading to Australia, either to help or to vacati...

   Several days have now passed since we laid to rest our one remaining dog.  And the feelings that remain are a mix of emptiness and of also knowing that whatever may be next for her (if anything) she is now free of pain and whatever shackles physical life placed upon her.  My friend tells me of the Vikings believing that their animals followed them into an afterlife, a pleasant thought and one echoed by several religions; but as anyone who has loved and lost a pet, the silence and void that remains seems to linger for far longer than expected.  You come home and open the door, you glance at their bed in the middle of the night, you stare out at the patio and there's...nothing.  At such times it seems natural to glance back through photos, which is what I've been doing, frozen pieces of days when both of you were younger and playing and acting as if this world and this life would never end.  But mixed in with all those photos were also those of other...