Esslar2

Just starting to see how little I really know.

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Last Notes

2026-07-17 13:50:19 UTC

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This is excellent. The thing with bats, I read, is their teeth are so small, they can bite you and you don't even feel it.

2026-07-15 16:42:54 UTC

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Holy fuck, this is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like that. I used to work for a railroad and can't imagine what this must have been like for these guys.

2026-07-09 14:53:33 UTC

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Those of us who are older now so can remember pretty clearly that, since the end of WWII, being "anti-fascist" was something you didn't even think twice about and could take for granted that almost everyone was. If the 47 regime is so set on labeling anyone who challenges their criminal activities as "anti-fascist," it seems very clear that the regime is thereby declaring itself, quite openly, to be a fascist regime. One can hope, though likely in vain, that "reporters" will bring this up with the criminals in this regime and push them to answer this.

2026-05-18 00:10:21 UTC

Hour walk near a swamp this afternoon, took a little detour to a footbridge I rarely visit. Peering over the railing, I saw something big moving in the swampwater below me. It was a 2-foot long snapping turtle. I watched it climb over a beaver dam into deeper water. As it sank under the surface, a muskrat came over another part of the dam! Further along near another part of the swamp were 3 mud turtles and a frog on a log. But, wait! There's more! Loping back along the trail, I made a hasty halt to allow not one, but two 2-foot black snakes (rat snakes?) to cross in front of me. What a wild life.

2026-05-14 13:29:52 UTC

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We are also in a drought here around the Chesapeake Bay. Now being asked to ease up on car-washing, lawn-watering, and other water-wasting things.

2026-04-12 13:35:34 UTC

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Anti-anarchy people want me to come up with a "plan" that is anarchic. I point out to them, per Sophie Scott-Brown, if I offered them a "plan," that wouldn't be anarchy! Anarchy is about dealing with problems collectively as those problems come up. It is not about making up a "plan" before we even know what problems will show up and then refusing to budge from that plan no matter how clear it is that it is not going to work.

2026-04-01 12:58:25 UTC

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Here in MD, my electric bill also jumped up quite a bit. I'm not sure why, we'll see how it goes in the months to come.

2026-03-17 23:32:37 UTC

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It does seem like they're just putting up with me and for the reason you said.

2026-03-17 23:26:14 UTC

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That's the thing... I go to No Kings meetings and they end up talking about who they're going to vote for in the next election. Meanwhile, I ask why we are using the same system that got us into the mess we're in now and expecting it to "save" us from fascism. Silence.

2026-03-07 14:34:06 UTC

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This reminds me of when a colleague and I were driving south from Grand Mesa and there were mountains in front of us. It just seemed so beautiful to this easterner, I'll never forget it.

2026-02-12 19:02:23 UTC

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Out here by the Chesapeake Bay, we've had our first couple days above freezing in more than two weeks. Not exactly spring-like, but at least you can get some of the ice dug up from the driveway! I got the old Ranger pickup started, too, first time since the "big freeze." I had to jump it and a little bit of water steaming up from the exhaust manifold scared me, but it did okay after that!

2026-02-12 14:53:01 UTC

Steven Miller has made the same argument about "how the world works" as Sepulveda did centuries ago. That argument is "Whoever has the power to overcome everyone else has the right to use that power to overcome everyone else." Sepulveda used it to excuse horrific atrocities against indigenous people by Spanish "conquistadores" in what became "America." Some guy named Adolf Hitler used that argument too. It's a favorite of all sorts of monsters and criminals. What always astonishes me about the people who make that argument is that they assume that they are the ones with that kind of power and that, somehow, they are entitled to use that power any way they like. It never seems to cross their mind that the monsters they create will someday turn on them.

2026-01-28 14:18:06 UTC

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Oh, that's one of your best yet. Really lovely.

2026-01-17 14:15:29 UTC

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This is the biggest problem I have when I go to "No Kings" meetings. Everyone just wants to keep doing what got us into this horrific mess in the first place. "51%-winner-takes-all" is not working and has never worked. If I got it right, the very word "democracy" means that 51% of people rule...by force aka violence. The real opposite of fascism is not democracy it is consensus-based decision-making aka anarchy. Saying that is one thing, doing it is a whole other matter. I don't know how it could be done but I do know there are many, many ways to do it.

2026-01-13 23:27:57 UTC

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Every once in a while, maybe once or twice a year, I hit a day where I just have to do nothing. I call this "blessed inactivity," and it really is good because my mind and body just need to be quiet for a while sometimes! PS No religious overtones here, just my way of putting it.

2026-01-02 14:57:13 UTC

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Clearly, this squirrel has had a few too many cups of coffee this morning.

2025-12-08 03:31:29 UTC

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At a meeting last week, one guy was wearing a simple (non N95) mask because he was sick. I ran out to my car, got a N95 and wore it during the meeting. I don't know what that guy had, but it scared me. I've been more careful since + got my tenth booster last Thursday. Covid is still out there.

2025-11-21 15:45:51 UTC

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They have a calendar? I've given to them--they are great--but didn't know about this.

2025-11-14 14:04:31 UTC

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This is just how my back yard looks...in the evening!

2025-11-09 22:04:08 UTC

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That's incredible.

2025-11-09 21:40:39 UTC

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It's here now. The first I saw this was 2008 as one of the pilots of a jet flying over Greenland. You could see the huge lakes of meltwater even from 40k feet.

2025-11-05 15:39:22 UTC

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That "+" in +8F isn't very encouraging!

2025-10-07 15:40:57 UTC

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"Stray cucumbers" gives a picture of cucumbers just casually strolling around the garden!

2025-10-02 22:45:06 UTC

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The other day, driving through a leafy green area on a quiet road, I came around the corner to see a giant skeleton standing in someone's yard! That sure woke me up.

2025-08-14 19:27:17 UTC

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I'd be alarmed if I saw its other end in the outhouse!

2025-08-06 13:29:00 UTC

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"Against the Grain" by James C. Scott and Charles Tilly's "War Making and State Making as Organized Crime" are two works that really opened my eyes to what we are really living in: Large-scale protection rackets. So, how do we get ourselves out of this mess is the next question and I think there are many, many answers to this rather than one big answer.

2025-07-30 14:40:02 UTC

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It's supposed to get to 98F (37C) here today near the Chesapeake Bay. I am so jealous of you guys up there!

2025-07-23 16:05:59 UTC

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Once I saw a photograph of three women taken in the early 1900s. They were part of my family in Germany. What startled me is how much one of them looked like my cousin, also German. Really, it was uncanny. But I know nothing at all about these women. Were they sisters? I guess they lived in Cologne, but that's about all I could say.

2025-07-19 16:58:14 UTC

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Many times I see "anarchy" and "barbarism" used as meaning chaos and mayhem (anarchy) and behavior that violates human rights or is violent (barbarism.) "Barbarians" were, in Roman times, likely the freest people in Europe. They lived in a state of anarchy, that is, they had no rulers or emperors, they lived freely and made their own decisions. Of course, the Romans hated this and treated barbarians as if they were primitive and backward when it was really the Romans who were behaving abominably toward other human beings. So, "barbarism" should be removed from any list of terms that have to do with violent or abusive behavior.

2025-07-07 02:30:16 UTC

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These are just huge areas.

2025-06-13 15:28:29 UTC

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You are wrong, you are advocating for violence, that's what the Fascists want.

2025-06-13 13:33:13 UTC

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Near the Chesapeake Bay here, fireflies should start soon. I was startled to find that the plunge in the number I used to see from many dozens to fewer than a dozen was caused by my new neighbors putting chemical treatments on their lawn. A colleague who used to run a nursery told me the chemicals kill the firefly larvae under the grass. I am more sad than angry about this. The neighbors have stopped using the chemicals so maybe there will be a recovery in the next years.

2025-05-25 15:38:16 UTC

It is upsetting to read or hear that the "US" deported someone illegally or is taking some action or another that is illegal. It's not the "US," it's 47 and his gang of thieves and looters. Reporters should make it clear that the people who live in this so-called "country" are not doing this nor are they okay with it.

2025-05-08 22:28:36 UTC

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The ocean water off Maine and NH is about the coldest I've ever been in except for Lake Tahoe. If it felt warm, something is way, way off.

2025-04-13 14:34:01 UTC

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Yes, he does talk about Richardson. That's really helpful, I'll do some geographic research and see if I can find that area. His memoir, "The Stars, The Snow, The Fire" is a small masterpiece. I've read it about a half-dozen times by now and it has never gotten dull.

2025-04-13 01:39:25 UTC

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Is this the area where John Haines did his trapping? He writes about the Tanana River.

2025-03-21 15:45:24 UTC

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What we need is direct democracy aka anarchy. No more "presidents" or "senators" or any other permanent positions of power. No more competitive elections where winner takes all. This whole system is a disaster, a failure and has been for a long, long time. No more nation-states that are nothing but giant protection rackets.

2025-03-14 14:07:59 UTC

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Yikes, that's cold.

2025-03-11 13:56:53 UTC

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You can protest nuclear all you want but if it is made safer and more reliable than it has been, then it needs to be taken seriously as part of the overall energy source pool of the future. Humans are never going to have riskless energy sources. You can use nuclear along with all other sources other than fossil fuel. I don't see how a true non-fossil fuel future will come about without nuclear as part of the mix.

2025-02-28 13:36:47 UTC

For more than 20 years, I flew jets as a professional pilot. We pilots relied on NOAA, NWS, and AWC (Aviation Weather Center) forecasts and information. So: Good luck to all the pilots out there, from the airlines right down to small private two-seat airplanes with getting good, trustworthy weather information from now on. What about the airlines? What do they have to say about this? I really have to wonder how long this level of sheer wanton destruction and outright thievery is going to go on before the damage becomes too great to ignore. This criminal regime has got to go.

2025-02-17 20:15:02 UTC

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As bad as things are (and they're pretty bad), this really made me laugh!

2025-02-13 13:02:49 UTC

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This film is well worth watching... again, if you haven't seen it for a while. There are some parallels with what's going on now that are unsettling. It's not a new film, but it has held up pretty well for its age.

2025-02-13 02:31:06 UTC

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THX1138--I just watched that movie.

2025-02-09 16:44:02 UTC

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I'll get it and read it asap! So nice of you to tell me about it, I look forward to it.

2025-02-09 16:41:15 UTC

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I had the thought this morning that if we humans wish to rewild the world we must start with rewilding ourselves or we will never be able to do it. I'd start by looking to anarchy or direct democracy as a way of "uncivilizing" ourselves.

2025-01-24 02:39:00 UTC

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I'm going to get this. Ward was a very good writer on anarchy. (I don't use the terms "anarchism" or "anarchist" because that makes it seem like anarchy is an ideology which it is not.)

2025-01-21 13:03:25 UTC

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Oh, good! Now that you've told me this, I'll look into it a bit more.

2025-01-21 02:08:28 UTC

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Okay, I truly was unaware of that. That really surprises me because she seems pretty thoughtful. Why anyone is a TERF is beyond me, I've never understood that.

2025-01-20 22:42:44 UTC

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Margaret Atwood said she doesn't think Canada will go the way of the US because Canada is much more diverse. Let's just say she's been pretty good on calling this whole thing, so I'd trust her.

2025-01-20 14:41:58 UTC

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I recall very clearly that Anthony Fauci was about the only government official who decided to listen to ACT-UP about what was going on with AIDS and the lack of progress in treatment. For any gay or bisexual man at that time, this was unheard-of. But, further, he made ACT-UP part of the decision-making process regarding testing of new drugs and treatments. I don't know if this was "brave" of him or not, but the Republicans were all too happy to let gay and bi men exposed to HIV get sick and die with no treatment. He was the only one who showed true leadership both socially and scientifically.

2024-12-22 14:55:22 UTC

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Another alarming sign I've seen is the idea that 45 can be controlled by the billionaires who helped him get into the presidency. That's what the rich industrialists thought they could do with Hitler, too.

2024-12-07 01:46:19 UTC

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If you haven't read it already, David Graeber's "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology" is astonishing. It's also quite short! But a lot in there to think about.

2024-11-22 23:40:09 UTC

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Time to send SPLC some more money. They're the best.

2024-11-16 14:19:36 UTC

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I sometimes laugh when I panic that my cellphone was left at home. When your car broke down out in the countryside in the 1960s, you walked to the nearest house and asked to use their telephone to call a garage. I met a young couple in our town that way. While I was waiting for the towtruck, they shared with me their lunch that they were eating outside on their lawn on a blanket. I have never forgotten how nice they were.

2024-11-03 13:38:45 UTC

Many are saying we are voting to keep a "democracy." Yes, but what sort of "democracy" are we voting to keep? As some have reminded us, even the defeat of Trump does not mean the end of the fascist threat we all see much more clearly now. So, what to do? I say move towards direct democracy and away from competitive, "winners" and "losers" democracy. As long as any group feels they are not listened to, and thus not part of the rest of the population because they are "losers," fascism and charismatic fascist leaders will appeal to them.

2024-10-13 14:10:22 UTC

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In the 1970s (I recall) one of the best things about Scientific American magazine was its illustrations. The colors were vivid, the artwork first class. The pictures could "pull" you into reading the article. That seems to be gone, and I still miss it.

2024-09-30 15:38:39 UTC

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As a boy in 1960s southwestern CT, my second-story bedroom looked over a large area of lawn and 3 fully mature elm trees. Those trees were beautiful and large enough to give shade even to my upper-story room in mid-summer. When they died (in the late 1960s), looking at the stumps that was all that was left of them was sad. I miss those trees even now and any chance that they can come back is a good sign for all of us. PS My best guess is those trees were planted in the 1920s but I don't know that for sure. I know they were planted because they were an exact distance from a stone wall that edged a garden below them.

2024-09-30 13:42:35 UTC

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One of the toughest things to deal with is when people you like insist on voting for Trump. What I noticed is that two of my colleagues and my boss had a real blind spot when it came to sociopathic behavior. One of our pilots was clearly a sociopath (it took me years to figure out what his strange behavior was all about), but when I tried to point out to them what he was doing, they didn't see it at all. Same with Trump--they just couldn't seem to understand how really dangerous this guy is. This fellow in Ohio may start to see Trump with different eyes now. What a story.

2024-09-20 15:04:24 UTC

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Yes! I know...but after days of over 95F/35C temps here on the East Coast, anything lower than that is okay! I always accepted that global heating is real, but two really bad spells of near-100F temps last September and last June woke me up to how bad it's going to get. I don't know what it's going to take to get action going on this, but it is going to get uglier.

2024-09-20 14:43:29 UTC

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I know "heatwave" is a relative term, but anything below 90F/32C does not say "heatwave" to me.

2024-09-13 23:53:08 UTC

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I wondered if glaciers had anything to do with this shape and, yes! Something called "lithospheric flexure." Now, if only I could grasp this...!

2024-08-29 13:06:14 UTC

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"Christianity" is a political ideology. As such, it is not and cannot be anarchic. Anarchy or direct democracy is a process, a way of deciding what problems we need to deal with and then to come up with ways to do that but by consensus not ideology or hierarchy, that is, "top-down" rulings. "Christianity" like "Judaism" and "Islam" is a misogynistic, fascistic, and patriarchal ideology. It insists, demands, that we take its tenets as "objective truth." That is not anarchy.

2024-08-24 16:21:14 UTC

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My mother once asked me what I thought of Trump's politics. I told her, "He has no politics. He's not a politician. He's a thief, a predator. That's all he is and all he cares about is stealing."

2024-08-21 13:23:51 UTC

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There are stacks of books in one part of my living room. One day, I bent down to pick something up, looked at the books all piled up and it hit me: I like it this way.

2024-08-20 12:40:30 UTC

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Ever since I saw Trump with Putin in Helsinki, I knew Putin has something big on Trump. I don't know what it is, but he has Trump in the bag. Trump acted like a whipped puppy around Putin. I've never seen Trump like that with anyone else but Putin.

2024-08-09 20:54:26 UTC

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As I understand it, the electoral college was meant to keep people like Trump out of office, not put them in.

2024-08-09 13:28:21 UTC

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Trump looked worn and haggard in this performance. What we still have to fear is his maniacal base who will vote for him no matter how crazy he gets. As some have said, don't let your guard down, do whatever you can to get Harris and Walz elected.

2024-07-31 14:55:49 UTC

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In one business jet I flew (as a pilot), there were "rails" like a sled underneath the fuselage. They were made of Kevlar and the reason for them was, if the landing gear failed to come down, the jet could be landed on the Kevlar rails and the fuselage (and its contents) would be largely or even totally unharmed. I am not aware whether or not this has ever happened in real life, but what a great idea.