Reflections of an Old Man

Most pre- and post-millenials who have grown up in the western world have not experienced real hardship, compared to previous generations who have faced war, pestilence and famine to various degrees over time. I remember living in the Australian outback back in the seventies and eighties and going through a drought where local cattle died from thirst and starvation in the middle of waterholes left in the river bed after the river stopped flowing. They had just had enough energy left to drag themselves into the water to drink, and, having filled up their bellies with water, died there because they did not have the strength left to get out of the water. I depended on that water for my household, so I used a "comealong" to drag the corpses onto the riverbank, so that they could decompose there, rather than contaminating the water in the riverbed. There are those who try to minimize the impacts of what is happening on our world today. To those I say: "You are like the virgi

Archeology and digging in the soil go together in our culture. It is the obvious way of 'unearthing' the past and relates to the practice of returning our remains to the soil after we pass, based on the notion of returning to Mother Earth. So, in our culture, physical digging into layers of soil will reveal aspects of the past that can be used to partly reconstruct that past and provide us with clues about life long ago. However, this method has its limitations as to how far back we can reach because of soil disturbances caused by natural phenomena over time. For example, the great glaciers would have largely obliterated any evidence of pre glacial life that may have existed in areas they occupied. There is another place where we can look for cultural evidence that has been preserved: In the deeper layers of our own minds. I have discovered, as many others have, that in the distant past worship of Sol (the sun) was almost universal, most recently here on Turtle Island, and beyo

From the perspective of western public evidence based science, magic makes no sense. So we tend to have a condescending attitude towards it and its practitioners. I'm not writing about your entertainment focussed on-stage magician here, best described as an illusionist. But rather, the true believer in things/phenomena that can change life, for better or worse. It is all part of the quest for certainty, and so being able to predict what will happen, given certain prevailing conditions. Both science and magic tries to do this, in different ways, but leading towards the same goal of predictability. This is where things get muddy, fuzzy and difficult: Some years ago a friend of mine got involved in marketing a kind of 'power drink' that was supposed to enhance one's vitality in all kinds of ways and cost about $50 a bottle. I went to some time and trouble to investigate based on information made available by its manufacturer. As it turned out it was composed of mildly sali

This weekend, we thank the powers that be for the food we have been provided with for the winter and spring. Here on my 20 acres, I am happy to have a fully stocked root cellar with potatoes, carrots and beetroot from my garden. Also, lots of tomatoes ripening inside my cabin. My old chickens are still laying, providing an average if 5-6 eggs a day. And my German Shepherd Tikko had a litter of puppies a week and a half ago that should be ready for new homes in December. Life's good, all around

Ever since the advent of the industrial revolution fears have been expressed about people being displaced by machines in the production of goods and services. Computers and automation were supposed to place all manner of folks into the ranks of the unemployed, looking for a crust to eat. Our present reality is that the provision of goods and services is being curtailed by labor shortages, likely due to massive injections of money into the consumer economy due to the pandemic. So, it is quite possible that labor shortages will spur on the feared automation without the labor surplus predicted by conventional 'wisdom'.