Category: Earth
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“Dragons in the day time,Fires at nightI bow to the Lord of the FliesFor these marvels of flight” This weekend, we drove out to Lakeland Park in Canton, IL. But really, it could have been anywhere there was water, greenery, blue skies and huge puffy clouds to provide sunscreen. There were many wonderful sights: But,…
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No, it’s not a cheap pickup line. Well, it is, in one sense, a pickup line, but I’m certain it’s not cheap. Let me explain. What I’m asking How many millions do you feel you need to accumulate before you consider your future secure, and you can start doing things you actually want to do?…
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Thank you for a thriving earth Thank you for forests and jungles of all kinds teeming with life. Thank you for oceans swimming and diving, joyful and thriving Mammals and fish Microscopic organisms Vertebrates and invertebrates Thank you for reptiles and earthworms Thank you for rich, fragrant, pregnant soil Thank you for birds of the…
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Overview I just finished reading “If anyone builds it, everyone dies” by Eliezer Yudkowski & Nate Soares. It’s an excellent fast-paced read, with an engaging style of writing. The book is set up very systematically like it’s written by the perfect mix of engineers, attorneys and storytellers. I am going to sum up each chapter…
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In the culmination of this exploration of the flow of carbon through the universe, the earth and every mobile and immobile denizen of the planet, Hawken reiterates the contrast between the indigenous worldview – all of us, including land, plants and animals are inseparable – and the worldview the rest of us live in –…
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This chapter in my opinion is about “rewilding” the land. It recounts the story of the Knepp Estate, a 3500 acre “money-losing farm” in Sussex, England. After concerted attempts to use modern agriculture and cattle farming techniques and still losing money, the owners, Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree, inspired by Frans Vera, a Dutch conservationist,…
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This chapter gives soil the glory it deserves and has some gems of statements: “Science can analyze and sequence organisms found in the soil, but it cannot make soil.” Reminds me of a religious joke a neighbor’s kid told mine: God picks up some soil and makes a human out of it. He then asks…
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Forests preceded human life on earth by hundreds of millions of years. Everything seemed to have been gigantic back then: yard-long scorpions, eight-foot millipedes and 130- to 180- foot tall trees. (how do we know this?) Apparently, there was a lack of fungi and microbes back then? Doesn’t make sense – shouldn’t those things have…
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Dragonflies. I LOVE dragonflies. Even though I don’t approve of their blatant aerial intercourse practices. It’s interesting that apparently they spend only a few weeks of their lives in this beautiful aerodynamic form, while the vast majority of its life is spent in unglamorous earlier life stages. I wasn’t aware of their super-powered eyesight. Or…
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We think language helps us accurately express what we see and think. But it’s a feedback loop in my opinion, and the language we speak affects how we see and think. The author gives the simple example of addresses being written “in reverse” in Japan. Which is funny, because even as a kid, I used…