The Cost Of Ignorance

Although we have all heard of people dying of co-vid, or more recently, measles, while uttering in disbelief that “it’s a hoax”, that kind of thinking is nothing new. In addition to witch trials and other horrific injustices of history, here is how religious dogma killed people before more rational, scientific ideas appeared during the enlightenment... “Most religious people of the early and mid-eighteenth century feared lightning as a terrifying demonstration of God’s wrath or the devil's punishment…The faithful rang church bells during storms to invoke the almighty's protection and ward off discharges. One study found that lightning in the mid-eighteenth century struck more than 386 churches in Germany and electrocuted 102 sextons. (...while ringing the bells). Other adherents stored gunpowder within churches, believing holy structures offered a divine shield. In a village in northern Italy in 1769, lightning struck a religious building holding hundreds of tons of explosives, killing more than three thousand people and destroying much of that city”-from the book “Ingenious’, about Benjamin Franklin, by Richard Munson. ...So while I admire the altruistic work of some religions through food banks and other humanitarian efforts, and I understand why adults could be allowed to refuse vaccination, their claims of being the “only path” and their subsequent imposition of their beliefs onto others is abhorrent to me. Now that anti-science men are in power, and research into fundamental science is being curtailed by funding cuts, Americans risk believing in conspiracies and superstition even more than they currently do. When critical, fact based thinking is suppressed, civilizations decline and the ignorant drag everyone down with them... … “Even science, much to Franklin’s dismay, was becoming politicized. Since Benjamin(...an American) favored pointed lightning rods, King George 3rd ordered blunt ones for British buildings.” ...the irony-but still a tribute to the openmindedness of science- is that in the coming decades blunt rods were found to be more effective than Franklins pointed iron rods-a fact he would have gladly embraced.

Some Good Science News

With all the gloom and doom in the news-and sometimes in this blog-there is also a lot of research being done with positive, hopefully scalable results that will help the world. This kind of news is available by a few Google clicks if one ignores social media and mainstream gossip. >>> University of Nottingham ...Researchers have created a bioinspired gel that can regenerate tooth enamel by mimicking natural growth processes. The fluoride-free material forms a mineral-rich layer that restores enamel’s strength and structure while preventing decay. It can even repair exposed dentine and reduce sensitivity. Early testing shows it performs like natural enamel, with potential for rapid clinical use. >>> Northwestern University ...A Northwestern team transformed a common chemotherapy drug into a powerful, targeted cancer therapy using spherical nucleic acids. The redesign dramatically boosted drug absorption and cancer-killing power while avoiding side effects. This innovation may usher in a new era of precision nanomedicine for cancer and beyond. >>> University of Warwick ...A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It shows no signs of resistance so far, offering hope in the fight against drug-resistant infections and paving the way for new approaches to antibiotic discovery. >>>King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) …Beneath the ocean’s surface, bacteria have evolved specialized enzymes that can digest PET plastic, the material used in bottles and clothes. Researchers at KAUST discovered that a unique molecular signature distinguishes enzymes capable of efficiently breaking down plastic. Found in nearly 80% of ocean samples, these PETase variants show nature’s growing adaptation to human pollution.

15 year Olds In Power

Last week I was sitting in the car parked at the curb near a store in Jamestown while Beth was inside shopping. As I perused a road atlas a black woman walked on the sidewalk nearby with a white teenager on a bicycle, the boy about 15 years old in my estimate. As the woman stood near the store, looking away, the boy approached the car and motioned for my attention. As the engine was turned off and the power window was inoperable, I cracked the door open a few inches and asked him his business. He replied,“I have something for you” as he reached into his jacket and withdrew his middle finger. He smirked as I impulsively said, “you are a stupid shit and don’t even know it”, then closed the door. He continued to provoke me, saying he wanted to fight or some such words. I opened the door and exited as he backpedaled down the sidewalk, telling him to come back, that “here I am”. The always silent black woman continued to walk away as I reentered the car, telling the boy to “get out of here punk” as I also called to the woman, “ and you hang around with this guy”? As I returned to the atlas, the boy returned to the opposite side of the car trying to provoke me further. I shook my head and continued reading, and he left. ...Now we have a president who uploads crude videos of himself dumping 'sludge' on protesters, and a vice president who excuses the vile, hateful comments of adults as “boys will be boys”, and a speaker of the house who does his best to delay the release of pedophile files. Yes, boys will be boys and grown men who have no moral compass will do all they can to justify and perpetuate their juvenile, corrupt behavior. What is particularly disturbing is the legions of supporters who refuse to acknowledge the character flaws-assuming that the good things the administration is attempting, such as peace in the mideast- justify all the other lapses. Bill Maher stated recently that “not all Republicans are racist, but if a person is a racist, odds are that that person is a Republican.” ...I have lived long enough and read enough history to know that human nature is a complicated beast and that civilizations come and go as despots and less selfish people fight for dominance. Mr. Putin has sacrificed a million men on his delusion of empire, never fighting on the frontline nor recognizing that humanity is one species floating on an island in space- and that national borders are an unfortunate fiction. History is full of such violent, egotistical men and their enablers forging humanitys violent history. When there is no recourse but for tolerant, peaceful people to fight-as I was provoked-the reasons they fight are wholly different from the people whom they oppose. Good versus Evil we say, each side defining the terms as they see them. So there is something inevitable about the present polarization among Americans and among many people around the world; human nature repeats itself. Jane Goodall even hypothesized that warfare may have been instrumental in the development of our brains, requiring cooperation to annihilate all competing species.But when people endorse all manner of oppression and violence in the name of God or some other chosen reason, better people must resist. ...Readers of this blog have heard me say that humanity is a very immature species, and I define maturity as recognizing the unity of all of Creation and the intrinsic loving, tolerant nature of what we call ‘God’. Anything other than acceptance and reverence for the tremendous diversity of Nature and all organisms and people removes us from the ideal that represents that spiritual, loving ‘Godhead’. I look around and see many people, even good people so far as they are able to see, show their blindness and inability to embrace ideas larger than their immediate world. Propaganda and peer pressure direct them.Religion directs them. Fear and predjudice direct them. Subconscious influences direct them. So genetics, culture, childhood and all of the above make us toddlers to teens to adults. This awareness, or lack thereof reveals the profound responsibility we have to save or destroy ourselves and the planet; as the current divisions show, I am not convinced we are up to that challenge...UPDATE 11/10/25- Mr. Trump has pardoned more people associated with the 2020 attempt to overthrow our election. Here is my email to my state senators: >"President Trump has pardoned dozens of people who allegedly tried to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including those who were named as alternative state electors to certify the results."...so the USA sinks into 3rd world status where every conviction by an independent jury can be negated by a single man-even a corrupt, partisan man uninterested in truth and genuine justice. And You, Mr, McCormick,along with the supreme court, have been complicit in this continuing decline of our constitutional process.<

Autumn

The landscape is acquiring its late autumn cloak as the rain and wind have dropped many leaves,although a few trees and entire hillsides still show the rusty, golden bronze of the season. Fleabane and clover are some of the few blossoms remaining, but the cooler air will likely kill any insects that could utilize the nectar within them. I had to wear a heavier jacket while walking today-the first time since spring. The coming of winter is welcomed by Beth, although I am not so enamored of the season, so we compromise by waiting until January to head south. The first snowfall in Warren is usually by the middle of November.

Update on Salamanca Drought

1 and 1/2 inches of rain last night refilled some of the pond in New York near the Seneca Indian reservation. The first picture shows the puddle from which I had netted fish to transfer them to the larger pond back in September.It has refilled somewhat but now is lifeless as the closeup shows. The pond and it's feeder stream were rejunvenated overnight and dozens of fish rushed back to the pond when they saw me approach.I can only hope one of them was one of the sunfish I had released there a month ago. So...the drought took its toll and now nature renews herself and Creation goes on.

Kinzua Dam Drought

The drought locally continues into it's 4th month, with some rain forecast for tonight and next week, but it will require steady downpours to replenish the Kinzua reservoir. For perspective, the small sign on the two telephone poles in the second picture-enlarged but blurry in the third picture-indicates the water level during hurricane Agnes in 1972.

Protest

We attended the 'No Kings' protest in Warren today, which had a respectable 300 plus turnout at it's peak-not bad for a small town comprised mostly of Republicans. Many more people honked and waved as they drove past, with only a few people giving us the finger or thumbs down. The latter people are not accustomed to being in the minority around here, and I think such protests are helpful to Democrats by reminding them that they are not alone. We have no illusions of changing anyones mind, although if administration policies start affecting people personally they might question some of their beliefs. BTW-No 'antifa', 'hamas' or 'America haters' here- despite Republican propoganda.

Reunion

Family, friends and acquaintances had a reunion at the Orchard View Swim club in Schnecksville, PA two months ago, where we celebrated the good memories of our childhoods. Childhood friends occupy an intimate place in our minds that people we meet later in life do not, for the honest, immature brain connects emotionally rather than intellectually, and those bonds form memories uncomplicated and pure. The pool was built in an empty field only a few hundred yards to the rear of our house when I was five years old, so my siblings and I spent many hours swimming recreationally and on the competitive team that swam against other clubs from the Allentown area. Some of the people in the picture were close neighbors and close friends so we played football and capture the flag and camped out and did other things that kids do. In retrospect I consider myself to have had an idyllic childhood roaming through the fields chasing insects and fishing and feeling unconditionally loved and accepted by my parents and siblings. In later life I learned that a secure childhood was not the experience of many people, so I thank my parents and fate for having born me into those circumstances. Most of the people in the picture concur that Schnecksville was a wonderful place to have grown up during a time when children played freely until dusk without fear of violence and without the overly structured childhoods and internet related problems that seem to burden modern children. It was a golden age in my memory at least. Time of course has formed many new lines on our faces and some bulges on the belly, which prompted me to joke to one of the young lifeguards sitting nearby- “...just think, in fifty years you too can look like this!” And we all hoped that their memories would be as pleasant.

Beaver Meadows

Walked the Beaver Meadow Loop near Marienville, PA yesterday, a three mile circle that originates over a dam then crosses through decidous, pine and spruce woods, before crossing a boardwalk at the opposite end of the pond and circling back on the opposite side. The local drought has lowered the water level at the far end, and most of the gulleys and smaller streams along the trail are dry. I have not walked this trail since the dog died in 2018, and found it to be a well defined single track for most of it's length, with sections that once were the railroad bed of a narrow guage train used for logging in the late 1800's. The trail is mostly flat with mild inclines and roots as the worst impediment to hiking, although I wondered why it does not more closely follow the pond circumference. Perhaps the dam-built by the WPA in 1936-once flooded a much larger area so the route delberately avoided old bogs. The campground shown on the map was dismantled a decade ago, and the area is not used much in the present day.

Drill baby Drill

The gasoline tax in Pennsylvania is 57.6 cents per gallon, which here in Warren translates to $3.59 per gallon as I write this. United Refinery Company produces the gasoline in town and manages their 'Quik Fill' chain of stations, which always charge more than in surrounding towns despite being mere yards from the source. Every station in town, which includes an 'independent' Sheetz , charges the exact same price and changes their price up or down within seconds of one another. The same gas in Erie, 65 miles west and in Marienville, 45 miles south, often costs 20 cents less. The gasoline in New York state, about 15 miles north costs 20 cents less, owing partially to a ten cent lower tax rate there. Most local residents assume that price gouging and collusion to maintain a monopoly-perhaps by threats by United to refuse to sell gas to any stations that seek to charge less-is what accounts for the high prices in Warren. Fortunately the cheaper gas in New York means that whenever we go north for groceries or some other reason we fill our tanks there. Occasionally people will drive thirty miles to the Seneca Indian resevation in southern New York where there are no taxes and so gasoline is presently $2.95 a gallon. United procures their raw crude oil from western Canada, although "in larger markets like Erie or Buffalo, gas stations must compete with numerous suppliers, which drives prices down." So Warren's relative isolation and lack of competition allow United to control the market. It is ironic that in this economically depressed area of the nation people consistently pay some of the highest prices in the nation, which at the moment averages $3.18 per gallon nationwide. Still, I witness drivers in parking lots sitting in their cars and trucks with the engine running for fifteen minutes sometimes, so apparently the cost is not so egregious as it seems. Beth and I have considered electric vehicles, but our present travel needs and finances still favor convential gasoline models. My Mirage obtains 47 mpg and the Outback 29-30, but until costs come down-which our government does not allow when it forbids Chinese imports-we cannot justify the purchase except in terms of climate and pollution reduction. Solar panels for the Warren house also would not pay for themselves in our lifetimes, so we are forced to admit our hypocrisy in advocating for cleaner energy while using it only in our bicycles and lawn equipment; our conscience does suffer for it.

Dry July and August

Beth and I rode our bikes on a bike path on the Seneca resevation in southern New York on Monday,Sept 1st, where the Little Valley Creek had dried up upstream of the Allegheny River. Along that path we also passed a large mudpuddle that was filled with hundreds of fish that had been isolated from a main pond. Today I returned to that place and found road access about a mile away, so I walked in with a net and bucket and rescued several dozen fish to the deeper water. I was surprised to find large catfish gasping for oxygen among the smaller sunfish, and caught whatever I could to take to safety. Near the puddle was a great blue heron that had found easy picking among the trapped fish, so Nature's seeming 'cruelty' can be a blessing for another species. As a human being I followed my impulse to help, knowing that droughts are a natural pheneomenon, but also that they are being exacerbated by human climate change. UPDATE: I returned to the puddle today,Sept.9th, where what remained was a muddy pool about three inches deep and six by four feet wide. All but a few sunfish had been eaten by herons and raccoons, yet to my surprise four catfish ranging from 6 to 10 inches were still alive. I netted them and perhaps 3 smaller fish along with two dozen tadpoles and transferred them to the larger pond. With no rain predicted for the upcoming week, the few fish and remaining tadpoles will die. UPDATE: Sept.13th- The first 2 pictures show the dried mud that has become the graveyard of the remaining tadpoles, now being eaten by flies and bees. Less than two weeks of evaporation killed the hundreds of fish and tadpoles that I had originally tried to save...

We had a nice visit with daughter in law Barb and granddaughter Renley this past weekend, visiting the Phipps conservatory and the aviary in Pittsburgh. The city-about a 2 1/2 hour drive south for us- is one of the more picturesque in the nation I think, located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which together form the Ohio river. The Ohio eventually enters the Mississippi in Illinois. I do not possess a smart phone, but am thankful that Beth does when traveling, for the contorted turns needed to navigate through Pittsburgh are much easier with GPS. Otherwise I prefer paper maps; there is something satisfying about holding an Atlas and being able to trace ones progress and destination with a glance. The picture was taken by Barb near the top of the 'incline', a cable car offering this view from a nearby ridge.

Ukraine

There was a fundraiser in Warren last night at the woman's club, attended by a few dozen people, many whom have been helping Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The pictures include local Piper and Ogla from Poland, Myself and Iwona from Poland and Beth and Lena from Ukraine. The following synopsis describes what has been going on here and there: >>Matt McKissock, a resident of Warren County, was moved by the destruction in Ukraine and wanted to contribute to relief efforts... He co-founded the Ukraine Relief Initiative, a group aimed at assisting Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Warren community members have also been supporting Ukrainian refugees through a community center in Krakow, Poland, demonstrating a global impact... A Warren-based non-profit called WARRN has been established to support refugees settling in the area, including Ukrainians. This organization assists with matters like plane tickets, transportation, English classes, and housing.<< Local business owner Piper was one of the first to accompany McKissock to Poland and has been there 8 times since. She was the woman who influenced Beth and me to become involved. When they arrived in Poland, the Warren people went from not having any plan other than the desire to help, to purchasing a building in Krakow and establishing a community center.That refuge offers food and other needed supplies, language classes, sports programs and other forms of support for the thousands of war refugees who fled, and continue to flee Ukraine. Olga from Poland and Ukrainian refugee Lena help run the center and fund raise, Iwona is a research psychologist who provides counseling in Krakow and is researching how a grass roots organization from Warren continues to flourish when many other aid groups from 2022 have disappeared. The answer to that question seems to be a committed empathy and determination to do what is right regardless of an American government that has lost it's moral compass. Together people from both here, Ukraine and Poland have been able to offer hope to the displaced Ukrainians-many of them elderly-who literally have nothing to return to. No home, no families, no money. Poland is not their home and many return anyway, but until the war ends their future is uncertain. The center gives mostly women a place to recover and gain back their confidence and hope and skills to move into a better life when the war finally does end. Most Ukrainian men are not permitted to leave the country, and most would not leave even if allowed, preferring to defend their soil against Russia and Putin-described accurately by the late John McCain as a murdurous mafia posing as a country...The family that Beth and I are sponsoring were refugees in Krakow at the beginning of the war, having fled Bucha where the Russians were massacring civilians. The mother and two children returned to be with their husband and stayed with grandparents in Moshchun for some months, but that house was bombed. Aid groups then provided a modular house for the family while the grandparents stayed in their partially repaired home. We continue to send money monthly and recently bought a boiler system so that they may heat the house. Moshchun and nearby Kyiv endure almost nightly drone strikes. The Ukraine Relief Initiative here in Warren continues to accept donations, and a Facebook page provides more information.

Pride and My Response to the Baptists, in language they might understand...

“The Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly voted to call for the overturning of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.” >It is difficult to comprehend how a religion that purports to represent God could endorse the discrimination and prejudice which the above vote indicates. Apparently neither you nor your congregation truly understand the tolerant, inclusive compassion that defines spiritual love and enlightenment. Your emphasis on sexual acts rather than the love and respect shared between homosexuals is not what the bible emphasizes. Your complete trust in ancient texts written by middle eastern males during a time of patriarchy rather than following the spirit of love within each of us is also questionable. In truth, homosexuality is common within God's creations: “ While the exact reasons for homosexual behavior in animals are still being studied, scientists believe it can play a role in social bonding, strengthening relationships, and even co-parenting. Dolphins, bonobos, lions, giraffes, and sheep are known for same-sex sexual behavior. Some male sheep exhibit a lifelong preference for other males. Penguins, albatrosses, and flamingos have been observed engaging in homosexual behaviors, including pair-bonding. Squid, snails, fruit flies, and roundworms also exhibit same-sex sexual behavior. Same-sex interactions have also been documented in reptiles like garter snakes and amphibians like the American toad. The prevalence of homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom challenges traditional views of sexuality and challenges the notion that it is unnatural." As the Creator of all things and the giver of free will to humans, Love is the reason we are here. Compassion for humanity and other life forms is why we are here. To spread joy and acceptance rather than hate and division are why we are here. Lofty goals which your beliefs do not embrace, no matter how you attempt to justify them with biblical references. The separation of church and state exists for the precise purpose of preventing the bigotry of some religious beliefs. The government does not force you to believe in or practice homosexuality, it seeks to protect gay relationships with the same legal protections that heterosexual marriage entails. In fact, one wonders why some ‘Christian’ businesses seek to exclude serving homosexuals, but do not ask a customer if they beat their wives or abuse their children. Please re -examine the origins of your views and endorse a more inclusive, holistic interpretation of the Bible that includes All of God's wondrous Creations.< -W. Jacobs

Insect Decline

"In 2019, researchers found that almost a third of US birds – about 3 billion – had disappeared from the skies since the 1970s. The losses, however, were not evenly distributed: those birds that ate insects as their main food had declined by 2.9 billion. Those that didn’t depend on insects had actually gained, increasing by 26 million. More recent research from the US found a decline in three-quarters of nearly 500 bird species studied – with the steepest downward trend in stronghold areas, where they once thrived. In Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest, scientists in 2018 mapped how the loss of insects set other dominoes falling: as bugs declined, so too did the populations of lizards, frogs and birds. Their disappearance, they wrote, had triggered “a bottom-up trophic cascade and consequent collapse of the forest" >>I have written about the insect decline in earlier posts,a decline which rises by a few percentage points each year, worldwide. Climate change, pesticides, habitat loss and other factors are catching up to us, which is why I say alarmist things such as humanity will not survive beyond 2100. Insects are not in the forefront of peoples attention, except when buying traps and chemicals to kill them, but they are crucial to the ecosystem. I am old enough to remember Pennsylvania fields filled with thousands of insects and species that simply do not exist anymore. Gone in fifty years. Worldwide. Everywhere. To believe that this can continue without major repercussions is ignorant denial. I have no solution other than to try not to needlessly kill...Although I have seen a few honeybees and 'sweat' bees and flies and bumblebees, they are very much reduced over last year-possibly because of the wet, cool spring. Tiger Swallowtails,fritillary butterflies,cabbage butterflies,and Blackwing damselflies do not appear to have suffered. One comparatively rare insect that I am thankful is still on the flowers is the hummingbird moth, which

I managed to photograph today. UPDATE: September 23rd- September 23, 2025 Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Summary: A long-term study in Colorado reveals that insect populations are plummeting even in remote, undisturbed areas. Over two decades, flying insect abundance dropped by more than 70%, closely linked to rising summer temperatures. The results suggest that climate change, not just human land use, is driving massive losses. Scientists warn that biodiversity hotspots, especially mountain ecosystems, are now at serious risk.

' CUCKOOLAND-Where The Rich Own The Truth'

That's the title of a book by Tom Burgis who details some of the ways that money and corruption determine how the world really works. The people who complain of a 'deep state' have a point, unfortunately their ignorance or willful blindness ignore the complicity of the very people they support, so not much will change until people start to value truth over ideology. Here is a quote from the final chapter titled 'Reality'- "Many people want to believe in Mohamed Amersi. And in Boris Johnson and in Donald Trump. Hearts beating in Vladimir Putin's troops chests fill with zeal as they march to save their Ukranian cousins from the genocidal fascists of Kyiv. When they liberate Mariupol, Putin declares it an "ancient Russian city', ready for enfolding back into the motherland. His evidence-the 'well known' fact that Peter the Great, the emperor whose image hung in the St.Petersburg deputy mayor's office thirty years ago, founded his first naval flotilla there-is fiction. But the hearts still stir. But even when the heart doesn't stir-the head knows what it's best for your head to believe. A free society works only when reality itself is free. When the stories by which we live are composed by the many, challenged and tested and adjusted and debated, not imposed by the few. What we are witnessing is the privatization of reality. The advent of generative artificial intelligence, distributed through social media, is hastening what's been called epistemological bankruptcy.The point at which we'll be unable to tell whether any of the information we encounter is authentic or not. For something like two centuries-since Darwin, we might say-the pursuit of the truth grew steadily more democratic. Now we risk a return to feudal reality, where the word of the strong, of the rich, is gospel. If that happens, we won't know what we don't know. Like the cuckoo and poor bird it fools, their power derives from others ignorance. Ignorance that we, like those dupes, can be so keen to embrace, if it seems to make our lives a little easier. Surely that's why our parliaments,our courts,our media, scientific inquiry, and freedom of speech have evolved; as ways to uphold objective truth against the dupe in each of us, the liar in each of us. They are meant to guard against those who would seize reality by force, or try to buy it. That these institutions are themselves being captured, being sold, is ominous for the truth" So...we are at a critical moment in humanity's survival. Not just the survival of democracy, but the future of the planet as special interests are able to control the directions we travel through whatever means they desire. The human population is too large now, it's influence too inescapable, it's means for destruction too powerful to ignore the effects of what we do. Truth and science and the moral virtues could define our future rather than the failures of human ego, but our History does not bode well when Artificial Intelligence and it's flaws seem destined to accelerate the spread of misinformation. Perhaps Nature will send an asteroid to make us not to blame for our own demise, but I am not so confident in my fellow citizens as I once was...

Minister Creek...(click to enlarge...)

Climbed Minister Creek trail today, a strenuous uphill that I am thankful I am still able to do, although a little slower than in years past. The trail is very muddy because of the wet spring and the clay soil,requiring waterproof shoes, but the view on top is one of the few within these dense woods. The blowdown from a decade ago is still evident, where chainsaws have cleared the path while leaving the logs where they had fallen. The picture shows only a small portion of hundreds of yards of wind toppled damage. Further on Nature shows it's resiliency in the picture of the sapling having sprouted in dirt on top of the boulder. It slowly has secured a tenacious hold as its roots have grown down the sides. In a deadstand woodpeckers have tunneled into the heartwood in search of insects; possibly chipmunks or other creatures will use the holes as living quarters.

Trump 2025

I have been observing the actions of Mr. Trump and other Republicans in power and writing to my Republican representative when I notice something particularly egregious to my sensibilities, but generally I am taking the long view. Mr. Trump does not possess a particularly long attention span and does not read much, hence his history of chaotic, impulsive comments and proclamations. If one reads a list of his executive orders one finds a few good ones such as advocating for more healthcare pricing transparency, and a few truly bad ones like advocating for the burning of more coal. Yet the media tends to pick and choose what they headline in order to sensationalize their perspective, so it is more informative to me to pay attention to what members within the same party say to one another. To that end the local government here in Warren is predominantly Republican like in Washington, and I witness as much disagreement among them as in any group of people. So acquiring power is much easier than governing, and we shall see how all this settles out. In general the devil is in the details and actually implementing laws and proclamations is more complicated than making them. In the meantime continue to resist what offends you and do what is right for the planet and the future generations.

Rim Rock

Took these pics today at the CCC site about 10 miles from here near the Allegheny reservoir. The overlook was built atop a natural cliff formation, with stairs leading through the rocks to a trail that descends to the water a mile and a half away. The snow and cold are predicted to be the last of the season, although one never knows in this part of the world. The temperature has fluctuated between freezing and shortsleeves for over a month, but temperatures are expected to be 50*F-70*F for the next week, so the worst seems to be over. These late snows would really test my patience were I not able to go south for months during the winter. Fortunately,summers in Warren are close to ideal with temperatures rarely above 85*F and rarely below 65*F, and low to moderate rain amounts.