On this page the following entries were made in the “Sleeping Giant” category.
Archive for “Sleeping Giant”
My Past Life as a Shovel Bum
I lived my life from about 1984 to 1990 (whenever a job was to be had, which was often spotty) as an archaeo-vagrant, aka a Shovel Bum. Such folks as us worked the circuit of CRM archaeological projects. That is, we were the shovel-monkeys that did the back-breaking labor for the archaeology compliance portion of environmental laws that are part of large construction and development projects. There is not much work you can get with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, at least very little related to one’s degree.
We were a cross between hippies and scholars, roving from job to… Read more »
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March 8 and Ben Franklin
I’ve signed up for the Master Gardener program starting here in town in a couple of weeks. This is the Level 1 (of 3) and will run 8 weeks. Afterwards, you have to serve as a volunteer resource for the community. I hope to get better at growing things.
Ben Franklin:
There seems to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery.
The second by commerce, which is generally cheating.
The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real… Read more »
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Demise of the Druid Wolf Pack of Yellowstone
“Demise of the Druids,” By BRETT FRENCH, Billings Gazette | Posted: Monday, March 8, 2010 12:00 am
After a dominating 14-year reign in the northwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park, one of the park’s most prolific and most viewed gray wolf packs in the world may have perished.
“The Druid pack is kaput,” said Doug Smith, Yellowstone’s wolf biologist.
It happened quickly.
Only two months ago, there were 11 wolves in the pack. But after the alpha female was killed by another pack, the old alpha male wandered off rather than breed with one of the other female wolves that were his offspring. He… Read more »
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Everything Must Change
Just got a book to review, “Eaarth,” by Bill McKibben. Not a misspelling.
Imagine we live on a planet.
Not our cozy,
taken-for-granted earth,
but a planet, a real one,
with dark poles
and belching volcanoes
and a heaving, corrosive sea,
raked by winds,
strafed by storms,
scorched by heat.
An inhospitable place.
A different place.
A different planet.
It needs a new name.
eaarth
McKibben says: “I make the case that we’re going to have to figure out how to stop focusing our economies on growth and start thinking about survival. …We’ve built a new Eaarth. It’s not as nice as the old one; it’s the greatest mistake humans have ever made, one that we… Read more »
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This Too Shall Pass
One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, “Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it.”
“If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty,” replied Benaiah, “I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?”
“It has magic powers,” answered the king. “If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy.” Solomon knew… Read more »
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Global Weirding
Lots of folks seem to point to the big winter storms this year as disproving global warming. Maybe this will help clear some things up:
Thomas Friedman…scored a bullseye in his book Hot, Flat, and Crowded when he pointed out that what we’re facing isn’t global warming but “global weirding:” not a simple increase in temperature, but an increase in unexpected and disruptive weather events. As the atmosphere heats up, the most important effect of that shift isn’t the raw increase in temperature; rather, it’s the increase in the difference in energy concentration between the atmosphere and the oceans. The thermal…
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This is More My Kind of Reality TV
Reality TV pretty much sucks in my opinion. It brings out the worst in people because it rewards the worst: selfishness, self-promotion, deception, manipulation, viciousness, gossip, greed, etc. But it didn’t start out that way.
In 1978, the first reality show was made in Britain. It emphasized cooperation, community, working out problems together, self-control for the good of all. It was called “Living in the Past.”
“In 1978 12 adults and 3 children were selected from around 1000 volunteers for the first ‘reality tv’ series by living for a year on an Iron Age farm as Iron Age people. This film looks… Read more »
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Candide, Books, Memories, Death
This has nothing to do with bioregionalism. It is 5 am as I begin writing this, and the full moon shines brightly. The season is turning rapidly now.
I.
I haven’t read anything classic or literary or important or which takes effort, for a long time. My reading muscles had atrophied since my youth. I had never read “Candide” and just finished it the night before last.
Before I picked it up at the library, I had no idea what it was about. I only knew Voltaire had written it, and that it was important. and that over the years, it kept… Read more »
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Weather Check
I don’t know about Helena, but Great Falls, about 90 miles north, has put out a nice summary of this winter’s weather conditions (thanks PrairieMary!):
“Cloudy days: 12/1 to 2/21, normally we have 55 and this year we had 21. I don’t believe it.
Clear days: normally 14 but this year 33. The rest were mixed. Hmmmph.
SNOW:
October: 6.9 inches.
November: none
December: 9.5 inches
January: 30 inches.
Entire snow period: usual average 37 inches; this winter 49.4 so far, last year 57.6.
FOG: average 4 days; this winter 12 so far; last year none. The constant fog caused remarkable hoarfrost that became so heavy it… Read more »
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Confucius: Key to Happiness and Peace
The illustrious ancients, when they wished to make clear and to propagate the highest virtues in the world, put their states in proper order.
Before putting their states in proper order, they regulated their families.
Before regulating their families, they cultivated their own selves.
Before cultivating their own selves, they perfected their souls.
Before perfecting their souls, they tried to be sincere in their thoughts.
Before trying to be sincere in their thoughts, they extended to the utmost their knowledge.
Such investigation of knowledge lay in the investigation of things, and in seeing them as they really were.
When things were… Read more »
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