Wesley the Owl—and Ultrarunning

Just completed a wonderful book, Wesley the Owl, by Stacey O’Brien. It’s a true story about a young researcher at Cal Tech, Stacey, who fosters an injured barn owl from infancy thru his ultimate passing at the ripe old owl age of 19. She writes lovingly and compellingly of her lifelong relationship with Wesley. It’s full of love, science, spiritualism, and is just a delightful and memorable book.

Photo credit here.

You should go read it.

Here’s one example of the science part. Although I have a couple degrees in Biology, I never quite understood the Northern Spotted Owl issue from the Pacific northwest. Sure, I knew that logging was threatening this owl and I—of course—was on the side of the owl, thinking that those who favored logging were shortsighted and uninformed. But here’s why (from page 164):

Biologists were warning the public that the old-growth forests, a delicate habitat that can’t be replaced, were disappearing at an alarming rate. The streams and rivers were silting and warming up, destroying the salmon runs and the entire ecosystem because of the runoff from clear-cut areas. The apex predator of these forests, the northern spotted owl, was endangered. When the apex predator is thriving, then so is the environment. But when the predator is faltering, biologists know that means the entire system is falling apart.

Most of the loggers didn’t understand the “canary in the coal mine” connection and thought the entire issue was about saving the owls, rather than their habitat. Because the loggers had been told to stop destroying the ancient forests before the forests were completely gone, they would lose their livelihoods sooner than if they kept cutting down trees until the entire ecosystem went extinct. Focusing only on their own livelihoods, they didn’t want to be told what to do, got angry, and took it out on the owls….

They didn’t understand—or they just chose not to—and they reminded me of the buffalo hunters of the nineteenth century determined to hunt down every last animal. They failed to see that they were going to have to find something else to do anyway after the last buffalo was gone.

We who run trails and treasure them can learn a lesson from this analogy. Our areas that are wild and free are a precious—and finite—resource. Nobody is making any more wilderness. So that’s why we must fight tooth and nail to preserve what we have, set aside more threatened areas, and ensure that encroachments from mineral rights, logging, etc., are not permitted.

Ultrarunning...and the Difference Between Liberals and Conservatives

Just recently saw a an interesting post by Libby Spencer at The Impolitic from some months ago, posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 (you'll have to scroll down to that day).

I was reading about the Republican National Committee paying for Tea Party signs last night and had an epiphany of sorts. I've been trying to distill the difference between these crazy Tea Party cons and liberals into a few words for a while and I think I finally have it. Conservatives care about "me" and Liberals care about "everybody."

What sparked that thought was the sign that the RNC provided to the event said, "Listen to Me!" If you think about all their rhetoric, it's incredibly self-absorbed. "I want my country back." "Keep your hands off my health care." "The government is stealing my money for taxes." Dan Riehl in the post below calling to euthanize Mrs. Reid says, "I can't recall her ever doing anything for me." These people have no apparent social awareness, nor any desire to contribute to the communal good.

Liberals on the other hand talk about healthcare for all. Equal treatment for all. Civil rights for everyone. Save the planet for the next generations. There are of course exceptions, but generally, it's demonstrably true.

I'll try to articulate in just a couple sentences how I think this liberal-conservative dichotomy relates to what's important in my life and why I think the way I do.

Our biological imperative is to survive and reproduce. It seems to me that behaviors that directly benefit our descendants and favor their survival are good, thus the liberal approach to health care, social programs, etc. seem preferable to me.

And when it comes to UltraRunning, let me just focus strictly on the availability of trails to run on. Wild areas are a national resource that must be protected, not exploited--we need more and larger parks, not fewer. And we must resource them properly (even if it means higher taxes) to ensure their conservation and preservation to the generations that come after.

Hmmm....in both my examples I mention our duty to the next generations. I think about the Mister Tristans of the world and that guides my actions--I can't help but default to Liberal.

If the Shoe Fits....

Please read the post below slowly, objectively, and thoughtfully. 

From at Jun 12 edition of Glenn Grenwalt's blog on Salon:

John McCain on the Evil, Barbaric Iranians

John McCain has a new article in The New Republic -- which is exactly where it should be -- calling for regime change in Iran. The whole article contains one paragraph after the next of the favorite pastime of America's political and media class: self-righteously condemning other nations for what we ourselves do (at least) as much. Of all McCain's paragraphs, this is probably my favorite:

"Is it any wonder that this is the same regime that spends its people's precious resources not on roads, or schools, or hospitals, or jobs that benefit all Iranians -- but on funding violent groups of foreign extremists who murder the innocent?"

As the American war in Afghanistan enters its ninth full year and our occupation of Iraq its seventh, and as we continue to find all new ways to kill innocent civilians in various countries around the world, and as we continue to transfer billions of dollars every year to Israel and the Egyptian dictatorship -- all while thinking about how to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and thus erode the weak safety net even further, while confronting collapsing domestic infrastructure, rampant unemployment, and massive teacher lay-offs and even grade elimination for American children -- is there any other country you can think of, besides Iran, which "spends its people's precious resources not on roads, or schools, or hospitals, or jobs that benefit all [citizens]" but rather on wars and support for foreign groups which kill "the innocent"? And over the last decade, what was the position of John McCain and his party on whether the "people's precious resources" should be spent (a) on "roads, or schools, or hospitals, or jobs that benefit all" or (b) wars that kill the innocent?

It seems as though the foreign policy of the United States is mired in what I'd call the "Knuckle Sandwich School of Problem-Solving."  I don't know the overarching objective of that foreign policy, but it's not about making the world a better place for our children. 

Oh, the Serious People in charge will say that they are trying to protect the children, but overall such animosity towards Iran will only serve to create more problems downstream than it solves today.

Does the shoe fit?  It's about time for our short-sightedness to change--for the children.  This is my theme, the credo to guide all my actions.  See my previous post, here.

Programming for Success at the Pig Farm

Today, not having Mister Tristan, the bride and I slept until we wanted to sleep no more.  For me, that was about 7:45 AM, as I usually arise on work days at 4:15 AM (ugh!...that's to accommodate a 1-hour commute and a starting time of 6:30).

So I fed the cats, drank some wonderful coffee--a flavor called "Highlander Grog"-- from our local roaster, and was out the door a little after 8.  Since running the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance race back at the end of March, I have cut back on my running, and have not run longer than 10 miles.

Today I felt very sluggish, so I immediately was faced with a decision--which direction to run my Pig Farm 10 mile route?  See, doing it counterclockwise affords one the opportunity to bail early and end up with about 8.5 miles; clockwise, one is committed to the entire distance.

My legs said go with the bail-out opportunity, but my heart and head said to program for success and commit to 10 up front.  So that's what I did.

This was a routine run in all ways, except that I did see one new--and unfortunate critter--a road-killed bat.  Must have swooped down after an insect last night and got clobbered by a car. 

At the end of the 10 miles I was pleasantly tired but still with some life in my legs.  It was great to sit on my front porch while the sweat poured off me, drinking orange juice diluted with flavored club soda--what a great concoction after a run!

Red-Crowned and White-Naped Cranes

(photo credit: June-July 2010 issue of National Wildlife magazine)

There is some good news out of the Korean Peninsula:

On the Korean Peninsula, the Demilitarized Zone is a peculiar kind of oasis. After the cease fire that halted the Korean War in 1953, this two-and-a-half-mile wide, 155-mile long ribbon of land, which had been popu¬lated for more than 5,000 years, became a "no-man's land."


In the absence of farming, the prairies and scrub native to the western portion of the DMZ, as it is called, and the thick forests in the more mountainous eastern section, eventually grew back. Soon after, some of the wildlife that had vanished from the area also returned, including two of the world's rarest birds: the white-naped crane and red-crowned crane. Both are among the 10 species of crane—out of 15 that range worldwide—on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The money quote for me:

 

That the cranes, traditionally considered birds of peace, should inhabit one of the most dangerous places on Earth is an irony not lost on George Archibald. "It's quite extraordi-nary," says the noted biologist and cofounder of the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Wisconsin who has worked to conserve cranes in the DMZ since the 1970s.

So, on the 4th of July, I offer you red and white cranes.  Couldn't do anything about a blue one.  I hope they fare well.
 

Guns Vs. Butter

From Eric Martin at Obsidian Wings. This type of smart-ass political commentary is why I love the left-wing blogosphere:

John Boehner Offers a Plan for Precipitous Withdrawal from Afghanistan

John Boehner, master strategist or stealth peacenik? You decide. Here, he predicts a strong showing and touts his Party's burgeoning prospects:

House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Ohio Republican with his eye on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's gavel, said the tide is turning the GOP's way.

"The American people have written off the Democrats," Boehner said Monday in an interview with Tribune-Review editors and reporters. "They're willing to look at us again."

Boehner stopped short of predicting Republicans would gain the 39 seats they need to retake control of Congress, but he said a backlash against President Obama's policies has energized Republican voters more than Democrats. Boehner said voters are angry at a government they believe is overreaching and indifferent.

OK, a bit cocky and boastful, but pretty much as expected for a political leader. Besides, the GOP was bound to make at least some gains during the midterms regardless, and you can't fault him for crowing about it. But then he goes and blows the wad:

Ensuring there's enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country's entitlement system, Boehner said. He said he'd favor increasing the Social Security retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price index rather than wage inflation and limiting payments to those who need them.

Yeah, that ought to be a real popular message:


"People, you can either have 10 more years of this wonderful war in Afghanistan, or Social Security. Since the GOP has its finger on the pulse of the American people, we're going to go ahead and begin dismantling Social Security. Because that's what you want. Amirite?"

Gary here.  Not to be trite or anything, but isn't this the old Gun vs. Butter conundrum? Except that in this situation, there's no conundrum--you opt for butter.  Let me highlight what Boehner said, again: "Ensuring there's enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country's entitlement system." What a disgusting individual.

Sweat

I love to sweat.

One of life's little pleasures, for me, is to go out on a humid 90 degree day and run an hour or whatever. The kind of day that the weatherman, here in the northeast, refers to as HHH: hazy, hot, and humid. I'm talking the kind of day when my running clothes quickly become totally soaked, sweat drips off my nose, ears, and elbows, and a bandana is essential gear to keep the burning sweat out of my eyes.

Then upon my return home, I sit on the cool bricks of my shady front porch and let the sweat just gush from my pores while I enjoy some lemonade or ice water. I often lay on my back and just enjoy cloud-watching.

By the way, cloud-watching is a highly underrated activity for adults. Mister Tristan is a little young to understand clouds, shapes, etc., but I'll keep pressing the point over the next months and years until that day comes when the light goes on in his brain and he says "I see a bunny in the sky!" or the like. And on that day I will clap my hands because I will have done my job.

The Amazing Robert Byrd

The death of Senator Robert Byrd (D, WV) will leave a void that I’m not sure will be filled anytime soon. I don't want to make more of him in death than he was in life, and he certainly had his blind spots, but the more I read his words the last couple days, the more I am in awe of his prescience.  This man courageously spoke the truth to power…but power failed to heed his wisdom. From Oct 2009, on the proposed Afghan “surge”:

Mr. President, what is really at stake for the United States in Afghanistan? We all know that Afghanistan is not a threat to us militarily. The Taliban is not a threat to us militarily. Al Qaeda, however, is a demonstrated threat to us with ambitions and a philosophy that must keep us vigilant. But the link between al Qaeda and Afghanistan is a tenuous one, based only on the temporary expediency of location, an expediency that has already been replaced as the al Qaeda leadership has moved, and may move again.

Building a Western-style democratic state in an Afghanistan equipped with a large military and police force and a functioning economy based on something other than opium poppies may or may not deny al Qaeda a safe haven there again. It will guarantee that the United States must invest large numbers of troops and many billions of dollars in Afghanistan for many years to come, energy and funds that might otherwise go toward fueling our own economic recovery, better educating our children or expanding access to health care for more of our own people. And yet there are many here in this body -- the Senate -- who believe we should proceed with such a folly in Afghanistan. During a time of record deficits, some actually continue to suggest that the United States should sink hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars into Afghanistan effectively turning our backs on our own substantial domestic needs -- all the while deferring the costs and the problems for future generations to address.

Our national security interests lie in defeating -- no, in destroying -- al Qaeda. Until we take that, and only that, mission seriously, we risk adding the United States to the long, long, long list of nations whose best laid plans have died on the cold, barren rocky slopes of that far off country of Afghanistan.

Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast (see post on 28 June 2010) addresses the shortcomings of Senator Byrd as a younger man, and lauds his enlightenment later in his life:

The very same people who want to delude themselves that they have a free pass into heaven despite supporting policies that keep people mired in poverty, despite cheating on their wives and getting into bed with corporations that ruin their God's creation, don't want to give a man whose later life was about as solid a demonstration of penitence as I've ever seen, the same chance at redemption. So let them talk about the Klan instead of the apology, let them talk about the mistakes of a young man who was shaped by the most vile practices in this country's history, and who opened his eyes to realize the injustice in which he was raised. Let those who continue to use racist code to dogwhistle to those who would undo all the racial progress of the last fifty years remain focused on a renounced past. Let them project their own bigotry. Because what we honor today is not a life without mistakes, a life of unequivocal virtue. What we honor today is a life which demonstrated the possibility of growth and redemption.