Occupation of Independence

An Arizona Trail hiker taught me something the other day. He had fair skin and reddish hair and had most of his skin covered. I complimented him on his silver parasol. He had walked several hundred miles with it and the wind hadn't destroyed it yet. Was he just lucky or does the vented design really work? From sun grubbies .com  It wouldn't cost much to find out. You don't think I would get laughed at? Nobody would have laughed at Eli Wallach, playing the Bandito in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" when he used his parasol in the desert.  

It seems so naive and foolish to think that, for once, I found something on a medium as vile as YouTube that wasn't corporate media bullshit, propaganda, or show business. And I am afraid of being disappointed once more, so I won't look into it. I am referring to the sniper work of Deki in the Donbass. It was a bit like watching one of my favorite movies, "Enemy at the Gate," made about 15 years ago. Of course, here, you couldn't see the enemy soldier being hit by a bullet. You could hear the shot and then had to believe "Deki" that 'he got him.'  It certainly seemed real to me, but of course, 'seeing really isn't believing.' It is very easy to be fooled by the camera. It would be a miracle to experience something that isn't Fake News and show business. 

  At one time I was interested in RVing in Mexico. There were quite a few Canadians around. I remember one fellow, who I liked, go through a daily ritual. As the afternoon sun became lower in the sky, an aura of anticipation built up around him. The CBC broadcast was coming on in a few minutes! All other activities had to stop. Things needed to be quiet. He had such reverence for the news broadcast I am surprised he didn't light a certain number of candles in a certain manner, and put a prayer rug down on the Mexican campground's dust. His reverence for the truthfulness and earnestness of the CBC was one of the most educational things about my Mexican adventure. Back to today... I am interested in this new trend of "fact checkers" showing up in the Media. Do you suppose that these actually have "fact checker" on their business cards or on a label at their corporate cubicle? How does a job interview work for a potential fact checker? What are their qualificat

  There have been fuel increases and RV industry recessions in the past. But this one seems different. Fuel prices are already in the news. But I wonder when the RV industry recession takes over from the boom of the last couple years. It shouldn't take long -- and frankly, the sooner the better. I suppose most people who bought monstrosities like the one above can afford to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on their "investment." There doesn't seem to be any cure for the foolish trends of the RV industry other than an occasional financial disaster! There are people who get incredibly lucky with timing -- imagine the people who sold their RV a few months ago! Is it already too late to sell? It is tempting to say, "The Ukraine War will soon be over, and then prices will come back to normal. " But normal ain't what it used to be. The current regime is hostile to the petroleum industry. It will do everything possible to sabotage it and force nudge the

From time to time I've had a pretty good time mountain biking on single-track trails. Normally I am willing to try it just to please somebody else. But it is hard not to think about the adolescent recklessness of the sport, and that gnaws away at enjoyment. That is why a recent ride is worth celebrating. I was just flat out in-love with a single-track trail for the first time ever . It was a new section of the Arizona Trail, which bypassed the town of Patagonia. Here is what the terrain looked like.  You can see the spine of the dendritic ridgelines. The trail followed rough isoclines about 30 feet from the top spine. So the trail looked like gloriously perverse S-shaped curves. The foreground was grassland.  The background was lorded over by mighty Mt. Wrightson. But at the bottom of the declivities were large live-oak trees.  To appreciate this fully, remember that the western third of North America is a barren leaf-less wasteland. A cold front had arrived that day. There is noth