Whale Talker II: December 2017

The silent beauty of winter. Fear not, the winter is now half over (not just starting). Deer Woman will retrieve the sun for us as she has since the beginning of time.

The historical source of this holiday commemorates the return of the sun for all of human history, long, long before the advent of The Judeo-Christian-Muslim mythologies.

My own celebration here on the morning of the Solstice.

Another revered of earths creatures. These are the pinnacle of the plant world on this planet. All ecosystems strive for this ultimate expression of life. Forests are holy.

This is the Angel Oak, which can be found in Angel Oak Park, on Johns Island, South Carolina. This Southern live oak tree is considered to be one of the largest oak trees on the entire planet, with an age estimated at 400 years.

Me enjoying the world of trees years ago on the slopes of Mt. Shasta. And look what else can be found there. In the forests that is.

And in the protected under brush below. Not my photos – a share

I’m going to stay with animals for a bit as I usually do. Living by myself for the past 9 years in a relatively “natural” place much of my time is spent appreciating the free life (as opposed to the “wildlife”- a term I detest) here in Baja Sur. Though many of the animals I depict here are not native we are all connected as “The Quantum Foam” – they are in my heart and soul.

The always delightful Meerkats

One of my Osprey friends

Elephants - so cool!

Drinkin' at the waterhole with friends

Total tranquility!

Now, there is a problem in regard to all these “critters”. And here it is: climate change is beginning to express itself more and more rapidly as time goes by. It will effect all these critters one way or another and sooner than we in the scientific community thought possible – or wished not possible. It has to do with the northern ice sheets. Particularly glaciers.

Double Glacier, Aleutian Range, Alaska
The changes in glacial activity over the last 10 years has created a change in the major atmospheric conditions which effect the winds, tides and temperature gradients of the eastern north pacific.

This will require significant adaptation, migration and, in a worse case scenario, massive die offs of many of the critters already endangered.

This is very serious business. I am personally dismayed and not just a bit furious at the fact that we have known this would happen more that 30 years ago and I taught passionately at Mendocino college. I was even reprimanded by my colleagues in the natural science department for being an alarmist. FOOLS!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171205092142.htm

Sometimes better to just find your own place in nature and say goodbye to the ignorant.

I would like to add a point of historical importance in recognizing the contribution of First Nations men during WWII. Native Americans made an enormous contribution to the World War II effort. Sadly, their involvement in the conflict is widely overlooked. Sometimes, they are portrayed as code breakers and nothing more. This is not the case. Native Americans played a huge role in the war from its beginning to its end. Lieutenant Ernest Childers, a Muscogee, being congratulated by General Jacob L. Devers shortly after receiving the Medal of Honor in 1944.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/more-than-code-talking.html

Speaking of Native Peoples here is an interesting little bit of anthropology I recently came across. Found exclusively on the secluded Nilgiri plateau in Southern India, the Todas are among the most ancient people in the country who have lived in this particular region for centuries. Theirs is a life very different due to their isolation – good read.

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/11/24/rich-history-of-the-toda-people/

Somewhat related is this article about “story tellers” and their importance to a cohesive culture. I would like to think that my 30 years as a teacher was more story teller than “instructor”. Research shows that hunter-gatherer storytellers were essential in promoting co-operative and egalitarian values before comparable mechanisms evolved in larger agricultural societies, such as moralizing high-gods. Storytellers were also more popular than even the best foragers, had greater reproductive success, and were more likely to be co-operated with by other members of the camp, according to the research published today in Nature Communications.

https://phys.org/news/2017-12-storytellers-cooperation-hunter-gatherers-advent-religion.html#jCp

A new fossil find!

Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) South Africa's Cradle of Humankind, an expanse of farmland and rolling hills outside Johannesburg, has already unlocked some of the great mysteries of evolution. The unveiling of a near-complete fossil hominid skeleton dating back 3.67 million years will only solidify the importance of the region.

"Little Foot" is the oldest fossil hominid skeleton ever found in Southern Africa, the lead scientist examining the discovery said on Wednesday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/06/africa/human-ancestor-little-foot-unveiled-

intl/index.html

And here’s another fossil of major importance in regard to our knowledge of the “whale people”.

36m-year-old fossil discovery is missing link in whale evolution, say researchers. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/may/11/36m-year-old-fossil-discovery-is-missing-link-in-whale-evolution-say-researchers-mystacodon-selenensis?CMP=share_btn_fb

A quick change of pace. Check this out if you want to gain “perspective of place”!

http://www.youtube.com/morn1415

Here are some book suggestions:

Really amazing and inspiring

Fictional look at the underworld of S.E. Asia

Not to worry males - this is not personal or is it?

This is a classic - great read

Well, here I am again waiting for "The Whale People" to arrive.

Throwing this in because I really like it. Sent by my daughter Kersti.

And me the day before the holidays.

May the next year free us from the insanity! Best to you all.

I like this concept, always have. I think it is also the reason I have been drawn to simple pantheistic and animistic belief systems. It is also one of the reasons I went into the sciences – they are so reassuringly skeptical and therefore requiring proof. Even if I had to wait a long time before the proving process established the truth of something (ie: yes, there are a multitude of planets out there where the magic of chemistry has created life), once proven the information could be relied upon and the next step to wisdom taken.

But wisdom doesn’t necessarily lead to technology. There are many, many instances of cultures developing keen wisdom but little technology. In the picture below I see wisdom in the very physical essence of these First Nations people. A pure connection with mother earth and the peacefulness one can find in her embrace.

I don’t know what the next picture implies as far as wisdom but I sure did (do) feel that connection strongly here in Baja and I did there in Zion Natl. Park years ago.

Speaking of cultures here are some interesting developments in the “truth” of our species rich heritage of movement, beliefs and art.

Most people have become aware and excepted the fact that all humans originated in Africa and that then 50-100,000 years ago (possibly earlier) a migration north began. Most likely due to weather and/or overcrowding. What we didn’t know was that one of the two earliest migrations traveled first north and then began a relatively rapid (perhaps by log canoes) migration along the inland coastal regions of what is now The Arabian Sea, The Sea of Bengal and then the South China Sea.

The movement of these early travelers brought them eventually to the myriad of islands connecting the mainland to the Australian continent to become an isolated group whose DNA is richly preserved in The Australian Aborigines.

These people are now seen as one of the very oldest on our planet and worthy of closer study. They represent a very old line of our earliest ancestors and should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. My only close encounter with an Australian Aboriginal was on the steps of The Bancroft Library at Berkeley. I won’t go into detail but to say only that our very short encounter was magical….and he knew it!

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/10/31/a-research-proves-aboriginal-australians-are-one-of-the-oldest-cultures-in-the-world/

Another old culture that has left us with little but tantalizing evidence of their passing is a discovery made in Scotland of some petroglyphs. These are always of great interest and value because they represent yet another example of early human beliefs, behaviors etc.

Ring and cup marks are a form of ancient art that found widely around the world. The symbols date back to the early Neolithic, through the Bronze Age, and into the Iron Age.
Many of these carvings have been discovered on outcrops and boulders that overlook ancient travel and trade routes. Their association with water holes and hunting grounds suggests the possibility that they were used to mark these places. They may also have been marks of territorial ownership. Later examples have been discovered in association with ceremonial or burial locations, implying that the markings might have held sacred significance.
http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/12/02/mystery-messages-engraved-into-scotlands-rocks-up-to-5000-years-ago-might-soon-be-unveiled-using-3d-scans/

Perhaps even more tantalizing is the question of the fate of the Mesolithic people of the now submerged island of Doggerland.

Doggerland was the home of a Mesolithic people who happened to thrive there for many many years. These prehistoric people were hunter-gatherers and mostly relied on fishing and hunting, as much as they enjoyed fruits, berries, and nuts from the forests. Life must have been good until around the time between 6,500 BC and 6,200 BC when according to scientists, Doggerland slowly started surrendering to the rising sea levels. Eventually, this wealthy primeval human habitat became submerged at the bottom of the sea and the Doggerlanders were forced to migrate. And they moved to areas that today belong to England as well as the Netherlands.

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/11/25/dogger-bank-or-britains-atlantis/

One more –

In 2015 researchers from the University of Cincinnati uncovered a Bronze Age tomb in Pylos, in southwest Greece. It belonged to the so-called ‘Griffin Warrior’, a wealthy Mycenaean man, and dates back 3,500 years. Inside archaeologists uncovered a trove of treasure including precious jewels, armor and weapons, and many vessels made from precious metals. One of the most exciting discoveries, however, came in the form of a seemingly insignificant agate stone.

It was covered in limestone initially, and it took a year of careful restoration to reveal its true form.

What lay beneath the limestone is a discovery so astounding that it is set to rewrite art history. As the intricate details of the stone’s design began to emerge, the researchers were astonished to discover that they had unearthed a masterpiece.

The agate stone was revealed to be a seal, used for stamping an image onto clay or wax. The seal, named the ‘Pylos Combat Agate’, depicts a fierce hand-to-hand battle between tho warriors, with a third one already crumpled on the ground. The scene was meticulously carved on a 3.6-centimetre piece of hard stone, and some of the details are only half a millimeter in size.
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/archaeologists-discover-3500-year-old-carving-so-detailed-that-it-could-rewrite-art-history.html

Lets jump way back in time and far, far away. Some 1.3 billion years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, two massive black holes collided violently, setting off ripples in the fabric of spacetime. These ripples, called gravitational waves, passed through Earth on Sept. 14, 2015. And for the first time ever, humans knew they arrived.

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity had predicted gravitational waves a century earlier, but it wasn't until the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) was built at the turn of the 21st century that there was any chance of finding evidence of them. Gravity waves are one of the “really big” events in our universe and we are part of them.

A little more astronomy:

The discovery of the smallest star yet identified and aiding our search for life creating solar systems. This star is likely as small as stars can possibly become, as it has just enough mass to enable the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. If it were any smaller, the pressure at the center of the star would no longer be sufficient to enable this process to take place.

Hydrogen fusion is also what powers the Sun, and scientists are attempting to replicate it as a powerful energy source here on Earth. These very small and dim stars are also the best possible candidates for detecting Earth-sized planets which can have liquid water on their surfaces, such as TRAPPIST-1, an ultracool dwarf surrounded by seven temperate Earth-sized worlds.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170711220046.htm

One last little astronomy fact. We have another “moon” or as now referred to as a “quasi-moon”. It’s only 36.5 meters across, 91 wide. It is little more than a medium sized asteroid except that it does orbit the earth and is held to us by earth’s gravity…….so, it’s a moon.

http://www.physics-astronomy.com/2016/06/nasa-just-confirmed-that-earth-has-new.html#.WenwSYZrxDU

Gotta include some animals, no?

I like to call these three shots “mother love”. Talk about feeling confident when a baby!

And how about this – I love this picture!

Staying with animals a bit longer. Here’s a bit of interesting “critter" action. A beluga whale picks up on dolphin language and mimics it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/whale-learns-dolphin-language-beluga-koktebel-dolphinarium-crimea-a8037386.html

I continue to paint rocks; sometimes with long periods in between when I lose inspiration or just get lazy. Here’s my latest called a European Bee-eater. As you can see I had a little trouble with the subtleness of color and of course texture.