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I thought my readers might enjoy knowing that my brother Paul and his team of scientists are making some exciting advances in the treatment of diseases involving the miss-folding of proteins in the brain, including ALS, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s diseases . The recent ALS fund raiser involving pouring ice water on the heads of donors (a dubious enterprise) raised nearly forty million dollars. Here is a short clip of the famous actor, Harrison Ford, accepting the challenge and naming my brother and several of his associates:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj_V_SxXy2U

 Paul spent many years searching for new medicines from plants used by traditional healers in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. For these efforts TIME magazine named him one of 11 “Heroes of Medicine.” His efforts in preserving island rain forests were recognized with the Goldman Environmental Prize.

You can learn more about his research at the website of his research institute in Jackson Hole, Wyoming here:  http://www.ethnomedicine.org/

Not long ago, Paul was invited to make a TEDx lecture onsite in Jackson Hole that explains these advances in simple language. Here it is if you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jWi6WQQ9wo

The Institute for Ethnomedicine is a non-profit enterprise and is not associated with any government agency; it is wholly funded through donations. The Jackson Hole laboratory is one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. The clinical trials for the drug discoveries are being conducted in Australia, and I am personally taking a dosage to reduce my generally advancing stupidity and the crankiness of old age. So, do me a small favor and send them your spare change. Otherwise I may soon be reduced to writing garbage in this blog (perhaps it’s already too late…..).

 Now that the Mid-Term Elections are over in the United States, expect big trouble on the ‘Hill’ in Washington. When the Republicans get through spanking the Democrats, not a lot will change except tunes that everyone dances to politically. I am hopeful however, that after this ‘Goat rodeo’, our military gets the funding and authority to prosecute the wars that we have been dragged into in a way that leads to a quick and decisive victory over the forces of darkness that seems to be erupting around the world like pimples on a teenager. No other country on earth has the ability to do this at present, and we had better take our responsibilities seriously, starting with the Islamic State and their cohorts.

 

The old cowboy says, “The biggest problem is the politicians know nothing about fighting a war. It’s real simple—kill enough of them and they stop fighting.”

 

“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.”

General George S. Patton

 

A Bloomberg article this morning revolved around the outrage of the Russian Premier with the United States for being the world’s bully; and the country responsible for most of the carnage going on. Of course he glosses over the iniquities of his administration’s aggressions in other nearby countries, and his relentless efforts to constrain the freedoms now enjoyed by Russia’s citizens since their own revolution. It seems to me that the real picture is pretty evident to every thinking person who cherishes human dignity, rights, and freedom of expression. So, I thought that poking a little fun at his antics might help.

It is time to consider protecting English speakers in Eastern Siberia after the provocative failure of Russia to take action there. It seems all Putin can think of (besides seizing the Ukraine and Georgia) is a territorial grab in the Arctic, with a view to seizing any deposits of petroleum and precious minerals exposed as the ice sheets that have covered the region for millennia shrink and melt away. Of course, Russia isn’t the only country with its eye on the prize. Fortunately, we have a buffer country in Canada that is making moves on its own and will likely setup mining and drilling ventures as fast as it can with a view to boosting its economy and becoming less dependent on the Americans for modern TV shows and tourist dollars. I’ve been told that if the Americans interfere, they plan on holding Santa Claus hostage, thus wrecking the U.S. economy.

If you think that there are few if any English speakers in the region, you would be mistaken. Consider the seals who praise our handsome black president; if you crouch out of sight on the edge of an ice hole, you can hear them barking ‘Barack! Barack! as they slip and slide away from the hungry Polar bears. This is enough of a reason to move forward across the Bering strait towards the Kamchatka Peninsula. The time to do this is now, while Putin is distracted by the horrific resurgence of the Nazi party.

I read this morning that, “Our joint obligation is to oppose the glorification of Nazism and attempts to revise the outcome of the World War II,” Putin said in a Politika interview, warning of rising “neo-Nazism” in the Baltics and Ukraine. He is watching closely for any signs that the former Baltic members of the Soviet Union might install American missile defense equipment and give him the finger. 

He did, however, make a token gesture towards the Arctic by once again ordering the seizure of Greenpeace protesters fleeing in their submarine that was under attack by giant squid ( see: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/huge-squid-filmed-attacking-greenpeace-submarine-1.2051509 ) and this time strapping them and an assortment of domestic homosexuals on the front of several Russian fishing boats which are now cruising back and forth near the coast of Alaska, stealing crab traps and mowing down the hoards of gold rush adventurers sucking up nuggets from the ocean floor with their cobbled-together dredges.

 

Are you a fan of the popular TV show, ‘Doomsday Preppers”?  Do you have a ‘bug-out’ bag ready to toss into your car or put on your bag when you decide to run like hell from the zombies? Well, you need to give this business a whole lot of thought. While preparedness is a virtue, poor planning is not. Preparing for a pandemic from Ebola is a different proposition from preparing for displaced mobs hungry for your goodies. Many ‘Preppers’ spend thousands for bomb shelters and stock them with everything imaginable, not realizing that if their shelter is discovered, it WILL be penetrated; especially if the invaders have RPG rocket launchers, poisonous gas cartridges to discharge into exposed air vents or earth-moving equipment running on the last of the available fossil fuels.

So, bomb shelters are only a temporary and problematic solution. And, living in fear in the meantime may trigger long-term mental illness. I read an article this morning that touched on this subject, and revealed that some extremists actually spend all of their savings on prepping instead of saving for retirement. This is a very bad choice and actually diminishes their prospects for long term survival. Here is on company’s idea of a bug-out bag contents:

 

 While many of these items are dandy to have, some become dead weight such as guns without ammo. I would call this a ‘Feel Good’ kit good for the first few miles.

 So what should you do to protect you and your family for many hard years ahead?

Let’s consider self-sufficient living on a farm for a moment. You may have all the seeds you need to get you going. But agriculture is a group enterprise. Someone needs to guard the crops against all comers— a village of like minded souls that you can trust, and it also requires that you remain stationary throughout the year. So, this option will follow the same path as human took when they first evolved a culture to support villages and agriculture in the Levant. This could take centuries to come back after a collapse of civilization. You need to focus on the here and now. This means living in absolute secrecy in a hand-to-mouth existence. You must become a hunter/gatherer, moving around to places that are seasonally rich in the plants you want for food. You don’t have the luxury of attending the US Air Force Survival School at Fairchild AFB, Washington. The next best thing is to purchase the Air Force Survival Training Manual reprint available on Amazon.com and other websites.

Then you need four additional books.

The first is a Pocket Field Guide to edible plants in your region. Illustrations and photos, please. The one I have is ‘Nature Bound’ ISBN: 0-9609776-7-8. It also includes info on general survival and poisonous plant identification. The second book would be on Emergency War Surgery. A free PDF version is available at:  http://www.pdfebooks.mobi/emergency-war-surgery-PDF–1941039/

Shop around for a compact version you can put in your bug-out bag.

The third is a guide to tracking animals. This is extremely important for hunting, avoiding predators, and identifying those you can kill and eat. The one I have is A Field Guide to Animal Tracks by Olas J. Murie. ISBN 0-395-18323; It is compact, lightweight, and comprehensive in content. I also recommend a pocketbook titled, ‘The Tracker-a true story of Tom Brown Jr. as told to Jon Watkins. ISBN: 0-42504222-7 If you get good at this you can identify the animal, know what it was doing at the time, and how old the tracks are.

The last is a book on the primitive inhabitants and their lifestyle for the region you live in or are going to. Nothing beats the knowledge obtain by people of the distant past through bitter experience. The one I have is ‘Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes’ by Margret M. Wheat’ ISBN: 0-87417-048-6. If you live in the American Southwest (particularly Utah & Nevada’s ‘Great Basin’ region) this book is worth its weight in gold.  These books in the aggregate weight very little and are easy to justify for use in your bug-out bag.

Finally, practice doing the things you need to learn with your family. Do it on vacations, weekends, and any free time you can spare. Your lives may depend on it. The goal is to become invisible to all of the Rambos and nutcases roaming the forest, mountains, or desert. Learn how to set traps and kill silently. Learn how to hideout and hide your tracks. And bide your time. Stay out of cities, travel at night if possible and don’t join groups unless you absolutely have to. And, if you do, you will be bringing needed skills to the group so that they don’t enslave or eat you anytime soon.

 

Hunter Gatherer shelter and dugout canoe

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

 

 

 

Finally, after hiding for a week in my bedroom closet to avoid the Ebola outbreak, I emerged into the sunlight filtering through the window curtains, and turned on my laptop only to discover that the outbreak is gaining traction. Historically, communicable diseases like Ebola or Smallpox were seldom found in hunter-gatherer groups, and seem to have been confined to the settlements of farmers and herdsmen that lived in squalid, crowded conditions along with their animals.

I began thinking about the dubious benefits of ‘Civilization’, and started to search the Internet for information about alternative lifestyles that might be emerging. Lo and behold, I discovered the burgeoning industry developing around the so-called Paleo Lifestyle concept; that is, living like Paleolithic savages from 10,000 years ago or earlier. The thesis is that it is far more ‘healthy’ than living in say, New York City. The movement even has its own magazine: 

 Now, this thing is becoming a fad and no doubt millionaires are going to be made providing bizarre products to sell to the practitioners, ‘gurus’, and enthusiasts. Well, if you are thinking of joining the movement, here are some fun facts right from the source. I selected the Highlanders of Papua New Guinea as the source, as it is proven that they have been living the ‘lifestyle for over 45,000 years.  Here are a group of gentlemen that practice the art as it has evolved in that inhospitable and remote location:

 

First of all, it should be noted that their diet has little in the way protein and lots of carbohydrates. Their day to day diet consists of  yams, manioc (also known as “cassava”, a plant with a large starchy root) and on occasion meat from village raised pigs, wild cassowary (a large flightless bird related to the emu) or other forest game (such as tree kangaroos and cuscus – a marsupial with a yellow nose and prehensile tail). They also kill and eat each other on occasion, especially after conducting raids to get wives.

And if you visit them, you learn that some tribesmen get a vicious and fatal disease from eating the brains of their victims. Of course, cannibalism is a time-honored tradition of many Paleo peoples around the world, and I am not making fun of any of them. They just reinforce the view that humans are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders. In Africa, they competed with Hyenas and other scavengers on a daily basis for dead carcasses when they couldn’t bring down any live game on their own. The best modern representatives of this ancient lifestyle may be found in the San people of Namibia and South Africa (although these gentle people don’t practice cannibalism– you have to go to the Congo and adjacent countries in central Africa to find this going on.)

So, the lifestyle of ‘Modern Paleos’, as projected in the forgoing magazine, seems to me to be hype to sell more stuff. I think you should pay attention to other opportunities that will present themselves when the supermarket shelves are empty and hungry people start roaming the streets. Here is an example of what I’m talking about:

Wikipedia on Roadkill: It is a practice engaged in by a small subculture in the United States, Southern Canada, the United Kingdom and other Western countries as well as in other parts of the world. Advantages of the roadkill diet, apart from its low cost, are that the animals that roadkill scavengers eat are naturally high in vitamins and proteins with lean meat and little saturated fat, and generally free of additives and drugs.

While this may seem disgusting, It may be a very practical thing to do while you learn to be a genuine hunter-gatherer living the genuine lifestyle of a modern ‘Paleo’. To help you along, here is a recipe book that might be helpful: http://deadfood.com/

Note: The popular website, LinkedIn, invited me to post some articles which I could later post in my blog if I wanted. So, here is the first one. Let’s see if you like it: 

Birth of a Salesman 

When I transitioned out of the U.S. Air Force in 1963, I took the first job I could find while I got my bearings. It was with the Salt Lake City branch of the Dictaphone Corporation, and my job was that of a technician who repaired customer-owned Dictaphones. In this role I worked mostly at the customer’s location and sometimes in the service center at the office when the problem was too difficult to deal with out of the office. Most of my customers were attorneys, and C-Suite executives. I was expected to dress smartly in a suit and engage in clever conversation to sooth the customer who was always distressed at the lost productivity due to the machine’s malfunction. Learning to handle their feelings was an important aspect of my work. 

When I returned to the office, I could hear the salesmen in their frequent meetings bragging about exceeding quotas or capturing that new and lucrative account. I also admired their new cars, big paychecks and the flashy women they hung out with. I decided that the life of a salesman was for me, but I didn’t know how to get there. My formal training was in electronics and I knew little about sales. I was determined to make my customer clients very happy with me and the company, in the hope that I would get noticed by Dictaphone management. Well, it worked and soon I was promoted to the position of Branch Manager for the state of Montana. I had little in the way of sales training from the home office and no time to get any as I was immediately embroiled in a turf war with the IBM sales force. This is a war that I won. I was one against many, and I attribute my rising success to two things: 

(a)    I learned to trade value for value. I always give clients more than they expected, and I always took the time to uncover the “burrs under the saddle” of my customer base. Quite often, they wouldn’t really tell me how they felt, and what they wanted. So, I 

(b)   Looked around for a guide book that I could read in my off hours, that would better help me serve the customer, reach my personal goals, and beat the competition. 

What I found really opened my eyes and with it, I far exceeded the goals that Dictaphone set out for me every quarter. Here it is: 

 

 

 

You can read this book online at Scribd 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7323296/Brian-Tracy-Psychology-of-Selling-Manual

Robert Redford, the famous movie actor was an acquaintance of my father. It came about when my father was the superintendent of Deer Creek State Park, a few miles from Redford’s Sundance Ski Resort, and my Dad really liked him for making his ski resort remain a low-impact operation. I met Mr. Redford on several occasions during Ski Patrol testing and training exercises that I conducted at his ski area, and I was impressed with his dedication to conservation practices and his knowledge regarding environmental issues affecting our region.

My favorite photo of Mr. Redford portraying Jeremiah Johnson (a real Mountain Man) from the film of the same name. In the background is Redford’s Sundance Ski Area. Johnson was also called ‘Liver-eating Johnson’ locally in Utah because he ate the livers of his would-be Indian assassins to create fear in the others.

Mr. Redford has long been a champion of environmental causes that urge humans to live in harmony with nature, and he has put his money where his mouth is. And, the causes he supports largely revolve around solving urgent and pressing issues with Man vs. Nature.

But most environmental organizations, with a few exceptions like the semi-terrorist group ‘Earth First’ fall short of the true scope of the task facing humanity: the transformation of our technical and industrial society to painlessly mesh with the planet’s web of life. By this I mean careful consideration of resource use, limiting the encroachment of society on the eco-niches of other species, and devising sustainable living practices for the long term. The first thing we need to do is to educate everyone to the fact that Mother Nature never intended the human race to exceed the natural bounds of our habitat.

We, as humans, have no special rights to the planet. We are simply one species of many, with our own unique survival skills and adaptations. But, unlike other species, we have the brain power and knowledge to understand our position in the web of life, and our potential for destroying it through uncontrolled growth of our population, and excessive consumption of natural resources. I’ve blogged about this before, but it bears repeating:

The clock is ticking, and the time to make these wrenching changes to global societies is NOW. We cannot afford to shrug off the problem for future generations to deal with. It will require painful readjustments to our global value systems and beliefs, and many personal sacrifices. We no longer have the luxury of promulgating quaint regional social structures and political systems, or religious beliefs and practices that have a negative impact on the world’s ecosystems and our precious web of life.

Here is a thought experiment you might find interesting: There is a lot of talk (including mine) that proposes saving humanity by leaving the planet in spaceships. Well, it won’t change a thing until we change our ways. A ‘Spaceship’ colony can only carry so many crew and passengers. The hydroponic gardens of food plants, the labs that grow artificial meat, and the plumbing systems for water, waste disposal, and so forth max out if this shipboard population expands at all. In addition, even though it starts out as a sterile environment, the E.Coli in our gut WILL EVOLVE over time. Here is the danger: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/e-coli-infection-topic-overview

So, the refugees from Planet Earth must live in a very controlled and unforgiving environment. Everyone on board must pull their weight and perform their duties if all are to survive. The word, ‘Freedom’ will have to be redefined. Scofflaws and excess humans will have to be ejected into space, and the crew members may still go ‘extinct’ from disease. What I am getting at is we already live on the ‘best’ spaceship we can possibly have, and we had better bite the bullet and make the hard changes needed to establish homeostasis. It will be easier to learn how to do this here on earth, instead of hoping we can do it inside a metal cylinder or an asteroid. This is ‘change’ we can all believe in. But, we need to learn what to do quickly. It starts with you and me. In the final analysis, it is what we do as individuals that matters the most.