TheTraveler

2011-12-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

It would seem that my battles have not ended to fight as one man against the state seems not worth the time but I can not let injustice remain unchallenged. With the lost of the one truly caring hospital, I am forced to travel hundreds of miles for treatment, and last month was an unending battle, with a broken back and neck a 12 hour trip that is almost more that I could bear. The treatment failed and now I am losing the use of my legs with side effects to graphic and painful to relive. this has caused a small stroke and the loss of a tooth after a fall, this coupled with more brain damage which would mean days in the hospital which is unequipped to handle this I will learn to live with it. But things are hard for every one and to go on about one's self is bad form the stories of mistreatment of whole towns or victums of the tornado do make me want to strike out, but to who my voice is like the wind blowing a lose piece of paper down the street. more than once I have thought if you don't want the poor or disabled to live give us a decent way out (and I have had enough of your superstitious nonsense what good is it to live a life on the knifes edge in pain and hunger). but enough of this rant. Other things can be written while I still can and nothing can be done about the above by others. For most of us are doing our best just to get by.

A Time or Change "or not"

2011-10-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

It seems as if some events are as unpredictable as the earthquake at any point on the planet, what a rise's from that moment often exceeds that moment of unpredictability.as I listen to the rhyming of the history of a time or place. their was a time in my own past, where it was easy to blame poor instructors, and popular culture along with the devices which drive them. Easy substitutes for the for a lack of personal responsibility. In Rome's earliest republic period as a citizen must was asked of those who had the lest to give to the state Not much has changed in the 2,000 or so years, so on might think that the first reaction to supporting a state was to do the lest. yet this was a time set which evolved over hundreds of years, and the experience's of the individual the motivation is in it' rarest form the the simple telling of what happen (some might argue its from the seeming need to become the hero's of our own stories, and/or to justify some element with in that story that brings discomfort and the vague sense of a lie as much as it give the sense of truth). Knowing my end is near and the only comfort I have is the world of full lies, half lies, that place where truth can be found, strange of all the fruits produced by humans it is the lest protected, seems to last the longest, yet those who value it the most are those who are treated so very poorly the warriors

2011-07-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Having gone trough the death of two good friends, a tornado, and a short time doing search and rescue, have had found that I needed to do something else with my time so I have gone back to looking at the past ( not my own I have had enough of that). Walking to a time in the times which cover the Bronze age to the time and evolution of the Roman legions, and how in many ways shaped military and political thought for over 3000 years. The time depth, cultures, and influences ( which range from the geographic to to geo-political included) should that my mind off things and is far better than going on and on about myself.

2010-01-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well I guess it's story time for me so in the next few weeks it's time to try some writing, I got the germ of an idea and so I'll explore it, I will be keeping this short as I collect what I have already done and put it in some kind of order. I will say that my time in Second life has helped in some ways and in others just confirmed some of my opinions about online behavior. But on the whole it's been a place where I have met if that's the right word some really nice people from all over the planet, and some that well have been a test of my good will. Well more later.

2009-06-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Off to to the outer Rim

The time seemed right for a journey to the planets of the outer rim, most had little or no populations forgotten worlds as many colonies are. To far out to be of much interest if the resources they contain or are not very special or the support systems break down which happens over time as the politics of empire change.

So as I turned the ship one last time to look at Splintered Rock Station I knew things would be very changed when I returned, and that the new trading company that had moved in would do what other had, try to tame a wild world and would confront the politics the empire and the guild. Stepping back in would be easier than being in the middle of the confrontation. I looked at the charts for the next star system there was a refining station in wide orbit around a strange set of planets, neither planet a moon of the other but joined in orbits around each other due to some ancient disruption that distorted the whole of the star system it was a place where you could fuel and find or get rid of any and types of cargoes . Beyond this point were the lost worlds and the uncharted systems that as a kid you heard about the subject of all the best stories you were told by some broke down spacer would tell tell you for the price of a bottle. In my years I had been to some and all I found were dirty and dangerous places whose romance was to be found once you got home and found yourself telling some wide eyed youngster or fresh for the core worlds what the tail of your trip to the rim was like. From here on out in was the routine of keeping the ship running and the worry of the unexpected.

2009-06-19T04:10:00.001-07:00

I had a chance to sit with some folks for the Firefly sim last night, I was just sitting and listening and feeling I was hiding behind the written word so my age would not be known. I at times feel so old yet when I write how ever poorly I am accepted a strange thing to feel out of place, and then when the topic mores to the storylines and interactions within the stories as they unfold age a distance vanish. The more I do this the more I look forward to my time there and the people that I meet become more than electronic shadows.

So whats happening in the stories I am part of; Well Splintered Rock as far as I concerned is my trading base and a place where I can work on my ships. I must admit I enjoy the freedom I'm not tied to planetside politics but I am still building a role for myself but I'm kown as the captain and I must admit I like that. The Veil sim is more problimatic a think have burned myself out for the time being in the mideaval world for now but a lot of that stems from the problems I have had with my arms making it hard to type and the still unresloved health problems that rob me of energy.

So what do I see down the road, I am learning to set up a way to transport from one sim to another is my ships so that I can enter them in a way that seems more natural, also in the way one might dress for a part I am getting the ships I need to look right and are of the right size and I am learning to modify and build what I want which if I get good is a source of a little bit of in world money. The whole thing also is begining to really help my thinking and creativity, after the damage done in the last few operations I worried that the damage was so bad I might never be able to learn again. I have finished for the moment a small medical ship and in the process started to learn how things work propulsion wise and how to build more wisely. well I have been up all night and so instead of wishing I had something to do and just watching TV I feel I have done something productive. So more photos and other things to come, I have to remember to transfer the photos from one computer to the other, but thats life.

2009-06-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought when I named this blog the Traveler I would find that a RP game and a whole sub-genera of gaming was around the corner, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Late last year a good friend of mine said you should try Second Life well a number of years ago I had been there and done that but it was a way to talk with her so I reluctantly signed up and down loaded the program. Well fast forward a few months and I have to say that I have found some wonderfully creative people and a way to exercise my imagination and to be inspired to write again. I have found myself crossing between the worlds of the medieval and that of science fiction. So there are days where I find myself in the world of Dune or Firefly at the helm of a spaceship or fighting off any type of bad guy your imagination can come up with. So I will make a departure from my old exploration in the world of archaeology and earth sciences which never went very far to record the events of this new world.

So for now I'll add some pictures of the ships and places in my life and in time the people that I run into along the way, just because Im a little restricted in my movements now does not mean that I have to stay stuck in this world, so on to the ships and places

Advanced Cat Yodeling

2009-05-19T07:25:00.001-07:00

2008-12-01T05:14:00.000-08:00

It's a very grey morning with the remains of the first snow still on the ground, and the world still holding it's breath and resisting the urge to greet the 30 degree morning. I have not been able to sleep since last week when the last of the food went. A week of oat meal does not do much for you, it's been a while since hunger has woken me up, and the dreams of meals to come however wonderful feel as painful as my back. Its just a few more days until the first wonderful meal finds its way to me and that makes it all the harder. Dawn lights a cold hard morning and I must find the strength to hold on a few more days, I still have power and the internet really how bad can it be?

2008-11-30T12:46:00.001-08:00

I was was reading this article http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/29/national/a024435S56.DTL&tsp=1 and it brought me back to a time in the 80's, when I was going to school and homeless. It must have been about this time of year as well, a little group of us 20 somethings had lost our jobs and homes. We traveled from campground to campground like gypsies, and we were hanging out down in a little canyon near Ventura, the past few days had been filled with a cold rain, and while I lay there in my sleeping bag one morning, I heard the double sonic booms of the shuttle over head bouncing off the canyon walls. I thought how fitting hear I was with my friends living a semi- post-apocalyptic life while listening to a ship from out space crossed over head. Little did I know that in the future I would stand on ground that had not seen the sun in 9,000 years and watch rockets reach out into space.

2008-11-18T10:11:00.001-08:00

I came across the keynote speech given at the Grammy Northwest Musictech conference by Ian Rogers from the Topspin web site http://tinyurl.com/55ylzp , and found myself intrigued by the the concepts it contained. Now I know nothing about the music industry and don't think I could make more than thirty seconds on guitar hero, but I have been following the ever repressive (IMHO) actions taken on a variety of fronts against free or fair use of previous works. And between creators of derivative works and copy right holders or their representatives, now better minds than than this humble old fool have written much about this but few have said to the people that need to hear it, a clear presentation of how their old models of busness has changed, and how they might adapt to the changing conditions. It also gave me some hope that by changing small parts of the entrenched parties, who want absolute control of how all intellectual property is used. That the creative freedom to use with some limitation prior art, would be decriminalized in the eyes of those that now seek to elimanate or strickly control that creativity. But, its just a thought thats all.

2008-11-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

A quick Note before heading out to the doctors.

I'm back from a long strange trip down the rabbit hole, with several trips to the hospital, and the bank account flat lining. It was another set of dueling doctors one wanting to do open heart surgery and another saying that I would never survive it, now thats a scene to wake up to. In the end I made it home alive and in time to vote and now getting by. I got time to do some reading and a bit of writing during all this and well I do need to spend more time getting some things out of my head and down on the electronic equivalent of paper.so thats it for now I must get ready for a long day.

2008-10-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

The persistence of memory and the lost and disappearing wild world; My reading has lead me to thinking once again about the way in which the past has created common and uncommon animals into incredibly diverse sets of symbolic creatures. But in my thoughts I keep wondering about the alpha predators, the big cats of the ice ages along with other beasts that we know of only from fossils, and how they and human populations shaped one another, what memories and stories were turned into myth. As the actions of the changing climate and human action caused change in unexpected ways, the saber cats and certain species of elephants pasted into history. Its funny in the new world I find it difficult to find stories of that time reflected in what remains of Native American lore. Perhaps its the same in the old world where much of the cultural world was dominated by one cultural theme which wiped away or suppressed all other ideas.
Well thats all my arms will let me do.

2008-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

I got the first good nights sleep in the last week woke up late in the day, had three hours feeling pretty good now I can't walk and the pain almost made me dial 911. But several pain pills later I can stand the pain for now, I'm going to try to make it until next month with out calling an ambulance. For now I'm try to make something for dinner, and watch the political dog and pony show later tonight. I really do wish I had someone to call and talk me away from these momentary freakouts. Well thats it for now.

2008-09-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

And so another evening begins with chest pain, its funny I have slept for most of the day and had a few hours feeling mostly normal, now its like last year. I guess that's what I get for eating, but after this weekend that won't be a problem, I'll be out of most of my food. I was going to call my old friend Steve tomorrow, just to talk I can't tell him whats up, he has a hard time understanding what its like to be disabled, and with my present situation he could never understand how little my social security goes and why I can't make it to the doctors any more. I really wish I would have been able to have done more writing and produced a bit more, but in the few minutes that I have been writing this a migraine has started up and the low fog I live in has started to close over my mind.

2008-09-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well it's a fine coincidence that I'm sitting here watching a little PBS, when a special comes on about stress. Here I sit with no way to get to the doctors (a little change in the rules for we low income disabled), the changes in the costs of living which make my little income even less and now I'm watching something that is telling me that too much stress is killing me, thanks PBS. I guess I will look forward to the phone being turned off, and dropping off the internet for a month or so, four months of migraines was not the excuse I was looking for to avoid writing. Funny at the end of that episode I broke down and had to be hospitalize there they found that either the injury in 1999 or the last heart operation give me a brain injury which is becoming more of a problem, that mixed with the gradual lost of the use of my arms and legs does make me wonder what next.

But I have to remember that I am still luckier than others, I still have my books this little old computer, and my freedom (such as it is) so with a full stomach and a comfortable place to sit I will try to remember the little gems in my life and not the dark clouds.

2008-08-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's been another find day, with first a suggestion that part of my medical problems might be do to my gall bladder, which was explored in one of my visits in the ER and rejected (but who knows it took four years for them to figure out my heart had problems, missing several minor heart attacks). Then I called one of my oldest friends where he layed into me for not being able to work, he said he just could not understand why I could not find a job of some kind. This is from someone I thought understood that I take over a dozen drugs, and have maybe four or five hours where I can think and if I'm lucky four hours where I can use my arms and walk a few hundred yards. So after a half hour hearing what a great failure I am (I already beat myself up over this) I just hung up. Thirty years of friendship ended, it just pointed out to me that he just could not understand what I'm going through and I understand so I would rather him remember who I was, than who I am now. I just pulled myself up from the black depths of depression, and his words cut into me and created a great deal of pain. So I guess it's time to move on from here, but I do wish I could start this day over.

2008-08-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few months being layed low be migraines, and my neck injuries making my arms to painful to use for writing. Now I know that writers will use any excuse not to work but this has been ridiculous, three trips to the ER with what looked like strokes mixed with the death of the car has made the this a very trying time. But I have climbed out of a deep depression to a place where I can see a little sunshine. So its back to working at lest 20 minutes a day even if its just a few random thoughts posted here.

2008-06-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well Its health time again; The last few weeks I have been having a bit of a problem, severe pain in my side and not being able to really eat anything and keep it down. Just a flu I thought you'll get over it. Now I have various places swelling and I can stay awake for a few hours at a time, and have to be careful when I get up or walk or I pass out. And the pain, after my back injuries I thought I knew something the subject but this on going experience at the graduate level and stops everything except breathing and my somewhat weaken heart from beating. After a few days of this I went to an emergency room where I had what I have come to call ceremonial medicine was performed yes I have an infection of unknown origin and unknown extent and even though they have no idea what it is I was given the token anti-biotic and sent on my way.

Now this has been a great weight loss program going from 190 to 170 in a month, and now that its almost impossible to eat (the old eat=pain= pass out) I will save money, now if only I could give up this whole food addiction thing. I have this little thing of strawberries in the fridge they can only last a few more days but if I eat any of them I'll be in pain for hours and I won't be able to eat for another day, but they are strawberries, like love sometimes you have to chose a few moments of pleasure for a great deal of pain. Such is life.

2008-05-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

In all the reading I've been doing I have once again come to a confluence of ideas, for over most of human history the exploration of new lands was driven by three major forces; climate change (long duration or short), military/political, and economic. Now the ideas are nothing new and better said by others its just that I have been reading a book about Humboldt's travels in South America and set the style for scientific exploration and his work inspired what might be said as one of the great grandfathers of modern geology, biology, and anthropology. In looking at the 18th and 19th century, science just hitched a ride while other forces were the main objective of these voyages. The late 19th century saw the first adventure/scientific expeditions, later pure adventure would capture the publics imagination but pure science had found its place.

Now I have been watching a series that HBO did some time ago on the Apollo program, and it started an old argument that others have had with space exploration, and being a believer in what others see as a great waste of money. Its funny they will support so much waste and chase narrow minded foolishness with tons of cash, but I guess at a time when we really need to inspire innovation and I guess that can do spirit that no only allowed us to view this planet from space, but changed all our lives from the clothes we wear, to the computer I'm using, to the medicine that saved my life. It has been said that major technology changes are driven by war or was the major force of change, it was the race for space that in the space of 12 or so years set off a wave of change that did not require the sacrifice of thousands of lives and a generation dreamed of a world with a fronter where its only your own wits and imagination that limit your boundaries. But now small minds have joined that long line leaders and followers that are happiest warring with one another and living in the mud, and the few looking to the stars thinking if only.

2008-05-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

alt="Towel Day :: A tribute to Douglas Adams (1952-2001)"
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Well it's that day again and a time to remember not just those who have passed to keep us free, and those those who kept us just and honest. But those whose imagination gave us joy, remember "Don't Panic" Humans are mostly harmless.

2008-05-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

I found a little quote that fits my problem with my book, for thats what it has become I can no longer call it an essay or anything that might be considered a short story. That quote it goes something like this " History happens at the edges not at the center" that events that are pivotal to the central moments of history often are those things which at the time seem of little importance or involve persons of lesser stature or importance. Like who ever it was that lost Lee's plans of attack prior to Gettysburg, or like the central characters in a film I was just watching "Longitude" a carpenter with a thing for clocks, that in the end revolutionized maritime navigation and precision clock making. Its just this type of thing that is a the heart of my story, the meeting and conflict between two men of strong character who by their actions brought their two nations to the edge of war.

With out this conflict Britain would not have been ready for the French and Napoleon's ambition, and Spain would not have been forced to extend its presences and claims to the Northwest coast of North America. In the process checked Russia's movement south along the west coast of North America and changed the development of California. In the process the search for the North West passage plays a central part in this, as well as explorers like Captain Cook find their way into the tail. The changes in the power of the media plays its part, and the 18th and 19th equivalents of bloggers in the broadsheets and pamphlet writers of the time, that play a large part in the small story in the Northwest coast and a greater one in the story of the Northwest passage.

And all along the way there are pirates, armchair explorers and their maps, state secrets, and trade monopolies. The contingent nature of history roles out in front of you with any number of times when a small change would have made for wonderful what if speculation. But untangling history as it is, is more than enough for now and it back to trying to tell the tail.

2008-05-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

First the events of the weekend are still with me its a bit like my feelings like that after an earthquake, and having lived through quite a few I could not avoid comparing the two experiences. There is nothing seemingly enduring as the solid ground beneath our feet having that turned to myth in an instant leaves you questioning much of your life's other rock solid ideas. And with the weather when it turns deadly like this weekend its much more than just the shattering feeling of an earthquake, having a storm go from impressive to an ender of lives is much more disturbing. You know the storm is coming and in most cases nothing more than an example natures violent temper which may be frightening but rarely directly responsible for more than a little property damage. On a spring or summer day you can watch these storms form you know they are there, and you never know when they turn into something more, something far more dangerous. Then they appear seemingly out of no where and where they will strike just and random, but within this species of storms there is a type which when it forms stays on the ground bringing mayhem for miles catching people unaware believing that what is short lived or hard to predict could never reach them. When it does if its not life ending it profoundly changes life, much like an earthquake, but you know its out there some where.

So like an earthquake if your not directly effected you still have felt its power and you wonder if sometime, somewhere you and that dark force will meet, even after dying twice in the operating room I'm sure this thought is more unsettling than the heart attack that is more likely to end my days. But enough of this and back to the search for Northwest passage and the story of a small incident that almost started a war, and in its way was part of building the United States of America.

2008-05-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

It's a strange feeling to have such destruction pass by, but like an earthquake you just never know. I few miles north or south made all the difference, I guess I'm still in a bit of shock but the quite of the night has me uneasy.

2008-03-26T21:16:00.001-07:00

In trying to sort out the dragons of east and west I got lost along the way. I was looking at the use of the dragon as a symbolic barrier and started looking at other barrier figures and came across the "King of the Wood" now the short form of the story is this king/knight is a guardian of a sacred grove and at some point he is replaced when a challenger captures the Golden Bough in the most sacred tree in the grove. Now its been said of dragon that the are a symbol of greed with a taste for gold and virginal maidens. Now its commonly thought the a dragon has little practical use for either one, the wise guy in me would say that when you look like a dragon having gold might be helpful when dealing with maidens of any sort, but lets leave that aside, and get back to this guy wandering around in this sacred grove.

The "King of the Wood" seems to get little out of being king except being the guardian of this special branch of a special tree and in the end getting killed by some lucky challenger in single combat. So I thought well here you have two figures willing to die to protect something special but of little apparent use to them. So trying to remember that we are looking at multiple levels of symbolism the king of the wood story is related to the Goddess Diana (the origin location of the story is her sacred grove)and the Green Man. After following the typical soap opera that fills greek and roman myths, I boiled it down to nature, spring, fertility and a hero challenge. The common dragon stories of the west also carry some of these elements often in a more abstract form.

So I thought I would follow the Green Man around for a while to see where he would lead and wouldn't know he ended up heading east toward the holy land and in some from in India as part of the great wheel of life. So where does that leave our dragon friends, well here is where dragons become protectors and symbols of good fortune, fertility, success, and higher spiritual awareness. Well there is much more but thats the half baked ideas I have been working on tonight.

2008-03-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

I hate this there are times just before I sit down here, and in an effort to find a topic those thoughts run out on me like they owed me money. I now find myself with yet another cold starting and a strong desire to do nothing but sleep, and with the sound of another pot of coffee brewing I'll start tonights writing here. I got Michael Palin's Himalaya playing on the T.V. normally I work in silence but this trend started with Joesph Cambell's mythology series setting the tone for a writing session.

It's loaded with meaning for me and with so much going on in that part of the world it's nice just to see the people and places with a person who I think would be a great traveling companion. And I'm a bit sad I'm at the end of the series but I loved thinking of the mountains I have known and my affection for Buddhist thought has been rekindled. At the same time it make me sad to think in a place of such beauty so many unthinkable act go on, but it has it seems it has always been so, and so the utility of the Buddhist middle way comes in to play for me, it also helps when I think of the rate of extinction of both the things of nature and of cultures. The mountains to will find them self changed in time and as their eroded rock finds its way to the sea I can understand why rivers are so sacred in this part of Asia.

I guess its time to move on to another topic but I still have not been able to unify the two spoons story, the story of the exploration of the North West coast still has too many angles that distract me, like the use of the informal press that fueled some much of the British side of the story in many ways the internet and bloggers have taken their place in the modern world on a larger scale. The Spanish silence is less puzzling now, but no less frustrating and the Russians what to do with the Russians. They play a central role late in the story along with French Mapmakers and Geographers, and captain Cook and his voyages around the world. This is just the outline of the story and leads me in some ways no closer to the individuals at the core of the tail. Like the two Americans who had positions of some trust in the Royal Navy during and after the war of independence and later return to the young United States to become merchant captains in the Pacific.

Well its back to pen and paper and the words of others to inform and I hope enlighten.

2008-03-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few days on a couple of project with one shaping up quite nicely so last night I found myself over at net flix searching for some distraction, and found some. The first film was "ten Questions for the Dali Lama" now I have always been a fan his if one can be a fan of a religious leader. He has always been more of a Yoda figure than a pope like one, and though at times the films uneven quality kind of put me off (a minor flaw) it spoke to the situation in Tibet prior to the great unrest of today quite well, and it showed the seeds of the present problems taking root. H.H. was asked directly about what later came to pass with the same compassion and hope for peace. He also recognized the need to defend ones self and family.

So with that sweet and sour beginning I searched around and found "The Stone Reader" another independent film this time about a book and its writer. Many of us who love books at some point have come across a book early in our life that we started, then got to a certain point in it and set it down a moment of I just don't get the book, its good but I'll just have to come back to it later. Now the film maker had to set his book down at 17 and picked it up again 25 years later. In his search for more found that the author wrote just this one book, the rest of the film documents his two year journey to discover what happen to the author and along the way explore the singular book and writing with various writers, critics, and others in his quest. It has a happy ending of a sort and it helped seeing the stories of others who to the outside world look like obsessive cranks and dreamers who loved the written word enough try and put a bit of themselves on paper. I guess that if no one ever reads those words its enough to have put the down.

So I tempered my excitement over a few good reviews of my drafts and still felt inspired to continue scribbling and one day I'll post them but for now this is a place for random words, I am to slow a writer to craft anything for the web it seems.

2008-03-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to do the 200 words a day exercise lately a cheating a bit by using the old "write it with pen and paper then transcribe it into word" so here a work in progress:

THE SHRIVER SITE

The Shriver site is a possible pre-Clovis site in the northwestern section of Missouri located in Daviess County which was once a heavily glaciated upland during the Pleistocene. Now this was not the first nor last site which may have a pre-Clovis component present but it’s an example of several of the problems which confront an investigator and the interested layperson looking at the evidence for such claims. Its good to remember several limiting factors which may hinder presenting an iron clad case for early sites (this is also true of claims of various types for other sites as well).

Archaeology is all about context whether it’s the context of what’s contained in the site or the placement of the site geographically and geologically context is key to understanding the site and its content. The Shriver site (Regan et. Al. 1978) was excavated in the 1970’s as part of a highway relocation project, as a historical aside the 1970’s was a period when mandatory investigation of archaeological resources was just beginning in the United States. The site itself was seen at first as a Late Woodlands site (A.D. 450 to A.D. 900) at the base of this deposit at the interface of the Woodland component and the underlying Loessial (which is wind blown dust of Pleistocene age) layer a small Clovis point along with fragments of chert was discovered. Now finding a point like this in any context is a pretty big deal, finding one in an undisturbed context is a really big deal (for an archaeologist its hand springs and cartwheel time). To the investigators of this site it signaled that they were on to something very rare, and that controversy was also on the horizon. The chert material which was below the point was characterized as unifacial tools, unmodified flakes (predominately tool blanks), and prepared cores of “tortoise” dome shape and tabular shape for the production generalized flakes in the case of the former and flake/blades in the case of the latter. There were small amounts of bifacially modified flakes and tool forms that could not be characterized using the typologies that existed at the time.

So here’s where the controversy begins; it appears that there was no organic material (bone, shell, wood, or charcoal) present or suitable for radiocarbon dating (there are other methods available now that did not exist at the time that may have been useful), that left ‘Thermal Luminescence’ as the next best dating tool. Now thermal luminescence most commonly thought of as a tool for dating pottery but the raw material that stone tools are made from are often ‘heat treated’ to improve a marginal material to allow it to produce a better quality tool from it. And it appears that this technique was use within this site so suitable dating material was present, and the upper Woodland layers and the layer containing the Clovis point were tested. The upper layers yielded date consistent with the Woodland period and the Clovis layer (of which there were two samples) had dates of 8690± 1000 B.C. and 12,855± 1500 B.C. which was not outside the range of dates accepted for the Clovis period. The pre-Clovis layer is where the problems begin all the dates fall outside of the accepted range for the occupation of North America. They go from 11,300± 2400 B.C. (which is acceptable) to 42,700± 7000 B.C. (which to many is outrageously unacceptable). I would point out this is the last time these sample were heated to a high enough temperature to reset their photon clock so to speak. In 1984 the material from the site was revisited by Rowlett and Garrison, who produced more TL (thermal luminescence) date for the site mean dates that varied by 9000 years from samples that either overlapped one another in their relative stratigraphic positions or were separated by no more than 4 cm vertically.

2008-02-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Its been a while But I have been writing the old fashion way, on paper, and with the flu and all just had little to do but think and read. I finally got some books on the geology and prehistory of Missouri to dive into and for the first time in years I have started to think like an archaeologist again, but more on that later. I have also spent time thinking about what lead me to my last set of spiritual adventures. The Wiccan thing I guess was more reaching out for social contact, a desire something magical to get lost in for a while. But I had to know that could not last I knew that at some point in time I would say that an idea in my opinion was just nonsense, or my historic or anthropological sensibilities would be offended and I would end up pissing the group off. That and the whole supernatural experience and mystical path no matter how much I might have wanted to believe it, just does not fit the person I am now.

Then there was Scientology, the last time I had thought about it was in the mid- 70's, the late teens and early 20's were for me a great time to explore impossible things. And it was during that time some of my skills of critical thinking were tested. And I had forgotten it was part of a set of examples of used to illustrate how cults and pseudoscience worked, and how otherwise reasonable and intelligent people can get caught up in something and believe the most fantastic things. But in breaking down the common elements of these groups and ideas and looking at them from the point of view of an anthropologist began a de-mystification process of many human behaviors and a number of commonly held ideas about the world. The need at times to want to be part of wild and from the outside somewhat wacky world of the mystical/religious believer surfaces from time to time, I guess I'll never get any closer than being a lone Taoist.

After doing the online research on scientology, man, I got away lucky being in the weak psychological place I was at, that could have been a real unpleasant experience. So now I'm back to playing with the physical fragments of the past and I'll stick with keeping my personal philosophic explorations personal. So next time its mid-continental Early Man, with some other historic stuff.

2008-02-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Well its back to the thing no one ever reads (including me), so it snowed yesterday and for a time I wished I could write poetry or or prose or really anything at all. The internal editor was working overtime and just made me feel just worthless. So the computer and I had a few beers, well I had to drink for the both of us. It just keep pulling up an endless supply of well written things and all I had was half assed ideas. Now when I talk to someone they sometimes say "you are so well spoken, and intelligent" and I think well I missed my calling as an actor.

The political season has now emptied out for me as Edwards has pulled out of the great race, so now the chosen ones vie for the seat at the head of the table. Lets see what else, I could talk about a lady that came to me in a dream but I'll keep that for me. As I know I'm just to hard to look at for that to anymore so that can only live in the dream world.

As for dreams I'm working on the book, who knows why maybe it the fact that that I am at heart at sea, and live my life as if I'm working a ship into safe harbor against cross seas in the fog along an unknown coast. I have been working on the whole spiritual thing in my head, is it something that is hardwired into the brain to look for something more. Some human universal like the need for privacy or sex, as I have too much of one and not enough of the other I'm not fit to know right now.

Well enought of this for now.

2008-01-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I owe myself a few extra words, but thats what I get for hanging out with Kipling last night. Well him and reading "Voyages of Delusion" and no its not about the last seven years, its the search for the north west passage. So I have to wonder why I'm so hung up on voyages of discovery or folly or both, maybe its been the last seven years. The whole idea of this sitting down and just writing still leaves me kind of cold, some times like right now all I can put down is nothing more than a few disjointed thoughts. As I read other blogs I feel a little ashame, others have insightful often funny things to say. Where I on the other hand might at my best could muse on things historic and all that well I might add, there are times during the day when a good idea will speed past me leaving me with nothing more than the hint of a subject to write about.

It's like today I had to drive one of my neighbors to the doctors, now the drive to the doctors was the thing I really wanted to write about. I'm still a small child about the snow thirty years of living in California has left me with some novel concepts about snow. Mountain snow and high desert snow are to me short term novelties, something to drive through or work in for a brief time and run home to the coast. Here its as common as fog, so todays drive started just as a flurry was starting, and my mind started to come up with familiar analogs along the lines of "this looks like brush fire ash" now I know this is frozen water falling from the sky, but that the first thing that crosses my mind.

Now the second thing that crosses my mind is whats the roads going to be like, now I have shared the highway filled with big rigs throwing slush in buckets and the windshield at 70 miles an hour. Now I'm a little old man thinking that the roads are going to turn to glass, as this phase passes and I'm on my way home the snow drifting along the highway becomes fascinating. Like a silent sand storm (back to California), and so thats what ends up as my post of the day not the late night investigation of the Anonymous group and their battle with Scientology. Not issues dealing with the conflation of security and privacy and the whole FISA thing and other crimes against the country. But I guess its that others have said it much better in much more creative ways.

Well I posted and thats the point at least something everyday just like taking pictures you just never know if you take enough, you might get something worth looking at.

2008-01-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

Have you ever felt guilty about giving up on a train of thought you know you don't really believe? Well after yesterdays post I felt kind of strange I guess I really want to believe in something non-rational but just can't bring myself to that level of commitment. Something attractive about being part a group at the edge of respectability. I guess I could no more be a part of a group that thought the space brothers built the pyramids. The element deep in the human brain that searches for meaning beyond the everyday material world lives within me, and I wonder why I can't suspend the rational side of me for very long. It does not take long before I find myself saying "well that line of reasoning is just plain silly", which is why I'm always looking for meaning behind the myths and symbols of various groups and how they are similar over time and shared between many groups.

Years ago I spent time trying to figure out some of the common elements of groups that could not wrap their collective heads around the idea Native people could have created complex civilizations and why many rejected the science that studied those people. Now a common element in all groups is a language filled with terms that an outsider would not really understand or commonly use, pseudo-science and religion along with regular science, politics etc... All have there terms with is, in part a short hand concepts and ideas and separates the insider from the outsider.

Now with things archaeological the alt-ideas often come from the linear way many of us look at history, the vertical model with the most technologically advanced, or the most successful at the top and everyone else somewhere below. Its sort of the "who's writing the history" view of things and to explain inconvenient cultural or material developments in a group, they invoke a more agreeable explanation.

So thats I guess my source of discomfort with my rejection certain ideas, the romantic in me would love to recapture the felling of spiritual connectedness by worshiping the gods of ancients or following a twelve step program to release my immortal perfected spirit. I question the thing, the whole follow me and I will set you free, just seems inauthentic, its not that I lack the sense of wonder in the world around me and insensitive to the mysteries of the universe. I guess its that I have spent to much time looking at human history, and seeing how these feelings and beliefs are threads which bind cultures together in the large scale and how they in small groups and individuals act as a comfort and buffer against an often hard, unfeeling, and impersonal world.

Not maybe two hundred words but enough for tonight.

2008-01-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I'm coming late to the party with regard to new things for the new year so I'm going to try the (lets write 200 words a day ) writing thing again. I'm also going to try a new piece of software for project organization called "Free Mind" it's suppose to allow you to do any number of wonderful things with ideas. This is all part of a plan to distract me from whats become my un-healthy focus on my physical health, my thoughts were well you try having four major operations in one year complete with the near death experience and see if you can "just get on with things". But I guess that is the best thing to do, I have to admit my thinking has been a bit fuzzy.

I found myself wanting to belong to something larger than myself and go off chasing the whole mystical spiritual thing. A thing in a natural born skeptic like myself is a sure sign that somethings not right. So in the last few months of the year I thought I'd look at two of groups at the edge the religious bell curve. Wicca and Scientology, with one a free wheeling ad hoc affair, the other a very controlled closed sort of thing. With Wicca the feel I got was much like that of the same one I got with some of the "New Age" folks I have known. The limited (thankfully) contact with Scientology in more like the ones I have felt in multi-level marketing groups I have run into over the years. One is a mix or buffet of old and new mythological symbols and beliefs with very flexible rituals. The other a very rigid and inflexible, although science seems to be included in its name some of the material I have found on line would seem indicate it shares the same science thats applied to intelligent design. But that just a first impression and from sources that I'm sure they would not approve of.

Its funny how money finds its way into the equation one modestly and I could see its need, but to be part of the group not necessary. The other you would seem like you could go no where with out continuously paying for books and instruction. And the personal freedom thing if you find that Wicca is not your cup of tea there might be sorrow in your leaving the group, but no "you'll rot in hell" kind of thing. But it seems that if you reject the message of the other you find your self in the same position you'd with any main stream religion shunned and condemned.

I guess if I was to look for someplace to park my spiritual self, I know who I would chose, besides as an free thinker of sorts and male I'd rather a group comprised strong independent thinkers (many of whom are women). So thats my thought for the day.

2008-01-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

I find myself with two new writing projects, one on the damage to the Serpent mound in Ohio found in a story which dates from July of late year from a source I'm unsure of but my prove to be of interest. The other on Celtic mythology and how some of the figures in it found themselfs in shotgun marriages with Greek and Roman mythology. Now at first I thought this could be fun how many could there be? And then they came in the hundreds (at least 360) from the edges of euraisa to the blessed isles of Ireland and south to Spain and Italy. Across 1900 years (I fixed a start date of 1000 B.C. and an ending at around A.D. 900) their nature, attributes, and symbols still evolving as we speak.

Now I have had the thought lets just look at a baker's dozen, the Olympian elite of both groups but that won't work truly these were not the gods of emperors and kings (the rich and powerful then as now felt they were above the laws of man and hoped beyond the wrath of the gods) these were myths (as they are thought of now) for the common person. This was part of daily life within them was woven the forces of nature, the great mysteries, the ripping great stories of the past along with its wisdom (the anthropologist in me would have to include social and cultural norms and behaviors) along with the dire fate that would be meted out for transgression. They are rich and leave me wishing I was Joseph Campbell or at lest someone of some talent with words and history. But a man must have a hobby, so forward into the past.

2008-01-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

For my friends at the Daily Grail

KENNEWICK MAN AND SECTION 106

A case study in the application of section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act

Introduction: The discovery of the human remains now known as Kennewick man place them at the center of a controversy which

The Kennewick Man case has caused a great deal of discussion on the meaning and intent of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and related issues. But one thing has always bothered me that Section 106 processes were never used after the discovery was made and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) made the determination that the river terrace which may have been the origin of the human remains now known as Kennewick Man and may have contained other cultural materials had to be stabilized. The reasoning behind this set of actions was not apparent at the time the “stabilization” occurred and in the following years nothing has been reported by the COE or the National Park Service (NPS) that explains why they chose to disregard the guidelines, and processes outlined in the regulations the govern both organizations and in the National Historic Preservation Act as they existed between the years of 1996 to 2000. The other unsatisfactorily answered question is why the actions had to be under taken with such hast, there did not seem to be a clear and present danger to public heath or safety, hazard to river navigation that would justify their actions.

It is my understanding that the reason that the National Historic Preservation Act was developed was to put in place a uniform process to avoid unnecessary harm to historic properties and develop plans to evaluate and avoid or mitigate adverse effects of a project, which involved federal agencies and/or moneys. The process of Section 106 also was a way for interested parties and individuals to have to have their concerns heard. Now the definitions what kinds of projects and who can be involved in the 106 are straightforward. It would seem that the COE’s action in stabilizing the river terrace is a federal undertaking as defined by Section 106 and given the limited amount of information surrounding the Kennewick discovery area, some archaeological investigation should have taken place.

The studies referred to in the National Parks Service’s (NPS) web site are limited to physical anthropology, radiocarbon dating studies, and limited geomorphology studies, no archaeological investigations are included nor is there any proposed in any of documents included as a response to the Bonnichsen et. Al., v. U.S., lawsuit. This begs the question why, so while investigating the Kennewick case as any interested party might without directly contacting the agencies involved, I searched the print and electronic media, as an outsider to the archaeological community might, and found no mention of any archaeological investigation aside from those included in the NPS’s web site. I then inspected the “The Friends of Americas Past” web site (this site is operated by supporters the efforts to examine the Kennewick remains by other members of the scientific community, and parties to the Bonnichsen et. al. V. U.S. lawsuit) where I found a very limited amount of information on the archaeological testing or lack of testing conducted. It was here I found the only references to any testing and this information seemed only to say that a permit(s) had been issued and that no reports had been issued and that permits had been denied, now who did excavate on the terrace and what did they find, what conclusions did they reach, and where was Section 106 in all of this?

Well permits were issued to Dr Chatters during the initial phase of the discovery the public record is almost silent on his archaeological findings outside of the humans remains themselves. The permits issued to the Confederated Tribes of The Umatilla Reservation are even more opaque (having talked to a few people who work in the area I discovered that this tribal group does have Cultural Resource Management company run by the tribe) which apparently have excavated in the discovery area, and that no other information is available. Nowhere is the Section 106 process mentioned and given the actions of the COE in going forward with their stabilization project, may have forever removed the area from study. So where does this leave us, the discovery area is never referred to as an archaeological site nor is the section of river terrace was it ever evaluated? if it was did it met the criteria for inclusion in to the State or National Register of Historic Places if not why not? What was the process used by the COE that allowed them to exempt them from the Section 106 process and how given the scientific importance of this discovery area common is this practice when evaluating archaeological resources in the COE area of control (this question could be asked of NPS, BLM, etc). Given that most archaeological information is never released to the public in any form (or for that matter released to other archaeologists who are not part of an the project) , how can the general public evaluate the Kennewick case, and what does this mean for the archaeological community in the way regulations are applied. More than once I have heard from members of the archaeological community that the public has little appreciation of this nation’s cultural resources, and heard from members of the general public complain about the lack of general information about archaeological projects in the local area, let alone on a discovery of this type. This could have been a great opportunity to have explored issues of the New World’s past, and the way archaeology is conducted, but the only thing which has been done is to illustrate that archaeology is being lost not only to urban development, and acts of archaeological vandalism, but a lack of openness on the part of agencies and other organizations to inform and educate the public. By way of concluding I’ll quote from a handbook I used some years ago on Section 106, “The concerns that resulted in Section 106 began to develop during the1950’s and 1960’s, when Federal Law applied to a limited number of nationally significant historic properties. During those decades, hundreds of Federal projects – such as highways, dams, and urban renewal – were completed with little regard for historic resources valued by the communities in which they were located. As a result, those Federal projects destroyed or damaged thousands of historic properties, much to the dismay of local citizens.

Congress observed this phenomenon across the country and recognized that new legislation was needed to ensure that Federal agencies considered historic properties in their planning (from Section 106, Step-by-Step, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Oct. 1986).

From all the available information the COE and NPS and the Department of the Interior have failed to follow the processes laid out in Sections 106 and Section 110 of the NHPA, or if a site such as Kennewick does not deserve the protection of the above act what does this say for other cultural resources and their protection or lack there of. If you can give me any guidance on any of the above point, I would truly love to hear them.

William Glover

2007-12-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

During my time laid up I had time to go over some of my research on the "Spanish exploration of the Pacific northwest" story. The new time line goes back to the 1500's and comes complete with nobles, pirates, and outright frauds, so many interesting characters that its hard not to chase after their stories. The key characters in the story of the two spoons (which started this writing adventure) have started to become clearer as I now have a bit more of their past. The central figures in the conflict at Nootka sound had a long history in exploring both on the Spanish and British sides of the story. The trade element has become clearer and how the quest for pearls and spices became the hunt for furs, draws Peter the Great, England, America, and Spain into conflict on the other of their world begins to make more sense and is a great deal of fun to research. As is the looking at how Captain Cooks voyages had effected the 18th and 19th centuries.

Now all I have to do is live long enough to write this, I'm putting off the pace maker until after the new year. Two heart operations in one year is all I can take, emotionally I'm a wreak. But I will look to those that lived through storms at sea along an unknown coast.

2007-12-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the hospital, and well wish I had a good joke to go with that. I hoped for more days but well its not to be. Well, the dream of better days never ends.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

2007-12-04T23:21:00.001-08:00

a must watch

2007-11-29T19:29:00.000-08:00

Its back to the 19th century again new data ship board life is coming so the log jam on this story may end yet I wait on responses from Spain and Canada for information. With the state of the world right now who knows when they will get back to me. So its back to trying the old write anything for 20 minutes a day routine. But not tonight.

2007-08-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

More high strangeness.

2007-07-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

The world got strange for awhile but I'm back, with what I hope is an interesting project. Which is a series of short videos called Roadside History, starting in Missouri (which is where I'm in exile) and to complete what I have started here. So much for this short post more to come.

2007-05-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

So under grey and humid sky's, I find myself puzzled the story I have been writing has been found to be part political fiction and cardboard history. The last act of this story in which the Spanish give up their claim to the pacific northwest is very wrong, it appears that the sources I have been using did not follow the story far enough. Missing in it was the cooperative use of the pacific northwest until 1795 when the sea otter population collapsed and there was no economic reason to stay in the area. Which explains why the British and the Russians continued down the west coast and in the end were the indirect cause of death of so many island Chumash in the early 1800's. So the story becomes more complex and just were to end the story telling becomes a little harder.

2007-05-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

I have been fighting the heat, and it seems heat has won with regard to the computer, and the bugs the most inventive and persistent. So in the sultry night which should be spent in the company of a woman all I can do is try to embed this from youtube.

2007-04-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here watching an episode of rocketboom and they played a short video of some high school kid filming other kids asking the question what do you represent. Now on the face of it, to me it seemed like an odd question until I heard the answers and thought about what the word "represent" means in this context. It got me thinking about what I was all about at that age. Now granted we were a free people then, and the world was a different place in many ways , but in some ways not so much they have a stupid war to worry about. I had Nixon they have Bush, But I still had the Constitution to protect me, they don't, but they have the hopes and dreams of youth and after hearing their voices. I have hope, and wish those of my generation had left them a better world, but those are the regrets of an old man. Thats what you get when you drink in the afternoon.

2007-04-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

A horse walks into a bar and orders a martini.
The bartender hands him the glass and says "That'll be $14.00".
Then he says "You know, we don't get many horses in here."
The horse says "

please complete and repost

2007-04-06T08:15:00.001-07:00

At those prices I can see why!

2007-04-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

Off topic for today: As I'm trying out a new partner in writing bad stories the is a test post.

2007-03-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Where to begin, in working on this project the echoes of the conflict live on, I was trying to get a picture of how Canada viewed the early exploration of the Pacific Northwest and in at lest one official web site they touch on the early Spanish explorers and the first permanent settlement on Vancouver Island which would have a bearing on Spain's case for a claim to that part of North America. The web sites story about the 1774 expedition is a bit confused, if the version I have is close to right but that remains to be seen. I have been working on getting information on the Spanish ships of that time and now have at lest one set of images that show what type of ships were operation along the coast. But those images don't show gun ports or gun decks so the class of ships will have to wait until more data comes in. Another data set I'm waiting on is part of the logs of one of the ships that worked the California coast, with the little data left to me by my much diminished library I will look at some of the conditions that our landsman suffered and why I think that this had a major effect in why the first and maybe second expeditions failed to claim more of the western coast than they did, or why the claim was seen as so weak that in the end much of the midwest and the south of America was sold to the U.S. and treated away western Canada. If all goes well I will also try some audio podcast like things once I have a bit more to say, this story really needs a telling and my weak skills as a writer do not do it justice. so there is my 15 minutes for the day, more later.

2007-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

The story has been growing a bit One of the problems well not, problems but difficulties is that there are two characters that are missing from the story and the research; one is the Native Americans who lived along the coast; the second is the physical environment itself. I was having a problem with starting the story itself but I think that by using Captain Cook's second voyage Which is the one important to the story. I can better illustrate both the past and the future, because it's the silent testimony of his logs and that one of the later figures important to the story is part of that voyage. It's one of the remarkable things is that key players are minor ones in the early voyages. And the ships are a puzzle right now, my contacts inform me that the ships that are part of this story have conflicting descriptions, as do some of the major players on the Spanish side of this. So the story should start with the British encounter along the Pacific Northwest trading with the Native Americans and a silver spoon shows up.

I hope that some pictures and other data show up soon from California, but for now I'll press on, working on both the California political scene, and the end result of the conflict given that I am trapped in a state that owes it's existence to the later events. That it for now, And I hope I can rope someone to help me with this project, but as it stands now I would need someone from Spain, England, Russia, and the east coast of the U.S. but thats all part of the adventure, lets see if I can do it before my time runs out.

2007-03-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

I was never really good at writing down my ideas but heres a shot at it.

I have been playing around with what I hoped would be a good subject for a research paper and in the process found what I think is a really good story, which finds its origins in the late 1700's. The time is dynamic for reasons I won't go in to now, but as with all good stories it starts with a failed secret mission along the west coast of north America and a set of what would seem insignificant incidents, such as a Native American stealing a silver spoon, and another being hit on the head by an abalone shell. It also involves the Russians and the fur trade as well as the British and Americans who were playing games in the Pacific over trade and power, much of that occurs later in the story. Captain Cooke shows up in the tail, all of this sets the stage for near war between Spain and England. Revitalizes the royal navy just before Napoleon rises to power, and in a way makes Canada and North America what it is now.

So in the days ahead I will post my outline of the events here and there may be other voices that will post as well. Thats all the news that fit to print here on a hot night on the fossil coast.

2007-03-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

So heres the deal I friend of mine said I should write everyday so here is the beginning: Not all shipwrecks take place at sea, and you can be a castaway in your own land. This is a story of just such an occurrence where after a life spent in the mountains, desert's, and coastlines of the pacific a man finds himself in his last days cast adrift on the shores of a fossil coast.

2007-02-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

When I started bloging I had hoped to fill this space with tails of my adventures, but that was not to be. I have wiped the slate clean and thought lets try something new, as I am shipwrecked in the Midwest with little hope of making It home to California. I thought I'd change my focus to was going on in the world around me. And I hope that if I use a photo from the web and forgot to acknowledge the photographer please for give me. so

Right now I'm working on essay that deals with how events can lead to unexpected want; such as a failed mission of exploration effected the fate of empires, and changed the history of North America and the United Kingdom among others. so in the next post a piece of that and other thoughts.