What a week this has been. So much has happened, I don’t know if I can fit it all in to one post. But, hey, that’s what my Research Journal is for, right? Tying up loose ends. Closing those open loops?

Here we go….

Boats and Motivations

I’ve decided to suspend my overnight trips to Eden until I get the structure in camp built and the wood stove installed. My hope is to have it finished by the end of December, with the plan to spend Christmas break there.

Tomorrow will be my first day trip over, renting a boat from the local marina. It’s about $300 to rent boats each week, but I think it will serve me much better to accomplish the task at hand.

Finger’s crossed.

Podcasting Perils

I’ve been listening to podcasts alot lately. Especially when I’m out on the lake and under way with some kind of manual labor – cutting firewood, building, etc. So, of course, one day the thought came to mind, “I should do my own podcast.”

It’s not the first time I’ve entertained such an idea. In fact, I have ideas for several different shows. But, every time I try to put rubber down, the whole endeavor falls apart.

One of the biggest reasons – I don’t like the sound of my own voice. In fact, this was one of the reasons I thought the idea might be a good one. Taking on several new podcasts, I’ve discovered that there are some really TERRIBLE broadcasters out there. Even worse than myself. I think it is true, everyone CAN do their own podcast, but not everyone SHOULD.

I jumped in anyway, convincing myself this time around would be different. I put together an outline, wrote a script. I even did an impromptu episode, which I thought actually turned out pretty good.

So, I re-tool and today fired up Audacity, plugged in my headphones and mic, and took off running. And falling. Crashing. Utter catastrophe. A shambles.

I don’t really know what it is. Maybe the thought of putting something out there that I don’t really stand behind. Maybe I see through the sham of it all – that the podcasting attempt is really just a means of marketing my books. I don’t know. I do know after a dozen or more takes, I finally just packed it in.

I have to face the cold hard reality. I am not a podcaster.

TSA & Facial Recognition

So, the government is rolling out more invasive tactics in the name of security and protection, that will all but eradicate our privacy in the future.

Now they are unveiling facial recognition at airports. It is currently being used at a dozen airports around the country and will soon be implemented nationwide.

This is simply a step in the race toward complete governmental control over every aspect of our lives. But, we really have no one to blame but ourselves.

When I first read the CBS article, I thought at least my life is rather anonymous. But then I got to thinking about that.

How anonymous am I?

Come to find out, not so much.

First, consider that I have not used cash in nearly three years. I mean, no cash. No change. I can’t remember the last time I went to the bank. I don’t use ATMs. But, what I do use with an almost daily regularity is my go-to credit card. I use it to buy everything and then pay it off at the end of each month.

It’s so easy.

And, yet, by doing this, I have voluntarily entered a cashless society, and have given my implicit permission for the credit card company, for the government, to track my every purchase.

Now, consider my Internet use. Not only do I have cable service in my home, but I also have succumbed to using a primary google account on both my laptop and my smartphone. So, not only is my ISP tracking everything I do online, but so is Google. So much for anonymity.

The one thing I don’t have tied to my life is social media, something in which I truly abhor. But, I used to be a hard pass on using google accounts, or smart phones. Even credit cards were for me taboo. But now look at me.

So, if facial recognition is rolled out mainstream, I will be forced to either sacrifice my privacy once and for good, or I will have to walk around with a hood over my head every time I wander into town looking to resupply.

Maybe I should go back to cash, get a flip phone, and log out of google?

Cabin in the Woods

In a stretch of publicly owned timber in California, a Forest Ranger stumbled onto something quite intriguing. It was a cabin tucked back into the brush and trees, to the point that it was undetectable just a few hundred yards away.

This cabin was made of plywood and tarps, and had a padlock on the door and seemed to be collecting debris on its room from many seasons standing alone in this remote part of the wilderness.

Upon closer inspection, the now team of investigators discovered a small home someone had been using, equipped with a wood stove, lots of supplies in jars, a to-do list, a rocking chair, etc. The cabin was two storey and there were no roads leading to it.

Cabin in the woods discovered by forest ranger.

The rangers and other investigators attached a nuisance citation to the door when they left, stating the owners of the cabin needed to dismantle the structure, since it was on public land and not allowed. They returned a month later to a shocking surprise.

Not only was the cabin gone, but all the components that made the cabin were gone, too. Disappeared. There were no tracks leading away from where the structure had one stood. No tire tracks. No garbage left behind. All that remained was the universal symbol for squatters rights, drawn in charcoal.

So, it makes me wonder…….

Who the hell was living at the cabin? A witch, maybe? Someone with the power to levitate the structure to another location? A person well educated in the dark arts of the ancient world?

There is no way to tell.

The interior of the cabin.

Certainly, the cabin has been set up less than a mile away, probably closer than that. And, with a month’s time frame, it would be easy to move that amount of materials that distance, especially if there were no elevation gains.

But, I still can’t shake the question, who lived there and why?

Though similar in structure to my own Eden project, I’m going about this a little differently. I own my property outright so I don’t have to worry about the government interfering.

Even more curious, I ponder the question of how many more people are living out in the woods like this, yet undiscovered?

Apparently, this is the universal symbol for squatter’s rights. Who knew?

What I Hope to Focus on Next Week

Looks like I might get rained out tomorrow, so my day trip over to Eden is in jeopardy. I will have to play it by ear and see what the forecast looks like in the morning. I now wish I had done more work over the summer, before the cold hit.

My Current Reading/Resource List

Academic Article Review of Black Bear Behavior – 1%
Academic Article Review of Cougar Behavior – 2%
What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Getting Older – On Hold
Beyond the Quantum – On Hold
Desert Solitaire – 12%
Biocentrism – 5%
When we Die – 15%
In Six Days – 0%
Lose it For Life – 10%
Celibacy in Crisis – 25%
The Hour of Our Death – 20%
Through the Wormhole Episodes – 1%
Death Yale Lectures – 1%
Joe Rogan Experience Podcasts – 3%
Ninja by Lustbader – 30%
Fountain Creek Trilogy – 1%
John Updike Early Stories – 0%
Dexter by Design – 10%
Mammoth Hunters – 55%
The Goldfinch – 0%
The Regime (Left Behind Series) – 2%
Lolita – 100%
Before the Fall – 100%
The Testament by Grisham – 100%
Where I Lived and What I Lived For – 100%
Astrophysics for Busy People – 100%
Hermits: Insights of Solitude – 100%

It’s regularly dropping into the low 30’s by morning now, unless it is raining, then its usually in the 40’s. I’m so close, yet there’s so much work to do, so much more effort to get to where I need to be. I think, maybe, I will just go tomorrow – rain or shine.

Get on with the work that needs to get done.

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