All Hallows Eve

Another Halloween is here and kids are anxious to dress up and receive treats as a reward for performing a simple "trick" or just for not being naughty. Some adults also seem to be very excited by the observance. US Person always wants to know the ulterior reasons for human behaviors: Halloween has its deep roots in the pagan past. Pagan is a broad term encompassing many different belief systems which do not accept the eternal salvation offered to God's "creatures" by Jesus Christ. Most relevant to 'Merica, still a predominately Anglo-Saxon nation, are the Celtic religious traditions of northern Europe that survive in attenuated forms into the 21st century despite almost two millennia of religious repression. As we will see, polytheistic Celtic religion was fundamentally connected to Nature and its changes, so it may be superficially characterized as a type of nature worship. Christianity recognizes Nature as the perfect exemplar of God's divine power and eternal nature, but that suffers corruption from man's faulty dominion. Psalm 19, 104; Romans 8. Nature worship errs in that it worships creation, but not the Creator.☩ 

blue sun energy, red temperature

Samhain, samhainn, sauin depending on which Celtic language you use, dates from the time when the Celtic people were primarily pastoral suggests George Frazier, who wrote The Golden Bough*. The first of the four "quarter days" it marks the beginning of winter, and was generally held on November 1st. Tribal gatherings, feasting, drinking and contests were all part of the celebration at a time when the veil between the spirit world and this world was at its weakest. Supernatural beings and departed souls could enter the living's reality. Beltane, in spring, on the opposite side of the wheel of seasons from Samhain , celebrated fertility and life [chart above]. Samhain can be said to be a celebration of the dead. It occurs at the time herds were moved from summer pastures to their winter paddocks. Because meat could be effectively preserved during the cold months, animals were selected for slaughter. Spirits had to be propitiated to ensure the people and their livestock survived harsh winter. Later developments recorded in the 16th century, mumming¹ and guising², became persistent elements of the Samhain holiday, perhaps evolving from the practice of impersonating the souls of the dead and collecting offerings on their behalf. Wiccans, who are modern pagans, celebrate a version of Samhian as one of the four Great Sabbats (Sabbaths) of the Wheel, also dedicated to the dead.

The Christianization of Europe was achieved through the strenuous efforts of monks and converted rulers to eradicate the 'old ways', in part by replacing them with Christian observances (interpretatio christiana).  So it was with the great pagan holiday of Samhain. Hallowe'en, a contraction of All Hallows (Saints) Eve, began to be observed on October 31st as early as the 6th century, the eve of the feast day of All Saints (Hallows) on November 1st in the church's calendar; it was part of the three day observance dedicated to remembering the dead--saints, martyrs, and the faithful departed. Yet pagan traditions died very hard. Some of them became incorporated into the Christian practice such as wearing costumes and carrying hollowed out turnip lanterns while "souling", or collecting cakes for the beloved departed. This practice dates back to at least the 15th century. In France, the danse macabre took place on Hallowe'en when the dead rose to hold a riotous celebration in graveyards. The living, in costume, could join them if they had the nerve to do so. Huesos de Santos, special pastries, are still laid out for the dead in Spanish churchyards. All over Europe fires were lit to guide souls and ward off demons. In the New World, Anglican and Catholic colonists brought their Hallowe'en practices with them, although the Puritans frowned on these "popish" observances. Their strict disapprobations included celebration of Christmas!  They were the original "Debbie Downer".

So, the commercial event now so popular among children, and those who are still children, has deep roots in religion, and thus our evolutionary past. It is a time to remember loved ones who have gone before us at a time--halfway between the fall equinox and winter solstice--when the sun's life-giving energy fades from view.
1. traditional folk plays by men in costume, called "mummers".
2. from Scotland, children going from door to door in disguise.
☩ Paul wrote to the Romans, "In fact, whatever can be known about God is clear to them [the perversely irreligious]; He himself made it so. Since the creation of the world, invisible realities, God's eternal power and divinity, have become visible, recognized through the things he has made...They claim to be wise, but turned into fools instead; they exchanged the glory of God for images representing mortal man, birds, beasts and snakes...they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." Romans 1:19-25
*Frazer wrote in his preface to the third edition of his multi-volume work on the relation of magic and religion that, "we [Hegel] both hold that in the mental evolution of humanity an age of magic preceded an age of religion, and that the characteristic difference between magic and religion is that, whereas magic aims at controlling nature directly, religion aims at controlling it indirectly through the mediation of a powerful supernatural being or beings to whom man appeals for help and protection". Of course now science and its application, technology, attempts to do what magic and religion could not do. Needless to say this is a totally agnostic view of man's development. The Crucifixion of the Lamb was placed in context of a discussion of pagan myth about a sacrificial king-god in Frazer's original work. In his third edition he moved the topic to a "speculative" appendix perhaps reflecting the scandal created by his secular treatment of Christianity's central belief.  Notably, Frazer accepted the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth as a great religious and moral reformer, and considered doubts about his existence unworthy of attention.

Elephant Poaching Declines

South African elephant family, credit: SolaGratia

CITES, the international convention on trade in endangered species, reports that elephant poaching is trending down in 2016. That estimate is based on several sources of information including MIKE, (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) and IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). Elephant poaching. Commercial trading in ivory was first banned in 1989, but the worse declines in elephant population ac cross the thirty seven range states of the African elephant have occurred in the last decade due to poaching. The peak year appears to be 2011. Current levels are below 2008. CITES estimates that 110,000 have died in the last ten years. CITES says that poaching is certainly a dire threat to their existence, but human conflict and climate change are likely to constitute the greatest threat to the survival of the species; therefore, landscape planning to support our coexistence with elephants is absolutely essential. About 33 "development corridors" are planned or being implemented across Africa, and if completed, would extend 53,000 kilometers. Such large scale development would certainly negatively impact elephant populations.

processed ivory for sale in Kinshasa, DRC

The good news is that ivory seizures are up based on information reported by individual governments. Nearly 40 tons of ivory was seized in 2016, nearly three times greater than in 2007. Governments in market countries, notably China and the United States, have finally moved to enforce laws against trading in ivory. UK-based trade monitoring organization, TRAFFIC, says that while international enforcement is improving, it has not turned the corner on smuggling syndicates which are using innovative ways to carry on business such as reducing the size of individual shipments, and ivory processing at the source. [photo courtesy TRAFFIC]. The price of ivory has plummeted 50% in the last few years. An indication that the extinction of the African elephant was a bad hedge.  CITES Standing Committee meets for the 69th occasion in November to discuss the conservation of threatened wildlife.

COTW: The End of Chinook Salmon?

US Person posted previously about the "king of salmon", the chinook, and their alarming decline in numbers. {28.08.17} Federal scientists have been sampling the waters off Oregon and Washington for twenty years to get an accurate idea of the changes in the size of runs up the Columbia River. This years count was the lowest ever with some nets coming up completely empty. Bad news not only for anglers but other species like orca that feed on salmon. Instead of juvenile salmon the researchers came up with jack mackerel and Pacific pompano, not usually found off the coasts of Oregon and Washington; Pampano is usually associated with tropical seas. Mackerel feed on young salmon. Look at this chart, if you can:

These indications according to the surveyors may mark a fundamental ecosystem shift that is not beneficial to salmon, a cold water species. The "Blob" is gone {16.08.17}, but warm water species that came with it have remained. Other changes in the North Pacific ecosystem also do not bode well for salmon and their predators. Fatty zooplankton and copepods, which young salmon need to survive, are less abundant.  Chlorophyll, the first link in the marine food chain, is also at its lowest recorded level in twenty years. Marine birds who normally feed on other small fish may be turning to juvenile salmon as a replacement because forage fish like herring, anchovies and smelt, are severely depleted.

All of this is very bad news for resident orcas, who have an ingrained culture of eating just salmon and nothing else. They seem unable to switch to other sources of protein in the ocean like seals that are the prey of transient orcas.  Resident orcas would rather starve to death than change their diet.  A resident 2½ year-old calf, J-52, was observed to die of starvation off the coast of Port Renfew, BC on September 19th.

'Toontime: Whitefish Stinks

BC Idonwanna sez: Look'em like beached whale!

Update: Amid heavy political fallout over the contract, Puerto Rico's governor cancelled Whitefish Energy Holding's sweetheart deal to repair the grid yesterday. 69.5% of the island is still without power after six weeks. Cancellation of the contract will further delay repairs. The Army Corps of Engineers said it will increase the size of Fluor Corp.'s contract from $600 million to $840 million to insure the "continued execution of the critical repair and restoration". The Army awarded Fluor the original repair contract while PREPA dealt directly with Whitefish.
 
{27.10.17}Its not the Brooklyn Bridge, but it is close. How a two-person company from tiny Whitefish, Montana (pop.~7,000) was awarded a $300 million contract to service and repair Puerto Rico's hurricane ravaged electrical grid is something of a Washington-style 'mystery'.  Considering the nation's capital was built on a swamp, the mystery is definitely appropriate; the fact that Whitefish is the hometown of Trump's Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke whose son has worked for the company is simply coincidence! There is where the Brooklyn Bridge comes in.

Daryl Cagle @ Cagle Cartoons.com has dug out his dead fish cartoon yet again to depict the stink. There was no open bidding for the massive contract. According to the company's CEO, "We took the call and we are here. More accurately, the 280 subcontractors on the island are there and they will do the work. Hurricane Maria knocked out 80% of the island's electric utility. Whitefish will have to rebuild 100 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. Some companies were apparently concerned by the fact that PREPA, the local power authority, declared bankruptcy in July and is $9 billion in debt.

'Mericans Sicker Than Before

One of the reasons offered for increasing the retirement age from 65 to 67 under the Reagan Administration and a Democratic Congress was that 'Mericans were expected to live longer in better health.  NOT.  A new study by the Society of Actuaries (those quants that calculate the odds for insurance companies) says that life expectancy for men and women has dropped by 1.2%, the first increase since 2005 and the first increase over one percentage since 1980. The decrease is attributed to the increase in eight of the ten leading causes of death shown in chart form here:

credit: World Socialist Website from National Vital Statistics System
note: CLRD is chronic lower respiratory disease (e.g. pneumonia)

Another study from the University of Michigan found that middle age workers ten years away from collecting Social Security are in poorer health than prior generations in their fifties. Inequality among seniors in 'Merica is almost the worst in the world. Only Mexico and Chile have worse inequality among thirty five member nations of the OECD (Organization for Cooperation and Development). In other words the rich are living comfortably and living longer while the not rich are working longer, dying younger, and living in pain and poor health.

So Trump supporters say: But the stock market hit a new high!!! US Person says: the only thing a booming market is proof of is that the plutocracy, which owns it, is getting richer at the expense of the rest of US. Of course plutocrats who are "dangerous to democracy" like Trump think lazy 'Mericans already live too long to be profitable. In the depressed coal mining county of McDowell male life expectancy is a miserable 63.9 years! McDowell joins such progressive countries like Haiti, Ghana and Papua New Guinea at the bottom of the longevity list.

COTW: Cutting Off Earth's Lungs

One of the most effective ways to avoid catastrophic climate change is to preserve Earth's remaining forests that function as a global carbon dioxide sponge and oxygen generator. Resource rich but less developed countries are cutting their forests down at an alarming rate. These charts show deforestation rates in a few of the major forest areas of the globe. A bright spot is that Brazil is slowly reducing the amount of Amazon forest being cleared, mostly for cattle ranching and subsistence farming. Europe has managed to increase its amount of forest cover as the movement to protect remaining forests gains policy priority.

Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Indonesia, continue to loose an alarming amount of forest to logging, legal and illegal, and the palm oil industry.

Brazil has decreased the rate of its deforestation but recently (2013) experienced increase due to changes in its forest code and incentives for forest preservation. The rest of the Amazon Basin is not doing as well as Brazil in protecting rain forest. Peru is noticeably hard hit by palm oil clearances and gold mining [lower chart]. Bolivia, with its adoption of the rights of nature concept, has decreased the rate of forest lost to cattle ranching and mechanized farming:

Finally, the Congo Basin in Africa is loosing forest rapidly as development intensifies. African lowland rain forests face a range of threats from agricultural clearances, logging, poaching and mining:

Iditarod Hit With Doping Scandal

The famous race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska is steeped in history and lore, but the race organizers are dealing with new kind of notoriety: doping of participating sled dogs.  Animal advocates having been lobbying for closing down the grueling race because sled dogs often die from exhaustion and suffer serious injuries.  One hundred and fifty dogs have died in the race's forty-four year history according to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Last year a drunk on a snowmobile attacked mushers and killed a dog.  Huskies, known for their willingness to run until they cannot, have suffered severe infections and bloody paws.

Dallas Seavey has won the race several times and lost to his father in this year's race.  Four of his dogs tested positive for an opiod pain-killer, Tramadol.  Because the race organizers cannot prove he administered the drug, Seavey [photo] will keep his $59,000 in winnings.  A documentary director of a film about sled dogs said the race is all about winning regardless of inhuman treatment of the dogs.  The race has lost sponsors as result of the criticisms, notably Wells Fargo.  Seavey has said he will withdraw from next year's race after criticizing the organizing trail committee for its handling of the doping issue.  He denies he doped his dogs and believes their food was adulterated.  The committee has changed this year's rules to put the disqualification of a positive drug result on the musher unless they can show the doping was beyond their control.