Owl & Ibis - A Confluence Of Minds

Diogenes Looking for An Honest Man Attributed to JHW Tischbein I am a citizen of the world. Diogenes of Sinope 404-323BCE Friends, People often refer to our “political leaders” here in the U.S. when in fact they are “followers.” They follow, in descending order, their wealthy patrons; the polls and votes of the people; and activist groups that are powerful enough to threaten their money, polls and votes. Democrats are the lesser of two evils. Both major parties are “broken.” That is, broken to the bit and saddle of crony-consumer capitalism. Voting is a necessity. But the only real power the people have to influence politicians to do humane, responsible things beyond what serves the wealthy and powerful, can only be had through activist groups that vie for control of the saddle and bridle. Power to the people! Power to support progressive, non-political groups that take the politicians by their vote-sniffing noses and pocket books, and make them do the will of a...

Kudos and a sincere thank you to Steve Yothment on his excellent January 8, 2019 O&I presentation, "Little-Known Facts about Gardening!" Steve, a master gardener and core group member of O&I provided basic information on plant anatomy and physiology as well as detailed information on plant taxonomy, soil types and soil testing, and photosynthesis and plant respiration. He also provided other little-known information on farming and the major plant crops in our area and elsewhere in the U.S. A PDF of Steve's superb slideshow may be found here . Great presentation, Steve! O&I ]:> ~:)

Photo: Ann Kreilkamp Dear Friend, Here is a short read for you: How I Got Bamboozled by Fake News: And the Good That Came of It Ann Kreilkamp Exopermaculture January 6, 2019  “And thus, a few years later, was Green Acres Village born, first as a neighborhood garden, and then fully fledging as a potent little human community in communion with our Mother Earth. It has been evolving, organically, for over decade now, starting on the mental plane in 2007, when I took the permaculture design course, and was astonished to recognize in its principles real hope for a transformed world... “It was just then, just when I had worked my mental/emotional system into a frenzied intensity, that I heard a little voice in my right ear: ‘No need for that. Just change perceptions in your neighborhood.’” Here’s some folks doing something other than violent revolution or trying to reform our dead-end, powerful and wealthy-controlled way of living. They see what’s comin...

"The Evangelism of TED Talks Has an Eerie Resemblance to this 19th Century Religious Tradition" Roxanne Cooper AlterNet January 12, 2019  “But if TED and the 19th century lecture circuits—the new lyceum and the old—can offer us anything, it’s a reminder that science and research offer more than new knowledge. They come with a kind of aesthetic, and they invoke certain emotions—among them thrill and hope. ... [A] certain fuzzy optimism takes hold. There’s a promise here that would be familiar, I think, to anyone who’s been moved by a great motivational speech or sermon. It’s a sense that, faced with the grind of daily life, and the intractability of its problems, somehow, through some flash of understanding, the basic terms of our struggle will change.” “Thrill?” I’ll pass. “Hope?” Okay, but not based on “fuzzy optimism” or “somehow” or “some flash of understanding.” I am not dark, gloom and doom, or nihilistic. I am not a hedonist or an Epicurean. I am a rea...