Blue Planet Journey

  How do you record your stories, ideas, thoughts, and experiences for future generations? If you are famous (or infamous) enough, somebody does it for you. A book, a Wikipedia entry, or a magazine article or two might survive you. Plenty of people write in journals, but my guess is that these journals soon are relegated to the trash heap after you pass. I mean, who wants your daily whining, wishing, and wondering? There are some exceptions. One of my favorite little books was finalized right before Ed Abbey's death, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: Notes from a Secret Journal . This slim book contains snippets taken from his books as well as his many journals. • "From the point of view of a tapeworm, man was created by God to serve the appetite of the tapeworm." • "The highest treason, the meanest treason, is to deny the holiness of this little blue planet on which we journey through the cold void of space." In our current digital world, we might feel we have...

I admit it, I spend a lot of time in Starbucks.  When I'm in Honolulu, I tend to wake up about 6, and walk a third of a mile up the valley to the Manoa Starbucks.  There, I get a coffee and a Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper, catch up on local and global events, check out the tide tables, then get out the computer to begin with the emails and do some writing.  The clientele is primarily people of Asian descent, which makes sense, since 50%+ of the population of the valley is... people of Asian descent!   Manoa Valley consists primarily of people of Asian descent, which is similar to urban Honolulu. The majority of people of Asian descent report Japanese ancestry, with Chinese and Filipino ancestry rounding out the top three. Manoa Valley around 1900.  The primary use of the land was agriculture - taro and rice.  This photo is on display in the Manoa Library.  Manoa Valley, 1935 . The Manoa Starbucks fills in t...

Reusable sign placed on parked bikes in Rock Creek Park, DC.  It looked like cyclists toss the signs to the ground.  They are picked up and used again! The main purpose of signs is to communicate, to send a message.  Here are some recent messages! This sign was at the entrance to one of the Smithsonian's museums.  No guns and knives, no pepper spray, and no pot!  I'm surprised that marijuana got a reference when tobacco did not.   Bison as carbon farmers?  That's a great way to thank them, turning them into expensive jerky. Sign posted in a Georgetown ice cream shop.  Watch for the rabid raccoon! Posters on the wall in the George Washington University Law School's Student Bar Association office. Expectations? Well, it's not a sign, but who doesn't like ice cream? Truth in advertising. Caroline with sign honoring her Auntie BB . Do Tahitians thank us for this import? French...