WHY DO RACISTS SEE THE WORLD AS THEY DO?

(A HUMANITARIAN REBUTTAL TO WORLD RACISM)

by Kenneth Harper Finton

29CF0E6900000578-0-image-a-34_1434814613248

A manifesto written by Dylann Roof shortly before he murdered nine black people in Charleston, South Carolina is an important clue into the workings of his mind and the ideas that underlie a universal form of racism and ignorance that is destroying our very world.

Roof states:

‘“I was not raised in a racist home or environment. Living in the South, almost every White person has a small amount of racial awareness, simply beause of the numbers of negroes in this part of the country. But it is a superficial awareness. Growing up, in school, the White and black kids would make racial jokes toward each other, but all they were were jokes. Me and White friends would sometimes would watch things that would make us think that “blacks were the real racists” and other elementary thoughts like this, but there was no real understanding behind it.”

Millions of us were born and raised in this type of an environment. It is easy for whites who do not mingle and relate to black families on a daily basis to come to the conclusion that the blacks are the ‘real racists’. These whites never felt the stings of whips and slavery, the unequal treatment that the law afforded and allowed that still goes on every day. Far too many whites see the average black person as inferior. Many speak in the present tense and in a dialect that is not often used in white families. We are able to distinguish between blacks and whites from the sound of the voice alone in many cases.

Our parochial-styled schools are conservative and filled with narrow-minded ideas. They do little to dissuade the myth that blacks are inferior to whites.

Natural instinct and family practices from the time of the Stone Age inculcate us to believe that the Stranger is a Danger. Our defenses rise, the adrenaline flows. These hormones go to work when a Stranger comes among us.  The stranger must earn trust and always remains a danger to the tribe.

The failure of our educational system is shown by the fact that society has not lifted us from our tribal perspective and fears. It is natural for predators to fear one another. By teaching us to be predators, our schools have failed to make us more human.

Roof writes:

“Black people are racially aware almost from birth, but White people on average dont think about race in their daily lives. And this is our problem. We need to and have to. Say you were to witness a dog being beat by a man. You are almost surely going to feel very sorry for that dog. But then say you were to witness a dog biting a man. You will most likely not feel the same pity you felt for the dog for the man. Why? Because dogs are lower than men. This same analogy applies to black and White relations. Even today, blacks are subconsciously viewed by White people are lower beings. They are held to a lower standard in general. This is why they are able to get away with things like obnoxious behavior in public. Because it is expected of them.”

Here, the disturbed young man has a valid point. White people often view blacks to be inferior. Much of it is subconscious. The Black Stranger is something to be feared. They are often better athletes and dancers and have a genetic sense of rhythm that is different from and more sensual than their white counterparts. Young white men are taught that black men have bigger penises and more sexual stamina. These thoughts lead directly to conflict, hatred and competitive loathing. Such teachings come alive through sports, porno sites, and adolescent angst. Thousands of teachers and parents have these mistaken viewpoints.

Roof writes:

“Modern history classes instill a subconscious White superiority complex in Whites and an inferiority complex in blacks. This White superiority complex that comes from learning of how we dominated other peoples is also part of the problem I have just mentioned. But of course I dont deny that we are in fact superior.”

The history we study WAS written by the white race. Dominance over what is perceived to be the lesser and lower forms of life is the heritage of Western civilization. “Have dominion over every living thing” is supposedly a truth mouthed by God himself. Manifest destiny is our righteous path. Damn and destroy all that stands in the way of it. We learn this in church. We learn this in schools. Parents teach their children to be racists and bigots quite naturally. Even that false God that America prays to backs them up. God is on our side. God loves our team. God will deliver us. We are one nation under God. In God we trust.

Roof writes:

“Integration has done nothing but bring Whites down to level of brute animals. The best example of this is obviously our school system. Now White parents are forced to move to the suburbs to send their children to “good schools”. But what constitutes a “good school”? The fact is that how good a school is considered directly corresponds to how White it is. I hate with a passion the whole idea of the suburbs. To me it represents nothing but scared White people running. Running because they are too weak, scared, and brainwashed to fight.”

Times have changed. The walled cities and castles were built for the protection of the worker populations. The peasants rushed to the fortress to defend their lord and by so doing protected themselves. As cities became smelly and dirty and crowded, the countryside became more appealing when the immediate threat of foreign domination ceased. The suburbs were built by venture capitalists to create new wealth from homes, roads, utility services and expanded business opportunities. The peasants were given a better sounding name–the Middle Class.

Roof says:

“Negroes have lower Iqs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals. These three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior.”

Science, of course, shows that none of this is true, but it is an illusion that has been perpetuated for far too long. The depth of his ignorance is shown by Roof’s statement:  “For example when we learn about how George Washington carver was the first nigger smart enough to open a peanut.”

Our children obviously need a better education. They need to learn how to surf the Internet for accurate information and how to distinguish between fact and half truth. They need to learn respect for scientific studies and intellectual achievement. We do not teach them that. We have brought all this tragedy and stupidity on ourselves. America needs to get smarter and the dumbing down needs to stop. The old bigots may die off, but the young bigots are born again. We need to counter false religion and utter bullshit with real reason and creative thought. Unless we do, tomorrow will bring us another Dark Age.


29CF003800000578-0-image-a-30_1434814579525

THE FULL TEXT OF DYLANN ROOF’S RANT AND LOGIC

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/dylann-roof-manifesto-full-text

I was not raised in a racist home or environment. Living in the South, almost every White person has a small amount of racial awareness, simply beause of the numbers of negroes in this part of the country. But it is a superficial awareness. Growing up, in school, the White and black kids would make racial jokes toward each other, but all they were were jokes. Me and White friends would sometimes would watch things that would make us think that “blacks were the real racists” and other elementary thoughts like this, but there was no real understanding behind it.

The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case. I kept hearing and seeing his name, and eventually I decided to look him up. I read the Wikipedia article and right away I was unable to understand what the big deal was. It was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right. But more importantly this prompted me to type in the words “black on White crime” into Google, and I have never been the same since that day. The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens. There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders. I was in disbelief. At this moment I realized that something was very wrong. How could the news be blowing up the Trayvon Martin case while hundreds of these black on White murders got ignored?

From this point I researched deeper and found out what was happening in Europe. I saw that the same things were happening in England and France, and in all the other Western European countries. Again I found myself in disbelief. As an American we are taught to accept living in the melting pot, and black and other minorities have just as much right to be here as we do, since we are all immigrants. But Europe is the homeland of White people, and in many ways the situation is even worse there. From here I found out about the Jewish problem and other issues facing our race, and I can say today that I am completely racially aware.

Blacks

I think it is is fitting to start off with the group I have the most real life experience with, and the group that is the biggest problem for Americans.

Niggers are stupid and violent. At the same time they have the capacity to be very slick. Black people view everything through a racial lense. Thats what racial awareness is, its viewing everything that happens through a racial lense. They are always thinking about the fact that they are black. This is part of the reason they get offended so easily, and think that some thing are intended to be racist towards them, even when a White person wouldnt be thinking about race. The other reason is the Jewish agitation of the black race.

Black people are racially aware almost from birth, but White people on average dont think about race in their daily lives. And this is our problem. We need to and have to.

Say you were to witness a dog being beat by a man. You are almost surely going to feel very sorry for that dog. But then say you were to witness a dog biting a man. You will most likely not feel the same pity you felt for the dog for the man. Why? Because dogs are lower than men.

This same analogy applies to black and White relations. Even today, blacks are subconsciously viewed by White people are lower beings. They are held to a lower standard in general. This is why they are able to get away with things like obnoxious behavior in public. Because it is expected of them.

Modern history classes instill a subconscious White superiority complex in Whites and an inferiority complex in blacks. This White superiority complex that comes from learning of how we dominated other peoples is also part of the problem I have just mentioned. But of course I dont deny that we are in fact superior.

I wish with a passion that niggers were treated terribly throughout history by Whites, that every White person had an ancestor who owned slaves, that segregation was an evil an oppressive institution, and so on. Because if it was all it true, it would make it so much easier for me to accept our current situation. But it isnt true. None of it is. We are told to accept what is happening to us because of ancestors wrong doing, but it is all based on historical lies, exaggerations and myths. I have tried endlessly to think of reasons we deserve this, and I have only came back more irritated because there are no reasons.

Only a fourth to a third of people in the South owned even one slave. Yet every White person is treated as if they had a slave owning ancestor. This applies to in the states where slavery never existed, as well as people whose families immigrated after slavery was abolished. I have read hundreds of slaves narratives from my state. And almost all of them were positive. One sticks out in my mind where an old ex-slave recounted how the day his mistress died was one of the saddest days of his life. And in many of these narratives the slaves told of how their masters didnt even allowing whipping on his plantation.

Segregation was not a bad thing. It was a defensive measure. Segregation did not exist to hold back negroes. It existed to protect us from them. And I mean that in multiple ways. Not only did it protect us from having to interact with them, and from being physically harmed by them, but it protected us from being brought down to their level. Integration has done nothing but bring Whites down to level of brute animals. The best example of this is obviously our school system.

Now White parents are forced to move to the suburbs to send their children to “good schools”. But what constitutes a “good school”? The fact is that how good a school is considered directly corresponds to how White it is. I hate with a passion the whole idea of the suburbs. To me it represents nothing but scared White people running. Running because they are too weak, scared, and brainwashed to fight. Why should we have to flee the cities we created for the security of the suburbs? Why are the suburbs secure in the first place? Because they are White. The pathetic part is that these White people dont even admit to themselves why they are moving. They tell themselves it is for better schools or simply to live in a nicer neighborhood. But it is honestly just a way to escape niggers and other minorities.

But what about the White people that are left behind? What about the White children who, because of school zoning laws, are forced to go to a school that is 90 percent black? Do we really think that that White kid will be able to go one day without being picked on for being White, or called a “white boy”? And who is fighting for him? Who is fighting for these White people forced by economic circumstances to live among negroes? No one, but someone has to.

Here I would also like to touch on the idea of a Norhtwest Front. I think this idea is beyond stupid. Why should I for example, give up the beauty and history of my state to go to the Norhthwest? To me the whole idea just parralells the concept of White people running to the suburbs. The whole idea is pathetic and just another way to run from the problem without facing it.

Some people feel as though the South is beyond saving, that we have too many blacks here. To this I say look at history. The South had a higher ratio of blacks when we were holding them as slaves. Look at South Africa, and how such a small minority held the black in apartheid for years and years. Speaking of South Africa, if anyone thinks that think will eventually just change for the better, consider how in South Africa they have affirmative action for the black population that makes up 80 percent of the population.

It is far from being too late for America or Europe. I believe that even if we made up only 30 percent of the population we could take it back completely. But by no means should we wait any longer to take drastic action.

Anyone who thinks that White and black people look as different as we do on the outside, but are somehow magically the same on the inside, is delusional. How could our faces, skin, hair, and body structure all be different, but our brains be exactly the same? This is the nonsense we are led to believe.

Negroes have lower Iqs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals. These three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior. If a scientist publishes a paper on the differences between the races in Western Europe or Americans, he can expect to lose his job. There are personality traits within human families, and within different breeds of cats or dogs, so why not within the races?

A horse and a donkey can breed and make a mule, but they are still two completely different animals. Just because we can breed with the other races doesnt make us the same.

In a modern history class it is always emphasized that, when talking about “bad” things Whites have done in history, they were White. But when we lern about the numerous, almost countless wonderful things Whites have done, it is never pointed out that these people were White. Yet when we learn about anything important done by a black person in history, it is always pointed out repeatedly that they were black. For example when we learn about how George Washington carver was the first nigger smart enough to open a peanut.

On another subject I want to say this. Many White people feel as though they dont have a unique culture. The reason for this is that White culture is world culture. I dont mean that our culture is made up of other cultures, I mean that our culture has been adopted by everyone in the world. This makes us feel as though our culture isnt special or unique. Say for example that every business man in the world wore a kimono, that every skyscraper was in the shape of a pagoda, that every door was a sliding one, and that everyone ate every meal with chopsticks. This would probably make a Japanese man feel as though he had no unique traditional culture.

I have noticed a great disdain for race mixing White women within the White nationalists community, bordering on insanity it. These women are victims, and they can be saved. Stop.

Jews

Unlike many White naitonalists, I am of the opinion that the majority of American and European jews are White. In my opinion the issues with jews is not their blood, but their identity. I think that if we could somehow destroy the jewish identity, then they wouldnt cause much of a problem. The problem is that Jews look White, and in many cases are White, yet they see themselves as minorities. Just like niggers, most jews are always thinking about the fact that they are jewish. The other issue is that they network. If we could somehow turn every jew blue for 24 hours, I think there would be a mass awakening, because people would be able to see plainly what is going on.

I dont pretend to understand why jews do what they do. They are enigma.

Hispanics

Hispanics are obviously a huge problem for Americans. But there are good hispanics and bad hispanics. I remember while watching hispanic television stations, the shows and even the commercials were more White than our own. They have respect for White beauty, and a good portion of hispanics are White. It is a well known fact that White hispanics make up the elite of most hispanics countries. There is good White blood worht saving in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and even Brasil.

But they are still our enemies.

East Asians

I have great respent for the East Asian races. Even if we were to go extinct they could carry something on. They are by nature very racist and could be great allies of the White race. I am not opposed at all to allies with the Northeast Asian races.

Patriotism

I hate the sight of the American flag. Modern American patriotism is an absolute joke. People pretending like they have something to be proud while White people are being murdered daily in the streets. Many veterans believe we owe them something for “protecting our way of life” or “protecting our freedom”. But im not sure what way of life they are talking about. How about we protect the White race and stop fighting for the jews. I will say this though, I myself would have rather lived in 1940’s American than Nazi Germany, and no this is not ignorance speaking, it is just my opinion. So I dont blame the veterans of any wars up until after Vietnam, because at least they had an American to be proud of and fight for.

An Explanation

To take a saying from a film, “I see all this stuff going on, and I dont see anyone doing anything about it. And it pisses me off.”. To take a saying from my favorite film, “Even if my life is worth less than a speck of dirt, I want to use it for the good of society.”.

I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.

Unfortunately at the time of writing I am in a great hurry and some of my best thoughts, actually many of them have been to be left out and lost forever. But I believe enough great White minds are out there already.

Please forgive any typos, I didnt have time to check it.

MOTHER NATURE

NATURE'S ENTRY

“Aristotle believed the universe was always here and did not come into existence. Nature always existed, nor will it go out of being. Nature, or the entire system of existence, exists independently of us and is a given. Human beings have a hard time assimilating that things exist apart from themselves and insist that a superhuman or a deity be given credit for everything that ever was. Some people believe that the universe must be without a beginning in time, owing no credit and acting with spontaneity, as can be seen when volcanoes erupt or floods wipe out entire towns.” – Moya K. Mason, Is There Any Chance Involved in the Evolutionary Process? A Look at Aristotle’s Physics II.

For Aristotle, the universe is eternal. He also believed that the universe emerged from a  natural creative intelligence, a natural thought or desire because nothing happens even by chance without an essential cause. An essential cause is necessary for a chance event to take place. For example: you go to a grocery store to purchase some food items and by chance happen to meet a friend you had been meaning to talk with. That is a chance meeting. Before that chance meeting could take place, there has to be a reason to be in the same place by both parties. The desire to go shopping is the reason that preceded this chance meeting.

Taking that thought to universal scale, it is clear that Nature existed before us, does well with or without us. Nature wrote the laws and principles. Matter evolves around these designs.

The earliest references to Mother Nature made by Greek philosophers who lived before Socrates. The term Mother Gaia was written in a Mycenaean text on a clay tablet in the 13th to 14th centuries BC. Many other cultures, such as Native American Indians, embrace some form of the idea that the either the earth or the universe is symbolized by the form of Mother Nature.

WATCH AS JULIA ROBERTS NARRATES THE NATURE IS SPEAKING VIDEO:

Service dog throws self in front of bus to protect blind owner

CHEP0u4UYAILo0T

http://kfor.com/2015/06/09/witnesses-service-dog-throws-self-in-front-of-bus-to-protect-blind-owner/

BREWSTER, N.Y. – A service dog who went to great lengths to protect his owner is now recovering.

Figo is Audrey Stone’s service dog. Stone, who is blind, relies on the dog to get around and lead a normal life.

Figo is no stranger to crossing the street with Stone, but recently the dog’s protective instincts gained national attention.

Witnesses say a mini school bus was turning left onto the street and the driver was paying attention to oncoming traffic.

However, they say he didn’t notice that a pedestrian was just ahead.

When Figo saw the bus heading straight for Stone, he threw himself in front of the bus, according to The Journal News.

“I don’t know if [the driver] thought [Stone] was going to move faster, but it looks like the dog tried to take most of the hit for her,” said Paul Schwartz, who witnessed the accident.

Stone suffered a fractured right elbow, three broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a cut to her head, police told the Journal News.

Witnesses say Figo’s leg was cut down to the bone.

Despite his injuries, witnesses say Figo was more concerned about his owner.

“The dog took a lot of the blow,” Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo told The Journal News. “And he did not want to leave her side. He stood right with her. He was there to save her.”

The driver of the bus was given a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian.

Figo’s front leg is in a splint and Stone is recovering from surgery.

WATCHING DUCKS AND GEESE

by Kenneth Harper Finton IMG_2186 I am counting my blessings today, one of which is the ability to walk around a nearby lake that is also a bird preserve. The lake is called Berkeley Lake. It lies right off I70 in Denver, just before disappearing into the great Rocky Mountains.  Not only do I get needed daily exercise, but I make some ‘fine feathered friends” along the way …  not so much close friends, but acquaintances that help to brighten the day. joggermom-1 Meeting the other folk that are out to enjoy the day can be as important as the walk, as walkers abound at all times of the day, from wheelchair bound folk carrying oxygen to young mothers jogging with fat-wheeled baby carriages to take off the baby fat. When I was a child, baby carriages had thin rubber wheels and were pushed by sedate women with long summer dresses whose major purpose was to do some shopping or get the child outdoors. These days, healthy young women jog down the manicured sidewalks by the dozens, far outpacing my plodding and deliberate steps.IMG_2062

Regular hikers at our lake include Harry, a white-bearded, fit man who has lived in the neighborhood since childhood and walks around the lake four or five times every day.  He knows all about the birds, the eagles that nest there and the history of the lake since the early 1920s.

One of m170px-1_Wild_Turkeyy precious possessions that were handed down from my parents was my father’s copy of Audubon’s Birds of America. My mother bought the great volume of paintings for my father for Christmas in 1942, three months after I was born. I often wondered how she afforded it, as she was living on her own while my father was drafted and serving in the army during World War II.  I have used is for years to help identify birds that I come across, though many of these species are now rare or extinct. I have always been entranced with his paintings of birds and vividly remember the pictures of scary vultures and condors that so impressed me as a child. https://kennethharperfinton.me/2015/04/26/john-james-audubon/

THE DOUBLE CRESTED-CORMORANT

The lake has attracted many species of ducks and geese since the City of Denver drained and remodeled it a few years back.  One bird friend has become quite close this spring. I did not know the name of the bird and dubbed it a long-neck goose. Shades of Chantilly Lace, I am sure. For weeks he stood guard over his next on top of a nearby tree. He seemed to be in his tree every time we walked the lake for many weeks.IMG_2199 I learned that the bird was a double-crested cormorant. Cormorants and Shags are medium to large seabirds that are found all over the world. Their ancestors were fresh water birds. Though their feet are webbed, they can perch high in trees. They are related to pelicans. Cormorants are diving birds that can dive to as much as 45 meters in search of fish and eels and water snakes. After their dives, they spread their wings to dry, as their feathers are not as waterproof as a duck of a goose. They have an ungainly hooked beak and have been at war with fishermen for centuries, as they compete for the fish in the area.

THE HOODED MERGANSER

IMG_2077 - Version 2

One of the more impressive and lesser known ducks is the secretive Hooded Merganser. “Hooded” is an understatement for this little duck, also called a Crested Merganser. Adult males are beautiful with sharp black-and-white patterns set off by chestnut flanks. Females have their own distinctive elegance drawn from their from their cinnamon crest.

In the winter, the birds nest in holes left in trees like squirrels, but they move to fresh water lakes in the spring and summer while they hatch their broods.

Hooded Mergansers are fairly common in Colorado on small ponds and rivers. They dive for fish, crayfish and other food, seizing it with their thin, serrated bills.

Though they nest in tree cavities, the ducklings leave the nest with a precocious leap to the forest floor when they are only one-day old. Hooded Mergansers are the smallest of the three Merganser species found in the United States.

Males and females of the Hooded Merganser live in monogamous pairs. They remain together until the female has selected a nesting place and completed the laying her clutch. After that, the male leaves the female to incubate and care for the brood. Females will actively seek out cavities in dead trees or artificial nest boxes such as those provided for wood ducks.They prefer cavities four to fifteen feet off the ground. Breeding occurs anytime between the end of February and the end of June, depending on the region.

The female will lay a clutch of seven to fifteen eggs but only begins incubation when the last egg has been laid. This insures synchronous hatching, so all the ducklings are consequently the same size. This evolutionary trait facilitates efficient parental care. During incubation, the female may lose anywhere from 8% to 16% of her body weight.

Like most waterfowl, Hooded Merganser hatchlings are precocial. They usually leave the nest within twenty-four hours after they hatch. Once they leave the nest, the young are immediately capable of diving and foraging, but they often remain with the female for warmth and protection The Mergansers are descended from a species of ancient ducks from the Late Pleistocene era. The exact relationship between the ancient birds and the modern species is unknown.

THE AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN

Since 1960, Colorado is also home to the American White Pelican, a huge, lovely bird with black feathers on the tip of their IMG_2167wings and a nine-foot wingspread.  They are also found at Berkeley Lake. If you have never seen a White Pelican, you will be amazed when you finally see one. They fly like gliders in formation and land with a precision that would make the Air Force proud.  Most of them die before leaving the nest, but if they survive that first year they can have a twenty year life span. They now breed in Colorado in the spring and summer and move to the southern coasts when winter comes.

THE MALLARDS

IMG_2139 Mallards are plentiful in local lakes. They are dabbling ducks that do not dive, but stand on their heads, butts in the air, to nibble on water plants, insects and roots.Version 2 The males have a glossy green head, a ring of white feathers on the neck and gray areas on the wings. They males are called Drakes. The females have brown-speckled plumage. They form pairs in the fall that lasts until the female lays the eggs in the spring. Then the male often leaves and forms bonds with other males and lets the female raise the brood until the molting season in June.

Mallards are gregarious birds that love to flock together in groups called ‘sords’. The male will forcibly mate with other females, especially if she has lost her mate. Male Mallards remain sexually potent most of the year. When they pair off with mating partners, often one or several drakes are left out. This lonely group of adolescent ducks sometimes targets an isolated female duck, even if she is of a different species, then they chase and peck at her until she weakens. At this point the males take turns copulating with the female.

On 5 June 1995 an adult male Mallard collided with the glass façade of the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam and died. Another drake Mallard raped the corpse almost continuously for seventy-five minutes. The author of a paper on this occurrence disturbed the scene and secured the dead duck. Dissection showed that the rape victim was of the male sex. It is concluded that the Mallards were engaged in an ‘Attempted Rape Flight’ that resulted in the first described case of homosexual necrophilia in the Mallard.

Mallards are the ancestors to most domestic ducks.

Version 2

YOU OLD COOT

Coots are plentiful at our lake. The American coot is also known as a mud hen. Though commonly thought to be ducks, American Coots belong to a distinct order called Rallidae. Coots do not have the webbed feet of ducks, but sport broad, lobed scales on their lower legs and toes that fold back with each step to facilitate walking on dry land. Groups of coots are called covers or rafts.

The oldest known coot lived to be 22 years old.

The American Coot is a migratory bird that occupies most of North America. It lives in the Pacific and southwestern United States and Mexico year-round and occupies more northeastern regions during the summer breeding season. In the winter they can be found as far south as Panama.

The Coot mating season occurs during May and June if they have enough territory. Coots are monogamous throughout their life. The American Coot typically has long courtship periods. This courtship period is characterized by billing, bowing, and nibbling. Billing is the touching of bills between the male and females. Males generally initiate the billing. As the pair bond becomes more evident, both males and females will initiate billing only with each other and not other males or females.

After a pair bond is decided, the mating pair looks for a territory to build a nest. A pair bond becomes permanent when a nesting territory is secured. First the male chases the female. Then, the female moves to the display platform and squats with her head under the water. The male then mounts the female, using his claws and wings to balance on the female’s back while the she brings her head above the water. Sex for the coot usually takes no longer than two seconds, thus the expression, “You old Coot.”

IMG_2149Coots generally build floating nests. The female lays 8–12 eggs per clutch. Females and males have similar appearances, but they can be distinguished during aggressive displays by the larger head plumage on the male. 

American Voots eat primarily algae and other aquatic plants but also animals (both vertebrates and invertebrates) when available.

The American Coot has a mixed reproductive strategy. The female practices a form of brood parasitism, a common alternative reproductive method in some birds. When a parasitic female lays her egg in a host female’s nest, the host female lays about two eggs per day. Host females may recognize parasitic eggs when the egg deposition pattern deviates from the traditional one egg per day pattern. The occurrence of brood parasitism may be influenced by the body size of the potential parasitic female relative to the potential host female. Parasitic females are generally larger than their host counterparts, but on average, there is no size difference between the parasite and the host.

The American Coot, unlike other parasitized species, has the ability to recognize and reject conspecific parasitic chicks from their brood. Parents aggressively reject parasite chicks by pecking them vigorously, drowning them or preventing them from entering the nest. They learn to recognize their own chicks by imprinting on cues from the first chick that hatches. The first-hatched chick is a reference to which parents discriminate between later-hatched chicks. Chicks that do not match the imprinted cues are then recognized as parasite chicks and are rejected. Hunters generally avoid killing American Coots because their meat is not as sought after as that of ducks.

Much research has been done on the breeding habits of American coots.

THE CANADIAN GEESE

IMG_2085 - Version 2

Non-migratory Canadian Goose populations are on the rise. They are a species that is frequently found on golf courses, in parking lots and urban parks. Owing to its adaptability to human-altered areas, it has become the most common waterfowl species in North America. In many areas Canadian Geese are now regarded as pests by humans. They pollute beaches and leave their staining feces in many an unwelcome place. An extended hunting season, deploying noise makers, and hazing by dogs have been used in an attempt to disrupt flocks.

The Canadian goose is a large, wild species with a black head and neck, white patches on the face. It has a brown body and beautiful markings. It was originally a native to the arctic and temperate regions of the far north, but through migration it has reached into northern Europe as well.  Like most geese, the Canadian goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; it tends to be found on or close to fresh water.

These birds are extremely successful at living in areas that humans have altered greatly. Because Canadian geese have been able to establish breeding colonies in urban and cultivated areas, which provide food and few natural predators, they are well known as a common park species. Their success has led to them being considered a pests. Their destruction of crops, their constant honking noise, their copious droppings and aggressive territorial behavior – along with their and their nasty habit of begging for food –  has made them unwelcome in many areas.

Canada geese are also among the most commonly hunted waterfowl in North America.

By the early 20th century, over-hunting and loss of habitat in the late 19th century and early 20th century had resulted in a serious decline in the numbers of this bird in its native range. The giant Canadian Goose subspecies was believed to be extinct in the 1950s, In 1962, a small flock was discovered wintering in Rochester, Minnesota by Harold Hanson of the Illinois Natural History Survey.

During the second year of their lives, Canada geese find a mate. They are monogamous. Most couples stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the other may find a new mate. The female lays from two to nine eggs with an average of five per clutch. Both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male.

Two years ago, I knew little about ducks and geese. With camera in hand and a love of nature in my heart, I began to gain a new appreciation of the birds that populate our world. According to some estimates, there are about ten thousand different species of birds on Earth presently. Total populations for birds number about two to four hundred billion birds living today, excluding domestic chickens and turkeys.

This is much less than in past ages. We have lost about 500 species since 1500 and 129 known species have become extinct.  This is bad news for the planet, as birds help to pollinate crops and destroy pests. Scavenger birds clean uop the landscape and help with the decomposition of organic materials. Their decline even helps diseases to spread in human populations.

Estimates are that there are ten billion birds in the United States in the spring and twenty billion in the fall.

Winter and hunters kill about ten billion birds in the United States per year.

The American Bird Conservancy estimates that cats kill around two hundred million birds per year in the US alone.

PAINTED MERSANGER

HOW TO BUILD A WIND TURBINE

 

This video explains how a wind farm is built. It takes around 3 weeks to install a turbine. A wind turbine with 30 years working life will return its investment within 3 to 4 years after getting online.

ABSENCE MAKES THE MAN GET MADDER

A father is reprimanded for taking his kids out of school and makes the news with his reply:

“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Rossi,” the letter says, “I understand your family recently took a family vacation. I want you to be aware that the Abington School District does not recognize family trips as an excused absence, regardless of the activities involved in the trip. The school district is not in the position of overseeing family vacations or evaluating the educational nature of a family trip. The dates that your children were absent were recorded as unexcused. An accumulation of unexcused absences can result in a referral to our attendance officer and a subsequent notice of a violation of the compulsory school attendance law.”

MICHAEL ROSSI’S RESPONSE TO SCHOOL:

Dear Madam Principal,

While I appreciate your concern for our children’s education, I can promise you they learned as much in the five days we were in Boston as they would in an entire year in school.

Our children had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that can’t be duplicated in a classroom or read in a book.
In the 3 days of school they missed (which consisted of standardized testing that they could take any time) they learned about dedication, commitment, love, perseverance, overcoming adversity, civic pride, patriotism, American history culinary arts and physical education.

They watched their father overcome, injury, bad weather, the death of a loved one and many other obstacles to achieve an important personal goal.

They also experienced first-hand the love and support of thousands of others cheering on people with a common goal.

At the marathon, they watched blind runners, runners with prosthetic limbs and debilitating diseases and people running to raise money for great causes run in the most prestigious and historic marathon in the world.

They also paid tribute to the victims of a senseless act of terrorism and learned that no matter what evil may occur, terrorists can not deter the American spirit.

These are things they won’t ever truly learn in the classroom.

In addition our children walked the Freedom Trail, visited the site of the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre and the graves of several signers of the Declaration of Independence.

These are things they WILL learn in school a year or more from now. So in actuality our children are ahead of the game.

They also visited an aquarium, sampled great cuisine and spent many hours of physical activity walking and swimming.

We appreciate the efforts of the wonderful teachers and staff and cherish the education they are receiving at Rydal Elementary School. We truly love our school.

But I wouldn’t hesitate to pull them out of school again for an experience like the one they had this past week.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Michael Rossi, Father

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON

Born AprilUnknown 26, 1785,  John James Audubon was birthed in what is now Haiti on his father’s sugar plantation. His birth name was Jean-Jaques, named after his father Jean who was a French privateer, commonly known as pirates. His father had the rank of Lieutenant in the French navy and his mother was a 27-year-old chambermaid from Les Touches, Brittany. His mother’s name was Jeanne Rabines and lived as a mistress with his father, Jean. She got a tropical disease and died on the island when her son was just a few months old.

Audubon grew up in France, but when he was 18 his father got him a false passport to escape the Napoleonic wars and the family moved to America. After the death of his mistress, his father had a number of children of mixed race with several native women. In 1789 his father sold part of his plantation in Saint-Domingue and purchased a 284-acre farm called Mill Grove, 20 miles from Philadelphia. African slaves greatly outnumbered the French colonists, so friends convinced Jean Audubon to return to France.

The children were raised in Couëron, near Nantes, France, by Audubon and his French wife Anne Moynet Audubon, whom he had married years before his time in Saint-Domingue. In 1794 they formally adopted both his natural children to regularize their legal status in France. They renamed the boy Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and the girl  Rose.

In France during the chaotic years of the French Revolution, Audubon grew up to be a handsome, gregarious man who played flute and violin, and learned to ride, fence and dance.

Audubon loved to walk and was a great walker. He loved roaming in the woods. He often returned home with birds’ eggs and nests and made crude drawings.

His father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and tried to make a seaman of his son. When he was twelve, Audubon went to military school and became a cabin boy, but he found out that he was prone to seasickness and not fond of mathematics or navigation. After failing the officer’s qualification test, Audubon ended his fledgling naval career.

He was cheerfully back on solid ground and exploring the fields again, focusing on birds. He found some Phoebes nesting in a cave. As he had read that they returned to the same spot to nest every year, he wanted to test that idea. He sat in the cave with them and read a book for many days, until they were used to him and let him approach. Then he tied string to their legs to identify them. The next year,  he discovered that the same birds were back in the cave. It is the first known incident of banding birds.

Audubon fell in love with a woman named Lucy Bakewell. Her father objected to Audubon’s lack of career goals and insisted that he find a solid trade before marriage, so he opened a general store in Kentucky on the Ohio River. After that, John and Lucy were married.

During a visit to Philadelphia in 1812 following Congress’ declaration of war against Great Britain, Audubon became an American citizen and had to give up his French citizenship.

After his return to Kentucky, he found that rats had eaten his entire collection of more than 200 drawings. After weeks of depression, he finally took to the field again. He was determined to re-do his drawings to an even higher standard.

300px-NMSZBigAudubon was working in Missouri when the New Madrid earthquake struck in 1811. When Audubon reached his house, he was relieved to find no major damage, but the area was shaken by aftershocks for months.The quake is estimated to have been ranked from 8.4 to 8.8 on today’s Richter Scale of severity,. It was slightly stronger than the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

Audubon wrote that while on horseback, he first believed the distant rumbling to be the sound of a tornado, “but the animal knew better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of going faster, so nearly stopped that I remarked he placed one foot after another on the ground with as much precaution as if walking on a smooth piece of ice. I thought he had suddenly foundered, and, speaking to him, was on point of dismounting and leading him, when he all of a sudden fell a-groaning piteously, hung his head, spread out his forelegs, as if to save himself from falling, and stood stock still, continuing to groan. I thought my horse was about to die, and would have sprung from his back had a minute more elapsed; but as that instant all the shrubs and trees began to move from their very roots, the ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffled water of a lake, and I became bewildered in my ideas, as I too plainly discovered, that all this awful commotion was the result of an earthquake. I had never witnessed anything of the kind before, although like every person, I knew earthquakes by description. But what is description compared to reality! Who can tell the sensations which I experienced when I found myself rocking, as it were, upon my horse, and with him moving to and fro like a child in a cradle, with the most imminent danger around me.”

He noted that as the earthquake retreated, “the air was filled with an extremely disagreeable sulphurous odor.”

The War of 1812 upset Audubon’s plans. He formed a partnership with Lucy’s brother and built up their trade in Henderson, Kentucky. Between 1812 and the Panic of 1819, times were good. Audubon bought land and slaves, founded a flour mill, and enjoyed his growing family.

After 1819, Audubon went bankrupt and was thrown into jail for debt. The little money he made was earned by drawing portraits, particularly death-bed sketches that were greatly in demand by country folk before photography.

He wrote, “[M]y heart was sorely heavy, for scarcely had I enough to keep my dear ones alive; and yet through these dark days I was being led to the development of the talents I loved.”

Audubon was a terrible business owner, and eventually he realized that his best chance for success lay in his birds after all.

170px-1_Wild_TurkeyLucy became the main breadwinner by teaching children in their home, while her husband traveled all over the continent collecting specimens for his masterpiece, Birds of America (1838).  The book was two feet wide and three feet tall, with 435 life-sized hand-colored plates of birds.

It was very expensive to print such a book, so the book was financed by advance orders as well as commissioned paintings, exhibitions, and any furs that Audubon was able to trap and sell on his excursions.

His book was a success. One reviewer wrote: “All anxieties and fears which overshadowed his work in its beginning had passed away. The prophecies of kind but over prudent friends, who did not understand his self-sustaining energy, had proved untrue; the malicious hope of his enemies, for even the gentle lover of nature has enemies, had been disappointed; he had secured a commanding place in the respect and gratitude of men.”

AN UNKNOWN SPECIES BRED WITH OUR ANCESTORS


Spread_and_evolution_of_Denisovans

MORE THAN 40,000 YEARS AGO a sub-species humanoid lived in Siberia. DNA analysis shows that they are a distinct species from the Neanderthal and modern human. Denisova Cave in SIberia housed extinct breeds of humanoids, including both of the above.

In late 2013 a new study was revealed to the Royal Society in London, In the examination of the DNA of a finger fragment found in the cave, they found that one section of the genome seemed to come from a previously unknown species. The same genetic results were confirmed in two teeth found on the site.

As yet, who preceded these extinct species is a great mystery.

How long have intelligent humanoids lived on Earth? It is a question that is less solved than we thought. Perhaps even a million years? More?

Turist_den-peschera


Tourists in front of the Denisova Cave, where “X woman” was found

Further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan
http://www.nature.com/news/mystery-humans-spiced-up-ancients-sex-lives-1.14196
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24603-mystery-human-species-emerges-from-denisovan-genome.html#.VO9hLLPF_xL

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Ken Finton's avatarKenneth Harper Finton

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

MIssed Opportunies by Kenneth Harper Finton ©2014

“We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas A. Edison

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS ONCE?

Does opportunity only knock once? Leon Spinks said it was so. He said that “opportunity knocks only once. You never know if you’ll get another opportunity.” Leon knows about knocking. He was the boxer that defeated Mohammad Ali in February of 1978 in a fifteen round decision fight.

Nonetheless, opportunity presents itself often. Opportunity is a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.  Hopefully, this action is a creative act, but it could just as easily be destructive.

Opportunities are time sensitive. We have all missed many opportunities. Sometimes they slide by unrecognized. Sometimes we are not ready for them. Sometimes we choose to ignore them.

Whatever your secret desires, there are always ways to make them ripen.

“MAKE IT…

View original post 309 more words

PUT ON YOUR OLD GRAY BONNET

ARCHIVAL RECORDING BY ARTHUR CLOUGH, 1909

Words by Stanley Murphy, Music by Percy Wenrich 1909

 

My grandfather used to sing this song back in the 1940s. It was old then as it was written in 1909. The words paint a world of stability where a couple married and spent their entire lives together a few miles from the very place they married and lived.

put_on_your_old_grey_bonnet

G                              A7

On the old farm house veranda sat old Silas and Miranda

D7               G

Thinking of the days gone by

A7

He said “Dearie, don’t be weary, you were always bright and cheery

D7                  G

but a tear dear dims your eyes”

D                  G         D                    G

She said “These are tears of gladness, they’re not tears of sadness,

A7                          D7

It was 50 years today that we were wed”

G                                      A7

And the old man’s eyes they brightened and his old stern heart it lightened

D7                G7

as he turned to her and said

[Chorus]

            C                         F

Put on your old grey bonnet, with the blue ribbon on it      

         C         D7            G7

and I’ll hitch old Dobbin to the shayhorsecarriageb

          C                         F

and we’ll ride to Dover through the fields of clover

       C      G7      C     (D7)

on our golden wedding day

G                              A7

It was in that same grey bonnet with the same blue ribbon on it

D7               G

in the same shay by his side

A7

that he drove her down to Dover through the same old fields of clover

D7         G

to be his happy bride

D                  G         D                    G

The birds were brightly singing, the old church bells were ringing

A7                          D7

as the passed by that old church where they were wed

G                                      A7

and at night while stars were gleaming the old couple lay there dreaming

D7                G7

dreaming of the words he said.