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BIGGER Than BIG Things that happen in slo -mo are invisible to most of us. Life is short, and events that take several lifetimes just disappear in the noise of day-to-day living. The BIG slo -mo elephant on the beach is climate change. BIG REPORT So what could be bigger? How about another MASS EXTINCTION as a result of climate change? There is yet another huge, fully credible, completely frightening report just out (on 20 June) warning of this looming nightmare, already underway, in our precious oceans and seas. Here are just the headlines of this report : Human actions have resulted in warming and acidification of the oceans and are now causing increased hypoxia. The speeds of many negative changes to the ocean are near to or are tracking the worst-case scenarios from IPCC and other predictions. Some are as predicted, but many are faster than anticipated, and many are still accelerating. ...

Never Give Up (Another Airedale Story) Gwyneth is a small female Airedale with an powerfully elevated sense of anxiety, painfully shy and, by the way, just beautiful. After months of foster care by a caring Rescue volunteer couple, Gwyneth came to us as a very difficult case. Even after another month of intense work by the maven of Airedale Rescue, good wife Dr. Duff (Dorothy, the classic earth mother and psychologist to troubled ‘Dales), Gwyneth was still very much on edge. Any sudden noise would send her into orbit, then diving for a hiding place. People – especially men – seemed to be threatening ogres to her. When she went into our big back yard, it was always a task just to get her to come back in; she was afraid of the door. She would hide under bushes when we went out for her. Her shyness was exclusively toward humans. She loved other dogs. Her favorite playmate was our biggest, rowdiest ‘Dale, the appropriately named Rocket. They scampered like puppies ...

By Gosh, I Think I've Got It! Bernie caught some gaff for having a narrow focus campaign. Here's how he's going to broaden it out. IMHO. And that doesn't mean he's running for anything,  just being Bernie. * Teddy as the model for... ...The New Bernie campaign? * I was zapping through the pile of political pitches I get everyday on my old fashioned e-mail (wduffer@aol.com), zap, zap, zap... Congressmen from Colorado, Florida, Ohio... on and on, Democrats I never heard of, but I'm on "The List." I don't get irritated, I just get rid of the ads; I mean after all, they're Democrats. After I finished my zapping, I had a snack and set to recording another audiobook chapter. Then it hit me, based on one of the ads I zapped.  Here 'tis: It was when I dragged it up again that I noticed it was a Bernie ad, and I said, "That's it!" Do you how many great quotes flowed from Teddy R? About half of them ar...

In the last couple of years the folks who denied global warming was even happening have come around and are saying, “Oh, OK, so maybe it’s happening.” Grudgingly, but at long darn last they are acknowledging the data. Many of the same folks have assumed a new position, one just as protective of the fossil fuel industry and the right to gush vast quantities of greenhouse gasses into the air. This position is, simply: “Not Our Fault.” We puny humans can’t possibly be influencing such a vast system as the Earth’s atmosphere. Humankind is clearly capable of having some humongous impacts on our planet. It’s obvious we can: Denude the Amazon Basin; Over-fish the oceans; Dredge channels in mighty rivers and create dead zones where they drain into the oceans; Dam those rivers and make huge lakes; Hole the ozone, Drain the swamps; Cut down and replant whole forests; Pave over farmland; Empty ancient aquifers; Kill off creatures large and small to the point of extinctio...