| Volume 12, Issue 7 |  | July 21, 2010 |
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In this Issue:
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| Volume 12, Issue 7 | | July 21, 2010 |
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In this Issue:
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I took my wife, Valerie, to the emergency room once. She was having severe abdominal pain. It turned out to be from a kidney stone, but she and I were kept waiting nearly four hours before the preliminary diagnostics were finally done, she was given a shot for the discomfort, and a doctor at last saw her and told her what was going on.
Calling businesses or professional offices provides yet more opportunities for waiting. As a rule, these can last from only a minute or so to around a half-hour, after which one may or may not be cut off and need to start all over again.
When going out to eat, one may wait a number of minutes to be seated, yet more time for one's drink order to be taken, then additional time passes pending one's food order being noted. One waits to get the food, next to receive one's check, and after that to have the credit card returned.
Travel affords multiple new chances for long or short waits, starting with the first traffic jam on the way, the line for check-in, the security check, the wait for boarding, another for actually getting underway, etc. Once at a destination, there are often fresh waits for a rental vehicle, accommodations, tickets, entries to parks, museums, plays, or concerts, and so forth.
And these are all but routine waits. Unanticipated waiting can occur at any time. I have heard of planes having unscheduled delays of several hours, Amtrak waits of over a day, delays in getting one's luggage of up to a week, and power outage delays or the computers all being down indefinitely. While driving in South Dakota, my trip west was put on hold for more than 24 hours due to forest and grass fires near or across the interstate. Personal auto failures, such as from a dead battery or an inability to shift out of "park," can occur completely without warning and usually must be followed by waiting for assistance or towing, unplanned repairs, and so on.
Overall, though ordinarily in drips and drabs, our cumulative waiting likely averages a week or more a year, enough for an extra vacation if we could but see it that way.
Women of traditional backgrounds or values may have contended with still greater amounts of waiting, on a guy calling her for a date, for instance, or later for a proposal from Mr. Right.
Let us not forget as well the existential waits, as in "Waiting for Godot." In a sense, then, all our days are spent in waiting.
So, as I was delayed of late pending my new physical therapist taking a look at a sore shoulder (a possible rotator cuff tear, per my doctor, who had that time only required me to linger for 20 minutes), I had pondered ways to fruitfully occupy my time, while waiting.
Different strokes for different folks, of course. Val likes to occupy herself with digital word games or, if she happens to be outside, for instance yesterday when for 25 minutes nobody had come to unlock the fishes research building where she volunteers, she may snap a few cool photos of handily close spiders or insects for her growing collection of newly identified species.
Many these days, especially the younger set, will use their waiting times for essential phone or text messaging: "Yes. Hello. I'm waiting now."
A more common way to while away the waiting among those a trifle older may be doing crossword puzzles.
Besides the ever popular worrying about how the appointment will go, any number of potential mind games or activities work for me at such times:
Another option I have been using lately is to simply practice building my powers of observation. Moment by moment, life presents a kaleidoscopic succession of 
interesting, absorbing, beautiful, or curious vignettes for one's musing or amusement.
People watching can be more engaging by far than daytime television soap operas.
Animals in one's field of view are frequently most entertaining.
I sometimes like to just close my eyes and meditate for a few minutes. Thousands of books have been written about this kind of activity, most of them probably while their authors were waiting to do something else. I particularly enjoy doing this when tired. With little effort at all, one can concentrate the mind then, and go right to sleep.
Alternatively, one may focus the attention, for instance, on the inhalation or exhalation of the breath (or, if more concrete, on the rising and falling of the belly) or on any sound one hears, even traffic noises.
After doing this for even a few seconds one will, chances are, find anything else of great interest. In a typical 10-minute meditation session while waiting to be called to see a dentist, I began by noticing the sound of a drill boring into a patient's head and then had a series of edifying mentations:
However, one need not follow any such rational techniques for successfully meditating. When all else fails, I meditate like the great Indian yogis do, simply repeating: "Um...um...um (What the heck am I meditating on?)...um...um..." This also works well if one has a stuttering problem.
It may be that none of these methods of getting through waiting time really grabs you. For such truly tough cases, I suggest the best diversion I have managed yet: writing a newsletter essay, perhaps one on waiting!
Whatever works in your case, I do wish you a lifetime of most rewarding waiting.
I first saw alligators when my family took vacations to Florida. They were always a draw if seen along the roadside ditches or basking by lakes. When I began kayaking in Florida in the 1980s, my awareness of alligators increased by many degrees. The territorial calls of large males not only sounds loud, but the vibrations can be felt through the sides of the boat! Then there are the tiny squeaks of babies, staying in contact with their nearby mother. Trying to get photos of the little cuties is not easy when one also wants to keep a watch for the protective mother, who might be six or seven feet long but with a temper that is much shorter.
While kayaking in the Okefenokee Swamp, I once grabbed a young alligator, just because I wanted to see if I really could catch it. The animal let out such a weird noise that I nearly dropped it as I had the imaginary impression that its mother (although this youngster was really too big to still be under its mama's care ... I think) would come shooting out of the nearby weeds to rescue it. I can still remember being awed by the strength in that 2-foot long creature.
The vigor of these reptiles is truly amazing. They are all muscle. Having paddled close to a basking 4-footer in a narrow stream, it panicked and dashed right into the side of my boat. As it pushed its way underneath, it nearly capsized me and, if I hadn't seen how small it was, I would have guessed it to be half again as big.
While I rarely feel threatened by alligators since they usually want to avoid confrontation, it does make a difference that my kayak is only 13.5 feet long. Large male alligators are sometimes over 12 feet in length and they are at least as wide as my boat. I tried kayaking in a lake full of lily pads and other vegetation just north of Tallahassee when I was in college. I frequently paddled in other nearby lakes, but this one had way too many hidden alligators, and I kept feeling like I might accidentally hit one with my paddle. Once again, my imagination got the better of me and I never went back there.
Alligators that get used to humans eventually lose all fear. During a visit to Shark Valley (an area in the Everglades), I started walking down a nature trail. My hike didn't last long, though, since an 8-foot 'gator was basking right in the middle of the path. I politely asked it to move but it just glared at me, so I decided it was better to just skip that little excursion.
There are some circumstances where I am comfortable approaching alligators. If I see a relatively small individual on the beach, I am tempted to get closer, just because I know that a 4-foot long reptile cannot swallow me whole, or even piecemeal. At least not easily. I recall one instance when I did get very close to a smallish 'gator in just this kind of circumstance. I was taking pictures with a film camera and so was actually watching my subject through the viewfinder. Suddenly, it lunged. I'm glad that only my mother was there to laugh hysterically at my reaction.
One place stands out for human/alligator interactions. Myakka River State Park in Florida is 'gator heaven. There is a great deal of slow moving shallow water, marshy areas, and tall grass, and the reptiles are seen out in the lake, along the river banks, or on the park roads. There is a wooden observation platform near the dam that forms the large lake, so it is possible to sit in safety and watch as the most aggressive alligator in the area chases fishermen from their favorite spots. The low concrete dam may be crossed during the dry season. However, there is something really creepy about walking on a narrow barrier, only a foot or two above the water line, at dusk. That something is quite tangible: alligators are all about, and they feed at night.
Even though the presence of these formidable reptiles makes me uneasy when I walk our little dog near water, and I've sometimes had to forgo the pleasure of a swim in an attractive area just because it was alligator habitat, I wouldn't ever want these beasts to disappear. We have tamed so much of our world that a little reminder of the wild part is always welcome.
Taken in June, 2004, our photo this month features Val's sister, Vicky, with her youngest child, Amie, in a pool at a trailer park in Joliet, IL. The occasion was a family gathering at the memorial service for John, Val and Vic's father, who had died several months earlier in Florida. Vicky celebrates her 50th birthday this year on August 7. Val cannot imagine having a better sister.
| (The Terra Tabloid is a venue for the discussion of issues pertaining to the past, present, and future of our planet and human interaction with it.) |
Arguably, the green revolution will not succeed over the next quarter-century or so without better access to certain "heavy" rare earth elements (HREE). For example, Europium is needed for putting the color in television and other widely used screens as well as for phosphors, lasers, and mercury-vapor lamps. Dysprosium is found in green technology magnets, in lasers, and in hybrid car motors. Promethium, though highly unstable, is needed for nuclear batteries. Ytterbium is found in certain lasers, in reducing agents, and in high-temperature superconductors. Rare earth elements are also key components in wind turbines and iPhones.
 The rare earth element, Europium. Photo courtesy Element Photo Gallery, About.com, Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. (public domain). |
Just as OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, mostly in the Middle East, for awhile had a strangle hold on the world's oil supply, so now China has a virtual monopoly on the production of HREE. This has come about due to a variety of factors. The industrial processes involved are dangerous. Often there is hazardous waste. Workers who are not well protected can suffer severely or even be killed by unsafe methods. Similarly, waste from HREE production that has not been properly disposed of may create toxic environmental disasters, with nearby communities at great risk. China has been farsighted and recognized the importance of this type production. It is fortunate to possess more of the world's supplies of ores that include HREE than other lands. The country also is often not particularly careful about the health and welfare of its workers or of people living near HREE plants and their waste. Also, China's industrial development is partly state controlled. There are both domestic consumption concerns and a drive for greater world hegemony as incentives for the Chinese to produce most of the globe's demand for HREE. To date, they have been rather successful and produce over 97% of the world's HREE supplies.
Western countries will thus have little choice but to cater to China if they want ongoing cutting-edge technologies to be maintained. Yet China, ostensibly out of recent concern for a future shortage affecting their own population's access and also for the safety of its workers and communities, has lately reduced its HREE operations to levels that will not assure significant supplies being available to the West. Even if China should have persisted in producing HREE at a flat-out, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead rate, their own efforts would likely not have been adequate to keep up with demand in the next several decades as an essential transition from carbon-based technologies to green alternatives gets more fully underway.
Recognition of the looming bottleneck and its implications has some politicians and companies in the West scrambling for new means to sustainable HREE mining and manufacture. Eventually rare earth sources are likely to be maximized in the U.S. as well as in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and South Africa. Such efforts will be costly and time-consuming, though. Almost certainly, there will be little choice but to accept and deal with China's HREE monopoly in both the short- and medium-term.
Sources: Are Rare Earth Elements Actually Rare? Charles Homans in Foreign Policy magazine; July 13, 2010.
Element Photo Gallery. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. in About.com; 2010.
Rare Earth Elements. Wikipedia; last updated 13 July, 2010.
We have had a very wet summer so far. While many animals are taking advantage of the exceptionally moist conditions, perhaps none is as evident as the mosquito (Psorophora longipalpis). There are a number of different species of mosquitoes and this just happens to be one that I caught "in the act." It was feeding on my hand, which kept it busy long enough for me to take some photos. Some of our mosquitoes are very plainly colored, often brown. There are some, though, with distinctive markings on their bodies and legs. These, along with size, and sometimes other physical characteristics like hairs on legs, shape of proboscis, or marks on wings, make it possible to identify the different kinds, as long as the specimen is not smashed beyond recognition.
Mosquitoes are true flies, in the same order (Diptera) as house flies, gnats, midges, and love bugs. Another kind of fly, the crane fly, is often mistaken for a gigantic mosquito, but these large insects never bite. All true flies (as opposed to other insects with "fly" in their name) have just one pair of wings. The other pair has evolved into little knobby organs called halteres that act as gyroscopes to help the fly navigate. The success of this design is evident when one is trying to swat a pesky fly or mosquito that is buzzing around the kitchen.
Only female mosquitoes have a taste for blood (males eat nectar). They need it to help their eggs develop, but in obtaining it, they sometimes cause an itchy welt or pass along disease-causing organisms. Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide that, as living beings, we produce. They may be repelled by some odors and sprays. Good luck.
On average, Americans with credit card debts already individually owe $15,000 and, even if they cut up all their cards today and never get another, can take years to pay them off. Not counting impulse purchases, many of us still owe a lot on mortgages that we really cannot afford. Often too, we drive expensive or large, powerful vehicles that we are paying on monthly via both big car loans and filling the gas-guzzlers' tanks.
Not infrequently, we do not even know how we got into such fixes. The causes vary, but typically boil down to loss of work and/or uncontrolled expenditures. Until the bursting of the housing bubble brought a dose of reality, for decades we have as a nation tended to go on spending binges as if we were multi-millionaires, despite actually having only middle-class or even poverty level incomes. 
A solution that is becoming more common today is financial coaching. If making ends meet is a frequent challenge for you, there is good news: quality money management help can be obtained for free. In her 6/23/2010 article, "Find a Personal Money Coach, Free," MSN Money writer Donna Freedman tells us in detail the advantages money coaches have over financial counselors or consultants for folks over their heads in debt, real life examples of persons who have gotten their financial houses in order through help from financial coaching, differences between categories of monetary assistance, how to gracefully turn down people who keep asking for money when one's own budget is not in great shape, tips on overcoming compulsive spending habits, and specific information on how to find one's own money coach, with links to helpful agencies that provide these valuable services for free.
Do not worry about any negative implications of wanting a personal money coach. It is of course not necessary to tell one's social network unless one chooses to do so. Further, there is nothing wrong with getting helpful back-up that can aid one in turning things around. In any case, one certainly does not have to be a deadbeat to benefit from money coaching. People have gotten useful information and support, for example, on how to set aside a little more for charitable giving, for voluntarily downsizing, simplifying, and living on less, for improving credit scores so they can buy houses despite the current low lending environment, and for setting up trusts for disabled dependents.
Money coaching (as opposed to financial counseling), Freedman explains, is client-centered and empowering, looks at the circumstances that got one into difficulty or that limited one's ability to save or invest as desired, and provides a blend of "guidance, encouragement, and support." It is not a panacea. There may still be difficult choices ahead or alterations in behavior that are required. Yet free money coaching is a useful new tool available to us. It may be just what we need to help us fill in and cover over the holes in our finances that many of us have dug ourselves into.
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Okay, you've survived the July 4th celebration. Now you've got to make it through the Dog Days of Summer. Avoid the midday sun, drink plenty of fluids, and spend a lot of time in the swimming pool. In whatever ways you manage it, we hope all have a great time during the traditional vacation season, when school is usually out and "the livin' is easy."
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| For others who may have chanced upon this site, larvalbug bytes is a monthly family-and-investment newsletter, put out by an old codger and sweet thing, with sometimes a little help as well from our engaging pooch, Peri. We invite readers' comments by and would also be happy to readers when new issues are published. Articles and stories from back issues are available in our archives. |
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"Summertime Mossies" and larvalbug web design by Valerie.
