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Songbirds Still Exist

Sixty years ago I seriously damaged my hearing. Since then, it doesn’t improve. It goes downhill with age. This year, after giving up on less expensive solutions that didn’t work, I gulped hard and laid down six thousand dollars for top of the line hearing aids. They work! They really work! But hearing doesn’t come back in zero time. The brain needs to be retrained. One of the first things I noticed were ordinary sounds that I found annoying. For example, the sound of water splashing in a sink. I also learned that many of my electronic gadgets make beeping noises that I didn’t know about. But it took several months before I noticed the pleasant sound of songbirds riding my bicycle in the country. Reflecting on that, I realized that I assumed that songbirds went extinct decades ago, probably because of climate change. Of course, my wife was delighted because my improved hearing made her life much easier. She has a diminutive voice. Speaking louder was uncomfortable for her. It
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¿Quién es más macho?

Two days ago, Libby and I went camping behind the barrier dunes on the beach at St. Augustine. Naturally, we went for long walks on the beach. Like most people, we love being barefoot on the wet white sand. Late April is a very good time for that.   The hours of daylight are long.   The water temperature is 70 degrees.   Afternoons bring a fresh and cool onshore breeze. Perfect. After The beach walk, I retired to my hammock to read my book. The hammock was slung between two Shady live oak trees. I looked up from my book. There on the tree truck in front of me were two geckos. They seemed to be competing to be the gecko highest up on the tree trunk. Aha, I thought! I know that game. It is called ¿Quién es más macho?. That is Spanish meaning who is most manly. But the game is hardly limited to Hispanic men. It is a game played by all high-level creatures. Mammals do it. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even Toastmasters play Macho.   Both males and females play the game. It personifies the e
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TM In Prison

  An 8 year old child saw her father murder her mother at the kitchen table.   Another girl was abandoned at the age of 2 and raised by grandparents.  She never met her mother until coming to prison.  Her mother is on death row.  Mother and daughter shout across the chain link barriers to bond with each other. Mr Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, guests. I’ve been a volunteer in prisons for 2 years.  I do 5 prison visits per week, mostly for gavel clubs.  In case you don’t know, a gavel club is just like a TM club except the members don’t pay dues.  I’ve come to know and like my gavel club members as much as I know and like my fellow toastmasters.   To me, both groups are like an extended family. I used to be like everyone else.   I had a mental image of felons based on mug shots and reports of heinous  crimes, plus countless Hollywood crime and prison movies.  But now I learned that they are just people like you and me.  Within the confines of a gavel club meeting, and I want to stres
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The L Word, libertarian

  When the cat’s away, the mouse will play. Madam toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, honored guests. Many of you know that my wife Libby is away up in Vermont.  I’m going to take advantage of that to speak about my personal politics.  Libby normally forbids me from talking about religion or politics in public, but while the cat’s away, the mouse will play. PAUSE I believe in minimum government.  You can call me libertarian. PAUSE Because that word libertarian is widely misunderstood, I first need to spend some time explaining what I am not. I am not, repeat not, one of those libertarian militia crackpots.  Nor am I a member of the Libertarian party with a capital L, I’m libertarian with a small l.    Nor am I an anarchist.  Anarchy means zero government, not minimal government. PAUSE So how much government is minimal?  Theorists dating back to the founding of our country say that the minimum is security, both foreign and domestic.  Foreign security means defending ourselves against fore
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Carpe Diem

  My friend Sandra was an oncology nurse.  20 years ago, the survival rate of cancer patients was not as high as it is today.  Sandra said, and I quote, “Every day I met people recently confronted by the horrible truth that they would not live to fulfill their dreams.  Their dreams and plans of a lifetime were snatched away the instant they received that horrible diagnosis. I resolved to not be a victim.  I retired early.  My husband Bob and I bought this sailboat and named it Carpe Diem.” Carpe Diem is a very popular inspirational phrase.  It means, sieze the day.  Other translations are, pluck the day as it is ripe, enjoy the moment, And if not now, then when?, Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, remember that you are mortal, make your life excellent.  Then Robert Herrick wrote a poem saying, Make Much of Time, Come carpe diem, baby!  --- strangely the title of his poem was To The Virgins. My definition of Carpe Diem includes all that.  But mine is more nuanced.  My version is more suit
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Life as a Nomad

  You all know the word nomad.   You’ve seen films about nomads perhaps narrated by David Attenborough. But have you ever actually met a true nomad in real life?   Yes, you have.   Libby and I lived 12 years as nomads aboard our sailboat. Madam toastmaster, I would like to share some of that experience. I define nomads as: 1. People almost constantly on the move. 2. Whose movements are annual and repetitive. 3. They have no mailing address. Among boaters, we were called cruisers, not nomads.   We were the elite.   But on land and with no mailing address, we were among the most despised segments of society.   How so?   Consider the pejorative words synonymous with nomad.    Migrant, vagabond, hobo, rambler, rover, wanderer, transient, tramp, bum, derelict, outcast, drifter, loafer, in England traveler, and in Australia swagman. On the other hand, people who travel but are presumed to have a mailing address get more respect. Explorer, pilgrim, pioneer, adventurer, tour
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America Divided? Why?

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  Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that we just held a national election.   You have also heard people say that our country is deeply divided; more so than ever before.    Is that really true?    I am not the kind of person who likes being told what to think, so I did a little research of my own. Mr toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and guests.    I would like to share with you the product of my research.    I’ll share my screen. Here is a depiction of our division in national elections going back 150 years.   It looks pretty close to 50-50 to me.   So it is not true that the red/blue split is something new. But wouldn’t it be more interesting if research could show that we have been divided over the same issue the whole time?    It’s probably impossible to prove that, but I did find a few crumbs of evidence. I went back further in time to the year 1789.    The year when our Constitution was authored by the founding fathers.    What did I find?   Let me use
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