Member Login

You are not currently logged in.








» Register
» Lost your Password?
Article Archives

Dr. Jack Wheeler

FIVE FEET AWAY FROM AN 800-POUND GORILLA

r-gorilla1.jpg

©2019 Jack Wheeler

You know the adage about the “800-pound gorilla” going wherever he wants to – such as five feet from you in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda. It is one of the world’s great thrills to be this close to these giants and feel at ease doing so. They are “habituated” to small groups of people whom they ignore. You of course are very quiet and do nothing to alarm them, just observing the little ones playing, mothers nursing, young ones climbing trees, huge male silverbacks watching over their families.

Gorillas are vegetarians, males eating up to 75 pounds of vegetation a day – thus they spend most of their waking hours chewing! The biggest silverbacks never get anywhere near 800 pounds by the way – 450 to 500 pounds at most (like the fellow in the photo). Big enough, believe me.

Rwanda is one of the best-run countries in all Africa. President Paul Kagame deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for healing his nation after the genocidal horrors of the 1990s. That’s far in the past now in this beautiful, peaceful land. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #93 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

MEMORIES OF 2024

rhjw_canary-islands

Rebel and I decided to start making our memories of 2024 early, by spending the first half of January in a place we’d never been to before: The Canary Islands (thus the Island of Lancelot Glimpse you saw on Monday, 1/22).  Here we are at a viewpoint on Gran Canaria.  The Canaries turned out to be absolutely fascinating, establishing friendships with extraordinary people.

Where might you go and what might you experience to have lifetime memories of your own in 2024?

How about exploring some awesomely cool place in the world with me to accomplish that?

How’s that, Jack? you may be asking. Didn’t you say that, with your turning 80 in 2023, you’d be retiring from running expeditions this year? Well, yes, I did say that a year ago, but Rebel and I had such a marvelous time taking TTPers to special places around  the world all year that I just can’t all a halt to that simply because of an arbitrary age.

Besides, I’ve never been age-appropriate anyway, like being adopted into a family of Amazon headhunters at 16 and hunting a man-eating tiger at 17.  So with my health good (I work out pretty hard six days a week), why not keep doing what I love?

What follows is what explorations Rebel and I have planned for the first half of 2024. I designed them for anyone in normal good health and no special skills required.  Please consider this as a personal invitation for you, a fellow TTPer, to join me for an experience you’ll treasure for the rest of your life.

As you consider, I can guarantee one thing – that you’ll really enjoy all the photos in each of the links.  Then you can picture yourself making these special places a part of your life. Let’s go memory-creating for 2024!

Read more...

THE LOST CITY OF DJADO

city-of-djadoIn the remotest center of the Sahara Desert lies an unknown, unexcavated mysterious lost city known as Djado. No one knows who built it or when. Lying on the ancient Roman trade route from the Saharan salt mines of Fachi and Bilma to the Mediterranean, the Djado oasis flourished for a thousand years (the 1st Millennium AD), but has been forgotten and abandoned for many centuries.

The only people who live near Djado in the vast desert wasteland where Algeria, Libya, Chad, and Niger come together, are the wandering Toubu nomads with no permanent settlements. It is an indescribable experience to explore such a wondrous lost city right out of an Indiana Jones movie that you have all to yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #17, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE ISLAND OF LANCELOT

lanzaroteLanzarote, Canary Islands.  How, you may ask, did the most famous knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, Sir Lancelot du Lac, end up in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco?  Well, he didn’t.  It was an Italian explorer named after him, Lancelotto Malocello, who became the first European to reach this island in 1336, where he lived for 20 years.

Lancelotto called himself Lanzarote (lan-zah-roh-tay), and map-makers used it.  The island along with the rest of the Canaries was colonized by Spain throughout the 1400s, and prospered with its volcanic soil.  Until, that is, massive volcanic eruptions in the 1730s with over 30 major new volcanoes and over 100 small cinder cones flooded hundreds of square kilometers with lava.

The island became a mostly useless wasteland until a Lazarotean artistic genius named Cesar Manrique (1919-1992) transformed  the lava fields into a surrealistic wonderland.  The photo above is one of his many creations, the home Cesar designed and built on a lava cliff for actor Omar Sharif.

Today, visitors flock to Lanzarote to marvel at Manrique’s masterpieces scattered over the island, gape at the volcanic moonscape of Timanfaya, and to wine, dine, and luxuriate at gorgeous beach resorts.  Come to the Island of Lancelot for an experience like nowhere else, one you’ll never forget.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #284 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

IS TEXAS AMERICA’S HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?

indian-scalps[This Monday’s Archive was originally posted on January 22, 2013.  It chronicles the unbelievable struggle of Texas to be free of unimaginable savagery in the 1800s. Now Texas is struggling to be free of the savagery wrought upon it by the Hate America Democrats with their creation of illegal alien invasion.  Yet the lesson here goes far beyond our borders. It is the lesson of what it takes to defeat the savagery of Hamas in Israel, or the savagery of Putin in Ukraine. This history of Texas may astound you. See how it applies to our world right now.]

TTP, January 22, 2013

The years after the Civil War, the late 1860s, were worse – especially for Texas, which disintegrated into anarchic chaos.  The victorious Yankees were almost happy to see the Rebels of Texas punished with Comanche murder-rape raids.  Further, the Washington intelligentsia blamed the white men for them.

Yes, America has suffered from stupid and destructive liberal appeasement for a very long time.  In a Comanche chief’s words, their code was:  “Go on warpath, kill and scalp white people, steal many horses, then make treaty to get many presents and good things.”

Read more...

FLASHBACK FRIDAY — “THIS IS YOUR LIFE”

jw-life-at-17 June 15, 1961. It was quite a shock to me when I was the surprise guest on Ralph Edwards’ famous television show. My “Life” at age 17? How could that be? The show’s producers were intrigued by a recent Life Magazine story of my swimming the Hellespont as did Leander in Greek mythology (December 12, 1960 issue) that also had photos of me on top of the Matterhorn and with a Jivaro headhunter.

Without my knowing, they flew my guide for the Hellespont swim, Huseyin Uluarslan, from Turkey to LA, the same for my guide on the Matterhorn, Alfons Franzen, from Switzerland, to be on the show. Most amazing of all, they got the Chief Prefect of Police for Ecuador, Jaime Duran, to pick up Tangamashi (the Jivaro who adopted me) and his brother Naita by helicopter from their Amazon encampment, then fly them from Quito to LA.

I was dumbfounded. So there we are in the photo, left to right: Ralph Edwards, Jaime Duran, Tangamashi, Naita, a very young yours truly, and Ralph Ferguson, son of medical researcher Dr. Wilburn Ferguson who translated for Tangamashi. Quite a moment for a 17 year-old boy – and no doubt for Tangamashi! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #10)

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 01/19/24

x
If Ayn Rand were watching this speech, she would shed tears of joy as she witnessed her great hero of Atlas Shrugged, Francisco d’Anconia, come alive before her eyes.  For Franscisco, like Javier Milei, was from Argentina.

Ereyesterday (1/17), after flying commercial instead of private jet to Switzerland, Argentina’s Milei Gives the Davos Crowd a Spine Transplant is how the Wall Street Journal described it.

The most electrifying intellectual experience of my life came in 1966 on a beach in Malibu when I read Francisco d’Anconia’s Speech on Money. It was the most brilliant explanation of why capitalism is not only the most practical economic system for achieving widespread prosperity but also the most moral.

And that’s exactly what Milei – a professor of economics – explained at Davos:

“It would first be important for us to take a look at the data that demonstrate why free enterprise capitalism is not just the only possible system to end world poverty, but also that it’s the only morally desirable system to achieve this.”

Will Milei be the tip of the spear for end-wokeness elections around the world in 2024 – including our own?  Let’s talk about that.

Read more...

THE ISLANDS OF SERENITY

mulafassur-waterfallMulafassur waterfall below the village of Gasadalur is only one example of the serenity of the Faroe Islands. They’re a self-governing Danish possession in the North Atlantic halfway between Norway and Iceland. You won’t find a place of more captivating serene and peaceful charm.

Warmed by the Gulf Stream, in the summer it’s so strewn with wildflowers the roads are known as “buttercup highways.” At every turn along them you’re stunned by the incredible scenery. The capital of Torshavn is so laid back the Prime Minister’s Office – the Løgmansskristovan – is a wood cabin with a green grass sod roof. Great beer from the Faroes’ two breweries is always flowing in the pubs, where the Faroese islanders welcome you like an old friend.

You can easily fly here from Edinburgh, London, Copenhagen, or Reykjavik, Iceland . A few days here will do wonders for your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #18 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

YOUR NEIGHBORS IN BORNEO

orang-utans Live on a private houseboat exploring the jungles of Borneo by river and families of Orang Utans will be your neighbors.

To get here, you fly from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to a small town in southern Borneo, Pangkalan Bun, on the Sekonyer River. You hire your own houseboat called a klotok (shower, nice bed, good warm food and cold beer) and English-speaking guide to take you up river through the jungles of the Tanjung Putting Orang Utan reserve. You’ll see proboscis monkeys, hornbills – and more wild orang utans than any other place on earth.

Spend time among them and you’ll understand how smart and human-like these gentle giants are. It’s an endearing experience never to be forgotten. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #72 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE PORTUGUESE RIVIERA

rh-at-portugues-rivieraA cliff-top fishing village on the Italian Riviera? Nope, Azenhas do Mar – Watermills of the Sea – is on the Portuguese Riviera. This is a magic place of fairy tale castles, thousand year-old fortresses, luxury boutique hotels, fabulous food, great wine, gorgeous beaches, and postcard-perfect scenery everywhere.

The Portuguese people are among the kindest in Europe, while Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world. Of all the planet’s First World countries, it’s hard to find one more friendly, calm, and welcoming than here.

Who’s the pretty girl? Lucky me – she’s my wife Rebel, mother of our two grown sons, my business partner, and my best friend. We’ve had a home here for many years. Rebel loves Portugal so much she taught herself to be fluent in Portuguese.

If you’d like a personal experience of the best of Portugal, come with Rebel and me on our Portugal Exploration this May.

Let me know if you’d like to have too much fun here with your fellow TTPers: [email protected].   (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #123 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE WORLD’S REMOTEST INHABITED ISLAND

worlds-remotest-islandThat would be Tristan da Cunha in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Some 260 Tristanians live here, all British citizens as the island is a UK Territory, in the island’s only community of Edinburgh-of-the-Seven-Seas. There’s no way to fly here – you have to take a boat for at least a week from Cape Town (and then a week back).

Tristanians are among the world’s most special people. Since the island was first settled in 1810, there has never been a single murder, abortion, or divorce among them. They are at peace with themselves, unfailingly cheerful, hospitable, and contented. If you are lucky enough to reach here, you may not want to ever leave. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #42 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

DEMOCRATIC FASCISM

dem-fascismJust as there can be a Socialist Democracy, so there can be a Fascist Democracy, in which a people’s freedom is not taken away from them by dictatorial force, but is voluntarily surrendered.

Just as a socialist government can be an unelected dictatorship (like Cuba) or a freely elected democracy (like Sweden), so can a fascist government.

Democratic fascism, or a fascist democracy is no more of an oxymoron than democratic socialism or a socialist democracy. Instead, it is the most accurate description of what America’s political system has become.

This did not happen overnight. By a patient strategy of what I call Fabian Fascism taking many years, the American people have been persuaded, unwittingly and almost unconsciously, to voluntarily give up their Constitutional freedoms.

Read more...

THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL VINEYARD

pico-vineyardsThe grape vines of Pico Island, one of nine islands of the Azores in the Atlantic, are enclosed within walls of black basalt rocks called currais (corrals). For over 500 years, the Portuguese villagers have been constructing thousands of miles of these currais walled enclosures to protect the vines from wind and sea spray.

The vineyards of Pico are so extraordinary that they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  And the wine is uniquely good!  You can order a bottle here.  Best, though, is to experience Pico and its viticulture yourself.  That’s what we did last June on our Atlantic Paradises adventure with your fellow TTPers.

We had a wonderful time – and you will too this coming June. You won’t believe how much adventurous fun you’ll have on our Atlantic Paradises 2024!  Click to join us… (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #213 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

AGIOS LAZAROS

agios-lazarosWe’re all familiar with the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead four days after his entombment in John 11:1-44. But what happened to Lazarus afterwards – what did he do with the rest of his (second) life?

He left Judea to live on the island of Cyprus. There he met Paul the Apostle and his evangelizing partner Barnabas who was a Cypriot. They appointed him the first Bishop of Kition (present day Lanarca), where he lived for another 30 years, then upon his second death was buried for the last time.

A church was built over his marble sarcophagus which has undergone many resurrections itself over the last two millennia. But here it stands today after all those ravages of time, Agios Lazaros, the Church of St. Lazarus, over his still-preserved sarcophagus. On every Lazarus Saturday (eight says before Easter), an icon of St. Lazarus is taken in procession through the streets of Lanarca. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #165 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE WORLD’S BEST MOONSHINE

best-moonshineSanto Antão island, Cape Verde. The world’s best moonshine, which the islanders call grogue, is made here. There are ten islands comprising the country of Cape Verde, some 400 miles off the West African coast of Senegal in the Atlantic Ocean. For hundreds of years, Cape Verdeans have been making grogue but the folks like the fellow here on Santo Antão have perfected it.

You’ll find their stills out in the sugar cane fields, where they put the cane in to a press called a trapiche, then cook down the molasses in an old oil drum into a clear distilled rum that’s up to 140 proof or more. This fellow is pouring me a sample to taste in a coconut shell. You have to be really careful because it’s so smooth and silky it goes down like water – making it very easy to get quickly wasted.

If you like it – which of course you will – he’ll pour fresh grogue into an empty plastic liter water bottle and sell it to you for six bucks. People are always partying in Cape Verde, and why not with all this grogue. They don’t mix it with anything except some lime juice and an ice cube. Really fantastic. Come to Cape Verde and have great time yourself! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #171 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

DEAD VLEI, NAMIBIA

dead-vlei Many consider this the most surrealistic place on earth. The clarity of the air turns the sky deep cobalt blue, the dunes are so old they’ve rusted red, combining with the white clay floor to give the skeletal trees a scene out of a Dali painting or a science fiction movie. But it’s real.

A thousand years ago the river watering these trees dried up, leaving a white clay pan amidst red sand dunes almost as tall as the Empire State Building. It’s so dry here these acacia trees can’t decompose, their skeletons standing scorched in the sun for ten centuries.

Dead Vlei is in a region of enormous dunes called Sossusvlei. It’s a mind-boggling experience to float over Sossusvlei in a hot air balloon. Namibia, in fact, is full of such experiences – the largest fur seal colony anywhere at Cape Cross, the marvelous abundance of African wildlife at the Etosha Pan, the dramatic shipwrecks dotting the Skeleton Coast, traditional people living untouched by the modern world like the Himbas.

Plus it’s one of the safest and best-run countries in all Africa – certainly worth consideration for your bucket list. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #47 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT IS WHY THE LEFT HATES AMERICA

trump-thumbs-up[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on December 1, 2017. It rings true more than ever today. Your thoughts?]

TTP, December 1, 2017

Nothing exemplifies Donald Trump’s political genius better than his campaign and now presidential slogan MAGA – Make America Great Again.

Just compare it to his opponent’s pathetically stupid and empty, I’m With Her. A campaign about nothing but Her, focused entirely on Her, devoted completely and totally to the egomania of Her.

By contrast, Trump’s campaign was about America – the America that every normal voter knew used to be great until Obama opened the gates of the Left’s insane asylum creating a mayhem of cultural lunacy, the America that every normal voter wanted once more.

Trump’s question to the voters – “Do you want more lunacy with Her or do you want to make America great again instead?” turned out to be rhetorical.

But just what is it that made America great in the first place? And whatever that is, why does it drive Lefties insane?

Read more...

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – CANNIBAL TREEHOUSE

cannibal-treehouseAugust 1977. High in the mountains above the source of the April River, a tributary of the Sepik in Papua New Guinea, I had a First Contact with an undiscovered tribe calling themselves the Wali-ali-fo. They ate “man long pig,” cooked human meat and lived in thatch dwelling built up in trees. Here I am in one with my Sepik guide Peter who got me here.

Peter translated a description of their practice: “When a man dies, we take a pig to his wife and exchange it for the body of the man. We take the body out into the forest and…cook ‘im eat ‘im. We do this so the man will continue to live in the bodies of his friends.”

Not something we’ll do but something we can understand, yes? These are people we could laugh and joke with, tell stories with, enjoy being with. A very different culture, but human all the same. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #148 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 01/05/24

dragon-year A Year of the Dragon – which this year is (beginning on February 10 in China) – can be one of audacious optimism and hubristic catastrophe.  Put those together and it’s a year that’s ripe for a government to lose the “mandate of heaven” – the total loss of public confidence sending it into history’s dustbin.

It’s been like this for millennia:

mandate-fail

It sure is true in America today.  And in many other countries around the world. In 2024, national elections are scheduled or expected in at least 64 countries worldwide.

Many are laughable frauds, like North Korea, Russia, or Venezuela.  Equally laughable is the London Economist claiming: Donald Trump’s Election Poses the Biggest Danger to The World in 2024.  Wow – these normally sane guys have really lost it straight around the bend. They even have a cartoon entitled “Trump’s Shadow Looms Over the World.”

You’ll love this HFR, ‘specially since it’s filled with so many fun graphics.  Here we go!

Read more...

THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS

school-of-athensThe School of Athens by Raphael (1483-1520) is one of the greatest artistic masterpieces of the Renaissance.  Here you see the two principal figures, Plato on the left and Aristotle on the right.  It is a classic example of the picture worth a thousand words. Plato is pointing to the heavens and his imaginary world of Forms that didn’t actually exist, while Aristotle has his outstretched hand towards the earth – cautioning Plato to pay attention to Reality.  For only in the real world can Plato’s ideals of Truth, Justice, and Virtue actually exist, expressed in concrete human action.

Raphael’s masterpiece was commissioned by Pope Julius II for a room in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican – just as Julius commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Apostolic Palace’s Sistine Chapel at the same time! Raphael from 1509-1511, Michelangelo from 1508-1512.

While the Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope, the part of it containing these masterpieces can be open to the public.  It is one thing to see a photo of them, and quite another to contemplate them in person.  Only then can you be appropriately overwhelmed by the superhuman genius it took to create them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #257 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDER ON THE ISLAND OF SAINTS

jacobs-ladderJamestown on Saint Helena in the South Atlantic is two blocks wide and a mile long in a narrow deep ravine. One of the world’s longest straight staircases, Jacob’s Ladder, was an original way to get out – 699 steps each 11 inches high – and it’s a workout.

People who live here call themselves “Saints” and pronounce their island “sent-uhl-LEEN-ah.” It’s famous of course for where the Brits exiled Napoleon after Waterloo. His residence and gardens on a high promontory, Longwood House, is preserved with original furnishings and his death bed. Dying in 1821, he was buried in a beautiful peaceful glen nearby (in 1840 he was reinterred at Les Invalides in Paris).

After climbing the Ladder and visiting Longwood, you’d want to refresh yourself at one of Jamestown’s pubs, where local Saints will be happy to hoist a pint with you. And don’t pass up a visit to the Saint Helena Distillery, the world’s remotest distillery, to learn how Head Distiller Paul Hickling makes his memorable Prickly Pear Whiskey, White Lion Spiced Rum, and Jamestown Gin – all in unique stepping stone bottles in honor of Jacob’s Ladder. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #46 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

WHERE ALEXANDER HAMILTON WAS BORN

alexander-hamilton-houseOn January 11, 1755, Alexander Hamilton was born in this home on the island of Nevis, part of the British Leeward Islands Colony in the Caribbean. It was his mother Rachel’s home inherited from her father – she and Alexander’s father, James Hamilton from Scotland, were never married.  It was a scandal back then to be “born out of wedlock,” over which young Alexander triumphed.

His birthplace is hallowed as a museum with displays and photos describing his extraordinary path from a penniless orphan (James abandoned him, then Rachel died) to being one of America’s principal Founding Fathers.  It leaves quite an impact on you, being in the very place where the history described actually began.

Nevis (nee-viss) is an especially beautiful Caribbean island yet less visited than it’s well-known neighbor, St. Kitts.  Together, they form the sovereign nation of St. Kitts & Nevis.  If it’s ever your good fortune to get to St. Kitts – make sure to take the short ferry ride over to Nevis.  It has a history, beauty and charm all its own. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #283 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE EUROPE THAT’S STILL THERE

portugal-canoeIt’s found here – the fishing port of the ancient village of Sesimbra in Portugal.  3,000 years ago it was called Sempsibriga – high place or briga of the Sempsi Celts.  So much of Europe is gone now, steamrollered by modernity.  Not here, where Portuguese fishermen sail out in their tiny boats for their daily catch as they have for countless generations.  The best fish you’ve ever had is in Sesimbra’s local restaurants – wow, is the swordfish good.

While Portugal is a First World country with all the modernity you could ask for, it is unique not only for the charm of its history, preservation of its culture, and post-card picturesqueness, but the sweetness of its people.  They are simply nice in a way that’s so captivating.  Their traditional family values are part of their nature.  The country resonates with peacefulness, an at ease serenity.  It’s the Europe that’s still there.

You can be captivated yourself by joining our WWX Exploration of Portugal this coming May.   (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #284, Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

 

Read more...

THE CALL OF THE WORLD

jack-map[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on October 23, 2013 – so yes, the map of my travels above needs updating. It’s appropriate that we begin 2024 with the message here. For almost a half-century now I’ve made a living enabling people to respond to the Call of the World. In 2024, that response will be in Africa’s Serengeti, Albania, Scotland, Mongolia, Central Asia, the Himalayas, Bhutan, the South Pole, and Atlantic Paradise Islands. I hope to see you on (at least!) one of them, like Adventure Albania which is seriously cool. But the message here goes well beyond that.  Happy New Year!]

TTP, October 23, 2013

As you may know, I’ve had memorable experiences in every country in the world. Ever since I was a young teen, the world has been calling me to explore it – and I’ve been responding deeply to that call for sixty years now.

And yet… and yet… I must confess to you that I’ve barely begun, barely scratched the surface of the wondrousness of our Earth.

There is a literal endlessness to what there is to learn, witness and infuse your soul about the history, culture, people, and sheer magical beauty that surrounds our planet. To seek, to know, to experience, to explore is a very deep part of what it is to be a human being.

Read more...

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: GOLD-PLATED LAUGHTER WITH AN UZBEK LADY

glimpse252_picIn Bukhara, Uzbekistan, I didn’t speak Uzbek and she didn’t speak English, yet laughter is the true universal language.

She gave me a broad smile to display her gold-plated teeth.  You don’t often see someone with teeth of gold, but she says what better way to protect your teeth when you’re getting old?  The Uzbek people of Central Asia have a wonderful sense of humor.  Come with me to Central Asia this September to laugh with these Silk Road people yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #252 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 12/29/23

silver-swanWelcome to the Happy New Year HFR!  We’re going to welcome 2024 by celebrating silver swans coming our way next year, rather than worrying over what black swan catastrophes the fear-mongers want to scare us with.

Not to be Pollyannish, we’ll discuss what dangers lurk ahead for there are plenty – but that’s worry-wart useless unless you couple solutions to them.  For silver swan is more than a metaphor.  We’re talking about remonetizing silver and even gold, what could save us all from the horrific inflation of everyday prices (like for food and household supplies) inescapable next year.

And… How about creating your own silver swans in 2024?  That sure is what Rebel and I are doing.  We’d like to invite you to join us on our Adventure Albania exploration on this spectacularly fascinating part of Europe in April (see what’s new on the TTP left side bar).

So here we go with a running start towards a Silver Swan 2024.

Read more...

THE MATTERHORN OF THE HIMALAYAS

©2019 Jack WheelerThis is Ama Dablam – “Mother’s Necklace” in Sanskrit – famed by climbers and trekkers as the Matterhorn of the Himalayas. Standing 22,349 ft, the favored climbing route is the southwest ridge, which you’re looking at face on. It towers as sentinel above the Tengboche Monastery of Nyingma (Red Hat) Tibetan Buddhism, and the famous trek to Everest Base Camp (EBC).

We were at EBC this morning, and shortly later flew by Ama Dablam in our expedition AS350B3 helicopter at 20,000 ft. It is from this altitude you can see the summit of Everest. And yes, that’s Everest on the left of the photo. In the shadow is Everest’s southwest face, in the sun the east face, the southeast ridge between them is the climber’s route to the summit. Breathtaking only begins to hint of what it is like to experience such a sight. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #202 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

A CUP OF YAK BUTTER TEA IN A TIBETAN NOMAD TENT

yak-butter-tea At 14,000 feet, Tibetan nomads called Drogpa set their summer encampment for their yak herds to graze on green pastures. You find them with difficulty in the remote Himalayan highlands of the Kingdom of Lo. They are happy to welcome you into their home, a single large tent of black yak wool, and serve you a cup of delicious yak butter tea.

It is a rare privilege to be with these people and experience their ancient way of life. It is something we strive to do on our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions. I took this picture in May. Here is their home from the outside. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #203 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

himalayan-nomad-tent

Read more...

THE CASTLE PRISON OF RICHARD THE LIONHEART

durnstein-castleThis is Durnstein Castle, perched on a precipice high above the Danube River in Austria some 60 miles upriver from Vienna. Built in the early 1100s, here is where King of England Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned, having been captured by his enemy Leopold V of Austria on his return from the Third Crusade in the Holy Land.

The story is well known of how Richard’s brother John had usurped the throne and impeded paying Richard’s ransom – and the legend of Robin Hood raising the money pilfering it from thieving nobles. The ransom was finally paid in 1194, with Richard returning to be crowned King of England once again. The castle fell into disrepair, uninhabitable since the late 1600s. It is an eerie journey back into history to explore it today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #197 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

partridge-in-a-pear-tree[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on Christmas Day, December 25, 2003.]

Merry Christmas! But wait… actually, tomorrow, December 26, is the First Day of Christmas.

Ancient Christians celebrated “The Holidays,” as our militant secularists insist on referring to them now, starting with the day after the birth of Jesus and ending on January 6th, the visit of the Magi in Matthew 2:11 known as the Epiphany. Start with 12/26 and end with 1/6 and you get: The Twelve Days of Christmas.

You may be really tired of hearing Christmas songs by now, including this one, yet you may still be wondering what the heck partridges in a pear tree and eight maids a-milking have to do with the birth of the founder of Christianity.

So I thought we might take a break from Serious Thoughts About World Events, and take a look at the song’s origin and meaning.

Even though The Twelve Days of Christmas was a kids’ song-game, it nonetheless had a deep religious meaning. Unlike the PC Happy Holidays of today, centuries ago Christmas was above all a religious celebration. All of the song’s twelve gifts are Christian symbols.

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 12/22/23

sheynnis-palaciosWelcome to the Christmas HFR!  Sorry for the clickbait photo to start but for three reasons.  First she is real, not a figment of AI.  She’s Sheynnis Palacios, Miss Universe 2023, having won the crown last month.   Read on and I think you’ll understand, as she may play a catalytic role in ridding her country of an evil Communist dictator.

Now let’s turn the best and happiest news of the week: Colorado Supreme Court Votes to Remove Trump from Primary Ballot.

WHAT???  This abomination on Tuesday (12/19) is good news??  Yes, absolutely, couldn’t be better – for El Donaldo especially and the entire GOP, indeed all America in general.  Let’s count the ways.

Here we go with another great HFR to engage, entice, and entertain your brain!

Read more...

THE YEZIDI BLACK SNAKE SACRED SPRING

At the Temple of the Peacock Angel in the Yezidi holy city of Lalish, you find this entrance to a Sacred Spring with a carved black snake, revered by Yezidis as they believe a black snake stuck itself into a hole in Noah’s Ark and saved humanity.

The Yezidis are among the most ancient of all peoples in the Middle East. Their heartland is in what is now Northern Iraq, or Iraqi Kurdistan. You may know of them through the horrific butchery perpetrated upon them by the medieval terrorists of ISIS which gained worldwide notoriety.

They are a fascinating people whose syncretic beliefs are a mélange of Zoroastrianism, Syriac Christianity, Sufi Islam spiced with their own interpretation of all three. In other words, they are their own people, no one else like them – peaceful, at ease with themselves, and immensely likeable.

Their protectors are the Kurds – an extraordinary people in their own right. We’ll be visiting Iraqi Kurdistan and the Yezidis once more soon. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #89 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THIS IS A CITY IN CENTRAL ASIA?

city-of-almatyThis is Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan with over two million people. Originally named Alma Ata or Father of Apples, as here in the western foothills of the Tien Shan mountains is where apples were first domesticated and cultivated.

Almaty is a thriving prosperous city as the financial/economic- but not political- capital of independent Kazakhstan. And but a stone’s throw away from the magnificent snow-clad Tien Shan, a trekker’s paradise in the spring, summer, and fall, a skier’s in the winter. It’s a modern, spotlessly clean city with gorgeous parks and flower gardens- and there’s a terrific Irish Pub flowing with Guinness. What more could you want? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #220 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE MOST CHRISTIAN ISLAND

waitangi-bay-chatham-islandWaitangi Bay, Chatham Island. 530 miles east of New Zealand lies an isolated island of windswept rugged beauty that few people have ever heard of. Yet Chatham Island may be an ultimate Christian example of how to prevail over monstrous evil.

In the early 1400s, a Polynesian people calling themselves Moriori sailed from New Zealand across an unknown empty sea to reach an island they named Rekohu, meaning “misty sky.” For 400 years they lived in peace among themselves – and in utter isolation from the world.

But in 1835, another people arrived, and brought Hell with them. They were a group of 500 Maori cannibals from New Zealand determined to take Rekohu for themselves. The Maori killed them like sheep, men, women, children, and babies, and ate them.

The British Governor of New Zealand ignored the Maori Genocide. There were about 2,000 Moriori on Rekohu (renamed Chatham) when the Maoris arrived in 1835. Only 101 Moriori were still alive by 1862. It was Western Christian missionaries who put an end to Maori killing, eating, and enslaving Moriori. Today on Chatham Island there is a Moriori resurgence – but without rancor. The past is past, they say, what counts is the future. Like few other peoples on earth, the Moriori understand the Christian power of abandoning resentment and grievance.

Come to Chatham to experience a unique place in our world, and a people with their souls at peace. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #176 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

WHAT TO READ 2023

fallacy-bookFearnside & Holther’s Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument is the book that launched my interest in philosophy.  I got a copy shortly after it was first published in 1959 when I was still in High School.  It’s pretty beat up by now but remains in a pride-of-place in my library.

It’s still being published – last edition in 2020 – and as you can see from the Amazon reviews, continues to get high praise.  I want to start this iteration of What to Read by suggesting you get a copy for any young person you know whom you value – son, grandson/daughter, cousin, child of a friend.  At least by the time they’re 12 or even late grade school.

It’s critically important for anyone to learn how to reason and think properly, the earlier they learn to do so the better.  More so today, obviously, with our culture and educational system awash in woketard fallaciousness.  Order today and Amazon will get it to whomever you want in time for Christmas – could be the most valuable Christmas present you’ve ever given.

Before we continue, I just went over the last issue, What to Read 2021, and there are a lot of books still very relevant and worth your while.  Take a look!  Okay, then, let’s proceed.

Read more...

THE MARBLE MOSAIC FLOOR OF SIENA CATHEDRAL

siena-cathedral-floor-artItaly’s Siena Cathedral, built from 1215 to 1263 is one of the great masterpieces of medieval architecture.  It contains works of art by Renaissance greats from Donatello, Bernini, and Michelangelo.  Most stunning of all, however, is the cathedral floor, entirely covered with marble mosaics depicting scenes from the Old Testament, Greek and Roman myths and history.  No one photo does it justice, it’s so immense.  Here you see Crates of Thebes (265-285 BC) atop the Mount of Wisdom casting riches into the sea for a life of tranquil simplicity.

The floor is covered over for most of the year and is only unveiled during (plus a few days before and after) September.   So plan to be there then to witness a truly magnificent artistic creation of Western Civilization. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #282 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

AUTO-RACIST AMERICA

white-terror[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on December 4, 2014.  Above, we’re running the same photo as that of the Get Whitey! Article last week (12/13).  That’s because it so perfectly exemplifies the cause of the Get Whitey! problem: the people holding the two signs in front are white themselves!  They personify America’s greatest and most damaging racial problem: whites being racist towards themselves, what I call auto-racism.  And it’s worse now than it was 9 years ago. Here’s the analysis and the cure.]

TTP, December 4, 2014

The “narrative” or meme of Racist America is all that counts for the white media-academia establishment.  Everything must be twisted into it or ignored.

What is clear is that the white media-academia establishment is determined to aggravate racial tension and hatred of blacks against whites in America – they want violence and riots and protests against whites.

Why?  It’s too facile to simply answer, “white guilt.”  For that begs the question, “What is the cause of white guilt?”  Why should whites feel guilty?  Guilty for what?

Read more...

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – TRANS-SAHARA EXPEDITION

trans-sahara-expeditionJanuary 2003. Our campsite at dawn in the center of the Sahara called the Téneré in Niger. We found hand stone axes here 8,000 years old when the Sahara was green. Crossing the world’s greatest desert is a true expedition, one of the most astounding adventures to be had on earth, geographically, culturally, and historically. Unfortunately, it is too dangerous with lawless and ideological banditry today. I can hardly wait to do it once more when it is safe again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #70 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...