Dr. Jack Wheeler
THE DNA SOLUTION TO THE EQUALITY ACT
HR 5: The Equality Act of 2021, passed by the House 224-206 on February 25, 2021, amends the term “sex” meaning male or female to include “sexual orientation and gender identity” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act as currently amended.
Abraham Lincoln was fond of asking a question of people to test their intelligence: “If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have?” If a person answered, “Five,” Lincoln knew he was talking with someone not very smart. “No,” he’d reply, “the correct answer is Four, because calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
We need, then, a solution to the Feds forcing Fake Reality upon us at the point of a government gun. Here it is. Feel fully free to send it to any coach, athletic department, school administrator, city council member, state legislator, or member of Congress you may know.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY VII
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), one of Victorian England’s most prominent Prime Ministers (1868/1874-1880), once commented to a friend: "There are two things that the public should never be allowed to see how they are made: sausage and the law."
We are witnesses today of just how immortally trenchant Disraeli was back in the 19th century. For in truth, politics in America now is a far more repulsive sight than the inside of a sausage factory.
Yet if Disraeli were here now, he’d smile sardonically and remind us that (he was fluent in French) plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they stay the same.
TWO COOL MOUNTAIN TAJIK KIDS AT THE FIRST PEARL OF SHING
The high hidden Valley of Shing in western Tajikistan holds, as we learned in yesterday’s Glimpse #52, a series of seven stepping-stone lakes called the Seven Pearls of Shing. The valley is dotted with tiny villages of Mountain Tajiks, descendants of the ancient Sogdians who fought Alexander the Great.
Alexander fell in love with and married a Sogdian princess named Roxanna – and the girls of Shing are often named Roxanna to this day. The Mountain Tajiks of the Shing are a special people – strong, independent and free. They are also warm and welcoming. The kids – the girls just like the boys – grow up vibrant and confidant. These two young brothers exemplify that.
Each of the seven pearls have a unique breathless beauty, for they are of different colors and change according to the time of day. We are here at Mijnon (Eyelash), the first pearl, followed by Soya (Shade), Hushnor (Vigilance), Nophin (Navel), Khurdak (Little One), Marguzor (Blossoming), and Hazor Chasma (Thousand Springs). Towering above us are snow-laced mountains 18,000 feet high.
Perhaps you’d like to join your fellow TTPers to make the Seven Pearls, and so much else, a part of your life next May? Let me know! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #53 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – WITH THE ANTI-COMMUNIST GUERILLAS IN CAMBODIA
July, 1984. The KPNLF – Khmer People’s National Liberation Front – was the Anti-Communist guerrilla movement fighting the Soviet-backed Vietnamese Communists in Cambodia. When I was first there in 1961, Cambodia was then a land of serenity, with a gentle and tranquil people who were at peace with themselves and the world. Now it was a land of indescribable Communist horror.
It was such a privilege to be with these brave men willing to wage war against that horror and bring freedom to their country. I told their tale in Turning Back the Terror, the February 1985 cover story for Reason magazine. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #20 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/26/21
In this scene from Casablanca, when French Capt. Renault (Claude Raines) introduces Rick (Bogart) to Major Strasser of the Nazi Gestapo, he says, “Major Strasser is one of the officers who has earned the Third Reich the reputation it has today.”
This week, TTP dispensed with any double meaning to describe what the most renowned law enforcement agency in America has tragically become: Can We Reform a FBI That Behaves Like A Gestapo?
A good friend of mine since the 80s, TTPer Steve Baldwin, just gave me a personal example…. Here we go with a simply sizzling HFR!
BRANDON WHEELER AT THE DOOR TO HELL
We camped here overnight in May a year ago crossing Turkmenistan’s Kara Kum (Black Sand) Desert, and we’ll be here again in May next year. The Darvaz Gas Crater – known to locals as “The Door to Hell” – has been burning nonstop since 1971, when Russian engineers set it on fire expecting it to burn off and it never has. This is a night -- and a sight -- you’ll never ever forget. My son Brandon can vouch for that! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #44 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE POLYNESIA PARADISE YOU NEVER HEARD OF
Have you ever seen the ocean turn day-glo pink? It does here naturally during a sunset (this is not photoshopped). Between Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific is a raised coral atoll, 100 square miles of old limestone between 60 and 200 feet high: the island of Niue (new-way), and it’s is uniquely fabulous.
With no silty river runoff, the water is incredibly clear – visibility can reach over 200 feet. There are a multitude of chasms through which you clamber to these out-of-a-movie tidal pools perfect for snorkeling surrounded by colorful reef fish. The limestone cliffs encircling the coast are riddled with caves with multi-colored stalactites and stalagmites.
You can snorkel or dive with spinner dolphins and humpback whales. The big game fishing is world class – within a few hundred yards off shore. The Niueans are unfailingly friendly and welcoming, the beautiful Matavai Resort is the best bargain in the Pacific, the food and beer is inexpensive, the weather is balmy. It’s a Polynesian paradise you never heard of. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #48 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DEAD VLEI, NAMIBIA
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)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY VI
You’re in a nice restaurant with friends with the waiter taking orders for wine, appetizers, entrées or main courses. Then before the meal begins, the waiter presents everyone with a gift on the house from the chef, a bite-size artfully prepared concoction as a glimpse of the chef’s style.
Such a free “pre-appetizer” is called an amuse-bouche (French for mouth-amusement). This morning (2/22) I received a trilogy of the latest tyrannies by FPX minions from a friend who asked of them, “Can it get any worse?”
I replied: “Any worse???? These fascist thieving pigs are just warming up. These are just their amuse-bouches, much less an hors d’oeuvre, much less an entrée, with their main course a dog's breakfast poisonous beyond imagination.”
So a critical part of Keeping Your Sanity is to develop a strategy for the long haul – for America’s current saga of Freedom Lost – Freedom Regained has barely begun.
THE WORLD’S REMOTEST INHABITED ISLAND
That 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)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/19/21
We should not bemoan Rush’s passing – although we sure could use his Golden Mike insights right now – but rather celebrate that we were gifted his “Talent on loan from God” for so many years. Indeed, that we were gifted with him at all.
If you read his Wikipedia bio, you see his early years consisted of one failure after another, getting repeatedly fired by radio stations. How easily he could have been sidetracked with his life taking an entirely different direction, over 16 years of failure (from age 20 in 1971) to age 36 in 1987. But he wasn’t, so he was ready when President Reagan got rid of the libtard Fairness Doctrine.
For a full third of a century, from 1988 to 2020, he led the charge for America’s conservative principles of liberty, decency, and patriotism like no other. Time to reflect on how all those years might never have been. Then take a moment to read a young college girl’s Ode to Rush for a personal story on what a profoundly good human being he was.
Thanks for being such an extraordinary inspiration to so many millions of us for so long, Rush. We’ll always live in gratitude for you.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – JOHNNY AND THE TSANTSA
November 17, 1976. When I wrote my book “The Adventurer’s Guide,” it was a fantasy of mine to go on the Tonight Show and have Johnny Carson hold a “tsantsa,” a human shrunken head – as a book chapter was “How To Live With Headhunters.” As you can see, that fantasy came true. I still can’t believe how relaxed I was in the studio photo. That’s because Carson had a magical ability to put a guest like me, no professional performer, at ease. The cameras and lights, the audience, millions watching on TV all went away. It was just me talking to this friendly fellow with no one around. An amazing experience. Some dreams can really happen! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #40 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DARK HEDGES
You’ve seen this spooky place called King’s Road in HBO’s The Games of Thrones – but where is it and what is it really? It’s in Country Antrim in Northern Ireland near the town of Armoy. Originally it was the driveway to a mansion built in 1775 by James Stuart, descendant of King James I of England (1566-1625), who lined either side with beech trees. Now almost 250 years old, their branches intertwine eerily, giving rise to its name of “Dark Hedges,” and legends of ghosts haunting it like the “Grey Lady.”
Northern Ireland has had its terrible Troubles as we all know, but that’s history now. It’s a place of stunning scenery and natural wonders like the Devil’s Causeway and Marble Arch Caves, and those man-made in addition to Dark Hedges, such as Dunluce Castle and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. Then there’s the Victorian opulence of the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast. All in all, Northern Ireland is a marvelous place to visit. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #43 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE WELL OF JOB
We’re all familiar with the sufferings of Job in the Old Testament’s Book of Job. But what happened to Job after his sufferings were ended? All the OT says is that, with his health and riches restored, he lived long enough to see his great-great grandchildren.
The OT says Job lived in the “Land of Uz,” which was “beyond the Euphrates.” That would place it in modern day Iraq. There is no connection between this Hebraic name and the land of Uzbekistan – meaning the Land of Uzbeks, a Turkic people. Yet the Silk Road city of Bukhara in today’s Uzbekistan is thousands of years old.
Jews have lived in Bukhara for 3,000 years, although almost all have emigrated now (some 150,000 Bukharan Jews live in Israel). Thus it is a very ancient legend that during a terrible drought in Bukhara, Job visited the city and struck the ground with his staff – causing a spring of healing water to gush from the ground, and continues to do so today.
A shrine was built around the spring – the Well of Job – and the water is clear and drinkable. One of the many extraordinary experiences in what we call Hidden Central Asia. We’ll be here again this coming May. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #114 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE WORLD’S MOST SACRED MOUNTAIN
This is the North Face of Mount Kailas (6,638 m/21,778 ft) in a remote region of far western Tibet inhabited only by Changpa nomads. For 22% of all people on Earth – 1.2 billion Hindus, 510 million Buddhists and many millions of others – it is the spiritual Center of the Universe, the Navel of All Creation.
Kailas and surrounding glaciers are considered the source of four of Asia’s great rivers radiating out from it: the Indus, Tsangpo-Bhramaputra, Sutlej, and Karnali-Ganges. As a sacred mountain it has never been climbed.
For thousands of years, people from all Asia have made the arduous pilgrimage to Kailas to perform the sacred act of circumambulating around the mountain – most clockwise, counterclockwise for others such as the Changpa adhering to the ancient Bön Tibetan religion.
It is not easy. Huffing over the high point of the pilgrimage route with TTPer Big John Perrot, our altimeter said we were as high as Kilimanjaro, over 19,000 feet. The highlight, however, is being among so many pilgrims from so many diverse cultures. This is one of our world’s thrilling adventures, and such a privilege to participate in. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #38 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY V
Bob Hope in “The Ghost Breakers” 1940
I confined my list to a Top Ten, when there could have been so many more – like Princess Bride. “Inconceivable!” In any regard, check out the Forum for Keeping Your Sanity IV if you feel like adding other yourself.
So… after all this frivolity, this week we’ll talk about the healthiest way to lose weight. It has a name: autophagy.
THE LAND OF THE DRAGON’S BLOOD TREE
This is the Dragon’s Blood Tree, Dracaena cinnabari. It can be found in only one place on earth, a remote island called a Lost World for its uniqueness, the “most alien-looking place on our planet.”
Although it’s known as the most alien, strangest, weirdest, and bizarre place you can go to, it’s also completely safe and incredibly beautiful. Anybody who comes here returns saying, “You have to see it to believe it.” What is this place?
It’s the World Heritage Site of the island of Socotra, the “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean,” 240 miles off the coast of Yemen and now secured by the UAE. It’s hidden, remote, and far away.
We were there in 2014, and it’s been almost impossible to get to ever since. But we’ll be back next April of 2021. Let me know if you’d like to be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #34 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – RETRACING HANNIBAL OVER THE ALPS WITH ELEPHANTS
September 1979 – my Hannibal Expedition took two elephants over the same pass Hannibal used in 218 BC across the Alps to attack Rome. There is only one pass that fits the contemporary descriptions of both Greek historian Polybius and Roman historian Livy: The Col du Clapier on what is now the French-Italian border.
Unrecognized as Hannibal’s Pass in 1979, it is still a roadless trail today crossed only on foot or mountain bike. But since our expedition, there are now signs proclaiming it La Route d’Hannibal, and even a life-size statue of an elephant at the French village of Bramans where the track over the pass begins.
The photo you see is us climbing high above Bramans (I’m the one in front with the red backpack). It took us five days to carefully guide our elephants (from an Italian circus) over Clapier and down to the Italian village of Susa. First time in 2,197 years and never repeated 41 years since.
Hannibal’s crossing the Alps with elephants is one of the most epic events of world history. To retrace it yourself with elephants is to make that famous history a part of your life in the most uniquely powerful way. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #15 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/12/21
But misdirection from what? One answer would be the very first Bill dropped in the 117th Congress, HR 1, a 791-page grotesquerie named “For the People Act,” which it is anything but.
The link is to the full text, but the most accurate summation of it is by Gatestone’s J. Christian Adams on Monday (2/08). It’s a compendium of every crooked shenanigan the Dems could dream to permanently lock in to federal law everything they did to steal the presidency from POTUS last year.
Still – why is this such a clown show? With these clowns in the forefront?
THE FLATTEST PLACE ON EARTH
The Salar de Uyuni, 12,000 feet high in the Altiplano of Bolivia, is a 4,000 square mile expanse of salt so flat it is used to calibrate the altimeters of NASA observation satellites of the earth. After a rain, it becomes the world’s largest mirror, 80 miles across. The incredible reflective surface extends to the horizon in every direction – it is both hallucinatingly disorienting and makes for amazing mirror-to-horizon photos (especially at sunrise/sunset).
The brine underneath the salt crust contains 70% of the world’s lithium – critical to our battery-fueled global economy – produced in evaporation pools that are a kaleidoscope of colors.
You can stay here in relative luxury at one of the world’s most unique hotels – the Palacio de Sal, built entirely of salt: walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, sculptures. Being here is one of South America’s more astounding experiences. Let me know if you want a Wheeler Expedition to take you there! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #39 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE GREAT BLACK OF MAKALU
The 5th highest mountain on earth at 8,463 meters/27,765ft, Makalu is Sanskrit for “Great Black” – a name for Shiva, the Hindu god of creative destruction, as here is one of his homes. You’re looking face on the Southeast Ridge (the right side in sun, the left side in shade), which is the primary climbing route.
You’re seeing the entire south side of Makalu in Nepal, while the north side is in Tibet with the border running along the horizon crestline. Makalu Base Camp lies below the bottom right corner of the photo. This was taken at over 20,000 feet on our approach from Everest and Lhotse – 12 miles away – during our Himalaya Helicopter Expedition, or “HHE.”
Everyone is understandably entranced with Everest – yet the other 8,000 meter Himalayan giants are breathtakingly magnificent in their own right, and you can see why with Makalu. On our HHE, we go to them all! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #37 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE NAGAS OF LUANG PRABANG
Nagas are multi-headed dragons who rise up to protect the former royal capital of Laos, Luang Prabang. The city along the Mekong River has been the center of Lao culture since the 600s. The Kingdom of Laos, “Land of a Million Elephants,” had to struggle for centuries to avoid being absorbed by the empires of Siam and Khmer (Cambodia). It was the French who wrested Laos from Siam (Thailand) in the 1890s, giving it independence in 1953.
For centuries, devout Buddhists have been building beautifully ornate shrines and temples called Wats here in Luang Prabang. Every day at dawn, hundreds of red-robed monks living in the Wats parade through the city streets for donations. Since the Pathet Lao seizure of power in 1975, moving the capital to Vientiane, Luang Prabang is free of politics, preserved as a religious haven and treasure house of Laotian culture.
A few days here is not to be missed. As you enjoy a glass of good French wine at a riverbank café watching the sunset over the Mekong, give thanks to the Nagas who are still protecting this sanctuary city. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #24, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY IV
One of the best ways to laugh of course is to watch a movie so funny you almost can’t stand it. A joke lasts seconds, maybe a minute or so. A movie lasts for more than an hour or two. You need both – quick joke breaks in the day, and time off not to think of anything else but laughing your brains out.
So here’s my personal Top Ten list of the funniest movies I’ve ever watched. They’re all on YouTube, Netflix, or Amazon. Then some personal notes. Here we go.
MYSTERY LAKES OF THE GOBI
The southernmost portion of the Gobi Desert is called the Alashan in Inner Mongolia. Traversed by Marco Polo in 1273 on his way to meet the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, he said it contained a “mystery.”
For in the hidden center of the Alashan is an area known as Badain Jaran, “Mystery Lakes” in Mongolian. There are some 140 of these small lakes surrounded by enormous sand dunes. The photo you see is of one of these lakes, taken in late afternoon on a windless day, with the giant dunes above reflected on the water.
We were there in October 2017. We will explore Inner Mongolia and the Gobi again in October 2021. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #32 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/05/21
No doubt who is the HFR Hero of the Week, is there? Here she is, glowering at Pelosi in the House Chamber. The Dems have their lightning rod, AOC. Now we have ours, MTG – Marjorie Taylor-Greene, every patriot’s heroine.
We’ll be talking about MTG further, but first, I need to thank all of you who took the time to take our 2021 To The Point Survey.
Your answers and comments are really being helpful in enabling us to make TTP better than ever – especially now as our country becomes an American Dictatorship in broad daylight. TTP is needed as never before, and it’s my job to make sure it is. So please help me by taking our 2021 To The Point Survey if you haven’t already – just click on the link and answer/comment away. Thanks!
Okay – here we go with the absolute best HFR of 2021… so far!
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE POTALA
Lhasa, Tibet, 1986. Built in the mid-1600s, the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet was the home of the Dalai Lama as the incarnation of Avalokiteśvara, the Buddhist deity of compassion, until the Communist Chinese colonized Tibet in 1959.
The Potala is one of the world’s great architectural wonders, thirteen stories high with molten copper poured into the foundation to stabilize it from earthquakes, 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, 200,000 statues. I’ve been here several times since 1986, and it’s always such a powerful experience. Yet to Tibetans, this is a “dead” building as the Dalai Lama is gone. It is my hope that someday, the Dalai Lama will live here in a Free Tibet once again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #114 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BALLOONS OVER BURMA
From the 900s to the 1200s, the Pagan Empire built over 10,000 Buddhist temples. 2,200 remain on the plains of Pagan today, one of the world’s most wondrous sights – especially if you see them from above in a hot air balloon. It is truly astounding how much there is to explore and experience in Burma. We’ll be there once more for it all next February. I hope you will be one of your fellow TTPers to join us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #33 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE HIDDEN NORTH FACE OF KANCHENJUNGA
This is one of the truly great mountain sights on earth yet never seen – except for professional mountaineers and those on our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions. Kanchenjunga at 28,169 feet (8,586 meters) is the world’s 3rd highest mountain (after Everest and K2), with a drop from summit (the peak on the left in front of the cloud) to the glacier at it base of 12,000 feet straight down.
You can be awed by such a picture, but to actually physically be here, to witness this magnificence personally so that it is forever a part of your life, is to feel a depth of awe that has to be experienced to be understood. Kanchenjunga is part of the Himalayas, now on the border of Nepal and Sikkim, once an independent kingdom now absorbed into India. We fly right up the North Face, and into the Amphitheatre of the Southwest Face as well.
We hope to be here again in early November if Nepal opens up by then; we’ll be here for sure next April. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #31 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
OUR 2021 TO THE POINT SURVEY
Once again, it’s time to ask you for your feedback on how we’re doing, how we can improve, what you’d like more of or less.
As you well know, 2020 was the weirdest year of our lives, and 2021 is promising to be weirder and worse. TTP will be here to help you understand it, cope with it, overcome it, to “survive and thrive.”
You can really help all of us in this goal by taking just a few moments giving your responses in our 2021 To The Point Survey. This is for TTP Members only. Please do not give it to anyone not a fellow TTPer. It can be anonymous, but we hope you’ll let us know your name and email at the end where we ask. – or if we have a question for you regarding your answers.
This is in case you have a comment we should respond to – or if we have a question for you regarding your answers.
So just click on the link -- 2021 To The Point Survey – answer away, and make whatever comments you’d like. There is a place at the end where you can send any message for me or our TTP team.
With thanks and appreciation,
- Jack
KEEPING YOUR SANITY III
Ever hear the story of a fellow who went for a walk around his neighborhood one day and saw a man doing this really weird dance on his porch? The fellow calls out, “What’s the dance for?” The man calls back, “It keeps the tigers away.” Puzzled, the fellow says, “What tigers? There are no tigers around here.” The man happily responds, “You see, it’s working!”
Easy to laugh at one nutty neighbor – but not when almost the entire world is engaged in the Lockdown Tiger Dance.
Here’s the NYTimes’ (1/29) List of Countries Americans Can Travel To. It’s not many out of the world’s 198 countries, and most of those left with onerous restrictions. This Global Feardemic for a flu bug survivability from which is over 99%.
This is a prime example of how critically important Keeping Your Sanity is amidst the whole planet going off its rocker. It’s not just America.
THE ARK OF BUKHARA
The ”Ark” was the palace-fortress of Bukhara rulers since 500 BC. The ancient Silk Road oasis has a history of 5,000 years. Today Bukhara is in Uzbekistan, one the Five Stans of Central Asia. Each of the five – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrghizstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan – are uniquely enchanting. Together they comprise one of the most culturally, historically, and scenically spectacular, yet mysterious and unknown, regions on our Earth. Let me know if you’d like to experience all five with me this coming May 2021. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #36 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/29/21
Is it true that if you put a frog in a pot of cool water and very slooowly heat up the water, he won’t notice until he’s boiled to death? Turns out, it may well be.
No matter the disagreement, there is universal acknowledgement that if water a frog is in gets too hot too quickly, he wastes no time jumping out of it muy rápido. Which is why the frog-boiling metaphor is so useful as that’s just what us humans do too.
For that’s just what FPX’s Fubar Fascism has done in first few days of his impostor occupancy of the White House. He tried to boil us American frogs waaaay too fast – including lots and lots of seriously ticked-off Dem union workers.
That’s the message of hope in this week’s HFR – and what to do about it.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY — A FIRST CONTACT WITH THE NAKED AUCAS
July, 1972. That’s what these people were known as back in 1972 who lived in the Amazon forests south of the Napo River in Ecuador killing anyone foolish enough to enter their territory. The Quechuas living along the north bank of the Napo were terrified of them, calling them “Aucas” – naked savages. I found them, as you can see, naked but not savage.
This was a true first contact. A helicopter pilot friend, Tony Stuart, and I chanced upon them, landing in their clearing. We were literally space aliens in a space ship from outer space, for all they knew was the jungle. They had nothing from the outside world. I gave them a box of matches which was the most exciting thing they had ever seen. Despite their fearsome reputation for killing outsiders including missionaries, they smiled and laughed like anyone else.
They also understood trade and exchanging gifts. Beside the matches, we gave them some rope and a small machete (first metal they had ever seen). They gave (without our asking) Tony a hand stone axe, and me a blowgun. After a few hours it was time to go. Our goodbyes to each other were with huge smiles. I will never ever forget them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #113 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SCOUNDREL’S VIEW OF MOUNT EVEREST
You’re looking face on Everest’s West Ridge, the border of Tibet and Nepal. On the right is the Southwest Face in Nepal, on the left is the North Face in Tibet. Called Scoundrel’s View because this is a better view than trekkers to Everest Base Camp see (a viewpoint called Kala Patthar).
You have to make another trek up the Ngozumpa glacier (longest in the Himalayas) in the Gokyo valley, where above the fifth Gokyo lake at 16,400 feet you get to call yourself a “scoundrel” for seeing what Everest trekkers don’t.
High on the Northeast Ridge on the left horizon is the last place Mallory and Irvine were seen heading for the summit in 1924, and then disappeared. Hillary and Tenzing summited in 1953 via the Southeast Ridge over the right horizon. Everest Base Camp in Nepal is at the foot of the big snowy buttress below the West Ridge. Called the West Shoulder, it blocks any view of Everest from Base Camp.
On our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions, we get an abundance of spectacular views of Everest, up close and personal – Scoundrel’s View is only one of many. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #29 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BURMA’S SACRED GOLDEN ROCK
Some three hours’ drive east of Rangoon brings you to Mount Kyaiktiyo, at the top of which (3,600ft) is a gigantic granite boulder covered in gold leaf perched on the edge about to fall off. But it never does, held in place, legend says, by a strand of the Buddha’s hair put underneath it 2,500 years ago. Ever since, the Golden Rock has been a sacred pilgrimage site for the Burmese people and Buddhists around the world.
There are very few people here other than pilgrims, who devoutly pray, circumambulate the rock, and reverently place small strips of gold leaf upon it. It’s a marvelous experience to be among them. I’ll be here again in January of ’22 – you might consider joining me. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #112 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
NO MORE BULL MOOSES
1912 cartoon lampooning TR going left
On Saturday (1/23), WaPo joined in spreading the rumor that POTUS was going to start a third political party:
“In recent weeks, Trump has entertained the idea of creating a third party, called the Patriot Party, and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office.”
This is the most catastrophically bad idea in over 100 years. Here’s why.
THE MONSTER OF SEFAR
Charlatans like Erich von Daniken convinced many gullible readers of his books this “monster” was of an alien in a space suit. Real archaeologists know it’s of an ancient tribal shaman, to be found among the greatest profusion of prehistoric rock art on earth over 10,000 years old in a remote plateau of the Algerian Sahara called the Tassili n’Ajjer.
There are no roads – you must climb up here with pack mules carrying your supplies. No one lives up here, it’s uninhabited. You’ll be among spectacularly gigantic rock formations with over 300 huge natural rock arches, so geologically unique it seems unworldly. In the center of Tassili n’Ajjer known as the Tadrart is a vastly deep gorge, like a knife sliced open the mountain. Clamber down to the bottom and you will discover a forest of 2,000 year-old Saharan cypress trees – yes, a forest in the Sahara, remnants of when the Sahara was green millennia ago.
My son Jackson and I explored here in 2003. Perhaps it’s time to be here again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #28 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE LEG ROWERS OF INLE LAKE
The men of the Intha people living on Inle Lake in Burma have a unique way to fish. Using their large conical nets, they row by standing on one leg on the prow of their canoe, and paddle with their other leg. They feed their families this way. Burma (Myanmar) is one of the most picturesque, historical, and serene places on earth. We’ll be there again next February. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #27 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY II
We all know why – because if you don’t have oxygen you’ll go unconscious and can’t help anyone; in fact, you’ll hurt them, especially your children, as now they’ll go unconscious too.
This has become so much of a metaphor now there are several self-help books on Amazon with the same title: Put Your Own Oxygen Mask On First.
You have to be fit and prepared, mentally, physically, and spiritually for such a date with destiny. Last week was a mental preparation, that of living in gratitude for the blessings of your existence. This week we’re going to get physical.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – QARI BABA
Afghanistan, 1984. Yes, that’s me with the legendary Qari Baba, Commander of the Harakat Mujahaddin waging a war of liberation against the Red Army of the Soviet Union – and my dear friend. I told him he looked like a combination of Genghiz Khan and Buddha, and he couldn’t stop laughing. We had so many extraordinary experiences together – like blowing up the Soviet High Command of Bala Hissar in Ghazni.
After the war was won with the final Soviet retreat in February, 1989, Qari Baba became the Governor of Ghazi Province. Then Pakistani Intelligence (ISI) created the Taliban to seize control of the country. Qari Baba had to take up arms anew against them. In March of 2006, he was assassinated by a Taliban hit team on orders from the ISI. I will never ever forget him. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #111 photo ©Jack Wheeler)