One Elementary Truth

Concerning all acts of initiative and creation,
there is one elementary truth -
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Of Note: God must have been in a humorous mood when creating this unique plant. I call it a pitcher plant and it is like nothing I've ever seen before in the northwoods. Look how it captures the rainwater in its leaves and reflects the trees above. In droughty times, the plant is withered and brown. When the rains come, it perks up again and provides this showy display in lime green and maroon. The gangly flower above sprouts about a foot tall around June and lasts the whole summer. To find out more about wildflowers and view some gorgeous photos, check out www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers, an award winning Website presented by the Botany Program of the US Forestry Service.

Today's Weather Report: Ah, the sun is out again. Must mean December is close at hand. Whew, we almost made it through the gloomiest month of the year. It's in the low 30's today--perfect for a walk outside with just a light jacket. Local hunters were over for a lunch of soup and beer. Light on the beer if they continued to hunt, heavy on the beer if not.

Watch For Change Snippet: Computers are wonderful tools and provide unlimited access to knowledge. One can spend hours in search of information. I remember only ten years ago short lists of good Websites that were circulated like treasures. Now, we need Google or Yahoo to even scratch the surface. One creative Website to watch is www.worldmapper.org. Scientific American describes it as providing "digitally modified maps depicting regions of the world not by their physical size but by their demographic importance on subjects ranging from population to how many toys we import to who's eating their vegetables." You have to see these maps to believe them. In some the United States resembles a huge balloon (imported toys, for example) and in others it is barely visible (population 2000 years ago.) The initial set of 366 maps, which can be freely viewed and printed, is now complete. If a computer is not handy, a newly published atlas is also available. As we consider how resources are to be distributed in the future, this mapping concept could be invaluable. Future generations looking at this data may be astonished at the patterns tolerated by their ancestors.