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Showing posts from March, 2024

Ecotravel and Greenwashing and a Ramble on Ethics

As someone who strives to reach the unobtainable goal of living ethically (or if you prefer the word: moral, holy, pure.) I am always questioning the decisions I make. I rarely get it right, but I make the effort. In these blogs I try to share not just the travel experience, but how these travels have changed me. Travel is a big issue in my personal path, and for the planet as well. Travel has its cost. I am not speaking of the monetary cost, but the ethical cost of going to another place and the affect on that place. I was accused by one troll of “Killing the penguins.”  The question becomes how do I tip the scales of Osiris in my direction. "Ethics is the branch of philosophy that deals with moral questions and values."  Encyclopedea Britanica This essay is on my thoughts on that particular dilemma. I can’t tell you what to think, but perhaps in reading how I came to my decisions you can add to my thinking, and perhaps think about your footprint. The photos are from my va

Origami Session Links

 Here are the links I am using for my spring origami classes. This is just a page torn out of my notebook for the three sets of classes that I am teaching this spring. I may change or add to this list at any time.  Origami Teaching sets Victorian envelopes  Pattesser ie box https://www.origamiheaven.com/historyofthepatisseriebox.htm Packet: https://www.origamiheaven.com/historyofthehexagonalpacket.htm Jeremy Schafer arrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyqDkgQfnws Spinning top https://origamijapan.net/top-origami/ Driedle https://youtu.be/LgN4okKS3n0?si=TOIiyXu6ypZXDPEb Simplest envelope https://youtu.be/zZY2eGth_OM?si=h6BVZd8fz5ki1Pak Pull tab envelope: https://youtu.be/-J6Mqu5WRrk?si=dGiwm86jKCC2BZe1 Heart Envelope https://youtu.be/dZuQWu7hadk?si=D9b91mbHmpI5XomA Can you make this into a cat or a fox envelope? Square packet https://www.paperkawaii.com/origami-paper-storage-pocket-instructions/ Tomoko Fuse Boxes, Cat box https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/ama

Random Bits, Antarctic November 2023

As I try to finish up with stuff from the Antarctic trip, I have a bunch of little random things that I wanted to share with you. They are in no particular order. Some of them are marked for specific people as when I travel some of my shadow travelers (people not able to travel but accompany me in spirit) have requested I look for specific things from them. Going to the Antarctic was amazing, but in a world of amazing this trip was something special. We had unprecedented good luck, good weather, good seas. We had a small, sturdy ship and a captain with adventure in his heart and a twinkle in his eye. This wasn't the itinerary we signed up for. It was so much more. Other animals and plants: Other than the whales, sea lions, and penguins, we saw very little other animals. And almost no plants. The skua was one of the few birds we saw. This was the only feather I saw on our hikes. This tiny mollusk was shown to us by one of our naturalists It attaches to a whale, up off the coast of S

Penguins, Antarctic November 2023

 Penguins are the star of the show, at least in their opinion. They are as curious about humans as the  humans are about them. The photos are all taken by myself, with my Samsung phone. Very little editing has been done to them. I think they are better in the raw, and I really don't  have the skills to do it better. To just view the photos, click on any of them to get a full screen slide show. You can enlarge any of the videos by clicking the square thing in the bottom right. Watching penguins are such a joy. However I am realizing, looking back at the photos just how amazing these guys are. Happy Feet  got it right in many ways, and wrong in so many more ways. To best watch these two videos, stand in the freezer, try to work your phone with thick gloves, and try to keep from laughing while not dropping your phone.  We saw four different kind of penguins, with the exception of the Emperor and the Rare Red penguins, they are in the family of Brush Tail Penguins. They hunt in packs,