Then, of course, I keep a folding pocket knife in my car and a smaller one on my key chain. Like they say out West, a cowboy’s kid learns to use a knife before he learns to ride a tricycle or pony. They learn to be prepared, and to that end I also carry a headlamp, a miniature flashlight, extra batteries, water, and food, three different ways to start a campfire, a signal mirror, and a first-aid kit.

The post Knives: Be Prepared! first appeared on Medical Health.

Hoolie Bacon: Thorns, Sand and Mountain Lion Tracks

The post Reavis Ranch & Hoolie Bacon Photo Galleries first appeared on Medical Health.

The post Arizona Slideshow first appeared on Medical Health.

[See image gallery at cleandawn.com]

The post Winter Hiking on the Bruce Trail South of Speyside, Ontario first appeared on Medical Health.

Fisheries biology is an interesting field of study, but it often attracts (and subsequently recruits) autocratic individuals who as teenagers and young adults failed to muster enough smarts to succeed at jobs requiring higher levels of creativity, originality, and diplomacy.

Related Posts:

World Health and Arrogant Ecologists

Science, Ethics, and Abuse

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

The post The Fisheries Turnoff first appeared on Medical Health.

I took the Arizona shot on the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon and the Ontario shots on the Beaver Valley and Sydenham sections of the Bruce Trail (Maps 28 and 29 of the Bruce Trail Reference: Edition 25), about 10 km south of Meaford, Ontario. (Did you know that John Muir once lived in Meaford?). Compared to Arizona, the Bruce Trail does not present large elevation changes, but its moss-covered rocks and boulders are extremely slippery.

I have images from other areas in the Grand Canyon and on the Bruce Trail mixed into the slideshow.

Also see:

The post Hiking Photos from Bruce Trail and Grand Canyon first appeared on Medical Health.

But now Arizona’s lawmakers are preparing to vote on budget cuts that could shut down the entire state parks system by July 1. And that vote in January 2010 might result in the sale of state parks to the highest bidders. That’s right: I’m hearing that once an Arizona state park is closed, it must be sold: Land speculators and developers will mutilate our public gems, our community wilderness. They will restrict access, and Lost Dutchman State Park will become a gated community or a private suburb, with lot and house prices starting at $700,000 or more.

Here’s a group of hikers who will show you how to protest the closure of Arizona’s state parks: visit the Take a Hike message board and web site.

Also see Petition to Save Arizona’s State Parks

The post The Grand Canyon State: Arizona Set to Close and Sell State Parks? first appeared on Medical Health.

For example, once when I was discussing the fact that as part of one of my research projects, a rather large group of Seventh Day Adventist fishermen contributed logbooks detailing their catches of salmon, a prominent fisheries ecology professor told me, “Those guys are perverts, the type who climb telephone poles and peep through windows at trailer parks.”

I guess that fisheries ecologist thought of himself as a fighter. But all he was really doing was shooting himself in the foot.

Related Posts:

Science, Ethics, and Abuse

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

The Fisheries Turnoff

The post World Health and Arrogant Ecologists first appeared on Medical Health.

And I wonder, If global warming brings about a major worldwide catastrophe, will that catastrophe prevent an even worse (and so-far unseen) man-made disaster, one that perhaps looms further out in the future. After all, it is science that brings us to these deadly turning points, and our science is the product of human nature. In fact our top scientists and academics arrive at the top though brute ambition, and in the course of their ambition, often abuse their families and students. Their public sense of ethics and honor and moral imperative is not a constant: it is something they often abandon in private, both at home and at school. Ask their sons and ex-wives. Ask the wounded and disabled they all left behind.

The post Global Warming and Publish or Perish first appeared on Medical Health.

One of my present concerns is that science (both in government and academia) attracts (and subsequently recruits) sinister political hacks and abject academic lackeys. I recently expressed my concern to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy:

[originally addressed to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy]

In your U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Preliminary Report you state,

“The education of the 21st century ocean-related workforce will require not only a strong understanding of oceanography and other disciplines, but an ability to integrate science concepts, engineering methods, and sociopolitical considerations. Resolving complex ocean issues related to economic stability, environmental health, and national security will require a workforce with diverse skills and backgrounds. Developing and maintaining such a workforce will rely, in turn, on programs of higher education that prepare future ocean professionals at a variety of levels and in a variety of marine-related fields.”

Obviously, your educational and institutional environments and curricula must include rigorous methods for assessing codes of conduct and ethics. Mistreatment of employees, students, and constituents WILL RENDER YOUR SCIENCE SUSPECT.

Related Posts:

World Health and Arrogant Ecologists

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

The Fisheries Turnoff

The post Science, Ethics, and Abuse first appeared on Medical Health.