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Walk on the Wildcat Side

We recently set off on a seven-mile, early morning trailwalk through Richmond's Wildcat Canyon—cow moos, wild turkey hoots, and coyote sightings included at no additional cost.

At the end of the trail, we discovered a large placard commemorating the "Anza Expedition of 1776." The signage offered a discomfiting reminder that the world is filled with risk and injury—even in a supposedly blissful "state of Nature." It was the last sentence that reverberates:

"These hills in 1776 were covered with native bunchgrasses and streamside woodlands along canyon bottoms. In his diary, Father Pedro Font often recorded frequent sightings of tule elk and pronghorn antelope. He mentions the 'large deer' (undoubtedly tule elk) whose swiftness allowed them to elude capture by the pursuing soldiers and their horses. Font also recorded sightings of grizzly bears and seeing…'Indians badly scarred by bites and scratches of these animals.'"

May we all suffer no more than the usual allotment of "bites and scratches" as this doddering old world has its way with us. 

Watch Those Text Breaks 

Back on March 21, I got a text message from the White House that—owing to the limits of text-messaging and an unfortunate choice of active verbs—looked rather alarming. It read: "Hi folks, it's President Biden. I just signed a historic COVID relief plan into law. Will you help me spread…." 

A Short Walk That Would Leave You Breathless 

There is a tendency among us Earth-bound creatures to assume that our planet's atmosphere is a vast, impenetrable shield that guarantees both breathable oxygen and protection from cosmic radiation and meteor storms. 

Beyond the familiar ground-level layers of the troposphere (which extends up to 6.2 miles high) and stratosphere (31 miles high), lie the greater regions of the mesosphere (53 miles high), and the thermosphere (621 miles high). 

Looking up at the sky, our occasionally cloud-bedecked troposphere might seem like a pretty secure "comfort zone," but an Earth Day activist from Nicetown, Philadelphia, recently offered a startling observation. 

During an Environmental Justice Earth Day demonstration on April 22—to protest a new fracked-methane "natural" gas plant—an activist named Lynn Robinson told a crowd: "Mayor Kenney says it’s a great idea. But you may have noticed that homes that burn natural gas have chimneys [because] . . . exhaust fumes from burning gas in the house would kill you otherwise." 

Robinson continued: "It’s really not OK to throw toxic trash into the outside air. . . . We have the asthma, the cancers, the cardio-vascular disease, and the brain disorders to prove that." 

And then Robinson offered a truly breathtaking factoid: While the troposphere rises to 33,000 feet, it is only within the lower blanket of gases—below 20,000 feet—that plants and animals can survive. Rendered into a more familiar measurement, this means that most of the planet's breathable atmosphere expires a mere 3.8 miles above sea level. 

Picture this: if we could walk straight up to the end of Earth's breathable atmosphere, that jaunt would cover the same distance as a trip from UC Berkeley's Campanile to the Berkeley Marina—the equivalent of a 17-minute drive or a 90-minute stroll. 

How's that for a breath-taking revelation? 

Grammaramma 

There's a radio spot that's been bugging me. In the ad, a local business owner boasts that his firm is "one of the only" companies to offer a particular service. No! You can't say that! You can say you're "the only one" or "the one and only" or you might be "one of the few" but you can't be "one of the only." 

Auto Erotic 

I've been mystified by a popular auto company commercial, so I took my question to a local car mechanic. 

"Randy," I asked, "Can you explain what the Subaru folks mean when they claim 'Love. It's What Makes a Subaru a Subaru'? 

He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and replied: "Clearly, you've never experienced the unique pleasure of having intercourse with a tail pipe." 

AMC Is Back: Movie Screens with Movie Screams 

American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (aka AMC) has grown tired of the pandemic and has declared its intention to reopen its doors. "We're Open and Safer & Cleaner Than Ever," AMC recently announced. "Across the nation, all our theatres are now open with AMC Safe & Clean™ standards in place. Allow us to reintroduce you to the magic of movie-going." 

Apparently AMC's trade-marked Safe & Clean standards don't apply when it comes to content. Among the first films to return to AMC's big screens are Demon Slayer and Mortal Kombat. 

Even worse, AMC's online "Only the Good Stuff" promos include an image of a crazed killer threatening the life of a terrified, wide-eyed victim with a gag roped to her mouth. 

"Only the Good Stuff," AMC? 

Keeping the Cold War on the Back Burner 

The Ever-hawks in the new Biden Administration seem intent on reviving the Cold War by pushing more arms and weapons closer to the Russian border and sending naval armadas half-way around the world to ratchet up tensions in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, a new generation of potential combat recruits is being brain-trained to back—not buck—new global wars for empire. 

The Call of Duty videograme franchise has announced Season Three of a spin-off called "Black Ops: Cold War. The Cold War Heats Up." 

The battlegrounds range from an "all-gas-and-no-brakes desert firefight" to a shoot-out at "a border town in Kyrgyzstan." Combatants are invited "update your arsenal" in order to "ascend to greatness as you fight deep in the Ural Mountains." 

To protect young minds (under the age of 17), this slay-to-play slaughter-fest carries an "M Rating" that warns and/or promises significant doses of "Blood and Gore. Intense Violence. Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs." (To watch a trailer, you need to first sign in to "confirm your age" but there's nothing stopping you from lying about your age.) 

A Grade-A Fundraising Letter 

The first lines of a recent fundraising letter were instantly gripping: "Three of the most frightening days of my life were spent in an Iranian prison when I was 18 years old. It was 1971 and I was only a few months away from leaving for school in the United States when the Shah's secret police, SAVAK, invaded our home…. A lot of young people were arrested, tortured, and forced to make confessions under the Shah; but I was lucky. My father knew the head of SAVAK in my city because he was making a rug for him and I was told to leave the country right away. 

"When I fled, I knew that a group called Amnesty International was advocating on behalf of the people the Shah was putting in prison …. I promised myself that, one day, if I could do something to help Amnesty, I would." 

Those words were written by Dr. Reza Fakhari. Dr. Fakhari is now the Chair of the Board of Directors for Amnesty International USA. 

Fakhari's letter is alarming. Around the world, he writes, "Leaders are committing abuses with impunity. Politicians of all stripes are peddling politics of demonization, of 'Us vs. Them,' and using these to distract, scapegoat, and adopt laws that make discrimination, misogyny and xenophobia official government policy." 

What's worse, Fakhari writes, is "a growing anti-human-rights agenda taking hold of power, fewer outspoken world leaders championing human rights, and more brazen and deadly attacks against those who dare to criticize repressive authorities." And Amnesty is not exempt. 

"Amnesty's office in India has been forced to halt its work after its funds were frozen by the Indian government. The former leadership and several members of Amnesty Turkey were prosecuted under spurious charges. Amnesty's office in Nigeria has been subjected to a concerted smear campaign by the government." 

The good news: Since its founding 60 years ago, Amnesty has "helped free more than 50,000 people who have been unjustly imprisoned." 

Farewell Far-Right
The Founders' Sing