Kids know what's up. ~or~ You learn all the B.S.

       
       Weather canceled my rafting trip again, but I visited my little cousins (and their dog) last weekend at their house out in the Alleghenny National Forest and had a great time with them. Kids are smart.  They know how the world works.  They might not understand it all, but deep down they know it.

   
      And I don't mean how adults run the world, I mean how we humans are connected to the animals, the plants, and all of nature...  The truths that are obvious to us until we have other ideas shoehorned into our brains.  It's easy to see it in children's motivations and their activities.  When kids have some free time what do they do? Waste their time watching other people compete in sports, or listening to people talk (gossip mostly) about what others are doing in the world?  No.  They go out to a field, or to the woods, or somewhere else in nature and explore their world and experience things for themselves... until they're taught not to.  How many times were you told as a young child to stay out of the woods? or not to play in the dirt? or not to eat the dirt!?  And you didn't see the tiniest thing wrong with it until it was beaten into your brain not to do it!
     Kids know whats up, but as they grow up they learn to be disgusted by the natural world that we're a part of and learn all the other B.S. that becomes the troubles of the world we live in.  That's why I've always tried to remember to stay a kid as much as possible.  At least as far as keeping the mindset of exploration and of our connection to the natural world.  It might not help me fit in with other 'adults' (I prefer being a 'grown up' personally), but at least I'm not selling my soul for a dollar or forgetting where I came from... and where I'm going.    

 

Have a childish day.

No blog this week. Wait, never mind there is one.

       There was to be no blog to read this Friday as I had planned to be exploring the wilds of Pittsburgh on my bike and my newly purchased $19 inflatable raft and making a film of the journey, but now there will be one... this one.  Due to a torrential downpour and a lightning strike within throwing distance of myself within a mile of my starting point, I've chosen to postpone the trip until next week (weather permitting).  This will be the first of my 'Mystery Adventure's of the Month'. (Sounds dumb, I know, but it'll be fun.)  I will be accepting ideas for short (2-3 day max.) adventure challenges (preferably outdoor ones, but I'm open to your own interpretation of 'adventure') from my friends and the readers of this blog each month, then I'll take the best ideas, throw them in a hat, and pick one at random to attempt.  The outcome will be presented to you as a blog entry, and usually (hopefully) a video accompaniment.  I'll be setting up a way to submit ideas soon, but if you can't wait 'til then, feel free to comment on any of my posts with your challenge.  There'll be a few other new additions to the site coming soon as well, but I'll leave you to wonder about them yourself for now.  (wow there were a lot of parenthesis in this post!)

Have a mysterious day.  

The days are getting shorter!

     That's because the summer solstice was a few weeks back.  Bar 11, the strangest bar in Pittsburgh, hosted their annual party on that day, which I mentioned before.  Here's the video I came up with...

     It was a little dark in there, and my gopro ran out of batteries about halfway through the night, but I think I still captured the feel of the occasion.  I hope you all think so too.

P.S. The song's copyright owners won't allow the video to be played on mobile devices, so you'll have to watch it on a computer.   Sorry!

Have a strange day.

A pale blue dot.

   
       I came across this video long ago, but just recently rediscovered it.  Carl Sagan had an always eloquent way of presenting our world to us, and his programs shaped a lot of my philosophy on life.  Watching this video puts everything in perspective for me, and if you're any kind of thinking being it should do something similar for you too.  It's hard to get worried about the little troubles of life when you think of where we actually are, and how lucky each of us is to even be given a chance to experience this place for the short time we have.  Get out and explore it!


       If you liked that short monologue, you should consider watching 'Cosmos', a TV series featuring Carl Sagan that was produced in the late seventies (it's available on netflix, hulu, and at least partially on youtube).  If you can watch the entirety of that series and still can come up with reasons to hate things in this world, then you're doing something wrong.


Have a day (it doesn't matter what kind, but just appreciate it).