֎ Mariner will not speak disparagingly about the future if it exists.

֎ From the 1990s until now, humanity very much resembles a pot of boiling water. Has the reader ever watched the process? At first, there are small wisps of steam rolling about in the pot; After a bit, one can see tiny bubbles on the bottom of the pot that show up then quickly disappear; moments later there are lots of tiny bubbles and they no longer disappear but seem to be waiting; they don’t wait long before starting to dance and grow; then the bubbles grow large and violent. Finally, the water itself begins to roil pushing bubbles to the side. Where in this process is humanity? Even Denmark, the most liberal nation in the world, went red in its last election.

Will the pot boil over in a giant rage only to vaporize in the end to a scorched pot of nothing? Is there anyone who can turn off the burner? (Don’t be ignorant enough to suggest the three-year-old or the ghost). Examples of roiling bubbles are US financing of any war, Putin, Netanyahu, the genocide war in China against Muslims, and the military leaders of thirty different state wars in Africa! An example of a roil is the Middle East.

֎ Mariner quickly is distracted by tiny, irrelevant things. He was sitting on his back porch the other day when a tiny, really tiny black bug walked by. The bug has a brain that is fully functional for bugs. In it’s own way, it interprets the world just like humans do except from a bug’s perspective. It turned out to have wings. Wow! My son is going to college to learn how to fly but this bug has it all in it’s tiny brain! Could the human brain handle six legs? Mariner wondered whether the bug could rationalize the presence of an escalator – now that’s something the human brain excels at: inventing things that make life easy. As the bug flew off, he wished it well in it’s disciplined reality.

֎ If small things entertain the reader, the biggest small thing is the neuron. The human brain has 86 billion nerve cells (AKA neurons). 86 billion!! And that’s just one brain. One wonders how many neurons exist in the Universe. How would anyone consciously be able to manage 86 billion cells? As a human, we can’t manage 86 commercial airplanes. Thank goodness the brain brought along a cerebellum to handle things.

֎ It is the busy time of year for gardeners. It seems every plant wants attention – especially weeds. But there are some plants that earn respect by not asking for much, by returning every year for decades and which provide a fine display, anchoring other flowers around them. Mariner recommends this quiet, unassuming shrub that performs well as a plant and as a player in the quality of the garden:

Spiraea Double Big Bang

Ancient Mariner