Everyday Junglist
Bio
Practicing mage of the natural sciences (Ph.D. micro/mol bio), Thought middle manager, Everyday Junglist, Boulderer, Cat lover, No tie shoelace user, Humorist, Argan oil aficionado. Occasional LinkedIn & Facebook user
Stories (557/0)
To the Edge of Coyote Gulch
Author's preface: This is chapter one of a five part series which can be found here. “Where will you be heading into the gulch at?” asked the National Park Service Ranger stationed behind the counter at the Escalante visitor center upon hearing our request for a backcountry permit. When my companion Kat replied “40 mile trailhead” the old woman’s head snapped up sharply and she fixed us both with a hard gaze. “You do realize the trail there is a 45 degree descent. Are you both capable of handling that, with packs?” We nodded as she gave us the once over, appearing satisfied with what she saw she handed over the permit and we turned to leave. A 45 degree descent sounded challenging but that was exactly the reason we had made the long trip out to the Utah desert, to test ourselves against some of the most difficult backpacking conditions to be found in the United States and prove our mettle. At the time I was grateful for the heads up and warning, later I would curse the old woman for what she neglected to tell us. The 45 degree descent into the gulch was a one way trip, it simply was not possible to return up out of the gulch the same way.
By Everyday Junglist4 days ago in Wander
Know Your Business to the Bottom
Recently a colleague for whom I have much respect was gracious enough to share a presentation about leadership and success in business he had been asked to prepare as part of a training program for future business leaders. The deck was great, full of outstanding advice of both the practical and philosophical variety. It was obvious the views expressed had come from hard earned experience, and not some fancy ivy league college business school or expensive training program available only to the elite, giving it a ton more credibility in my view. Of all the sage advice within one nugget really struck me. If you have not guessed by now, it happens to be the title of this post. It was framed as advice for how to succeed in business, but it has applicability across almost all areas of life.
By Everyday Junglist4 days ago in Journal
Leadership is Patience
Authors note: For purposes of anonymity, and to protect my own ass, the people in the article are referred to as “the leader” or simply “they/them.” In addition I paraphrase throughout and thus chose to not use quotation marks to indicate conversation. The wording may not be exact, but it is close to what was actually said. All in all it makes for an awkward read in places and I apologize for that, but could not think of a better solution.
By Everyday Junglist7 days ago in Journal
An Update on the US Mexico Border Situation
Introduction As you go through life there are things you experience everyday that together form the reality of your world . Because you experience them personally and directly, you generally accept them as true and accurate. As a (hopefully) mostly sane and rational human you recognize that you may be being deceived and/or that what you are experiencing is not all there is. Moreover, you also recognize that other people's experiences, even in the same situation as you, are different then yours. However, even given those limitations of perspective, you feel that you understand the world you live in. You know, for example, that when you get in the car to go somewhere else, that you will be coming home later in the same condition as you left, alive, and unhurt. You know that you will not need to don body armor, or dodge a hail of gunfire as you swerve through crowded streets choked with smoke from burning barrels as far as the eye can see.
By Everyday Junglist9 days ago in FYI
Science, Magic, and Technology
In a story I published a few years back and more recently republished here I discussed the role of science in technological utopianism. For those who may not be familiar with technological utopianism a decent definition can be found at the beginning of Wikipedia’s entry on the subject.
By Everyday Junglist10 days ago in Futurism
The Greatest, Most Dynamic, Complex, and Diverse, But Least Popular Musical Genre Yet Invented, May Have Finally Erased an Enduring Blemish
If you are reading this then you are probably a junglist like myself. A lover of drum & bass/jungle music. Because of that fact there are at least three things that I know about you. Number one you are a very cool person with excellent tastes who I'd love to hang out with and happily call a friend. Number two you have had a variation of the following conversation way too many times in your life to count.
By Everyday Junglist22 days ago in Beat
The Depressing Truth on the Value of My Writing
I joined Vocal officially as a Vocal+ member in June of 2021. I began writing here shortly after my Medium account was suspended for the second time. It has yet to be reinstated despite multiple requests, and so I have continued to publish here for the past almost three years now. While at first I railed endlessly against their counterproductive censorship policies, absurd minimum word count requirements, bizarre "community" structure, and bare bones text editing capabilities I have come to accept the limitations and have developed something of a fondness for it. One thing that has not changed much since my Medium days is my popularity and viewership stats. I was never very popular there and that trend has continued apace. While I like to think I am a fairly decent to maybe even good writer, the general public continues to strongly disagree, at least based on the dollar value they have assigned to my work.
By Everyday Junglist26 days ago in Writers
Lawsuit Driven Decision Making
For the past nine months or so, my wife and I have been trying to conceive a child. It has been difficult for a number of reasons that would require an entirely different article to describe in detail. For purposes of this piece suffice to say because of our circumstances we have had to interact with medical professionals (obstetricians-gynecologists primarily but others as well) on a number of occasions. On two of those occassions highly consequential and difficult decisions with respect to course of treatment needed to be make. And when I say highly consequential I am not exaggerating, for my wife these decisions could mean literally life or death and/or the ability to ever conceive of a child naturally again.
By Everyday Junglist28 days ago in Psyche
A Writer's Warning to His Readers
When a person I know discovers I am a writer and informs me that they would like to read some of my stuff I am generally happy to point them in the direction of a few things I think they might find of interest. Depending on the person I may also give them one or more warnings about the content. Below you will find a list of some of those warnings and contraindications (to use drug industry parlance). I believe this may very well become the first thing I point any new reader to prior to reading anything else. It may save them and me from some serious future heartache.
By Everyday Junglistabout a month ago in Writers
More Unsettling News on the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Situation
I was hoping today would bring some better news on the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) front, but was quickly disabused of that notion when I received word of what had transpired at a teleconference today featuring researcher's from Cornell's Veterinary Diagnostic Center. Unfortunately I was not able to attend but a colleague filled me in and provided a couple of relevant screenshots (included below) of some of the key information shared. I am currently trying to obtain a link to a recording of the event but as of this moment it has not yet been uploaded. Even in the absence of seeing that video the information in the two screenshots is disturbing for many reasons. From the dairy farm in Texas where 4000 cows were tested we see that dead birds (pigeons and grackles) were found on March 18 and then on the 20th, two days later, HPAI was detected in grackles and pigeons. Going to assume that means in the dead grackles and pigeons but not clear from this slide if that is the case or if was also detected in still living birds. That is a critical piece of information because with a 99% lethality rate there should not be many or any still living birds around to test positive. If there are it might suggest this particular variant has reduced lethality compared to wild-type. This is actually not a good thing as the ultra high lethality of the disease is one of the things that tends to limit its spread. Also, disturbing the fact that on 03/21 a cat on the farm (yet another mammal) tested positive for HPAI. No word on why the cat was tested, or if it was showing symptoms or its ultimate fate. HPAI has been detected in cats and dogs in European outbreaks but was thought to be incidental from them going after infected birds or playing with carcasses. They are usually not sick. In this particular instance if the cat actually gets sick that is a very different scenario and potentially highly problematic. I will be listening looking for news on the fate of this particular cat very closely and that information may be in the recording I am still waiting to be posted. Also on 03/21 we see that influenza sequences were detected in 2 cows nasal swabs which were then confirmed as H5N1 that same day. Then four days later on 03/25 the virus was isolated from milk, apparently within MSC cells. I believe these are Mesenchymal stem cells aka mesenchymal stromal cells or medicinal signaling cells, which are multipotent stromal cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including osteoblasts (bone cells), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), myocytes (muscle cells) and adipocytes (fat cells). In any case the virus was present at very, very, very high levels and that fact, combined with some other data, suggests that the virus may actually be capable of replicating in milk.
By Everyday Junglistabout a month ago in Earth