Richard Rathe's Reflections

Where I've been and what I've learned along the way…

Welcome!

Remain calm, be kind, and carry on regardless!

id photo You've reached the online journal of Richard Rathe — online since 2004! In this iteration I'm trying a few new ideas: minimal markup, working with mostly plain text, and moving beyond the timeline. I call it BLIS (BLog It Simple). Find me online…

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Food for Thought

Any solution to a problem changes the problem.
R. W. Johnson

Featured Photo

Photo by Richard Rathe HDR, Sierra, Mountains, California, Fused, Mono

HDR, Sierra, Mountains, California, Fused, Mono

Social Media (Mastodon)

Richard Rathe (@nickrauchen@c.im)

Feb 08, 2026

See original post on mastodon.

#SuperbOwl #BarredOwl #Owls #Birds "Keep looking up!" I hear these guys/gals every day, often in the late afternoon. 🙂 🦉

Everglades Kayak Trip 2026 (Solo)

Birds Camping Everglades Galleries Nature Travel 2026

Sunset Behind Turtle Key

This was my 30th trip to the Everglades—different from all the others in several respects. First I was trying out new equipment (a sit-inside folding kayak). Second, I planned to just camp on a desert island, read, and take it easy. Third, I left from the Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee Island because the actual Ranger Station was closed for long-awaited hurricane repairs. I was also alone as there were no takers to join me this year.

Hammock Camping Guide

Camping Hammocks How_To Reviews 2025

Hammock Bliss

There are various configurations of camping hammocks that I'll outline below. Most are gathered with single tie-on points at each end. Some have integrated bug nets. Complete packages come with both nets & rainflies. After a brief survey of the different types, I go on to propose my criteria for the Ideal Hammock.

Bicentennial Thoughts on the Semiquincentennial

Commentary History 2026

Preparing to Fly the Flag (July 4, 1976) [source: DC Public Library]

I put out my American Flag today. I've decided to only fly the flag on special days and this is one of them. Thinking about what makes this day special is what gives the act meaning. One cannot be patriotic every day, but that's not required. We need days like this to think hard about history (those actions and actors who mattered), the present (our current situation and how it differs from what it should be), and the future (the history we might make during the time remaining to us).

Équinoxe by Jean-Michel Jarre

Music Reviews Video
Jean-Michel Jarre (1978)

Équinoxe Cover (1978)

IMO Équinoxe is one of the best original synthesized orchestral pieces out there. His preceding album Oxygène (produced and recorded at home!) is also good, similar in form—but Équinoxe remains my favorite.

Road Trip West 2, New Mexico

Flowers Galleries History Road_Trip_2026 Rock_Art Travel 2026

Desert Sunset

I established my campsite and went for a walk about an hour before sunset. It was a magical time to be out in the desert. Some of the rocks are volcanic in origin. I think that may be a cinder cone in the distance. There is a large abstract petroglyph on the right (click to enlarge).

Road Trip West 10, Arches National Park

Birds Flowers Galleries History Panoramas Road_Trip_2026 Travel 2026

Brothers at the Partition Arch

We entered Arches National Park about 8am the next day. This was a great time for photographing the rock formations in the southern part of the park (near the entrance). Our plan was to take a leisurely drive north—exploring along the way—until we reached the Devil's Garden area. This is where the majority of the notable arches are. You might also like to view photos from My November 2024 Trip.

The Brimson Forest Fire

History 2025

Cabin (Looking SW)

In the late 1970s two friends and I invested in a three room cabin on thirty acres embedded in Superior National Forest in Northern Minnesota. That cabin and other buildings are no more after the Camp House Road forest fire swept through.

Catch-22 of the Digital Age

Commentary Technology 2009

Steal This Comic (source:xkcd.com)

I like to listen to audiobooks on my iPod. I have a subscription to Audible.com and buy one or two books a month. In the beginning things were fine, but about two years ago iTunes stopped remembering my Audible password. I get around this by double-clicking on any Audible file and put in my password when it asks. This fixes the problem long enough to sync. But if I quit iTunes, I start over. If I forget, iTunes automatically deletes the files from my iPod. Needless to say this is a major pain in the butt!

Amusing Ourselves to Death (Review)

Books Commentary Reviews Technology
Neil Postman (1985)

Original Cover Art

This important book helps explain the current state of our society, media, and education. Postman begins by contrasting the two great futurist novels, 1984 and Brave New World. He concludes that Huxley made the better prediction—no need for a police state when we have television!

Sand Island Camping Trip (Gallery)

Apostle_Islands Galleries Travel 2025

Captain Ross & Crew

This year we boated to Sand Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the western-most island where camping is allowed. It also has a historic lighthouse and was the site of a small fishing village. We took the campsite overlooking Justice Bay and a small set of sea caves.

Cedar Key & Hall Creek 2021

Birds Camping Galleries History Travel 2021

Starting Out

I went for a quick solo kayak trip to Hall Creek near Cedar Key (putting in at the #4 Bridge off of Highway 24). I last visited this area in 2012 with a friend. The first mile or so is very shallow and I made a few mistakes on my way to Live Oak Key, where there is a narrow channel through the oyster beds. Surprisingly the old oak tree on the point is still alive! [compare with 2012]

Road Trip West 12, Wyoming, South Dakota, & Home

Galleries History Panoramas Road_Trip_2026 Travel 2026

Independence Rock Wyoming

And so we headed home via Myton and Rock Springs WY. The roads were mostly deserted. We crossed the Flaming Gorge Dam after dark—which was surreal. The next day we stopped and took a hike around Independence Rock where thousands of pioneers stopped and etched their names in the 1800s.

Road Trip West 6, The Longest Day

Birds Flowers Galleries History Road_Trip_2026 Travel 2026

Area 51 Sign

I planned to stay overnight in Flagstaff, AZ so I could visit the Lowell Observatory in the evening. Apparently they give tours during daylight hours and then setup smaller telescopes to view whatever's happening in the sky that night. Alas, dark clouds moved in and there was precip predicted for the early evening. So I went to bed early…

Everglades Kayak Trip 2023

Everglades Galleries Hammocks Travel Video 2023

Rabbit Key at Sunset

This year we returned to the northern part of the park. The original plan had been a grand tour loop with two beach sites and two chickees. However, the forecast was calling for high winds on the last two days where we would be exposed out on the Gulf of Mexico. On the drive down I called and amended our permit to camp at Lopez River on the last night.

Okefenokee Canoe Trip 2004

Camping Okefenokee Travel 2004

Upper Suwannee River

Most of our party camped in Folkston, GA the night before the trip started. All ten of us arrived at Kingfisher Landing on a cool, sunny morning. After loading the canoes, we were off just after nine. The red and green trails both begin at the landing, but after a short paddle down a canal we turned north following the red trail. We preceded through low cypress, marsh land, and several small shallow lakes.

Review of Pandemic (The Game)

Medicine Reviews Science 2020

Pandemic (The Game)

I bought this award-winning board game about three years ago not guessing how relevant it would become. Now that many of us are sheltering in place from COVID19, what could be better than a science-based game where the goal is to cooperate in order to defeat life-threatening viruses!

My First Hammock Tent

Camping Hammocks Reviews Technology 2016

My Campsite in the Swamp

I went out last night to get some experience pitching and sleeping in my new hammock tent. It came with no instructions and there is only limited info available online. I’m getting better using a bit more tension and added a small relieving line to the fly so it can hang along the side (keeping the netting clear for viewing the trees and stars!). In future I’ll keep it rolled so it stays off the ground. I paddled in the dark to a place I’d picked out. Once you find two trees the rest is pretty easy. In fact, it’s trip-over-a-log easy compared with a surface tent! Plus everything stays dry!

RAGBRAI 2025

Commentary Galleries Iowa Travel 2025

Survivors!

It just happened that this year's RAGBRAI ended in Guttenberg, which is homebase for us. I joined my Sister and Niece on day three in Forest City. We camped under the town's windmill which chirped like a bird all night. The presence of so many windmills was an ominous sign. The next day developed into a slow trudge against 20 mph headwinds and 106° heat index. I got heat exhaustion and had to be picked up after about 40 miles.

Ephesus Museum Turkey (Gallery)

Art Galleries History Travel Turkey_2016 2016

Statue of Artemis

In 2016 we had the privilege of touring the ruins at Ephesus and the associated museum a few miles away. The photo above is the symbol-rich Statue of Artemis, which at one time was the centerpiece of the temple to the goddess. That temple is now in ruins but it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World!

KIST to HTML Conversion Notes

Kist Projects 2026

Reference Link Example

Kist.pl renders documents as plain vanilla HTML by default. Generated pages will degrade gracefully to the degree possible. These pages contain a minimal set of CSS styles and javascript in the <head> element. (This helps make each kist-generated document self-contained.) Authors are free to override these styles with their own custom styles (using the -s flag).

Guttenberg 2025

Birds Flowers Galleries Iowa Travel 2025

First Night Moonrise

This year I came and went three times due to other trips and obligations. Starting in May to open up the place. Then back in late July for the RAGBRAI and family reunion. Then back after trips to Brimson and the BWCA in September.

There is No ‘I’ in AI

Commentary Technology 2026

Tales from the Claude Crypt (from original post, uncredited)

My Critique of: Your Voice, Your Choice — A Guest Post by Claude Sonnet 4.5

The ELIZA Effect is a tendency to project human traits—such as experience, semantic comprehension or empathy—onto rudimentary computer programs having a textual interface.

Good Morning Doctor!

Books History Medicine
W.A. Rohlf (1938)

W.A. Rohlf ~1910

This little book was conceived neither as a medical history nor as a technical discussion of surgery. It is instead a story of people, of friends with whom I have shared joy and sorrow, in short, bits of the day-to-day drama which is the life of a country doctor. Many of the incidents are trivial, in one sense of the word, yet each has had in it something which appealed to me enough to make me remember it as a highlight in my forty-five years as a country doctor.

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