Remain calm, be kind, and carry on regardless!
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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You are what you settle for.
HDR, Uxmal, Mayan_Ruins, Yucatan, Mexico
Oct 07, 2026
Margaret Hamilton passed away on September 30, 2026, at the age of 90. Her passing was announced by MIT on October 7, 2026, honoring her legacy as a computing pioneer whose work led the software development for the Apollo program and helped establish the field of software engineering. She is survived by her daughter, son-in-law, two grandsons, and four great-grandchildren, with a memorial service planned in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Margaret was the first female programmer in the project, joining in 1965, and later became Director of the Software Engineering Division. Her problem approach of "When you see a problem, first count to five," sticks with me still. 🥲💙 #Software #WomenInStem
Camping Galleries Photography Southwest_2024 Travel 2024
The Paria River begins up by Bryce Canyon and flows south through Grand Staircase Escalante and the Vermilion Cliffs Arizona. Just before it empties into the Colorado River it flows thru a deep slot canyon and this is where we hiked. This was by far the most technically challenging backpacking trip I've ever attempted!
Birds Boats Flowers Nature Photography 2026
An occasional journal of photographs and activities on the Lake thru the seasons. I walk or kayak almost every day and these are the flora and fauna I encounter. The photographs are mine unless otherwise noted. Entries are in reverse chronological order.
Commentary History 2026
The Election has finally come and gone. It was a whirlwind day for me working the polls. At the end of the day we helped nearly 400 voters cast their ballots. We were in the community hall of a small Baptist Church in a small rural community. The voters were diverse and I was struck by the number of disabled people who came in—even tho they could have voted early or by mail. There is something satisfying about voting on the actual election day. 🙂
Commentary Protest 2026
Visiting the Iowa branch of my family for the fourth No Kings Protest against Trump and his Lickspittle Poltroons in the GOP. The Orange Man is more unpopular than ever. It is very important that we get out the Vote!
Commentary
Frank Wilhoit (2018)
There is a quote from a few years ago that adds political framing I find useful. I propose using it as a test or razor
(à la Occam) when evaluating political actions and legislation:
Books Commentary History 2026
I've reworked these extended quotations from The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman (1986) for today's wannabe King
Trump. In a few pages she describes the bad policies and attitudes of the French King Louis XIV. I was struck by the deep parallels with the policies and attitudes of the current administration and the flock of Lickspittle Poltroons that compose the current GOP. Tuchman's words speak to greater truths. My words are my own and speak for more immediate truths in desperate times.
Galleries Nature Photography Science 2025
I was visiting friends in northern Minnesota and had just finished a good meal. We were all fading fast so I said good night
and headed for my hammock. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I noticed that the sky looked kind of strange—like city glow from a nearby town. Then, on the edge of the glow, I saw the tell-tale green curtains of the Northern Lights!
Panoramas Photography Technology 2016
I've always been fascinated by 360° spherical photographs (sometimes called mirrorballs, planets or wormholes
). These are some of the first photos I took with a Ricoh Theta S (basically a black slab with two 180° fisheye lenses pointing in opposite directions.
Commentary History Medicine
Lawrence P. Garrod (1944)
Consider the so-called War on Raw Milk
. I was amazed to discover in my Grandfather's scrapbook an article from 1944 debating the benefits of unpasteurised (raw) milk. These are echoed today by the public health nihilist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Galleries Nature Photography Plants Travel 2020
The last time I went hunting for Pitcher Plants was 2017. This year I went about two weeks earlier and learned more about their distribution and lifecycles. I visited six sites in all, moving from Florida into Alabama. I saw mostly pitcher plant flowers as I moved west, apparently the flowers emerge days to weeks before the funnel-shaped leaves.
Galleries Nature Photography Travel 2018
My brother-in-law Rick flew out from Colorado so we could go on a road trip together across South Dakota and beyond. We entered the Park via the Northeast Entrance (extreme right on map) and spent most of our day slowly moving west, stopping frequently—sometimes to take photos, sometimes due to bison migrating across the road. We ended up at the Sage Creek primitive camping area (upper left).
Reviews Technology 2007
While I was in Philadephia over the summer I was amazed by the number of folding bicycles. About half of all the bikes I saw were folders. Of course they make eminent sense for urban dewellers. I’ve always been interested in “packable” bicycles, and have a thirty year old three-speed folder gathering dust in my garage. The concept has come a long way since then! Over the holidays I bought two Dahon Speed D7 bikes for $299 each. They’re an exquisite bit of engineering for the price. The principal flaw with the older design, a telescoping seat post, has been replaced by a single long piece. The 20 inch wheels are a nice compromise, the components are good, and the road feel is solid. Folding the bike takes less than a minute, and two of them will fit in the trunk of a small car!
Bookhouse Books History Reviews Technology
C & B Johnson (1914)
Back in the days when long distance telephone calls were very expensive, families had various ring codes to let their loved ones know that they got there safe but avoided paying for an actual call. Ours was to let it ring twice and hang up (if I remember correctly).
Birds Flowers Galleries Iowa Travel 2025
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.
Music Reviews
Imogen Heap (2010)
I’ve been a fan of Imogen Heap for several years. Her latest album Ellipse
has one of my all time favorite songs—Earth
[listen]. It describes how a frustrated Mother Earth deals with her rambunctious offspring, homo sapiens. [lyrics]
Medicine Reviews Science 2020
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!
Camping Hammocks How_To Reviews 2025
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
.
Projects 2022
I developed this todo list format in 2016. It allows you to easily translate from paper to digital—and back again! This approach is compatible with other journaling formats such as KIST, Bullet Journaling
and GTD.
Commentary History Medicine
Marietjie Venter (2026)
![Temporary COVID-19 Ward Los Angeles 2021 [source:article]](medicine/covid19_origins/covid-ward-los-angeles-2021.jpg)
2) Hypothesis Two: SARS-CoV-2 was introduced into China’s animal markets from overseas through imported goods. In April last year, the Chinese government endorsed this route as the most likely source of SARS-CoV-2. But almost six years on from the start of the pandemic, we conclude that the available scientific evidence does not support this hypothesis.
Galleries History Technology Video 1870
The Town of Motor with a large gristmill took shape in the 1870s along the Turkey River in Clayton County Iowa. Nothing remains of the town itself, but the mill and associated buildings survive. The Mill is situated at a narrow bend in the river. It was built of limestone quarried from the nearby cliff top, and oak from the surrounding forest.
Galleries Travel 2004
A trip we took for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. We drove a rental car from Seattle to Montana and back, with stops at several National Parks: Olympic, North Cascades, & Glacier.
Commentary Technology 2026
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.
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.
