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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In a sea of ignorance, information is a life raft.
HDR, Sierra, Mountains, California, Fused, Mono
Jul 12, 2026
"Forty percent of America's corn crop — 36 million acres — goes to producing ethanol, a fuel that barely breaks even on energy and may be worse for the climate than gasoline. Billions in subsidies keep the machine running." The chart I'm including here is really the take home. At this time, with current tech, 👉️ #Ethanol from #Corn is NOT economically viable. 👈️ So all that Federal money is just more special interests at the public teat. Just a way to let big businesses in non-oil producing states get in on the #FossilFuel gravy train. Ethanol from Sugarcane does make sense, which is why most of the flex-fuel innovations are found in Brazil. #Energy #Renewables #Government #Subsides
Birds Camping Everglades Galleries Nature Travel 2026
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.
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
.
Galleries Nature Plants 2026
While walking in the woods we came upon this huge pore fungus called Dryad's Saddle described as …an annual mushroom commonly found attached to dead logs and stumps or on living hardwood trees at one point with a thick stem. …On the underside one can see the pores that are characteristic of the genus; they are made up of tubes packed together closely. The mushroom's smell resembles that of watermelon rind.
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Books Commentary History Music 2026
![Preparing to Fly the Flag (July 4, 1976) [source: DC Public Library]](commentary/america_at_250/img/bicentennial-1976.jpg)
I put out my American Flag today. 🇺🇸 I 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).
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. Tuchman's words speak to greater truths. My words are my own and speak for more immediate truths in desperate times.
Camping Everglades Galleries Travel 2004
This is the classic trip described online and in all the books—The Complete Wilderness Waterway (nominally 99 miles). It is a powerboat trail first (deep water with markers along the route), and a canoe trail second. We deviated from the powerboat trail in many places. I estimate we traveled more than 120 miles total. We cached my car at Everglades City and my Father provided the shuttle service down to Flamingo.
Galleries History Panoramas Southwest_2024 Travel 2024
We made several day trips to Lee's Ferry Utah while waiting for our other adventures (Paria Canyon, Coyote Buttes & The Wave) to start.
Camping Everglades Galleries Travel 2019
This is a quick-and-dirty gallery of my Everglades photographs. Only a placeholder for now while I work on converting my older sites. See my Everglades Wilderness Guide for more trips, maps, & photographs.
Birds Nature 2010
I caught this drama outside my kitchen window. A Great Blue Heron was swinging the limp body of a Pied Billed Grebe. Apparently this grizzly action has been observed elsewhere. There is some debate weather the heron is defending its foraging area or sees the grebe as potential prey.
Flowers Galleries History Road_Trip_2026 Travel 2026
I originally ventured into Arizona to visit the Crane Petroglyphs Site so I took in other sights as they appeared. The first of these was Montezuma Castle—a Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling site.
Flowers Galleries History Road_Trip_2026 Rock_Art Travel 2026
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).
Birds Camping Everglades Galleries Travel Video 2015
This was my Eighteenth Everglades Journey and a collection of firsts for me: first Solo Trip, first en-route rendezvous, first exploration of the River of Grass, first time around Cape Sable, first time sailing beyond the horizon, first time camping in Florida Bay, and first major equipment failure (rudder). This was probably my penultimate trip! With the exception of bug problems at one site, it pretty much came off without a hitch. 🙂
Birds Bwca Galleries History Travel Video 2011
Just back from a challenging trip to the BWCA with my friend Ross. We had intended to start on the Sawbill Trail, but were told to evacuate just as we got to the entry point due to the rapidly expanding Pagami Creek Fire. (Satellite photos show this plume forming in less than two hours!)
Galleries History Panoramas Road_Trip_2026 Travel 2026
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.
Art Galleries Hdr History Photography Travel 2010
I had the pleasure of visiting Philadelphia multiple times during my career in support of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). In 2006 I even lived there for five months during a sabbatical. The gallery below contains a number of architectural/urban environment studies, and my earliest attempts at High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I took most of the sculpture and fine art photos at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and long walks along the Schuylkill River.
Art Galleries Hdr History Panoramas Travel Turkey_2016 2016
In 2016 we had the privilege of touring the ruins of Ephesus in Turkey. Originally built by the Greeks—the Romans took over the site in 129 BCE. The ruins are dominated by a long avenue lined with statuary and temples. This descending pathway leads to the Library of Celsus with it's two story facade mostly intact. There is a huge overhead structure protecting the Terrace Houses of wealthy inhabitants—looking very much like luxury condos today!
Bwca Camping Galleries Travel 2018
On this trip we planned to visit part of the central BWCA that had been ravaged by the 2011 Pagami Fire. Our goal was to reach Malberg Lake and take day trips from there. We entered at Kawishiwi Lake and proceeded down a small river maintained by a huge beaver dam.
Commentary Galleries History 2017
I’ve become a real fan of @MobyDickatSea, a bot-based feed of random quotes from the book. It’s amazing how well some of these fragments stand up as individual thoughts!
Boats Camping Everglades How_To Projects 2024
In 2018 I acquired a used Hobie Adventure Island sailing kayak. It came with trampolines that fit between the outriggers. As I learned the particulars of the craft it became obvious that getting out of the cockpit and sitting in/on the tramps wasn’t going to work for me. They also make it impossible to paddle the craft in any meaningful way.
Birds Nature 2012
Sometimes you see something in nature that has a direct analog in the human world. I caught sight of this family of Bald Eagles on the Mississippi River—then I noticed a familiar pattern…
Birds Flowers Galleries History Panoramas Road_Trip_2026 Travel 2026
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.
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.
