Slipstream
Writing the Backwash with R. H. Sheldon
If a Tree Falls in the Forest…
A couple weeks ago, I was up at my house in the Cascades, working on an article with a quickly approaching deadline, the type of article that required a great deal of attention and no small measure of quiet.
Sure, birds chattered and trees swayed and water rushed along its rocky riverbed. But such sounds rarely disrupt my concentration, not like the sudden roar of a high-powered chainsaw and diesel-powered bulldozer and the subsequent crashing of giant cedars that such machinery portends.
And that what I heard when I was working—the din of these fierce engines. It was so close, it had to be some of my neighbors, probably selling off trees to pay their mortgage. Or perhaps their satellite TV. They would not be the first and most likely would not be the last. Such are the times in which we live. (more…)
Posted in Ecology & Environment | Comments Off
A Less-Than-Serviceable Plan
I didn’t think I’d be publishing a blog post anytime soon because my website had been recently hacked. Although the site itself seemed untouched, Google listed its title as Zithromax For Sale, rather than Slipstream: Writing the Backwash with R. H. Sheldon. Sure, the links back to my site still worked, but the disturbing title persisted.
For the record, I am not nor have I ever been a Zithromax dealer. In fact, until I stumbled upon the troubling Google search results, I did not know what Zithromax was. I figured it was the name of yet another techie start-up.
I was wrong. Zithromax is a macrolide antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Posted in Technology | Comments Off
The Creed of Greed: Why the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Have Nicer Friends
Last week, someone who read my blog sent me a link to a graphic he helped create that illustrates how rich people in the US are more prone to act unethically than their poorer counterparts.
“Studies suggest,” the opening text reads, “that people who are socially and financially better off are more likely to lie, cheat, and otherwise behave unethically compared to those lower on the social and financial ladder.”
The graphic backs up its assertion with a number of statistics that compare the wealthy to those at the lower strata. For example, 21% of people earning between $500,000 and $1 million a year underreport their incomes to the IRS, compared to 8% of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000. And when it comes to charity, households earning over $100,000 donate only 2.7% of their income, whereas those making under $25,000 give away 4.2%. (more…)
Posted in Body, Mind & Soul | 1 Comment
Main Street, USA: Rest in Peace
When I returned to my house in the Cascades after a 10-week stint on the road, I discovered that yet another area restaurant had closed its doors. This one about 10 miles from me. That leaves those of us living up here with only one café reasonably close enough to go out for breakfast, this one also about 10 miles away.
There used to be a couple places nearer than that, but they long ago flipped their last eggs and browned their last pound of spuds. And now all we have are empty buildings to mark their failed status.
Last time I counted, I came up with eight such buildings within a 20-mile radius of me, all of which had housed restaurants or cafés or some sort of eateries, a considerable number if you factor in how small these towns are. And that doesn’t count all the other buildings sitting empty from businesses having gone bust in recent years. (more…)
Posted in Political & Social | 3 Comments
New travel book!
