TO VIEW IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE
Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam
November 11, 2018 Volume 11 Number 11
Reader Supported: All Contributions Appreciated and Accepted Here
INSIDE: If You Make It Back, Make It Count; World Headlines At A Glance; Forgotten And Abandoned, Here They Stay; Rusty’s Uncle Seamus; For Your Consideration; Our Science Section, Unabridged; Praise; Censure; Travel; The Green Beat; Health; Community, Home & Lifestyle; Best of the Net; Masha & the Bear; Northstar General Store; All Creatures Great & Small; You Guys Think We Make This Stuff Up; About Us
Vietnam Memorial Wall, Washington, DC
IF YOU MAKE IT BACK, MAKE IT COUNT
By Merritt Scott (Rusty) Miller: Editor
It is Veterans Day in America and in other parts of the world. Since I am one and since I know others, this is a very personal, albeit profoundly reflective, holiday for me. I recently watched, for the first time full through, Saving Private Ryan.
Before he died, Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) whispered something into the ear of the sole surviving son he had been ordered to rescue and bring home. Miller was dying and the words were hard to hear. I have, however, my own words to remember.
“If you make it back, make it count.”
The man who said that did not make it back. But because he made it count where we were then, I did. We were friends and what he wanted most – his ‘make it count’ – was that, as hard as it would be to say and to hear, there was a very important truth he wanted to share with you.
Mishka, if you make it back, tell them there would be no veterans if there were no wars. In programming our sons and daughters for war, we make them killers. We take a natural and healthy regard for human life and convolute it by sanctioning the taking of some lives and not some others. Then, as history so ably demonstrates, we further distort it more when a former enemy becomes an ally until they become an enemy again.
Exactly how does one deprogram a killer? Is it done with memorials, parades and national concerts? What about by visits to places where – two meters or so into the ground — are coffins bearing the ageless remains of the sons and daughters we prepared for war? Is it done by thanking them for a service that destroyed so many of them and crippled so many others?
With all due respect, none of that seems to have accomplished very much.
Perhaps it would work better if we did not apparently love war more than we love our sons and daughters.”
Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer who lives in Seattle, Washington. For comments, please go here
THE PAST WEEK’S WORLD HEADLINES AT A GLANCE
Nature reclaims dacha. Photo by Olya Bereza, Associate Editor
FORGOTTEN AND ABANDONED, HERE THEY STAY
By Olya Bereza: Associate Editor
Forgotten. Abandoned. Here they stay, miserable and alone while once so desirable in the past. So what happened? Why did people abandon these so-called “dachas,” these summer dwellings with gardens on the outskirts of town?
Once they were the dream of every citizen of the USSR. For the upwardly mobile, a dacha was a sign of prosperity and mark of position in society. Even small dachas would attest to and reaffirm one’s good citizenship, trustworthiness and hardworking nature as they were usually built by those who owned them, with their own hands and available materials. People cherished their dachas and appreciated even what a poor harvest would provide.
So again, I wonder why so many are now not in use but instead are being reclaimed by nature?
The answer lies in economics and. modern style of living. With utilities that cost virtually nothing, on one stage it was so easy to enjoy conveniences out of town. Once upon a time, the Ukrainian Republic’s economy ranked among the top five of the in the world due, primarily, to steelmaking, coal mining, and wheat harvesting. It compared favorable to Germany, the locomotive of the entire European Union. Its space program was unique and rivaled only by the US.
Then a change happened that brought freedom as well as a chaos. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the transition to a capitalist democratic republic was inevitable. Those most directly involved sought to see that it was done the right way and in the best interests of the entire nation – every citizen – not just special interests in both the private and government sectors.
It was the inability of the top leaders to stimulate continued economic growth under this new system of government that accounted for the abandonment of luxuries like summer homes.
The end result was a catastrophic decrease in the standard of living and millions of Ukranians fleeing the poverty that resulted. Millions moved to neighboring countries in search of a better life. They left everything behind including these little dachas that now keep in silence the stories of their owners.
From time to time, you could see some homeless people using them as shelters. Like the dachas themselves, they are just trying to survive the present.
With Ukraine’s economy doing very well, the modern way of living suggests easy comfort in life in cities, with shiny things to buy in shops by day and nights full of entertainment. A “summer house” is quaint but not really a dream of modern urbanists. People still build private homes outside the city but they are for all year round, not just for summer.
As for the little dachas, they will return to nature’s domain. One day, all that will remain will be secret gardens and tiny orchards and strangers who, out hiking, discover them. And perhaps wonder how, in the wilderness, they came to be.
Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine. Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management. For comments, please go here
According to Rusty’s infamous Uncle Seamus, there is a conspiracy between outer and under shirt makers. The former put labels in the collars so you have to buy the latter to avoid the itch.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION : E.T., We’re Home! — A new study from MIT suggests that existing laser technology could be used to signal alien astronomers on a distant world. But should it be used? Tell earth/sky magazine what you think.
OUR WORLD, UNABRIDGED
This is certainly good news and we’re waiting to see who else joins them. The US And Europe Take A Next Step Toward The Moon
Just in time for Thanksgiving in America. Sigh. CDC Confirms First Death Related To Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Raw Turkey
Amazing. NASA Shares Close-Up Photos Of Big Berg
EARTH
Mummified Cats And Beetles Found In Ancient Egyptian Tombs
A New Home For An Ancient King
SPACE
Best Comet Of 2018 Is Approaching
Lucy Mission To Jupiter’s Trojans Gets The Nod From NASA
Spaceport Project To Move To Next Stage
Space – Mars
Where Mars Insight Will Touch Down November 26
Mars Robot To Be Sent To Oxia Planum
TECHNOLOGY
China’s Brightest Children Recruited To Develop AI ‘Killer Bots’
Can These Bots One Day Swarm In To Rescue You?
China’s ‘AI Newsreader’: Which Of These Isn’t Real?
PRAISE
The First Year Every State Sent A Woman To Congress, In One Map
Ukraine Handzyuk Death: Acid Victim’s Defiant Message — Video
Pakistan Blasphemy Case: Asia Bibi Freed From Jail
The Woman Helping Farmers Prepare For An Uncertain Future
CENSURE
Most Rape Victims Never Tell
TRAVEL
A New York Restaurant Unlike Any Other
A Nation Obsessed With Saying Sorry
To The Ends Of The Earth
THE GREEN BEAT
US Judge Halts Controversial Pipeline
‘Bionic Mushroom’ Generates Clean Energy
National Parks At Risk From Federal Energy Agenda
Who Is An Environmentalist? Study Refutes Stereotypes
New Trans Mountain Pipeline Review Doomed To Fail: Vancouver Mayor-Elect
HEALTH
Here’s How Popular Yoga And Meditation Really Are
Should You Take Aspirin Every Day? Here’s What The Science Says
Here’s When Your Body Burns The Most Calories, According To A New Study
6 Expert-Backed Ways To Manage Your Stress
Nightmares Are Scary. But Are They Bad For Your Health?
Spanking Harms Children, According To The American Academy Of Pediatrics
More Women Are Using Marijuana During Pregnancy, Report Says
Burning Health Questions? Email TIME’s Health Editors
COMMUNITY, FAMILY, HOME AND LIFESTYLE
‘Remarkable’ Decline In Fertility Rates
The Musicians Of Moscow’s Metro, In Photos
What It Takes To Be A Newfoundlander
How Poppies Became A Symbol Of Remembrance After World War I
Remembrance Day: How Germans Remember The World Wars — Video
President Macron Salutes BBC Man’s ‘Beautiful’ WW1 Story — Video
The Youth Trend Spreading Among Boomers
FUN ZONE
BEST OF THE NET
Watch A Clever Cockie Cut A Tool To Just The Right Length It Needs
How Likely Is War In Space And What Will It Look Like?
A Burrito Is Delivered To A Tuggeranong Residence As Part Of The Drone Delivery Trial.
DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ: This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine. There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.
THE NORTHSTAR JOURNAL GENERAL STORE is a page full of links to mostly free stuff and several unique gifts for under $5.00//4.5 EUROS, including Olya’s novel “Rocket Man” and mine, “Wrath of the USS Testament”. The ‘shelves’ also offer films, television episodes, gadgets and apps to make our lives easier and more enjoyable. Now, here’s the really cool part. Load up your cart and instead of getting your plastic out, just drop in the jar on your way out whatever it’s worth to you. You can even try it now and use the back browser to return to the rest of the magazine.
ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL
The Northstar Journal supports this without reservation. Suspending Whale-Watching Tours To Save The Orcas
This is probably long overdue, right? First ‘Retirement Home’ For Showbiz Beluga Whales — Video
The Octopus Census Is On I hope someone told them.
SHORTS
European Union Moves To Protect Big Beasts
‘Oldest Animal Painting’ Discovered
FOLKS WE FOLLOW
Monrovia Plant Savvy’s November 2018 newsletter is now online and it is absolutely beautiful.
The Cornell Elab’s November 2018 newsletter is now online, for all our bird fans.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project November 2018 FeederWatch Enews is now online. Even for those of you unfamiliar with this most informative monthly, this is worth a look. They’ve got a bird photography contest starting up.
YOU GUYS THINK WE MAKE THIS STUFF UP
He Survived The Las Vegas Shooting Only To Be Killed In The Borderline Bar A Year Later
This Dad Hilariously Recreated His Daughter’s Honeymoon Photos
Here’s The Truth About The Bizarre ‘Alien Spacecraft’ That Buzzed Our Solar
ABOUT US: The Northstar Journal reaches an international readership of strong, intelligent, proactively compassionate people like you, who are out there helping make this a better world. We are proud to serve them as an information resource in that regard. If you would like to help us help them, please go here. No contribution too large or too small. If you would like to sponsor an edition or contribute in some other way, please contact us at minstrel312@aol.com Thank you and see you next week. RM/OB
The Northstar Journal 