The Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 46: November 13-19, 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Columns 30 • The Mountain Times • Nov. 13-19, 2019 I fall in love easy. I’ve been mad about river otters and star-nosed moles, and of course the venomous shorttailed shrew. But my first love was a creature that is almost mythical, a shadow lingering on the edges of time. There wasn’t much of it, merely bones, teeth, scraps of hair, and an occasional breathtaking tusk. Yet Mammuthus primigenius, the woolly mammoth, was (literally) my biggest love. It all started at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, where a 44-inch tusk was on display when I was a kid. Found The Outside Story By Susie Spikol in 1865 in a nearby bog, this tusk was my first introduction to this elephant-relative that roamed the hills and valleys of New England more than 12,000 years ago. In my adult rambles along the soft yielding edges of wetlands and paddles down remote rivers, I’m always searching for a tooth, a bone shard, or the treasure of a tusk. That is what mammoth love gives me—a wild hope. I like to imagine, especially on chilly mornings, a herd of woolly mammoths trundling out across a tundra-like landscape. The solid ground shakes as each adult mammoth, weighing close to 6 tons and standing between 9 to 11 feet tall at the shoulder, uses enormous tusks to root in the snowpack, searching for a nibble of tundra grass. The woolly mammoth was king of the cold and its body had many adaptations to life in this frozen kingdom. Most obvious was its woolly coat, with long coarse hairs, some measuring up to 3 feet long. This skirt of hair functioned much like a yak’s, giving the mammoth protection from wind and a furry barrier to the cold ground when resting. Using patches of recovered fur and skin from preserved mammoths in Siberia, scientists have been able to reconstruct the mammoth’s complex pelage. Their coat was made of three types of hair. Closest to the thick skin, which had an underlying 4-inch layer of fat, the mammoth was covered with dense wavy under-fur. Long guard hairs were next, and then the thick over-hairs that formed the mammoth’s skirt. Using microscopic technology, researchers Mammoth love determined that each hair grew in the skin individually and had its own oil gland, which helped to insulate the massive body. The variation of fur, along with the oil, thick insulating skin, and subcutaneous fat layer gave the woolly mammoth a shaggy shield from the Ice Age’s deep freeze. Woolly mammoths might have been giants of the age, but they had rather petite ears and a tiny, almost Eyeorelike tail when compared with modern-day elephants. This was an important adaptation since big ears and long tails would have led to a loss of critical body heat. They did have extra-large feet with soles that were 13.5%arger than the similar-sized African elephant’s feet. In essence, the woolly mammoth had built-on snowshoes, which spread its massive weight across a large surface area and facilitated its movement through deep snow. Studies of preserved mammoth trunks find that they had a hood-like extension at the tip. This is not something found on current elephants. Scientists theorize that when woolly mammoths weren’t using the extension to shovel and grasp snow, the flap worked like a snuggly fold to help keep the un-woolly tip of the trunk warm. The woolly mammoth’s exterior wasn’t the only way this mammal was adapted to subzero temperatures and arid icy conditions. The iconic hump on the upper neck and back is thought to be a reservoir of energy-storing brown fat and water, functioning much like a camel’s hump. This adaptation made it possible for the mammoth to survive when the ice age conditions became even more extreme and there were food and water shortages. Woolly mammoths were special. They survived an epoch of weather that would make our worst snowstorm look like a day at the beach. But when the climate began to change, the mammoths were pushed beyond their limits. It’s been a long time since a mammoth walked in my backyard over 10,000 years ago. But if I stand very still with my hand on a granite rock, I might just be touching something that once touched one of these remarkable creatures. Susie Spikol is the community program director for the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, N.H. The illustration is by Adelaide Tyrol. The Outside Story is edited by Northern Woodlands magazine, sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of N.H. Charitable Foundation. Rebalancing your portfolio Everyone loves a winner. If an investment is successful, most people naturally want to stick with it. But is that the best approach? It may sound counter intuitive, but it may be possible to have too much of a good thing. Over time, the performance of different investments can shift a portfolio’s intent — and its risk profile. It’s a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “risk creep,” and it Money Matters By Kevin Theissen happens when a portfolio has its risk profile shift over time. When deciding how to allocate investments, many start by taking into account their time horizon, risk tolerance, and specific goals. Next, individual investments are selected that pursue the overall objective. If all the investments selected had the same return, that balance — that allocation — would remain steady for a period of time. But if the investments have varying returns, over time, the portfolio may bear little resemblance to its original allocation. Rebalancing is the process of restoring a portfolio to its original risk profile. There are two ways to rebalance a portfolio. The first is to use new money. When adding money to a portfolio, allocate these new funds to those assets or asset classes that have fallen. For example, if bonds have fallen from 40% of a portfolio to 30%, consider purchasing enough bonds to return them to their original 40% allocation. Diversification is an investment principle designed to manage risk. However, diversification does not guarantee against a loss. The second way of rebalancing is to sell enough of the “winners” to buy more underperforming assets. Ironically, this type of rebalancing actually forces you to buy low and sell high. Periodically rebalancing your portfolio to match your desired risk tolerance is a sound practice regardless of the market conditions. One approach is to set a specific time each year to schedule an appointment to review your portfolio and determine if adjustments are appropriate. Kevin Theissen is the owner of HWC Financial in Ludlow. Then Again: Wives’ ‘desertion postings’ By Mark Bushnell Editor’s note: Mark Bushnell is a Vermont journalist and historian. He is the author of “Hidden History of Vermont” and “It Happened in Vermont.” This column was published in VTDigger Nov. 10. Lucy Martin wasn’t mincing words. Her marriage was failing and she wanted the world to know why. Her husband, she wrote in a newspaper notice in 1795, had “ever since our unfortunate marriage, lived by the Fruit of my industry principally.” Martin’s words were contained within a notice printed in the Vermont Gazette, which was printed in Bennington. Such candor might seem unexpected given our usual sense of the era, but Martin’s notice was part of what was then a common practice. So-called desertion postings, which were frequently published after a married couple became estranged, were a fixture in newspapers. Today, they offer an intriguing glimpse into the power struggles that occurred in some 18th- and 19th-Century marriages in Then again > 33
The Mountain Times • Nov. 13-19, 2019 COLUMNS • 31 We should all look at jury duty as an honorable civic exercise that plays an integral role in our nation’s democratic process. However, it almost always feels like an insufferable burden. That was the case The Movie Diary By Dom Cioffi for me last week when I was required to show up bright and early for my second stint as a juror (six years ago, I actually served as the foreman on a civil case. I found it to be interesting, educational, and for the most part, a rewarding experience). This time, I was a little more at odds with serving. My workweek was already insane and if I got pulled into a long case, my workload would become a major burden for the people in my department. Luckily, after an entire day of jury selection by both legal teams, I was one of only seven people left who wasn’t chosen to serve or was excused by the lawyers because they didn’t fit the right profile. After eight hours, I was told I could go home; my service for this case was over. I’ll be honest, I walked out completely relieved that it worked out so conveniently. That is, until I woke up at 3 a.m. the next morning with a screaming sore throat. My first thought was, someone at the courthouse got me sick. It makes sense. Throw If I were a rich man hundreds of people together in large rooms and the diseases will jump around like a dance party. I’m not a germaphobe, but public situations like that are nothing more than giant petri dishes waiting to grow bacteria. I went to work the next day, but I knew I was heading in the wrong direction. I told everyone I was getting sick so they would avoid me and did my best to take precautions so I wouldn’t infect others. By the end of the day, I was confident this wasn’t going to be a 24-hour bug since my nasal passages were starting to fill up. By the next morning, I was full-on sick. My nose was running, my head was hurting, my throat was burning, and I was feeling like a train had just hit me. At this stage, I traditionally make two moves: first, I go for a run (because I’m stupid enough to think I can run diseases out of my body), and two, I schedule an appointment with the doctor (because there’s no sense suffering if antibiotics can cure you faster). The run almost killed me. By the end of it I knew it was the wrong move What also makes this movie enjoyable is that the viewer will have no idea where the plot is headed, especially two-thirds of the way through when the story line twists dramatically. since I could barely stand up. I took a shower and climbed into bed where I slept solidly for the next twelve hours. The next morning, I got up and went to the doctor’s where I was told that I had a healthy case of strep throat. Strep is bad enough, but when you’ve had cancer in your throat like me, it’s especially painful. After 37 radiation treatments pointing at my neck three years ago, I’ve become particularly sensitive to spicy foods, carbonated beverages, and anything else that can tweak my throat – especially an illness that can induce pain in that area. As such, the doctor prescribed me some pain meds that would allow me to function. My sore throats get so bad that it becomes very difficult to swallow, whether it be food or drink. And since becoming dehydrated would make things radically worse, I needed something that would allow me to swallow. Eventually, the illness moved from my throat and nose and settled into my lungs. I now have an annoying cough that hopefully will dissipate over the next few days since I’m on antibiotics. Then I can get my life back together since I basically checked out for four days – ironically the exact length of time the aforementioned court case was supposed to last. This week’s film, “Parasite,” features a Korean family who will stop at nothing to get their lives back together after suffering in poverty for years. This film is set in modern day South Korea and highlights the discrepancies between the rich and poor by intermingling two families that come from entirely different economic backgrounds. How they play off each other within the same household is what gives this picture such an interesting cadence. What also makes this movie enjoyable is that the viewer will have no idea where the plot is headed, especially twothirds of the way through when the storyline twists dramatically. I was completely spellbound by the turn of events as I never saw it coming. If you’re in the mo od for an incredibly wellmade film that features some wonderful performances, definitely give this one a try. Yes, it has subtitles, but once things get rolling, you’ll barely notice. Plan to see this one at the Oscars as the winner of Best Foreign Film. A skillfully crafted “A-” for “Parasite.” Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@ att.net. Bird’s eye view I never had a tree house as a child and was not exposed to the view from a tree canopy until tree stands entered my life. The look of a forest is completely changed when one is actually in the forest canopy and to go from the land of the root flare and tree trunk to the world of canopy and actual tree crown forces you to change the way one looks at trees and forests. You are in the land of birds and squirrels and the myriad of Tree Talk plant organisms living high up. Several years ago I had the By Gary Salmon opportunity to dangle about 170 feet above ground in the crowns of a young western hemlock stand (about 500 years old). It was a research plot of about 5 acres and every tree was approachable from ground to crown via a construction crane made available for forest crown research. A computer and careful operator could literally put you at any level of any of the 100 plus trees in this study of tree crown dynamics. A few years later the National Arbor Day Foundation built a tree crown/tree house at their facility in Nebraska City at about the same time that the Monte Verde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica built one of the first canopy walks to get interested folks a different view. Three years ago the Wild Center in Tupper Lake (established in 2002) built the “Wild Walk” to have visitors visit the canopy of a section of forest on their lands with associated environmental modules to go with it. It has been wildly popular. Tree talk > 32 Full Service Vape Shop Humidified Premium Cigars • Hand Blown Glass Pipes Hookahs & Shisha Roll Your Own Tobacco & Supplies CBD Products • Smoking Accessories 131 Strongs Avenue Rutland, VT (802) 775-2552 Call For Shuttle Schedule Like us on Facebook! Please call or check us out online for this week’s movie offerings. Movie Hotline: 877-789-6684 WWW.FLAGSHIPCINEMAS.COM
Page 1 and 2: MOU NTA I N TI M E S Volume 48, Num
Page 3 and 4: The Mountain Times • Nov. 13-19,
Page 25 and 26: Food Matters The Mountain Times •
Page 27 and 28: BB A KIL Food Matters The Mountain
Page 29: The Mountain Times • Nov. 13-19,

The Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 46: November 13-19, 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?