What to Bring

Is that weird, taking my Louis Vuitton bag camping? ~ Jessica Simpson

  1. Light
  2. Signaling Device
  3. Fire Starter
  4. Warm Clothes
  5. Pocket Knife
  6. Shelter
  7. Water
  8. Food
  9. First-Aid Kit
  10. Navigation
  11. Communication: Cell phone

“The lack of light is the single most cause of overdure hiker calls for NSR. It is so easy to under estimate the amount of daylight left especially if you are deep in the forest. That is why carrying a good quality flashlight or headlamp with extra bulb and batteries per person, is number 1 on our list of the ten essential items. It is also prudent to carry green cyalume light sticks as an emergency backup ONLY. These lightweight items will illuminate the trail around and in front of you sufficiently for you to travel slowly in darkness fro several hours.”

Learn more on What To Bring via SAR North Shore.

Unseen Struggles

“Wearing face masks is one of the essential means to prevent the transmission of certain respiratory diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although acceptance of such masks is increasing in the Western hemisphere, many people feel that social interaction is affected by wearing a mask. In the present experiment, we tested the impact of face masks on the readability of emotions. The participants (N = 41, calculated by an a priori power test; random sample; healthy persons of different ages, 18–87 years) assessed the emotional expressions displayed by 12 different faces. Each face was randomly presented with six different expressions (angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, neutral, and sad) while being fully visible or partly covered by a face mask. Lower accuracy and lower confidence in one’s own assessment of the displayed emotions indicate that emotional reading was strongly irritated by the presence of a mask. We further detected specific confusion patterns, mostly pronounced in the case of misinterpreting disgusted faces as being angry plus assessing many other emotions (e.g., happy, sad, and angry) as neutral. We discuss compensatory actions that can keep social interaction effective (e.g., body language, gesture, and verbal communication), even when relevant visual information is crucially reduced.”

Wearing Face Masks Strongly Confuses Counterparts in Reading Emotions via Frontiers in Psychology.

Emotions

“We review the burgeoning literature on the social effects of emotions, documenting the impact of emotional expressions on observers’ affect, cognition, and behavior. We find convergent evidence that emotional expressions influence observers’ affective reactions, inferential processes, and behaviors across various domains, including close relationships, group decision making, customer service, negotiation, and leadership. Affective reactions and inferential processes mediate the effects of emotional expressions on observers’ behaviors, and the relative potency of these mediators depends on the observers’ information processing and the perceived appropriateness of the emotional expressions. The social effects of emotions are similar across expressive modalities (face, voice, body, text, symbols). We discuss the findings in relation to emotional contagion, emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, emotions as social information (EASI) theory, and the functionality of emotions in engendering social influence. Finally, we identify gaps in our current understanding of the topic and call for interdisciplinary collaboration and methodological diversification.”

The Social Effects of Emotions via Annual Review of Psychology.

Procrastination & A Polar Bear

“We’ve all seen the pictures of starving polar bears, struggling to survive climate change. But as global temperatures continue to rise, experts say bears today are spending up to a month longer than their parents waiting for the ice to return after summer.

Every year, starting in late June when the bay ice disappears, polar bears in the northern Canadian province of Manitoba move onto shore to begin a period of forced fasting.

Without the sea ice they are unable to hunt for seals, their main source of food.”

Read more on Polar bears lose up to 2kg per day as climate crisis bites via Euronews.

How ‘climate procrastination’ has put the planet in peril via PBS News.

What am I worth?

“What a living whale is worth — and why the economy should protect nature. How much is one living blue whale worth in the fight against climate change? A lot more than you may think, says financial economist Ralph Chami. He explains the value of bringing the language of dollars and cents to conservation — and offers his vision of a new economy that would profit off regenerating nature, not extracting from it.”

Learn more:
‘They teach us’: how whales can help dispel the myth of green capitalism via The Guardian.
Several humpback whales found dead on B.C.’s coast in a matter of weeks via CBC.

Say My Name

I know you say that I am assuming things

Something’s going down that’s the way it seems

Shouldn’t be the reason why you’re acting strange

If nobody’s holding you back from me

‘Cause I know how you usually do

When you say everything to me times two

Why can’t you just tell the truth

If somebody’s there then tell me who..
~ Destiny’s Child

The Joy of Anonymity: In a World that Craves Attention via Medium.

Where My Eyes Kiss

There are habitats beyond
the one you live in
beneath you in the magma
beside you in the wind
with you in the water
inside you in dreams

layers exist within the archaeology
of your body’s knowing
it only takes a drop
of insight to remember
there is another way

where the answer to issues
is not another meeting
change of direction, drive or data
but a realignment to the inward pool
listening through the body
an intuitive’s call

the researcher may look for data
but there is a data of the body
spiritsongs of the cells
beckoning you to come alive

turn towards the threshold
of muscles and tissues
let light in the shadows
break into humility
and embrace beyond
what is known.

~ Celeste Snowber via bodypsalms