The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum

Deborah Blum's The Poisoners Handbook takes a grim but entertaining trip back to jazz age New York City to the first professional Forensic Lab run by Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler.  

They solve crimes using tools developed in the lab. They experience successes and failures as juries struggle to understand the new science and cleaver criminals are sometimes one step ahead. 

The era of prohibition also factors into the story as people turn to alternate methods of getting less than safe contaminated alcoholic beverages. 

We owe debt to the people working in these labs by transforming the role of a Coroner from a political appointee to a professional scientifically based position. 

 

The Poison Squad - 56 minutes

Dangerous Dairy - 4 minutes

Music as a Mirror of History by Robert Greenberg

Robert Greenberg's Music as a Mirror of History goes behind the scenes to the politics and people behind some of the greatest orchestral works. He offers strong opinions with well researched history. We get to experience the music and composer's motivation. 

This is an excellent deep introduction to both political and musical history in a thoroughly entertaining presentation.  

Music as a mirror - introduction - 10 minutes

Verdi Nabucco - 7 minutes

Mozart - The Abduction from a Harem- 4 minutes

What We Owe The Future by William MacAskill

 I am listening to the audio book version of William MacAskill's book What We Owe The Future.  At first I was disappointed in the discussion that covered the idea that our current decisions should focus on the effect of seven generations from our current one. There are no disagreements with this approach but I have known about this approach for over twenty years and wanted additional insight. Fortunately the rest of the book did not disappoint. 

The author focuses on long term ism. What threats pose existential threats to the survival of the people on our planet. When the comet Shoemaker-Levy - 9 crashed into Jupiter in 1994 that got the world's attention and we developed the Center for Near Earth Orbit Studies to track space objects that may collide with the earth and cause significant damage. 

He discusses the danger of bioengineered agents that could kill a large part of our population. Outbreaks linked to breaches in biosecurity at  a lab caused an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in the UK twice with decaying plumbing as the source.  The former Soviet Union had releases of anthrax, small pox and other bioweapons. 

The small changes in birth rate produces large changes in the world population. With the exception of Africa most countries do not have replacement birthrates and will begin to  have significant declines in population. 

There are dangers in locking in ideology or approaches to problems. He noted that the uniform international resistance to early human testing of the covid vaccine on humans even with the fast development probably resulted in the unnecessary deaths of at least a million people. If one country would have taken the  risk, we could have learned from their experience. This does point to the benefit of different states and countries trying  different solutions to a problem.  We should not be too hasty when we want to drive toward a uniform solution. 

What is Longtermism? - 9 minutes

What are the most important moral issues of our time - 12 minutes

Reverberation - Do Everything Better with Music by Kevin Blanchard

 

I picked up Reverberation Do Everything Better with Music by Kevin Blanchard because I watched a YouTube interview with Peter Gabriel about the project. 

Each chapter covers a different benefit of music in  our lives backed by scientific research. The graphics are colorful. The author sprinkles quotes and interviews with musical artist throughout the book. 

The book describes the benefits of music for individuals with dementia showing how Tony Bennett came alive when he would sing. At a Christmas gathering this year, I mentioned this to a health care worker who observed the same effect on a patient who was a former church organist. The woman was generally unresponsive but came alive when they played church Christmas music. According to research cited in the book musical memories are often one of the most conserved in the brain.

Music can also help us get through difficult times such as the sadness from the break up of a relationship. The authors recommend selecting music that reflects the current mood and gradually changing the selection to music that guides a person from the current emotional state to one that allows recovery. 

For me and colleagues at work, music helps get through mundane tasks of pouring plates, typing up data tables and analyzing samples. It also brings joy through movement in dance.   

 Peter Gabriel talks Reverberations with the author - 30 minutes

 Peter Gabriel and Kevin Blanchard on Reverberations - 53 minutes

Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown et al

 

Learning how to learn and how to train others provides opportunities for health and safety professionals to improve the chance that others will survive this increasingly complex world.  The Authors of Make it Stick - The Science of Successful Learning provide evidence based method of acquiring and using knowledge. 

Tips:

1. Quiz yourself about the information at spaced intervals allowing time to forget the information.
2. Interleave training. Don't learn only how to hit curve balls. Work on an assortment of curve, fast and sliders during the same session.
3. Ask questions about the material that you are reading.
4. Write a summary of the material that you have read.
5. Work at applying the knowledge that you are acquiring.
6. Continually practice the basic skills that are needed.

They layout information on how pilots are trained. They also use lessons learned from events to make improvements on apprehending criminals to learning lines for a play.  One individual used the lessons learned from selling illegal firecrackers in Minnesota and applying that knowledge to buying and operating a railroad system.

The information provided will assist individuals in teaching and life long learning. 

Make It Stick - Dr. McDaniel - 6 min

Make It Stick interview with the three authors - 91 minutes

Wildlife Photography Adventures from Minnesota and North America by N G Carlson

 

Book cover photo - N G Carlson

Starting late in the fall of 2020, I spent time taking photos of the wildlife in Minnesota and Wisconsin with a brief trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida in November of 2021.

Back in Minnesota, my early mornings and weekends were spent taking photos at Silverwood Park, Long Lake Regional Park, and Snail Lake Regional Park. Other photos were taken at locations in Scandia, Minnesota and throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.

Deer kept following me around again his year. I watched a young buck being chased by a male Red-winged Blackbird across an open meadow at Silverwood Park. I enjoyed watching Great-horned Owls raise their family.

Birds continue to make up most of the wildlife photos with the focus on waterfowl, woodpeckers, songbirds, and shore birds.

I was fortunate to spend the time in nature alone and walking with others on outdoor adventures. I hope these photos encourage you to start your own outdoor adventure.

Common names and scientific names are given to each bird, animal, reptile and insect. 

The book, Wildlife Photography Adventures from Minnesota and North America (soft cover), is available from Amazon in softcover and kindle.

Wildlife Photography Adventures from Minnesota and North America (Wildlife photographs) Kindle

Hummingbird similar to photos in the book. 

Discovered Dreams by Scott Murphy

 

In his third book of Poetry, Discovered Dreams, Scott Murphy examines the life of a child of Alcoholic Parents. This book is dedicated to the caregivers, the referees and the people who survived that childhood. The author survived the experience and so can you. 

His previous books, Poems of a Survivor and Recover or Relent deal with disappointment and the decision to actively pursue a path of recovery. 

Wildlife in a Wild Year - My 2020 Nature Journey by N. G. Carlson

 

Beginning in March of 2020, I was on the island of Hawaii as COVID-19 started to initiate the closing down of the country and the rest of the world. I spent time taking photos of the wildlife close to where I was staying before leaving. 

Back in Minnesota, my early mornings were spent taking photos at Silverwood Park, Long Lake Regional Park, Elm Creek Park, and Bassett Creek Park. Other photos were taken at locations throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul area at locations similar to my 2019 book Photographs of Minnesota Wildlife. 

This year I was able to watch birds raise their young and take photos of the parents and juveniles. Deer followed me around this year and kept popping up in unexpected places. Muskrats were a late season addition to a year of photographing wildlife. Birds make up most of the wildlife photos with the focus on waterfowl, woodpeckers, songbirds, and shore birds. 

This time in nature proved to be an excellent way to shift the focus away from the difficulties of 2020. I hope you find the photos a welcome distraction. Wildlife in a Wild Year is available from Amazon in paperback and kindle. You can also see more of my photos at https://zaphodmirror.picfair.com.

Wood Ducks in a tree (similar to those in the book) - N. G. Carlson

Yellow-billed Cardinal from Hawaii (similar to photos in the book) - N. G. Carlson

TED Talks by Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson provides an insiders view to giving an excellent TED talk in his book: TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking.

Elements of a good talk. The speaker is prepared. The speaker has practiced the talk and knows it well. Depending on the speaker, they will have it memorized or have visual prompts that assist and they know the topic well. They have a story arc. The visuals and the speech work well together. Some speakers take appropriate risks to deviating from the standard format and interacting with the audience through music or performance art. The person has lived a life, done the research and shares their insights and discoveries based on experience.

A poor talk has an ill prepared speaker. The speaker is focused on being famous and self-promotion. The speaker is not comfortable in front of the audience. The speaker is trying to sell something provide a gift of knowledge to others.

TED secrets to great public speaking - 10 minutes

What makes a great TED talk - 24 minutes

Lessons worth spreading - 12 minutes

The Art of Critical Decision Making by Michael A. Roberto

The Art of Critical Decision Making by Michael A. Roberto covers many difficult decisions that often focus on man made disasters. This is a worthwhile course for managers or individuals responsible for safety culture. He dissects the Columbia Space Shuttle accident. Managers adopted the wrong frame of reference setting a high bar to proving it was not safe rather than proving it is safe. The leader of the group also did not actively seek out dissenting views.

There are two responses to a threat. Confirmatory response (actively discounting the problem) presuming that our knowledge is complete and there will be no change unless there is overwhelming evidence of a problem that needs a solution vs an exploratory response actively attempting to understand the threat. In the face of an ambiguous threat learn by doing, conduct experiments, and conducting experiments.

The Three Mile Island nuclear incident is an example of complex coupled system. These often have a series of adverse events lining up to cause a problem. It is like the holes of several slices of Swiss Cheese lining up.

He also reviews the Bay of Pigs failed invasion of Cuba and the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Bay of Pigs was an insular process where differing opinions were suppressed. In the Cuban Missile Crisis, a diversity of opinions was sought out including former President Dwight Eisenhower. The former president asked questions about on the process of decision making. The problem solving groups were deliberately set up in opposing groups who offered solutions. The other group would attempt to poke holes in the proposal and request more information. This sharpened the solutions and provided better options for President Kennedy to review.

There was a failure to connect the dots with respect to the 911 terrorists. Both the Arizona and the Minneapolis Field office had people taking pilots lessons with large commercial aircraft with little previous pilot experience. Obstacles to information sharing include differentiation without integrations when dealing with an uncertain environment. Power is derived by the control of intelligence information. Work on both formal and informal network sharing. They have adopted password protected Wikis that allow information sharing between multiple agencies.

High Reliabilty Organizations (HRO) - Design enterprises to deal with interactive complexity and tight coupling (processes that are highly dependent on each other).

1. Preoccupied with failure ( may be a symptom of a larger problem) Actively seek out what might go wrong. Do not be preoccupied with success. Failures are not confined to a small area but may be systemic. Revealing problems allow people to work on them. 
2. Reluctance to Simplify interpretations. Do not put problems in a small box.
3. Sensitivity to the front line:   Invest time understanding in front line staff - Medicine used to be (ABC) Accuse Blame and Criticize.  Develop a culture of blameless reporting. 
4. Commitment to resilience: People who are resilient don't just anticipate they focus on mitigating the risk to build resilience. 
5. Deference to localized specialized expertise: Need to actively seek out localized specialized knowledge to find problems. 

Focus on concrete processes to improve safety. How to be preoccupied with failure. Code blue vs Rapid Response teams to diagnose people who are exhibiting ambiguous symptoms that may predict a cardiac event.  High reliability is a preoccupation with failure and resilience.

How do you become a problem finder? Seek out problems like Winston Churchill. He saw the rise of Hitler, the rise of the Iron Curtain. How do you do this. Become a voracious learner and go out in the field and ask questions. Discard the notion that you have all of the answers. The process matters.

Being a devil's advocate by Michael Roberto - 13 min. 

How Winston Churchill Changed the World Great Courses

I found the Great Courses lecture How Winston Churchill Saved the World by Michael Shelden to be informative giving more insight into the personal life of Churchill than the other two biographies I've encountered. Churchill had a lady friend who he relied on as and intellectual sounding board for his ideas. She would have gladly been his wife but Churchill married another. The friendship lasted.

Churchill was a man of intense curiosity. He was a cosmopolitan man of the world in contrast to Hitler and Stalin neither of whom ventured far from home. Churchill flew in planes to get a sense of the experience and also to obtain an overhead view of the British and European coastline. He advocated for aerospace research to develop airplanes capable of combating the German aircraft. The work on aircraft development was funded in part by a patriotic British heiress. 

Churchill's experience in the Boar War as a combat soldier and a prisoner also informed his experience. He deplored the idiocy of the British generals ill advised charges out of the trenches into direct machine gun fire. Churchill's support of research on tank development, although ridiculed at the time, proved to be a useful resource in breaking the stalemate of trench warfare. As Lord of the Admiralty, his ill advised venture in the Dardanelles lead him to be pushed out of important public office.  This was done with full endorsement of others but they disavowed the action once it failed.

This was similar to Harry Truman giving Churchill his backing for the Iron Curtain speech and then claiming he had no knowledge of it when there was a political uproar. One thing Churchill never lacked was the courage to stand up and eloquently defend his convictions.

His party's ouster from government after the war allowed him time to paint but resulted in disaster for the country. The post war socialist government under labor resulted in food and power shortages. Churchill referred to Socialism as "shared misery." The leaders were grossly in competent and lasted a few short years before Churchill's party returned to power and cleaned up the mess by keeping the things that worked and correcting the agriculture and energy sector.

At the end of the course leader Professor Shelden offered an alternate time line where Great Britain sues Nazi Germany for peace. That gives Hitler 10 years to develop advanced weaponry and tighten his  control over a large area of the world. If Churchill and Great Britain had not stood up alone against Hitler, our world may have been very different.

Darkest Hour Movie (2017) - Blood, Toil, Sweat, and Tears - 4 min. 

The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker

In The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, Steven Pinker takes an exhaustive look at the factors that contribute to the level of violence in human and closely related animal cultures.

He provides evidence that violence per capita has decreased from the paleolithic (hunter gatherer) culture to the present time. Many factors enter into this equation. Having a leviathan or large societal structural control will usually reduce the level of violence as a percentage of the population by pacification.

This is not a permanent state and society will devolve as in the Middle Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire or in countries where the central government no longer functions well (Libya, Syria, Afghanistan etc.)

The optimistic scenarios about the noble peaceful savage have largely been disproved. The tribal behavior by humans is similar to the behavior of chimpanzees and not does not track to the slightly less violent bonobos who are very peaceful when well fed in captivity but less so in the wild where there is competition for resources. Chimpanzees and tribal cultures kill when they have the advantage. They will kill lone non tribal members if the likelihood of success is great with a ratio of three attackers to one victim. Killing early in the morning when others at sleep is also a successful strategy.

The printing press proved to be a positive vehicle for building empathy in other people. This was associated with a reduction in acts of public cruelty for entertainment. Human life became more valuable and the painful acts of torture developed during the Spanish Inquisition became unacceptable.  Empathy is not enough to reduce violence.

It also needs compassion and self control and a willingness to not follow along with the crowd. People often are more candid in private written assessments than in public forums in front of groups. This has implications for obtaining honest feedback about self-assessment.

This is a very difficult, well researched, and important subject matter. Readers can take this information and help foster an environment where violence continues to be reduced.

Bill Gates and Steven Pinker - 7 minutes

Steven Pinker - The Better Angels - 76 minutes

Steven Pinker - The Better Angels - 23 minutes

Photographs of Minnesota Wildlife by N. G. Carlson

This past spring and summer, I took photographs of wildlife at Silverwood Park and Long Lake Regional Park north of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Other locations were outside the Bell Museum of Natural History, near my residence and at a woods north of the Twin Cities metro area. 

Spending time in nature during weekday mornings and on weekends made the spring, summer, and fall a wonderful experience. In the book you will meet Scruffy and Blue two Great Blue Herons who glided from one fishing spot to another stopping long enough for me to watch them groom themselves and patiently fish. 

A doe and the fawn on the cover of the book surprised me more than once on my morning walks. The wood duck and hooded merganser families spent time with each other raising their ducklings together. Turtles played tag under water and covered up the available logs on cool sunny days. 

I enjoyed listening to the sounds of songbirds and the hammering of the woodpeckers. I watched bluebirds diving on the grass to pick up insects and the osprey fishing for sunfish. Butterflies, bees, and dragonflies enjoyed the flowers and time on the lake.   

Photographing the wildlife was a walking meditation and an opportunity to capture the beauty in nature. It was a chance to observe and enjoy the dance of life. The book, Photographs of Minnesota Wildlife is available from Amazon in a paperback and kindle version. 

I appreciate the support from the Silverwood Camera Club and my editors Betsy Salvatore and Tammy K. Smith. 

Cardinal Song - 1 min. 15 sec.

Catbird song - 36 sec.

Evolutionary Psychology part 1: The Science of Human Nature by Allen D. MacNeill

In this first section of a two part series Allen D. MacNeill covers the individual aspects of evolutionary psychology, The Modern Scholar: Evolutionary Psychology I: The Science of Human Nature. In the next set of lectures Evolutionary Psychology Part Two focuses on group interactions.

Professor MacNeill's theatrical background makes listening to his lectures entertaining. He often pauses struggling for appropriate euphemisms to describe topics that are not appropriate for dinner time conversation.

He pokes holes in the standard social science model that we are all blank slates that can be molded by the environment into the person you become. He favors the proposition that we are shaped by our genetic background and the environment that we occupy.

He compares the behavior of other animals and finds similarities. Some findings are disturbing. Infanticide or abuse is much higher with stepfathers with no genetic relation to the child. This is true with humans and in many other primate species. With apes if a new male displaces the top male the  non related infants are killed so that the DNA of the new male can be passed along.

Professor MacNeill differentiates between lust, limerence (romantic love) and attachment. These different forms of love are also regulated by different hormones. Please see Science behind lust attraction companionship - Harvard U blog. Attachment (oxytocin and vasopressin) is achieved if you are calmed in the presence of the person you love. Limerence (dopamine and others) is the yearning to couple and is characterized by anxiousness and big mood swings. These feelings are reduced in direct proportion to the frequency of intimacy.

Evolutionary Psychology - 14 minutes

Factfulness by Has Rosling

In the book, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling we get not an optimistic but a realistic view of the world through data. The world may be bad but in general it is getting better. Hans wrote this book with his daughter and son-in-law as he was dying of pancreatic cancer. It summarizes the life lessons he has learned as a public health professional using facts to evaluate the world. It may be bad, but we are making it better and we can measure our progress.

He makes a strong case for dumping the dichotomy of the developed world and the undeveloped or third world. He instead divides nations into 4 categories, 1- Extreme poverty, 2- low income, 3- moderate income and 4- high income. He also recognizes that within countries there is overlap. In general, as income levels rise birthrates drop. This is why the global population will peak and remain stable at approximately 10 - 12 billion in the year 2100. The population curve is S shaped not J shaped.  He points out that up until 200 years ago most of the world was on level one with families having 6 babies and loosing 4 before they children reach adulthood. He recalls his grandmother in Sweden watching the first load of laundry going in his parents' washing machine. She then told her grandson Hans, the machine is doing the work and now we have time to go to the library.

He polls audiences about the current state of the world offering them three choices. In all but one case the audience does worse than random selections by chimpanzees. The only question audiences do better than the chimps is on the consensus of scientists regarding the trend upwards in global temperature. Hans was pressured by Al Gore to provide graphs of the worse case scenario for climate change but Hans refused to extrapolate beyond the data. Activist are often temped to exaggerate to increase urgency and this may work in the short term but backfires when credibility is lost when the predictions do not come true. 

Why is this? We are fed a steady diet of news that is generally factual and dramatic but provides a distorted view of the world. We are treated to the unusual and atypical. We also have data that is correct for 20 or 30 years ago but has not been updated.

He also cautions about orphan numbers. These are facts that stand alone but have no comparison. He uses the example that 2 million babies in the world died before reaching age 1 at some year in the 21st Century. This is bad but in the 1950's that number was around 16 million. Considering the world's population is much greater now, the death rate per 1,000 people is much lower than it was in the 50's. There is work to be done but we are making progress.

The mindset of factfulness  Hans Rosling- 17 minutes

How to not be ignorant about the world - 19 min. 

This is why the world is getting better Anna Rosling - 24 min.

The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson's offers up childhood reminiscences of his life growing up in Des Moines, Iowa during the 1950's. This book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir, follows a similar style to his later works. He describes a childhood memory then adds snippets of historical events to enrich the story. I've notice many parallels to Mark Twain's stories where he borrows from childhood experiences to create a story. The book title comes from a thunderbolt sweater that Bryson finds in the basement.

This is not the story of a genius but a kid who feels that he is the offspring of super hero aliens from another planet. This explains why he doesn't understand his parents.

The author's less than exemplary performance in school and awful attendance record will offer some hope to those students who struggled to graduate.

Bryson's friend Katz makes several memorable appearances towards the later half of the book. Katz's full embrace of hedonist life style a diverts the attention of local authorities from the rest of boys who have better connections. After an extended time away from society Katz joins Bryson to hike the Appalachian Trail in Bryson's book, A Walk in the Woods.  Bryson also gives a where are they now update on the main characters in the book.

Bill Bryson The Thunderbolt Kid - 6 min. 

The origin of the Thunderbolt Kid - 4 min. 

Birds of Minnesota Field Guide by Stan Tekiela

Stan Tekiela's excellent photos complement this well designed guide for the first time casual birder in Minnesota. I recommend both the field guide: Birds of Minnesota Field Guide (Bird Identification Guides) and the audio book: Birds of Minnesota Audio CDs: Companion to the Bird of Minnesota Field Guide. The audio book syncs up with the first edition of the book which you may be able to find used.

The guide organizes the birds by primary colors. It also offers separate entries for male and female birds with distinctly different coloring. The two CD audio set comes with a small insert with photos. I've found learning the bird calls helps me to look for a specific bird often hiding in the trees, bushes, or ground.

These are a couple of videos I made with still photos and distinctive calls recorded on a cell phone. The last three videos are from an entertaining and informative lecture that Stan gave on birds in Minnesota.




Catbird - N. Carlson -  36 seconds

Red Bellied Woodpecker - 22 seconds

Uncommon bird facts #1 with Stan Tekiela - 24 minutes

Uncommon facts Birds #2 with Stan Tekiela - 21 minutes

Uncommon facts Birds #3 with Stan Tekiela - 26 minutes

Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths Great Courses

Be prepared to have many well cherished medical beliefs crushed by mountains of scientific research. Professor Steven Novella, MD from the Yale School of Medicine offers an informative series of lectures on Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths: What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us from the Great Courses.

Clinicians, epidemiologists, and scientists conduct studies to determine if these medical practices have any benefit. Ineffective treatments include: homeopathy, echinacea (for colds), magnets, and antioxidants.  In other cases an accepted medical practice such as chelation therapy - Web MD is used inappropriately as a treatment outside the approved guidelines. Anti-vaccine advocates are debunked - Public Health because children develop the symptoms before getting the vaccine. The professor notes that the original person attacking the measles vaccine was also attempting to profit from an alternative vaccine.

How to spot a fraud: The treatment is not typically done by standard medical practice. The evidence for the efficacy is mixed. Negative results are followed by special pleading saying that there was something deficient in the study. Evidence for support is by anecdote or testimonial. A standard treatment is being used outside its approved use. The treatment is not offered in the United States but at a convenient location close to the border. New scientific discoveries are monetized before the effects are fully understood (eg: Radithor - Oak Ridge Associated Universities - an over the counter radioactive oral medicine). 

There is a long line of people willing to extract cash for treatments that don't work or may be harmful. This series of lectures can arm the listener with the tools to make better health decisions.  I highly recommend it.

Medical Myths  1 min. 

What used to be fraud is now alternative medicine - 15 min.

Science-based medicine beyond integrated medicine - 22 min. 

Outdoor Fundementals Everything you need to know to stay safe

I really appreciated the depth of knowledge provided by Professor Elizabeth K. Andre for her course - Outdoor Fundamentals: Everything You Need to Know to Stay Safe. She covers knots, clothing, packing, food preparation, weather, first aid with wisdom gained from personal experience. It also doesn't hurt that she is a former U of Minnesota graduate.

Her weather related tip: A low pressure system usually produces rain but there is a difference between warm fronts and and cold fronts. A warm front may bring gentle rain for a long time. A cold front in the summer can often produce strong short thunderstorms.

She provides great tips on minimizing injuries from cooking. To minimize the risk of scalding with boiling water, do not place your legs under the cooking stove  Instead, stand to the side if the stove is on a picnic table or work with the stove on the ground.

Her tips on food selection, personal hygiene, and clothing are helpful. Keeping dry and clean is very important. Wear layers and choose clothing that dries quickly. Consider that the caloric consumption will be higher on the trail because of the energy expenditure. With shared food, pour it into people's hands rather than allowing people to grab the food out of the bag.

Be careful about an aspirational decision. Are you making it because you want to have the experience or because it is a thoughtful one that takes into account the circumstances including the weather? I remember being caught in a rainstorm in a row boat because we were having too much fun fishing. We ignored the gathering storm clouds and got drenched before we landed on shore.

Her suggestions on risk assessment apply both to outdoor situations and in daily life. Decisions are best made when rested and with sufficient food and water. Decide big decisions by consensus rather than by a single group leader. The additional perspectives will serve as a check on the ideas of one person. 

Outdoor fundamentals - 2 minutes

Customs of the World - Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are

I really enjoyed Professor David Livermore's course - Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are. Being curious about another culture or another human being is much more interesting than working from a rigid stereotype from limited knowledge.

He advocates an approach of intelligent stereotyping instead of negative stereotyping. This involves learning as much as you can about a different culture before you begin interacting with individuals from that culture.  You can use this knowledge as a working hypothesis to better negotiate the nuances of a culture. Remember that these are not hard rules but starting points as there are variations within cultures and be ready to make adjustments and learn the culturally appropriate ways to ask for help if you don't understand.

Learning how a culture typically treats time is very important. Some cultures value the time being spent in relationship with a person more than being punctual for a future engagement. Other cultures expect people to anticipate problems they may encounter and expect individuals to be punctual. In a relationship culture this makes scheduling meetings or even arranging a time to play golf problematic. Another author's book describes an express bus in India that stopped and allowed people to get out and join in with wedding festivities on the way out of town. The ride took longer than anticipated but people had a good time enjoying the company of other people.

Professor Livermore lists ten contrasting cultural characteristics.

1. Risk - low vs. high uncertainty avoidance
2. Achievement - individual vs. group
3. Lifestyle - being vs. doing
4. Rules - universalist vs. particularist
5. Identity - individualist vs. collectivist
6. Authority - low vs. high power distance
7. Time - punctuality vs. relationships
8. Communication - direct vs. indirect
9. Expressiveness - neutral vs. affective
10. Social Norms - tight vs. loose

Communicating in an indirect culture is often very difficult. The person speaking assumes you have contextual knowledge. This is often more common in areas that are isolated and have little contact with outsiders. Individuals often don't need to offer explicit directions because there is an assumption that you have a basic familiarity with the territory and a few landmarks will be sufficient to guide you. 

The Professor also roughly organizes cultures into groups. He notes that this list is not exhaustive and may lump some very different cultural groups together. He describes how each cultural group generally fits in with the ten cultural characteristics. 

• Anglo
• Nordic
• Germanic
• Eastern Europe
• Latin Europe
• Latin American
• Confucian Asian
• South Asian
• Sub-Saharan African
• Arab

The information from these lectures will be useful as I interact with staff and students around the world on health and safety concerns.