Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts

For most of the last 20 years, I have attended the weekly discussions of the Evolution Roundtable at Franklin and Marshall College a few blocks from my home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The ERT reads two books each year on evolution, one each semester.  We have read books The Origin of Species, The Selfish Gene, and many other books on dinosaurs, DNA and how cells evolve. In the 1990s, before I was part of the group, Stephen Jay Gould visited one of the Monday noon sessions.

If I could recommend just one book of all those I read with the ERT, in fact any single book I read on science, it would be Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts.  I liked this book from the introduction, but the more I read it, the more I was drawn into the parallel lives of Carl Linnaeus and the Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon.  

These men both lived and worked through much of the 18th Century. Both devoted their lives to classifying every living thing, plus rocks and minerals and even the universe beyond the earth in the case of Buffon.  Both men wrote a single work in many volumes with many revisions for their entire lives, describing every sort of life they could find. 

During their lifetimes, both were well known. Both suffered tragic and painful deaths. But that's where Roberts tale really took hold of me. He tells the story of how the ideas and reputations of the two men rose and fell after their deaths.  This story shows how much science is influenced by culture and politics and the whims of people with an agenda having nothing to do with the work of the scientist. 

 Linnaeus died in 1778 in Sweden, a country that would remain relatively stable in the centuries ahead. Buffon, a rich French aristocrat, died in 1788 on the eve of the French Revolution.  Among the excesses of the French Revolution was erasing anything aristocratic, along with murdering aristocrats.  One of the revolutionary committees decided Linnaeus was a man of the people and Buffon should be erased.  

The revolutionaries promoted Linnaeus. Buffon and his multi-volume work went into eclipse. Right now on Amazon there are 50 books on Linnaeus plus children's books. Since Linnaeus was a creationist who believed all the species were created by God in the week described in Genesis Linnaeus has a Christian home-school following. 

In the mid 19th Century, when Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species it was clear that the work of Buffon had anticipated evolution.  When genes were found to be the inner mechanism of life and reproduction, Buffon's work again seemed prophetic.  In the 21st Century with millions of species and many more more types of life that are neither plant nor animal, the Linnaean system is being supplanted. Linnaeus thought God created 40,000 species. His system is overloaded with a thousand times more. 

Why this book above every other book on evolution? Because Every Living Thing shows the reader the obsession, the rivalry, the passion, the determination of scientific discovery and then shows how history and politics can promote or ignore a lifetime of work. Real science is always changing, always affected by the culture in which it works.  

Right now uncertainty will hinder science in America, maybe leading it to flourish elsewhere.  Germany was the center of the scientific world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Then the Nazis took over and German science never recovered. 

Chance and circumstance affect us all and science no less. 

 

 

Freedom by Sebastian Junger

 

Freedom by Sebastian Junger is first and foremost a Quest or Journey Away, an adventure leaving home.  Junger and his friends walk the railroad tracks that connect Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The fast-moving narrative takes the reader northwest up the Juniata River valley beginning where it joins the Susquehanna River, then at the headwaters of the Juniata turns southwest along the freight and passenger line that passes through Altoona's Horseshoe Curve on the way to Steel City. 

As the group strides alongside the tracks, we learn about the mechanics of long-distance walking, including why the spacing of the ties makes it so difficult to walk on the wooden crossties that support the steel rails.  

Before the path along the river was railroad right of way, it was a trail used by settlers moving west and the tribes who lived on the land before them.  Junger tells us some of history of the tribes and how they fought and allied with settlers. We also learn the history of tribes and individuals far from Pennsylvania. There is a long section on the Apache on the US-Mexican border.

One of these narrative asides describes how George Washington is reputed to  have started the French and Indian War. In 1754 Washington led an attack on a French detachment at what became known as Fort Necessity. Washington won the skirmish. The French surrendered, but the Mingo tribesmen led by the warrior known as the Half King slaughtered and scalped some of the French.  What became the Seven Years War arguably began with that battle and its bloody aftermath.  

The narrative is interspersed with meditations on what it means to be free in modern America and back through the history. 

On the history of freedom versus the modern democratic world:

“For most of human history, freedom had to be at least suffered for, if not died for, and that raised its value to something almost sacred. In modern democracies, however, an ethos of public sacrifice is rarely needed because freedom and survival are more or less guaranteed. That is a great blessing but allows people to believe that any sacrifice at all--rationing water during a drought, for example--are forms of government tyranny. They are no more forms of tyranny than rationing water on a lifeboat. The idea that we can enjoy the benefits of society while owing nothing in return is literally infantile. Only children owe nothing.”

On leaders who exploit their freedom:

“But in any society, leaders who aren’t willing to make sacrifices aren’t leaders, they’re opportunists, and opportunists rarely have the common good in mind. They’re easy to spot, though: opportunists lie reflexively, blame others for failures, and are unapologetic cowards.”

Wealth erodes freedom:

“Wealth is supposed to liberate us from the dangers of dependency, but quickly becomes a dependency in its own right. The wealthier we are, the higher our standard of living and the more—not less—we depend on society for our safety and comfort.”

On the freedom of the journey at the center of Freedom:

“We walked around four hundred miles and most nights we were the only people in the world who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom but surely that is one of them.”

On freedom and power:

“The central problem for human freedom is that groups that are well organized enough to defend themselves against others are well organized enough to oppress their own. Power is so readily abused that one could almost say that its concentration is antithetical to freedom.”

Trump's Broken Boys

In the Spring of 2016, I met a rich, successful engineer who loved Donald Trump.  Still does, I am sure.  Like many well-educated conservatives my age, and Trump himself, Tom was a draft dodger.  But at the core of his love of Trump was resentment about busing.  He grew up in Chicago. He went to neighborhood schools until high school, planned to go to the high school in his neighborhood, then got bussed to the other side of the city.  

He hated liberals ever since and when Trump said he hated liberals, Tom found his man. The central appeal of Trump is hate and resentment.  Recently I was reminded that those who are bullied will attach themselves to a bully as their protector.  

I went to school with Denny from first grade to high school graduation.  He was short, not athletic, and had an ethnic eastern European name. He was easy to tease and never had many friends. When he graduated high school he left Stoneham and had a successful career. He retired to the very red state of Idaho.  

Since the election he has made a blizzard of Facebook posts, praising everything Trump does and says.

The experience of being bullied can either lead to loathing bullies or identifying with the bully. In this case, the marginal kid who got bullied anglicized both his first and last names, moved across the country and became an avid promoter of everything Trump does. If Trump farts, Denny will gush about the aroma.  

He clearly believes he is on the safe side of bullying now, taking the side of the biggest bully ever to occupy the White House. 

On Friday, Trump and Vance attacked President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office (their turf) surrounded by their worshipful staff.  In this two against one or fifty against one contest, Zelenskyy refused to bow to the bully. He fought off Putin for three years, Trump is a pale orange imitation.  Afterwards, Denny attacked Zelenskyy and has attacked Zelenskyy every day since.  

From the day Trump descended the golden escalator in 2015, the broken boys of America have flocked to Trump. "I am your retribution," Trump said.  

Some who were bullied and managed to survive and thrive were repelled by the game show host who can only punch down. Others saw their revenge in an old,  angry, broken man like themselves. They bought MAGA hats and cheered for hate.  

--------

Draft dodgers did not get lift from Bill Clinton. He apologized. But Trump bragged about being a draft dodger. He gave the cowards who let another man serve in their place an increase in status.

Americans Living in Panama

 

In the coming weeks, I will be writing about some of the Americans I have met during the time I lived in Panama. They are people who decide to live outside of America for various but some of them do not want to return to the craziness that is America recent years.

Around 30,000 Americans live in Panama--less than a tenth of one percent of a country with more than 4 million people.  The figures aren't definite in part because it is currently very easy for Americans to purchase property in Panama and effectively live here, but not actually become residents.  

Panama is a beautiful place with every kind of hot weather recreation, and more diversity in wildlife than almost any place in the world.  Panama is 400 miles long, 50 to 120 miles wide and has mountains more than 11,000 feet high.  The north border of the country is 400 miles of Caribbean/Atlantic sea shore, the south side is 400 miles of Pacific shore.  To the west is Costa Rice. To the east is Columbia.  

Panama rose from the floor of the oceans more than 10,000 years ago.  It is the youngest part of the American continents joining the two big land masses together.  It's recent volcanic activity and position between the continents leads to the wild diversity in plants and animals of all kinds.

Those who can live with heat, humidity and a nine-month rainy season see Panama as paradise.  And some of them left the United States to call Panama their new home. 

Russia Invaded Ukraine. Putin Murders and Kidnaps Children. Trump Loves Putin.

Since the moment Russia invaded Ukraine, I have admired the bravery of the Ukrainian people in defense of their nation. Vladimir Putin wants to destroy Ukraine and restore the Tsarist Russia of his disgusting dreams and destroy Ukraine.

For three years now, Ukraine has stood against everything Russia can do--killing hundreds of thousands of Russian troops and wounding even more.  For Ukraine, this war is existential.  If Russia wins, Ukraine and all of its history and culture disappear as Russia continues to murder, rape and dispossess the people of Ukraine.

At this critical moment, America is abandoning Ukraine. Trump is attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the same moment he giving the war criminal Putin anything he wants in regard to Ukraine.  

As we approach the Quarter Millennial Anniversary of America next year, we are on course to betray Ukraine, desert Taiwan, take Greenland, attack Panama and threaten our closest allies--and as the frosting on this shit cake, leave NATO. 

Forty-nine years ago, my tank flew a Bicentennial American Flag as we trained to face Soviet tanks on the East-West German border.  I enlisted during four different wars in the past fifty years. The Cold War was the only war America won.  And now Trump has given that victory away by siding with Putin against our allies. 

I hoped to celebrate America on July 4, 2026, but it is more likely I will be in DC protesting the betrayal of  Ukraine: assuming we still have Constitutional Rights next year. I wouldn't bet one way or the other. 

The Every-Other-Asshole Rule

 

My Dad, Lt. George Gussman, during World War II

My Dad had several favorite bits of wisdom he lived by.  “You can tell who boozes by the company he chooses” was one I first heard when Dad did not approve of my middle school friends.  “Volunteer for everything” was the last advice he gave me before I flew to Texas for Basic Training. He was right.  But the most useful advice when approaching a complex world was his Every-Other-Asshole Rule.  

I remember hearing this for the first time the day I took my driver’s license test.  I wanted nothing more in the world than to get my license and drive.  I had aced the written test and had years of practice driving warehouse vehicles and an old pickup truck for hauling trash in my summer job.  But I was nervous.  Just before I took the road test, my Dad said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Just look at every other asshole who has a license and ask yourself, is he smarter than I am?”

I passed.  

And for the rest of my life, when faced with something that seemed difficult or frightening, I would look around and see every other asshole who could do what I was about to do.  And it worked.  

Several years later I was training to be a tank gunner.  I had to fire a tank cannon (for the first time) and hit the target down range or redo gunnery training.  I was intimidated. I had never fired anything larger than an M16 rifle.  But I looked around at the other gunnery trainees who passed the test and even some of the training leaders who were not the brightest bulb on the chandelier and thought, ‘I can do this.’ I did. I was a tank commander less than a year later.

A decade after that, I was the first one out of the plane when a group of eight co-workers at an ad agency went skydiving.  We watched a group before us float to the ground. I looked at that group, remembered Dad's advice, and boarded the little single-engine plane last.  Last in, first out!   

In 2009 in Oklahoma, I went off a rappel tower for the first time.  Same drill. Look around, think of Dad, jump backwards and sail to the ground. 

In 2012 at age 59, I learned to swim. I had never swum the length of a pool. I went to the YMCA for lessons, not sure I could actually swim.  I met my instructor, looked around and thought at least half the human race can swim, I can too. 

Thanks Dad. 

Riding, Hiking Mountains in Western Panama

 

Coffee plants growing on a steep hillside above Boquete, Panama

After months of sea-level riding and walking with some small hills, I hiked and rode up and down some very long, very steep hills near Volcan Baru, a volcano last active about 500 years ago. 

The 13-kilometer trail to the peak of Volcan Baru 

The trail above is the beginning of the 13-kilometer hiking trail to the top of Volcan Baru.  I made  it to an overlook two kilometers up the hill. The grade is 23%. The descent was more difficult than the climb on loose gravel and rocks.     

The view from Volcan Baru

From Boquete, I rode past streams and waterfalls toward one of the peaks.  Several times I walked on grades that exceeded 20%.  I turned around at a point when I could not pedal and could see a half kilometer of very steep road. Total climb was 700 meters.  

The descent was slow.  The road was narrow and had delivery vans, minibuses and taxis climbing and descending.  The road was occasionally smooth, but would suddenly be broken and gravel-strewn.  

After a week of hikes and bike rides, I was very tired.  

Here is one grade I rode and walked up: