GRIZZLY DETAILS about
MAN EATING SHARKS

Two people that have been in the news during the last year had the unique distinction of being consumed by wild animals, one figuratively, the other literally.
Peter Benchley, the famous author of Jaws,
spent the last decades of his life working towards the conservation of sharks which are being eradicated from the oceans.

The other person was killed and eaten by one of the Grizzly Bears that he felt compelled to wrecklessly live alongside in the wilds of Alaska.
Timothy Treadwell, whose mission in life to protect Grizzlys from hunters and poachers and his ensuing and predictable demise, was masterfully preserved for all of time in the documentary film,
Grizzly Man.

Both of these men tapped into our primal fears and have generated countless discussions about our modern role in Nature. The quandry of protecting creatures that will eat you is a perplexing proposition for homo escapeons (modern man), especially in resort/tourism destinations.

There are plenty of wild and domestic animals that kill humans. Here is a partial list of large multicellular animals that kill humans;
Dogs, Elephants, Cape Buffalo,Lions, Crocodiles,Hippos, Tigers.
There are also many smaller creatures that can also kill humans; Snakes, Jellyfish, Spiders,Octopus,Stonefish, Killer Bees.
Unfortunately our status as dominant planetary uberspecies does not preclude us from being killed by some of the other 2million species that we share the planet with.

Every year millions of sharks are unceremoniously de-finned and tossed into the sea to drown and sink into the abyss in order to supply Asian restaurants with shark fin soup.
Big game hunters target giant bears and kill them with efficient high powered rifles from a hundred yards away to create rugs and macho photo opportunities.

In both instances homo escapeons kill far more sharks and bears than the reverse.

Benchley unwittingly unleashed a vendetta against Great White Sharks that has only recently been curtailed by the discovery of their diminished numbers.
The Great White became a mythical monster that probed our beaches looking for victims.
To his credit Benchley worked hard to dismantle the fables and portray the fish for what it is, an apex predator that has outlived our species by hundreds of millions of years.
Believe it or not the Great White is hunted as a food item by Orcas which love to eat the shark's giant liver.

Timothy Treadwell and his tragic demise offers us a rare glimpse at the tenuous truce that prevailed between himself and the wild, giant, bears.
He did not carry a rifle and was armed with only his wits and pepperspray and yet somehow manage to survive for over a decade (during the summer months) of living within yards of these one thousand pound omnivores.

You cannot help but watch the documentary without squirming in your seat and wonder how his luck held out for so long.


In the end his girlfriend also paid the ultimate price for crossing the invisible line with him...
wrong place, wrong time, wrong bear.

During the 60s my family vacationed at a lakeside campground that was a few short miles from a garbage dump crawling with black bears.
After supper kids in their pajamas would hop in the car and Dads would drive off to the dump to watch the bears rummage through last weeks supper. It was a terrible situation, several of the bears were shot every summer as they wandered into the campground in search of food.
It was not uncommon to hear the report of a rifle at dusk and then follow the clamoring of the curious vacationers on their footrace to witness the dead bear getting tossed into the back of a truck.

I will never forget one particular evening when I escorted my younger cousin to a fence lined public washroom.
My patience was wearing thin after waiting for several minutes when I heard the banging and crashing of aluminum garbage cans from behind the fence....
"HURRY UP,QUIT FOOLING AROUND!"..

Like a bolt of lightning I watched my cousin zoom past me yelling
"BEAR!"
Before I could move a young bear ran past me and straight up the nearest tree. It is fair to say that all three of us were equally scared.
After what seemed like an eternity the cub inched his way down from the tree and bolted for the safety of the forest. That was as close as I ever wanted to get to a wild bear for the rest of my life

Today however I would love watch the world's most dangerous ursine, the beautiful Polar Bear, but only from the safety of a gigantic Tundra Buggy.

Timothy Treadwell would not have lasted five minutes sitting around trying to talk to Polar Bears.

That simple fact says something quite remarkable about his Grizzlys.

Eventually every word will be an ENGLISH word.
HIM-MALL-YAHS
Congratulations, for the first time in your life you have just inadvertently pronounced Himalayas in accordance with the peeps who can actually see them.

Today I will blatantly cross the boundary of common sense and good taste, and reveal my thoughts regarding English, the first global language. How did a language that didn't exist when the Romans invaded Britain 2000 years ago develop into the unstoppable juggernaut that it is today?

English survived and thrived because it is an adaptable sponge-like linquistic black hole that devours, digests and transforms words from any other language into, well, English. There may be 2700 other tongues in use in the world but none of them can compete toe to toe with English. Eventually every word will become an English word!

From the Indo-European and Celtic roots, all subsequent linquistic invasions of Britain from Germanic/Viking (Angles/Saxons)and Norman(French), English has swallowed up the words of those who made contact with it.

Today the English Dictionary holds over 500,000 entries most of which are prisoners held hostage from outraged and distraught previous owners.

Two interesting moments in history intrigue me. First, King Alfred made a treaty with the Vikings and saved the fledgling language from becoming Norse in 878.
Secondly, after the infamous Battle of Hastings in 1066, when the Norman French invaded and conquered, King Harold became the last British Monarch that spoke English for nearly 300 years.
This is why, to this day, speaking French is considered la-de-da and sophisticated. Although the King's Court conversed en Francais, the everyday language was well established and intermarriage cemented its usage. By 1204 King John reclaimed England and the rest is history.

Aviation, Business, Computers, Entertainment all contribute to the ongoing advancement of English as the global language. More humans on the planet may speak Chinese but watch and see how this hydra handles Mandarin. It may well evolve into Changlish.

Regretably, language separates homo escapeons (modern man) like religion and nationality and the artifice of race. Language is like an invisible force field set up to mark a territory and weed out intruders. Who has not felt stupid or betrayed when others switch in mid converstion to talk to each other in a foreign tongue.


That being said, here in Canada we struggle with language rights and we even pay politicians to engage in the legal separation and disintegration of our country. Amazing! According to historians, Canada was originally a French Colony, despite the fact that the First Nations or First Asians, who arrived about 12,000 years earlier, take obvious offence with such claims.

(All countries on Earth are manufactered ideas and invisible from outer space.) Although victories by British Forces prevailed betwixt the rival claimants,the French Colonists were politely asked to stay by the Governor General and the culture and identity of the Quebecois flourished. Kudos to Mr. Trudeau for the billions of dollars spent on his in-your-face America look at how sophisticated and European we are in Canada compared to you boorish louts implementation of official Bilingualism.

Unfortunately, as in 1244, many Norman nobleman who held lands in both England and France were forced to declare allegiance to one or the other. The King of France declared that no man can competently serve two masters, he must either inseparably attach himself to 'Moi or le Roi' of England.

I know that our ideal brand or marketable image of Canada is supposed to be far beyond this discussion but we're not. The idea that Western Candians actually pay the salary of separatists in Ottawa is completely insulting. The idea that any Province could separate and still use our currency and infrastructure is ridiculous. If one goes,they all go.

While nobody in this politically correct world has the permission to find fault with the reality of the situation, the fact is that other language groups vastly outnumber Francophones in the other Provinces and it is therefore undemocratic and impractical.
Great idea, not feasible.

Don't get me wrong, many Canadians gleefully taunt 'uncaring' Americans and gloat in the perceived cosmopolitan supremecy of Bilingualism. French is after all is said and done, a beautiful, expressive, language. It still remains the la-de-da language of the world, think haute couture or savoir faire. You have to agree that nothing can compare to the sting of being insulted and dressed down in French!

By the same token what is more romantic than the silky resonance of la langue de l'amour. Oh sure it may not be as scary as German or as bewildering as the consonent free languages of the Orient but Ooh-la-la! Without a doubt French as a language, has and probably will continue to exert a tremendous prescence in the world.

English absorbed tens of thousands of words from the Lingua Franca. My point is and has been throughout my writing is that homo escapians need to rethink all of the things that separate and divide into groups whether they are linguistic or religious or political.

There is obvious merit in the argument that learning other languages is the highest form of accepting our various cultural differences. It is the time tested measuring stick that reveals that we humans really are all the same. No Duh! In the long run,the odds do not favor Canada remaining intact as a bastion of Bilingualism. Humans throughout the world historically kill each other over the right to be exclusive. Don't think for one second that Canada would escape an armed confrontation should this polite discussion about separation deteriorate further.

Democratically it is only fair in the current Politically Correct frame of mind that German, Tagalog, Hindi and others must also be elevated to an impossible equilibrium.
Babylon.

It was in the mythical tale from the book of Genesis that Yahweh intervened and everyone was confused by different languages to prevent them from achieving whatever they set their minds to accomplish.

Multi-ethno-utopianism is a slippery slope that negates the idea our ancestors held when they transplanted their families here. Immigrants arrived here to escape the animosity, strife and prejudice of the Old World.

The USA is curently feeling the effects of this dilemma with the rocket like trajectory of Spanish in the Southern States. To their credit the American Government(s) have maintained the premise that part of the unification process is a common language. This is our greatest difference with the States; you become an American and not a hyphenated Canadian. Ideal versus Idealist?


Whether you agree or disagree, the New World is supposed to be leading the way to a global village. Like it or not, English, the mongrol pup that once lay at our bedside, is now a feral adult long gone and out of our hands.The English hound is combing the moors this very night...looking for it's next victim....VOWooooool!

Noon Hour Bible Class
An OUT TO LUNCH Idea for a Secular School System.


A simple lesson in democracy for the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Canada.
Be very careful what you wish for..it may come true.

This nooner is a no-no! The recent removal of your well intentioned lunchtime program in a Wolseley school may be a blessing in disguise. You're in the GRANOLA BELT BABY!

If all it takes is 25 parental signatures to greenlight other religious lunchtime programs you are in for a huge surprise. Forget about proselityzing other children with your conversion classes it's your kids that would be in danger.

There are more people in that part of town who choose to believe in the FORCE from Star Wars (not that there is anything wrong with that) than there are worried about missing the rapture.

Wolseley is a state of mind. It is the self appointed 'bastion of bohemia' located in the city of Winnipeg. If your program is allowed to exist then prepare yourself for the following equal opportunity community sponsored scenarios for the other kids at school.


Trouble is brewing in the 'Keirkegaarden' Class between the Agnostics and the Atheists...
Kids in Druid Dudes are arguing about who will ride the sacred ostrich through the flaming hoop on Equinox Day....

There's that fundraiser to build a miniature Stonehenge play structure... Who wouldn't want to sprinkle 'pretend' blood from a chicken foot on a voodoo doll of George Bush?...
Children in gas masks, members of the elitist Stick It To The Man Club, could hand out pamphlets on the West Nile Virus Conspiracy in their struggle against the Military/Industrial Complex....
Naked boys wearing Minotaur masks could wrestle bulls in the gym while the Animal Rights kids in their baby seal costumes hose each other down with red dye...
The janitor calls in sick every 2nd Tuesday because that's Hillbilly Snake Handlers day...
There seems to be a little tension between the Free Tibet kids and the Marxist Leninists and the incense has set off the fire alarms again...
The Skinnyheads from A is for Anarchy are burning history books in the parking lot again! (Good thing the Fire Department is already there to put out the incense fumes)...
What's this, a skirmish has broken out at the Kirpans for Kashmir event....

To top it all off the non-gender-specific-egalitarians-of-no-fixed-ideology rally was cancelled because one parent was offended by the name Thursday due to it's origin as a tribute to Thor and therefore a nordic-white-male-mysoginistic-thingamabob!

Apparently all of the other days of the week would be equally offensive to others and the aforementioned club is in jeopardy of losing it's members to the E is for Entropy Club. Oddly enough, some of the kids are interested in measuring the part of a system that is unavailable for doing any homework!

From Vegans to Pagans to Tolkien's Tokens, everybody would be allowed an 'Out-To-Lunch' program of their own, and rightly so.
That's why your well intentioned idea cannot exist. Sorry.

LIFE, IS A GARDEN.....DIG IT!

My better half is absolutely right.

She said that I sound like a crankety old so and so. This Blog thing has got me all twisted up in knots.

"Does it make you feel like a 'big man' makin' fun of other people's ideas?"

Not so much, just the really really dumb ideas.

"You're just stirrin' up a hornet's nest of trouble with all your fancy book learnin'."

Gosh darn it anyway she's right.
I had better straighten up and fly right.
Well by golly I'll do it! What the H-E-double-hockey-sticks is wrong with me anyway for heaven sakes?
Maybe I should write something p-o-s-i-t-i-v-e for a change.
Like what?
Well howzabout the cute wittle guys in these pictures?
Aren't they adorable. AAAaaaah!

Gosh you know I wish that I would have done this years ago. Dagnamit! I feel one hundred and ten per cent better. I've been such a miserable so-and-so and where did it get me? For the next twenty minutes I'm just going to throw caution to the wind and..ah heck...for the rest of this hour I am gonna stare at these lil guys, I'm gonna LOVE 'EM TO PIECES!!!!

Then I'll get back to Reuters, UPI, NPR, BBC, PBS, CBC, CNN, Skeptics Society, Smoking Gun, Aljazeera, Jib Jab, Frontline, Now...........

MENTAL MASTURBATION

To nonblogging humanoids Blogging seems like mental masturbation.

Blogging can be a self manipulated release from boredom without expending any of the kinetic equity involved in social intercourse.

Blogging can be a secretive guilty pleasure and some people never admit to it or how much time they actually spend doin' it.

Blogging is the antidote for excercise.

It is a true testament to the uncertain future of our lazy ass species. The little computer ape 'monkeys around', screen sucking to entertain themselves in the privacy of their own head.

We can scratch ourselves while in the cyber company of others in the deafening silence of our solitude.

Homo escapeons didn't take over this planet with some big game plan.
Oh no no no.
Does the term 'Path of Least Ressistance' ring any bells.

Our advancement was cemented primarily on the inventions that we dreamed up (or stumbled upon) that eliminated made life easier.

Blogging can be seen as intellectual social intercourse with the least amount of effort.

There is no dinner and a movie or meet the parents ...let's avoid all of that crap and spare ourselves the expense, trauma, drama and disappointment that real relationships offer and just do it ourselves.

You know the science experiment wherein placing a frog into a pot of water and slowly raising the temperature.

If you drop it in hot water it'll jump out or just 'croak'. However, if you carefully heat it up very s-l-o-w-l-y the frog will cook to death..completely unaware of the circumstance.


Here is the rub;
what you think really does matter...even if your opinions are less than essential reading and your insight is far south of astonishing.



Blog On Brothers and Sisters. Who cares if anyone else is out there. THIS IS SOLIPSISM BABY!!!!! You can't prove that anything outside your head exists anyway. Can you? Ribbit Ribbit Ribbit blahg blahg blahg CROAK!!!

My Guardian Angels,
They look so sad.

HARPER CHARISMA BYPASS UNPROVEN.

Persistent rumors that the Prime Minister had a charisma bypass at a private clinic in Alberta should be laid to rest.
Mr. Harper is an economist.

Most people realise that economists are 'poindexters' who simply lack the pizzazz to become one of those 'zany' chartered accountants.
The image of a calm, emotionally unavailable and highly sedated guy in a grey suit is the perfect image for the Prime Minister of Canada.


While the rest of the world is gearing up for World War 3, Canadians can sit back and watch our rag tag team of millionaire NHLers humiliate the competition at the Olympics. Perceived around the world as level headed 'weinies' Canadians have a Jeckyl & Hyde character flaw that is exposed in the presence of a puck. It is the 'Achilles Heel' of our society.

Canadians are uniquely resolute in their defense of condoning assault and battery as an intricate and essential element of the game despite the fact that fighting is prohibited in all other major league sports,oh, except for boxing, DUH!
If only that Al Kayda guy played hockey, we'd beat the crap out of him.
You wanna go Al?!

Within the confines of cold, doughnut strewn arenas, young boys and girls are released from their obligations of civility and self control. Hidden from the prying eyes of her neighbours 'Hockey Moms' pardon their offspring from the pressures of being 'nice'.

"Don't take that sh*t from that kid!..TIMMY!..do you wanna walk home?...TIMMY!....next shift you get out there and kill that little son of a....HEY REF... open your f***ing eyes out there!!"

We are, after all is said and done, a nation of passive/aggressive people.

If the Americans are the flambouyant and outlandish accountants then we Canadians are the reserved and much more dignified economists. If the Americans do something that alarms us... well...let's see, maybe we will ignore them for a couple of days...pretend that we're not home when they phone...OUCH! Or..get this... maybe we'll play with our European friends this weekend. OH YEAH! OH YEAH!

Tonight Canadians can rejoice in their good fortune as the guy in the grey pajamas at 24 Sussex tucks his kids into bed with a heartfelt handshake. Gone are the days of 'smarty pants' intellectuals with fancy sideburns pirouetting behind the Queen and driving around Ottawa in sporty convertibles with 'la-de-da' movie stars.

Yessiree we have hit the jackpot this time.
George Bernard Shaw once said, "If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion." Hey man that's our Prime Minister that you're 'dissin. You just watch him go. The rest of the world loves us ! C'mon Shaw you want some of this?! C'mon George...Drop the gloves..Let's Go..Right here..

D'OH-BITCHUARY
Hugh Mann Beens



At the dawn of the 20th Century Great Britain was the super power of the day. "Tennyson anyone ?" No one could have predicted how quickly the USA, that boorish, upstart Colony across the Atlantic, would inherit the mantle.Who could have guessed the unimaginable horror that would unfold in the next few years.

In stark contrast to the genteel and contrived Victorian era of 'manners before morals', the next century erupted into the cruelest in history." I Say, what's all this then?" The Century of Genocide was led by the psycopathic triumverate of Mao, Stalin and Hitler. Their methodical extermination of fellow countrymen (and other humans), 30 M/China, 20 M /USSR, 11 M/Germany are so far unequalled.


The 'Great' War, WW1, was a slaughter of soldiers for the most part, 9M killed and an astonishing 21M wounded! Homo Sapiens (Wise Man) would no longer restrict the killing to combatants again. During the 'Big One', WW2, an estimated40 to 55 M humans perished, many civilian, that is simply a completely incomprehensible number! Civilians became legitimate targets and the term Collateral Damage became an unavoidable term in the lexicon of war.


Where am I going with all this?
That was only yesterday in historical terms. Homo Escapeons (my term for Modern Man) was molded from this chaos. Any rational observer would have thought that after Hiroshima and the advent of Nuclear (attention Dubya NEWCLEER) weapons that the people on Earth would really try to get it right. Nope!


Homo Escapeons were born out of this nightmare. The generation that just recently relinquished power, the Great Generation, fought during WW2, invented Pleasantville in the 50s and McCarthyism. The next batch, the infamous Baby Boomers gave up on the world in 1968 after a life of entitlement unequalled in human history, .

The assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin King cemented the angst and futility of trying to change the world and gave birth to the ME generation, Yuppys and their subsequent inner searches for meaning in the universe. The first Boomers turn 60 this year!

It is remarkable that there are still people around today that think that all of the horror of the last century could not be repeated. The Third World is desperately searching for ways to create their own luxurious replication of USA 1950s Pleasantville; 2 cars safely garaged by the semi detached bungalow with modern appliances and college money for the 2.5 kids. Decades of coveting the unbridled excess of loud tourists from the New World ordering poolside drinks at vacation resorts in their grotesque designer outfits have quite simply reached the limits of good taste.

The Rest Of The World wants in and who can blame them. Add to this environmentally impossible pipe dream the deranged plan for Theocratic World Domination. Empowered by,ready Dubya, Nuclear Weapons, and TA DA, you have a recipe for disaster.

Having said all that crap I am wondering out loud here in cyberspace why everyone is more interested in Mrs. Gretzky's gambling habits, Dick 'DUCK' Cheney's hunting mishaps, or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie having their first public kiss,than they are in curbing the recent Islamist attempts to shut down our Press and silence our Freedom of Speech.



It is my contention that Homo Escapeons are ill equipped to confront serious issues because the spirit of 1968, the zeitgeist of Screw It!, is lingering in the New World and we had better find an excorcist soon.

DOGMA BITES MAN!

Intolerance has suddenly become a very real threat to our own 'sacred' freedoms in the New World. Those cartoons have been carefully manipulated by Islamist clerics over the past several months to agitate and release angry mobs into action.

The New World has watched in horror at the mindless destruction as foreign outposts are razed to the ground and people die. This entire production was carefully orchestrated and the results were predictable.

Such hypocrisy is monstrous considering the cartoons of Jews and 'Crusaders' that are published in the Arab Press every week. The old adage about dishing it out but can't take it comes to mind. The forced censorship on the New World Press accompanied by the very real threat of violent retaliation has arrived at our doorstep.

Homo Escapeons (modern man) have spent a great deal of time and energy during the past 40 years trying to give the world a politically correct spin.
Let's all sing, "Everything is beautiful..in it's own way...", now stare at your Benneton poster and scratch your head. Why can't we all just get along and get in the program? Where do you want to start? The idea of the Earth as a potential Oasis of Homeostasis, a balance of all things, seems to have been severely trampled on like a burning Danish flag.

Our best defence has been a remarkable creation, the concept of Freedom.
If you as a group or individual fear the greatest achievement of our species what are you hiding?

The instigators of this recent uprising of indignation are simply men in search of glory and under the delusion of grandeur. It is impossible for them to comprehend that the success of the New World is based on Freedom.Their minds are trapped in the 7th Century while their fists clench 20th century weapons.

Since the 60s the New World has been experiencing it's own growing pains because this is an ongoing process. Sometime during the last generation the New World seems to have unfortunately had to 'sling shot' past the common sense marker in order to overcompensate for obscene,idiotic notions like segregation. Political Correction has handcuffed common sense in many ways and now the 'rose coloured' myopic glasses must come off! Oddly enough 99% of the 6 billion Homo Escapeons all agree upon the basics but if the New World succumbs to the Blackmail issued by the fanatical fringe of this or any other group we are back to square one.

That's how and why it works. The basic freedom to investigate and openly discuss any and all religions (which are all man made inventions )keeps us alive, literally! If any one of these inventions becomes the de facto institution of the state it will soon devolve into the 'cleansing' instrument of the self proclaimed chosen few.

History has proven this time and time again.
This recent advancement of censorship must stop today or we will soon find ourselves huddling in a new dark age waiting for the radiation clouds to disperse. The New World just stepped on a psychological landmine. Did anyone else hear a 'click'!

WISE MAN
NEEDS TO SMARTEN UP!

My first posting....

How on earth are we (as a species) ever going to put aside archaic,unprovable notions of 'gods' and start working together to improve upon what little time we may have left? Instead of singing Lennon's song Imagine....some of us are still singing 'My god is bigger than your god'!

Ah Religion, what other invention alienates and separates us in a dangerous game of zero sum gain. Science has proven that we are all one single species but there are still have many among us praying for divine intervention and preying on our emotions.

I am no 'pie in the sky' idealist, I peruse the worldwide news and it is obvious that we may well be on the verge of another potential 'correction'.

Did anyone read the National Geographic on the last century's litany of mass murder? Hello!



When I was a kid growing up in the 60s I remember thinking that we would all be flying around in hover-cars and that we would have easily solved world hunger by 2006! Instead we are, once again, teetering on the brink of the apocalypse, still hopelessly trying to explain Freedom of Speech to dogmaholics. Freedom, a concept that enables everyone to practice their beliefs DESPITE what others believe. By the way, who is going to ride the sacred ostrich through the flaming hoop on Equinox Day?

Tolerance, as a concept, is incomprehensible and of little use to the religious fanatic. Behold the thousands of underemployed, undereducated zealots rampaging in the invisibile unaccountability of the mob, protesting with frothing fury, a concept that they are literally unwilling to grasp. Ask yourself the following; would you expect any less from a society where the female half of the population is so completely undervalued?

One has to wonder if any of theflag burning fanatic understands what a brief'flash of ash' he would become if those dreams of conquering Jerusalem and destroying Israel were acted upon? There will never be a repeat of Masada. The next serious war against Israel could entail the deployment of Nuclear Weapons towards all of the offending neighbours. It's code name is known as Operation Samson.
Unfortunately, atleast for the Islamist, the next imaginary world is infinitly more desirable than the real world. He believes in suicide despite it's prohibition in the teachings of the Quran.

So how do we fix this? Are adults, like leopards, unable to change their spots? While it is tempting to use Plato's prescription of just saving children under 12 to be retrained to build our (No Place) Utopia it is obviously impractical. Most humans want to live in a safe place, raise their children, live their lives in accordance with their beliefs and remain respectful of others.

Perhaps, in the very near future, several cities or even countries may become safe havens for like minded souls seeking an 'Oasis of Homeostasis," a centre of balance. A civic 'panic room' type of place established to protect those of us who would like to keep moving forward and sever the dead weight of religious fanaticism. A dangerous dead weight that hangs like a millstone around our necks as we lean over the side of our tippy canoe to admire our reflection in the water.