Friday, March 15, 2024

Of Kings and Wars and Gardens

Long ago there was a season for war. An ancient text about one of the kings of Israel tells us this:

"It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem."

Two points stand out to me:

1) When ancient kings went to war, they did so in the spring; and 

2) King David didn't go this time.

The first point probably has to do with agriculture. An agrarian society like David's probably did not have much of a standing army. Men were free to fight in between the time for sowing seeds and harvest. Wars could be launched when the seeds were in the ground, and should end before harvest if the nation is not to starve. 

The second point is the reason for the story. And it is a reminder that sometimes kings have big enough armies that they can send men to fight for them. In this case, because David stayed behind, he wound up taking the wife of one of his soldiers. When she got pregnant, David had the man killed.

It's foolish to think we can somehow go back to how things were even before David's time, when kings themselves would have to work for food.

But we can at least dream of kings who work their own gardens with enough care that they respect rather than covet the gardens and spouses of others.

Saturday, February 4, 2023

How to Make the Most of Studying Abroad

A new short article I've published on Medium, about making the most of re-entry after you've studied abroad. It's the same advice I'd give anyone who has traveled, if they want to keep getting the benefits of travel even after they've returned.

I've written a few other posts about this topic here on Slowperc. You can find them here

Image of a minaret in Fes, Morocco, viewed from a historic madrasa. Image copyright 2023 David L. O'Hara

If you want to subscribe to my Medium articles, here's a simple way you can do so. A portion of your subscription fee goes to support my writing, so thanks in advance.

 

 

Friday, December 23, 2022

How I Learned To Love Insects

I've just posted this on Medium, with a handful of my favorite insect photos. 

Crimson Patch Butterfly on a leaf. Image Copyright 2022 David L. O'Hara
Crimson Patch Butterfly (chlosyne janais; Costa Rica).
 

Insects used to frighten me. Now I love them, and I am more concerned about losing them than living with them.

At the end of the article I've offered some tips about how to ensure we have a happy future together with the insects and other arthropods around us. Enjoy.

(Image copyright 2022 David L. O'Hara)

Monday, December 5, 2022

Watching the Fish

 I've been publishing some short pieces on Medium lately. It's a way of doing some quick writing about things I've taught about for years. 

This latest one is about watching fish, and I hope you enjoy it. Here's a sample:

Sunday, November 27, 2022

On The Religious Architecture of Water

One of my recent articles on Medium. Here's a sample:

If you want to know what someone believes, don’t ask them what they believe. Ask them where they spend their time, energy, and money.

Because the things that we genuinely believe are things we act on.

The result is that over time our deepest beliefs wind up taking on concrete forms. One pebble at a time, we build mounds and walls. One small decision after another adds on to long history of similar decisions.

And soon the landscape around us becomes the outward form of our inward beliefs.

You can find the rest of the article here.
 

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

ArcGIS Storymap of Environmental Studies at Augustana

Since all my Environmental Studies students learn GIS, I've been trying to gain some new skills, too. The ArcGIS Storymap tool is a lot of fun to work with, and  I've been playing around with using it to tell stories both with and without maps. Here's one I made for the Environmental Studies program itself. I'd love to hear feedback about what we can do to improve this. 



Saturday, January 15, 2022

IBM Developer and Call For Code

It was a delight to work on designing last year's Call For Code challenge with IBM Developer, and then to participate in judging the entries. But I think the best part was joining my team in NYC to watch the university awards!

Our students Onajite Taire and Gedion Alemayehu impressed us--and others, plainly--with their Mile 12 app. 

And of course it was wonderful that my university, my colleagues, and I received some recognition for our contributions as well.

Dr. Matthew Willard gives his time generously to Augustana students and to students around the world. The two of us love seeing students try new things that aim at the common good.

 


 https://developer.ibm.com/blogs/announcing-the-2021-call-for-code-engagement-awards/