Day of the Heavy Sight, 21st of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Helios): Am I the only one who thinks Bone-Saw Arabia enriching uranium and potentially getting a nuclear weapon could turn out poorly? Is it a radical position to be alarmed by nuclear proliferation?

But what do I know? I'm just a retired old man, quietly bidding my time until the Grim Reaper makes his inevitable call.

I got my steps in today, a walking day, with a 9-1-mile Harrison. My walk coincided with the first game of today's doubleheader between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, and I listened to the game on Sirius radio through headphones as I walked. The Sox won, 6-3, their fifteenth consecutive victory, tying the franchise record for longest winning streak. They lost the second game of the DH, 5-1, tonight, ending the streak. Impermanence is swift, and nothing lasts forever. But following the streak over on the sports blog the past couple of weeks sure has been fun. Congratulations, Red Sox, for tying an 80-year-old record.

I've been a Red Sox fan since at least the bicentennial year of 1976. I was in Fenway Park on September 12, 1978 when Carl Yastrzemski got his 3,000th career hit and I've still got the ticket stub to prove it (bleachers, $2.00). I wasn't in the park but I was home watching the October 2, 1978 game on television when Bucky Fucking Dent hit a bloop fly ball over the Green Monster for a home run, and the Yankees beat the Sox in a one-game divisional playoff (Yankees suck). I also remember watching Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, when a ground ball passed between Bill Buckner's legs, costing the Sox the game and ultimately the series.

And I remember the good times. Few moments in sports will ever pass the excitement of Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series, when the Red Sox, down 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, and having lost the third game, 19-8, won a 12-inning thriller and then the next three games to beat the Yankees, 4-3, in the series, and ultimately the World Series, their first Series title since 1918. 

I remember the subsequent World Series championships of  2007, 2013, and 2018. I remember Yaz and Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk and Freddie Lynn. I remember Nomar and Damon and Schilling and Pedro, and I remember Mookie and Big Papi. This is my 50th season cheering for this team, and even if I don't go back as far as the 1946 15-game win streak, I now have the 2026 streak to remember and cherish.

The last time I was in Fenway Park was September 17, 1989. Since then, because of where I was living, I've had season tickets to the Atlanta Braves (back in the '90s) and for one year (1993), the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the Red Sox have always been and always will be my team.

 

Rise of the Infanta, 20th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Electra): Tropical Depression Two is now officially Tropical Storm Bertha, but it's still not heading this way so I still don't care.

Having resumed my alternating-day walks yesterday once the weather finally gave me a break, I also resumed my every-other-day sitting today. I hadn't sat since the 2nd of the Dog Days, but once I started it seemed like no time at all had elapsed - I was right back there in that old familiar state, observing the self once again. A per my usual routine, I sat for three 30-minute periods, separated by two five-minute kinhin (walking meditation) breaks.

Meanwhile, forestry experts are pointing out the obvious: Canada’s forest management practices are not to blame for the current wildfires. Climate change is driving conditions that make wildfires more frequent and more intense. There are nearly 900 wildfires burning across Canada and last week Toronto had the worst air quality of any major city in the world. But as the smoke spreads south to the U.S., the Stable Genius is blaming Canada for poor forest management.

Many of the fires now burning are in remote, difficult-to-access part of Canada There are no roads within many miles of the fires, and there’s no practical way that one could ever have enough boots on the ground and enough of a financial commitment to doing management to make any kind of real difference. Further, unmanaged forests are not just a Canadian phenomenon - there are vast stretches of Alaska that have a similar lack of roads. And the U.S. has had its share of wildfires, including major ones that took place last year in California and earlier this year in South Georgia.

It’s natural for forests to go through fire cycles, but the burning and the fires today are much more severe because of increased dryness due to changes in climate.  Warmer conditions lead to drier fuels -  the warmer it is, the faster things dry, and the drier they are, the faster they burn.

As the world warms, winters are no longer cold enough to kill off tree-eating beetles. Their populations explode, leaving millions of acres of dead trees ready to burn. Warmer winters also mean less snowpack, so soil dries out earlier and the fire season runs longer. And climate change has more than doubled the frequency of hotter, drier weather across Canada and increased the frequency of the lightning strikes that spark most fires in northern Alberta and British Columbia.

Both the U.S. and Canada are major contributors to the climate-change problem, although the U.S. emits more greenhouse gases. The U.S. has emitted more carbon than any country in history - around 435 billion tonnes since the 1800s. That's close to a quarter of all the carbon humans have ever put into the air, twelve times Canada's total and 50% more than China's 285 billion tonnes. But the Stable Genius denies that climate change is happening, and his administration has rolled back climate regulations and cut funding for climate-related projects. But good lord, how he whines and points the finger at others when the results of his feckless policies come back and bite Americans in the ass.

If politicians want to clear the wildfire smoke from the sky, the most effective place to start is by cutting the emissions that are driving these fires.

 

Day of Dew, 19th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Deneb): Tropical Depression Two hasn't been named "Bertha" yet, and isn't forecast to grow into a full-blown (no pun intended) hurricane, but is still headed toward Houston so I still don't care. 

I finally got a multi-mile walk in today, a 9.9-mile Harrison, my first long walk since the Ninth of the Dog Days, and even that was a mere 5-mile Monroe. With my walking days finally back on schedule, I intend to resume my alternating-day meditation tomorrow. 

 A fun article in the journal, Nature, concludes that deaths from wildfire smoke are climate-driven and result in economic damages that exceed existing estimates of climate damages in the U.S. from all other causes combined. The research suggests that the health impacts of climate-driven wildfire smoke could be among the most important and costly consequences of a warming climate in the U.S.   

Wildfire activity has increased in the U.S. and is projected to accelerate under future climate-change scenarios, and evidence suggests that death from wildfire smoke could occur up to 3 years after exposure. Based on statistical tools and AI models, the authors project that fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke could result in 71,420 excess deaths per year by 2050 under a high-warming scenario, a 73% increase relative to the estimated 2011–2020 average annual excess deaths from smoke. Cumulative excess deaths from the smoke could reach 1.9 million between 2026 and 2055. 

But not to worry: the Stable Genius is on it. Today, he imposed 50% tariffs on most imported Canadian goods, claiming unfair discrimination against U.S. autos, alcohol, and cheese. He also asked his aides to look into additional tariffs on Canada because the wildfires hurt air quality in the U.S. The tariffs, of course, risk higher inflation here, and additional "incentives" won't stop the Canadian wildfires any sooner.  

If the Stable Genius really wanted to protect U.S. air quality, he wouldn't be starting new trade wars but instead work on new policies to reduce fossil-fuel consumption and increase renewable energy, but who am I kidding? He's not doing that!

 

Day of the Temple, 18th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Castor): Because of the weather, I haven't walked since the 13th of the Dog Days, and even that was cut short at a 1.9-mile Washington because of approaching storms. I haven't sat since the 2nd of the Dog Days, because I haven't felt like it. 

The storm system off of the Florida panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico is now officially Tropical Depression Two. It has a number, but not yet a name. However, I don't care. The forecasts have it tracking not toward Atlanta, but toward Houston, Texas. Let Gregg Abbott and Ken Paxton worry about Two - knowing them, one will try to pray it away and the other will demand a bribe. One of these days, a real rain will come and wash away all the garbage and trash - nazis, neo-cons, maggats, proud boys, oath keepers, tea-baggers, white christian nationalists . . . sick, venal. Someday, the rain will wash all the scum off the streets. 

The new plagues are Canadian wildfire smoke and diarrhea lettuce, replacing locusts, frogs, and boils. I could add tropical depressions, political advertising, AI bots on social media, and Marvel movies - all harbingers of End Times.

How's your summer going?     

      

 

Master of the Relics, 17th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): According to CNBC, Georgia is the fifth worst state in the U.S. to live in. Fuck CNBC. That don't know what they're talking about.

The four worst states, in order, are Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, and Louisiana, and I can agree that they're all worse than Georgia although I could dispute the exact order. After Georgia, they rank Utah, Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. I would rather live in Georgia than any of those other nine states.

Vermont was ranked No. 1, and cool, if you can afford it. Maine was ranked No. 2, so I guess they like it cold, and New Jersey was ranked No. 3 if you can believe it. That about says all one needs to know about CNBC's credibility. I'd rather live in No. 45 Georgia than No. 3 New Jersey, and I should know - I graduated high school in New Jersey. Here in Georgia, at least we can pump our own gas.   

Georgia was ranked low primarily because of its lack of protections for the LGBTQ+ community and therefore lack of inclusiveness. Fair point, but I doubt the CNBC pollsters ever visited the large and vibrant gay community in Midtown Atlanta. There have been several openly gay politicians in Atlanta, including on the City Council, and on both sides of the political aisle at that.     

Georgia was ranked No. 7 by CNBC for "States to Do Business In," and won high marks for its infrastructure, workforce, and access to capital. Now, I recognize "business friendly" is not the same as "quality of life," and can sometimes mean the exact opposite. I also recognize the implications and perils implicit in Georgia's "religious freedom" laws and am angry over the State's restrictive abortion laws, but life here in Atlanta isn't all submissiveness to Bible-thumping bigots and hordes of unwed mothers. It may be different OTP (Outside the Perimeter), but Atlanta's still by far the largest metropolis in the state and holds a significant percentage of the State's population. 

I'm retired and don't have family here in Georgia. I can literally live anywhere in the U.S. I choose, and I choose to stay here in Georgia. Low cost of living, friendly people, lots of stuff to do. Not to mention the best goddamn barbeque in the country. 

CNBC doesn't know what they're talking about. But I can't help but notice that all ten of the worst states are red states with Republican governors, so I'll give them that.

 

Day of the Heart's Release, 16th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): Today, the 16th of the Dog Days, is the 198th day of the year. It's the birthday of actress Billie Lourd, daughter of Carrie Fisher.  You may know her from the Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker (she was Lieutenant Connix) or from television's American Horror Story.  On her 30th birthday (2022) her husband called her a "badass hot-Mom wife" and told her "I love you forever" on social media. according to People magazine. 

The 16th Dog Day is known as "Day of the Heart's Release" is the USC, and that's the most romantic thing I could find about today on the interwebs. Other than that, it's all airplane accidents, assassinations, and war crimes; you know, the usual stuff.  

The tropical wave near the Cape Verde islands has pretty much petered out - 0% chance of becoming a hurricane - but the system off the Florida panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico still warrants monitoring. 

With all of the afternoon thunderstorms here recently and the generally wet weather, I haven't walked more than a Washington in the last ten days. I've also stopped my alternating-day, 90-minute meditation. After missing less that ten days in the last two years, I've decided to give it a temporary rest. I found that my motivation for sitting was just to continue the streak, to not let the record break, and so I decided to stop until a genuine desire for sitting for the sake of the sitting, and not for maintaining some record, becomes the driving motivator once again.

The strategy seems to be working, as I already miss the zazen.

Zen master Dogen once wrote that "Driving ourselves to practice is surely delusion" or something like that. What he meant was driving ourselves during practice to some goal, usually enlightenment, is delusional, not forcing ourselves to initiate practice, but the words have been misinterpreted by many Zen practitioners over the centuries (okay, maybe just me). But there's a time for sitting and a time for not sitting, and until a sincere desire to resume practice re-emerges, I'm suspending my zazen. 

As I said, the strategy seems to be working. I find my days strangely off-center since I've stopped, and I'm frequently stumped while trying to decide what to do with myself over the next hour. Maybe when this wet cycle finally subsides and I resume my alternating-day walks, I can resume sitting on the days between the walks.

Have you seen that new Homer movie yet?

 

Day of the Horns, 15th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Helios): And as we come to the end of another week in the New Revised Universal Solar Calendar, it's time to think about how wonderful life is. 

Potential can run in two directions: positive or negative. But when we look at those two polarities apart from the ego-self and take the broader view, they aren't really opposing poles. They're just opposite poles, and what's good for one person may be bad for another and vice versa. When we look at them either very closely or from very far away, there's no difference. They just seem different and opposed to each other at the scale of our our personal lives, our preferences, and our desires. 

It's like this wonderful Earth we live on: the northern magnetic pole is neither bad nor good, and the southern isn't the opposite of whatever value you place on the other. It's just magnetism - natural and  neutral. But if you're using a compass to find your way and you mistake the two poles, it might not work out all that well for you, but that one's on you - it's not the fault of the poles.

And so it is in life. What's "bad" for me might be "good" for someone else, and when my team "loses" someone else's side "wins." So any outcome, any situation, is neither universally good nor necessarily a loss. It just is what it is and you'll be happier if you keep your eyes on the positive horizon.  

Yes, but . . . as I squint my eyes looking at that horizon, what do I see? I see an area of low pressure forming over the northeast Gulf of Mexico and offshore of the Southeastern U.S. Forecasters say gradual development of this system is possible as it slowly moves toward the northeast and the coast of Georgia. And on the other side of the ocean, if I were to squint harder, I'd see a tropical wave near the Cabo Verde Islands causing showers and thunderstorms. That system may slowly organize during the next day or two as it moves west-northwest across the Atlantic. Either system may be the first hurricane of this season, or this might be the last I hear about either one. 

Anyway, life is good. I'm glad I'm here and I'm glad that you're in this thing, too. Enjoy the ride.

 

Child Found Within the Tree, 14th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Electra): Jury duty. I've been summoned about a half dozen times since moving to Fulton County, Georgia in 2004, but only served once. Other times, I was either dismissed after hanging around the courtroom for a day or received a dismissal notification the evening before.

I received a summons to serve in the mail on Monday, the first time since my retirement. You'd think that since I'm no longer working, I'd be glad to serve. After all, I have nothing else to do with my days. You'd think.

But since retirement in 2019, something inside me has broke. I am no longer capable of getting up early in the morning or to be fully functional much before noon. I generally sleep until 7:00 or 8:00 am, read in bed or snooze a little for an hour or so, and I'm not usually up and about until around 9:00. I'm not proud of that but I'm not ashamed either - it is what it is. I'm an old man, I'm retired, and I don't get up early for no one.

Jury service begins each day at Futon County courthouse in downtown Atlanta at 8:30 am. To be there on time, I'd have to drive downtown in Atlanta's notorious morning rush-hour traffic, park in the designated juror's lot (they included a parking pass in the summons), take the shuttle bus to the courthouse, and pass through security. I'd have to get up by 6:30 am to do all that and leave some time for breakfast and coffee and at last a modicum of personal hygiene. 

In other words, it ain't gonna happen. 

Even if I rallied my sleepy ass and pulled it off for one day, if selected for a trial, it's exponentially less likely that I'd pull it off two or more days in a row. If the trial went into a second or third day, it would only be a matter of time before I'd oversleep and get a contempt-of-court citation for failure to appear.

Fortunately for me, residents over the age of 70 are excused from service. But not automatically - to be excused based on age, one has to fill out an age affidavit also included in the summons, get it notarized and scanned, and upload it to the court's website (no email). I'm capable of all those things, but it is asking a lot from senior citizens, who are notoriously incompetent with technology.

I had to go to the UPS Store to get the affidavit notarized ($14.00) and scanned. I logged onto the website and set up an account. Users are only allowed to request exemptions or deferrals after completing a "juror's questionnaire," which wanted all kinds of information on age, sex, and race, employment history, marital status, and spouse's employment history. After completing all of that, I clicked on "request exemption," and uploaded the completed and notarized affidavit.

I was pleased that within the half hour I received an email from a Fulton County "no-reply" account. I was displeased that the email title was a terse "Denied" and that the text stated "To be deferred, a juror must be over 70 years of age and submit a proper affidavit." 

THAT'S WHAT I JUST DID, YOU ABOMINABLE BOT! What was wrong with my request? I am over 70 (I turn 72 later this month) and I included a fully completed and notarized affidavit. But how do you reply to a "no reply" email? 

I went back to the website, logged back on to my account, and tried to repeat the questionnaire, but was denied access. I re-uploaded the affidavit, although the original upload was still there. That's when I got a second email from Mr. No Reply, this time titled "Disqualification Granted." 

"Based on the information provided, you have been excused from jury service." That's it. No explanation, or apology for the earlier email. I can only assume that some clerk somewhere deep in the bowels of the courthouse just reflexively issued the denial email before realizing that the affidavit proving my eligibility had been submitted. At least they corrected their error, even though without explanation or apology.

So I don't have jury service after all, and I'm not getting arrested for failure to appear. Crisis averted and I get to continue to sleep late, but at least I had something to do today.

If Why Then Vanish, 13th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Deneb): In the last decade of the 20th Century and continuing into the first decade of the 21st Century, there was significant tension in Georgia between owners of industrial property and the state environmental bureau, the Georgia EPD. The property owners objected to the strenuous cleanup requirements imposed by the state and particularly to their associated high costs, while the State felt they were responsible not only for the environment but also for the effects on human health if the stringent cleanup standards weren't met. 

As an environmental consultant caught in the middle, I understood both sides. The state had deliberately set the standards low to protect potential future sensitive receptors - a cleanup standard for lead in soil based on exposure to the current adult industrial workers wouldn't be appropriate for children if the property was sold and redeveloped as residential property. On the other hand, technologies to achieve some of the State's cleanup goals either hadn't been developed yet or were exorbitantly expensive, and many of the property owners being required to foot the bill weren't the parties that contaminated the property in the first place.

A solution of sorts were reached when Georgia started accepting the use of engineering controls to address contaminated land. If contact to lead in soil by children was detrimental, instead of removing the soil why not simply put a concrete cover or other cap over the soil to prevent contact? The state agreed with the solution in principal, but was worried what would happen in the future when a new property owner decided that the concrete didn't fit in with their development plans, or when the concrete eventually began to crack, weather, and fail.  

The solution to that concern was institutional control. If a notice that a concrete cover was required to be maintained on site was put onto the property deed and, further, that the notice be a permanent fixture on the deed from one owner to the next, that would address the concern. Deed notices could also require annual inspections of the cap and yearly notifications to the Georgia EPD that the concrete still effectively prevented exposure to the underlying soil. 

These engineering and institutional controls could also be made to work for contaminated groundwater. The Property deed could state that under no circumstance could water beneath the property be used as a drinking-water supply, and annual groundwater monitoring and reporting be performed to assure that the contaminated groundwater didn't migrate beyond the property boundaries.

The downside was that implementation of engineering and institutional controls meant that there would be less cleanup in Georgia, and as a result more contaminated soil and groundwater would remain in the state. The upside is that there'd be less human exposure to that remaining contamination, including to the cleanup and hazmat workers performing the remediations. Property owners were happy because it reduced their out-of-pocket cleanup costs (even as it arguably lowered future property values), and the Georgia EPD was happy because it meant less resources were needed for contentious enforcement actions, it avoided litigation, and the burden of future oversight was shifted from the State to the property owners.   

This approach to addressing contaminated land was institutionalized with the Georgia Uniform Environmental Covenant Act, which went into effect on July 1, 2008. Since then, more than 300 deed notices have been recorded on properties throughout Georgia. 

The EPD has gained experience with this approach over the past decade, but is now reporting instances where property owners claim to be unaware of the deed requirements or are failing to follow the requirements. As examples, they note:

• The owner of a property that contains landfill material was required to maintain a cap over portions of the property, perform annual reporting, and submit notice to EPD of any planned changes to the cap. Georgia learned that, in violation of the requirements, the owner had removed the concrete cap, graded the site, and covered it with soil and gravel.


• A property that contained lead-impacted soil had restrictions on land-disturbing activities and required erosion-control measures, worker protections, and annual reporting. However, a new owner moved the lead-impacted soil around on the property and into a stream buffer and stream, claiming to have no knowledge of the requirements.


• A property that requires groundwater monitoring and annual reporting was sold without notification to Georgia EPD, and required annual reports were not submitted. When the new owners were contacted, they claimed no knowledge of the monitoring and reporting requirements.


• Another owner reportedly did not sample all the required monitoring wells and then sold the property without notifying EPD or the buyer about the monitoring requirements.

These are all examples of where deed notices were in place but the engineering and institutional controls failed. Unfortunately, as the number of properties subject to these controls continues to grow, the number of violations like these will also increase. But rather than scrap the program and abandon the approach, Georgia EPD is proposing that, at a minimum, to ensure that these sites remain protective of human health and the environment, all future environmental deed notices notify the property owners of the requirements on their properties and alert the State to circumstances when follow up is needed. 

To this end, the State has announced development of a standardized Annual Certification form and an online reporting tool, and intends to send automated annual reminders to those associated with properties subject to environmental controls. 

In my years of consulting work, before my retirement, I found the use of engineering and institutional controls to be an effective approach to addressing contaminated land. It was certainly more cost effective and avoided a lot of the litigation associated with expensive remediation requirements. Like anything, there are always instances when bad actors or simple human nature can cause any approach to fail, but it is my hope that the changes proposed by EPD will allow this approach to continue in Georgia. 

It rained again today. I missed my walking day today.

 

Day of the Wand, 12th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Castor): Google stats show that this blog gets 2,000 to 8,000 views per day, with 100 to 150 views per hour. I don't believe it.

First of all, why? Who would want to read this, and to what purpose? A certain percentage of views might be people who've stumbled onto a post here based on a keyword search in Google, but quickly moved on once they realized that nothing's being said here. I'm also doubtful because I've performed test searches on Google for key words used here, like "water dissolves water" for instance, and not received links to this blog.  

I think that if the Google stats are anything near correct, most of the views are really AI bots routinely scraping content on the internet, or spammers, cybercriminals, and hackers scanning the web for vulnerabilities. Some of the views might be my own, even though I keep telling Google Analytics not to track my own views, but I can assure you I don't view this blog anywhere even remotely close to a thousand times per day. Maybe two or three of those 2,000 to 8,000 daily views are mine, but that's about it.

For the record, I don't care. I'm not trying to monetize this blog and I'm not trying to get noticed or build a readership. In fact, I like the anonymity; I can be more honest that way. If you're reading this now, stop. Go away. A little privacy, please?           

Also, who reads anymore? A recent article in The Atlantic identified a worsening “literacy crisis” in the U.S. and beyond. Book reading is down substantially over the past twenty years, although reading of other material, Instagram Reels subtitles, emails, and Reddit posts, has taken its place. Literacy experts argue that deep thinking, textual comprehension, logical reasoning, and inference-making have been lost in the transition away from long-form books, and that we have entered a “post-literate” age. 

It’s a race to the bottom, and humanity is losing.

It's raining outside right now. Again. Fourth consecutive day with measurable rainfall, and eighth in the last ten days, and even when it hasn't been actively raining, it's been mostly overcast and oppressively humid. These Dog Days are wetter than I expected.

 

Day of the Dealt Hand, 11th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham has died, age 71. Impermanence is swift.

I did not care for the politician and even though I did not know him personally, I imagine I would have liked the man even less. Still, a life ends and that in itself is sad - a tragedy, although an inevitable one. All life ends. Impermanence is swift. I'll leave the obituaries and the political analysis to the pundits, and if you want snarky remarks or performative tributes, open social media. Your mind is already made up about his legacy and there's nothing for me to say.

I cut my walk short today after a 1.9-mile Washington when I saw an approaching thunderstorm. I got in the house not five minutes before the wind started whipping and the thunder and lightning started crashing. But I wasn't sorry to cut things short - it was so humid today that it was unpleasant just being outside, mush less exercising. But still, a Washington - barely worth lacing up my hiking shoes.    

The storm has passed but I just took out the recyclables and it's still yuck outside.

Meanwhile, these languid days and nights continue to pass as if in a dream. I missed the anniversary, but as of June 30, I've been retired for seven years, and have pretty much managed not to do even a single productive thing.  

Billows of Possibility, 10th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): The Okefenokee Swamp in Southeast Georgia is a natural treasure, an ecologically diverse biome and important freshwater resource. Water in the swamp is contained by natural beach ridges formed during the Pleistocene as sea level rose and fell. 

Did you ever notice on a map of Georgia that odd little area that hangs down along the southern border with Florida? It looks like a pair of tonsils, or a nut sack if you have a dirtier mind. That's Trail Ridge, one on those beach ridges, and it forms a natural dam that prevents swamp water in the Okefenokee from draining to the Atlantic. 

However, placer deposits in the beach ridges of Georgia and Florida are mined for titanium and zirconium. These ridges surround the Okefenokee and are enriched in rare-earth minerals, including ilmenite, monazite, and xenotime, that eroded from the Appalachian Mountains and accumulated in the sediments that constitute the beach ridges.  

Rare earth minerals are increasingly valuable for their usefulness in semiconductor and computer-chip manufacture. The demand for rare earth minerals, found mostly in China and Myanmar, has led to exploration for new sources, especially in North America.

Fortunately, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding wetlands are protected under the Endangered Species Act, which safeguards the habitats of the red-cockaded woodpecker, wood stork, eastern indigo snake, gopher tortoise and other federally listed fauna. These protections restrict activities on federal and adjacent lands that would jeopardize the survival of these species. 

Last year, a proposed strip mine along Trail Ridge for the rare-earth minerals titanium and zirconium was defeated, but not without great effort by environmental groups. But that was last year, and since then the demand for rare earths has only increased and the federal government's appetite for protection has only decreased.   

As discussed here yesterday, the Stable Genius has gutted key provisions of the Endangered Species Act, lessening the protection for habitats like the Okefenokee. The demand for rare earth minerals, driven by large AI operations and data centers, could well result in new proposals to mine and extract minerals from the beach ridges surrounding the swampland. 

It is not difficult to imagine the Stable Genius' administration brushing aside all environmental protections ("regulations and red tape") in a strategic effort to increase the U.S.'s share of the global rare-earth market. 

It's not like we're going to lose the new arms race for AI superiority to China over a woodpecker, am I right?