Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond Ring from Anyone…

Posted on by The Old Wolf

… even If They Really Want to Give You One

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1. You’ve Been Psychologically Conditioned To Want a Diamond

The diamond engagement ring is a 63-year-old invention of N.W.Ayer advertising agency. The De Beers diamond cartel contracted N.W.Ayer to create a demand for what are, essentially, useless hunks of rock.

2. Diamonds are Priced Well Above Their Value

The De Beers cartel has systematically held diamond prices at levels far greater than their abundance would generate under anything even remotely resembling perfect competition. All diamonds not already under its control are bought by the cartel, and then the De Beers cartel carefully managed world diamond supply in order to keep prices steadily high.

3. Diamonds Have No Resale or Investment Value

Any diamond that you buy or receive will indeed be yours forever: De Beers’ advertising deliberately brain-washed women not to sell; the steady price is a tool to prevent speculation in diamonds; and no dealer will buy a diamond from you. You can only sell it at a diamond purchasing center or a pawn shop where you will receive a tiny fraction of its original “value.”

4. Diamond Miners are Disproportionately Exposed to HIV/AIDS

Many diamond mining camps enforce all-male, no-family rules. Men contract HIV/AIDS from camp sex-workers, while women married to miners have no access to employment, no income outside of their husbands and no bargaining power for negotiating safe sex, and thus are at extremely high risk of contracting HIV.

5. Open-Pit Diamond Mines Pose Environmental Threats

Diamond mines are open pits where salts, heavy minerals, organisms, oil, and chemicals from mining equipment freely leach into ground-water, endangering people in nearby mining camps and villages, as well as downstream plants and animals.

6. Diamond Mine-Owners Violate Indigenous People’s Rights

Diamond mines in Australia, Canada, India and many countries in Africa are situated on lands traditionally associated with indigenous peoples. Many of these communities have been displaced, while others remain, often at great cost to their health, livelihoods and traditional cultures.

7. Slave Laborers Cut and Polish Diamonds

More than one-half of the world’s diamonds are processed in India where many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers. Bonded children work to pay off the debts of their relatives, often unsuccessfully. When they reach adulthood their debt is passed on to their younger siblings or to their own children.

8. Conflict Diamonds Fund Civil Wars in Africa

There is no reliable way to insure that your diamond was not mined or stolen by government or rebel military forces in order to finance civil conflict. Conflict diamonds are traded either for guns or for cash to pay and feed soldiers.

9. Diamond Wars are Fought Using Child Warriors

Many diamond producing governments and rebel forces use children as soldiers, laborers in military camps, and sex slaves. Child soldiers are given drugs to overcome their fear and reluctance to participate in atrocities.

10. Small Arms Trade is Intimately Related to Diamond Smuggling

Illicit diamonds inflame the clandestine trade of small arms. There are 500 billion small arms in the world today which are used to kill 500,000 people annually, the vast majority of whom are non-combatants.

In addition, here is an article from Atlantic’s February 1982 issue that deal with the core issues – and since then, things have only gotten worse.

“The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance. To achieve this goal, De Beers had to control demand as well as supply. Both women and men had to be made to perceive diamonds not as marketable precious stones but as an inseparable part of courtship and married life.” (February 1982 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE)

Because of the steep markup on diamonds, individuals who buy retail and in effect sell wholesale often suffer enormous losses. For example, Brod estimates that a half-carat diamond ring, which might cost $2,000 at a retail jewelry store, could be sold for only $600 at Empire [Diamonds Corporation]. (ibid.)

I’m truly grateful that the goodwoman of my house doesn’t like diamonds, but trends to less conventional tastes – this is what she begged for as a wedding band:

Many thanks to Paul Taylor of Wapsi Square for the link to this article.

The Old Wolf has Spoken

(Cross-posted from Livejournal)

Ah! Comic books!

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Came across this over at Frog Blog,

A young boy reading comics outside a store in Nebraska in 1948.

and was immediately put in mind of this old Peanuts™ strip:

Notice the presence of “Nancy” in both cartoon and photograph.

The titles are interesting to contemplate; Archie is just about the only one that still exists. If I had been smart enough to save my comics collection, I could have put all my kids through college.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

It’s hot, and getting hotter.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I’ve never taken a locked-in-concrete stance on the issue of climate change because, simply, I don’t understand all the variables. That said, my gut tells me that the amounts of greenhouse gases we have produced since the beginning of the industrial revolution have got to be taking a toll on our global ecology.

Then along comes an article in The Register, claiming that based on a recent study, temperatures are going down rather than up. So I put the question out into the ether, where I happen to have friends and associates who are far wiser about such matters than I, including career professionals in the field. The responses I got back were enlightening, and I summarize them here.

The chart below comes from the Register’s article.

  1.  The first thing to notice is that the cooling trend line in the above chart is deceptive, and that statistics can be made to say anything you want them to. If you were to begin it at the “Little Ice Age,” it would be trending decidedly upward, with a sharp spike noticeable around the beginning of the 20th century.
  2. The data recorded in Esper’s study (again, see the article linked to above) are of interest, and will doubtless be put through the scientific wringer to see how they add to our overall knowledge of the climate and its behavior. Using a single data set, to draw definitive conclusions about long-term trends is not sound science, however, and Esper’s team does not do so. In this case, either the author of this article misunderstood the paper, or – given the Register’s reputation as a bully pulpit for climate-change skeptics – used the data to support its own pre-conceived conclusions.
  3. Esper’s data focuses exclusively on northern Scandinavia, rather than multiple lines of numbers taken globally. An accurate picture of what is happening planetwide would have to be extrapolated from sources such as ice cores, sediments, tree rings and other empirical data gathered at different time points in varying locations throughout both hemispheres. One such chart attempts to pull together a number of different analyses into a single graphic:

Source and key here.

4.   Well-understood orbital mechanics have satisfactorily explained previous warming periods throughout history.
5.   The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which took place about 55 million years ago, saw the temperature of the world rise 6 °C over a period of 20,000 years, resulting in numerous extinctions but also the rise of other modern mammalian orders. While the cause is not yet clear, it appears that a massive outgassing of carbon from the oceans followed by uncontrolled warming created a planet-wide hothouse that took 150,000 years to cool off. Compare this with the Medieval Warm period, a blip on the grid by comparison, which affected only Europe and the North Atlantic; during the same time other parts of the globe were suffering wet spells or severe drought.

My own experience is that it’s hot, and getting hotter. The past six months have broken numerous local, nationwide and historical heat records since recordkeeping began. If the current trend continues, my grandchildren may experience a world that could be 4.3 °F to 11.5 °F hotter than it is today, and such a heat differential will lead to an increase of the kinds of drought and severe storms we have been seeing in the past year. I have lived in the same area in the west for over 40 years. Over time, our temperatures have risen and our precipitation, particularly in the winter, has decreased. This does not bode well for the future, where our desert state depends on scarce water resources for survival; it’s not the kind of world I want to bequeath to my posterity.

The Battle over Climate Change

A recent article in PopSci lays the battle lines out fairly clearly, and it’s not pretty. When solving a crime, detectives still look at the old standbys of motive, method and opportunity. In the battle over climate change, it helps to ask the single question “Who benefits?” In other words, follow the money. While one could make a case for scientists stirring up public outrage with an eye toward prestige and grant money, or politicians using global warming as a vote-getting strategy, it seems far less an incentive than the prospect of billions in profit lost by industries and corporations which will be impacted by increased restrictions on the amount of carbon they are allowed to pump into our atmosphere.

There are places in the world where people are killed for the price of a meal; small wonder that the amounts of money and power that are at stake result in a firestorm of scientific legerdemain, character assassination and even intimidation and death threats directed at honest scientists who are pursuing nothing but scientific conclusions based on empirical data.

When I distil the admixture of data down to its undiluted essence, I can’t escape the conclusion that we are fouling our nest with exponentially-increasing speed, and those who say it ain’t so have a vested interest in keeping climate change off the table. The good news is that despite adversity (eppure si muove!) scientists have a tendency to keep doing science, and the more time goes on, the clearer the picture will become. In the end (if the science is sound) the only skeptics will be meeting in the room across the hall from the flat earth society.

The Old Wolf has Spoken.

“If we had any, they’d be on aisle three.”

Posted on by The Old Wolf

“The Golden Rule for Hardware Dealers: Never let an item in your stock approach the danger level.”

Ah, those were the days. Nowadays you walk into Wal-Mart, or Target, or K-Mart, or Home Depot – and it seems that empty hooks and blank spaces on shelves are the rule rather than the exception.

Challenge No. 1 is to find someone to help you. I’ve walked the length and breadth of these stores and there have been days when not a single associate was to be found. Either they have a 6th sense that lets them know when a customer is in the vicinity so they can hide, or the companies have cut their staff to bare bones – probably a combination of both.

Now that you’ve actually cut one out of the herd, you ask for what you need.

“I’m looking for a stud sensor.”

“What’s that?”

“You know, a device to help you find the studs in your wall so you know where to put nails.”

“If we had any, they’d be on Aisle 3.”

“Yeah, I was on aisle 3 and I couldn’t find what I need.”

“*sigh* – come with me.”

“Here.”

“Well, that’s the kind with a magnet for locating nails. I want the kind that uses proximity sensing.”

“They don’t make those.”

*I show him my old one, which has gone to its reward* “Like this. I need a new one.”

*shrug*

“Who does your ordering?”

“Chicago.”

“We’re in Salt Lake. How could Chicago possibly know what people in Salt Lake need?”

*shrug*

———

Now, compare that with the experience you might have had in a hardware store in the 50’s.

“I’m looking for a left-handed spud wrench.”

“Come with me. We have three kinds. This one has teeth, this one is smooth, and this one is our nicest model – it’s made of solid brass and plays the Star Spangled Banner.”

“Nice. Actually, I was hoping for one that played Liebestraum.”

“I can have one here for you tomorrow. Anything else I can help you with?”

———

The world has changed, and sadly not for the better. Economies of scale, big box stores that pack it deep (all from China, of course) and sell it cheap, means that the customer’s experience is the last thing that counts for anything. Moving product and reducing costs is king. Even if you’re able to get hold of a store manager and ask some probing questions – like “why are you out of all five kinds of lock washers? Doesn’t anyone pay attention to inventory levels?” you will probably get a look that will make you wonder if you put your toupee on backwards this morning. They don’t know, and they don’t care.

Of course, I’m dreaming of a world that’s gone forever. My kids probably think that the way things are today is the way they’ve always been, since they don’t have an experience of anything else. But the disconnect between what I remember (stores that actually went out of their way to get customers in and keep them happy, and took pride in their business) – and what one finds as the standard operating procedure today (“If we don’t have it, that’s tough – buy something else or get out”) is so great that it makes daily errands a real challenge.

Naturally, there are exceptions. I’ve been in some lovely boutique stores and smaller mom-n-pop outfits that still care, but Curiosity is likely to find water on Barsoom faster than you can locate one. If you do find one, spread the word – they would appreciate the recommendations.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

 

 

Belo Monte dam project challenged.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

“Amazonian chief and indian tribe spokesman Raoni cried when he learned that Brazilian president Dilma approved the construction of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte even after tens of thousands of letters and emails and signed petitions with 600,000 signatures were addressed to her – these were ignored.”1

Now, however, it appears that the opposing voices have had an impact – at least for the moment. A Brazilian federal appeals court halted construction efforts until indigenous groups have been appropriately consulted. The ruling states that the Brazilian Congress rushed the project through without required due diligence on the social and environmental impact.

Whether the public outcry will be sufficient to halt the project for good remains to be seen, because there is a huge amout of money and power on the line for a lot of people, but the victory should be savored nonetheless – and knowing that there are people out there who care may bring a small measure of comfort to Raoni and his people.

More information on the ruling from The Guardian.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

1Irondance

Electronics for Dummies

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Or, “Oh for simpler days.”

When I was 8, I had a big brother for a very brief time. He was 14, and awesome in the 1950’s “Homer Price” sort of way. He built his own ham radio equipment, had all the soldering tools and an oscilloscope, and had a cool slingshot, and did really neat things at Hallowe’en, and I worshiped him. I regret sincerely that that particular domestic situation didn’t last.

But it was thinking about radios that got me going.

This image appeared over at Teresa Burritt’s Frog Blog, and I got all misty. I remember looking at all of brother’s electronic bits and pieces, and was fascinated by the pretty stripes on the resistors – at 8, I would not have been able to grasp the concepts of resistance, nor appreciate the mnemonic power of  “Bad Boys Rape Our Good Girls But Violet Gives Willingly”. Then a career got in the way, and then technology exploded by several orders of magnitude, and now I’d be about as useful repairing a circuit board as an Australopithecus with a Rolls-Royce jet engine.

But there’s something about going back to basics.

When my son was 12 or thereabouts, a “build your own radio” project happened. I don’t’ recall if he asked me, or I did it just to show him how it was done, or it was some scout thing or other – but a radio got built out of some junk, and it worked.

This was pretty much the design. A toilet paper roll, some copper wire, a headset, a germanium diode, and some assorted junk from around the house, and we were able to listen to KSL and some other local AM stations. I don’t even know if ours had a condenser on it, and I couldn’t tell you why it would be needed or not – I’m still that ignorant.

Life is full of choices, and every choice has prices and benefits. There are so many things on my bucket list, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to all of them. But understanding enough about electronics to be able to do repair work on my little Conn Theaterette organ is one of them.

This one’s not mine, but it looks just the same. All component parts, tubes, you name it. With the spec sheets and my trusty voltmeter, I should be able to keep the thing in top running condition… if I only understood the basics. Which I don’t. Not having studied my Agrippa. Hey, Macarena! Wait, there goes the ADD thing again…

But the point is, I could still learn. Nowadays, circuit boards and electronic parts are so cheap to manufacture that nobody bothers to repair things any more – you just throw it away, and buy a new one. But the principles on which they are built are no different. This voltage in, that voltage out – watts, ohms, condensers, capacitors – they’re all still there, just tiny. And, there are things out there to help.

While things like this are still to be had on eBay,

I think a kit like this would be a good place to start,

along with something like this:

And the parts are out there. With audiophiles becoming more and more numerous, the manufacture of vintage tubes has experienced a resurgence. Folks like me may never be able to tell the difference, but there are people who swear by component sound over microcircuitry, just like some folks will never give up their vinyl.

So hope is not lost. I’ve got too much on my plate now to think about it, but this blog entry will be a good reminder for me when things calm down a little.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

 

Working a Craigslist Scammer (and his friends)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

If you use Craigslist or other similar bulletin boards to sell goods locally, you need to be acutely aware that there is a whole raft of bottom-feeders out there (usually overseas) who use these vehicles to separate innocent victims from their hard-earned cash. I will occasionally engage these drones, a) to waste their time and money, and b) to see if I can gather any information that might be useful to the authorities.

Executive summary of this post:

  • CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY — AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
  • Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
  • Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
  • More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

Never accept payment by check. Never send money by Western Union. Deal locally only!

Note: Today, 12/18/2013, I received a comment on this post from someone named Devil (very appropriate choice). While I’ve spammed the original, I’ll show it here (redacted a bit for decency) to give you an idea of the mentality of these bottom-dwelling scum-eaters.

SHUT THE **** UP OLD WOLF!!!! **** u.. ***hole. Find yourself another job and allow the fools pay the price..#HATER

Hit you where it hurts, didn’t I, Devil? “Allow the fools to pay the price?” That’s exactly why I post things like this. These criminal drones have no ethics, no morals, no sense of human decency. They steal from their victims and hold them in contempt for their gullibility at the same time. While it’s true that most of the people who fall for these Nigerian 419 advance-fee scams are victims of their own greed, there are many who are in financial distress and who are taken in by the cruel and insensitive lies fed to them by the Lads from Lagos. No, Devil, I’ll continue to do all I can to thwart you and your scamming friends. If I can keep even one person from being taken in by your criminal antics, all the effort will have been worth it.

Be careful out there.

Here’s how the scam works. Take note of this if you’re not aware of it, and let anyone know who might be interested. Education is the best weapon we have to make these scams unprofitable.

1) Here’s an ad I had on Craigslist.

It’s real. Notice the part in color, it’s important – there will be a test later.

Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550 (location redacted)

Date: 2012-08-13, 12:55PM MDT
Reply to: your anonymous craigslist address will appear here

This is a piece to refinish, it’s had a long life and needs restorative work, but would be gorgeous with some TLC.

A similar item recently sold on eBay for $750.00.

Principals only. Cash only sale. No checks, money orders, shipping agents, Western Union money transfers, or anything else a Nigerian scammer may be using this week.

2) Invariably, the first few emails I get simply say, “Still available? -Sent from my iPhone”

3) I respond, and let the writer know that the item is still available.

4) Here comes an email from my buyer:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>
To: (Name Redacted)
Hello,
I really appreciate your response and consider this item sold.Am very
okay with the price and condition as stated in your advert I promise
to give addition $50 if you remove the advert from Craigslist
completely,so I will be rest assured am in hand of this item.
I will pay you as soon as possible with USPS MONEY ORDER OR CERTIFIED
CHECK,so I will be sending the payment to you via FedEx or USPS
courier company and it will be delivered to you.So you need to
provide me the information to facilitate the mailing of the payment as
thus:
Full name on the check…………………………………

Physical address to post the check………………………

City, State and Zip Code……………………………….

Home & Cell Phone to contact you…………………………

NOTE:I would forward all your details to my secretary to make the
payment out to you quickly and the payment will be shipped to your
address via FedEx next day air service or via USPS and i will take
care of the shipment of the item.As soon as you notifies the clearance
of my check,I will inform my shipper to come down to your address and
pick my item.
Thanks and I hope to hear from you as soon as possible.

Regards. Lewis

Notice the guy has totally ignored my warning, posted clearly on the ad, that I only deal locally, in cash, and all the rest. He has offered to send me a check, and wants his “shipper” to pick up the item. They never even read the adverts – somehow they have a scraping system that notifies them of recent posts.

5) I respond thusly:

Dear Mr. Duke,
Name for the check: Wolfington X. Analemma
Address: (Redacted)
Cell Phone: (Redacted)
Just one thing – I won’t be removing the Craigslist ad until the transaction is complete, I have been dealing with Craigslist for a long time, and I have had bad experiences with buyers who did not buy after asking me to take the ad down. I hope you’ll understand.
-W

6) A couple of days go by, and I get this email:

Hello dear seller,
am very sorry for the delayed or inconvenence i might caused
in sending your payment, i lost my cousin on Sunday in a vital
accident, hope my apology is granted,
i have send out the payment to your address,also i will email you the
tracking number asap and the instruction to follow

N:B, please do get back to me you got my message

7) I let him know I will wait for the check

I have received your message, please accept my condolences on the loss of your cousin.
I will watch for the payment.
-W

Of course, he has not lost his cousin or anyone else.

8) Today, I get this in the mail via USPS priority mail:

I loved getting a piece of mail with this name on it.

Inside is a check:

The check looks real. It comes with the stub information and everything, and is obviously printed on a stock check form, but the check is as bogus as a $9.00 bill.

Note that the package was supposedly mailed from San Francisco, but the tracking number indicates that it was actually dropped off in Torrance. Note also that it cost someone $5.15 to mail this.

9) Now I get the following two emails:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>
To: (Name redacted)
Your Tracking Information
Status: DELIVERED
Last Scan: August 15, 2012 11:43 am Delivered
Delivery Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Delivery Time: 11:43 AM
Delivery Location: (redacted)
Carrier: US Postal Service

US Postal Service Tracking Number: (Redacted)

Subject: PAYMENT DELIVERED TODAY, FOLLOW INSTRUCTION BELOW $ GET BACK TO ME ASAP
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>

To: (Name Redacted)
Hello,
Thanks for your endurance for the payment of the item sold, the
payment will delivered to you via USPS with tracking number I had
to spent $10 to the payment with USPS….priority overnight so that
you can quickly receive the payment.
Get the check cash deduct the money for your item sold, plus the $50 i
promised for keeping the item hold ,then the rest fund will be send
via money gram to the shipper, who will come down to your house for
the pick up.
HERE IS THE SHIPPER INFORMATION VIA MONEY GRAM TRANSFER::
Name: William Alvarado
Address: 802 S Virginia Dare Trl
City: Kill Devil Hills
State: NC.
Zip code: 27041
Note: You have to deduct the Money gram charges from the money you
are sending to the shipper and make the money available in a minutes
after you have send it and then get back to me with the
money gram transfer details below as it is appears on the money gram
Receipts
1….Sender’s Name and Address
2…. REFERENCE NUMBER, 8 DIGIT
3….Total Amount Sent After the Money Gram Charges
What’s your schedule regarding pick up as i have some other
properties to be moved alongside the item.

Regards

10) Here’s the rub:
  • The check is bogus
  • Anyone who sends money to one of these scammers will lose all of it, without recourse
  • Cashing a bogus check is grounds for prosecution, and victims have been arrested for attempting to pass fraudulent documents

So, I send the following email back to “Lewis”.

Hello, Lewis.

Yes, I have the check in hand. It’s lovely. I’ve always wanted a souvenir.
So, you read the advert for the item very carefully, and you were satisfied? Perhaps you didn’t read the part at the end where it says, very plainly:

Principals only. Cash only sale. No checks, money orders, shipping agents, Western Union money transfers, or anything else a Nigerian scammer may be using this week.

The fact that you ignored this, combined with your lousy English, was a solid guarantee that you are a criminal, a liar, a thief and a moron. I will keep your worthless check in my “Fraud Prevention” file.
Onioburu, dem no born you reach. Mugu no chop my dollar, chop only black powder from Olumba Olumba Obu, straight to you, not for me. U no fit comot face, just skip along.
I’m glad I wasted your time and money.

No love,
Martins Tanjul

Thus far, no response. Sometimes these scammers get their knickers in a twist and respond with a whole raft full of Nigerian insults, but usually there is no answer to my “game over” message.

Update: Wait, there’s more! Despite my sending Lewis the above email, I get this the next day:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>

To: (redacted)
Hello,

why did you keep silence since you received the payment

from USPS, you are to deduct your money out the money received
if i did not read from you today, i will report to the authority.

HERE IS THE SHIPPER INFORMATION VIA MONEY GRAM TRANSFER::

Name: William Alvarado
Address: 802 S Virginia Dare Trl
City: Kill Devil Hills
State: NC.
Zip code: 27041.
am looking forward to read from you the money gram transfer detail

and the best time for the pick up

I again send him the same letter as above, with some additional “up yours” information. After that, no further response.

As a followup, I notified the following companies and agencies so they would be aware that their name was being used for fraudulent purposes:

  • Liquid Realty Partners
  • Hamilton Health Center, Inc.
  • Fulton Bank

I also contacted

  • The Torrance, California, Police Deparment
  • The Kill Devil Hills, NC Police Department
  • http://www.ic3.gov

Now, how this waste of human cytoplasm has something mailed in Torrance, CA and gets funds picked up in North Carolina is a mystery to me. All I know is he won’t get a red cent out of this transaction, which has cost him time and money.

Summary

On the top of every Craigslist response is the following text:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY — AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
And that’s solid advice. Yet despite this, people continue to fall for scams like this, or others – including apartment rentals, relationship scams, “grandson in trouble,” and lost pets.
Follow the advice. If you use Craigslist, always deal locally, and face to face. Never send money via Western Union to anyone for anything, unless you initiate the transaction and you know your recipient.
Be careful – it’s crazy out there.
The Old Wolf has spoken.

Update 8-20-2012

Absolutely gobsmacked at the number of scammers that have landed on my Craigslist page for this same item. I’m not sure what sort of network they have, but something out there is being passed around. Whee! More fun for me.

So here’s the next one. After the usual “Is this item still for sale?” (that seems to be the standard opener for all of these bottom-feeders),  I get:

From: “Menia Dykes” <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
Hello! thanks for getting back to me let’s do like this, actually now
I’m not in town for now, I came to visit my family so i wont be able
to meet with you to see the item but am ok with the price as seen on
the advert. I don’t mind to give you $50 to withdraw the advert for
you to see how serious i am in the transaction, i will contact my
secretary to issuing a Check out to you and when you received the
check I will make arrangement for pick up. So get back to me with
below details to be on the
check asap.
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:
And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest
with the sale as I am a God fearing person.Note you don’t need to
worry about shipping the items for me as soon as you have the check
and have the check cash my shipper will come over for pick up
Thanks

God Bless

Wolfington X. Analemma responds with an address, and get a similar response back:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Menia Dykes <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Hello I appreciate your quick response sorry for late respond and am
happy you are selling to me. I got your details and have forward it to my
secretary, payment has been issued out to you and sent to you via
USPS POSTAL SERVICE, I will email you with the tracking number for
confirmation as soon as am provided with it. I will also like to let
you know that shipping company funds was included with your payment
due to i might not be around once the payment arrive to you because
am going to ALABAMA for my honeymoon Once the payment arrive you will
go ahead and have the check cash then you deduct the money for your
item with additional $100 for your Gas and running around then you have
the rest of the money send to my shipper via western union and money
gram then i will contact shipper to get ready to come over for pick up
immediately. LET ME KNOW IF I CAN trust you in this transaction.
Note you are not responsible for shipping as soon as you have the check
and have it cashed my shipper will be coming over for pick up Hope to
hear back from you soon.

Thanks for your understanding

Aside from the noise about a honeymoon, it looks very similar. These people must either copy from or share with each other – the scam is almost identical in nature. I respond:

Thank you for the message, I will keep an eye out for the payment. I look forward to completing this transaction.
-W

Next communication from the scammer:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Menia Dykes <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Hello how are you doing i just want to let you know that the payment
had been issued and sent to you via USPS courier service which is
going to arrive to you latest on on friday 3PM once you receive
it let me know so that all the arrangement for pick up can be getting
done immediately i will soon get back to you with the shipper
information and USPS tracking number so you can be able to check

the status of delivery till then stay blessed.

I respond,

Thank you for this notification.
-W

The Scammer has sent me a check.

Notice that her name has now changed from Menia Dykes to Menia Elliott (with an extra “L”). It is almost guaranteed that she does not work at Sultana High School, but it is interesting to note that this package was indeed dropped off in Hesperia, CA according to the USPS tracking number.

I like the “Pay with Valid ID” bit. “Daniel J. Saxt on P.C” and Suntrust Bank have been notified that their identities are being stolen for this scam. So here are a couple more emails from the scammer, first the instructions on how to send her the “overage”.

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Hello how are you doing today i had a confirmed from USPS that the
payment had been delivered to you Here is the tracking number for
you to check the status of the delivery {redacted} As i told
you before that i might not be around when the check arrive due to am
going to ALABAMA for my honeymoon Here is what you need to do. Just
go straight to your bank and cashed the check instantly or you can deposit
it into your bank account it will only take 24hrs for the check to be verify
and the money will be available in your account and as soon as you have
the cash go ahead and deduct your money for the item with additional $50
for your Gas and running around then have the rest of the money send to
mover via western union money transfer so that shipper can be coming
over for pick up immediately. Herae is the shipper information to send the
rest of the money to via western union or money gram transafer.
NAME: Lara Sepanosian
ADDRESS : 4827 Romulus dr
CITY: Glendal
STATE: CA
ZIP CODE: 91205
Shipper have ready to come to your location anytime from now She informed me
that the only thing holding her up is the shipping funds. so immediately you
have the money send to shipper i will require the following information on the
western union transfer receipt such as……..
1: Sender’s name and address used in sending the money
2: The MTCN number which is the 10 digits number on the western union receipt
3: Actual amount sent.after western union charging
4: date and time you want shipper to come over for pick up
Note. email me your map quest for shipper to locate to place with the best
time you want the shipper to come over for the pick up today cos i do
still have some other items at another location with shipper need to pick up for
me that is why you need to send all the rest of the money to my shipper for
shipper to proceed on is work immediately **Please note that youwill be paying
whatever the western union charges to send the money from the excess fund
before sending the rest to shipper thanks for your understanding hope to hear
back from you soon.

God bless you

Interestingly enough, there is a Lara Sepanosian in Glendale, CA – but Western Union doesn’t require ID for pickup, as far as I know – all you have to do is provide a name and a control number to pick up funds. Later the same day I get this – she’s really anxious to get her money, isn’t she?

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>

To: (redacted)
Hello how are you doing what is going on? i was wondering why you keep
silent since the payment had been delivered to you i will like you to
get back to me with the western union details that you use to send the
rest of the money to my shipper for me to contact shipper to get ready
for pick up immediately i will also like you to email me your map
quest for shipper to locate you with the best date and time that you
want shipper to come over for pick up. Hope to hear back from you
soon..
Your Tracking Information

Status: DELIVERED

Last Scan: August 17, 2012 11:52 am Delivered
Delivery Date: Friday, August 17, 2012
Delivery Time: 11:52 AM
Delivery Location: (redacted)
Carrier: US Postal Service
US Postal Service Tracking Number: (redacted)

Notice the “keep silent” is very similar to the “keep silence” used by Lewis Dukes in the first scam above. An American would say “I’m wondering why I have not heard from you” or something similar. As it happens, it’s the weekend, so I respond:

Menia, the parcel is probably in my mailbox, which is a long way away. I usually pick up my mail in the evening. When I see if the payment is there, I will get back to you.
-W

and later that evening,

OK, I have the check in hand. Tomorrow is Saturday, banks are closed until Monday so I won’t be able to cash the check until then. When the bank has cashed the check I will send you the rest of the information you asked for.
-W

The scammer writes back:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>

To: (redacted)
Thanks for the updating i will contact shipper to wait till monday
then as soon as you have the check cash on monday go ahead and deduct
$550 for your item then deduct additional $100 for your gas and
running around making $650 Then have the rest of the money send to
shipper via western union and get back to me with the western union
details for me to contact shipper to get ready for pick up immediately

Hope to hear back from you soon

Today is Monday, but I’m not going to respond at all until I get her frantic “Where is my money” email. In a previous post, I tweak a scammer who is obviously in Africa, and get him to go to Western Union five times in an attempt to collect money. I could do that again, but I really don’t have the time. I’m just interested in collecting enough information from these people to see if I can identify a pattern in where they are working.

More as it becomes available. For what it’s worth, I now have several other scammers promising to send me money:

  1. “Tim” or “Ben Carson” (ben.carson103@gmail.com)
  2. Natasha William (natasha.william9211@gmail.com)
  3. Kristal Beauchamp (michael.frank03@gmail.com)
  4. And just today, “Chloe Burton” (chloeburton61@gmail.com) has inquired about three of my items for sale. It will be interesting to see how that one turns out.

Update: 8-23-2012

Here’s Menia’s “Where is my money” letter:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>

To: (Redacted)
Hello how are you doing i was wondering why you keep silent since
monday you promise to get back to me i have been awaiting for the
western union details that you use to send the rest of the money to my
shipper for me to contact shipper to get ready for pick up immediately

Hope to hear back from you soon

And here’s what I wrote her back:
Menia,I took the check to my bank and they looked at the name on it:
DANIEL J. SAXT ON P.C
They are telling me a certified check should never have typographical errors on it, and they think this check might be faked. Can you explain this?
I don’t want to proceed until I know these funds are valid.
Please get back to me at once because I have several other people interested in my item.
-W

I’ll be curious to see if I get a response on this one, or if the scammer will assume he’s been outed and just fade away. As of 8/29, “Menia” has not responded – but it looks like he actually got lucky with someone else, which is a shame.

Also:

Another scammer takes the bait. I’ll not report the entire email exchange, but here’s the essential marrow:

This one was posted from Memphis, TN.

The Priority envelope supposedly came from John Sharon at the University of Memphis:

and the Western Union transfer is supposed to go to:

Rachel Fowler
8382 brooks road
Memphis TN 38116
According to Google Maps, Rachel lives in the middle of a container storage lot, but oh well – I guess the economy is not all that great for scammers. Seriously, though – every piece of data these drones use is falsified, but I noticed one very interesting thing about this check:
The signature above is from the check from “Krystal Beauchamp,” (Memphis, TN); the one on the bottom from the check sent me by “Menia Elliott (Glendal,e CA). Identical. Are we dealing with a ring of connected people here? Do they swap information and files among themselves?
Impossible to tell. I only wish that the FBI would consider investigating these drones and getting them off the streets – I’m willing to bet they’re taking a lot of people for a lot of money, and very little of it ends up in a centralized database anywhere.
Update 8/29/2012
Another one bites the dust:
The printing on this one is abominable – I’m not sure who would think this is a valid check. Sent by scammer “Ben Carson,” package mailed from Los Angeles, with a supposed “shipper” at
Samara Olivo
804 Hampton Drive.
Sacramento, CA 94203
This address is just totally bogus.
According to FedEx, I should have another one coming tomorrow from “Natasha William.”

The Old Wolf keeps on speaking.

On the internet, urban legends never die

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Stumbling around this morning waiting for a student to show up online (he never did), I came across this:

Now, I had never heard this – but my stepdaughter happens to be insane about hippos, so I thought this might make a cute shirt for her. A bit of searching, however, raised a problem: despite countless hits and re-posts and re-blogs, and entries in things like Yahoo Answers (otherwise known as the blind leading the blind, but don’t get me started), it seems that it’s just not true.

It turns out that hippos produce a natural sunscreen. From Wikipedia: “Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as “blood sweat,” but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine.”

Like all mammals, hippos produce white milk; when the milk mixes with these skin secretions, it may acquire a pink color cast. At ASPCA kids, one of the answer-writers produced this with regard to the question:

“You’re right about hippos oozing an awesome red-pink liquid to keep away bugs and germs and avoid sunburn, Finley! But pink milk? Sounds too crazy to be true. But you’re also right that many websites claim hippo babies are drinking pink milk.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know any hippos personally, so to answer your question I had to turn to the experts—specifically, Dr. Rebecca Lewison, an ecologist and hippo conservationist at San Diego State University. According to Dr. Lewison, the pink milk thing is totally false! She thinks people are confusing hippos’ pink secretion with their milk. I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet—except when at ASPCA Kids, of course.”

I’ll take the word of the experts on this one. Hippo milk is white.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The Thunder Mountain Monument

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Driving from the Great Salt Lake valley to the Bay Area last year, I chanced to look left as I passed Imlay, Nevada and something I had seen several times out of the corner of my eye on previous trips caught my attention. This time I decided to stop. What I found both shocked and astonished me.

There in the middle of the Nevada desert, at 40° 39’36.35″ N, 118° 07’56.13″ W, sits the Thunder Mountain Monument, a testament to the bizarre vision of David Van Zant, who self-identified as a Creek Indian and began calling himself Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder.

The Thunder Mountain Main House

Main House, Rear Side

Images on the Compound

There is an official Thunder Mountain Website which has a wealth of pictures and information about Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder and his son, Dan Van Zant, who is now the owner and official steward for the monument, but what it lacks is an information sheet which was posted near the entrance. I took the liberty of scanning this and converting it to text, and I present it below, because to me it says more about the spirit behind the monument than anything else I have seen. With the exception of a few spelling corrections, the document is exactly as I first saw it at the monument.

Thunder Mountain Indian Monument

1. What is it?

The most frequently asked question travelers stopped by the sheer oddity of this conglomeration of junk secured by cement is: “What is this?”

This is a very good question as Thunder Mountain is odd and strange looking. This question is the best question anyone could ask, as the answer is the reason for its existence. Why would anyone spend their retirement years working from daylight to dark seven days a week to build what many view as blight on the landscape?

This is a Monument to the suffering and plight of the American Indians. The next question is usually:

2. Why Did He Build It? (Thunder Mountain Monument)

The answer that I give everyone who asks this question is probably incomplete in that it can only be partially understood after gaining insight into the passion and motivation behind the artist who built this Monument.

Thunder Mountain Indian Monument was built by Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder as a Monument to the suffering and the plight of the American Indian at the hand of the White invaders. (Note: I emphasize invader and not settler). The Monument was built to be a reminder to all who visit of the price that was paid by a race of people who were marked for genocide in the name of ”Manifest Destiny.” Close inspection of the Monument will reveal over 200 sculptures that will depict Indians of all tribes, age, status and sex. You will see in side the double walls a sculpture of a settler that is shooting an Indian woman. You will see the cumulative years of agony and despair on the faces of the old Indian Chiefs. You will see the misery in the faces of the Indian little children. You will experience the arrogance on the part of the White Invader that they were a superior race predestined by their God to kill and destroy another race of human beings.  Many of the invaders as in the days of the great crusades in Europe justified their indiscriminate murders in the name of their God. The predominate justification for this wholesale genocide was “If these savages can’t be converted to Christianity then they need to die.”

White Man’s Trash:

The Monument is build from a collage of cast off items that would be described by white society as junk. This “junk” was collected in a radius of 50 miles of the Monument. In the Indian culture they utilized everything that was provide to them by the Great Spirit. What the Great Spirit provided Chief Rolling Thunder in building the Monument was “White Man’s Trash.” It should be noted that Chief Rolling Thunder didn’t have the money to buy materials so he used what he could find. The only material that was purchased was cement. Thunder is also making a strong ecological statement in that we are polluting our planet with cast away items. I find it ironic that the same people who would like to see Thunder Mountain destroyed, claiming that it is an eyesore, are the same people who polluted the landscape with their junk and trash. (White Man’s Trash)

  • Old car parts
  • Bottles
  • Windows made from car windows
  • Discarded typewriter
  • Much more

These critics were around when Thunder was building the Monument and they are still around today. These are also the same people who, instead of appreciating the powerful statement and the artwork, would vandalize and destroy.

More White Man’s Trash:

The Monument to the American Indians is intended to tell a story of their suffering in the wake of 400 years of persecution and genocide. The attitude of the white European invaders is also evidence of “White Man’s Trash.” This could also be described in a biblical manner as “The human condition” which, it is obvious, the early Christian invaders failed to recognize in themselves.

  • Hate
  • Attitude of superior intellect
  • Disrespect for human life
  • Arrogance

It is obvious that the White invaders’ attitude was that their religion was better and that they were doing the will of God. This is justification for their evil? (Read the book Manifest Destiny). This land that was provided to them by God and it was their right to take it by any means possible.

Genocide is White Man’s Trash:

I realize there are many people who will say “come on now, maybe the Indians got a raw deal but it wasn’t genocide.”
The definition of genocide is the systematic extermination of a race of people.

Just look at the similarities between Nazi and the White European invaders and judge for yourself.

  1. Both felt they were justified as superior human beings
  2. 6 Million Jew exterminated 12 Million Indians exterminated            .
  3. Both had concentration camps ( What would you call a Indian reservation)
  4. Jews and Indians were de-humanized
  5. Poison food was used on the Jew and the Indians
  6. Starvation was used to control
  7. Jews had their property confiscated as did the Indians
  8. Sterilization of Indian women
  9. Germ warfare was used on the Jews and the Indians (Indians were given blankets with smallpox which killed millions.) A quote from Colonel Henry Bouquet at Fort Pitt is: “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians with smallpox by means of blanket, as well as to try every other method, that can serve to extirpate this execrable race!“
  10. Both the Nazis and the European invaders had slogans as justification for murder:
  • Nazis – “Nits Make Lice.”
  • European invader – “The only good injun is a dead injun.”

To call what was done to the American Indians anything less than genocide is like the Germans trying to deny the holocaust.

Indian Genocide Reminders:

All anyone needs to do is to read the account of just a few of the massacres:

  • Sand Creek Colorado 1864
  • Wounded Knee

3. How long did it take to build the Monument?

This is a frequently asked question and when my Father (Rolling Mountain Thunder) was asked this, he would often reply “It will never be finished. It is an ongoing work and after I’m gone someone else may finish it.” However, the work on the Monument started in 1968 and continued for 7 years until 1975. Work on the other buildings would continue from 1975 until 1983.

4. What happened in 1983 that made him stop building?

There was an arson fire that burned the 3 story Hostel and Indian school to the ground. This fire also destroyed two cabins, a 40′ by 60′ work shop, a visitor’s center bath house and an underground sweat house. The buildings standing today which were spared are:

  • The Main Monument Building
  • Round House
  • Chicken House

5. Did Rolling Thunder Build the Monument alone?

Thunder was the artist and the architect but he had a lot of help with the labor involved. His children and wife helped with the gathering of materials, the mixing and carrying of the cement. He also received some help from hippies that would stop and stay for a day or some times weeks. Two people stayed for as many as 5 years. I only recall the first names. One was a very quiet and hard-working young man named Dale. The other was an outgoing and friendly young girl of about 20. (I think she was called Tomat). Visitors were allowed to participate in the construction effort and Thunder would provide food for those who would work. He had some basic rules that if not followed would result in being asked to leave. The rules were:

  • Show respect one for another
  • No drugs allowed
  • No open sex
  • If you don’t work, you don’t eat

There are many stories about people who created problems and how Thunder dealt with these people.

6. Was Thunder a Spiritual or Religious Man?

This question is often asked after people have looked at the art work. It is obvious that Thunder had a deep belief in a higher power when you read some of the many writings scrawled on the walls and grounds.

Thunder didn’t like traditional organized religion and often had negative things to say about traditional Christian organizations.

This I believe is because he saw how the Indians were treated in the name of Christianity. Thunder had is own brand of spirituality and often referred to the Great Spirit or Mother Earth.

7. Can We See The Inside of The Monument?

The inside of the Monument is not open to the public at this time. This is due to the unsafe nature of the building. We have pictures of the inside of the Monument on our web site by Peggy Pontenot that will provide you with a sense of what is inside the Monument. Most of the art work is visible from the outside. Thunder and his family lived inside the Monument so it was never intended for visitors to come inside.

8. Who Owns Thunder Mountain Monument?

Often people think that the Monument is owned by the State of Nevada. Actually, Thunder Mountain is a State of Nevada Historical site but that is the only connection with the State of Nevada.

This property is owned by Thunder’s oldest son Daniel Van Zant, a 65 year old retired supermarket account executive from California.

9. Who Maintains The Monument?

The Monument is maintained through the free will donations of the visitors to the Monument and volunteers.

10. What Is The Future For Thunder Mountain Monument?

If you were to ask Rolling Mountain Thunder this question I would suspect his answer to be that it is in the hands of the Great Spirit. It is the hope and desire of the family of Thunder that the Monument is preserved and continues to be open to the general public. The family continues to investigate ways to accomplish this objective.

11. Where Can I Get More Information On Thunder Mountain?

You may learn more about Thunder Mountain by researching the Thunder Mountain website at www.thundermountainMonument.com

You may also contact Dan Van Zant with your questions.

Dan Van Zant
9570 Swede Creek Road
Palo Cedro, CA 96073
Email: dvanzant@frontier.com

Was Van Zant a Native American? There is no way of telling for certain at this point, but his spirit was in tune with the realities of history, and so to me his ancestry is irrelevant. The monument he created is rustic and crude in the extreme, yet it conveys a powerful sense of the indescribable indignity that was perpetrated upon the autochthones by the arriving Europeans. Whether they were settlers or invaders depends on which side you talk to; since the white man came rolling across the land in waves more numerous than the sands of the sea or the stars of the sky, they were the ones who wrote the histories, and we who dwell here now give very little thought to the plight of the surviving natives.

It is, when one looks at it from a human standpoint (and not seen through a lens of money, power, weapons, or “manifest destiny,”) an insult so great as to make it impossible to repair; what can be done about it, or what should be done about it at this point in history, is a bedeviling question, one which most inhabitants of this continent avoid answering by the convenient device of not bothering to think about it.

Visit this monument and you will find it impossible not to think about. On one of my previous trips across country, I returned home by way of a friend’s home in North Dakota, and took the opportunity to drop down and visit Devil’s Tower.

Devil’s Tower in the Sunrise

As I walked around the tower, feeling its walls and connecting with its massiveness, I was strongly impressed that I was on sacred ground; the many medicine bundles tied to tree branches around the base of the formation bear witness to the fact that it is still considered a holy place to many natives who still live in the area; the prayer bundles and flags represent the colors of the four cardinal directions as well as Mother Earth and Father Sky. In a very real sense, Thunder Mountain is also sacred ground, and it moved and pestered and disturbed me as I considered the message which can be read there by those with eyes to see and hearts to feel.

Medicine bundles

 

Medicine bundles

As Americans, the descendants of those who swept the natives off the land, we love movies like Dances with Wolves and Jeremiah Johnson, and we cluck our tongues with disapproval at the injustice, and then go home to our comfortable houses, never thinking again of the squalor, unemployment, alcoholism, despair, disenfranchisement and hopelessness that reigns supreme on the res. While some tribes have turned to operating casinos as a means of generating income, even that is a second-class enterprise, bringing with it the social ills associated with the gaming industry and of dubious benefit in the long run. By dint of army interventions, massacres, and an endless stream of broken treaties, the original inhabitants of North America (the South is another story altogether) were raped, and raped, and raped again.

Sunisup.tumblr.com posted a riveting animated gif file which shows the reduction in native landholdings over time, which I have brazenly stolen.

Quoted from the same blog:

“For those who do prefer dealing in numbers, here are some:

By 1881, Indian landholdings in the United States had plummeted to 156 million acres. By 1934, only about 50 million acres remained (an area the size of Idaho and Washington) as a result of the General Allotment Act* of 1887. During World War II, the government took 500,000 more acres for military use. Over one hundred tribes, bands, and Rancherias relinquished their lands under various acts of Congress during the termination era of the 1950s.
By 1955, the indigenous land base had shrunk to just 2.3 percent of its original size.

—In the Courts of the Conqueror by Walter Echo-Hawk”

The first and last frames of the animation, static for comparison:

Although an accurate census was impossible, reasonable estimates put the native population of the USA before the Europeans arrived in the vicinity of 12 million or more. by the 1800’s, that number was down 95% to around 250,000. The Jewish holocaust destroyed around 2/3 of the European population, and is universally regarded as genocide. Although the destruction of the United States indigenous population took 4 centuries to accomplish, the numbers are staggeringly worse, and yet many people still hesitate to use the word genocide to describe what took place here. Everyone laments the loss of thundering herds of bison numbered in the millions; no one seems to care about the human destruction that was taking place simultaneously.

The annexation of the land was ultimately the destruction of nations. The land was their mother, their father, their grocery store, their playground, and the source of their spiritual strength. Assimilation was impossible because of the nature of their culture. The white man didn’t even want the natives for labor, as they did the Africans – they just wanted them dead. In the end, that’s exactly what they got, and ceded to the remainder, for the most part, tiny patches of land barely capable of supporting a hunter-gatherer culture.

Early Indian Tribes, Culture Areas, and Linguistic Stocks (Click to enlarge)

Every tribe lost was a culture, and a language, and a way of looking at the universe. In the end, the losses to humanity were incalculable.

Moving Forward

While it’s fine to participate in intellectual exercises, the question remains: what is the right thing to do now, in the 21st century? The Indian fighters and mountain men are gone, the country has been claimed from coast to coast in the name of the crown, or of God, or of the Republic, those who are alive today are generations removed from the perpetrators of the genocide, and those who have been living here for hundreds of years also have rights. The best solution of all – something like Columbus and his crew’s arriving on Western shores, only to say “Oh, sorry! We didn’t know anyone was living here!” and going straight back home – is unfortunately not possible, except in the realm of Orson Scott Card’s Pastwatch (a phenomenal read, if you’re interested).

We can’t go back; every white settler who has come here, and their descendants, can’t just pack up and go home, and give the land back to the tribes. Not being a sociologist, I’m not even sure what the right thing to do for the remainder of the once-numerous peoples might be. But I am sure of a few things.

More needs to be done, in the name of humanity.

  • We who claimed this land are responsible for the reduced economic and educational and spiritual status of our natives, and we owe them a hell of a lot more than they’re getting. While things are far from perfect, much has been done over the last 5 decades to lift the African population from second-class status, but now, as then, the Native Americans continue to be relatively invisible on society’s radar, and that’s not right.
  • We need to educate a new generation of human beings from the cradle up: bold, ethical leaders who will work to build a world that works, in the words of R. Buckminster Fuller, “for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” This is not pie in the sky; it’s possible. It may take another 3 centuries to achieve, but it needs to happen, and if we do nothing now it never will. We owe it to those who have gone before, and we owe it to our posterity. Such a world is my most pressing dream, and the reason that I am working to establish The Academy of Greatness. If anyone is able to repair the damage to the indigenous population and other small populations who were oppressed or destroyed by a larger, it will be people like this.

Šuŋgmánitu Tȟaŋka Tanika (The Old Wolf) has spoken.