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Carrion Luggage  Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem. This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it. It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans. It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier." I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination. |
| This will be my last entry. Well, the last entry of the current astronomical winter, anyway; the equinox will occur at 5:01am EST tomorrow. Okay, sorry for the misleading first sentence; we're still a couple of weeks away from April Fools' Day. Speaking of fools, this article from The Conversation was published in late 2022, but I still see the subject discussed occasionally. What I haven't seen is anyone actually walking backwards. Thinking backwards, sure. Walking? Not so much. Then again, I don't get out much. Walking doesn’t require any special equipment or gym memberships, and best of all, it’s completely free. That's not entirely true. Decent walking shoes aren't cheap. But what happens if we stop walking on auto-pilot and start challenging our brains and bodies by walking backwards? Not only does this change of direction demand more of our attention, but it may also bring additional health benefits. What happens is: you've become a victim of social engineering, like a while back when people tried to convince us that we're supposed to open bananas from the other end. "Let's see if we can get people to do something dumb-looking. Then we can monetize the resulting videos!" Remaining upright requires coordination between our visual, vestibular (sensations linked to movements such as twisting, spinning or moving fast) and proprioceptive (awareness of where our bodies are in space) systems. Yes, that's why lying down is far superior. When we walk backwards, it takes longer for our brains to process the extra demands of coordinating these systems. That sounds plausible, and I did glance at the studies linked in the article. That doesn't change the fact that it makes you look like an idiot. Barely touched on in the article: how to cross busy streets, deal with curbs, avoid other people, and not trip over sidewalk cracks. (I have this visual in my head of two backwards-walkers colliding, sending them both off in their respective forwards directions.) To me, the hazards outweigh any potential health benefits, which can probably be approximated by more intentional walking, carrying a heavy backpack, or ankle weights. And I'm not afraid of looking like a fool in public (as anyone who has seen my wardrobe can attest), but this is a bridge too far. In other words, sometimes, the science can be sound, as far as it goes, but it doesn't always take every factor into account. |
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