canuckamuck

Stay here long enough and it will happen on its own.

Our area was told this year that everyone had to either have crops planted, or have their land cleared. There would be an inspection, and land that wasn’t cleared or planted would be taken away. This is not a new thing. This is the general understanding up here. People do not have paper deeds to their land, they have an agreement of who owns what, which is backed up by the Headman.

So, the result of this is, anyone who has land must not allow it to remain in a natural state. This is a ridiculous notion in the age of conservation and environmentalism. But that is the deal.

So, everybody in the village in the last couple of weeks has been hacking down the countryside in preparation for burning.  However, there was some misunderstanding of when the burning ban began. People thought they had a few more days, however, we learned yesterday that it was the last day. So, all the burning needed to happen last night.

Clearing land by burning is not a task to take lightly. Generally, you need some tools and you need a team and a plan. Once the fire is lit you can’t change the plan. The main danger, other than getting caught in the blaze, is burning the neighbor’s land. Our village is in the mountains. Lots of land here is planted with valuable fruit trees and tea, among other things. Sometimes the land to avoid is above the land to be burned, and sometimes it is beside or below. Above is the worst of course.

Firebreaks are cut and people are stationed to direct the fire as well as possible, and to mop the bits that threaten to get away. However, with everyone burning on the same night labor was in short supply. Usually people help each other out and there are enough folks to make a safe burn.

Last night there were fires planned at the edge of our tea field from two sides. Usually I avoid being involved in such things, as I am morally opposed to the burning. But it was necessary to defend our tea, which is currently, heavily grassed in. So, I made the hike to the top of our highest hill with my long spade and a rake. Others had backpack water tanks and various items to fight the fire.

As we waited for latecomers to arrive, we watched across the valley as neighbors began their burn. They had the worst situation. A long stretch of hillside ready to burn with a thick growth of bamboo and wild trees at the top. They did a good job at first, starting fires at the top and the sides to make a good fire break. Then they lit the bottom. But as they lit the bottom, their firebreak at the top failed in two places.

The fire from the bottom was ferocious. It made its way up the hill in a very short time a massive orange wall with fire tornados and an intimidating roar. It is hard to know how much land they burned that wasn’t theirs. Because as smoke obscured our view, someone from our team was tired of waiting and had lit the field we were watching. So much for having a plan.

It had been a very long time since I was up close to a brush fire, and I was immediately shocked with the intensity. Right from the start we couldn’t get within 20 feet of the blaze. The heat was incredible. All we could do was watch and hope the fire break held. Luckily the fields to be protected were lower than the fire. So, the danger was greatly reduced.

As the day ended and a moonless night began, fires could be seen in all directions creating a false dusk, as fires further away were glowing on the horizon. Our team left me to mop up around the tea field while they went off to help a different neighbor that had a runaway blaze. I made my way off the mountain in total darkness. The fires were done for the year.

18 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

The simplest answer (ie. using Occam's Razor) as to why "God" permits evil to exist is to remove God from the equation altogether. It doesn't determine whether God exists as it's not possible to prove any such thing; anyone's position on God (and my favourite position is 69, followed by 68) is merely an inference or a set of inferences based on your subjective perceptions. Go and listen to the podcasts I listed if you need to understand how perception works

I give you credit for replying at least, but your attempt was miserable. You have applied an assumption as fact and allowed that to be your evidence.

Your claim that, God allows evil so therefore He does not exist, is based on your belief that evil is God's error. But evil is not God's error, rather it is the result of disunity with God. God desires true relationship, not slaves. So God allows people to go their own way. The result however is evil. How we deal with evil and how we recognize God in a world of evil and good, either puts us back in relationship with God, or it leaves us to separation from God.

I want one of these. 130 pounds, equal power to 250 CC. It's got to be a blast.

Link

Translate that to Bezos has created a new fund to dodge taxes while doing some major league virtue signalling.

I have many criticisms about China, but there ignorant attitude towards wildlife is top of the list. In this day and age it is really inexcusable. Extremely selfish and soulless.

Good for him, he should enjoy his popularity.

That is relatively deserted? Must have been a horrible place before.

Treat them like the CIA because that's who's pulling the strings over there.