Desertphile's Desert Soliloquy
| Soliloquy:
A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character reveals his or her thoughts when alone or unaware of the presence of other characters. b. A specific speech or piece of writing in this form of discourse. 2. The act of speaking to oneself. [From the Latin solus, alone; and loqui, to speak.] |
  > People who wander the deserts tend to entertain themselves with musing about every conceivable topic, with thoughts of life and humanity's place in the universe dominating one's contemplations. This may be due to the fact that the environment they reside, work, and play in is trying hard to kill them. While no desert has ever been guilty of premeditated murder, deserts do seem to brood with a passive enmity for all living things; plants and animals, crows and kit foxes, coyotes and cactus, humans and honey bees.... the desert does not really play favorates. Deserts may be inhospitable, but they are never hostile; deserts may kill those creatures not fit enough to survive in them, but it is nothing personal. When one hikes across a desert, one takes one's chances, just like the buzzards and the jack rabbits. |
| DESERTPHILE SOLILOQUY |
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| Historical Documents |
These historical documents are a collection of books and other texts that I have collected, scanned in, and rendered into modern electronic formats. They are in general grouped by the following classifications:
1) American Indians (mostly Mohave / Macave) |
| Hobo Glyphs |  If you are a hobo, let us suppose you are considering going to a house and asking for food. Is there an ill-tempered man living in the house? Well! If you see this glyph (to the left) written in chalk on the ground near the house, you'd know the answer is "Yes!" This link will show you nearly four dozen symbols you, as a hobo, need to know. |
| Occult Crime: a Law Enforcement Primer | The special report issued by the Caliofnria Department of Justice. Is "occult crime" a problem? Does it even exist? This report answers these questions. |
| Petroglyphs | This page links to a collection of desert petroglyphs, both ancient ("American Indian") and modern (made by myself). Included is the Rochester Panel. |
| SB Springs | Where is the water in the Mojave (San Barnardino County) desert? Here is a list of springs. MANY OF THEM ARE DRY. The list includes Latitude and Longitude for those of us who hike with hand-held GPS units. Note that several different springs have the same names: check the USGS Map Designation to determine which spring you are looking for. |
| All Things Adobe | The adobe page contains items related to building with adobe bricks. Images of photographs are here, plus my thoughts on how to make bricks, plan for solar heating (called "solar gain"), and other fun topics. Photogalvanic power cells are also discussed here. |
| Desert Images | The pictures page contains images of the desert, taking by Desertphile or his kin. The collection includes plants, animals, sunsets, and landscapes. These images may give the viewer an understanding of why the desert is worthy of affection. |
| Desert History | There is much one could say and show about the land and the people who inhabited the land. This link give a tiny fraction of the stories that one could tell about them, using images. |
| Cowboys & Bandits | Fast Draw: the fastest sport on the planet. From start to finish, this sport takes around 4/10ths of a second (less if one is good at it, more if one ain't). Folks also enjoy Cowboy Action Shooting. One may look here to see my fancy cowboy outfit! |
| Gold! | There is gold out there, just waiting for someone to pick up, exchange for paper or electronic money, and make that person's life bliss. Well, sort of--- extracting gold is hard work! And one must find it first. |
| Devil's Canyon | Devil's Canyon, Utah. Here are a few images. |
| GISS Data | GISS global temperature anomalies in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. CO2 data from 1959 included. |