.
then you've got your hinny, which is stranger still
a friend keeps a couple of miniature donkeys
but is now transitioning over to horses
start small?

thanks for the equinal OT

.
Thanks for posting that c ool book report, Sima.

It immediately made me think of Clan of the Cave Bear, written by a research anthropologist and published in 1980. The book told a story that was set about 25,000 years ago, which featured a subplot about the domestication of a horse and, much later, learning to ride it. It became an anthropology-fiction best seller.

Years later, I was thinking about the story again, which I had guessed was set in northern Europe, perhaps in Russia. It was set during a time when both Neanderthal and modern Cro-Magnon humans occupied the same continents at the same time. The female main character was blond, and that is the only region on earth where blonds are indigenous, I believe. There was a lot of snow and numerous caves and earthquakes in the story. It could have been the beginning or the end of a recent ice age. At one point in the story, the horse began to run with the girl on his back, and there was a narrative understanding that an important message could be sent on horseback.

That would mean that shortly after horses were domesticated, a galloping horse would be the very fastest way a human message could be sent across land — and there would be no speed improvement for next 25,000 years! No matter how important the message was.

During that time, humans made all sorts of scientific discoveries, and even invented a wild array of religions and Gods that would keep the public busy begging for divine intervention. In the background, great Empires were born and spread across the earth — and then they collapsed and were buried. Wars were fought, many of them forgotten. Governments were formed, and later they were overthrown. Both Dictatorships and Democracies are regularly overthrown, even today. Literacy was achieved, and then later discarded. People simply could not maintain a complex system of rules without instant communications and supporting infrastructure. A motivated, enduring civilization with a shared vision and citizens who are motivated to ensure its wellbeing cannot sustain itself without direct instantaneous communications and authentic real-world gatherings, interactions, and participation.

This is the secret to China's 5,000 year old civilization. Over that time, and as far back as 11,000 years, they developed most of the new engineering innovations and observational technologies about 500 to 1,000 years before these technologies were 'discovered' in the West (the moveable-type printing press, for example. Ocean-going sailing ships, firearms, etc.) These innovations strengthened the civilization and sparked infrastructure building. Literacy and education has been core value of all Chinese governments. From pre-history to the present day, the Chinese government always holds a national exam for all graduating students. The Chinese government has always been based on meritocracy; students who do well on the yearly exams are tapped for university scholarships, government jobs, and leadership roles. There are hundreds of different languages/dialects spoken by the people of China. But all Chinese people are literate in the same written Chinese characters. (Word sounds are optional and unnecessary.) So, throughout their history the Chinese could all read and understand the nation's newspapers — even though a village 20 miles away may speak a different language. Today, the Chinese are still all on the same page, gossiping about the same news.

We don't understand that type of social cohesion in the West. We believe the Chinese should all be at each other throats. But they are not. The Chinese should hate their government. But the Chinese all know exactly what their government is doing. This is covered in dozens of newspapers on sale nationwide. Because China has a more a participatory democracy that most, government actions become part of everyday social life, even in the tiniest villages. Everything is written down, counted, analyzed, and recorded every day. It's part of everyone's cultural life without even realizing it. Their judgements are very practical. They feel connected to the government and believe that their concerns are heard. They are quick to know when their lives are getting better and they say so. They are aware when their country is on a good path.

In the US we wrote a Constitution that is based on a communications system that still travels at the speed of a horse. Much can be lost, forgotten, responses ignored, or disappeared. Elected officials in DC wouldn't want the government to work any other way. The Courts are delighted that no one can read the Constitution and comprehend its meaning. It is written in an antiquated language that masks the underlying intentions. Furthermore, it does not contain any of the wisdom gathered in the 19th and 20th centuries, when the world changed so profoundly. The document is void in scientific understanding and it is blind to ubiquitous conflicts of interest. It doesn't know which developing issues impact the lives of modern people who are alive today. All these considerations fall under the control of unaccountable political appointees on the Supreme Court who ave n o experience with the invasive technologies used by the government that negatively affect our personal lives and dignity. The Court is not concerned with the government's monstrous greed to control the world, which instantly sabotages our our choices about our own lives. If the Court tries to remain aware of the rapidly developing technologies and the emerging cultures of the 21st century, it does so at the speed of a horse.

About two-thirds of the way through the life-span of the United States, everything changed for everybody in the US and the world, due to the rapid development of technology, the industrial revolutions, evolving global economic systems, a press that is controlled and censored by the government, and competing communications that suddenly travel at the speed of light. But no one in the United States wanted a modern constitution that the People could understand and ratify. Americans feel safer when they are deceived. All other countries have modern constitutions. But not the Leader of the Free World.

This doesn't really matter anymore. It stopped mattering after 9/11. I am now convinced that denial and cluelessness are safe places for most Americans to ride out the coming decades.

Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne, both former MMA performers, decided at some point to plow their money into a ranch in Riverside County, and then later to branch out into a big cattle ranch in southern Oregon, where I live. They put out a lot of "Browsey Acres" videos on YouTube.

At any rate, at their place in Riverside County, they use a donkey to scare away predators that would kill their chickens, ducks, and/or goats. Just thought I would mention that.

In other news, the commercial entertainment addicts on YouTube were discussing the news, later denied, that Kathleen Kennedy is going to retire from her currently task of ruining Star Wars. It's about ten minutes into their group video.

Of course there is some degree of skepticism as to whether or not anything new would happen if or when Kennedy goes away from Star Wars. But it's amusing to hear their criticisms, given that there wasn't much there to begin with -- I mean, how much can you do with an imaginary universe in which the heroes are Samurai with magical powers, the villains cling to ridiculous stereotypes, and the settings are vastly simplified or colorized versions of, I don't know, Poul Anderson or Robert Heinlein or any of the Golden Age space opera writers. Recommendation to Kennedy watchers: read. Find some of these old, dead, space opera writers. Read their stuff.

The reason people, including the famous ones, are going back to homesteading is that America is in decline, a trend evident in everything, including entertainment.