Happy Earth Day! - Shanty Song

EARTH DAY SEA SHANTY
(Verse 1)
Come gather ‘round, ye mates so true,
With hearts as vast as ocean’s blue,
For today we sing, with joy and mirth,
A shanty for our dear old Earth!
(Chorus)
Our Earth, so fair and bright,
A beacon in the darkest night.
With every step, with every sway,
We honor Earth this special day.
(Verse 2)
From mountain peak to valley low,
From rivers wide to fields that grow,
We raise our voices, strong and clear,
To celebrate our home so dear.
(Chorus)
Our Earth, so fair and bright,
A beacon in the darkest night.
With every step, with every sway,
We honor Earth this special day.
(Verse 3)
On Earth Day’s morn, the sun does rise,
Painting hues across the skies.
The birds they sing, the trees they sway,
In homage to this wondrous day.
(Chorus)
Our Earth, so fair and bright,
A beacon in the darkest night.
With every step, with every sway,
We honor Earth this special day.
(Verse 4)
Reduce, reuse, recycle too,
Care for the Earth in all we do,
Ride your bike, plant a tree,
For the future and posterity.
(Chorus)
Our Earth, so fair and bright,
A beacon in the darkest night.
With every step, with every sway,
We honor Earth this special day.
(Outro)
So, raise your voices, raise them high,
For Earth Day’s call, it fills the sky.
With hope and love, we’ll pave the way,
To honor Earth, come what may.

Note: Shanty created via ChatGPT & Image created via Copilot AI).

Book Review - Crazy Horse and Custer

Title - Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors
Author:Stephen E. Ambrose

My Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍
My Review: I love books about Native Americans and this book is one of the better ones I've read. The displacement of Native Americans by white American settlers through manifest destiny was tragic. The majority of the book covers the lives of George Custer and Crazy Horse. The eventual description of the Battle of the Little Bighorn was disappointingly short but overall, I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Description (Audible): On the sparkling morning of June 25, 1876, 611 men of the US 7th Cavalry rode toward the banks of the Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory, where 3,000 Indians stood waiting for battle. The lives of two great warriors would soon be forever linked throughout history: Crazy Horse, leader of the Oglala Sioux, and General George Armstrong Custer. Both were men of aggression and supreme courage. Both became leaders in their societies at very early ages; both were stripped of power, in disgrace, and worked to earn back the respect of their people. And to both of them, the unspoiled grandeur of the Great Plains of North America was an irresistible challenge. Their parallel lives would pave the way, in a manner unknown to either, for an inevitable clash between two nations fighting for possession of the open prairie.

Description (ChatGPT): Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen Ambrose offers a fascinating (and sometimes bewildering) dance between two men who couldn’t have been more different, yet shared a singular destiny: the American frontier. Ambrose weaves their stories with a historian’s precision, but also a novelist’s flair, showing how the lives of these two warriors—one a fierce Native American leader, the other a brash, doomed cavalry officer—ran in parallel like two trains speeding toward the same tragic collision. It’s a deep dive into history’s contradictions, where heroism and hubris meet in the dust of battle. If you’ve ever wondered how a man can be both a martyr and a fool, this book will clear that up—while reminding you that history isn’t always as simple as "good guys vs. bad guys." Prepare to be enlightened, and perhaps a little mystified, but never bored.

Book Review - The Little Ice Age

Title - The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850
Author: Brian Fagan

My Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍
My Review:

Description (Audible): The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how climate altered historical events, and what they mean in the context of today’s global warming. Only in the last decade have climatologists developed an accurate picture of yearly climate conditions in historical times. This development confirmed a long-standing suspicion: that the world endured a 500-year cold snap, a little ice age, that lasted roughly from AD 1300 until 1850. With its basis in cutting-edge science, The Little Ice Age offers a new perspective on familiar events. Renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold affected Norse exploration; how changing sea temperatures caused English and Basque fishermen to follow vast shoals of cod all the way to the New World; how a generations-long subsistence crisis in France contributed to social disintegration and ultimately revolution; and how English efforts to improve farm productivity in the face of a deteriorating climate helped pave the way for the Industrial Revolution and hence for global warming.

Description (ChatGPT): Brian Fagan’s The Little Ice Age serves up a frosty historical tale that proves the weather has always been more than just small talk. With vivid storytelling and a scientist’s eye, Fagan unpacks how Europe’s cooler-than-usual weather from 1300 to 1850 froze crops, stoked political unrest, and even shaped the course of wars. If you thought your winter commute was bad, imagine living through crop failures, famines, and freezing rivers—now that's a cold front of history. Fagan's research is solid, his writing sharp, and his ability to tie climate shifts to human drama is downright chilling. A must-read for anyone who thinks the weather doesn't affect the world. Spoiler alert: it does—just ask history.