The Sound of a Falling Tree

0.0° latitude, 0.0° longitude

---

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

For me, the answer is “No”, but I will get back to you about that.

---

This is a Parrot-Beak Plant. One version has lovely rounded flowers in a pleasing array. The other is more boisterous, with little protrusions sticking out.

---

---

Our trip is nearing its end; it is a long journey to Calgary from 0.0° latitude, 0.0° longitude.

Tomorrow, we fly from Principe to São Tomé and spend the day there. Late Saturday evening we catch a red-eye from São Tome to Lisbon. We will spend most of a day in Lisbon, then board a very early flight to Amsterdam. We switch planes in Amsterdam and begin the longest leg home to Calgary.

---

The word “travel” is linked to the Roman instrument of torture called the tripalium, which means “three stakes” in Latin. It reflects the difficulty of travel in ancient (or modern) times.

---

---

Back to that question about the sound of falling trees in empty forests:

I use an MS Word App to transpose the drivel in my head to drivel in writing. Lately, Word is Hell-bent on getting me to use Artificial Intelligence to improve my writing. Not that my writing wouldn’t benefit from intelligence in any form, but I have resisted AI so far.

Today, just for fun, I asked Word AI the tree question:

Hey Siri; “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

AI’s answer was as factual as it was repulsive:

“When a tree falls, the motion disturbs the air and sends off air waves. This physical phenomenon, which can be measured by instruments other than our ears, exists regardless of human perception (seeing or hearing) of it.”

---

Siri’s answer is “Yes”, mine is still “No”.

The difference between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence is that there is no emotion, no humour, no poetry in computer generated “intelligence”. The tree question is not about facts, it is a question asked to get a human reaction to an abstract theme.

---

I am going to postpone the tree topic again for now. I will come back to it later.

---

Let’s talk about alcohol for a while, the only form of artificial intelligence I truly understand.

São Tomé has one of the best beers I have ever experienced. It tastes great, a very crisp lager, but it is the presentation that takes it over the top.

The beer doesn’t have a name, it is simply “cerveza local” (local beer), no capitals. The beverage comes in a plain brown bottle with no label.

---

---

---

If I could bring you a six-pack of cerveza local I would. Unfortunately, the people of São Tomé are keeping it for themselves.

Another very popular drink on the islands is palm wine, and it is free!

---

---

You wait a few hours, climb the tree again, and come back down with a full bucket of palm sap.

You can drink it fresh as a juice, but if you wait four or five hours the juice will ferment and form alcohol, which local people call palm wine.

---

Neilton our guide, said that palm wine consumption causes problems on the island. It is cheap, and readily available; too many men drink it and don’t go to work.

---

Two rough looking characters offered to sell me a plastic bottle wrapped in banana leaves one night when I went for a solo walk. I wasn’t familiar with palm wine at that point, so I declined. Knowing what I know now, I might have tried it.

---

---

There is a fine line when travelling where photography is concerned. We want to capture images of local people, but we don’t want to offend them.

Wide-angle shots of neighbourhoods, not focused on individuals, sometimes result in portraits with impact. The iPhone camera takes such high-quality photos, I am able to crop out images that convey the essence of the people we encounter.

Most people don’t object if you ask to take their photos, but language barriers are an issue unless we have a guide.

---

---

---

Spiderman is accepted everywhere we go, by boys in particular.

All of the images below were procured by one of these methods. I hope that the photos don’t offend any of the subjects. They are all beautiful people.

---

---

Speaking of beautiful people, and getting back to the sound of a falling tree, you are the reason I don’t think a falling tree makes a sound.

If you weren’t here to read my stories, they would not exist.

Thank you for following along with Bear and I. With you present, we can hear…

… the Sound of a Falling Tree.

---

---

---

---

Like and Subscribe…

To join the WellWaterBlog audience, scroll down and add your e-mail address to the growing list.  You will receive a notice each time a new article is posted and nothing else – No Advertising, No Solicitations, No B.S., Just Fun.

---

---