My Twitter friend @peat almost always starts the morning by tweeting: “How are you changing the world today?”

I don’t usually have a good answer. I thought about why this was and reflected on my path. My path is not as a world-changer, at least not consistently and directly. Mine is not fully defined yet, but it seems to center around gaining knowledge (which I hope will lead to wisdom, but we’ll see) and perhaps being an influencer or helper–perhaps–as a beneficial side effect.

So I have found myself reflecting upon the following questions most days: “What have I learned today?”

In the past couple of days, I have learned:

• Japan formed a puppet state in northeastern China called Manchukuo in the 1930s. It was ultimately dissolved after the Second World War. I also learned about the geography of Manchuria and outer Mongolia in general (Sources: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Wikipedia and my atlas).
• Commercial growers rarely use Lexan (plastic) for greenhouse construction any more. Reasons include its degradation over time under sun conditions and rising cost (plastic = petroleum = more dollars). (Source: Mark of Orchidaceae in Walla Walla, Wash.)
• the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico might be the oldest inhabited place in North America (Inspiration: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, Source: Wikipedia, Internets).
• Sacajawea Peak in the Wallowa Mountains is the tallest mountain in Oregon outside of the Cascade chain (Source: David via the Internet on his phone on top of Mt. Howard staring at said peak).
• Clark Nutcrackers and whitebark pines have a symbiotic relationship in the Wallowas, as the birds bury and forget pine nuts (Source: pathside signs, Wallowa Mountains).
• The Grande Ronde River in northeastern Oregon, near the enclave of Troy, is stunning. Also: there are goodly number of wild turkeys out there. (Source: Self/obvious/gravel roads/wow).
• The fewer the digits in a Forest Service road, the more likely it is to be passable in some sense. But not always. On Monday, 62 was better than 6415 but 64 sucked. (Source: Deduction/confirmation from Mr. Pencil).
• How wheat is harvested (Source: Observation from hilltop).
• Milton-Freewater, Oregon’s slogan is “Home of low-cost utilities.” Or at least that’s what their sign says. (Source: sign).