May 2026 Newsletter
THE SUMMER EDITION
Hello everyone, wherever and whenever you are, and welcome to the May edition of the Shakarri News.
ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY
CANADIAN FORCES PATROLLING THE ARCTIC
These days there are many articles which discuss the Arctic hand in glove with Canada’s sovereignty. One recent article that I enjoyed follows 1,300 Armed Forces members on a two month journey, starting from Inuvik in mid-February and arriving in Churchill at the beginning of April. It’s not a long read, maybe ten minutes of your time. But if you’re unfamiliar with the challenges that our service members face, and the significant contributions that the Canadian Rangers make towards surviving in the brutal Canadian Arctic, you might enjoy the read. Below is a paragraph from the article.
“A key component of the Canadian Rangers is its indigenous Inuit members, whose deep knowledge of Canada’s northern territories has been essential to finding safe paths and keeping army members alive – both on this most recent patrol and other operations across the Arctic.”
MICROPLASTICS AND OUR HEALTH
HOW DO YOU MITIGATE THE IMPACT OF MICRO PLASTICS IN YOUR HOME
As with the Arctic, there are many articles out there that discuss microplastics: how plastics break down into micro and nano particles, how the plastic comes off of your non-stick frying pan with every scrape of your plastic spoon, how every twist of a plastic water bottle cap releases microplastics into your water, how plants, animals, fish, and everything we eat or drink likely contain microplastics. They’re everywhere and in everything. How is it affecting our health? Should we be worried? The short answer is yes, maybe.
That is the essence of the issues surrounding microplastics. We are at the front end of trying to fully understand the impact they will have on, well, everything. The article I have referenced below discusses the potential issues and the common sense measures you may want to consider taking to minimize the potential negative effects of the microplastics in your home environment. But the authors admit that they do not fully understand the potential future impacts. In our youth, we behave(d) as though we are invulnerable. But as we age, all of those questionable choices we dismissed or ignored continue to accumulate, and eventually manifest their negative consequences. With that and this article in mind, consider looking at your home environment and see what changes you might make to mitigate possible future harm. The air throughout our homes is infused with microplastics. But there are things you can do to minimize breathing in many them. Something to contemplate.
THE LSD STORY
THE ‘BIZARRE’ STORY OF THE WORLD’S FIRST LSD TRIP
This is a very interesting story about the discovery of LSD in April of 1943, a drug intended for pharmaceutical purposes that became one of the most used hallucinogenic drugs of the 1960s and early 1970s before government regulators banned its use.
If you are interested in reading the article, copy and paste the link below into your browser.
HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THESE NAMES
PRONUNCIATION OF MAIN CHARACTERS IN TIGER MAN
This will be my last newsletter until September of this year. Assuming my new book, The End of the Beginning is ready for publication in the fall, I will inform everyone of the date and include the name pronunciations in the newsletter following it’s release.
Pronunciation of Main Characters
in Tiger Man
Earth
|
Fetu |
feh-too’ |
|
Arihi |
Are-ee-hee |
|
Teuila |
tay-OO-lah |
|
Manuia |
man-noo-EE-ah |
|
Bai |
bye |
|
Vitaly |
Vih-TAH-lee |
|
Arkady |
Ahr-Kay-Dee |
|
Rea |
Ray |
|
Jean |
Zhon |
|
Feng |
Fung |
Ancients
|
Shairoun |
shay-ROON |
|
Loraila |
Lor-EYE-lah |
|
Alldomas |
AWL-do-mas |
A TANGLED WEB
A MONKEY SELFIE WILL PROTECT YOU FROM AI SLOP
This is a very interesting but tangled article, which discusses the challenges of assigning ownership of creative works, whether the work was created by a human, an animal, or AI. It also points out, but does not resolve, inconsistencies internationally, and the need to have international standards to protect the artists.
If you are interested in reading the article, see link below
https://link.restdenis.ca/c/443/48d091cc2b4cf7d0c9cb298c73ea2a15efed08dcc93cdc2c1f2156861ee79fe723f1f694ea285081
MAY: THE START TO SUMMER. A HAPPY SEASON FOR MOST OF US, MAYBE
QUESTIONS? THOUGHTS?
In Canada, weather is often front and centre when people meet, providing an opening for casual discussions that branch down many different paths. Across this vast, amazing country of ours, there are an incredible variety of weather patterns that shape our conversations and lives; these can be considered unusual, but are also typical for each region. Atmospheric rivers and high winds; snow-free winters on the west coast; summer snows in the mountains or on the high plateaus of the prairies mid-summer; mind-numbing winter cold driven by high winds on the prairies; chinook winds raising or lowering the temperatures suddenly by 30+ degrees within an hour; golf and baseball-sized hail, floods, droughts, freezing rain, and tornados; the suffocating high humidity of summer in south central Canada, or the brutal cold of the northern regions: there’s always something to talk, and often complain, about. One of my worst complaints about summer are the bugs: the biting bugs, the ones that stalk or swarm you, crawl on your face and go up your nose and down your sweater, ticks that drop from above and bury themselves under your skin, forcing you to dress in layers of clothing in the high heat if you want to leave your home for a walk. The black flies, the mosquitoes, the horse flies and deer flies, or the sand fleas on the beach at night while watching a fire, biting your ankles and making you want to commit suicide because of the endless scratching. Does any of that sound familiar?
On that happy note, I hope you all have a wonderful summer, drive safe if you plan to travel, and enjoy this beautiful country of ours. I’ll be back in September with my fall edition.
As always, I’d love to hear from you, so Email Me and let me know your thoughts on anything in this newsletter, or suggestions for what you’d like to see in future editions.
-Ray
Ray St. Denis
Author, The Shakarri Series
