Renaming Clingman's Dome

The view from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The mountain is the tallest peak in the park and sits on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. It's sacred to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who hope to see the name of the mountain changed to Kuwahi, which their ancestors called the mountain for hundreds of years.  Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council passed a resolution Thursday in support of changing the name of the highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Clingmans Dome.

Long before the mountain on the Tennessee-North Carolina border was a National Park attraction, the Cherokee referred to it as Kuwahi, which translates to "mulberry place." Tribal medicine men would journey up the mountain and pray for guidance, then share the visions they had with the rest of the community.

Lavita Hill, treasury specialist for the tribe, said she and her friend, fellow activist Mary Crowe, spent the last month preparing the name change proposal for the tribal government's approval. Hill said she was inspired by Yellowstone National Park's renaming of Mount Doane to First Peoples Mountain, which was based on the recommendation of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council.

Guide to Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park stretches over 500,000 acres across Tennessee and North Carolina, and is known for its wildlife and historic homesteads. It’s the most visited national park in the country (yes, beating Yellowstone), with 12 million visitors in the last year alone.

With six park entrances to choose from, it’s important to base yourself near the sites you most want to see. Each gateway town has its own personality, but most don't get as much press as well-known Gatlinburg. Here, we break down what each of the six towns has to offer to help you decide where to stay for your Smokies getaway.

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Bryson City and Cherokee, North Carolina
Bryson City is the hub for the North Carolina Smokies and is popular with families riding the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, as the best-known route snakes through the mountains between Bryson City and Dillsboro. Train tickets include admission to the Smoky Mountain Trains Museum, which has over 7,000 model train engines and cars.

Neighboring Cherokee is an essential stop for learning about the Native people who were forcibly removed from this land in 1838. The tribe still has a presence here, and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian details their 11,000-year history. Support the community by shopping for Cherokee-made crafts at Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc.

When you’re feeling peckish, Naber’s Drive In is like stepping back in time, complete with carhop service and a simple menu featuring burgers and hot dogs. Anthony's Restaurant, in the heart of downtown Bryson City, is known for its white pizza and garlic knots (you'll need to fuel up for all that hiking, after all).

Cozy up at Sky Ridge Yurts, located just across the river from rafting outfitters like Nantahala Outdoor Center. The permanent tents have porches overlooking the forest, fire pits, full-sized bathrooms, WiFi, televisions, and kitchens (some come with kitchenettes, others offer full set-ups).  READ MORE...

Returning Elk

In the not-so-distant past, red wolves and bison roamed the Great Smoky Mountains, passenger pigeons flew en masse overhead, and Carolina parakeets chattered in the welcoming branches of American chestnut trees. 

Today, every one of those species has disappeared from the Southern Appalachian landscape — hastened along the way by the arrival of European settlers, new diseases, and new hunting and farming practices that dramatically reshaped the region’s flora and fauna.

Among the largest and most conspicuous species lost to human activity were eastern elk, a regional subspecies that vanished in the 1800s. 

But now, thanks to an ambitious project launched 20 years ago in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the resonant bugling calls of elk can be heard echoing across North Carolina’s Cataloochee Valley.

“The great pie in the sky would be to have one large, contiguous population throughout the East Coast again,” said Wildlife Biologist Joseph Yarkovich. “But that’s still way, way down the road.”

Yarkovich has spent much of his career with the National Park Service working to ensure the success of the elk’s reintroduction to the Smokies, mostly on the North Carolina side of the national park. 

After two decades of accumulating small wins, the park service is now looking to make the new herd more resilient and improve standard practices for tracking and managing reintroduced wildlife.  READ MORE

Our Metabolism

Blaming those extra pounds on a slowing metabolism as you age? Not so fast.

A new international study counters the common belief that our metabolism inevitably declines during our adult lives. Well, not until we’re in our 60s, anyway.

Researchers found that metabolism peaks around age 1, when babies burn calories 50 percent faster than adults, and then gradually declines roughly 3 percent a year until around age 20. 

From there, metabolism plateaus until about age 60, when it starts to slowly decline again, by less than 1 percent annually, according to findings published Thursday in the journal Science.

To tease out the specific impact of age on metabolism, the researchers adjusted for factors such as body size (bigger bodies burn more calories overall than smaller ones) and fat-free muscle mass (muscles burn more calories than fat).

“Metabolic rate is really stable all through adult life, 20 to 60 years old,” said study author Herman Pontzer, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and author of “Burn,” a new book about metabolism. 

“There's no effect of menopause that we can see, for example. And you know, people will say, 'Well when I hit 30 years old, my metabolism fell apart.' We don't see any evidence for that, actually.”

Pontzer and colleagues studied a database of more than 6,400 people, ages 8 days to 95 years, from 29 countries worldwide who had participated in “doubly labeled water” tests. 

With this method, individuals drink water in which some of the hydrogen and oxygen have been replaced with isotopes of these elements that can be traced in urine samples.  READ MORE

Fish With Human Teeth

Last week (Aug 3), anglers at Jennette's Pier in North Carolina pulled up something unexpected — and uncanny — from the Atlantic: a fish with human teeth.


Yes, this fish — and its teeth — are real. But fortunately, there's nothing human about it.

It's called a sheepshead fish (Archosargus probatocephalus) — also known as a convict fish for the dark stripes running down its gray body, reminiscent of a stereotypical prison jumpsuit, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 

The fish is commonly found swimming along the Atlantic coast, from New York to Brazil, and gave Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, its name. 

They can grow up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) long and dine on a variety of oysters, clams, crustaceans and the odd bit of plant matter.  Hence, the teeth.  READ MORE

The Heart and Soul of the SOUTH

The front door to my modest 1,800 square foot home is open and the all glass storm door allows full sunlight to enter.  I am sitting in a recliner just left and back from the front door wearing sweatpants and a fleeced lined sweatshirt jacket because it is a tad chilly inside our home during these months as we keep the thermostat on a constant 68 degrees which ordinarily is fine but as I grow older, I tend to need more warmth wrapped around me.

The outside temperatures have been in the 50's and tomorrow it will reach well into the 60's and whatever remnants of snow remaining will be for sure melted away.  Tomorrow, I will take down and package up our outside Christmas decorations...  well before New Years Day which is the tradition around these parts...  as they say in these parts...

My door is open because I feel relatively SAFE in East TN and not the slightest concerned that BLM along with the help of ANTIFA will be running around this neck of the woods rioting, burning, and looting...  although, we have plenty of black families living in this area...  and, actually not too far away if one were to take a notion to measure.

With a 30 minute drive, I can be in the heart of Knoxville, or Sevierville and if I were to add 30 more minutes, I can be in the heart of NASCAR country or Bristol, TN to the north and to the east Dollywood and/or Pigeon Forge and the resort area of Gatlinburg...  and in none of these places will I find any traces of BLM or ANTIFA...   even though more and more people are visiting these places from those bigger cities where BLM and ANTIFA seem to thrive.

Tennessee was one of the first STATES of our nation and was split in half more or less when we decided to have our Civil War...  as there were places about an hour from here that made munitions for the Union Army...  but, mostly it is a confederate State and because it was and still is in the business of "running moonshine" along the back roads provides the heart and soul of NASCAR...  along with North Carolina as they share The Great Smokey Mountains...  although, North Carolina may be a little more sophisticated.

But...   and, more importantly...  at least to me...  is the fact that on days like today, I can open my front door and let the sunshine in...   and, politics BE DAMNED...  and, I say that quite forcefully being the 73 year old threat that I am because...  politics has changed very little in this damn country of ours...  we have pretty much kept the STATUS QUO which is exactly why the BLACKS are bitching so much...  they see it too...

And, that is the great IRONY about POLITICS...  once you become a POLITICIAN and go that route under the FLAG of CHANGE... and WIN...   you quickly decide that nothing needs to change at all other than one's vocabulary...  in the sense of telling the people what they want to hear...

This is exactly why my front door is open and will continue to remain open while other front doors across the country at SHUT TIGHT and BOLTED.

America's problems lies not with her people but with her LEADERS...

Bad People Among Us

 

America has plenty of bad people and some to spare if they ever wanted to relocate to other countries...  I remember the Watergate Hearings and Senator Sam Ervin from North Carolina who made a statement that few remember I suspect that...  "everyone is a little bit oily."

At my age and physical conditioning, I am suspicious of everyone and am glad that my life experiences have proven that to be a good direction to take.

GREED  --  CONTROL  --  POWER

These are the single most important motivational foundation of most all Americans regardless of their positions, rank, wealth, or political affiliations...  it is a mental disorder that afflicts everyone and is inherent in everyone at the moment of their birth, manifesting itself in various stages as we get older and older...  until there is no need to possess it further as it has possessed you...

Those Who Are Afflicted:

1. Parents
2. Clergy
3. Bosses
4. Supervisors
5. Siblings
6. Politicians
7. Spouses
8. Military
9. Law Enforcement
10. Coaches
11. Lawyers
12. Physicians
13. Athletes
14. Actors
15. Musicians
16. Thieves
17. Criminals
18. Chefs
19. Writers
20. Artists

No one escapes the clutches of these 3 words...  its like the holy trinity of existence...  especially here in America where, for a while, our Democracy and Freedoms flourish...  and, as long as we are in possession of our Democracy and Freedoms, so too will we be possessed by:

GREED  --  CONTROL  --  POWER