This week I have been in computer hell… a new application whacked out my computer. During this week of chaos, I discovered that my virus protector is owned by a Romanian company. While the virus protector was one (of many) sources of the problem, I was more concerned about the company’s nationality. Despite its small size, Romania is a home for cyber hackers. I did the research on the company, and there appear to be no  issues besides the usual misses that are common with any cyber security application. Still, I remain uneasy.

But my imagined threat with my virus protector is nothing compared to the actual threats from applications sourced by Chinese and Russian companies. After a thorough investigation, the FBI concluded that the Russians manipulated the 2016 election to assist Trump. Russia did not alter actual votes, but they targeted voter registration systems and state websites in at least 21 states and stole hundreds of thousands of voters’ personal information. Russia also implemented a misinformation campaign on social media to assist Trump. The FBI has indicted 12 Russian nationals for their role in hacking into U.S. election systems.

So, we know it can and has happened. Officials recognize that China is an even larger threat, especially through its popular phone apps, such as TikTok.

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company, ByteDance. There have been efforts in a number of countries and the United States to ban TikTok. The China National Intelligence Law of 2017 requires that all organizations and citizens “support, assist and cooperate” with all national intelligence efforts. And that is just one of the problems.

Just having the TikTok app on our phone allows TikTok to collect personal data even when it isn’t on. TikTok is also suspected of having a number of back doors (which are ways to secretly access a program and its data). Due to the law, Chinese government can gain access to any of our data at any time. It is currently used to build better facial recognition capabilities for “Western” faces. But there is some evidence that it has already been used to track and access Chinese reporters. In the future it could be used for blackmail and to track US citizens. Another concern with TikTok is that the platform can be used for manipulating opinion as Russia also did in the 2016 election.

Another frequently accessed Chinese app is WeChat. WeChat offers text, broadcast, and voice messaging as well as video conferencing, mobile payment, video games, and location and photograph sharing. It also collects data on us.

The Chinese government can be ruthless. It has already “disappeared” a number of owners of large Chinese technology companies. Even Jack Ma, a well-known Chinese billionaire, was “disappeared” for three months and no longer lives in China.

To ease security concerns, TikTok claims that its data is stored on American servers.

There are a number of Russian applications that also present a threat. Russia recognizes that we do not trust it to use Russian cellphone applications, so it provides apps to be used by other platforms. Their most widely used app is Pushwoosh. You know those annoying advertisements that appear? Pushwhoosh is an application that is used to “push” those ads onto our computer and phone. To hide its Russian ownership, the Pushwhoosh company used a US address. Our military, the CDC, Unilever, and thousands of apps sold by Apple and Google Play used Pushwhoosh without knowing that it was a Russian company. Pushwhoosh is believed to present a potential security threat, since it probably also has a backdoor that the Russians can use to gain access to our data.

However, talk to an American teenager and 20 something about the security concerns of these apps and they will tell you that they don’t care and will continue to use these apps, especially TikTok. Given how ubiquitous TikTok already is among the younger generation, it may already be too late.

It reminds me of the quote by Lenin, “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them.” But today, the rope could be the “free” app.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Autumn has its own soundtrack. There is the rustle from leaves being swept across the pavement, and the crunch from dead leaves as I swish through them. There are the squirrels climbing around the trees gathering nuts. They sass my dogs as we walk along the trail.

Canada geese honk loudly as they fly in their V formations to warmer climes. There is the piercing blast and reverberations from shotguns and rifles. Occasionally I hear some crow caws notifying their kin of a newly harvested field. Or starlings summoning their clan to begin their spectacular, trance-inducing murmurations.

The air is dryer and crisper, so the sounds from machines are louder and more differentiated. The thumping motorcycle engines reverberate through my home. The sounds from clattering farm equipment slowly wind through the streets. The high pitched chatter and laughter of children at the end of the school day echoes throughout the town.

But my favorite sounds are the sounds of football games. The ratatat percussion section of the marching band creates a rhythm and pace. The marching band horns blare inspirational songs. Spectators shout, cheer, or groan after each play. The announcer’s scratchy voice over the loudspeaker explains each play and its key participants. At halftime, the marching band prances throughout the field with coordinated instruments that belt out loud, familiar tunes. There is always a low hum from the crowd. The symphony of sounds from a football game is unmistakable.

I am an avid football fan. Not just because I love the game, but because football games were our family time. Every Sunday, I would go to church and volunteer at the animal adoption day, while my daughter went to the barn to ride, and my husband would relax and prepare our favorite appetizers. Then we would gather together and watch football.

Yet, I am very conflicted over football.

Especially college football. The monopolistic grip of the NCAA keeps young kids in an almost slavish status. Large football schools make a lot of money off football, both in donations and ticket sales. But players, who give their body and their youth to this sport, are given merely a scholarship. Some college coaches have multi-million dollar salaries, yet their players cannot afford their meals. If students are injured (as many are), they lose their scholarship and leave with nothing but a broken body. If they fail to graduate during their eligibility period (which is challenging because playing football is a full-time job), they leave without a degree.

Athletes are starting to fight back. After an athlete discovered that his picture was used to promote a game, he sued the NCAA for compensation under anti-trust laws. The NCAA disagreed, arguing the canard that student athletes should be unpaid amateurs. The NCAA lost and the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that athletes can be compensated. A few states are passing laws that allow athletes to make money on sponsorships and advertising from local businesses. Most of these players grew up in poverty and will not get to play in the NFL; this will be the only money they may earn from years of effort and sacrifice.

At a minimum, the NCAA should ensure that these student-athletes are given a free education despite injury or the inability to complete their degree during the eligibility period. And at an absolute minimum, they should ensure these children are fed.

I have concerns with the violence of football. I love watching the game because of its complexity. There are 22 different players (11 players on each team) for each play and a myriad of coaches, and each player is a crucial link in the team choreography. I love the complexity of the different defenses, stunts, receiver routes, just to name a few. I enjoy watching the creative offenses and spectacular athletes. But I shudder at the violence. If it were up to me, I would prefer flag football.

I know that many people like the violent nature of this sport. ESPN used to have a show that featured brutal tackles and hard hits, called getting “jacked up.” I remember announcers referring to a player who received a concussive hit as “getting his bell rung.” The player returned to the field a few plays later.

And violence was encouraged. The New Orleans Saints defensive coach was suspended for two years for offering a “bounty reward” to any player that injured a player on the opposing team. This coach was videotaped exhorting his players to hit them on the head. Head hits are believed to contribute to CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). Sadly, the coach was reinstated after his suspension and coaches today.

Football is not the only violent sport by any means. Hockey, boxing, rugby, and wrestling are more violent. But football is easily the most popular sport in the United States. In 2022, 87% of the top 100 watched shows (including sports and entertainment) were football games, yes that’s 87%. Football is not only the most popular sport, it is the most popular form of entertainment in the United States.

Today both players and coaches are concerned about the impact of the violence on player health, especially brain health. Former players like Troy Aikman, Harry Carson, and even Brett Farve would not have played the sport had they known about the potential health consequences. There are many injuries, but the most concerning are head injuries and paralysis. The NFL has finally acknowledged that concussion injuries are the main cause of CTE, which is a fatal brain disease that results in the development of a fatal, early form of dementia.

Recognizing the seriousness of these injuries, the NFL has taken some steps to improve player safety. Each year they ban certain formations (e.g., wedge in kickoff returns), tackles (e.g., leading with the helmet) and blocks (e.g., crackback blocks) that are associated with the most injuries. They are developing special helmets to reduce injuries. There are 30 medical personnel on the sidelines of each game to evaluate an injury, render aid to the player, and determine if the player is fit to continue playing.

At the beginning of each season, each NFL team implements and rehearses an emergency medical action plan to follow in the event of severe trauma. Before each kickoff, all medical personnel from each team and the NFL meet on the field to introduce themselves and review health and safety procedures. They review the location of emergency equipment such as the defibrillator and designate which physician will serve as the leader in case of a cardiac arrest. There are also medical tents on each sideline where players are treated immediately after any injury. If an independent doctor rules that there was a concussion, the player is sidelined and does not return until weeks later after concussion protocols are met.

Football fans witnessed this progress at the January 2^nd Monday night football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals. A Buffalo player, Jamar Hamlin, had a freak injury that resulted in complete cardiac arrest. The medical personnel immediately followed their procedures and saved his life.

This was a very rare accident, called commotio cordis, where the heartbeat gets interrupted and stops. Surprisingly, this is much more common for youth playing lacrosse, hockey and sometimes softball and baseball than football. It is estimated that at least 15 to 20 die from this condition each year in the US. But Hamlin didn’t die because the medical personnel at the game were prepared.

Nevertheless, as long as football is a tackling game, there will be injuries. And many of them will be serious. Players joke that NFL stands for Not For Long.

It is also believed that NFL injuries are not the greatest source of brain trauma. Concussions occur in Pop Warner, travel leagues, and school games, where the medical treatment is not as sophisticated and where ambitious coaches may not follow proper protocols. And repeated concussions are believed to cause CTE. Iif we are going to make football safe for the elite few who make it to the NFL, we need to make it safe for vulnerable children. Parents and schools need to be watching closely.

I hope that we can clean up this game. Because football is a uniquely American sport. And fall brings us all of the images and sounds and smells and energy associated with football. This game is part of our culture and I would miss it terribly if it were gone.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

The carefree life of summer is fading and it is time to get to work. Children return to school; animal babies leave their nest, those “to do’s” that we put off in summer are coming to roost, our landscape is giving up and preparing for the winter, and it is time for squirrels to make their presence known.

Squirrels are more active now; the lazy days of summer have given way to a working autumn. The trees are dropping their nuts and squirrels are feasting on them, caching them, and messing with us. Of our local wildlife, squirrels seem to be the most playful and most amused by us humans.

They appear to enjoy our attempts to keep them from bird feeders. Over the years, my husband and I tried all methods of squirrel proof feeders, even employing a battery operated one that acts as a “tilt-o-whirl” when squirrels land on top of them.

We finally realized that we were really just creating a squirrel gymnastics center; and chose to enjoy the show. The squirrels dazzled us with their feats of athletic and mental brilliance. Watching them climb up a greased pole was hysterical. They would take turns until one of them was able to absorb all of the oil and the others found a way to stick their claws into the metal. Squirrel baffles were overcome by jumping from tree branches above, sticking their nails into them and leaning over to get the treats. “Squirrel-proof” feeders that would close when too much weight was on them, would be attacked from above. While squirrels rested, birds got as much food as possible before squirrels returned to the feeders.

Squirrels are also amusing to watch in nature. My neighbor swore that they deliberately pelted him with nuts while he was mowing the lawn. I see them dropping nuts onto the pavement, running down and gathering the exposed meat. Humans help them by stepping on the nuts, so our walkways are now covered with broken shells.

Do squirrels play? Naturalists believe that they do and that their play behavior falls into two categories: solitary play, where an animal will run, climb, jump, twist, tumble and play fight with objects; and social play such as tag or mock fights. Watching them play tag around a tree trunk and race up and down a tree looks like fun, but naturalists believe that these games are a form of play fighting over territory. A squirrel territory can be between 1-25 acres; but except for mating season, they typically overlap peacefully.

My older dog, Annie, who has cataracts and diminished hearing, likes to sit sphinxlike in the grass and watch them play. She silently watches their staccato fluid movements as they search for nuts or sunflower seeds. We call it “Annie TV.” My other dog, Gus, still likes to try to chase squirrels, but he is no match for their speed, their zig-zag pattern, or the plethora of trees in my yard.

In addition to be exceptionally active, squirrels are very busy chattering away these days. They seem to be arguing with each other about which nut belongs to whom. But they are especially talkative to Gus. After dashing up a tree to avoid being caught, they will come down the trunk at a level where he can’t reach them and taunt him “you missed me, you missed me.” To him, it is all in good fun, he and walks away knowing that he is outmaneuvered.

Squirrels have a strong sense of smell. Their sense of smell is so evolved that they can find a cached nut under a foot of snow. Despite this, it is estimated they lose up to 25% of their stored nuts to forgetfulness and animal thievery. Which explains why they dig up all of my planters every week (mistaking my flowers for a newly planted cache) and each year I have an abundance of tree seedlings.

Squirrels also possess sharp hearing, exceptional eyesight, and a good spatial memory (to remember where they stored their nuts). Squirrels are also very intelligent. In Chongqing, China, squirrels have been trained to sniff out illicit drugs. It is not surprising that they are one of the most resilient species in all habitable regions.

They are very busy these days preparing for winter, stuffing their faces with our abundant nuts and caching others. Scientists believe that squirrels organize their nuts more carefully than many of us organize our own food. They appear to organize their nut stash by quality, variety, and possibly even preference. Squirrels “chunk” their nuts and bury different types of nuts in different places depending on the size and quality. They also pretend to bury nuts to throw off potential thieves.

Squirrels in North America used to migrate, the last great squirrel migration of hundreds of thousands of squirrels was recorded in 1968 in Wisconsin. It is believed that since then, this mass migration behavior has gone extinct. After all, with the addition of humans, there is plenty of year round food. Unlike many forest creatures, gray squirrels have successfully adapted to suburban life. They take advantage of our large growth nut trees, our planters (for storage), our birdfeeders, and our fall decorations (pumpkins, corn).

As I was researching squirrels for this article, I discovered that the Eastern Shore has its our own squirrel species, the Delmarva fox squirrel. It resides deep in the forest and, except for its larger size (up to 3 pounds), it looks a lot like a common gray squirrel with a slightly fluffier tail. Unlike its cousin, the Delmarva fox squirrel spends most of its time on the ground, instead of trees. Delmarva fox squirrels live in grown forests near freshwater, and in small woodlands next to crops. Its largest concentrations can be found in Talbot, Kent, Queen Annes, and Dorchester counties, with the most in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. These squirrels has recovered so well from habitat loss that they were taken off the endangered species list in 2015.

So, when you hear the ratcheting, screeching, clicking, or even squealing sounds along with the sound of nuts falling onto the ground, look for our resilient little acrobatic, fluffy-tailed rodents long-jumping along the tree limbs. We even have one of his cousins named after our area. Pretty impressive for a fun loving, little rodent.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.