I recently returned from Kruger National Park in South Africa.  In the next few columns, I will cover what I learned from the master teacher—nature.

Kruger was created in the late 1920s and is one of the largest national wildlife parks, approximately the size of New Jersey.  Kruger differs from the East and Central African savannahs because has some woodlands and offers a wider variety of animals but in smaller numbers.  

As one of South Africa’s greatest assets, Kruger is highly respected, spotlessly maintained, with no litter, few bones and even fewer skeletons.  

Winter is the dry season in Kruger, so the bushveld savannah is thick with dried grasslands, thirsty bushes and bare trees.  

And it can be cold, especially on the 3-hour morning open-air game drive, commencing at 6 a.m. with temperatures hovering in the 50s.  At 3:30 p.m., we hopped into the open-air land rovers for the 3-hour afternoon game drive. A ranger drove the land rover and a tracker sat in a jump seat in the front to spot the abundant wildlife and provide protection, in the very rare instance of danger.  

While these are wild animals, they have become quite used to humans, and view us as a curiosity, an annoyance or simply an irrelevance.  For that reason, we were able to get within a few feet of the animals without impacting their behavior. For example, when observing prides of lions, not even the cubs bothered to look in our direction.  

Seeing animals in their natural environment is breathtaking.  In one instance we were able to watch rare wild dogs consume their kill. 

Wild dogs are beautiful creatures.  Their faces resemble German Shepherds.  They have large rounded ears like hyenas. Their slim, slightly built bodies are covered in a beautiful camouflage colored fur.

Wild dogs are endangered, so observing them is a real treat.  They travel in packs of 7-10 and move quickly, often crossing national boundaries in a matter of days.  To feed the pack, they must hunt twice a day. Due to finely tuned, flawless cooperation, they are the most effective hunters in South Africa, boasting success rates as high as 90% (compared to 25% for lions and 17% for wolves). In Kruger they feast on antelope such as Impala, Kudus, Nyalas, Duikers and Steenboks.

We had the incredible fortune of encountering a pack within 10 minutes of killing a young male impala.  

The dogs worked flawlessly as a group, taking turns feasting on the antelope while others guarded the kill. There were no disagreements, just a silent understanding of their roles.  

Aware that hyenas would immediately pick up the scent of the kill, they ate quickly. Sure enough, within minutes, two hyenas appeared, intent upon stealing the kill.

Each hyena was twice their size, and had the hyenas used a coordinated attack they would have been able to steal the kill.  But the hyenas bickered among themselves, allowing the smaller dogs to keep them pinned.

The coordination among the pack was amazing, each instinctively knew their roles, didn’t bark, growl or yelp (I wish they could train my dogs).  As soon as the hyenas arrived, other members of the pack stopped eating to assist the guards.  

Despite their nasty reputation, hyenas have one of the most important roles in the bush.  Their strong jaws can crush and consume large bones that even lions cannot break.  

We observed one hyena steal the impala’s head and crush and swallow it in a single bite. Hyenas eat so much bone that their scat (a euphemism for you know what) resembles white chicken eggs.

We watched while nature continued to do its dance. While the dogs ate, vultures hovered in the bare trees. A few brave ones began to pick around the feast. But for the most part, they waited for the hyenas and dogs to finish.

One by one the dogs silently crept back to their den, knowing that their pups were vulnerable to hyenas, lions and leopards, they were careful to escape unnoticed.  Back in the den, the pack would regurgitate some of their food for the pups. 

After the dogs departed, the hyenas grabbed the large bones and the vultures wandered around the site eating any remaining morsels of flesh.

Within ½ hour all signs of the kill were gone, anyone wandering onto the scene would see only matted grass and perhaps a wandering hyena or vulture searching for scraps.

So what did nature teach me?

1. The dogs acting collectively were able to beat a greater foe.  
2. The vultures, believing there would be enough for them, patiently waited their turn.
3. The underappreciated cleanup crew of hyenas and vultures left the place spotless. Without them, the bush would be filled with rotting corpses and skeletons. 

It was nature’s play where everyone understood their roles. Their life and death struggle choreographed into a flawless dance.  

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.

At the end of the story about Noah and the great flood, a rainbow appears as a symbol of God’s promise that this will never happen again.  But there is a better reminder of a force that protects us every day…the Aurora.

Observing the Northern Lights has been on my bucket list; but that took a tumble down the list when I discovered that they can only be observed at the earth’s poles (I knew that) in winter (didn’t know that).

So how are the Northern Lights a sign that we are being protected?

The story can be told by comparing Earth and Mars  development. Earth and Mars were very similar when they formed over 4 billion years ago. Both had an atmosphere, chaotic activity, water and carbon, the key elements for life.  Even more important, both had geothermal vents which many scientists believe is where life began. 

Mars was once a blue planet with a vast sea that covered 1/5th of its surface.  Large, freshwater lakes on Mars survived for hundreds of millions of years. It had a 2 ½ mile deep waterfall!

Yet today, Mars is a cold, red, dry, dusty planet and its neighbor, earth, is a blue planet teeming with life and water. 

What happened?

Approximately 3.7 billion years ago, the chance for life on Mars evaporated with its atmosphere.  

Scientists believe the atmosphere was removed by solar winds.

Solar winds are streams of charged particles from the sun that can strip away the atmosphere. Unlike Mars, Earth is protected by a strong magnetic field that forms around it like a shield. Earth’s magnetic field invisibly surrounds our planet; but on some wintry days near the poles, we can see it in action—the aurora.

Our auroras are a visible spectacle of our magnetic field protecting us from the solar winds…all in a mysterious and beautiful display. Technically, the aurora is a result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind, but I like my description better.

So why does earth have this protection and Mars does not? (As it was explained to me) Planets’ magnetic fields are formed by the liquid iron in their cores. Earth’s size means that it has enough liquid iron to generate a formidable magnetic field.  Mars, on the other hand, is a much smaller planet, so it generated a weaker magnetic field. The combination of Mars’s distance from the sun and its relatively small size destroyed its magnetic field, allowing solar winds to gradually rob Mars of its chance for life. Billions of years ago, it stole Mars’ oxygen and hydrogen and eventually its lakes, oceans and waterfalls. To this day, the solar winds continue to strip away Mars’ remaining atmosphere.

So, the aurora is not only beautiful and surreal, but it shows us in a dramatic fashion how our magnetic field is protecting us like a winter jacket from the solar winds. 

Maybe I’ll buy a warmer jacket and move it up on my bucket list. 

Note:  NOVA on PBS has a summer series on the planets for all of those interested in these stories and more.  

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.

In Tidewater Tales, John Barth likens our reaction to death to chickens in a chicken coop at the mercy of a large black snake.  When the snake kills a chicken, the other chickens squawk and run around nervously, but they soon return to their usual routine of eating, clucking and laying eggs. This is also a fair analogy for our responses to mass shootings.  The “chickens” (us), talk, criticize and demand gun control measures; while the NRA and its congressmen, lay low (like the black snake) until we quit squawking.

Today I am one of those squawkers.

I had hoped that after Sandy Hook, where 20 first graders and 6 adults were killed in a horrific act of gun violence; we would pass legislation to protect ourselves.

But the black snake just waited us out. 

In fact, after the Sandy Hook shooting nearly every state implemented new gun laws and almost two-thirds of those laws made access to guns easier (NY Times 2013). Two states that passed gun laws encouraging gun ownership were, you guessed it, Ohio and Texas.

Then I hoped that reforms might happen after the Parkland High School shooting which left 17 dead.  Some students took off from school to go around the country advocating for gun laws to protect us.  

But the black snake just waited.

Statistics show that there is little about gun ownership that is safe.  

The risk of homicide is three times higher in homes with firearms. Over a dozen studies have found that increasing guns in homes increases homicides or violence. States with the most guns and the most favorable gun laws report the most accidental shooting deaths. Accidents made up 1.3% of the 36,247 U.S. shooting deaths in 2015.

The most recent Walmart shooting put to bed the canard that the best weapons against gun violence are “good guys” with guns. No gun owners in Texas, a strong open carry state, were able to stop the rampage. It turns out protecting yourself and protecting others using guns are two completely different skills, according to law enforcement officials.

Most of us want responsible gun controls, 57% favor a ban on assault weapons, 90% approve of background checks. The NRA’s extreme positions and recent scandal demonstrate that they do not represent the rights of responsible gun owners.

Which causes me to be frustrated and wonder why responsible gun owners (who represent the vast majority of gun owners) are not incensed by how they are being used by the NRA. The NRA today is little more than a shill for gun manufacturers.  

Despite its obvious ties to gun manufacturers, the NRA has effectively sold fear, convincing its members that there will be a “domino effect” if we pass any laws to restrict gun ownership. Some have been convinced that the “government” will swoop down and take their guns away. (It is estimated that there are almost 400 million guns in America. Have you ever seen the government in action?  Does anyone really believe that that the government could do this?)

But something must be done.  While many of the proposed solutions such as; red flag laws, background check and a ban on assault weapons, will do little to bring down the number of deaths; IT IS A START.  

Can we let common sense prevail? Gun owners are already protected by the constitution. 

Something as simple as banning assault weapons would have had a significant impact on the death toll in the Ohio shootings, where the shooter was able to kill 9 people and injure 27 others in less than a minute. He fired at least 41 times before six officers responded and killed him. And in El Paso, police responded within six minutes, by then the gunman had fled, leaving 22 people dead. The police have been able to respond very quickly and effectively to many mass shootings (the glaring exception being Parkland), but assault weapons are faster, than, well “a speeding bullet.”

There is an inconvenient truth here, the 10-year ban on assault weapons which ended in 2004 had no impact on the number of gun-related deaths.  This is because there are so many gun related deaths each year and only a tiny fraction of gun deaths are the result of mass killings.

But what if a ban on assault weapons saved the life of one innocent victim, as it would have in Ohio or Texas or Sandy Hook or the nightclub shooting in Florida…would it be worth it?  

Now back to my chicken coop analogy, the good news is that we are not chickens.  We can sign petitions; we can notify our representatives and we can write checks and keep up the pressure in the hopes that someday our lawmakers listen to the voice of the majority. 

We can find where that black snake is hiding.

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.

I am a gardener, so I know suffering.

I am not sure who said, “nature abhors a garden” (it has been attributed to author Michael Pollan). I don’t know about that, but I do know that “nature abhors MY garden.”

By midsummer, I wonder if I should put my suffering plants out of their misery. The hot, humid summer has reduced my hydrangeas to wilted leaves, dried flower heads and rust spots.  

My lawn has dried up, some annuals have browned and even one rosebush died.  I don’t blame them, I wouldn’t want to stay out in this heat either.

Even the blackbirds have tired of taunting me and headed to more productive farmland.

It is just me and my spent flower heads, tired bushes, wilting hydrangea, dried up daylilies, brown loosestrife, slug-eaten hosta, suffering annuals, powdery mildew-stained coreopsis and other unhappy plants. 

My underground sprinkler system couldn’t keep up while I was away on vacation and some of my thirsty plants, like astilbe, just dried up.

My pots are annoyed as well, the caladiums, used to Florida weather, appear to believe that this climate is worse.

To be fair, some plants are doing well, crab grass, wild violets, wild grape and other weeds appear to be thriving.

Autumn gardeners may be enjoying the grasses, sedum, mums, and asters.  But my garden lacks the sun and space necessary for those plants.

So being a gardener, I know that I must continue to suffer. I go out in the early morning, dutifully weeding, watering, snipping off dead flower heads, removing dead leaves and pretending that my garden will recover.  

No, we gardeners cannot give up.  

After all, there is always next spring.

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.

Last month I got a robotic vacuum and I am a little obsessed with it.  

If you haven’t seen one, a robotic vacuum cleaner is small, round and automatically vacuums the floors for about 2 hours. Its 2 ½” height allows it to vacuum under beds and furniture and it knows how to hug the perimeter.  When the battery gets low, it returns to its recharging station.

So why I am enamored with it (besides loving how clean my floors are)? I used to write code and I am fascinated with its programming.  In truth, my robot is not particularly intelligent, its route around my house appears to be random and it keeps getting stuck in the same places. It also takes a circuitous route when it returns to its home base for recharging.  It appears to leave virtual breadcrumbs and retraces its steps rather than go directly back to its charging station. Once I left the front door open and it followed me outside, attempting to vacuum the lawn.

In researching robots, my first question is what is the difference between a robot and an ordinary machine?  Bottom line, there is no consensus. Wikipedia defines it as “a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control.”

But children’s toys, drones, TVs, computers, Alexa, cars and even some everyday appliances could fit in this definition. I have chosen to define robots as moving objects that perform programmed functions that do not require continuous human monitoring.

The earliest robot in history depends on your definition of robots.  But my definition would credit the first robot to the Muslim scholars of the 8th, 9th and most famously 12th century.  

These scientists apparently learned the basics from the Greeks but moved past water clocks to automata. The Arabs were the first to use the concept of robotics to aid humans.  The most prolific scientist, Al-Jazari, used hydropower to create an automated peacock, a waitress who could serve drinks, and other interesting machines. Al-Jazari published The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, which described his work, otherwise it would have been lost. As it was, with limited communication capabilities, his work was relegated to obscurity.

It took years before it was rediscovered and European hobbyists developed automata, which were featured in the charming movie Hugo.

But the name “robot” didn’t appear until the 1920’s. A Czech playwright produced a play about a humanoid mechanical creature and called it a “robot”.  “Robot” is actually derived from a Czech word which means “forced labor”.

The invention of the transistor, sensors and computers have accelerated robotic development.  Robots are famously used in factories and self-driving cars are not far behind.  

The biggest problem with the humanoid type robots is movement.  It turns out that walking has been notoriously difficult to recreate.  While robotics is advancing quickly, we still have a way to go before we can recreate Rosie of the Jetsons.

I recently got another robotic vacuum for my other home.  I chose a different brand so that I could study its movements.  This one’s movements are flashier; it likes to spin more but it shares the same limitations as my other robot.  

There are a number of robot competitions and PBS featured one in a NOVA episode.  RoboCup and DARPA are the most prestigious competitions. Contestants are provided with a series of tasks that their robot must perform and the contestant team is free to build any kind of robot that they choose.  It is truly an International competition, usually by teams who are associated with a University. Each year DARPA changes the focus. One year, it was firefighting. This year, it will be automobiles. The DARPA contest winner is awarded $2M and it is fun to watch the “creatures” that they fabricate.  

We are on the brink of this new technology making our lives easier, self-driving cars are almost there.  I don’t fear them taking over, I welcome integrating them into my life. We have a long way to go, but it will be fun watching the journey. 

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.

I admire Einstein, not just because of his genius, but of his willingness to put his humanity on display.

Of the many things that I admire, there are a number of things that I don’t, but he never tried to hide his weaknesses. He was a poor student in subjects that didn’t interest him. He was not a particularly good husband or father. He was not much of a mentor.

But his strengths outweigh his limitations. He was modest, confident, kind and intelligent.

There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from Dr. Einstein.

Know your worth. Einstein worked on relativity in obscurity. His paper was ignored by the scientific community until a famous scientist read it and promoted it.

Be modest. Other Princeton faculty proudly listed their awards on their office doors; Einstein merely placed a simple placard, A. Einstein.

Believe in a God or Divine Presence. When quantum mechanics became popular (to be overly simplistic, it is a series of complex equations that predict our universe well, but it is based on a to randomness of the universe), Einstein disagreed, “God doesn’t play dice with the universe”. More later about how his belief in a divine wisdom served him well.

Always question and see as far as you possibly can. He would review his mathematics and question his equations continually (more about that later). Einstein also unsuccessfully tried to develop a unified theory of the universe. He never gave up.

Expand your horizon. Einstein was an accomplished musician and became involved in the peace movement.

Have a generous spirit. Einstein was gracious, funny, welcoming and usually smiling.

Admit your mistakes. Einstein acknowledged making three significant errors. One of his errors was to propose gravitational waves; unable to develop a mathematical proof, he withdrew that proposition. In what he called his biggest blunder, he inserted a term called the cosmological constant into his theory of general relativity to force the equations to predict a stationary universe.

What is not known by the general public, is that Einstein was widely regarded as irrelevant from the 70’s up until recently. Relativity was accepted, but gravity was such a small force in our universe and particle and astrophysicists were more interested in the atom (which relativity didn’t address) and the cosmos. They focused on quantum theory, string theory and events in the cosmos. But guess what! Now that we have better equipment, especially the Hubble, scientists have proven both gravitational waves and the cosmological constant. So why am I saying that his admitting his errors (that turned out not to be) is important? By leaving it out there, it remained an important event to be tested…Einstein’s blunder. By admitting an error and moving on, he acknowledged his humanity but also allowed for the equipment and scientists to catch up with his genius.

But I said there were 3. And this is my favorite. Based on Einstein’s theory, gravitation forces would bend light and this could be tested during an eclipse. Einstein calculated how much the light would be bent and researchers set out to prove or disprove the theory of relativity by measuring the curvature of light during the eclipses of 1914 and 1918. BUT, Einstein had gotten his calculations wrong, he was off by a factor of two. Had researchers successfully been able to measure light during those two eclipses, they would have disproven the Theory of Relativity and physics would have continued down its previous path. By 1918, Einstein realized his error and made corrections. So, at the 1919 solar eclipse; the Theory of Relativity was proven and history was made. Why couldn’t it be tested in the 1914 and 1918 solar eclipses? Cloud cover obscured those eclipses. See what I mean about divine intervention?

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.

In conversations among women of a certain age, we sometimes reveal when we became invisible, usually due to age, weight gain or the absence of time to focus on our appearance. But at some point, in every woman’s life, she will become invisible; it even has a name Invisibility Syndrome.

Women feel differently about it, but most that I have met are happy about it.

It took awhile for me to realize when I first became invisible, but it noticed it when I was walking past a construction site and was not verbally abused. It surprised me, as I learned to wear loose fitting clothing and walking authoritatively to avoid the unwelcome comments. That day, I walked past the construction site unimpeded.

It took about 5 minutes to get over the life that I had known. The life where career women balance attractiveness and being taken seriously. The life where we are programmed by social norms, fashion, glamour magazines, and peer pressure to look attractive, but in the workforce, required to dress down our sexuality. It is a delicate dance.

I have been somewhat radicalized from the sexual harassment that I suffered as a pioneer. I learned to dress modestly and keep my head down so that I wouldn’t notice the leering. I wanted to be listened to.

I have many stories, but one anecdote will help you understand my world. One scientist made it a habit of staring at women’s breasts during any discussion. A sympathetic male colleague reproached him privately about his behavior. He expressed surprise that it made women uncomfortable.

Now that I am invisible, I can be assured that people who talk to me are talking to me. Admittedly, there are a fewer young men who approach me, but I don’t mourn the deprivation.

Since my invisibility cloak is now permanently attached, I can wear a low-cut dress tonight. I can wear comfortable shoes, I can wear as much or little makeup as I desire.
See what I mean?

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.

I believe that most of us are concerned about the legacy left by the baby boomers (and after baby boomers)…global warming, pollution, the national debt, polarized politics.  

But there is one legacy from my generation that I am extremely proud of.  

Equal rights.

The combination of the protest against the war in Vietnam, the “hippies” movement, civil rights, gay liberation and women’s rights inspired us to raise the national conscious to recognize that none are equal unless all are equal.  

We have made tremendous strides. 

In civil rights we went from a lynching in 1981 to a Black President 27 years later.  Despite tremendous hurdles, African Americans are an important force in politics, professional careers, and sports. In 2019 almost 8% of the students in medical school were black.

When I was in 5th grade, I announced that I wanted to become a physicist.  The entire class laughed. As one student said:

“Girls can only be housewives, teachers or nurses.”

Those barriers have been shattered.  Today over 50% of medical students are female. 

Women did not have access to safe abortions and birth control when I was young.  Today, women have full reproductive freedom.

When I was growing up, homosexual acts were illegal.  Today, gays and lesbians have the right to marry and enjoy full protection under the law.

Our society is freer and more accepting. Fifteen percent of today’s marriages are interracial. We have a Family Medical Leave Act that allows both mothers and fathers to take off from work to care for a newborn. We have eliminated barriers for the handicapped.

Asians and Indians move freely through our society. Twenty one percent of medical students are Asian.

Latinos are moving beyond manual labor jobs.  Six percent of medical students are Latino.

We offer programs such as Head Start to help children raised in less than ideal conditions.

I am exceedingly proud of our legacy.  We have given the next generation opportunities that women and people of color didn’t have when I was growing up.

But I am also fiercely protective of this legacy, with good reason.  

The backlash is always there. Black voter suppression, the 2016 election, anti-abortion state laws, the “wall” are warnings that there are those who conspire to take back our accomplishments.  

We mustn’t let them take away our legacy.

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.