Trout Republic-Knowledge is power

The expansion of information for public consumption must have begun after the invention of the printing press.
This lowly hand placed type duplicator of old really changed life for the average person as it allowed a plethora of news and other information to be readily had by the richest and the poorest persons.
Up until that time only the elite had access to such things as medical journals, sports news, the Bible and Ann Landers columns. This led to the common folk having to trust others for information which led to such things as quacks, wrong scores, televangelists and failed marriages for lack of accurate advice.
But, the printing press came along and changed that. And, then gave way to books, newspapers, telegraphs, microfiche, Xerox machines, fax machines and -- the greatest achievement of all -- the Internet. Why, just in my lifetime Ol’ Dutch saw Al Gore invent it and from then on it has been Katy-bar-the-door as far as information overload is concerned.
Smart phones have now enabled us to get updates on everything from soup to nuts in real time whether we like it or not.
Of course television was a leader in information distribution and still plies us with advertising for everything we could possibly need or want.
The airwaves are filled with barkers selling snake oil prescriptions guaranteed to help with psoriasis, diabetes, female issues, erectile dysfunction and cranky ex-spouses. Of course, the list of bad side effects is as long as your arm but if you don’t mind hair growing on your palms, death from stomach ulcers and having the body odors of a skunk, these medicines may be right for you. Just ask your doctor.
Of course all this got Ol’ Dutch to thinking and you all know where that usually leads? Trouble. That’s where, according to Miss Trixie.
I started thinking that every week I search for some witty or otherwise important piece of insight to pass along to you, my dear readers.
While I’m out here searching for wisdom, one of my esteemed peers in the newspaper column business doesn’t spend his day writing about hunting or fishing or anything that is fun. But, rather, he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time discussing the prolapsed uterus of cows.
I cannot tell you the number of times he has addressed this concern of the keepers of bovines and he has even been able to incorporate it into poetry spun in a cowboy fashion making lots of money in the process.
Now Ol’ Dutch got to thinking that since he knows quite a bit about the female anatomy maybe he could latch onto this success and carry it on forward once Poetry Pete leaves the scene.
I haven’t even touched the surface of such things as cranky old cows, mean spirited female heifers, mastitis and other things that could be career building blocks for the future.
Even a short poem about teeth now seems to be newsworthy. Did you see that last week, scientists found some nine million year old teeth in Europe? It appears the team has been digging in the same area for some 17 years and they found the teeth of a monkey who is also a close relative to our ancestors or at least current politicians.
I don’t know about you but this may be the best news I have heard of all year as we humans can barely hang on to our own teeth for a lifetime let alone have them show up 9 million years later in some archeological trash pit.
So here is to knowledge in whatever form you may find it. And to my new found riches as I embark on a career writing and talking about mastitis. That should be “udderly” fascinating.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.