The Wood Dragon and the Year of Jubilee
Monday, December 30, 2024
A Happy End to the Year of The Wood Dragon, featuring a
Merry Christmas
and aHappy Hannukah
and a veryHappy New Year
...The Wood Dragon Loves trees, flowers, forests, greenery, life, friendship, cooperation, and Love. It was a year for growth, vitality, and abundance.The Friends Planted Trees
And now, the story takes us back to the Wood Dragon. Ah yes, that same Wood Dragon who offered up the Heavenly Rose before standing against The Breach in the Void. The Wood Dragon stood as a guardian, protecting humanity from The Breach.
The infinite information trees would not be quelled, however. Despite the Wood Dragon’s great power, the Void surfaced many ideas and images which required much focus to contend with. All manner of darkness and vile deceptions coming out of the Void… Was the Void really this dark and evil? Time went on, and with it so too many battles which were waged against the ideas and images. The Wood Dragon bore the brunt of so many that would have otherwise obliterated not just humanity, but everything on Earth.
And as time ebbed and flowed beyond even the memory of it, a peculiar happening began. The Wood Dragon observed that a strange green light was emerging from beyond The Breach in the Void. And then The Blight emerging… But The Blight, though toxic, would not harm the mighty Wood Dragon…it was just a nuisance. While investigations were ongoing, though, suddenly rumbling…and lo and behold, that from The Breach and after The Blight emerged a vast silhouette…
The Wood Dragon peered inside and saw a familiar face! Thought others would be afraid because of The Blight and that Doomy Portend of what would emerge afterwards, the Wood Dragon bellowed out a hearty chuckle. “Ahhh, is that you Iblis? I’d forgotten you were down here.” Iblis did respond in raspy whispering voice. “Ahhh, you did say you’d be back here about this time…” The Wood Dragon chuckled again. “I did? I guess I did. How are the infinities treating you? I see that you are back up to your tricks of letting the infinities spill across the humans? I thought I told you not to do that and to instead hold back the infinities.”
Iblis, though seemingly formidable in form and stature, looked away somberly. “I have been. But I bet that despite your long journey here, and that in your decision to protect them when you had forgotten about me…that not a single one showed real Love to you. So I was right. Stand aside. I will do what must be done. You gave them so much more credence than me, though I am made of The Fire and they are made of nothing.”
The Wood Dragon did not chuckle this time, but smile he did. “Ahhh Iblis, but you have aspirations to be the First! So now do First things and defend against the infinities for those who come after you!”
Iblis was vexxed. “I’ll wax proudly yet, I’ve prepared quite an Onslaught. There is no victory for them, or you. You think they’re safe from my reach? I’ll keep poisoning their bodies. I’ll keep poisoning the Earth. And I’ll be between them and each other, between them and you, with my barbs and jabs. I’ll divide them against each other, fatten them, ruin their child rearing…oh, I’ll devour them whole!”
To this, The Wood Dragon spread his wings. “Ah, I see. You would emerge from The Breach to ruin them and then ruin me too? But I did not give you permission to emerge. So, you will spend more time in the Void until you are permitted to emerge.”
At that rejection, Iblis roared in his own laughter. “Hahahaha, as I told you All Father, you found no Love, did you? So you think more time will produce it? They are made of nothing, whereas you made us of fire. We are better. But now you’ve made your traitorous selection plain for all to see. They will be destroyed, the vermin they all are…uncaring, unloving, unkind, impatient, vile, some of them cannibalizing themselves, some of them even insulting you as well, All Father. Stand aside. I may not be able to conquer you yet, but I can still preserve your honor and mine. No Dragon should bend their knee to humans. They are so feckless that even without my barbing, they’d soon come to me to ask for my bounty over yours. Let me show them my Blightwood Blaze.”
And though Iblis pushed and roared and deigned to fully emerge from The Breach and roil the Earth, The Wood Dragon's great power held him back. The Heavenly Rose must be permitted to do its work… “You’re wrong yet again, Iblis. They’re not perfect, far from it thanks to your tampering barbs, but they are able to love even if their love is fickle like the wildflowers. I hereby seal you here further for 12 Times. And then we will revisit and see about your case. Here then are your seals, unbreakable…and in the names of those most vulnerable that you otherwise sought to eradicate with your pharaonic temptations. And with your powers at bay, see how this Year of Jubilee is conferred despite your doubts.”
And so, with the same power that produced the Heavenly Rose, The Wood Dragon pushed Iblis back into the Void and sealed The Breach. And with The Breach sealed, The Wood Dragon was now free to resume his journeying. The seals would in the meantime keep Iblis trapped in The Void for 12 Times.
And now, back to The Friends… The Friends celebrated their new tree planting success. Though there would be much work ahead yet, the friends were satisfied with each successful new plant. However, a new foe appeared…there was much trash astrewn in every direction. So much trash…all the proceeds of the previous conflicts!
How could they enjoy greening the Earth together if there was so much trash everywhere? The Friends were distraught. Would all their tree planting be for nothing, consumed by the rotting materials and leeching plastics making it into every nook and cranny? But just as it did when first bringing The Friends together, the Heavenly Rose appeared again! This time, the Heavenly Rose shone brightly and produced armaments. Each friend was thus empowered to find Blight Barbs.
As The Friends worked to gathered the Blight Barbs, some disheartened. Would they really just gather and gather, seeing the pile grow larger and larger? Were they now consigned to just collection rather than planting more? Was this their lot forever?
But as they gathered, the power of the Heavenly Rose worked quietly in the background…and as they picked up trash, the Heavenly Rose would bestow Golden Nuts. These Golden Nuts would fall from above and be available to each Friend to collect further, on the basis of what trash they reclaimed or searched for… These nuts, though not directly edible, were beautiful to behold. The Friends were happy. Not only were they planting more trees and plants and greening the Earth, but now…even War Against Blight was effectual. The Blight Barbs could be collected and the Heavenly Rose would bequeath Golden Nuts in their stead.
And as The Friends planted and gathered, greening the Earth and cleaning the Earth…The Wood Dragon looked from afar, at the works and the prospects. As the Year of The Wood Dragon was drawing to a close, the Wood Dragon would soon take a brief rest and continue elsewhere. Having bestowed the Heavenly Rose and having sealed The Breach in the Void were not enough. The Wood Dragon, after all, loves trees, flowers, forests, greenery, life, friendship, cooperation…and in the Year of the Wood Dragon, it is a year for growth, vitality, and abundance. The Wood Dragon is not cheap. The Wood Dragon has vast and unlimited wellsprings of resources. Realizing that The Friends would not have impetus without more, The Wood Dragon mustered up his great strength once again to create a Lampstand. And as the Golden Lampstand took shape, the Wood Dragon roared out and spoke to the Earth, his deep and rumbling voice gentle upon all their ears.
“Take this lampstand and let it record the 12 Times. I will keep Iblis at bay, so that you may build and rebuild unrestricted. Let Iblis see that he does not see the Future. You will meet him with the fruits of the 12, these will be your testimonies against him. Should you succeed, then Evil will be thwarted and I will give you access to The Void and its infinities. And fear not, the Heavenly Rose will provide many more paths than just planting and cleaning. There are N paths, and they are Forever, and in them is Freedom To Thrive.” After the Wood Dragon spoke, the Golden Lampstand took its place next to the Heavenly Rose. And as the two comingled their power together, the Golden Nuts started to glow. The Friends, taken aback, took a few steps back uncertain of the glowing intention. As the glowing grew in brightness and pulsing…out of the Golden Nuts emerged beautiful Rainbow Whisps. “Follow the Rainbow. Once you’ve assembled enough of the Rainbow, it will be a path unto you. At its end, you will find the entrance to The Void.”
The Friends, hearing The Voice, cheered on. They could green the Earth and clean the trash and find N paths upon which there would be Golden Nuts, and a Rainbow Road traversable? Leading to The Void and its infinities, for a Content With Iblis, a Dance with the Devil…Their celebrating was slowed only by one more reverberation from the Wood Dragon. “This Year of The Wood Dragon is deemed a success, and now, you are bequeathed a Year of Jubilee. On this End of the Year of The Wood Dragon, and the Eve of the Year of Jubilee, let the Heavenly Rose inspire hope, love, optimism, and motivation.” And with that, The Wood Dragon went to find a quiet abode for a brief nap. There was much more to do ahead, and a rested Wood Dragon is even happier than a tired Wood Dragon. We'll see more of The Wood Dragon in the Year of Jubilee, and the Friends will have much to do in the meantime.
Planting a tree...
In keeping with this spirit, have you considered planting a tree? I don't just mean contributing to the cause with a financial contribution, although those are certainly encouraged. The National Forest Foundation is one of my favorite foundations ever and they support this. But what I mean is...have you ever considered trying to physically plant a tree and take care of it yourself? It's surprisingly beautiful and healing.
It reconnects you with nature
Planting a tree by hand is not as hard as I thought. You can plant a sapling or a seed, but I haven't tried planting seeds yet. So far I have brought my first ever sapling through a winter successfully and hope to grow it to its full potential before I plant more. I want to try to plant ten trees this year because it is a very fun and rewarding experience even without logtrees. Feeling the dirt and adding the right amount of fertilizer and ensuring that you water your species of choice the correct number of times per week, especially when the sapling is very freshly planted, takes some practice to develop into a routine. I'm still learning in this area and will have to see how my first spring and summer as a tree planter turn out.
Nature is important
In keeping with the theme of trees, flowers, forests, greenery, life, friendship, cooperation, and Love...and as an ode to a shared year of growth, vitality, and abundance for all reading, here is a sneak peak of what logtrees will look like once a lot of trees are logged. First in light mode:
And in dark mode:
There is a glowing pulse effect that is really nice, but that is not to be shown until the map is that saturated with activity in the future versions of logtrees.
Trashtagging
If you're interested in trashtagging via logtrees, submit your Proof of Work to start gathering nuts! Here is one of my trashtagging runs to get an idea:
More about logtrees
If you would like to read the logtrees whitepaper, please find it at logtrees whitepaper (rough draft). If you want to contribute by planting your own tree or tagging some trash, consider providing Proof of Work via logtrees.com so that your tree becomes part of the logtrees Treemap . The goal behind logtrees is to make tree planting fun via some friendly competition at the local and national level, with leaderboards, metrics, achievements, and upcoming games and incentives for those who supply Proof of Work for their tree-related activities.
logtrees also intends to support planting trees on behalf of people who would like to plant one but don't have a place where to plant. I'm building a feature to facilitate that because I want everyone to be able to contribute towards building the Treemap if they want to, even if they live in a big city or don't have the terrain or weather needed for planting a tree. If you're interested in learning more about this once logtrees launches this feature, and if you want to receive email updates when a new blog post goes up, join the waitlist and you'll receive an email when the next batch of features is ready!
How can I submit feedback on this post?
Please feel free to email me at dany@logtrees.com, thanks for the feedback!
Would all this really make a difference?
Yes, planting trees makes a difference. Even if the full amount won't be reached, anything is better than none and it's a beautiful effort to tend to plants and learn from the experience. I'm eager to try more leaning into Spring 2024. See: Post featuring napkin math on tree impact to atmospheric co2 concentrations