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Annie Dillard Was a Real One: The Woman Who Understood That Seeing the World Is Not the Same as Understanding It

Annie Dillard spent her life examining the extraordinary mysteries hiding inside ordinary existence. Her passing reminds me that the greatest writers don't simply teach us how to read the world. They force us to confront how little of it we've actually bothered to see. There is something profoundly unsettling about losing a writer who spent her entire life reminding us that everything was temporary in the first place. It's almost as though death, that arrogant bastard, decided to interrupt a conversation about its own inevitability. And in the case of Annie Dillard, the irony is particularly cruel because few writers understood the strange relationship between life, suffering, beauty, and mortality quite like she did. Annie Dillard died on September 15, 2026, at the age of 81. The world lost a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, an extraordinary essayist, a fearless intellectual, and a woman who possessed the increasingly endangered ability to look at something ordinary and reco...
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Wildfire Preparedness for Business Owners

In recent years, wildfires have become an increasingly serious problem for businesses around the globe. Follow these tips to protect your company's employees, customers, structures, and equipment:

1. Think about installing fire-resistant roofing and siding on commercial buildings. Materials like concrete, aluminum, steel, stone, and brick don't burn as easily as wood, composite, or vinyl.

2. Install windows with two or three layers of glass. Single-pane units can quickly shatter when exposed to heat from a nearby fire. This upgrade will also cut energy bills and block outdoor noises.

3. Use dumpsters and outdoor garbage cans with metal surfaces. Keep lids tightly shut to prevent windblown embers from reaching the trash. Always empty a garbage receptacle before it becomes full.

4. Don't allow the length of your grass to exceed four inches. Tall grass may help flames spread to buildings or trees. If you're worried that the mowing equipment could spark a fire, use a push reel mower.

5. Remove dry leaves and sticks from any rain gutters on your store or office. Airborne sparks may set this debris ablaze and melt the gutters. Flames could easily reach the roofing and siding as well.

6. If any tree limbs touch your commercial building or hang above its roof, be sure to trim them as soon as possible. These branches could give a wildfire easy access to your business.

7. Banish flammable objects from the perimeter of each structure. Equipment, sheds, outdoor furniture, fuel tanks, brush, or dead trees might enable flames to reach your buildings more rapidly.

8. Keep well-maintained fire extinguishers in every structure as well as company trucks. Inform staff members about the locations of these devices and the most effective ways to use them.

9. If you learn that a wildfire has reached your local area, take extra precautions. Put away outdoor furniture, awnings, and even doormats. Make an effort to inspect the entire property.

10. Develop an evacuation plan and practice using it. Keep various supplies on hand. Water, food, lanterns, dust masks, cash, batteries, and radios could prove useful in an emergency situation.

Even when you take all of the right precautions, you can't always prevent a wildfire from harming your business. Don't forget to verify that you have adequate commercial insurance coverage.

To sum it up, your company can boost its wildfire preparedness by planning ahead, removing outdoor combustibles, and reinforcing structures. Remember to obtain adequate fire safety equipment as well.
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