Second in a continuing series, a watch on the decline and fall of no- longer- Great Britain. In John Derbyshire’s ever- entertaining monthly Diary for July, he tells of how perfectly normal young and middle aged Brits are abandoning the land of overwhelming PC and daunting costs for the Mediterranean, Australia, the US,and in the …
Month: July 2005
New Post
I have a new post at Nature Blog, where I tend to put my “Southern Rockies” pieces. Chas is always a good read too.
Ill Wind Power
Odious at Odious and Peculiar has a post on why wind is hardly a major energy contributor, and why it most likely won’t be: “Distressingly little of the country is suitable for this type of power generation. “Moreover, you really want to find a place where, to start with, no one lives, no one cares …
Grayal on St. Vincent Island, Florida
Guest poster Grayal Farr on an alien that does no harm (also an occasion for a good Kipling quote. But then again, what isn’t?) “St. Vincent Island NWR is one of the bigger remaining chunks of near-pristine Florida. Visitors are allowed over every day, but no motorized transportation is allowed except for refuge staff and …
NAGPRA alert!
From Grayal Farr, naturalist, archaeologist, and retired Special Forces Major, comes a warning, in the form of a letter to his senator. If you heed it, remember to fax– emails are often discounted, and Grayal says that mail takes three weeks to actaully get to your senator. “I am writing to urge that you vote …
Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford
Sir Terence Clark, a fellow tazi-saluki fanatic, just sent me a link to an exhibition of photographs by the late explorer Wilfred Thesiger. He wanted me to see this photo of a peregrine in the Emirates before World War II. The whole gallery is worth exploring, offering glimpses into not just one byt many lost …
Invasive”fire steppe” in Arizona?
Re the recent discussions on change, invasives et al, the Alpha Environmentalist sends this link from the Arizona Daily Star on how non- native, fire resistant species have created a dangerous environment for such natives as the green- barked paloverde and the iconic saguaro cactus. Neither can survive burning, while the non- native steppe plants …
China- Russia
Click here for much good discussion on the new alliances betweeen China and Russia. One of the saddest things, mentioned somewhere in the comments, is that Russia will probably suffer for it. China– my Kazakh friends call her “The Dragon”– is a dangerous “ally”, and swamps the countries on its edges, especially Asian Siberia, with …