.. from Wendell Berry on livestock breeds– hat tip Matt: “The great diversity of livestock breeds, along with the great diversity of domestic plant varieties, can be thought of as a sort of vocabulary with which we may make appropriate responses to the demands of a great diversity of landscapes. (Emphasis mine). I hope to …
Month: May 2006
Ivorybills
Tim Gallagher sent me this thoughtful story on the continuing controversy over the rediscovery of the Ivorybilled woodpecker , a story in which he is a major player. The writer focuses on the inherent ambiguities of the sightings; he MAY even have seen one himself: “The ivory-billed woodpecker is, essentially, Schrödinger’s cat, the famous physics …
Great Game redux: Kazakhstan
This story indicates once again that the Great Game never dies. But this time it is not only Russia and the west (and China, and Islam): one of the “pawns” is a major player as well. “A day after chastising Moscow for its use of oil and natural gas as “tools for intimidation and blackmail,” …
More Flu
Prairie Mary sends this link to a story suggesting another complication in the unfolding Bird Flu story: some people may be more susceptible to H5N1, genetically. “Of the 205 reported cases of human infections since late 2003, many have involved blood relatives, such as father and children, mothers and daughters. Of the total infections, 113 …
More from the Pandemic Report
I couldn’t find a way to fit this into my previous post, but those who’ve been reading here and elsewhere about the USDA’s National Animal Identification System will see why this section of the flu report caught my eye: Educating Bird Owners We will expand our multilevel outreach and education campaign called “Biosecurity for the …
The Next Big Thing
Eighty miles inland and west of the epicenter, Baton Rouge took little abuse from Hurricane Katrina. The storm’s worst effects were felt in waves of people, hundreds of thousands chased, bussed, boated or airlifted from New Orleans and into our laps. Our emergency was mainly of supply and demand. Demand came first for food, fuel …
Evil Foie Gras
From the NYT courtesy of of Margory Cohen: “Fresh from a victory in Chicago, where the City Council voted last week to ban the sale of foie gras, animal rights activists have set their sights on Philadelphia, where they are collecting signatures on a petition to ban the delicacy there. Their influence on Whole Foods …
Jaguars
Reid sent this story on collaring border jaguars. “A team of government scientists has voted to capture one of a handful of jaguars known to live in the United States, drawing protests from environmental groups. “The scientists want to follow the jaguar’s movements, along river corridors or through mountain ranges, to help authorities figure out …
Can Starlings Speak?
This NYT story suggests that the way Starlings process and arrange sounds may illuminate the origins of speech. Some prominent linguists, including Noam Chomsky, disagree (and Chomsky’s linguistics make a lot more sense than his politics). But a defender of the experiments dismisses Chomsky. “Chomsky may find this trivial, but that is a bit like …
“Grolar”
A hybrid between a grizzly and a polar bear has been shot in Canada– species that have been separated for more than 200,000 years. Nervous about warming in the arctic yet? “”Everybody thought it was a polar bear, and then they started looking more and more and they seen [sic] other features that resembled some …