The AP had this item a few days ago about a bill introduced in Congress to amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). You can read more about NAGPRA here at a National Park Service site. NAGPRA was enacted in 1990 to allow Native American tribes to reclaim and rebury the remains …
Month: August 2006
Struck with Consequence
I re-read Steve’s essay of this name last night. It’s the opening piece from On The Edge of the Wild: Passions and Pleasures of a Naturalist, and it frames out a basic distinction between the New and the Old in the world, and the kinds of people dwelling in each: “The old people, the old …
Rain and Boletes
The last three weeks plus of daily rain have brought lush greenery to our garden and to our mountains. We have been able to pick mushrooms for the first time in years, in quantities enough to dry a few. These are what we refer to as “lesser boletes”, mostly Suillus species. I like them better …
Sensible Thoughts on Air Travel
Which means that probably no one will pay attention. From England’s Samizdata (apparently and to my joy, not all in England is as bad as my last poster’s experience!): “Well, for a start, an airline could have a bunch of laptops in the aircraft and offer people the chance to use them, simply by giving …
Decline and Fall England , Part ?
Our roving correspondent Roseann, en route to Africa but spending a few days in England, writes: “I am less and less enamored of England as it becomes weirder and more restrictive and more crowded (350,000 immigrants from Eastern Europe alone last year). Driving is truly insane – Ethiopia will be a breeze after this. They …
AR Follies Continued: “Conger Cuddling”
In a surprising place, the religious (mostly Catholic) blog “On The Square”, Joseph Pearce offers good defense of foxhunting. But that is not the best part: AR loonies are now trying to protect DEAD EELS! “The following is a true story, though it may seem surreal enough to belong in a Monty Python sketch. A …
Spy Pigeons– the Good, the Bad, and…
Reid sent me a link to this fascinating LAT story about homing pigeons being used for remote monitoring of pollution. “Pigeons wearing tiny backpacks and cellphones will roam the skies of Northern California this weekend as part of an unusual art project. “Equipped with miniature smog sensors, the birds will transmit air pollution data to …
Book Review
American Working TerriersBy Patrick Burns272 pages in soft cover with b/w photographs$35.14 from http://www.lulu.com/pburnsIf you travel much along the back roads of the Mid-Atlantic States, along hedgerows and small farms or woodlots, you might spot a digger and his dogs. He’d be a quiet figure in workman’s clothes, walking beneath a load of tools. His …
Cougars, Science and “Sport Hunting”
Steve and Reid could each provide good commentary here, but with their indulgence, I’ll take first dibs. Reuters carried this story earlier in the week, reporting the release of a study finding no evidence for the notion that hunting cougars reduces the incidence of cougar attacks on people or livestock. Given only that information, I …
Iris Pigmentation
As Carel says, a catalog devoted to the iris colors of 5620 vertebrates, with commentary, would probably not have existed without the internet. But I love it! Carel’s owl painting is worth linking to for itself.