One of the interesting things about living here in Santa Barbara is the fact that occasionally you can see satellite launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located about 40 miles northwest of us. The US launches satellites from two facilities: Vandenberg, where the launches go south over the Pacific, generally for payloads with polar orbits; …
Month: October 2006
Pluvialis is back..
.. from Central Asia. Click here for a pic of her with a Lammergeier– one with a tale of its own.
Andy Rooney, Latter Day Vegetarian
I’m probably in the last generation of people who could pick Andy Rooney out of a line-up; he and my two late grandfathers are WWII contemporaries. I’ve known Rooney’s face and his voice all my life, and I’ve always liked him. How could you not like such a gruff old contrarian, eyebrows and all? Sure, …
Some More on Shamans in Coso Rock Art
I wanted to add some more pictures to the Shamans and Coso Rock Art post below but ran into the usual Blogger content limitations, so I’ll put a little more up in this post. As I mentioned below, it’s theorized that some of the rock art in Little Petroglyph Canyon is there to record what …
Shamans in Coso Rock Art
I have posted about the spectacular rock art at Little Petroglyph Canyon up in Inyo County several times now but have so many interesting images from my visit there last year you’ll be seeing more. This shot shows petroglyphs of several shamans from high on the canyon wall. I had to use a telephoto lens …
Around the Web
Carel has a wonderful post on nomenclature up, with perfect visuals as well, of course. Most taxonomy nuts (and Far Side fans) know Gary Larson has a beetle genus named after him. But how about this? “Australian paleontologist Greg Edgecombe has named many trilobites for musicians, including Avalanchurus lennoni, A. starri, Struszia mccartneyi and S. …
A mere taste, and some weather..
Peculiar has blogged our trip to the Manzanos ( go here and scroll up). This post has everything– history, geology, natural history, splendid photos, and humor– a serious “read the whole thing”. Here is a mere taste: And we had our first snow two nights previous. Here is a dawn shot– again a mere taste. …
Endangered Species
Union Products, Inc., the company that manufactures plastic pink flamingoes is about to close its doors. Please say it ain’t so!
Dwarf Water Buffalo
The New York Times has this article on extinct dwarf water buffalo that were found on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. An interesting analogue to the pygmy mammoth that was found out here in the California Channel Islands.
Colonel Cooper and Wolves
After posting the remembrance of Jeff Cooper below, I decided to dig up our correspondence. I had written him complimenting this essay and recommending the flight of eagle against wolf as one of the ‘great hunts’. He replied on 6 august 2002: “Certainly falconry must be included among the great hunting experiences. The activity, however, …