Another very interesting article from John Noble Wilford of the NY Times. Researchers in Turkey have found evidence of tuberculosis in the cranium of a 500,000 year-old Homo erectus fossil. This sets a record by several hundred thousand years for the oldest known evidence for TB – the previous examples were only a few thousand …
Month: December 2007
Thumbs Up
Bumpersticker observed last night: “Two Opposable Thumbs Up for Evolution!” Wish I’d had my camera!
Two Quick Links
Via Margory: Bill Buford’s excellent New Yorker review of the continuing dilemma we omnivores face is now on line. I have two of the cookbooks and recommend both, especially the Fearnley- Whittingstall. But why on earth does the third cost $130+?? A good Buford quote: “For all the disarray, there is a coherent ideology. It …
Dog Novels for Kids
A curious phenomenon of the thirties, forties, and fifties was the proliferation of dog novels for kids or rather what would be called “young adults” these days. They may just have been a product of a more “country” time– they were utterly un- pc, generally very good in natural history, and dealt forthrightly with issues …
Real Influences: Travel Writing
While reading Douglas Botting’s 2000 bio of Gerald Durrell I came upon these lines: “Young men woke up to find that the world was once again their oyster, and not just a place you went on a troopship. At almost the same time that the Durrell brothers’ two books werepublished [1953] a galaxy of talened …
Links
A wonderful ancient sculpture. All- female lizard clone species. Several of these are common in the Magdalena area. Terrierman talks about veterinarian bill- padding, kickbacks etc. Luckily ours is an old- fashioned ranch woman– but I have seen both the demand for pre- op bloodwork and the referral kickback. Did a comet contribute to the …
Darren’s Card
Darren says his old Killer Eagle Christmas card is unavailable in my archives. Must fix!
A Few More Thoughts on Cranes
I have eaten crane (not mine) and it was wonderful. They are grain eaters and don’t taste fishy as most of those others that Julie mentions, such as herons, are alleged to– more like fine roast beef. They are also wary and difficult. Actually few hunt them, and those that do know they are good …
Hunting Cranes
A link at Home Range sent me to the blog of writer and NPR commentator Julie Zikefoose, who recently posted on the topic of Sandhill cranes and her consternation at the thought of hunting them. Zikefoose’s good writing piqued Henry Chappell’s interest some time ago when she admitted sometimes not releasing the house sparrows she …
The New Bird
Believe it or not, he’s relaxing. But anything with eyes like these never looks relaxed. “God may fly a Peregrine, but the devil flies a Goshawk”.