Most of you probably remember the Sturm und Drang a couple of years ago when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from the status of a true planet. Steve even commented on a resolution introduced in the California legislature (you can always count on them!) condemning the demotion as it would cause “psychological harm to …
Month: June 2008
Friday Feeder Friend
Eurasian collared dove. This bird was new to me, but the species is apparently spreading throughout the continental US at a very fast pace. Steve and I were discussing them a few weeks back, and he said that these doves had gone from absent to the most common bird in Magdalena in the space of …
More From the California Legislature
Introduced in the Assembly, AB 2233 adds a section to the State Vehicle Code that states: A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while holding a live animal in his or her arm or arms, or upon his or her lap.
Another Darwin Award Nominee
Inglewood man recovering after he’s bitten by rattlesnake he picked up. The man was bitten twice at Edward Vincent Park by a snake he thought was harmless
Was Napoleon Poisoned?
I’ve always found this story interesting and my recollection was that the preponderance of evidence indicated that he had been poisoned. But a new analysis of clippings of his hair done by Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics has evidence that points in the other direction: “They conducted a detailed analysis of hairs taken from …
Fisher Populations Rebound
To the consternation of some suburbanites. I must admit I have never seen one. Spooky picture, huh?
A Unicorn lives in Tuscany
According to the Telegraph.
New book, blog
Read any books written by your neighbors? I just finished “A Year Without ‘Made in China’: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy” by Sara Bongiorni, a freelance journalist who also lives in Baton Rouge. The book was a gift from another neighbor, who I believe bought it from the author in a …
Ban Mylar Balloons
I saw this offbeat op-ed in today’s LA Times that calls for the banning of mylar balloons in California as they can short out power lines and cause black-outs. The author, a state senator who introduced a bill to this effect, says Southern California Edison claims there were 470 black-outs in its service area caused …
Tracing Humanity’s Path
I just stumbled across this article that came out a couple of weeks ago, describing a statistical modeling study using genomic evidence that attempts to map how our species spread from Africa to populate the rest of the world. I’m really surprised this hasn’t gotten more play in the press. What I found most interesting …