Two gems here and here. I think the octopus wins though.
Month: November 2008
A Dissent on Voting
I voted– always do– but here is an articulate essay on NOT voting. It reminds me a bit of Evelyn Waugh’s assertion that it was only necessary to vote when you are opposing a great evil– and that is rare. “…I disagree that being one of 120 million voters means I have stood up and …
Poem
WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS What are we waiting for, all gathered in the forum? The barbarians are coming today. Why is there such inertia in the Senate?Why are the senators just sitting there, not passing laws? Because the barbarians are coming today. What laws should the senators pass now? When the barbarians come they’ll draft …
Annoying
NRO tipped me to this piece in Wired on the “Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English Language.” Their list: 1 – At the end of the day2 – Fairly unique3 – I personally4 – At this moment in time5 – With all due respect6 – Absolutely7 – It’s a nightmare8 – Shouldn’t of9 …
Inbox obsession
My recent travels kept me away from the home computer for nearly three weeks. Although my family had done an exceptional job at cleaning off emails for me, eventually they were overwhelmed and the list of emails in the inbox got longer and longer. It took me about three days, but I actually managed to …
Predator defense mechanisms
As a livestock producer, I have an everyday relationship with predators that seem to like lamb for dinner as much as my family does. Our back fenceline borders the Mesa big game winter range, which serves as a coyote refuge with human presence prohibited during the winter months. What to do? We have no interest …
Animal Minds
The recent post at Atomic Nerds (linked by Steve below) plucks a number of threads that run through this blog. If you have animals or hunt animals—and especially if you have animals that hunt animals—give it a read. As a falconer who hunts (with a team of dog and hawk) a variety of common and …
Quote of the Week
From Tam: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Links
At Atomic Nerds, LabRat has a fascinating post on dogs and the sense of “self” : “We used to assume no animal but humans had a sense of humor, until we thought to thoroughly test that assumption, and we found otherwise. We used to think no other animal used tools, until we looked and found …
Response
Peculiar, Chas, and Dr Hypercube respond to my Superior Scribbler nomination.