We have all heard the legends of dolphins helping drowning humans. Now one appears to have helped guide stranded whales to safety. John Wilkins, who posts at the interesting evo- blog Evolving thoughts, went to see Richard Dawkins lecture and had some critical thoughts. I can’t resist quoting: “In particular I was annoyed that those …
Author: Steve Bodio
Mystery Plant
On his visit last week,Dan showed us these photos of a mysterious plant he photographed in San Diego. I think it is South African but don’t really have the botanical chops to ID it. Readers?
Lots of Links
Busy busy busy– but stuff just keeps coming in. Thanks to all! We had a good visit from Dan and his hounds last week– well, good except for that seat belt ticket. The weather was almost too hot to run dogs, but we have had two snowstorms since! He chronicles it all there, with pics. …
Bill
In our younger years, Connie and I spent a fair amount of time around Bill, Wyoming, a bump in the road between Douglas and Gillette. So when the NYT had an article about the place it caught my eye. According to the Times, the business boom there has brought the population all the way up …
Atomic Nerds
Although they have been commenting here for a while I had somehow not discovered the wonderful blog Atomic Nerds. They are a young couple, Stingray (male) and LabRat (female) who write from the ever- strange city of Los Alamos (strange even in our odd state!) They write on dogs, guns, evo- bio, religion, and other …
Altai Falcon
In his monograph on the Gyrfalcon Eugene Potapov confirms that, in the high mountains of Central Asia, there are areas of hybridization between those recently and imperfectly separated species, the Gyrfalcon and the Saker. These are doubtless the semi – legendary “Altai falcon” or Shunkar of classical falconry. I made a probable sighting on my …
The Cost of Eating Well
I’d really like some feedback on this one. In his excellent (and not at all snobbish) food blog “Bitten”, which I discovered via Rod Dreher, NYT writer Mark Bittman presents the now – notorious viewpoint of English celebrity cook Delia Smith. “Delia Smith, probably Britain’s best-known and best-selling cookbook author, says celebrity chefs should stay …
Book Meme
This particular meme, via Eve Tushnet, seems irresistible for the bookish. 1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people. OK: as usual I am reading about eight books but the nearest physically is John …
Convergent Pigeons
Reader Mike Spies, who has a place in Jamaica, noticed that wild White- crowned pigeons (Columba leucocephala) resident there resembled some white- capped Catalonian tumblers he had seen on the blog. Of course, “Cats” are only one of the myriad breeds of Darwin’s pets, domestic pigeons descended from the Rock dove (Columba livia.) But the …
AR, ID, and Evo
In the fascinating blog “ERV”, scroll down the post to the header “Tard Fight”, where blogger S. A. Smith gives us the edifying spectacle of two creationists bashing each other over Animal Rights, one arguing that if evolution is right then so is PETA and the other, I guess, that Jesus was a veggie and …