This NYT article tells of the (recurrent) problems with California condors acqiuring lead poisoning from carcasses. “Wildlife officials laid traps for California condors to test for lead poisoning after many were spotted feeding on squirrels that had been shot.” “Even microscopic lead traces from ammunition can paralyze digestive systems in the endangered species and cause …
Author: Steve Bodio
Stolen Petroglyphs
USA Today brings us the sad news that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out the convictions of a Reno man and a co-defendant who stole this beautiful petroglyph from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Government prosecutors proved that the men took the boulders containing the petroglyph from USFS land, but the 9th Circuit …
Father’s Day with Guns and Puppies
“The kids”, Peculiar and Mrs. Peculiar, came down from Santa Fe for Father’s Day. They played with puppies. And shot targets, and played with more puppies. Nikki shot for the first time– a shotgun, a .22 rifle, and two decidedly non- wimpy handguns– a Smith Mountain gun in .44, a Kimber .45 auto on a …
A Close Call
This post has it’s origins in an e-mail I sent to Steve, Libby, and Matt last Monday night. I have updated it, added some pictures that I took Tuesday evening, and included Libby’s reply that tells a similar story.I had a close call yesterday. In the afternoon I took the dogs hiking on the Jesusita …
Three quick links
I am writing two articles today (and one is for free, proving me a fool by Dr. Johnson’s dictum), so time is limited. But I am taking a break, and you must see these. First, as I said Larissa is going to London. Here is her account of her trip to set things up, which …
Terrierman
Paul Domski sent me to this wonderful blog. It is the best working dog blog I have yet seen, and is not just for fans of “earthdogs”; Patrick Burns writes gracefully and knowledgeably about dogs, nature, politics,and conservation. For instance, his post on genetics, inbreeding and closed studbooks should be required reading by not only …
Guns for Food and Guns for Sport
In southern Europe, tiny shotgun bores have always been common. Descended from such oldies as the 9mm and 8mm Flobert rimfire cartridges, but now available in handily reloadable centerfire versions, they have always receieved scorn from american writers, as have their slightly larger brethren like the .410 and the 32- bore– ‘suitable only for rats” …
“Sue Your Schools”
Is literacy a thing of the past? “…for the first time in modern history less than half the adult population of the United States had read even a bit of poetry, fiction or drama in the entire year. While in 1982, almost 57 percent of Americans were ‘literary readers’—those who read literature on their own, …
Belated Da Vinci code link
Anthony Lane’s New Yorker review– scroll down– was the (devastatingly) funniest, but Steve Sailer’s might be the most perceptive (It’s funny too). Some snips: “…Brown, with all his talk of “the sacred feminine,” is being intentionally hazy about what pagans have tended to mean by it: i.e., fertility goddesses. Now, you can see a bit …
Just for fun
For sheer oddity it is hard to beat this story. I also love the very casual last line: “Marriages between humans and other living beings are not uncommon in India. A tribal girl was married to a dog near Bhubaneshwar recently.”