What happens when it snows? One thing that happens is that people are absolutely compelled to build snowmen. I have posted here before on the strange compulsions people have in certain situations. So what happens if you live in a place where it doesn’t snow and you are hit with the snowman compulsion? You build …
Author: Steve Bodio
Sappho, Vodka, Wildfire, Bad Poetry about Toads…
… and more, brought to you by Odious and Peculiar. For a sample of the last: A linked chain of bubbling notes,When birds have ceased their calling,That lulls the ear with soothing soundLike voice of water falling.It is the knell of winter dead;Good-by his icy fetter.Blessings on thy warty head:No bird could do it better.
Cig Kofte
I love Turkish food! Any New Mexican would love its creative use of hot peppers (just as hot as ours and far hotter than European varieties) and its innovative use of meat– lamb, especially– spiced or ground or in kebabs. I can enjoy lentil soup for breakfast, pilafs, garlic- spiced yogurt, and pizza- like “pide”. …
When Birds Attack….
To some of us, the news that Reid posted about below in “Not Aways at the Top of the Food Chain” was not exactly news. One of the main suspects in the death of the Taung Baby is the Crowned Eagle, an enormous and intimidating forest predator. In Birds of Prey of Southern Africa, published …
Alternate Reality?
Crossing several lines through Querencia is the effect of new technology on much older things (namely, places and cultures) and how it might shape their futures. In Eagle Dreams, Steve writes of Mongolian friends in traditional circular tents wired for Internet; of eagle falconers in Mercedes-Benzes. Weird and charming anachronisms are common now but more …
Pairie Mary on 2Blowhards
I love the interconnected nature of the Blogosphere, so it delighted me to see that my Blogfather Michael Blowhard (that term coined I think by Glenn Reynolds) has caught up with my “blogsister” (coined by Reid?) PrairieMary. He has some good things to say about “regional writing” there too. What are the limits? Am I …
Public Access 2
A friend wrote this as a comment on the “End of Hunting” post below, and I thoiught it was important enought to put up front here, with his permission: “The loss of hunting opportunities is a real concern. I have friends from other parts of the country who are driving 100 miles or more to …
Icons in Space!
For Mr. and Mrs. Peculiar: icons in space, and at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Whatever its faults, this ain’t your father’s Soviet Union. Courtesy John Debyshire.
More Flu
Here is a good LAT overview of the state of the H5N1 Avian Flu virus, concentrating on its inevitable spread along wild bird flyways. (Personally I worry a lot more about domestic chickens and ducks in the Asian “bird factories”). And here is a dark view of what could happen, and why “ring vaccination”, though …
Hawk Breeding Regs
This is a long post with contributions by both Matt and me. It is taken from a letter written to the USFWS responding to their request for input on proposed new regulations for falcon breeders. Feel free to skip if it seems too “inside”– but I think tht it (especially Matt’s part) will be of …