The last three weeks plus of daily rain have brought lush greenery to our garden and to our mountains. We have been able to pick mushrooms for the first time in years, in quantities enough to dry a few. These are what we refer to as “lesser boletes”, mostly Suillus species. I like them better …
Sensible Thoughts on Air Travel
Which means that probably no one will pay attention. From England’s Samizdata (apparently and to my joy, not all in England is as bad as my last poster’s experience!): “Well, for a start, an airline could have a bunch of laptops in the aircraft and offer people the chance to use them, simply by giving …
Decline and Fall England , Part ?
Our roving correspondent Roseann, en route to Africa but spending a few days in England, writes: “I am less and less enamored of England as it becomes weirder and more restrictive and more crowded (350,000 immigrants from Eastern Europe alone last year). Driving is truly insane – Ethiopia will be a breeze after this. They …
AR Follies Continued: “Conger Cuddling”
In a surprising place, the religious (mostly Catholic) blog “On The Square”, Joseph Pearce offers good defense of foxhunting. But that is not the best part: AR loonies are now trying to protect DEAD EELS! “The following is a true story, though it may seem surreal enough to belong in a Monty Python sketch. A …
Spy Pigeons– the Good, the Bad, and…
Reid sent me a link to this fascinating LAT story about homing pigeons being used for remote monitoring of pollution. “Pigeons wearing tiny backpacks and cellphones will roam the skies of Northern California this weekend as part of an unusual art project. “Equipped with miniature smog sensors, the birds will transmit air pollution data to …
Book Review
American Working TerriersBy Patrick Burns272 pages in soft cover with b/w photographs$35.14 from http://www.lulu.com/pburnsIf you travel much along the back roads of the Mid-Atlantic States, along hedgerows and small farms or woodlots, you might spot a digger and his dogs. He’d be a quiet figure in workman’s clothes, walking beneath a load of tools. His …
Cougars, Science and “Sport Hunting”
Steve and Reid could each provide good commentary here, but with their indulgence, I’ll take first dibs. Reuters carried this story earlier in the week, reporting the release of a study finding no evidence for the notion that hunting cougars reduces the incidence of cougar attacks on people or livestock. Given only that information, I …
Iris Pigmentation
As Carel says, a catalog devoted to the iris colors of 5620 vertebrates, with commentary, would probably not have existed without the internet. But I love it! Carel’s owl painting is worth linking to for itself.
One More Grim One..
China is massacring dogs. Worse, if that seems possible, they may be doing the same to believers in Falun Gong and harvesting their organs. Libby suggests that both may be as much demostrations of the omnipotence of the state as anything. Behave or else..
Writer’s Fight Song
And now for something completely hilarious: a song against procrastination for writers. A few lines? “MAKE THEM FIGHT AND MAKE THEM SCREWMAKE THEM DO WHAT BAD FOLKS DOMAKE THEM MEAN AND LET THEM FUCKGIVE THEM REALLY CRAPPY LUCK “WRITE EDITDELETE DELETEWRITE WRITEEDIT EDITPANIC PANICWRITE WRITE WRITE!” (Snip) ……….. “WRITE EDITDELETE DELETEWRITE WRITEEDIT EDITPANIC PANICWRITE WRITE …