Sure, he could be annoying. But in an age when cool trumps all, I can’t find it in me to disapprove of enthusiasm. He may have inspired more children in the love of all of nature, including “creepy- crawlies” than anyone in his generation or even mine. My little nephews are fascinated by insects and …
Blogging From Q.
Rebecca here. We always have such aspirations for my visits…deep writerly conversation that leads to literary masterpieces, long stimulating discussions that lead to ultimately solving the problems of the world… instead we babble on and drink. Still, I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend. The drive here was phenomenal. The monsoon …
Guest Post: Dog Whispering
My friend Gregg Barrow trains championship protection dogs and has a soft spot for unwanted “hard case” hounds. A German police unit recently sent him a dog they couldn’t handle, a monsterous, muscled-up, sulking giant schzauzer who savaged several handlers. Gregg has also been, in past years, a case worker and counsellor for criminal teens. …
Sandburg’s City
It’s too late to be the first to read Sandburg’s fine poem in lament for Chicago. We made this rather obvious connection here, way back in May. Yesterday Reid spotted this LATimes editorial by Nick Gillespie, who chimes in with a feature-length razzing of the Windy City’s accelerating nanny-fication. As Steve says, “Unfortunately, we animal …
That Rotten Old Town That Everyone Loves
Borrowing a page from the 2Blowhards playbook, here’s a clip from YouTube, sent last night by my friend Jenn, formerly of St. Bernard Parish, which is just outside New Orleans. The musician is Grayson Capps, another local who had to leave the city. I wrote up a short review of a gig we caught before …
Offline Chatter
And now for something completely different… With puzzled but indulgent permission from Steve, Reid and Patrick, I compiled a digest of some recent exchanges we shared offline and will post them here. It’s basically a round robin on canned hunts, our collapsing culture and kids these days. For those wanting to skip this discussion, I’ll …
That Toodlin’ Town!
Found this at the end of a story on recent security disruptions at US airports: “A United Airlines flight out of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was delayed because a small boy said something inappropriate, according to a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.” Jeeeesh—first goose livers and …
Homo floresiensis Controversy
A couple of years ago, the discovery of 18,000 year-old diminutive human bones on the Indonesian island of Flores, set off a big stir in the popular press. The discoverers characterized this as a separate species of small humans, Homo floresiensis, and they were commonly referred to as “hobbits” on television and in the papers. …
Oarfish
Steve had apparently heard of these amazing creatures, but I certainly hadn’t until I saw this article in the LA Times. They are likely the source of many sea-serpent sightings.
Late pics
Readers: Please check below for some “new” material from the 26th forward. Several posts have been hidden in draft mode until we got the pictures inserted.