The incomparable Tam, queen of snark and Mistress of Coal Creek Armory, deconstructs a breathless and idiotic piece on female shooters. “Why is it that when some bright spark in the marketing department at Apple, Cannondale, or Pontiac notices that slightly more than 50% of the planet’s population is setters rather than pointers, it gets …
Risotto and Rice Fetishism
Reid sent this LAT food column on risotto (which I still call “risott’ ” in the mountain dialect of my grandparents) for my comment. What did I think? Well, you’d certainly get a good dish if you followed the cook’s advice. But he sure takes it solemnly (not at all the same as seriously). I …
Scarier than Flu..
I share Pluvialis’s mixture of dread and fascination with various high- tech military innovations. Here is uber- blogger Glenn Reynolds over at TCS with some terrifying new info on biowar bugs. And, on a slightly (perhaps) lighter note: insect cyborgs.
Flu Update
It seems most scientists are a lot less panicked by Bird Flu than the press or, worse, European governments are. Here is the latest by the NYT’s invaluable Nicholas Wade on why the number of mutations needed for H5 to become pandemic is less than likely to occurr. Most likely we’ll eventually be attacked by …
“Foodies” vs AR?
I don’t particularly like the pop term “foodies”, but when a phenomenon involves New York and Berkeley, I am tempted… Even as the coursing battle heats up, no fewer than three books defending hunting and “scavenging” (to use the author’s own term) in the strongest terms are being published, virtually simultaneously. Pehaps the wildest of …
Update
I know my posting has been patchy of late. Part of the problem is that I have been very involved in the approaching showdown over California coursing ban. I am also spinning my wheels trying to get a novel started. But part of the problem is simply this: it is spring, after one of my …
Sixteenth Century Spanish Ship in Florida
The Navy has found what appears to be a Spanish colonial ship that could date as early as the mid 1500s. It is very interesting as it is located somewhat inland covered by 75 feet of sand. The Navy is moving its construction project to avoid the wreck.
The King of Baby Carrots
Robert Grimm, president of Grimmway Farms, who did more than anyone else to popularize baby carrots, has died of a heart attack in Bakersfield. I had no idea how big a business carrots are until I lived in Kern County, where Grimmway is the largest private employer. It also came as a shock to me …
Lost Airman Laid to Rest
The WWII airman found frozen in a Sierra Nevada glacier last October is being buried in his hometown in Minnesota today. I posted on this several times, most recently when his identity was announced last month. The New York Times has an interesting piece with much detail on how the DoD forensics lab solved the …
Sadie Discovers the Pacific
Dogs love the beach. Mine have been telling me that for years. So after we got our new Australian Shepherd, Sadie, we knew we had to take her down and introduce her. It was great for her to go with our Lab, Maggie, who could show her the joys of the rotting kelp, stinking crab …