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.”
Evil Bastard Killer Eagles
Master zoological blogger Darren sent me this wonderful old Christmas card of his: It is all absolutely scientifically valid; for confirmation go here
Chicago, Chicago
Having banned handguns, homing pigeons, and foie gras, Chicago is now considering a ban on french fries. Other things up for consideration are diapers for horses, uniforms for cabbies, and a law allowing only smokeless cigarettes. On the fast food fat ban, Alderman Burke says he “… doesn’t know enough about the subject to identify …
More Goleta Birds
I found out inadvertantly last week that Blogger apparently limits the amount of “content” you can put in a single post. If you have a lot of pictures to show you have to break them into different posts, as I am doing here with more Atascadero Creek/Goleta Slough bird pictures. As I said, it’s a …
Goleta Pelicans
One of the things I enjoy most about living here is the birding. We go from the beach to 4,000 ft in the mountains in the space of five miles or less. We pack in a lot of habitat types in a small space which results in a large number of species. This is my …
Words to Live By
Moderation in some things!
Lashyn’s Pups!
Seven more pups, six female, arrived yesterday afternoon. Four are red, of which three look to have some brindle; one golden brindle girl a la Lash; and two creams, one a boy! Lash has sisters that are cream with black muzzles, as these look to be. It took a while. Thought we were done after …