Some imp of perversity makes me think that it is a bit funny when two darlings of political correctitude seem to go up against each other. And anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I am a “science guy” who is respectful of religion. But this is just stupid. If Indians can kill eagles without …
Are we competent today?
Rod Dreher wonders. “It occurred to me last evening that when my father, who is 71, dies, an entire body of knowledge will die with him. He grew up in the rural South during the Great Depression. He can do any practical thing. He knows how to grow anything, how to kill and skin wild …
Serious Pig
(To quote John Thorne, whom you should definitely read…) The New Yorker has put up Bill Buford’s essay on learning how to be a Tuscan- style butcher (he used to be the editor of Granta, but this is a long way from haut- lit). It will be part of this book, which I have already …
Dog Whisperer
Apparently I am the last person on the planet NOT to have heard of this guy. Apparently AR people don’t like him, which might incline me in his favor if it were not for all the @#$%^&* CELEBRITIES who endorse him. But– what’s all this about being out in front of your dog? It may …
Decreasing Speciation?
Reid sent me this article by science writer Carl Zimmer (he’s good– Darren quotes his book on primitive whales and whale evo elsewhere). It is an interesting article, but I have some reservations. I wrote to Reid: “Interesting, and I like Zimmer, but I have my doubts. Not that the effect mentioned by Zimmer doesn’t …
Re- filling the Sea
Kazakhstan is, succesfully, beginning to re- fill their portion of the Aral Sea. “Now, thanks to a new 8-mile-wide dam and other projects by the Kazakh government and the World Bank, the northern part of the Aral is filling again with fresh water. That in turn is restoring hope and a modest degree of prosperity …
“Crotalia”
Chas has survived a rattler bite. He got it in the territory of the alpha Enviro– not here, where he also visited, though our five species make us a slightly lesser province of Crotalia…
Good News for Scavengers
Via Pluvialis: India has banned the chemical that was more than decimating its vultures and making the Towers of Silence very nasty and even more silent. I wrote about the problem here in The Atlantic a few years ago…
Botox Injections Lighten Depression
A preliminary study shows that botox injections to erase “frown lines” may actually alleviate depression. If there was ever a city newspaper appropriate to carry this story it is the LA Times. A study of ten women had positive results and researchers are calling for full protocol clinical trials. I really liked the subtitle in …
A Posse of Scientists
The LA Times has an interesting piece on how the police in Mammoth Lakes, California have enlisted some physical anthropologists using cutting edge analysis techniques to try to solve a murder. I was particularly intrigued by the study of trace elements in the teeth to figure out diet, and the use of oxygen isotopes to …