My friend Bodie, martial artist and Japanese sword collector, has been flying my hawk because of my lack of a working car and his of a bird. Yesterday he gave me an incredible object: a “tsuba” or Samurai sword guard dating from somewhere between 1645 and 1700. It bears the image of a stylized goshawk, …
Kennewick Man Study Released
Since the anthropologists won their lawsuit in 2004 and obtained the right to study Kennewick Man’s remains, I have been waiting for the studies to come out. In today’s press release it appears that Doug Owsley of the Smithsonian is first out of the gate. Here’s a quick run-down of some findings. This was an …
French Design: Shotguns
Recently, in the incomparable 2Blowhards * , Donald Pittenger was carblogging. He described how the French carmaker Panhard, in the Thirties, made an attempt to make cars with the steering in the middle, and with curved windows on the sides. He explains plausibly why this was not a success, though I would rate the car’s …
Rick Brookhiser on Books
He thinks reports of their demise are premature. For one thing they are optimally user- friendly: “Books have already found the optimal size. “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket,” John Adams told one of his sons—and that was two centuries ago, long before paperbacks. Big books push the limit; some …
More Doom from the Doom- Master
… John Derbyshire, of course. This time he is worried about our culture’s new- found reluctance to DO all the old physical things: “I remember being a ten-year-old myself, spending hours watching my next-door neighbor, a butcher by trade but an amateur cabinet-maker by inclination, manipulating his saws, planes, chisels, and spokeshaves. My kids won’t …
Alpha on Cheney
The usual strong stuff from the Alpha Environmentalist on the quail kerfuffle: “Was Cheney reluctant to publicize it? You bet! Heck, if I wounded a hunting partner, I’d be so mortified I’d probably reload and finish the job, then kill all the other members of my party, then tell the police they had slaughtered each …
Against Pandas?
In the spirit of our penguin – bashing (see “Favorites”) here is a rant about pandas by brilliant anthro- blogger John Hawks: “….I am so tired of having to hear about it every time a panda ovulates in this country! “Count me out of this number: [V]isitors flock to see them, and when they cannot …
Art of Fine Printing and The Duck Creek Martini
My wife asked as I cleared the table last night: “Aren’t you going to a thing?“ I’d forgotten. And having pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants almost immediately after work, I said, “I’m already in my jammies,” and walked the dishes to the sink. But I stared at those dishes just a moment before changing …
The Book of Mormon, DNA, Native Americans, and Archaeology
This story in last week’s LA Times chronicles another collision between science and religion, a type of story much in the news these days. The story deals with one of the basic tenets of the Mormon Church – Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints – or LDS as they often refer to themselves. …
.600 Nitro
This video (requires Windows Media) , sent to me by an outdoor writer friend, is pretty funny but may need a little explanation. The .600 Nitro cartridge was the last and biggest of what might be thought of as the Edwardian elephant cartridges. It was exceeded in size only by the shotgun “Bore” rifles– ten …