Crossing several lines through Querencia is the effect of new technology on much older things (namely, places and cultures) and how it might shape their futures. In Eagle Dreams, Steve writes of Mongolian friends in traditional circular tents wired for Internet; of eagle falconers in Mercedes-Benzes. Weird and charming anachronisms are common now but more …
Pairie Mary on 2Blowhards
I love the interconnected nature of the Blogosphere, so it delighted me to see that my Blogfather Michael Blowhard (that term coined I think by Glenn Reynolds) has caught up with my “blogsister” (coined by Reid?) PrairieMary. He has some good things to say about “regional writing” there too. What are the limits? Am I …
Public Access 2
A friend wrote this as a comment on the “End of Hunting” post below, and I thoiught it was important enought to put up front here, with his permission: “The loss of hunting opportunities is a real concern. I have friends from other parts of the country who are driving 100 miles or more to …
Steve’s Flint Cores – The How and Why
Knowing how much I like messing around with these things, Steve took this picture of two prehistoric flint cores in a museum in Turkey and sent it on to me. These are both very nice specimens and you can see the parallel flake scars down the sides and examples of the blades that have been …
Icons in Space!
For Mr. and Mrs. Peculiar: icons in space, and at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Whatever its faults, this ain’t your father’s Soviet Union. Courtesy John Debyshire.
More Flu
Here is a good LAT overview of the state of the H5N1 Avian Flu virus, concentrating on its inevitable spread along wild bird flyways. (Personally I worry a lot more about domestic chickens and ducks in the Asian “bird factories”). And here is a dark view of what could happen, and why “ring vaccination”, though …
Hawk Breeding Regs
This is a long post with contributions by both Matt and me. It is taken from a letter written to the USFWS responding to their request for input on proposed new regulations for falcon breeders. Feel free to skip if it seems too “inside”– but I think tht it (especially Matt’s part) will be of …
The “End of Hunting”?
Both Reid and Anne Hocker noticed this article in the left- of – center Washington Monthly lamenting the decline of hunting opportunities fror the average man and suggesting ways thet “progressives” have a natural affinity with the issue. While nobody would call me a progressive I think that author Christina Larsen hits the nail on …
Hasan Dag and Catal Huyuk
Steve’s post last week on Turkish Landscapes had a photo of a volcano named Hasan Dag that he traveled past on his trip. The following is a guest post on Hasan Dag and a nearby archaeological site from Janet Jones, an archaeologist and classics professor, who was on the trip with Steve: Everytime I see …
Parvo in Yellowstone?
Here is an article on whether Parvovirus could be responsible for a sudden decline in the Yellowstone wolf population. I wsn’t sure how this might be spread, so asked sometime contributor Dr. John Burchard, zoologist and polymath, for his opinion. His answers were, as always, fascinating. I had said to Reid, who had sent the …