Whatever it may say about Pre-Classic Mayan culture – namely that these people were more sophisticated at an earlier time than previously thought – this 2,100 year old painting from Guatemala is a dazzling work of art. This leads me to reflect on how art is so intrinsically woven into us as a species. We …
Paleoindian Skulls from South America
This news release has just enough in it to be intriguing, but lacks enough detail for me to comment much on it. Researchers in Brazil have studied 81 Paleoindian (11,000 – 7,500 BP) skulls from the Lagoa Santa region of that country and find that their features – long narrow crania, projecting jaws, and low, …
California Tsunami Preparedness
The bottom line in this LA Times piece is that we aren’t prepared. I certainly agree with that. Tsunamis are back on everyone’s radar after the disaster in the Indian Ocean a year ago. California has a tsunami alert system, but it is sort of feeble in that the State contacts each county and the …
The Real Unicorn
I heard a fascinating interview on the radio on the way into work this morning describing the narwhal research project detailed in this NY Times piece, whence the picture comes. We have known about narwhals and their tusks – passed off as “unicorn horns” in earlier times – for many years. But we have only …
Hunting Good for Wildlife? Imagine!
A story from today’s offerings by Reuters: Hunters helped save rare bird from extinction. As a patriotic, horn-tooting falconer, I immediately assumed “Peregrine recovery,” although that story is a little crusty, even for we hacks. Turns out this one is about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a bird arguably saved from annihilation by hunters’ annual purchase of …
Just a Sunset
We haven’t done much here in terms of pretty pictures for their own sakes, but we did have an A-1 sunset here yesterday that I wanted to share with you. Taken from East Beach, Santa Barbara.
Yosemite Lawsuit Thrown Out of Court
Steve posted back in August on a lawsuit brought by the family of a young climber killed by a rockfall in Yosemite back in 1999. It’s hard to intellectually square lawsuits like this when people voluntarily undertake an intrinsically dangerous sport such as rockclimbing. The LA Times reports that their suit was thrown out of …
A Visit To New Orleans
In addition to shelving and re-shelving our eight books at the library, I take on as much freelance writing as I can find. A recent email from a construction industry clearinghouse: Could I find places of worship in New Orleans, take pictures of storm damage and draft an article for the website? I certainly could, …
The Nash-Reid-Hill House
In my day job as a cultural resource consultant, I work every day with the eligibility criteria for the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is not just a list, but a tool for historic preservation, as properties affected by projects must meet the eligibility criteria for protection under the National Historic Preservation …
If a Sparrow Should Fall
In this piece by AP writer Toby Sterling, a murdered House sparrow gets honorary internment in the Rotterdam Natural History Museum. After finding its way into an exposition hall, where for months volunteers took pains to set up millions of dominoes (4,002,136 tiles and a Guinness World Record if confirmed), the bird began toppling pieces …