.. was the heading Odious sent me referring to this New Scientist article about a new creature form the ever- surprising and fruitful mountains of Laos. “It was for sale on a table next to some vegetables,” says conservation biologist Robert Timmins, “and I knew immediately it was something I had never seen before.” People …
Slow blogging
Matt is dealing with refugees and hawking; Reid finishing a report; and me? Just LIFE. Lib’s ribs are recovering well, but other complications like the need to make a few bucks keep intruding, not to mention the total breakdown of my second vehicle– nothing like being truckless, that is, without motorized transportation, just as the …
Meth Addicts and Site Looting
Steve pointed out this strange item to me which confirmed a story that my sister told me she’d seen in the Jonesboro (AR) Sun. It seems that methamphetamine addicts in Arkansas have taken to collecting arrowheads and other Indian artifacts. Walking around in fields looking for artifacts fills their need for activity while they are …
Condors in Prehistoric California
After Steve’s post on possible late condor presence on the Northern Plains, I had to jump in with something on their importance to Native Americans in California. Condors featured in the religion of virtually every known tribe in the state, but I will talk mostly about the Chumash here in Southern California with which I …
“Genetic Pollution”?
I am reading the wonderful new monograph The Gyrfalcon . On page 229 I came upon a passage which may say more about the Scandinavian mind than falcons, and I found it both funny and disturbing. I am curious what readers might say– I think (Russian) author Eugene Potapov, who is both an ornithologist and …
Roadless
The Alpha Environmentalist speaks some hard truths on why the Roadless Rule is important (and reminds us of the necessity of not letting only one party “own” an issue). Jonathan says: “As a Republican, 4×4 owner, and hunter lumped in with those neo-Druids, I wonder if the Tribune could stop pandering to lumber and mining …
Malaria…
…is not just something that affects the poor in other countries: it is never far away. This LA Times editorial is a step in the direction of public awareness, but says some things that just aren’t so. (Who am I to say? Well, I came down with a bad case in Zimbabwe, got obsesssed with …
Thunderbirds!
Reid and Chas both sent me this fascinating link to Prariemary on the “recent” presence of condors on the Montana plains. They apparently hung on until the buffalo were gone, and might return again if introduced in the wake of big herds– see last post. “When Claude Schaeffer, curator of the Museum of the Plains …
Re- Wilding: Update
A lot of misinformed objections continue to arise from the proposal to repopulate the Great Plains with a “Revived Pleistocene”. Two letters to Nature, here and here , make points that have little to do with the project. The author of the first worries both that the introductions won’t work and that if they do …
Computers Versus Recess?
Although I am not necessarily a fan of Orion magazine’s reflexive “Left Green” politics, they often have something to say against “progress” for the sake of progress. Recently, I was struck by this article about how computers are getting between children and the real world. “Computers not only divert students from recess and other unstructured …