I work for a large public University in the American South. It's easy to learn which, considering I've been there ten years, serving most of them as a Web administrator. It's too hard to hide on the Internet...
I'll have a new job on campus, effective early next month. It's in large part a press job, helping bring attention to new discoveries and the research our faculty conduct. I'll produce a glossy, quarterly publication and assist with others. But there are enough additional duties attached to this position that I expect to be snowed in like a winter at Reid's house for the next few months.
Moreover, my writing of inflammatory missives on this blog and elsewhere will probably need to stop. Some of my favorite topics are inflammatory, so I know I'll miss that. But the potential to write myself out of a job, or at very least embarrass my bosses (which may be close to the same thing), will be high. Therefore I plan to lay low.
I'll still help Steve with image posting and will probably write an obituary for Kato when he finally kicks the bucket. If I don't do much more than that for a while, now you'll know why.
Drop me an email sometime---I'll still be reading!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Ataika's Career
Steve, why didn't you tell us that Ataika was moonlighting as a supermodel?
Did you have to pay to get headshots for her portfolio?
I certainly hope she's working for more than just kibble!Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Minor miracle
Lest we forget why animals are more amazing than you and me, in general, and why we love to have them around: Witness Kato, my cat since 1986, killer of squirrels, rabbits and birds a plenty; the world's only (known to me) hawking cat, who followed the hawk and me on numerous hunts in my high school days; who remained steadfast through several of my girlfriends' departures and my wife's continuing tenure; who outlived two dogs; who suffered the indignities of my toddlers without biting them; who bit me too many times to mention yet still purrs in my lap.
This ancient cat just jumped three times his own height onto a chair in my den.
From a sitting position.
You go, Kato.
Tenacious
I saw this small "chimney" of uneroded soil in the middle of a small arroyo east of the house yesterday.
Closer examination showed that a matt of prickly pear had anchored the soil in place while everything else around it eroded away. Looking at the size of the arroyo and the stability of the vegetation in it, I would guess this was a decades long process. 
When I went over to take the close-up of the cactus, it was also evident that this"cactus island" is a favorite place for owls to hang out, as the ground around was littered with these pellets.
Surprise
Last Saturday's predicted high of 52 with a chance of thundershowers turned into a high of 35 and a Spring snow storm. Native Southern Californians Sadie and Maggie ask: What is this stuff?Monday, March 26, 2007
Squirrels Gone Wild
This item is a little old, but it happened while I was busy moving and couldn't get to it. The LA Times reported that the city of Santa Monica has been faced with a problem where one of its parks has been overrun by a population explosion of ground squirrels.
And what did the city do? Trap and kill some to keep the population down? Trap some and move some to another area? Encourage natural predators to hunt there and keep the population down? - we have recommended to some clients with ground squirrel problems that they build perching spots for raptors in the area - it works.
No - Santa Monica is going to catch the ground squirrels and give them birth control shots.
And what did the city do? Trap and kill some to keep the population down? Trap some and move some to another area? Encourage natural predators to hunt there and keep the population down? - we have recommended to some clients with ground squirrel problems that they build perching spots for raptors in the area - it works.
No - Santa Monica is going to catch the ground squirrels and give them birth control shots.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
More Granddogs
Matt suggested I put up this photo of Nate's lurcher Pearl and tazi girl Maty. Photo Nate Moody:
Matt says: Ah...dog humor.
Mullahs Dis 300
The mad mullahs aren't very coherent about it, but they sure don't like the new movie "300".
A couple of reactions:
"The government spokesman referred to the movie as part of the extensive cultural aggression aiming to degenerate cultures of world states."
And:
"The Iranian embassy in Paris has termed the film an insult to the rich Iranian culture and civilization and shameless fabrication of history.
"The statement further reads, "This is surprising that Hollywood cinema, in a hostile manner and in pursuit of unhealthy objectives and with a commercial look in compliance with the militarist policies of some ill famed and domineering powers, has initiated to propagate hatred and terrorism in the world instead of attempting to diagnose the real problems gripping the present world.
And:
"The director of the film '300', Zack Snyder is 40 years old with no significant professional record."
Oooh-- that hurts..
A couple of reactions:
"The government spokesman referred to the movie as part of the extensive cultural aggression aiming to degenerate cultures of world states."
And:
"The Iranian embassy in Paris has termed the film an insult to the rich Iranian culture and civilization and shameless fabrication of history.
"The statement further reads, "This is surprising that Hollywood cinema, in a hostile manner and in pursuit of unhealthy objectives and with a commercial look in compliance with the militarist policies of some ill famed and domineering powers, has initiated to propagate hatred and terrorism in the world instead of attempting to diagnose the real problems gripping the present world.
And:
"The director of the film '300', Zack Snyder is 40 years old with no significant professional record."
Oooh-- that hurts..
Sympatric
A real find for evo- wonks: a likely case of sympatric speciation in finches.
"Examples of sympatric speciation in nature are rare and hotly debated. We describe the parallel speciation of finches on two small islands in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean."
For a fascinating book on the subject-- by a scientist who allegedly convinced evo- maven Enst Mayr that sympatric speciation, the splitting of a population into two species in one place, was possible-- see menno Schilthuizen's Frogs, Flies, and Dandelions: The Making of Species
"Examples of sympatric speciation in nature are rare and hotly debated. We describe the parallel speciation of finches on two small islands in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean."
For a fascinating book on the subject-- by a scientist who allegedly convinced evo- maven Enst Mayr that sympatric speciation, the splitting of a population into two species in one place, was possible-- see menno Schilthuizen's Frogs, Flies, and Dandelions: The Making of Species
Ancient Enemies
Proof that at least one species of prehistoric cat, Megantereon, hunted humans-- it's in the isotopes.
""Paranthropus robustus and the early Homo species,Homo ergaster, had a diet that reflected a mix of carbon isotopes, suggesting that they were omnivorous, which is similar to what modern humans are today," said Lee-Thorp.
"Knowing the hominid carbon isotope ratios, Lee-Thorp and her colleagues were able to compare the ratios to those found in various carnivores found at the site. The team examined fossilized tooth enamel of leopards, lions, and spotted hyenas, in addition to three extinct species: Megantereon; Dino felis, a false saber-toothed cat; and Chasmoporithetes nitidula, an extinct hunting hyena."
Of these, all but "Dino felis"-- more on that in a minute-- showed ratios that indicated that they fed on humans
As for Mr. Felis, who sounds like an associate of Fabio, I believe they mean Dinofelis.
I did think Paranthropus was more of a vegetarian but maybe I am behind the times...
HT Grayal Farr.
""Paranthropus robustus and the early Homo species,Homo ergaster, had a diet that reflected a mix of carbon isotopes, suggesting that they were omnivorous, which is similar to what modern humans are today," said Lee-Thorp.
"Knowing the hominid carbon isotope ratios, Lee-Thorp and her colleagues were able to compare the ratios to those found in various carnivores found at the site. The team examined fossilized tooth enamel of leopards, lions, and spotted hyenas, in addition to three extinct species: Megantereon; Dino felis, a false saber-toothed cat; and Chasmoporithetes nitidula, an extinct hunting hyena."
Of these, all but "Dino felis"-- more on that in a minute-- showed ratios that indicated that they fed on humans
As for Mr. Felis, who sounds like an associate of Fabio, I believe they mean Dinofelis.
I did think Paranthropus was more of a vegetarian but maybe I am behind the times...
HT Grayal Farr.
More AR Follies: Kill Knut!
Now the idiots want to kill a popular polar bear cub in Germany because he was rejected by his mother.
""Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation Bild daily, which has featured regular photo spreads tracking fuzzy Knut's frolicking.
" "The zoo must kill the bear." "
(Snip)
"Albrecht cited a similar case of a baby sloth bear that was abandoned by its mother last December in the Leipzig city zoo and killed by lethal injection, rather than being kept alive by humans.
"But Knut belongs to the Berlin Zoo, and their veterinarian Andre Schuele, charged with caring for him, disagrees.
""These criticisms make me angry, but you can't take them so seriously," Andre Schuele said. "Polar bears live alone in the wild; I see no logical reason why this bear should be killed."
"Schuele also argued that given the increased rarity of polar bears in the wild, it makes sense to keep them alive in captivity so that they can be bred.
" "Polar bears are under threat of extinction, and if we feed the bear with a bottle, it has a good chance of growing up and perhaps becoming attractive as a stud for other zoos," Schuele said."
Thank God for people with sense. AR, taken to its logical limits, is a death cult-- only the dead can't suffer.
""Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation Bild daily, which has featured regular photo spreads tracking fuzzy Knut's frolicking.
" "The zoo must kill the bear." "
(Snip)
"Albrecht cited a similar case of a baby sloth bear that was abandoned by its mother last December in the Leipzig city zoo and killed by lethal injection, rather than being kept alive by humans.
"But Knut belongs to the Berlin Zoo, and their veterinarian Andre Schuele, charged with caring for him, disagrees.
""These criticisms make me angry, but you can't take them so seriously," Andre Schuele said. "Polar bears live alone in the wild; I see no logical reason why this bear should be killed."
"Schuele also argued that given the increased rarity of polar bears in the wild, it makes sense to keep them alive in captivity so that they can be bred.
" "Polar bears are under threat of extinction, and if we feed the bear with a bottle, it has a good chance of growing up and perhaps becoming attractive as a stud for other zoos," Schuele said."
Thank God for people with sense. AR, taken to its logical limits, is a death cult-- only the dead can't suffer.
PETA's Jesus
Even for the notoriously irrational PETA, this is amazing. Having convinced themselves that Christ was a vegetarian, they have created this... installation: a "diner" made out of an Airstream trailer, featuring a model of Christ presiding over a Last Supper company composed of various famous real and alleged vegetarians-- Ghandi, George Bernard Shaw, Paul McCartney as Sergeant Pepper, Kafka, and K. D. Lang-- all behind bars, so, I guess, they won't be vandalized, but looking like they are in jail. It is the silliest thing I have seen so far this year.
Some friends had pungent reactions.
Tom McIntyre: "This is my celery? This is my cider?"
Patrick Burns:
"PETA just proves it's filled with folks that have never read the Bible. Say what you want about Jesus, but he was Jew, and as such was raised in a world in which the Torah -- the most sacred book of God -- was wrapped in animal skins with the fur still on them. His was a world of sheep and goats, camels and donkeys, horses, and mules. Sheep and goats were routinely sacrificed and eaten, just as they are today. Larger pack animals were used to the very edge of their miserable existence, and then they were killed and skinned for water bags, saddles drums, shoes, bags, and cord -- just as they are today. In much of the Middle East, little has changed in 2,000 years, and I assure you that there is no notion of Animal Rights at all.
"In both the Old and New Testaments, animals do not have rights, and in fact at least one day every year -- during the Passover sacrifice -- practicing Jews always had to eat meat as it was part of the traditional meal. Jesus was born in a manger -- a place where beasts of burden and servicve are houses. The story in the New Testament is not of loaves and Tofu, but of loaves and fishes, and it was fish -- a living thing -- that was killed and which Jesus fed to his followers. Add to this the story in Samuel where the fox's tail is set on fire to help torch the fields of the Philistines (made famous in a Kipping poem entitled "The Fox Meditates"), the Old Testament tales of frogs falling from the sky (not a good day for the frogs, I suspect), and the wholesale drowning of animals (Great Flood and Exodus), and it's clear that God is not a PETA member.
"We have more direct evidence, of course. If God made man in his own image, as the Bible says, then God has canine teeth.
"Try to reconcile that with vegetarianism.
"God did not make man alone, of course. He aso made spiders which bind up living things, inject them with poison, and then eat them eat them alive, one piece at a time. God made the hawk which will rip the head of a fluttering sparrow still grasped in his claw. God made the fox which will chew the legs off a living mouse so that the flapping rodent can serve as a toy for its kits.
"In short, God made nature, red in tooth and claw, and I assure you it is not all a mistake.
"OK, enough out of me -- off with the dogs for a few hours in the field. Time for me to listen to a little Stained Glass Bluegrass.
"Let us prey."
A PETA spokesman said "I’ve had people telling me they’re going to be re-evaluating their food choices and lives after seeing the display.”
Maybe after laughing themselves silly they all go off for bloody steaks.
Oh and-- THERE'S A PIG ON THE ROOF.
UPDATE: Patrick shares thoughts on his religion.
Some friends had pungent reactions.
Tom McIntyre: "This is my celery? This is my cider?"
Patrick Burns:
"PETA just proves it's filled with folks that have never read the Bible. Say what you want about Jesus, but he was Jew, and as such was raised in a world in which the Torah -- the most sacred book of God -- was wrapped in animal skins with the fur still on them. His was a world of sheep and goats, camels and donkeys, horses, and mules. Sheep and goats were routinely sacrificed and eaten, just as they are today. Larger pack animals were used to the very edge of their miserable existence, and then they were killed and skinned for water bags, saddles drums, shoes, bags, and cord -- just as they are today. In much of the Middle East, little has changed in 2,000 years, and I assure you that there is no notion of Animal Rights at all.
"In both the Old and New Testaments, animals do not have rights, and in fact at least one day every year -- during the Passover sacrifice -- practicing Jews always had to eat meat as it was part of the traditional meal. Jesus was born in a manger -- a place where beasts of burden and servicve are houses. The story in the New Testament is not of loaves and Tofu, but of loaves and fishes, and it was fish -- a living thing -- that was killed and which Jesus fed to his followers. Add to this the story in Samuel where the fox's tail is set on fire to help torch the fields of the Philistines (made famous in a Kipping poem entitled "The Fox Meditates"), the Old Testament tales of frogs falling from the sky (not a good day for the frogs, I suspect), and the wholesale drowning of animals (Great Flood and Exodus), and it's clear that God is not a PETA member.
"We have more direct evidence, of course. If God made man in his own image, as the Bible says, then God has canine teeth.
"Try to reconcile that with vegetarianism.
"God did not make man alone, of course. He aso made spiders which bind up living things, inject them with poison, and then eat them eat them alive, one piece at a time. God made the hawk which will rip the head of a fluttering sparrow still grasped in his claw. God made the fox which will chew the legs off a living mouse so that the flapping rodent can serve as a toy for its kits.
"In short, God made nature, red in tooth and claw, and I assure you it is not all a mistake.
"OK, enough out of me -- off with the dogs for a few hours in the field. Time for me to listen to a little Stained Glass Bluegrass.
"Let us prey."
A PETA spokesman said "I’ve had people telling me they’re going to be re-evaluating their food choices and lives after seeing the display.”
Maybe after laughing themselves silly they all go off for bloody steaks.
Oh and-- THERE'S A PIG ON THE ROOF.
UPDATE: Patrick shares thoughts on his religion.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Prairie Rambles
The last seven years we had been living in a suburban tract house, so when we bought the house here at Moonshine Gulch, I was happy that we could get some property around it. Here is Sadie out back. I must say I have never had a yard before that was narrow-leafed yucca, gramma grass, and prickly pear.
Though our dogs were stressed about moving as I showed in the post below, they are happy campers now that they have more open country to ramble in. We have been taking them on long walks on some open prairie in a county park just to the west of us. Way more fun than walking down a sidewalk on a leash.
Sadie has been a city dog all of her short life but is now learning all sorts of new lessons in this new environment: how to avoid burrs and cactus spines in your paws; how to navigate under barbed wire; and that horse poop is a tasty treat. When the weather warms she may learn some lessons about snakes as well.
On our first ramble we discovered the skeleton of what I believe is a fox. Here's the cranium. Experts please correct me if I'm wrong - all my reference books are in boxes.
We had some light scattered showers yesterday afternoon and the clouds added to the beauty of the sunset. Also, after the rain I realized I had forgotten just how good damp prairie grass smells.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Stressed
After the movers had picked up all the furniture, our dogs seemed to doubt our assurances that they were coming to Colorado, too.Roast Capybara - A Holiday Treat
The NY Times had an interesting piece on how the meat of the giant rodent, the capybara, is a prized delicacy in Venezuela, expecially during the Lenten season. Apparently the local Roman Catholic church has given it a status more akin to fish than meat.
The article reminded me of a post I did last year on a traditional Zuni rodent treat, rat-brine.
From the article:
"Capybara aficionados include President Hugo Chavez, who grew up in Barinas, a state on Venezuela’s steamy plains where capybaras are common. On his television show, “Hello, President,” Mr. Chávez has promoted capybara empanadas washed down with papaya juice. "
Steve's comment was, "And after a few more years of Hugo, that's all they'll have..."
The article reminded me of a post I did last year on a traditional Zuni rodent treat, rat-brine.
From the article:
"Capybara aficionados include President Hugo Chavez, who grew up in Barinas, a state on Venezuela’s steamy plains where capybaras are common. On his television show, “Hello, President,” Mr. Chávez has promoted capybara empanadas washed down with papaya juice. "
Steve's comment was, "And after a few more years of Hugo, that's all they'll have..."
Colorado Arrival
Well, we finally did make it here to Denver last Saturday. The movers delivered all of our stuff last Monday, and we are slowly making our way through the sea of boxes in our new house to unpack. We actually found the pots and pans last night and got to really cook, as opposed to microwave heat ups.Luckily for us the weather has been seasonally mild, after the hard winter here. Some of its traces are still visible on the front porch.
I will be back posting again and will be telling you more about our new neighborhood.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Good Stuff #6: Calligraphy
I just found that our friend Sir Terence Clark does Arabic calligraphy as a pastime, Since he is "dog (saluki/ tazi) friend", the subject of this piece is not surprising. In his words:
"In this piece I have used at the top a line of poetry - "Without hunting there is no pleasure" - in what is known as Early Kufic, the style in which the first Qur'ans were written. In the main body I have used the later Fatimid Kufic style for two lines from a poem describing the strength of a Saluqi called Muq (which appears in Rex Smith's book on Ibn Marzuban) - "He springs into action faster than the sword and the spear; he is more effective than arrows and javelins". The decoration is in the Ottoman style of the 18th century."
"In this piece I have used at the top a line of poetry - "Without hunting there is no pleasure" - in what is known as Early Kufic, the style in which the first Qur'ans were written. In the main body I have used the later Fatimid Kufic style for two lines from a poem describing the strength of a Saluqi called Muq (which appears in Rex Smith's book on Ibn Marzuban) - "He springs into action faster than the sword and the spear; he is more effective than arrows and javelins". The decoration is in the Ottoman style of the 18th century."
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Good Stuff #5: Peregrine Nest
As I mentioned in "Sick as a Doorknob" below, we climbed up to this Peregrine nest Sunday. The actual pic was taken last year-- there is no snow that low this warm spring.
The line of droppings that mark the ledge is just above the foreground snow...
Good Stuff #4: Crazy South African Snake Man
The Alpha Environmentalist sent this pic of his crazy South African friend Neels and his tame seven-foot black mamba, teaching a ranger course. Somehow, the "No Smoking" sign is hilarious in this context.
Jonathan adds: "You could mention that he was bitten by a mamba on an episode of Mark O'Shea's Big Adventure, and nearly died. Back on his feet the next day. Obviously didn't make him nervous around mambas."
Also note the Jonathan Kingdon poster behind...
Jonathan adds: "You could mention that he was bitten by a mamba on an episode of Mark O'Shea's Big Adventure, and nearly died. Back on his feet the next day. Obviously didn't make him nervous around mambas."
Also note the Jonathan Kingdon poster behind...
Good Stuff #3: Vadim Gorbatov
Vadim Gorbatov has been in Cambodia. Here is a mere taste.
Butterflies & temple
Gibbon
clouded leopard
(For more on Neofelis, see Darren).
Good Stuff #2 : Fast Pigeons
One of Tom Donald's new "field pouters" outflies a good trained Peregrine-- really!
Good Stuff # 1: Birds
Just got some good news and will blog on it when it becomes "official".
Meanwhile it inspires me to put up more visuals and other fun and (in this case) not yet official stuff for a bit.
First, two birds with possible future potential for me, small falcons I can fly nearby.
Red- Headed Falcon: a tame little bird from a huge range in the Tropics, with rather Accipitrine habits.
Three- quarter Barbary, one quarter Taita falcon. The cross inhibits the Barb's wanderlust and the Taita's tendency to get eaten by other raptors.
Meanwhile it inspires me to put up more visuals and other fun and (in this case) not yet official stuff for a bit.
First, two birds with possible future potential for me, small falcons I can fly nearby.
Red- Headed Falcon: a tame little bird from a huge range in the Tropics, with rather Accipitrine habits.
Three- quarter Barbary, one quarter Taita falcon. The cross inhibits the Barb's wanderlust and the Taita's tendency to get eaten by other raptors.
Bio-bloggo-literary diversity
Steve's post below ticking off the recent wonders from the bloggoshere got me clicking again on Nemo Ramjet. Those who live in this orbit will recognize the name.
Ramjet's new project (unpublished, but--shockingly--available free!) is a wonder. No point in describing it. See for yourself.
Between the few of us who write and read at Q., we whine a lot about good books no one will print. Sadly there's no shortage. Someone better snatch this one up!
Ramjet's new project (unpublished, but--shockingly--available free!) is a wonder. No point in describing it. See for yourself.
Between the few of us who write and read at Q., we whine a lot about good books no one will print. Sadly there's no shortage. Someone better snatch this one up!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Around the Web
Of course I have still been at least crawling around the web and have found much entertainment and as always a little offense. I'll direct you to some goodies, but I hope that in my absence you have visited not only friends linked to here but also O &P, Heidi, Mary, Chas, Roseann, Pluvi (returned from the Stans and seeing Goshawks at home!) and Darren.
Patrick weighs in here on mandatory spay neuter and-- scroll up on the site-- with a wrinkle on Zumbo: "Marmot Culture". Patrick, you haven't seen Marmot Culture until you have visited Mongolia!
A federal court finds for the Second Amendment! The NYT is somewhat shocked. Istapundit isn't.
Bruce Douglas comments:
" "The majority rejected the District’s
argument that the Second Amendment should apply only
to the kinds of guns in use at the end of the 18th
century" always gets me. I'd be cool with carrying a
brace of flintlocks if the media was willing to
distribute the news on individually printed
handbills, distributed by horse and foot. Oh yeah,
they also have to get rid of air conditioning in DC
and go back to outhouses. And, of course, dueling
was legal again."
Carel delights Libby by telling us all about softshell turtles, her favorite reptile (if in this cladistic age we can still use such an archaic term.)
Sixty to eighty cheetahs persist in Iran!
The Irish may really be English.
Puritan anti- drug warriors are trying to turn our kids into Stalin-era youth prohibitionist- informants. Luckily ours (Mr. P.) didn't get anything like that, and I doubt his potential kids-- or Odious's actual one (see his recent post)-- will either.
Annie D sends news of a new clouded leopard in Borneo. This cat is not just genetically distinct-- it actually looks different.
The prairies should burn-- but not evenly.
"The prairies were never some homogenous sea of grass rolling off in unending sameness. They were a patchwork, a shifting mosaic of burned and unburned, some places grazed down, others hardly grazed at all. Some areas were replete with forbs and others not. Patches ranged from small to immense. And none of this happened on a set schedule; the whole process was infused with randomness and rotating change. Conditioned to forests, settlers from the east may have little perceived the diversity of the prairies, but diverse and dynamic they were."
(HT Walter Hingley).
Stewart Brand has never stopped thinking originally. As Tom McIntyre says: "God (or Gaia, if you prefer) bless old acid freaks!"
You want biodiversity? THIS is biodiversity! HT Nate and Liz Johnson.
And finally: they can always amaze me. The AR movement has apparently combined with academia to convene the (seventh annual!) "Convention on Inadmissible Questions" on the question "Can the Holocaust be compared with African American slavery or the Native American genocide? Can any of these experiences be related to those of animals on today’s factory farms?".
Their apparent answer is "Yes". I was going to comment but I think I'll just let it hang. I'm not sure it isn't historically illiterate to compare the first three...
Doomed!
Update: Darren has already informed us that the "new" clouded leopard was described in 1823. Two lessons: don't get sick and don't miss Darren, even for a few days...
Patrick weighs in here on mandatory spay neuter and-- scroll up on the site-- with a wrinkle on Zumbo: "Marmot Culture". Patrick, you haven't seen Marmot Culture until you have visited Mongolia!
A federal court finds for the Second Amendment! The NYT is somewhat shocked. Istapundit isn't.
Bruce Douglas comments:
" "The majority rejected the District’s
argument that the Second Amendment should apply only
to the kinds of guns in use at the end of the 18th
century" always gets me. I'd be cool with carrying a
brace of flintlocks if the media was willing to
distribute the news on individually printed
handbills, distributed by horse and foot. Oh yeah,
they also have to get rid of air conditioning in DC
and go back to outhouses. And, of course, dueling
was legal again."
Carel delights Libby by telling us all about softshell turtles, her favorite reptile (if in this cladistic age we can still use such an archaic term.)
Sixty to eighty cheetahs persist in Iran!
The Irish may really be English.
Puritan anti- drug warriors are trying to turn our kids into Stalin-era youth prohibitionist- informants. Luckily ours (Mr. P.) didn't get anything like that, and I doubt his potential kids-- or Odious's actual one (see his recent post)-- will either.
Annie D sends news of a new clouded leopard in Borneo. This cat is not just genetically distinct-- it actually looks different.
The prairies should burn-- but not evenly.
"The prairies were never some homogenous sea of grass rolling off in unending sameness. They were a patchwork, a shifting mosaic of burned and unburned, some places grazed down, others hardly grazed at all. Some areas were replete with forbs and others not. Patches ranged from small to immense. And none of this happened on a set schedule; the whole process was infused with randomness and rotating change. Conditioned to forests, settlers from the east may have little perceived the diversity of the prairies, but diverse and dynamic they were."
(HT Walter Hingley).
Stewart Brand has never stopped thinking originally. As Tom McIntyre says: "God (or Gaia, if you prefer) bless old acid freaks!"
You want biodiversity? THIS is biodiversity! HT Nate and Liz Johnson.
And finally: they can always amaze me. The AR movement has apparently combined with academia to convene the (seventh annual!) "Convention on Inadmissible Questions" on the question "Can the Holocaust be compared with African American slavery or the Native American genocide? Can any of these experiences be related to those of animals on today’s factory farms?".
Their apparent answer is "Yes". I was going to comment but I think I'll just let it hang. I'm not sure it isn't historically illiterate to compare the first three...
Doomed!
Update: Darren has already informed us that the "new" clouded leopard was described in 1823. Two lessons: don't get sick and don't miss Darren, even for a few days...
"Sicker than a Doorknob"
... was an expression that the late Ernie Pino, Mr. Malaprop of the Golden Spur, used to use. We won't even touch on its etymology.
But that is why I have been absent-- I have been sick for a while and just got worn out. I hasten to say that I am feeling a good bit better.
But it occurs that there is some biological and evolutionary interest in the matter as well as an excuse. WHAT I had was persistent bacterial pneumonia, a severe sinus infection, and infected ears, one on the edge (?) of an abcess. But WHY I had it may be of interest. I hope so anyway-- my writing on my malaria years back made more than one person say writers will write about anything.
You see, I have a (not very rare) genetic condition-- I carry a gene for at least one abnormal CFTR protein. Two copies cause the debilitating lifelong condition known as Cystic Fibrosis.
Until recently it was though that single gene "carriers" were perfectly healthy, and most informational websites still say so. But a few years back evidence began to mount that at least some single gene carriers begin to manifest some CF- type symptoms in their late forties and fifties. I am 57.
Around (I think) 2000 I saw a report on this in New Scientist magazine, and emailed my sister Anita, who is a health professional specializing in CF, enquiring. I was beginning to suffer from thick mucus and persistent sinus infections, and had to have nasal polyps removed. She replied with a list of symptoms. I had them all. She urged me to get tested and I found that I did indeed have a copy of the suspect gene.
We refer sardonically to the condition as "CF Lite", but this winter has been a bit heavier. Matt, who knows I have not been well, asked how I was doing yesterday. I replied:
"A LITTLE better. Yesterday I made myself walk up 3000 feet [from 6000 to 9000 feet] to the Peregrine eyrie-- kill or cure! As I suspected, after turning blue in the face I began to get relief. Mechanically heavy aerobic exercise busts through the accumulated mucus, and I stopped coughing every ten seconds for the first time in what seems like months.
"It is this damn ever- worsening single CFTR gene thing. I am frustrated because knowledge of it is still so new that you can barely find anything in the literature about it on the web-- most sites insist that single gene carriers suffer NO symptoms. I have had for at least a decade most of the non- pancreatic symptoms, and the lungs are approaching "mild" (??) but genuine CF symptoms. ( I have routinely gotten pneumonia and sinus infections every winter for a decade and they get worse). If my doc and my sister (a CF pro in Boston) didn't feed me info I'd swear I was paranoid. The CF establishment seems at times to say "if you had full blown CF you would be dead before you reached 57, so count your blessings". Fine, but I'm choking NOW.
"This winter, one cold-triggered bout of bacterial pneumonia and sinusitis (Dec?) followed by what I now think was partial recovery-- then a worse case running now for 6? weeks, and on its third round of antibiotics, second antibiotic. This is classic CF symptomology-- persistent lurking lung (and sinus and ear) bacteria becoming more and more antibiotic- resistant and hiding semi- imperviously in the mucus. [Both ears and sinus were incredibly painful as well and full of yellow green mucus as were my lungs. At least that part is good and over! And the walk uphill actually seemed to blast loose a lot of mucus I could not cough up before-- I feel a lot better.]
"At times the lung mucus has been solid enough for Beth (doc) to diagnose its thickness just by listening. I think it needs mechanical breakup but insurance won't cover formal CF treatments for single-copy CFTR cases. My climbing yesterday had some of this effect, but sleeplessness and lack of oxygen doesn't exactly fuel the energy for it! And the crap in my sinuses doesn't help breathing either.
"I am going to improvise a "seawater nebulizer" to attempt to copy the effect of a new CF treatment they are trying, but for free. (What I really need is one of those big nebulizers they use for Gyrs with Asper [Gyrfalcons, which are from the Arctic, get Aspergillosis fumigatus, a fungal lung infection-- as do true CF sufferers], but those COST!)
"It would be nice to breathe freely."
The Wiki article on the gene and the one on CF are excellent, but say nothing of single gene effects.
The second has a couple of good paragraphs on how heterozygotic copies of bad genes can confer evolutionary advantages (I told you I was going somewhere with this).
"The ΔF508 mutation is estimated to be up to 52,000 years old.[54] Numerous hypotheses have been advanced as to why such a lethal mutation has persisted and spread in the human population. Other common autosomal recessive diseases such as sickle cell anemia have been found to protect carriers from other diseases, a concept known as heterozygote advantage. With the discovery that cholera toxin requires normal host CFTR proteins to function properly, it was hypothesized that carriers of mutant CFTR genes benefited from resistance to cholera and other causes of diarrhea.[55] Further studies have not confirmed this hypothesis.[56][57]
"Normal CFTR proteins are also essential for the entry of Salmonella typhi into cells,[58] suggesting that carriers of mutant CFTR genes might be resistant to typhoid fever. No in vivo study has yet confirmed this. In both cases, the low level of cystic fibrosis outside of Europe, in places where both cholera and typhoid fever are endemic, is not immediately explicable.
"It has also been hypothesized that the prevalence of CF in Europe might be connected with the development of cattle domestication. In this hypothesis, carriers of a single mutant CFTR chromosome had some protection from diarrhea caused by lactose intolerance, prior to the appearance of the mutations that created lactose tolerance.[59]"
See also the book Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem, which is about the whole paradoxical subject of bad gene evolution and persistence.
But that is why I have been absent-- I have been sick for a while and just got worn out. I hasten to say that I am feeling a good bit better.
But it occurs that there is some biological and evolutionary interest in the matter as well as an excuse. WHAT I had was persistent bacterial pneumonia, a severe sinus infection, and infected ears, one on the edge (?) of an abcess. But WHY I had it may be of interest. I hope so anyway-- my writing on my malaria years back made more than one person say writers will write about anything.
You see, I have a (not very rare) genetic condition-- I carry a gene for at least one abnormal CFTR protein. Two copies cause the debilitating lifelong condition known as Cystic Fibrosis.
Until recently it was though that single gene "carriers" were perfectly healthy, and most informational websites still say so. But a few years back evidence began to mount that at least some single gene carriers begin to manifest some CF- type symptoms in their late forties and fifties. I am 57.
Around (I think) 2000 I saw a report on this in New Scientist magazine, and emailed my sister Anita, who is a health professional specializing in CF, enquiring. I was beginning to suffer from thick mucus and persistent sinus infections, and had to have nasal polyps removed. She replied with a list of symptoms. I had them all. She urged me to get tested and I found that I did indeed have a copy of the suspect gene.
We refer sardonically to the condition as "CF Lite", but this winter has been a bit heavier. Matt, who knows I have not been well, asked how I was doing yesterday. I replied:
"A LITTLE better. Yesterday I made myself walk up 3000 feet [from 6000 to 9000 feet] to the Peregrine eyrie-- kill or cure! As I suspected, after turning blue in the face I began to get relief. Mechanically heavy aerobic exercise busts through the accumulated mucus, and I stopped coughing every ten seconds for the first time in what seems like months.
"It is this damn ever- worsening single CFTR gene thing. I am frustrated because knowledge of it is still so new that you can barely find anything in the literature about it on the web-- most sites insist that single gene carriers suffer NO symptoms. I have had for at least a decade most of the non- pancreatic symptoms, and the lungs are approaching "mild" (??) but genuine CF symptoms. ( I have routinely gotten pneumonia and sinus infections every winter for a decade and they get worse). If my doc and my sister (a CF pro in Boston) didn't feed me info I'd swear I was paranoid. The CF establishment seems at times to say "if you had full blown CF you would be dead before you reached 57, so count your blessings". Fine, but I'm choking NOW.
"This winter, one cold-triggered bout of bacterial pneumonia and sinusitis (Dec?) followed by what I now think was partial recovery-- then a worse case running now for 6? weeks, and on its third round of antibiotics, second antibiotic. This is classic CF symptomology-- persistent lurking lung (and sinus and ear) bacteria becoming more and more antibiotic- resistant and hiding semi- imperviously in the mucus. [Both ears and sinus were incredibly painful as well and full of yellow green mucus as were my lungs. At least that part is good and over! And the walk uphill actually seemed to blast loose a lot of mucus I could not cough up before-- I feel a lot better.]
"At times the lung mucus has been solid enough for Beth (doc) to diagnose its thickness just by listening. I think it needs mechanical breakup but insurance won't cover formal CF treatments for single-copy CFTR cases. My climbing yesterday had some of this effect, but sleeplessness and lack of oxygen doesn't exactly fuel the energy for it! And the crap in my sinuses doesn't help breathing either.
"I am going to improvise a "seawater nebulizer" to attempt to copy the effect of a new CF treatment they are trying, but for free. (What I really need is one of those big nebulizers they use for Gyrs with Asper [Gyrfalcons, which are from the Arctic, get Aspergillosis fumigatus, a fungal lung infection-- as do true CF sufferers], but those COST!)
"It would be nice to breathe freely."
The Wiki article on the gene and the one on CF are excellent, but say nothing of single gene effects.
The second has a couple of good paragraphs on how heterozygotic copies of bad genes can confer evolutionary advantages (I told you I was going somewhere with this).
"The ΔF508 mutation is estimated to be up to 52,000 years old.[54] Numerous hypotheses have been advanced as to why such a lethal mutation has persisted and spread in the human population. Other common autosomal recessive diseases such as sickle cell anemia have been found to protect carriers from other diseases, a concept known as heterozygote advantage. With the discovery that cholera toxin requires normal host CFTR proteins to function properly, it was hypothesized that carriers of mutant CFTR genes benefited from resistance to cholera and other causes of diarrhea.[55] Further studies have not confirmed this hypothesis.[56][57]
"Normal CFTR proteins are also essential for the entry of Salmonella typhi into cells,[58] suggesting that carriers of mutant CFTR genes might be resistant to typhoid fever. No in vivo study has yet confirmed this. In both cases, the low level of cystic fibrosis outside of Europe, in places where both cholera and typhoid fever are endemic, is not immediately explicable.
"It has also been hypothesized that the prevalence of CF in Europe might be connected with the development of cattle domestication. In this hypothesis, carriers of a single mutant CFTR chromosome had some protection from diarrhea caused by lactose intolerance, prior to the appearance of the mutations that created lactose tolerance.[59]"
See also the book Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem, which is about the whole paradoxical subject of bad gene evolution and persistence.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Hawk and Dog Photo
Click for larger image... A number of readers commented on this image of Rina (whippet) and Smash (Harris' hawk). It was taken earlier this year during a hunt in SE Louisiana. The photographer is Sid Seruntine, a friend of the landowner who graciously invited us to hunt his property.
In this picture, the hawk and dog have chased a bird about 35 yards and into cover, and are about to roust it from its hiding place. I can't remember if this one went down the hatch, but do recall that Rina and Smash both caught birds that day.
Over the course of this past season, these two forged a serious and deadly partnership, and something of a friendly competition too. Working together, we were able to hunt a great deal more effectively over marginal ground---something more essential every year in my dwindling stable of hawking spots.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Fertility "Rights"
I woke late this morning, failing to “spring forward” per our ludicrous, federally mandated altering of Earth’s rotation. All was dark beyond the window, a month’s progress into the present season erased literally overnight. “Ay, Lord,” might one of Wendell Berry’s creatures say, “It just ain’t natural!”
My whippet’s scheduled hysterectomy (today) was no coincidence. The plan was to put it off as long as possible, and I did.
I wanted Rina through her first heat for the sake of normal development. I’ve read, though it might be false, that a dog’s bones and joints benefit from being allowed to fully mature. She had her first heat last August, and I trust she’s a grown dog now.
I also wanted to give Rina a season’s field experience, in hopes that wholesale removal of her reproductive organs wouldn’t somehow dull her drive to hunt. I have no proof it would, but it seemed a silly risk to take so early in her career. She got her year in the field, and it was a good one. If she loses any interest in the chase at this point, I’d be shocked.
Rina’s surgery was a compromise and a concession to a number of facts of my life, the least of which happens to be Rina’s potential for breeding. This is not to say I take that potential lightly.
I spent the weekend with friends (the Coulsons, mentioned here before) who breed Harris’ hawks. They have one of mine, a favorite I would still be flying had they not been in need of him after hurricane Katrina. This will be Charlie’s second season as a breeder, and there are three of his mate’s eggs rolling now in an incubator. In a few months, the occupants of those eggs will be chasing game with abandon, imbued with their parents’ appetite and natural ability. They will be the fifth generation of hawks hand picked for those traits, and they are likely to excel.
Rina is also the product of selective breeding, and of a much longer effort. She may descend from like animals living thousands of years ago. Given the resources to search, her parentage in modern times might be traced, name by name, for two hundred years. Most recently, she is the product of husband and wife team Deborah and Maurice Bahm (Debmar Whippets), dedicated breeders of successful racing and coursing hounds.
Rina’s place in the context of the Bahms’ work, and of those who came before, is now frozen, fixed into the framework of her one life. Rina’s contribution to the breed, if any, will have to come by reputation and example. Her parents and select siblings now bear the burden of their future.
As guilty as I feel about this today, with Rina looking whipped and feeling low, I could not justify another choice. I am not a dog breeder and have no aspirations to that. I am a hunter, and Rina’s continued fertility would only inconvenience that pursuit. If someday I have time and space and rabbits enough, I might put a pair of dogs together and make a pack. But that day won’t come within the span of one whippet’s life; that much of the future I am counting on.
Until then, I trust Steve to make some more Tazis and Deborah more whippets and Tom more good Harris’ hawks. That ought to be enough to tide me over.
My whippet’s scheduled hysterectomy (today) was no coincidence. The plan was to put it off as long as possible, and I did.
I wanted Rina through her first heat for the sake of normal development. I’ve read, though it might be false, that a dog’s bones and joints benefit from being allowed to fully mature. She had her first heat last August, and I trust she’s a grown dog now.
I also wanted to give Rina a season’s field experience, in hopes that wholesale removal of her reproductive organs wouldn’t somehow dull her drive to hunt. I have no proof it would, but it seemed a silly risk to take so early in her career. She got her year in the field, and it was a good one. If she loses any interest in the chase at this point, I’d be shocked.
Rina’s surgery was a compromise and a concession to a number of facts of my life, the least of which happens to be Rina’s potential for breeding. This is not to say I take that potential lightly.
I spent the weekend with friends (the Coulsons, mentioned here before) who breed Harris’ hawks. They have one of mine, a favorite I would still be flying had they not been in need of him after hurricane Katrina. This will be Charlie’s second season as a breeder, and there are three of his mate’s eggs rolling now in an incubator. In a few months, the occupants of those eggs will be chasing game with abandon, imbued with their parents’ appetite and natural ability. They will be the fifth generation of hawks hand picked for those traits, and they are likely to excel.
Rina is also the product of selective breeding, and of a much longer effort. She may descend from like animals living thousands of years ago. Given the resources to search, her parentage in modern times might be traced, name by name, for two hundred years. Most recently, she is the product of husband and wife team Deborah and Maurice Bahm (Debmar Whippets), dedicated breeders of successful racing and coursing hounds.
Rina’s place in the context of the Bahms’ work, and of those who came before, is now frozen, fixed into the framework of her one life. Rina’s contribution to the breed, if any, will have to come by reputation and example. Her parents and select siblings now bear the burden of their future.
As guilty as I feel about this today, with Rina looking whipped and feeling low, I could not justify another choice. I am not a dog breeder and have no aspirations to that. I am a hunter, and Rina’s continued fertility would only inconvenience that pursuit. If someday I have time and space and rabbits enough, I might put a pair of dogs together and make a pack. But that day won’t come within the span of one whippet’s life; that much of the future I am counting on.
Until then, I trust Steve to make some more Tazis and Deborah more whippets and Tom more good Harris’ hawks. That ought to be enough to tide me over.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Book Review
The Eagle Falconry of Friedrich Remmler
By Martin Hollinshead
The Fernhill Press, 2006
109 pages, hardcover, b&w photos
Falconers’ debts are hard to repay. We owe our mentors for their good example, and their mentors too, back as far as you can go. We begin to return these gifts by practicing competent falconry and teaching it to others. For those like Martin Hollinshead, for whom writing about falconry seems an equal pleasure to practicing it, another method of repayment is possible.
In The last Wolf Hawker, Hollinshead adds context and commentary to his own translation of writings by Friedrich Remmler, a German falconer born in the late 1880s and perhaps the first (Western) expert on hunting with golden eagles. Readers of Hollinshead’s previous books will note their detailed coverage and vivid photos of European eagle falconry. With this latest work, Hollinshead looks back and pays respect to one who helped bring this ancient practice into the modern era.
He begins:
"In English and American falconry literature, Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Remmler is a rather mysterious figure, mentioned in passing—usually to note his wolf hawking—then let go again, leaving the reader desperate for more. This was the Remmler of my early falconry when, with a dream of flying golden eagles, the exact where, when and how of his hawking was nothing but a series of question marks.”
Hollinshead’s search for answers might have ended there, but for a chance contact via Internet: an email from one of Remmler’s sons, Orvar, who shared numerous photos, bits of missing detail and memories of trips with his father in the field. From these sources and further research, Hollinshead built the most complete picture to date of the fascinating and influential Remmler.
The Last Wolf Hawker is primarily a biographical work, interwoven with passages from Remmler’s 1972 article Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben mit Adlern (Reminiscences from my Life with Eagles), published late in his life. Hollinshead adds much to the original text with his exhaustive research and years of personal experience flying golden eagles.
Although he could have, Hollinshead refrains from critiquing the sometimes strange and often amazing techniques of his subject. Remmler, in almost total isolation from other falconers, pioneered a system for training and hunting with eagles that he replicated successfully for decades and with dozens of birds. In this, Hollinshead respectfully lets Remmler speak for himself.
Unfortunately for students of eagle falconry, there is little direct instruction in Remmler’s writing. But his accounts of past hunts are full of detail and good prose, translated from the German with obvious care by Hollinshead. One account of a haunting island wolf hunt is particularly moving and memorable, but best left to owners of this book!
I’ll share a different passage, one showing a glimpse of falconry from another time and place than ours. Here Remmler recalls the end of a hunt in which an old military friend has managed to catch a fox with one of Remmler’s borrowed eagles. The fox appeared unexpectedly during a hunt for hare on property adjacent to land owned by Remmler’s brother:
“Soon my brother’s hounds arrived and were met enthusiastically by mine. They knew each other well due to the former sometimes coming to me on loan—a type of sharing that extended to many things and continued right up until my brother’s death.
“After the flask had done its rounds, I instructed one of the assistant falconers to blow the signal ‘Hunt Over’ and then, ‘It’s a fox.’ Against all expectations, from the far distance came a reply from my brother. Now I called for the signal ‘Assembly.’ This also informed my contact in the village of our intentions and twenty minutes later one of the sledges arrived laden with roast ptarmigan and hazel grouse, thermos flasks of hot coffee, and cognac. As a further report from my brother indicated they were quite close, we waited for his party to arrive before eating.”
Considering my own falconry, in which truck stop lunches are arranged via cell phone, Remmler’s world seems straight from a fairy tale—Herein wolves meet eagles in deep wintry woods and on ice-bound, Arctic islands. But it was real enough, and through this book, a world we can know again.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Working with large animals
I should say "larger animals," humans being large animals relative to some... just not to these.
Reid forwarded this LAT story on a California state review of SeaWorld's orca show, recently in the news for the near-drowning of a trainer by a whale during a live performance. From the story:
Working with animals large enough to casually kill you bears some risk. Nonetheless, people have been managing the feat for thousands of years, accepting and mitigating the danger through careful study, mentorship and lifetimes of practice.
Performing animals are not new, but working animals have probably been in use for much longer in hunting, agriculture, construction and warfare. Effective large animal husbandry--the care and training of horses, mules, cattle, other stock--was common knowledge among rural Americans well into the 20th century. Ask your father or your grandfather. The general ignorance of working animal relationships, their benefits and dangers, is a new trend.
We've been at this so long as a specie, it shouldn't surprise us that most children, given the chance, take fearlessly to handling and working with animals. My kids press their faces into my hawk's feathers (he preens their hair) and wrangle neighborhood dogs that would give me pause. And Reid remembers one assertive young horsewoman, his daughter Lauren:
This is the education American kids once took for granted. We learned young to behave responsibly and assertively toward animals large and small, wild and tame. Now, more often, we teach our kids simply to be afraid.
Reid asked our friend Rebecca, a professional animal trainer and consultant, for her take on the SeaWorld incident. Rebecca's answer suggests that healthy respect--not fear--and honest risk assessment are in order:
I consider this as certain pressure groups work to limit everyone's opportunity to own, train, care for and learn from animals; and as urban policy makers comply out of their own fears and lack of experience; and as fewer kids raise chickens, train horses, breed dogs, feed hogs, hunt or even visit Shamu.
Reid forwarded this LAT story on a California state review of SeaWorld's orca show, recently in the news for the near-drowning of a trainer by a whale during a live performance. From the story:
The report, released Tuesday, follows an investigation into a Nov. 29 incident in which Kasatka, a 7,000-pound, 17-foot-long female, dragged her trainer underwater in front of hundreds of horrified spectators at Shamu Stadium.
SeaWorld officials branded the report's findings "highly speculative and not supported by scientific fact" and met Thursday with the Cal/OSHA district manager to ask him to withdraw or modify the report.
Working with animals large enough to casually kill you bears some risk. Nonetheless, people have been managing the feat for thousands of years, accepting and mitigating the danger through careful study, mentorship and lifetimes of practice.
Performing animals are not new, but working animals have probably been in use for much longer in hunting, agriculture, construction and warfare. Effective large animal husbandry--the care and training of horses, mules, cattle, other stock--was common knowledge among rural Americans well into the 20th century. Ask your father or your grandfather. The general ignorance of working animal relationships, their benefits and dangers, is a new trend.
We've been at this so long as a specie, it shouldn't surprise us that most children, given the chance, take fearlessly to handling and working with animals. My kids press their faces into my hawk's feathers (he preens their hair) and wrangle neighborhood dogs that would give me pause. And Reid remembers one assertive young horsewoman, his daughter Lauren:
"I was never really exposed to the barn-side of dealing with horses until we moved to Tehachapi and started having them live in the backyard...I'll never forget the first time I saw my 12 year old, 85 pound little girl yelling at a horse, yanking on its lead, and slapping it to get it to do what she wanted. And it absolutely obeyed. Lauren never had any 'self esteem' or 'empowerment' issues. I figure if a little girl knows she can make a critter 20 times her weight do what she she wants, she understands she can control most anything else in her life."
This is the education American kids once took for granted. We learned young to behave responsibly and assertively toward animals large and small, wild and tame. Now, more often, we teach our kids simply to be afraid.
Reid asked our friend Rebecca, a professional animal trainer and consultant, for her take on the SeaWorld incident. Rebecca's answer suggests that healthy respect--not fear--and honest risk assessment are in order:
"Well, it's only a matter of time before a large carnivore in a show setting kills someone or at least attempts to. That is why most zoos are no longer 'free contact' in dealing with large animals. I am quite certain that some of the birds I've worked with would have killed me if they had just only been big enough....This is why I don't work with animals that I couldn't take in a fair fight."I can't help but to keep bringing this post around to some larger theme. Maybe it's a stretch. But there is a clear benefit and present need in this country for honest risk assessment, for knowing when to be humble and when assertive. For knowing who you can take in a fight. Our schools don't teach these lessons. We learn them at home, first and as a matter of course with our animals.
But, she adds, "If animal trainers want to take the risk I say, 'Viva le Natural Selection!'"
I consider this as certain pressure groups work to limit everyone's opportunity to own, train, care for and learn from animals; and as urban policy makers comply out of their own fears and lack of experience; and as fewer kids raise chickens, train horses, breed dogs, feed hogs, hunt or even visit Shamu.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
More Zumbo
My first thought: "I can't afford to comment here lest Steve lose points by association with the likes of me."
Second thought: "Steve is in no danger of losing credibility in the gun club."
Third thought: "Maybe this Zumbo guy had the same thought?"
I don't hunt with a gun. I own two: both .22s (a rifle and a pistol); both hand-me-downs from great-grandfather and grandfather, respectively. I killed a squirrel with the rifle once. That is the extent of my firearms experience.
Yet I hunt about 90 days a season (with hawk and dog), and I have opinions about it.
I have to say, I dislike the idea of a military gun as a hunting weapon. Why is that so out of line? Hunting is not war. War has a very specific purpose and needs its own tools. If you face multiple human attackers, each with his own weapon, you need the right tool for that. Thankfully, these are available. (...And if there is anyone of any political stripe who claims there is no legitimate need for effective personal defense from multiple armed attackers, I refer you to any homeowner in post-Katrina New Orleans. Obviously, other examples are available.)
And yet, again, hunting is not warfare. Hunting is accused of being a lot of different evils, but 'a metaphor for war' is one I always hated (notwithstanding Harry McElroy's "war on quail," which tickles me). No one who works that particular angle has ever been hunting, or at least, hunting for real. The lampooning of hunters as square-jawed paramilitaries makes a good cartoon, but it bears little similarity to actual people who hunt. I'll submit my own weak jaw (and cammo-free wardrobe) as evidence.
If Mr. Zumbo, in a moment of probably unwise light speed communication, expressed his opinion that military weapons seem out of place on a hunt, he did nothing more than state what many hunters would find obvious. Why cannot an adult at (...luckily) retirement age not make this perfectly defensible observation?
Well, as I said, I don't hunt with a gun. So I was surprised by the reaction Zumbo received. But my question stands: Why should one man's opinion about proper hunting tools be interpreted to say anything about his views on tools of war or self defense? For all we know (and this seems the case), Zumbo supports everyone's right to own whatever sort of gun they want.
He was stating, essentially, an artistic opinion. Right?
I sent Steve an email with this question. Steve knows I am ignorant of guns and gun issues generally, and he is a natural teacher. He wrote back:
"It's definitional. There are some guns based on the American military 'platform' that are pure, high- tech, rather expensive hunter's guns (AR varmint-style heavy-barreled .223's-- things poor ignorant Zumbo didn't know existed). There also are poor people all over the world who use SKS's (old Soviet rifles from before the AK, less "machine gun" looking) because they are cheap and the widely available old 7.63 X 39 cartridge is a passable deer round (similar ballistics to .30- 30). I own one myself as a backup to my pretty classic rifles-- and 1000 rounds of cheap ammo. Several of the Russian nomad photo- anthropology books show tribal folks with them (an added draw for me)
Yukaghir hunter with SKS in the Siberian taiga (from The Peoples of the Great North)
Steve's Russian SKS-- a useful tool, like the axe...
Second thought: "Steve is in no danger of losing credibility in the gun club."
Third thought: "Maybe this Zumbo guy had the same thought?"
I don't hunt with a gun. I own two: both .22s (a rifle and a pistol); both hand-me-downs from great-grandfather and grandfather, respectively. I killed a squirrel with the rifle once. That is the extent of my firearms experience.
Yet I hunt about 90 days a season (with hawk and dog), and I have opinions about it.
I have to say, I dislike the idea of a military gun as a hunting weapon. Why is that so out of line? Hunting is not war. War has a very specific purpose and needs its own tools. If you face multiple human attackers, each with his own weapon, you need the right tool for that. Thankfully, these are available. (...And if there is anyone of any political stripe who claims there is no legitimate need for effective personal defense from multiple armed attackers, I refer you to any homeowner in post-Katrina New Orleans. Obviously, other examples are available.)
And yet, again, hunting is not warfare. Hunting is accused of being a lot of different evils, but 'a metaphor for war' is one I always hated (notwithstanding Harry McElroy's "war on quail," which tickles me). No one who works that particular angle has ever been hunting, or at least, hunting for real. The lampooning of hunters as square-jawed paramilitaries makes a good cartoon, but it bears little similarity to actual people who hunt. I'll submit my own weak jaw (and cammo-free wardrobe) as evidence.
If Mr. Zumbo, in a moment of probably unwise light speed communication, expressed his opinion that military weapons seem out of place on a hunt, he did nothing more than state what many hunters would find obvious. Why cannot an adult at (...luckily) retirement age not make this perfectly defensible observation?
Well, as I said, I don't hunt with a gun. So I was surprised by the reaction Zumbo received. But my question stands: Why should one man's opinion about proper hunting tools be interpreted to say anything about his views on tools of war or self defense? For all we know (and this seems the case), Zumbo supports everyone's right to own whatever sort of gun they want.
He was stating, essentially, an artistic opinion. Right?
I sent Steve an email with this question. Steve knows I am ignorant of guns and gun issues generally, and he is a natural teacher. He wrote back:
"It's definitional. There are some guns based on the American military 'platform' that are pure, high- tech, rather expensive hunter's guns (AR varmint-style heavy-barreled .223's-- things poor ignorant Zumbo didn't know existed). There also are poor people all over the world who use SKS's (old Soviet rifles from before the AK, less "machine gun" looking) because they are cheap and the widely available old 7.63 X 39 cartridge is a passable deer round (similar ballistics to .30- 30). I own one myself as a backup to my pretty classic rifles-- and 1000 rounds of cheap ammo. Several of the Russian nomad photo- anthropology books show tribal folks with them (an added draw for me
"The main thing that antis hate is that they are 'semiauto', a new swear word (heard it recently on Cold Case-- Dad's eevil semiautos made his kid a Columbine- style spree killer)-- which means simply that you don't work a bolt between shots. So?? THEY ARE NOT MACHINE GUNS.
"SOME mil-spec semiautos are not accurate-- mil. configuration AK's for instance. Therefore, nobody hunts with them. Even in that case, Saiga of Russia made a reasonable hunting- style version.
"Antis don't like these (so- called) 'assault rifles' because they look scary. Snob hunters because they are 'Non-U' (look it up) and CHEAP. Poor people can afford them, people 'not like us'. It is a non-issue, with most people (as usual) uninformed and talking past each other."
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