Salondotcom, which I understand to be relatively widely read, is a fairly sloppy place, or at least seems that way, given the high production values of its web design, which contrasts quite a bit with the writing therein.
That's not here or there, but they do have a theoretically interesting article about the removal of "wolves" (there's only one kind, apparently) from the protected species list.
The animals are very much so anthropomorphized in the article, one limpy one in particular:
"Born to the Druid Peak pack, Limpy was wounded in a fierce fight with a neighboring pack, the Nez Perce, before he was a year old. After the injury, he could hardly use his back left leg for the rest of his life."
Nevermind the very odd fact that a pack of wolves is called the "Nez Perce," the point is, Limpy, aka 253M, is the hero of the story, and has recently been shot dead by a rancher (apparently the impetus for the piece). I'm sure lots of readers have opinions on this measure that go beyond considering wolves to be people (Native American people in particular, it would seem), and since I have the privilege of writing from complete ignorance, I'm anxious to hear: Should wolves be endangered? Protected? Killed? What the dilly, yo?
The Salon piece is here: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/05/27/killing_wolves/index.html
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Meat!
Hilarious article from the Guardian by Fraser Lewry, a poor man who had to give up meat for a week, and SUFFERED.
"My head is spinning. I really don't know how you do it. The fake meat you're expected to eat tastes nothing like the real thing; restaurants are charging you an arm and a leg to eat produce straight from the garden (although the poisonous toxins that cooking removes are free of charge); your average menu may as well be reduced to a single item; and when you go abroad, Johnny Foreigner lobs chorizo into the salad while you're not looking. What a life!"
(Snip)
"I'm willing to accept that my life expectancy may be reduced as a result of my decision, what with all the red meat I'm cramming in, but I can live with this. The way I see it, the years I'm going to lose don't get taken off now, but towards the end of my life when, to be honest, I'll probably be grateful for the early exit. For one thing, it'll get all the nagging vegetarians off my case."
He is also eating his way through the animal kingdom alphabetically. Here is his take on "P", Python and Pigeon Pie (seriously.) I hope he gets a book out of it. Meanwhile his blog is here.
"My head is spinning. I really don't know how you do it. The fake meat you're expected to eat tastes nothing like the real thing; restaurants are charging you an arm and a leg to eat produce straight from the garden (although the poisonous toxins that cooking removes are free of charge); your average menu may as well be reduced to a single item; and when you go abroad, Johnny Foreigner lobs chorizo into the salad while you're not looking. What a life!"
(Snip)
"I'm willing to accept that my life expectancy may be reduced as a result of my decision, what with all the red meat I'm cramming in, but I can live with this. The way I see it, the years I'm going to lose don't get taken off now, but towards the end of my life when, to be honest, I'll probably be grateful for the early exit. For one thing, it'll get all the nagging vegetarians off my case."
He is also eating his way through the animal kingdom alphabetically. Here is his take on "P", Python and Pigeon Pie (seriously.) I hope he gets a book out of it. Meanwhile his blog is here.
Florissant Fossil Beds
Last weekend, Connie and I took a daytrip drive in the mountains and one of our stops was Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. The deposit here was created by a volcanic eruption during the Eocene. The most spectacularly evident remains are these petrified redwood stumps such as the one above.
And this one.
And this one. It's nice to think of a big redwood forest here in Colorado, even if it was 37 million years ago. Other than these giant stumps the finer-grained sediments here have preserved magnificently detailed fossils of small leaves and insects. We were a little short on time, so I just grabbed pictures of the big stuff. You can click through the web site I linked to see pictures of some of these.
This chipmunk accompanied me through the covered "theater" area. I must have looked like a soft touch for a snack.
Azhdarchids! (And other Paleo Matters...)
Our favorite zoological blogger, Darren Naish at Tetrapod Zoology, has had a blog post (about giant pterosaurs stalking prey on the ground) turn into a peer- reviewed scientific paper (With Mark Witton.) Here is the post telling the tale, with many links and pix. They even have a "support blog" about the monster pterosaurs here. The paper even made the mainstream media here, under the interesting title "Huge Flying Reptiles Ate Dinosaurs."
Meanwhile Brian Switek at Laelaps adds more, and Nemo Ramjet writes a ribald science fiction take on Hatzegopteryx, another giant flyer, here for Brian's edition of The Boneyard.
More Paleo: a while back, Brian interviewed Robert Bakker, a guy who probably has done more for the modern view of Dinosaurs than anyone, and more for the image of paleontology than anyone but MAYBE Jack Horner.
Trouble is, Bakker is (subtly, and with no taint of Creationism whatsoever) religious, and a bunch of wannabe P J Myers were apparently offended that anyone religious could dare be a scientist. Brian generously gave Bakker a forum to respond here, and the replies were-- infuriating. Am I getting old? Is it the nature of the web, or-- what? Bakker seemed to me to be sane, courteous, and open- minded-- his critics (who I think are all young and full of fury) seem positively venomous.
Two more Paleo notes: just received a wonderful book from Australia called Feathered Dinosaurs with paintings by amazing wildlife artist Peter Schouten. I think they are the best painted Dinos ever done. The book won't be available here or in the UK for six months or more, but as soon as I scan an example I'll review and tell you how to get it from Down Under.
Finally, someone in the maze of Azhdarchid links above asked how it might be pronounced. If it is of Kazakh derivation the "zh" is a sort of voiced "j"-- "azhj- dark- id".
Meanwhile Brian Switek at Laelaps adds more, and Nemo Ramjet writes a ribald science fiction take on Hatzegopteryx, another giant flyer, here for Brian's edition of The Boneyard.
More Paleo: a while back, Brian interviewed Robert Bakker, a guy who probably has done more for the modern view of Dinosaurs than anyone, and more for the image of paleontology than anyone but MAYBE Jack Horner.
Trouble is, Bakker is (subtly, and with no taint of Creationism whatsoever) religious, and a bunch of wannabe P J Myers were apparently offended that anyone religious could dare be a scientist. Brian generously gave Bakker a forum to respond here, and the replies were-- infuriating. Am I getting old? Is it the nature of the web, or-- what? Bakker seemed to me to be sane, courteous, and open- minded-- his critics (who I think are all young and full of fury) seem positively venomous.
Two more Paleo notes: just received a wonderful book from Australia called Feathered Dinosaurs with paintings by amazing wildlife artist Peter Schouten. I think they are the best painted Dinos ever done. The book won't be available here or in the UK for six months or more, but as soon as I scan an example I'll review and tell you how to get it from Down Under.
Finally, someone in the maze of Azhdarchid links above asked how it might be pronounced. If it is of Kazakh derivation the "zh" is a sort of voiced "j"-- "azhj- dark- id".
Stay Away from this Stuff
Health officials are warning New Yorkers to stay away from an illegal aphrodisiac made from toad venom after the product apparently killed a man.
Somehow I think there'll be a Darwin Award nomination coming out of this.
Somehow I think there'll be a Darwin Award nomination coming out of this.
Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil
Did you see this from the BBC?
"One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru. The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.
The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows. More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says."
Hard to believe that are still folks like this out there at this late date.
"One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru. The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.
The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows. More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says."
Hard to believe that are still folks like this out there at this late date.
"Real Archaeologists Don't Wear Fedoras"
I just had to comment on this rather dyspeptic op-ed by archaeologist Neil Asher Silberman in the Washington Post earlier this week. Silberman whines that the popular Indiana Jones movies give the world a false view of what archaeologists really do and that he has "a problem with the entertainment tail wagging the archaeological dog."
Well, us professional archaeologists and the thinking public know this is escapist fiction and don't worry much about it. Anyone who knows about professions portrayed in entertainment media (lawyers, crime scene investigators, police etc.) recognizes that what you see on the screen bears little resemblance to reality. If Indy takes this to an extreme extent, so what?
Actually, it sounds like Silberman has more of an issue with what this does to his relationship to the public: "Whether I'm sitting on a plane, waiting in an office or milling around at a cocktail party, the casual mention that I'm an archaeologist inevitably brings up Indiana Jones" or "And please don't ever ask me about my fedora and bullwhip again."
Most of us recognize these as good-natured attempts to start conversation. Most of us have also worked on a list of good-natured replies to keep the conversational ball rolling - "Oops, I left my bullwhip in my checked luggage!"
So, ignore Silberman. I'd guess 99.9% of archaeologists are perfectly content to bask in the reflected glory of the fictional imperfect archaeologist Indiana Jones. Most professions don't even get to do that. I mean, there must be thousands of people who wish there was an "Indiana Jones" of accounting or urban planning.
Well, us professional archaeologists and the thinking public know this is escapist fiction and don't worry much about it. Anyone who knows about professions portrayed in entertainment media (lawyers, crime scene investigators, police etc.) recognizes that what you see on the screen bears little resemblance to reality. If Indy takes this to an extreme extent, so what?
Actually, it sounds like Silberman has more of an issue with what this does to his relationship to the public: "Whether I'm sitting on a plane, waiting in an office or milling around at a cocktail party, the casual mention that I'm an archaeologist inevitably brings up Indiana Jones" or "And please don't ever ask me about my fedora and bullwhip again."
Most of us recognize these as good-natured attempts to start conversation. Most of us have also worked on a list of good-natured replies to keep the conversational ball rolling - "Oops, I left my bullwhip in my checked luggage!"
So, ignore Silberman. I'd guess 99.9% of archaeologists are perfectly content to bask in the reflected glory of the fictional imperfect archaeologist Indiana Jones. Most professions don't even get to do that. I mean, there must be thousands of people who wish there was an "Indiana Jones" of accounting or urban planning.
Peru Guards Its Guano as Demand Soars Again
The NY Times tells us that the demand for guano (bird droppings) is rising due to the petroleum-related cost rise for synthetic fertilizer and guano's increased use as a fertilizer for organic foods. The article gives a very interesting narrative of the effect of guano mining on Peruvian history and the natural environment of the area.
You can't blame the Peruvians for clamping down on control of this resource. With economic conditions as they are, what else were they guano do?
The Times also is carrying a tangentially related article illustrating the current economic climate: As Oil Prices Soar, Restaurant Grease Thefts Rise.
You can't blame the Peruvians for clamping down on control of this resource. With economic conditions as they are, what else were they guano do?
The Times also is carrying a tangentially related article illustrating the current economic climate: As Oil Prices Soar, Restaurant Grease Thefts Rise.
Monday, May 26, 2008
PETA kills chicken course
PETA successfully pressured an upstate New York school to end a well- regarded course in the ecology of food in which willing students raised and slaughtered chickens. It was much like a 4H program but more balanced-- vegetarian students were encouraged to address the class, there were lectures on eating less meat, and they were even shown a PETA film!
Not enough for the ninnies. PETA said, under the headline "School Had Been Holding Mass Decapitations of Birds in Classroom”, that "slaughtering” animals fosters a dangerous mindset “that glorifies and even rewards violence.” An activist "met with school officials before Christmas to plead on the birds’ behalf and ask that they be sent to a farm sanctuary."
The administrators caved, whining “it’s never a happy feeling saying you’re bowing to a public pressure you don’t agree with, and yet we all make those decisions from time to time.” I'd call them spineless but it would be an insult to invertebrates.
Wake up, people-- they are everywhere. Some dog breeders I know were thrown out of a seminar for law enforcement in Albuquerque lead by a HSUS activist, on the link between animal abuse and domestic violence. Turns out the sherrif of Bernallilo county, like the mayor, is an AR activist and anti- hunter.
One of the forms of animal abuse cited was "breeding."
They ARE out to get us-- they almost got statewide spay neuter last year. I'm too old to move to Kazakhstan but if this goes on I may have to.
Not enough for the ninnies. PETA said, under the headline "School Had Been Holding Mass Decapitations of Birds in Classroom”, that "slaughtering” animals fosters a dangerous mindset “that glorifies and even rewards violence.” An activist "met with school officials before Christmas to plead on the birds’ behalf and ask that they be sent to a farm sanctuary."
The administrators caved, whining “it’s never a happy feeling saying you’re bowing to a public pressure you don’t agree with, and yet we all make those decisions from time to time.” I'd call them spineless but it would be an insult to invertebrates.
Wake up, people-- they are everywhere. Some dog breeders I know were thrown out of a seminar for law enforcement in Albuquerque lead by a HSUS activist, on the link between animal abuse and domestic violence. Turns out the sherrif of Bernallilo county, like the mayor, is an AR activist and anti- hunter.
One of the forms of animal abuse cited was "breeding."
They ARE out to get us-- they almost got statewide spay neuter last year. I'm too old to move to Kazakhstan but if this goes on I may have to.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Stuffing the Stovepipe
I've always loved the expression "Idaho Stovepipers." These are the half-mad, wild men and women who don Army surplus gear and horde canned goods in the badlands of extreme northwest Idaho.
They're waiting for the Apocalypse. Too bad for you, if you're not prepared.
I have no idea how many Idaho natives or immigrants may fit that description, but whatever the case, the basic tenet of stovepipism may be spreading into the cultural mainstream.
A recent AP story contends that with "Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare."
Writer Samantha Gross describes the conversion of grandmother Kathleen Breault from modern consumer to homesteader:
There's something more here than anti-government paranoia and a taste for cammo, although Gross documents those sentiments as well.
If I'm not mistaken, the Crunchy Con/post-soccermom/Dangerous Book for Boys/bike commuter/Wendell Berry ethic is riding a perfect storm of high gas prices, climate change and global terror.
Will there be enough room in the Stovepipe when we're all up there at the compound?
What are y'all doing at home to hedge against the End of Days?
They're waiting for the Apocalypse. Too bad for you, if you're not prepared.
I have no idea how many Idaho natives or immigrants may fit that description, but whatever the case, the basic tenet of stovepipism may be spreading into the cultural mainstream.
A recent AP story contends that with "Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare."
Writer Samantha Gross describes the conversion of grandmother Kathleen Breault from modern consumer to homesteader:
"Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove.
"'I was panic-stricken,' the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking. 'Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible.'"
There's something more here than anti-government paranoia and a taste for cammo, although Gross documents those sentiments as well.
If I'm not mistaken, the Crunchy Con/post-soccermom/Dangerous Book for Boys/bike commuter/Wendell Berry ethic is riding a perfect storm of high gas prices, climate change and global terror.
Will there be enough room in the Stovepipe when we're all up there at the compound?
What are y'all doing at home to hedge against the End of Days?
Friday, May 23, 2008
Preview Pix
Baby Gyr- Saker tiercel just in from New York, having his first meal at Casa Querencia.
Stephen Grant of London Best quality hammer side- lever 12- bore, circa 1880, virtually new and unrestored. It weighs a bit over 7 lbs and is probably a pigeon gun. To quote expert Robert Braden: "After all, it is reliably reputed that God shoots a Grant sidelever hammer gun with thirty- inch Damascus barrels made around 1890." (Not a Purdey, you note!)
I MADE money on this-- traded one off I didn't want.
More coming...
Stephen Grant of London Best quality hammer side- lever 12- bore, circa 1880, virtually new and unrestored. It weighs a bit over 7 lbs and is probably a pigeon gun. To quote expert Robert Braden: "After all, it is reliably reputed that God shoots a Grant sidelever hammer gun with thirty- inch Damascus barrels made around 1890." (Not a Purdey, you note!)
I MADE money on this-- traded one off I didn't want.
More coming...
I'm baaack!-- links & previews
Spent the last couple of weeks doing a proposal, outline, and sample chapters, for a book I hope will take me back to Kazakhstan. Let's hope that this turns out better than the last (still in limbo.)
But despite brokeness and worry some good stuff has been happening, to say the least. Not only have my readers kept me in books, but more or less by accident I have gotten-- free!-- both a dream bird and what may be the best shotgun-- quite literally-- yet.
I have books by Harry Crews, Peter Matthiessen, Colin Simms, J. P. S. Brown, from readers and bloggers and writers-- Matt, Doc Hypercube, David Zincavage, Lauren the eagler, and more. I have dino books and poetry and memoirs and falconry books. All will get at least a short discussion here soon.
(A couple of things have vanished from my Amazon list and not shown up, by the way-- Monster Hunter and the James McMurtry album. If anyone has sent them, let me know.)
And here are a few links to tantalize or infuriate.
Writers Life: New Mexico science fiction writer Walter Jon Williams has just posted what may be the best description of contemporary publishing I have yet seen. It is hilarious but it ain't funny. Sample:
"One of the things they teach you at Toyota Camp is that for every step in the process in which something can go wrong--- for every committee, or editor, or art director, or copy-editor, or distributor--- that stands between the writer and the reading public, the odds of something going totally, hideously, horribly pear-shaped somewhere in the process does not increase arithmetically, but geometrically.
"So if there are, say, seven potential roadblocks between the author and the reader, the effective number of roadblocks aren't seven, but forty-nine. Because friction begets more friction, basically.
"(I have to say, as a personal note, that this theory explains the fate of my last seven novels rather well.)"
There is a LOT more-- RTWT of course.
More Writer's Life, passed on by Chas; a quote from Betsy Lerner: "The great paradox of the writer’s life is how much time he spends alone trying to connect with other people."
Writer's Life in contemporary New York? This glimpse of narcissism with nothing behind it is terrifying. If that is what it takes to be a writer today I am in even more trouble than I think...
Natural History, science & such. Why are the huskies that run the Iditarod fatigue- proof? I suspect other dogs are too, or can be-- tazis in their native lands, for instance, where they are hunted from horseback.
There once was a giant legless hedgehog. If this post had appeared on 1 April I would not have believed it!
Jonathan Hanson writes re Arizona jaguars: "Did you know that the male that was videotaped in the Baboquivaris while we lived there was subsequently tracked via camera for ELEVEN years? And that up to 20 percent of the feces of jaguars in AZ comprises cougar?" !! More on this later in the week I hope.
Moving not quite away from natural history but toward gastronomy: in England, eat an alien gray squirrel to preserve the red ones (who probably taste fine too.)
Environment: while we wring our hands and weep over how we are the worst, the Han Empire continues to foul its nest and everybody else's. (Nor is the source some right- wing anti- commie rag.)
The Atomic Nerds explain a hard truth:
"Grain is easier and more economical to grow, transport, store, and process than healthy fruits and vegetables are, which is why more people farm it, which is why they are the biggest and meanest section of the agricultural lobby, which is why getting the USDA to use food stamps to twist the arms of the poor into healthy choices is like getting the Crips and the Bloods to spearhead an effort to stamp out crack."
Could our side finally be getting the word out? Mike Spies notes the first Mainstream Big Media story AGAINST mandatory spay neuter!
Pluvi wants to get some ink. I think it's a lovely design myself, but some readers are not so sure.
Maybe they are thinking of tattoos like these. Some of these just might be the worst on earth. I mean, it is a tossup between the smoking unicorns having sex and the tattooed dolphin with the bong, though the wookie with the bad Chewbacca on his shaved arm has a certain je ne sais quoi.
Enough of this madness! I'll post preview pix of hawk and gun soon, the get beter ones and some tales.
But despite brokeness and worry some good stuff has been happening, to say the least. Not only have my readers kept me in books, but more or less by accident I have gotten-- free!-- both a dream bird and what may be the best shotgun-- quite literally-- yet.
I have books by Harry Crews, Peter Matthiessen, Colin Simms, J. P. S. Brown, from readers and bloggers and writers-- Matt, Doc Hypercube, David Zincavage, Lauren the eagler, and more. I have dino books and poetry and memoirs and falconry books. All will get at least a short discussion here soon.
(A couple of things have vanished from my Amazon list and not shown up, by the way-- Monster Hunter and the James McMurtry album. If anyone has sent them, let me know.)
And here are a few links to tantalize or infuriate.
Writers Life: New Mexico science fiction writer Walter Jon Williams has just posted what may be the best description of contemporary publishing I have yet seen. It is hilarious but it ain't funny. Sample:
"One of the things they teach you at Toyota Camp is that for every step in the process in which something can go wrong--- for every committee, or editor, or art director, or copy-editor, or distributor--- that stands between the writer and the reading public, the odds of something going totally, hideously, horribly pear-shaped somewhere in the process does not increase arithmetically, but geometrically.
"So if there are, say, seven potential roadblocks between the author and the reader, the effective number of roadblocks aren't seven, but forty-nine. Because friction begets more friction, basically.
"(I have to say, as a personal note, that this theory explains the fate of my last seven novels rather well.)"
There is a LOT more-- RTWT of course.
More Writer's Life, passed on by Chas; a quote from Betsy Lerner: "The great paradox of the writer’s life is how much time he spends alone trying to connect with other people."
Writer's Life in contemporary New York? This glimpse of narcissism with nothing behind it is terrifying. If that is what it takes to be a writer today I am in even more trouble than I think...
Natural History, science & such. Why are the huskies that run the Iditarod fatigue- proof? I suspect other dogs are too, or can be-- tazis in their native lands, for instance, where they are hunted from horseback.
There once was a giant legless hedgehog. If this post had appeared on 1 April I would not have believed it!
Jonathan Hanson writes re Arizona jaguars: "Did you know that the male that was videotaped in the Baboquivaris while we lived there was subsequently tracked via camera for ELEVEN years? And that up to 20 percent of the feces of jaguars in AZ comprises cougar?" !! More on this later in the week I hope.
Moving not quite away from natural history but toward gastronomy: in England, eat an alien gray squirrel to preserve the red ones (who probably taste fine too.)
Environment: while we wring our hands and weep over how we are the worst, the Han Empire continues to foul its nest and everybody else's. (Nor is the source some right- wing anti- commie rag.)
The Atomic Nerds explain a hard truth:
"Grain is easier and more economical to grow, transport, store, and process than healthy fruits and vegetables are, which is why more people farm it, which is why they are the biggest and meanest section of the agricultural lobby, which is why getting the USDA to use food stamps to twist the arms of the poor into healthy choices is like getting the Crips and the Bloods to spearhead an effort to stamp out crack."
Could our side finally be getting the word out? Mike Spies notes the first Mainstream Big Media story AGAINST mandatory spay neuter!
Pluvi wants to get some ink. I think it's a lovely design myself, but some readers are not so sure.
Maybe they are thinking of tattoos like these. Some of these just might be the worst on earth. I mean, it is a tossup between the smoking unicorns having sex and the tattooed dolphin with the bong, though the wookie with the bad Chewbacca on his shaved arm has a certain je ne sais quoi.
Enough of this madness! I'll post preview pix of hawk and gun soon, the get beter ones and some tales.
Grackle
Thought I would close out my Friday with this pic of a cocky great-tailed grackle hanging out on our deck.Thursday, May 22, 2008
Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain
So says this article from the Science section of the NY Times. From my perspective in my mid-50s, I find this absolutely believable.
The Condor
I thought I would post this image of the cover of the February issue, just in case you had any questions about how the editorial staff feels about wind turbines.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
More Backyard Birds
In this case, a very relaxed Harris' hawk, fat and sassy in summer mode.
I was sitting on the back porch last night reading Dan Manix's wonderful, self-indulgent A Sporting Chance: Unusual Methods of Hunting. I've read the book numerous times; it was one of my early influences, neatly containing short treatises on several interests of mine: falconry, coursing, boomerangs, blowguns, bolas and more. There's even a bit about using trained bullfrogs to catch house sparrows. I kid you not.
I found again Manix's funny, pre-PC line in the chapter on falconry about the task of weathering a trained hawk and how watching the bird was "traditionally woman's work, usually the falconer's wife or mother." (Comments Rebecca? Helen?) Manix adds quickly that it's important for a falconer to make sure he has the right sort of wife or mother before obtaining a hawk.
I first read that line as a young teen and tried to imagine whose mother or wife that might describe. None came immediately to mind.
While I've learned since that I do very much have the right sorts of women in my life, none so far share my interest in this particular task. Fortunately for me, I've always enjoyed watching my own hawks weather and bathe.
In the summertime, anyway, there's not much else to do with them.
(Eight minutes of a Harris' taking a bath? Sure, why not? It's YouTube!)
I was sitting on the back porch last night reading Dan Manix's wonderful, self-indulgent A Sporting Chance: Unusual Methods of Hunting. I've read the book numerous times; it was one of my early influences, neatly containing short treatises on several interests of mine: falconry, coursing, boomerangs, blowguns, bolas and more. There's even a bit about using trained bullfrogs to catch house sparrows. I kid you not.
I found again Manix's funny, pre-PC line in the chapter on falconry about the task of weathering a trained hawk and how watching the bird was "traditionally woman's work, usually the falconer's wife or mother." (Comments Rebecca? Helen?) Manix adds quickly that it's important for a falconer to make sure he has the right sort of wife or mother before obtaining a hawk.
I first read that line as a young teen and tried to imagine whose mother or wife that might describe. None came immediately to mind.
While I've learned since that I do very much have the right sorts of women in my life, none so far share my interest in this particular task. Fortunately for me, I've always enjoyed watching my own hawks weather and bathe.
In the summertime, anyway, there's not much else to do with them.
(Eight minutes of a Harris' taking a bath? Sure, why not? It's YouTube!)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Quote of the Day
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man --Mark Twain
Feeder Friends
Returning from California, I finally got my act together and placed a couple of bird feeders on my deck, something I'd been meaning to do for some time. We've been enjoying our visitors and I have been having fun trying to get pictures of them. Like this downy woodpecker...
this black-headed grosbeak ....
...and these house finches trying to grab breakfast after a spring snow. I'll post some more if I get quality pictures.
Bottom of the Barrel
This Denver Post article tells us that United Airlines and US Airways, who are in merger talks, are the two lowest rated airlines in customer satisfaction in this country. I wasn't asked to vote, but having to fly both of them fairly frequently out of DIA, I wouldn't disagree.
The Shroud
When I was a young man I was fascinated by the Shroud of Turin, mostly I think because of the striking image that it carries. In the late 1980s the game seemed to be up on its status as a religious relict when radiocarbon assays on cloth fibers from the Shroud showed it dated no earlier than 600 - 700 years ago.
This morning's Denver Post carries the story that a physics professor at University of Colorado - Colorado Springs is trying to reopen the question of the Shroud's age by contending that the samples used for the assays were contaminated. John Jackson believes that the cloth of the Shroud has likely been contaminated by handling and exposure since its first documented appearance in 1360 and may have absorbed carbon monoxide when it was saved from a fire in 1532. If true, the contamination would yield an artifically more recent date.
His argument is persuasive enough that the radiocarbon laboratory at Oxford University, one of three labs that performed the assays, to revisit their results. Contamination of samples is always a big issue when working with radiocarbon dating and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
This morning's Denver Post carries the story that a physics professor at University of Colorado - Colorado Springs is trying to reopen the question of the Shroud's age by contending that the samples used for the assays were contaminated. John Jackson believes that the cloth of the Shroud has likely been contaminated by handling and exposure since its first documented appearance in 1360 and may have absorbed carbon monoxide when it was saved from a fire in 1532. If true, the contamination would yield an artifically more recent date.
His argument is persuasive enough that the radiocarbon laboratory at Oxford University, one of three labs that performed the assays, to revisit their results. Contamination of samples is always a big issue when working with radiocarbon dating and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Groundstone
We've just finished the current phase of fieldwork out in the Imperial Valley and I'll try to do some catch up posts to talk about some of our finds. My apologies for my long pause in posting.We found quite a few groundstone artifacts on our survey. Above you can see a mano (hand stone) and metate (grinding slab) found on the surface next to each other. The Kamia who lived in the area in late Prehistory, were opportunistic farmers who grew maize and beans and used the manos and metates to grind corn meal.
If you look closely at this fine slab metate you can see the pecking scars that were used to shape it and to "sharpen" it after use. The glassy-smooth ground surface of the metate would have to be roughened periodically to more efficiently grind corn.
This picture shows an unusual discoidal shaped mano. In addition to maize, these implements were also used to process various wild plant seeds as well as mesquite beans.
This last find really surprised us. You see me in the picture above holding a large pestle. It's very heavy and made of granite that must come from the mountains twenty miles or more west of where we found it on the desert floor.
Stone mortars and pestles are representative of acorn processing technology that is very common in the non-desert portions of California. The Kumeyaay who lived in the mountains where this pestle came from, processed acorns from the oaks that grew there, and traded the meal for maize with the Kamia who lived down here in the desert and had no oaks of their own.
This pestle would have been pretty useless where we found it. It was found all by itself, no other artifacts or features in association. As heavy as it is and as far as it had been carried, you can just imagine someone on a hot day a few hundred years ago dropping it and saying, "I not carrying this thing another step!"
Seaweed at Monte Verde
The NY Times has a piece today on seaweed quids that have been discovered at a 14,000 year old level at the site of Monte Verde in Chile. Monte Verde is about 50 miles from the coast, so this shows that there was travel to the coast or trade with people who lived there.
Tom Dillehay, the lead researcher at the site, asserts that this discovery supports the coastal migration theory for the population of the New World, a topic we have discussed here many times. I suppose you could say that, but only very indirectly. Demonstrating that people were familiar with the coast and its resources during this period of the peopling of the New World might indicate that they traveled down that way. I find discoveries like Arlington Man from the Channel Islands in California (who dates a few hundred years after the Monte Verde finds) more convincing proof of Paleoindian seafaring.
Tom Dillehay, the lead researcher at the site, asserts that this discovery supports the coastal migration theory for the population of the New World, a topic we have discussed here many times. I suppose you could say that, but only very indirectly. Demonstrating that people were familiar with the coast and its resources during this period of the peopling of the New World might indicate that they traveled down that way. I find discoveries like Arlington Man from the Channel Islands in California (who dates a few hundred years after the Monte Verde finds) more convincing proof of Paleoindian seafaring.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Fast Times
(Update: why tomatoes go quickly once they turn...)
Maybe it's me, swamped at the office and ferrying the kids around to uncounted activities, or maybe it's life in the warm South, but hasn't the spring sprung past us in a hurry?
My "new" Harris hawk is about a year old; and just two months after dropping his first tail feather, today he dropped his 12th, the last of the brown ones. Already his tail is mostly full and jet black. His body is mostly black. He looks like someone else's old hawk sitting in my mews.
Where did little Ernie go? Where does the time go?
My kids went to a tea party tonight, a catered affair at an old plantation house on Highland Road. We dropped them off. They wore summer dresses and nice shoes. Several of the other girls wore their white gloves. When the hell that that start to happen?
In the last of the evening light I checked my tiny garden for late-feeding hornworms and other weeds. I grabbed a couple pictures to contrast with the last installment, just a little more than a month ago.
Amazing. We've been eating peppers and basil for several weeks already, and this week pulled the first tomatoes. The world is spinning faster.
My "new" Harris hawk is about a year old; and just two months after dropping his first tail feather, today he dropped his 12th, the last of the brown ones. Already his tail is mostly full and jet black. His body is mostly black. He looks like someone else's old hawk sitting in my mews.
Where did little Ernie go? Where does the time go?
My kids went to a tea party tonight, a catered affair at an old plantation house on Highland Road. We dropped them off. They wore summer dresses and nice shoes. Several of the other girls wore their white gloves. When the hell that that start to happen?
In the last of the evening light I checked my tiny garden for late-feeding hornworms and other weeds. I grabbed a couple pictures to contrast with the last installment, just a little more than a month ago.
Amazing. We've been eating peppers and basil for several weeks already, and this week pulled the first tomatoes. The world is spinning faster.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Pursuits of Happiness
Helen finally came back online Monday with a revealing post in signature Pluvian style. For everyone in search of the naked self---your truest incarnation---and the way to be where it belongs, Helen's discovery suggests it may not be so far away.
Pursuit of happiness is one of our stated missions at Querencia. How many of you are making gains in this effort?
Monday, May 05, 2008
Links
Frantically working on a book proposal, but still surfing. Here are a few links for fun and annoyance...
I am with the Codger on this one: can't fault a tame bear for acting like a bear. More fatalistic societies don't:
"When an elephant kills its mahout in Sri Lanka and India, new mahouts clamor to take over. I co-advised a masters student who studied the macho phenomenon among Sri Lankan mahouts, and she found that 34% of mahouts said they would prefer a killer elephant to a non-killer. Why? Because they would gain status among their peers, and because the elephants' owners would be less likely to interfere with their work."
Julie Zickefoose visits the Fuertes paintings at Cornell. if you ever get a chance, go. Especially good on raptors of course.
WEIRD stuff on pigeon navigation (and by extension migration.) We knew they could detect magnetic fields: now they can see them?
And please run "Quantum Zeno effect" by me again...
"This is a known quantum effect, an utterly scientific version of "a watched pot never boils" - the more you observe such a statistical quantum process, the slower it gets, because each time you check you redefine the particle as absolutely being where it is. It's like driving the family car, but every time a kid asks "Are we there yet?" you get teleported back to where you started."
This NYT piece by Natalie Angier discusses our human tendency to make heroes and villains out of animals in nature. While some controls may be needed to re- balance situations that we have affected, I always have a soft spot for starlings, pigeons, crows, gulls and other "weeds".
Gary Nabhan has a new book coming on local and endangered food plants and animals. It is on my list!
Could Alzheimer's be a form of Diabetes?
Food and Big Nanny: the politics of raw milk (HT Bittman.) Sure there are dangers, but.. pasteurizing and, now, putting bugs back in because we need them? Hmmmm. Good quote:
"But grass-eating cows have become so rare that, to California health officials, they seemed unnatural. The norms of industrial dairying had become so deeply ingrained that a regulator could jump to the conclusion that all milk is dirty until pasteurized."
"Horrible Creeping Statism" as Peculiar says: apparently MANY states(twenty including NM) allow you to be asked for your papers on the street-- and the Supreme Court agrees! HT hb of Monadology, in our comments.
And finally, Andrew Stuttaford joins the chorus against Ben Stein's anti- science movie and silly- ass interviews, quoting Jacob Bronowski in The Ascent of Man:
"It’s said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That’s false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods. Science is a very human form of knowledge. We are always at the brink of the known; we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. Every judgment in science stands on the edge of error and is personal. Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible. In the end, the words were said by Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you in the bowels of Christ: Think it possible you may be mistaken.”
I am with the Codger on this one: can't fault a tame bear for acting like a bear. More fatalistic societies don't:
"When an elephant kills its mahout in Sri Lanka and India, new mahouts clamor to take over. I co-advised a masters student who studied the macho phenomenon among Sri Lankan mahouts, and she found that 34% of mahouts said they would prefer a killer elephant to a non-killer. Why? Because they would gain status among their peers, and because the elephants' owners would be less likely to interfere with their work."
Julie Zickefoose visits the Fuertes paintings at Cornell. if you ever get a chance, go. Especially good on raptors of course.
WEIRD stuff on pigeon navigation (and by extension migration.) We knew they could detect magnetic fields: now they can see them?
And please run "Quantum Zeno effect" by me again...
"This is a known quantum effect, an utterly scientific version of "a watched pot never boils" - the more you observe such a statistical quantum process, the slower it gets, because each time you check you redefine the particle as absolutely being where it is. It's like driving the family car, but every time a kid asks "Are we there yet?" you get teleported back to where you started."
This NYT piece by Natalie Angier discusses our human tendency to make heroes and villains out of animals in nature. While some controls may be needed to re- balance situations that we have affected, I always have a soft spot for starlings, pigeons, crows, gulls and other "weeds".
Gary Nabhan has a new book coming on local and endangered food plants and animals. It is on my list!
Could Alzheimer's be a form of Diabetes?
Food and Big Nanny: the politics of raw milk (HT Bittman.) Sure there are dangers, but.. pasteurizing and, now, putting bugs back in because we need them? Hmmmm. Good quote:
"But grass-eating cows have become so rare that, to California health officials, they seemed unnatural. The norms of industrial dairying had become so deeply ingrained that a regulator could jump to the conclusion that all milk is dirty until pasteurized."
"Horrible Creeping Statism" as Peculiar says: apparently MANY states(twenty including NM) allow you to be asked for your papers on the street-- and the Supreme Court agrees! HT hb of Monadology, in our comments.
And finally, Andrew Stuttaford joins the chorus against Ben Stein's anti- science movie and silly- ass interviews, quoting Jacob Bronowski in The Ascent of Man:
"It’s said that science will dehumanize people and turn them into numbers. That’s false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance, it was done by dogma, it was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods. Science is a very human form of knowledge. We are always at the brink of the known; we always feel forward for what is to be hoped. Every judgment in science stands on the edge of error and is personal. Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible. In the end, the words were said by Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you in the bowels of Christ: Think it possible you may be mistaken.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)