You know that movie that came out a few years ago about the horse that lived during the depression and everybody was happy when it won the triple crown? Well that horse, or a horse just like it (fast, famous, dead) was stuffed and on display in a racing museum I visited when I was a kid, and nearby, was the horse’s jockey, also stuffed.
Continue reading If animals wore clothing, we would not have to stuff them.
Daily Archives: March 23, 2011
Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine
What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading.
Apple Pulls Anti-Gay App
Following an online petition and a wave of complaints, Apple has removed a so-called “gay cure” app from its App Store.
Launched last month by Exodus International, a ministry that encourages gay people to seek “cures” for their homosexuality, the app triggered a huge outcry from Two Wins Out, a nonprofit group with the stated goal of fighting anti-gay religious extremism.
Is this for real or is this a scam?
Please do not send money (as is requested) unless this is verified. What do you know about this?
Why don’t zoo animals die in front of visitors all the time?
Zoos are open to the public about half of the hours on a given day (or more) and for about half the time there are easily enough people in a zoo to be observing about half the animals. (If you don’t like these estimates substitute your own!)
Continue reading Why don’t zoo animals die in front of visitors all the time?
Elizabeth Taylor has Died
She was a major film (and stage) actress of my parent’s generation. She was the ultimate “leading lady” and as such often played across her sometimes husband, classic “leading man” Richard Burton. She is famous for having been married and divorced more times than anyone else ever (an exaggeration), but more importantly she’s famous for having starred in a number of classic and defining roles.
Che was a child star (Lassie Come Home, Jayne Eyre, National Velvet, etc.) and played a diversity of roles as an adult. Her classic performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won her an academy award for best actress. Earlier, she had won best actress for playing Gloria Wandrous in Butterfield 8. She was from Kansas and a Dame.
How To Identify Hawks at a Distance (and a recommendation on binoculars)
Imma let you hear all about how Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors
It make sense to question the old ways: When was the last time a hawk came to your feeder and hung around in close view, or a small flock of hawks hopped around in a nearby meadow for ten minutes or perched on a bush for a minute or two? Yet, most depictions of raptors have used the same posing and otherwise been handled the same way as depictions of wrens and sparrows. True, various guides, including Peterson’s, have included silhouettes of selected birds in flight, and indeed, that is the point; As time has gone by, bird books have treated raptors more and more differently, until finally Jerry Liguori came up with his now classic Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight
Continue reading How To Identify Hawks at a Distance (and a recommendation on binoculars)