music for you: https://archive.org/details/Saint-saensCarnivalOfTheAnimalsbernstein
evolutionary diversion
So, I was learning about Trophic cascade and how reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone changed everything, down to the land and rivers. And then I was sharing this knowledge with a co-worker when her mind turned to coyotes and then to their interbreeding with wolves. And now I am learning something else.
The Coywolf is a coyote-wolf hybrid. They have been in the north eastern part of the country for near a hundred years and are sometimes lumped in with the group of Eastern Coyotes (DNA testing has shown that most Eastern Coyotes have Wolf genes). This canid is one of the rare, successful, natural hybridizations, probably due to depleted wolf populations and lack of mates for wolves (Wikipedia entry).
I find it especially interesting that this hybridization combines the strongest behavioral characteristics as well: a coyote’s comfort with populated areas and a wolf’s tendency to move in packs. This is kind of creepy. Especially since coywolves are bigger than coyotes.
As interesting as the coywolf is, my favorite canid is still the raccoon dog (pictured above). Raccoon dogs, aka tanuki, have the most ancient canid DNA for a living species today, and they have a wealth of legend and story.
And since we’ve gone to Asia with the raccoon dog, it would be remiss of me to not mention Pallas’s Cat (pictured). This fuzzy, solitary, house cat sized felid, looks to me like someone mixed a cat and a monkey, specifically: a tamarin. They also remind me of my cat, Sparkles.
If canids and felids aren’t your thing, perhaps you are a bird person. I know quite a few of those. The Potoo bird is native to Africa, and looks like some trick of taxidermy, or as if it under went a treatment with Kai’s Goo. Ya’ll remember that program, right?
In any case, muppets are real people too (images from a Google search and unfortunately without attribution anywhere I could find them posted).
Poppy fairy
John Smith – the most famous guy you ever met
My original intentions for this post didn’t quite pan out. I was watching some Pocahontas on TV and got to thinking about the most common name among English speaking countries and how beyond John Smith the explorer, there were several other John Smith’s who were amazing historical figures. But the other John Smiths I was thinking about at the time weren’t actually John Smiths once I reminded myself about their history. They were Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism) and John Jones (ally and brother in law to Oliver Cromwell). Outside of John Smyth the baptist minister, and Wikipedia’s list of notable John Smiths, I don’t really have the post I thought I did.
Why then am I posting anyway, you might ask. ‘Cause it was a good idea! It just wasn’t real. It’s like finding a wealth of information on the Christopher Cotton who was a cousin to your ancestor but from whom you are not lineally descendent. Or like that guy in your genealogy database who lived for 120 years and none of the other genealogists who have the same guy in their trees seemed to have caught this. Can you tell I’ve been doing a lot of family searching lately?
Alien plant
A little over a year ago I found this plant on my porch. I thought my Mom had put it there, and I thought the little seedling was sprouting from the lychee nuts that we saved from a snack. As it grew, I figured better.
Lychee trees don’t sprout tendrils of roots from their dropped leaves; my plant does.
It got taller and taller, though is so spindly, that I have to tie it to keep it upright. And then it sprouted bunches after bunches of these pod thingys. When the sun hits them you can see shadowy figures inside.Continue reading Alien plant
The Transpacific Partnership| Economix Comix
So, I’ve mentioned TPP before, and I’m sure I’ve advertized my love of educational comics. Of course I love Economix: How our economy works (and doesn’t work) in words and pictures. And economics is important because it has a lot to do with trade and intellectual property laws, laws that often include strange little bits about internet monitoring, whether people own what they buy, and how much the government and other organizations can snoop on the casual consumer through what they buy. Included in the book is a nifty segment on TPP:
Shelf Life (2005) – IMDb
Shelf Life (2005) arrived in our mailbox a while ago. I had added it to our queue ages agon and had since forgotten exactly what it was about. In the meantime, both Richard and I developed the idea that the film was foreign and subtitled. I specifically developed the idea that the film was Korean.
These aren’t the reasons why we avoided putting the disc in the player and instead chose movie after movie, including plenty of subtitled Korean movies, to watch instead. Eventually, we decided to get it over with and just watch the thing.
I remember that I wanted to see this in the same way I am interested in all movies and TV shows about libraries and librarians. It’s a weird introspective, self mocking, others mocking type of enjoyment I get from depictions of these people and places. AND BOY DOES THIS MOVIE DELIVER! Sorry I had to shout. Shelf Life is not Korean, nor is it subtitled. It is a stark, yet funny, slow starting, acerbic look at small library hierarchy and personalities. It reminds me of The Librarians. It is less big laughs than small furtive, guilty chuckles (at least for me), and it is utterly impossible to stop watching.
It starts like a quite school assignment production with the characters awkwardly exchanging dialog and then it grabs your attention with a fishhook to your face (not literally). Suddenly you are wrapped up in the mystery of an unfolding story of miscommunication, misconception, quick judgements and terribly questionable human behavior. This is love, ladies and gentlemen. Though, I have to admit, not the marrying kind of love. I probably will not want to watch this movie over and over again. No, this is a summer camp romance kind of love. The kind that you deny ever happened when you catch each other’s eye in the hallway on your way to class, but secretly you review over and over again in your diary at night.
doodling
Librarature roundup
I am thoroughly wrapped up in copyright law studies and enjoying it, yes, but also feeling like I am falling behind on other bits of professional news. I do not want these to get buried:
Librarian as Poet/ Poet as Librarian by Erin Dorney – introduces some poet librarians and discusses their experiences with both roles
Lisa Gold: Research Maven is posting about Thomas Paine on the Bauman Rare Books Blog
At the SPARC blog: A new report by U.S. PIRG surveyed students about how textbook costs are threatening their performance.
so, I’m giving them to you for safe keeping. 🙂
CONSPIRE! » Mini-Comics Day is March 8th!
CONSPIRE! » Mini-Comics Day is March 8th!:
Mini-Comics Day is coming up fast! Tell your friends!
If you plan on hosting a Mini-Comics Day event, contact us at
to have your event added to the list. Read more about what is involved in hosting an event in the FAQ.
What happened to that giant bunny?
Years ago I heard about and wrote a blurb for the old bean on A giant knitted rabbit in Italy [that] can be seen from space by visitors to Google Earth. – Telegraph. Up until a 2011, it looks like, people were still talking about it on web boards and travel sites. The giant bunny is on the Colletto Fava mountain in Italy, lying like a ginormous abandoned stuffed toy with its entrails spilling out onto the ground beside it. It was originally erected by an art group called Gelatin on
September 18, 2005, at 11:30 am and is expected to last until 2025.
“We foresee that in twenty years the pink puppet (made of straw-stuffed fabric) will be swallowed by the weather, devoured by cattle, completely erased by the weather and nature” said Gelitin in an interview.
But what’s happened to it now? I scoped out Google Earth just a couple weeks ago. To me it looks like barren land, deprived of sun for a few years, is starting to come back to life within the shadow outline of the bunny that is no longer there. I suppose it could be bleached and growing grass of it’s own, but I couldn’t find any news about it’s decay or removal. It’s still a far cry from the estimated 2025.
February for letter writing
I spent a night this week clearing out and organizing my stationary. I’m still not totally happy with it (it’s in three different containers/locations), but at least I know what’s where. More importantly, I am now prepared to spend the month writing letters. Marianne Kirby’s post To Get A Letter, Send A Letter; Where To Find A Pen Pal | xoJane reminded me that I have/had a pen pal of sorts and just maybe I could revive our relationship. It also got me thinking that I see a lot less of my friends than I used to and would like to, and that I love receiving mail that isn’t junk and bills, and that it would be nice to give a little of that joy to others. Maybe even I’ll get some in return. Yeah, so I’m writing letters this month and I’m not going to stop when the month is over. What are you doing? I’m also gonna try out some of the letter exchange web sites Marianne mentioned.
Randall Rosenthal
Randall Rosenthal is possessed of a spirit. He must be, because he made this box. This box, filled with money, is a solid block of wood. He’s got some process steps on his website to help you believe.
And this isn’t the only amazing thing he makes out of solid wood. Check out: What’s New.
Penelope Sea
I was inspired by my Levi Levi flashback to put together some pictures with Penelope Sea. This is now I imagine her for the sequel to Penelope Sea and Ocean End. I think there will be a ghost in it.
The Hourly Comic
I almost forgot, February 1st is hourly comic day, and February 1st is this Saturday. Even though I’ve done a few 24 hour comic day and Mini comics day, I’ve always missed/forgotten about hourly comic day. Well, not this year! If hourly comic day is news to you there is an overview on know your meme.
Here’re John Campbell describing The Hourly Comic:
HOURLY COMIC DAY
hello on february first a bunch of people make a journal comic every hour they are awake. and then they show these journal comics to other people on the internet
we will see how different people spend their day.
THE GUIDELINES:
-for every hour that you are awake on february first (that’s february first for whatever time zone you happen to be in), you make a comic describing something about the past hour. maybe you ate some cereal? maybe your mother called and screamed long and low until her voice gave out
-say you wake up at 7am. make a comic some time before it becomes 8am. then after 8am, make a comic before it becomes 9am. it is pretty simple.