May 2007 Archive
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May 28, 2007
Vanishing Vultures
Fifteen years ago there were millions of vultures (large raptors) in India and Pakistan. Today, the population has almost completely collapsed. Smithsonian Magazine had an excellent write-up of what has happened and why. It's fascinating. And very scary.Villagers in northern india were the first to notice. People started complaining about livestock carcasses lying around, rotting and attracting dogs. In 1996, in a town north of Delhi, Asad Rahmani, a wildlife biologist at Aligarh Muslim University, saw an item in the daily newspaper: "Where Are the Vultures?" the headline asked. That's odd, Rahmani thought. He checked the municipal carcass dump and found that there did seem to be fewer vultures.The cause, wouldn't you know it, is human-caused. And the solution, while obvious once the cause was discovered, has been stymied by politics and business interests.
This article describes a great example of science (and a scientific approach and critical thinking skills) being put into practice to solve an unexpected problem. I know there are some people who seem to think that we don't need to focus too much on science and engineering anymore. I think such people are, umm, very poorly-informed - and I say this as someone who partook of a quintessential liberal arts undergraduate education and wouldn't trade it for anything. But stories like this help explain why it is absolutely vital to have a thriving and healthy scientific and engineering community.
<=> | in: Energy & Environment
2 Comments --
I meant of course that the number of contaminated carcasses should be going down...obviously they're piling up without the vultures to clean them down.
Just 15 years. Damn.
Posted by: Anonymous on May 29, 2007
May 27, 2007
Nats on a Hot Streak
The Washington Nationals are on a hot streak. Those boys have some hot bats! (Heh.) My current favorite players: Felipe Lopez, Ryan Church (every time he gets a big hit, I holler "Church on Tuesday!" or whatever day it happens to be -- cracks me up), Ryan Zimmerman, and Brian Schneider.Just for amusement's sake I note that today the Washington Nationals have won 21 games. . .
And . . .
so have the New York Yankees.
Mwahahahahahaha!
As an old school Red Sox fan, I have to cackle at the Yankees. And for those who are still surprised at my newfound baseball obsession, I should point out that it definitely runs in the genes. My great-aunt (paternal grandfather's sister) was a huge Red Sox fan. And I can remember watching her in front of the television hollering at the boys: "Git! Git around those bases! Git!" "Hit that ball! Come on, hit that ball!" "Catchit, catchit, catchit, catchit!" So, I do come by it naturally.
If you want to keep up with the Nationals baseball blogging, though, you must put Nats320 in your feed reader.
<=> | in: Entertainment
Community Drama
There is nothing quite like being out and about on a Sunday afternoon doing our part for the economy (buying a new lamp to replace a rickety old halogen light that fizzled its last a few weeks ago, in this instance) and then getting a text message from the county emergency broadcast system that says:Heavy traffic on [primary street next to your house] @ [side street near your house] due to townhouse fire.Especially when you live in a townhouse. We completed the transaction as quickly as we could, bailed on our other plans, and raced home. Our house is fine. The fire is not in our development, but in the next one over.
All we could say, was, "Well, we've only been gone about 90 minutes and whatever's going on, the fire department knows about it."
Still. Adrenalin! Drama!
<=> | in: Journalling
May 26, 2007
Radical in My Old Age
I have never been a 'shoes' girl. I don't care about shoes. I don't own very many pairs of shoes. I never buy shoes on a whim. I never wear heels anymore. Now I feel completely justified about that because if there's ever some sort of emergency in downtown D.C. and I need to walk out of town, the shoes that I wear to work will not kill me as I try to make my way to Virginia. I've also long agreed with the notion that high heels are just another way to cripple women - sure, they're fun sometimes, but completely hobbling. In fact, up until this year, I don't think in my adult life that I've ever owned a pair of shoes (or sandals) that weren't black or brown (not counting sneakers for the gym.)Up until this year. See. As far as I'm concerned, I live in the south. And people, it gets hot. And sticky. And I can't very well wear Tevas to work. So I had to find something decent enough for work that would keep my feet cool. I've been wearing huaraches. These, in particular - in dark brown. Now, they don't offer as much support as my other shoes do in the event that I had to walk 12 miles to get home. But, they're ok.
And I'm getting radical and daring in my old age. This month I bought another pair of huaraches. In METALLIC APPLE RED. Me - in shiny pinkish-red shoes! Imagine! I haven't worn them to work yet though - just on the weekends in the suburbs.
Update on the typey-typey: my wrists are feeling a bit better, but still not 100%. Still trying to stay away from the internetz and computers on the weekends as much as possible.
<=> | in: Journalling
4 Comments --
Heh. I'm not a shoe girl either, but those sound like fun.
BTW, you might check your archive layout. It seems to be set at double wide or something, and doesn't play nice with smaller laptop monitor sizes?
Posted by: BEG on May 26, 2007
Very pretty.
I'm FAR from being Carrie Bradshaw, but I do have lots of shoes. None are high heels, and most have decent support. I walk a lot, too, and I won't suffer for vanity. My collection of shoes includes several pairs of sandals, which I DO wear to work, but I don't have the kind of dress code (implied or explicit) that you do.
One of my rationalizations/theories about why I have so many shoes has to do with shoe size. You probably wear a normal shoe size, Medley, like a 7B, and can order it from a catalog and know it will fit. I have a very narrow foot, and even the best shoe companies rarely make the cute shoes in 9.5AAA, so I'm usally pretty excited to find anything attractive in a 9.5AA. My latest purchase was this pair of Clarks, in 9.5AA. They fit reasonably well out of the box, but now that the leather has started to stretch, I'm really wishing they came in a 9.5AAA.
Ah, well. Such is the life of us genetic freaks.Posted by: Liz on May 26, 2007
P.S. Best fitting shoes ever, in terms of comfort and width, are my Nocona boots. I bought 'em last year when I was in San Antonio for a conference. I can wear 'em all day and walk anywhere. I'll probably need to have them re-soled before I've owned them a year.
Posted by: Liz on May 26, 2007
Metallic red? You go, girl!!!
Posted by: Mom on May 26, 2007
May 17, 2007
Cn't Typ. Ow.
For once I have several topics I want to write about here, but not only do I not have that much time, but, tomorrow, when I will have some time, I can't be typing away.The reason I'll have time tomorrow is that I'm not going in to work. Originally, I was going to work at home after getting an estimate on some house stuff we need done in the morning. But this afternoon, after finishing yet another major writing task, my hands just gave out. I need to give them a rest and hope these aches subside on their own. I'm pretty sure it's primarily due to the scrollwheel on my mouse -- I switched sides with the mouse today, but my right hand (my usual mouse hand) is still very sore.
So, I need to stay away from keyboards for a bit. Also means I really shouldn't quilt. And gardening is not a smart idea either (not that I have much to garden, but I could prune some of our lavendar. So, what to do tomorrow? I'm thinking .... shop. Tssss tssssss goes my smokin' credit card. (Nono, it's not debt - we pay it off every month; it's just convenience.) Still. Tsss tsssss! Perhaps a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond. Mama needs a new spatula - or something.
So, if you see me on IM tomorrow, please yell at me (well you know, all caps) and tell me to back away from the internetz and let my hands rest.
<=> | in: Journalling
May 6, 2007
Less Blogging, More Blather
I seem to be in a rut of dis-inspiration regarding 'regular' weblogging. So, journalling (aka blather), it is! I think it's partly because I've been deep into a writing/thinking phase at work (which is finally actually resulting in real output) so I don't have any energy for it here. Oh well. You know the drill. See Digby and some of the others in the sidebar for all your weblogging needs.So, how busy/distracted/stressed-out have I been? So busy I haven't even looked at, much less processed, the pictures I took during our weekend away in Williamsburg two months ago. So busy and distracted and stressed out I missed BCDC for the first time ever. So distracted and brain-dead in the evenings I've barely read any books in 2007 at all. So busy I've had a new PC for about 6 weeks and still haven't managed to install MS Office on it yet, much less fully transition to it. In fact, it's sitting on my desk right now completely unplugged because 2 weeks ago I installed a firewire card and haven't gotten around to plugging it back in yet. Bah. Lots of other things on my TODO list I haven't gotten to that are too embarrassing to post about!
On the other hand, I have been pounding through some crap at work that has been weighing me down for, literally, years. (Long stories - best told over drinks.) I'm not feeling any sense of relief yet, but it's possible that it might happen this summer -- that is, that I stop waking up every morning and feeling that sickening dread and impotent panic. That would be nice. (I'm a real peach on weekday mornings, lemme tell ya'.) It's been such a constant for so long, I'm real curious to see what life is like when it's not there. *knock wood*
And there are good things going on in the day to day--small pleasures and little personal accomplishments. But those are boring to blog about and fairly mundane to read about.
Update - on re-read, I should clarify: I'm not saying that all journalling is blather -- just my own. There are truly fine journals and journallers out there, but I don't delude myself that this is one of them.
<=> | in: Journalling
3 Comments --
I miss a certain forum.
But if you need inspiration, I'd be interested in your expanding on your interest Hugo Schwyzer's Marriage, Miracle-Gro, and mutual accountability, I have to admit that my Peter Pan-ish first reaction was somewhere in between "growth for its own sake is the philosophy of the cancer cell" and "I know women who make a good living from men who want that level of discipline and accountability from a woman and don't get it at home".
So I'd love a bit of an exploration of why you found that particular piece interesting and relevant.
Posted by: Dan Lyke on May 7, 2007
Yeah, something should be done about that forum situation. I've got a half-ass idea that dovetails with something else I was considering doing, just need some tuits...
Posted by: genehack on May 7, 2007
I think I've got the NNTP server transferred to the new machine and up and running, should people be so ink lined. Figuring out the social structures is beyond my meager resources right now, however...
I've also contemplated playing with the page restriction module that I've got installed on the wiki on Flutterby.net, but until I figure out a way to performance tune MediaWiki on that beastie a little bit I'm loathe to suggest dragging people over there, and I'm not sure that RSS feeds and all of that respect the security model in useful ways.
Posted by: Dan Lyke on May 7, 2007
May 3, 2007
ZOMG. Tribble LOL Catz
This is the funniest thing I have seen on teh Internetz in a while.(I love silly jokes like this that work best by drawing on layers and layers of stuff. The Tribbles ep aired almost 40 years ago, right? LOLcats started, what, just a couple months ago? Beautiful.)
I fantasize that at our next staff meeting, I'm going to turn to my colleague who's seen this, look quizzical, and mouth "Whut?" We'll both crack up, and then TehBoss will go "Whut????"
Ha.
Punchy? Me? Naaahh...
<=> | in: Journalling
2 Comments --
You have, of course, seen Wil Wheaton's response?
Posted by: Dan Lyke on May 3, 2007
My favorite part was how Spock's dialogue was exactly what it was in the script. Heh.
Posted by: Janis on May 4, 2007
I read about that last year -- some type of antibiotics on the cattle as I recall, which led to the carcasses being tainted, which either the vultures rejected, or ate and died either way. More carcasses overall, etc.
*peeks* Yep. I see, the problem now is time. And the remaining carcasses, although that should be going down. Or is any animal at one point treated with the antibiotic a problem whenever it dies or only shortly after? Hrm.
And oh yes the parallel problems with the dog and rat populations.
Don't mess with nature, she has a way of smacking you right down.
Posted by: BEG on May 29, 2007