August 31, 2006

On the Wings of a Bird

Mariya of migrateblog is the host of the 31st edition of I and the Bird and each participant is accompanied by a specially written haiku.

Go join the flock!

Posted by Steve on August 31, 2006

August 25, 2006

Friday Ark #101

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive Page (construction underway).

ARK ALERT: The staff is leaving again. Sometime Friday morning we will depart for a long weekend and will be on the road most of the day. Connectivity may be very limited until Monday night. Any boarders that we do not get on the Ark by Sunday afternoon will have priority boarding on next week's Ark.

Update 11:56 AM CDT: One the road. No more updates until....?

CatsDogsBirdsInvertebratesOther VertebratesIn MemoriamDidn't Make It
Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (73 shouts as of 08/17)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 126th edition, 8/20 is up at Red Peonies. The 127th edition will be hosted by eatstuff's Weekend Cat Blogging which has many participants who may not be familiar to Ark or Carnival participants. Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 30th edition is up and hosted by Burning Sile The 31st edition will be hosted on 8/31 by migrateblog.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 11th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 12th edition will be hosted August 31st by Sunbeams From Cucumbers.

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users: Haloscan started (the end of July) rejecting trackbacks if they were submitted "too rapidly" by the same host. I don't know what the timer is but it is long enough so that it was very difficult to ping everyone that is using Haloscan for trackbacks. I'm sure that they are doing this to try to hold back the tide of trackback spam but it makes the service pretty useless for carnival type posts. Perhaps you can contact them and urge some different solution. Update: Typepad appears to be doing the same thing. Everytime I update the Ark it appears the timers are reset and the long list of MT autogenerated pings fail. Yecchhhh....

Posted by Steve on August 25, 2006 | Comments (14)

August 23, 2006

A Beheading

Steve Colbert vs. Star Wars Kid.

Via Good Morning Silicon Valley.

Posted by Steve on August 23, 2006

August 22, 2006

Are The Queens Cooperating?

Or is some other factor leading to the large number of multiple queen yellow jacket nests in Alabama this year:

Entomologist Dr. Charles Ray at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in Auburn said he's aware of about 16 of what he described as "super-sized" nests in south Alabama. .... In previous years, a yellow jacket nest was no larger than a basketball, Ray said. It would contain about 3,000 workers and one queen. These gigantic nests may have as many as 100,000 workers and multiple queens.

Without a cold winter to kill them this year, the yellow jackets continued feeding in January and February -- and layering their nests made of paper, not wax. They typically are built in shallow underground cavities.
....
He said the "super colonies" appear to have many queens.

"We're not really sure how this multiple queen thing works," Ray said. "It could be that the daughters of the original queen don't leave the nest or that the queens have developed some way to cooperate."

The over winter survival probably contibutes heavily to the large size allowing a longer egg laying season. The multiple queen thing though is interesting. Are they really cooperating? Why didn't the new queens move on to form their own nests? What makes these large nests a superior survival mechanism? What if there are a series of years without a die off?

Perhaps even more interesting is this:

Yellow jackets, often confused with bees, may visit flowers for sugar, but unlike bees, yellow jackets are carnivorous, eating insects, carrion and picnic food, according to scientists.
It is probably consistent that some food was avaiilable through the warmer winter. However, where did enough food to sustain a colony 30 times normal size come from? Is something dying off more than normal? Are they preparing for even larger feasts in the future?

Yellow Jacket Fact Sheet

Eastern Yellow Jacket Vespula maculifrons (the above article did not indicate if Easterns are the big colony builders):

EasternYellowJacket.jpg

Via boingboing.

Posted by Steve on August 22, 2006

August 21, 2006

Who The Hell...

is.....?

Via Tegan.

Posted by Steve on August 21, 2006

Causus Toss'm Out

There are reason's a plenty to toss out the current us federal office holders, all of them, and most of the domestic reasons get lost behind the bloody headlines of democracy's international warfare.

Radley Balko at The Agitator provides near daily, oft multiple times a day, examples of federal, state and local government representatives abusing individuals, families and associations of individuals.

Asset forfeiture llegislation is a particularly heinous weapon in the government arsonal of extortion and theft tools and today Balko highlites a particularly onerous use of asset forfeiture:

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that police may keep the $124,700 they seized from Emiliano Gonzolez, an immigrant who by all appearances was attempting to use the money to start a legitimate business.

This is an outrageous ruling. Consider:

# Gonzolez was never charged with any crime in relation to the money, much less convicted.

# Gonzalez had an explanation for the money that a lower court found both "plausible" and "consistent." He brought several witnesses forward to corroborate his story (in the preposterous land of asset forfeiture, property can be guilty of a crime, and the burden is often person the police seized the property from to prove he obtained it legally).

# The government offered no evidence to counter Gonzolez's explanation.

Instead, the court ruled that the mere fact that Gonzolez was carrying a large sum of money, that he had difficulty understanding the officer's questions, that he incorrectly answered some of those questions (due, Gonzolez says, to fears that if police knew he was carrying that much money, they might confiscate it -- imagine that!), and that a drug dog alerted to the car Gonzolez was driving (which, as dissenting judge Donald Lay noted, was a rental, likely driven by dozens of people before Gonzolez), was enough to "convict" the money of having drug ties, even if there wasn't enough evidence to charge Gonzolez.

Read the rest of the post and Balko has the link to the opinion.

Yep, part and parcel of the immoral war on drugs which is itself plenty of reason to convict every participant of crimes against humanity.

Posted by Steve on August 21, 2006

August 20, 2006

Kitty Time Again

To ease your skritching Elvis and Audrey have categorized the felines of the 126th Carnival of the Cats which is now up at Red Peonies.

Posted by Steve on August 20, 2006

August 19, 2006

Iowa: Then and Now

In 1853 Grenville Dodge surveyed Iowa from Iowa City to the Missouri:

He wrote his father, "oh, that you could come out and overtake me on the prairies of Iowa, look at the country and see how we live."
....
Dodge loved the flaming sumac, the gold tinge of the willows, the turning leaves on the cottonwooe beside the rivers, and on the elms, black oak, and hard maple,, the silvered wild grass, the variety and number of animals.

Stephen Ambrose, Nothing Like It In The World, 33.

This conjures up a much different picture for me than today's Iowa:

CornCamView800.jpg
(Click image for larger view)

This is a pretty good representation of the Iowa I saw last summer when we drove across the state from Council Bluff to Iowa City to Davenport and back with some side trips around Iowa City.

Posted by Steve on August 19, 2006

August 18, 2006

Friday Ark #100 Centennial Edition

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

As this is the Centennial edition we decided to celebrate by making a few changes:

  1. You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive Page (construction underway).
  2. Links to related carnivals and other miscellania are now at the bottom following the boarders.

Visit each border and come back regularly Friday-Sunday to discover new boarders.


CatsDogsOther VertebratesInvertebratesBirdsIn Memoriam
Didn't Make It
Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (73 shouts as of 08/17)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 125th edition, 8/13 is up at Blog d'Ellison. The 126th edition will be hosted by Red Peonies on 8/20. There are more weekly cats at eatstuff's Weekend Cat Blogging which has many participants who may not be familiar to Ark or Carnival participants. Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 30th edition is up and hosted by Burning Sile The 31st edition will be hosted on 8/31 by migrateblog.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 11th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 12th edition will be hosted August 31st by Sunbeams From Cucumbers.

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users: Haloscan started (the end of July) rejecting trackbacks if they were submitted "too rapidly" by the same host. I don't know what the timer is but it is long enough so that it was very difficult to ping everyone that is using Haloscan for trackbacks. I'm sure that they are doing this to try to hold back the tide of trackback spam but it makes the service pretty useless for carnival type posts. Perhaps you can contact them and urge some different solution. Update: Typepad appears to be doing the same thing. Everytime I update the Ark it appears the timers are reset and the long list of MT autogenerated pings fail. Yecchhhh....

Posted by Steve on August 18, 2006 | Comments (17)

August 17, 2006

Birds, Birds and More Birds

Visit Burning Silo for the 30th Edition of I and the Bird.

Not a birder? Visit anyway. There's way much cool stuff there. And, who knows, you might find the beginning of a pleasant addiction.

Posted by Steve on August 17, 2006 | Comments (1)

August 16, 2006

This Is The secretary of state??

She said:

"I can tell you that nothing has really taken me aback more as secretary of state than the way that the politics of energy is--I will use the word `warping' diplomacy around the world," Rice told Congress in April. "It has given extraordinary power to some states that are using that power in not very good ways for the international system, states that would otherwise have very little power."

Coming from a former Chevron board member, Rice's shock is puzzling.

Puzzling??

I think it is quite reasonable to expect the secretary of state to have a clue prior to taking office!

Posted by Steve on August 16, 2006 | Comments (1)

August 13, 2006

Hakuna and Matata Present...

The 125th Carnival of the Cats at Chez Ellison.

Just maybe they had a wee bit of help from Ellison's fingers putting together this fine edition! If he wasn't typing then he was skritching furiously to keep them focused.

Posted by Steve on August 13, 2006

August 11, 2006

Friday Ark #99

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

We will add your post to the list if you do one of the following:

  • Leave a comment (moderated) or trackback (moderated) to this post (Don't panic if you get back an "internal server error" message. Haven't been able to figure out why this is happening but comments still seem to post.).
  • Use the Carnival Submission Form,
  • Use the Blog Carnival Submission Form,
  • Email Modulator or
  • Our extensive staff finds it during our weekly search of the web

Of course, if our staff goes on strike then we will link only those posts someone tells us about. Time permitting we will continue boardings until the Carnival of the Cats goes up on Sunday.

Do link to the Friday Ark whether you use trackbacks or not.

Visit each border and come back regularly Friday-Sunday to visit new boarders.

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (71 shouts as of 08/10)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 124th edition, 8/6 is up at TBIFOC. The 125th edition will be hosted by blog d'Ellison on 8/13. There are more weekly cats at eatstuff's Weekend Cat Blogging which has many participants who may not be familiar to Ark or Carnival participants. Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 29th edition is up and hosted by Alis Volat Propiis The 30th edition will be hosted on 8/17 by Burning Silo.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 11th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 11th edition will be hosted August 31st by Sunbeams From Cucumbers.

Arkive editions of the Friday Ark.

Note: Boarders marked with an asterisk were brought forward from #98 because our crew did not get them boarded.

Cats

  • Blog d'Elisson: 125th Carnival of the Cats
    • InvertebratesBirdsOther VertebratesDogsIn Memoriam
    Didn't Make It
    Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

    Note for Haloscan Users: Haloscan started (the end of July) rejecting trackbacks if they were submitted "too rapidly" by the same host. I don't know what the timer is but it is long enough so that it was very difficult to ping everyone that is using Haloscan for trackbacks. I'm sure that they are doing this to try to hold back the tide of trackback spam but it makes the service pretty useless for carnival type posts. Perhaps you can contact them and urge some different solution. Update: Typepad appears to be doing the same thing. Everytime I update the Ark it appears the timers are reset and the long list of MT autogenerated pings fail. Yecchhhh....

    Posted by Steve on August 11, 2006 | Comments (10)

    August 9, 2006

    The other day...

    The other day they waited, the sky was dark and faded,
    On the rail at the Greek...
    Solemnly they stated, "He has to die, you know he has to die."
    It was one of those moments so many have had...
    All the children learnin', from books that they were burnin',
    Eye contact with Garcia from 20 feet away...
    Every leaf was turnin', to watch him die, you know he had to die.
    You knew what was coming...
    The summer sun looked down on him,
    Yet it was always new...
    His mother could but frown on him,
    I remember it as if it happened, well, is still happening...
    And all the other sound on him,
    Anything and everything is possible....
    He had to die, you know he had to die.

    Rest In Peace: Jerry Garcia

    Posted by Steve on August 9, 2006

    Return Message

    We are back from an all to brief vacation and 4+ days completely offline...???

    Yea, there was a bit of withdrawal but it was pretty easy to treat with heavy doses of conversation with relatives, long time friends and architects/builders.

    I'm on the road again tomorrow and expect at most 1-2 posts before this week's Ark starts boarding. All the boarders who did not make it on to last week's sailing will lead off their respective categories this week in, as usual, order received. They will also get a second full line for this week's boardings...our usual practice is one line per category per human sponsor.

    Posted by Steve on August 9, 2006

    August 4, 2006

    Friday Ark #98

    We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

    We will add your post to the list if you do one of the following:

    • Leave a comment (moderated) or trackback (moderated) to this post (Don't panic if you get back an "internal server error" message. Haven't been able to figure out why this is happening but comments still seem to post.).
    • Use the Carnival Submission Form,
    • Use the Blog Carnival Submission Form,
    • Email Modulator or
    • Our extensive staff finds it during our weekly search of the web

    Of course, if our staff goes on strike then we will link only those posts someone tells us about. Time permitting we will continue boardings until the Carnival of the Cats goes up on Sunday.

    Do link to the Friday Ark whether you use trackbacks or not.

    Visit each border and come back regularly Friday-Sunday to visit new boarders.

    Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (71 shouts as of 08/03)

    Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings.

    Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 123rd edition, 7/30 is up at The Scratching Post. The 124th edition will be hosted by TBIFOC on 8/6. There are more weekly cats at eatstuff's Weekend Cat Blogging which has many participants who may not be familiar to Ark or Carnival participants. Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

    Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 29th edition is up and hosted by Alis Volat Propiis The 30th edition will be hosted on 8/17 by Burning Silo.

    For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 11th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 11th edition will be hosted August 31st by Sunbeams From Cucumbers.

    Arkive editions of the Friday Ark.

    ALERT! ALERT!The Friday Ark's crew will be on the road beginning mid day (?) Friday and returning Wednesday. Unfortunately we will be places where there will be little to no connectivity and, well, about the same amount of time to use it. We will eventually get everyone on board and apologize in advance. Anyone who does not get boarded before we leave will also get boarded next week.

    Cats

    DogsInvertebratesBirdsOther Vertebrates
    • Anchored by Grace: Walking: Caterpillar, Spider, squirrels, chicken, rooster and parakeet
    • 10,000 Birds: White Ibis
    In MemoriamDidn't Make It
    Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)
    For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

    Note for Haloscan Users: Haloscan started (the end of July) rejecting trackbacks if they were submitted "too rapidly" by the same host. I don't know what the timer is but it is long enough so that it was very difficult to ping everyone that is using Haloscan for trackbacks. I'm sure that they are doing this to try to hold back the tide of trackback spam but it makes the service pretty useless for carnival type posts. Perhaps you can contact them and urge some different solution. Update: Typepad appears to be doing the same thing. Everytime I update the Ark it appears the timers are reset and the long list of MT autogenerated pings fail. Yecchhhh....

    Posted by Steve on August 4, 2006 | Comments (7)

    August 3, 2006

    Birds on Vacation

    Take a vacation with I and the Bird #29 at AlisVolat Propiis.

    Speaking of vacations!

    The Ark crew will be flying off late Friday morning and will have limited to no connectivity from that time until late on Tuesday. We will eventually get everyone boarded....

    Get your borders queued up early!

    Posted by Steve on August 3, 2006

    August 1, 2006

    Spineless Words and Pictures

    The 11 edition of the Circus of the Spinless is up at Words & Pictures.

    All of these mostly small tykes are beautiful and more than a few would be the stuff of nightmare if they were scaled up a bit.

    Posted by Steve on August 1, 2006