In Nerdfighteria, a virtual land where nerds that have taken a liking to John and Hank Green's vlog community, people refer to angry, YouTube comments as angry--squids? Octopuses? Octopi? Am I remembering this right? The important factor to keep in mind is that even if I go back to earlier vlogs when John addressed trolls … Continue reading Dictionaries and Eternal Nuances of Pluralization: Octopus
One of BBC Earth's TV miniseries, Africa features the staples of intensive camera work and David Attenborough. The six-episode series released in 2013 travels between the Kalahari Desert, eastern savanna, Congo rainforest, southern Cape, Sahara, and a thematic episode focused on conservation and Africa's future. Africa is full of jungle and safari stereotypes, but this … Continue reading Film Reflection: Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown by BBC Earth
After reading What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam & Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis and watching Rory Stewart's The Great Game (incredible dual documentaries on imperialism and Afghan independence) on Netflix (the first is also on YouTube), I continued the theme and watched an installment on one of my favorite natural history … Continue reading Film Reflection: Wildest Middle East by Animal Planet
Keystone species: like a stone bridging the two sides of an arch, once removed the structure crumbles. One of ecologists favorite example in the last twenty years has been the grey wolf. Humans have a long history of destroying ecosystems and obliterating biodiversity. More than likely we've seen the loss of more keystone species than … Continue reading Keystone Species in a Yellowstone Shell
Poisoning ivory horns tagged with pink dye to deter poachers. When I read this old news on Facebook, at first I thought, "How does this affect survival among other wild animals?" Then I remembered that this is limited to animals living in fence reserves and human kill far more than the lions do. Then there … Continue reading Pink Rhinos and Elephants?
While I've shared how the Voyage of the Turtle: in the Pursuit of the World’s Last Dinosaur took a broad-focused, holistic sweep of the world between humans and leatherbacks, it also tackled specifics of sea turtle’s physiology. Diving physiology is intricate and poorly understood. Considering that humans dwell on land and most animals that we … Continue reading Book Reflection: Voyage of the Turtle by Carl Safina (Part II: Physiology)
We had lovely weather this past December. Clouds hung over us most days, and often drooled profusely. Thus I was trapped to taking photos inside the house. As much as I appreciate still life, I feel at odds posting them online, as I'm sure few other than sketch artists like them. Oh well. However, I … Continue reading #Project365: December Dullness
November = NaNoWriMo for me, so Project365 became something to simply keep up with, or use the cloudy, rainy weather as an excuse to get some still lifes of the curiosities around the house. However, I did get outside some. In Arkansas, after all, the post-chigger season starts in mid-November. This means one can hike … Continue reading #Project365: November
I had a Jumanji-reminiscent encounter the other day with a wasp. I was trimming some botanical overgrowth at the edge of the property when an over-sized, chattering mosquito darted out from below and approached in winding circles around my head. No, mosquitoes don't enunciate their buzzing quite so well, so perhaps it was a bee or … Continue reading Jumanji Experience and Insect Stings According to a Field Entomologist
May was a good month to flip open some identification books, open tabs on identification websites, and start labeling organisms. Some were easy to the species, some I was lucky to have evidence to assign by genus or even subfamily. Some I've seen throughout much of my life and everyone seems to know the common … Continue reading #Project365: May Wild Life
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