could you
hold this leash for a sec. thanks. click. (?!)
Bird News, Good and Bad
The
confirmation of Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas is pretty amazing. I remember the “probably extinct” designation from childhood field guides, and dutifully skeptical ornithologists have been discounting supposed sightings for decades. Most of those probably were phantoms, and now it turns out that much of the searching was in the wrong place, but it’s still hard to believe that such a large bird could go undetected for 60 years. Of course if you’ve ever tried to find a purportedly “conspicuous” bird, even in a relatively small area like Central Park, you’d know how inconspicuous they can be when they want. The reappearance of the Ivory-billed is an index of the success of conservation and consciousness-change over the past century, as the once vast bottomland forests of the south recover from the wholesale logging of old.
If the Ivory-billed is a tragedy in reverse, our local Red-tailed Hawk saga has taken a turn for the worse, though their prospects are probably still better than the woodpeckers’. It now seems clear that the 5th Ave.
nest has failed, as the female has been sitting on it for over 45 days with no sign of hatchlings. This is sad, but not totally unexpected. There were failures in 1993 and 94, both years when the nest was newly constructed. It’s probable that a second year’s accumulation of twigs is necessary to properly cushion the eggs in this location, and it’s likely that the birds will try again next year, with a better chance for success.
Partial list of
Arianna Huffington's "celebrity bloggers" (here's the
NYT background story if you don't know what this is about.)
fake or
foto
unrelated quote of the day --
"I wonder if identifying Tom Arnold as an "actor" wasn't another subtle insertion of LA Times deadpan humor. Arnold does something on screen in The Stupids, McHale's Navy, and Soul Plane, but I'm not sure it could be characterized by even the most charitable as "acting."" - james wolcott
Major League Baseball signs deal with Six Apart to produce
MLBlogs.
alex mentioned thats hes got like 200 or so unread comments on the tree. sounds like he got some pretty screwed up priorities. too much working and hanging out in the park. so if youd like to say something to alex that hell never read, comment here.
Last Monday kicked off a new weekly movie series at aKa featuring Jean Moreau in Bay of Angels (La Baie des Anges). This upcoming Monday will be number two:
Hello friends, join us for our second AKA MONDAY NIGHT MOVIE- APRIL 18, 8:30 - still with the $3 margaritas and $5 dollar tacos - and some large screen technicolor wackiness...
"A song I want to express in my films with a boisterous, even lunatic cry."
GIANTS AND TOYS 95 minutes 1958 dir. Yasuzo Masumura
When three rival candy companies go to war for market supremacy, World Caramels enlists a lower-class girl with appallingly bad teeth to be their new spokesmodel. In a world of industrial spies, hostile takeovers and boardroom hysterics, the animal instincts of this overnight star prove to be the most cutthroat of all.
This razor-sharp, fast-paced attack on post-war corporate society and TV culture plays like a Japanese combination of Dr. Strangelove and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? More valid today than the day it was made, New Wave master Yasuzo Masumura's DaieiScope explosion of color, sound, and acid wit ranks with the best satires of Billy Wildre and Frank Tashlin.
"saint phil"
Benjamen Walker talks with authors Jonathan Lethem and Josh Glenn about the Science Fiction genius Philip K Dick. He also gets the cover of the book UBIK tattooed on his arm.
LISTENfrom a
book thread
What's the east coast consensus on the
Nantucket Sound wind farm?
The private, commercial use of Federal property raises some interesting questions. Why no lease requirements as with off shore oil?