The Chamber of Mazarbul

Review of 2010 New Year's Predictions

2010-12-31T10:48:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's been about a year since I've posted regularly on this thing. Didn't last too long, did it?

Anyways, it's time for the annual review of my 2010 New Year's Predictions. I guess I'll be a little late with the 2011 ones, since I just remembered that I did these a few minutes ago. Oops.

1. I will finally buy my own car (the corollary to this prediction is that I'll finally have enough disposable income to actually afford a car).
Yes, I'm 1/1, 2001 Toyota Corolla!

2. This will be the year that I finally re-visit Denison's campus. I haven't been there since I graduated.
Yep, I finally found people to go to Big Red Weekend when I'm actually in the area! Went with Jimanda, Den, and we saw Relia there too (apologies for the gratuitous use of mutant couple names)!

3. I will once again go backpacking somewhere in the Appalachians (still my favorite mountains).
Actually, a pretty bad year for backpacking as I only went once (how the crap did that happen?). Still, it was at Dolly Sods, which is indeed in the Appalachians, so prediction confirmed!

4. I won't get sick all year. I was only sick once in 2009, and ironically it was on New Years day (got the flu, non-swine variety). I'll define "sick" as being sick enough to interfere with my day-to-day routine (assuming employment or school). So a mild cold where I'm coughing, etc. but otherwise feel fine doesn't count (though I don't even remember being mildly sick in 2009).
HA! Not only did I get sick (possibly flu) right after my job ended (which also happened to be right before Christmas), but I had Lyme Disease this summer. So that's a big, fat FAILURE for this one.

5. I've recently started a new D&D campaign, which is my 2nd long-term campaign. Despite the fact that the players will not always be in the same area (and indeed, I may not remain in the state for the whole year), the campaign will not die! Those of you who don't play D&D or other tabletop RPGs will likely not understand the significance of this (and those who do will likely predict that this prediction won't come true).
Yeah, it's safe to say that it's probably dead. There was brief talk of picking it back up now that I'm back in the area, but we'll probably be starting something new. It did last a decent amount of time (at least for our group).

6. I'll travel somewhere unexpected, and it will be somewhere that I've never been before.
Yeah, I definitely need to get out more next year. I'd never been to the Ironton area before, but that was re-locating for a job, not traveling. The only other places I went this year were Dolly Sods (which wasn't unexpected, because I've wanted to go there for a long time) and Chicago, where I've been on several occasions. Lame.

7. Someone I know will become pregnant.
Well, one of my brother's friends got pregnant this year, but I didn't know her before she was pregnant so that doesn't really count.

8. One of my friends will meet someone famous.
Reyan, did you meet Keith David this year or last year? He counts as famous, right?

9. Bex will have a year of bad luck for breaking a mirror on New Years Day.
Lol, I completely forgot about this one! Anything bad (or even mildly annoying, since he's a cat confined to an apartment) happen to Bex this year?

10. A well-known movie will either be remade this year, or a remake will be announced.
Uhhh, can we say Tron? Lol, this was pretty much a freebie though, with the rate they're re-making shit. I'd also like to take this opportunity to mention that a new Buffy movie was announced, but Joss Whedon is NOT involved, nor are any of the original cast, and WB is just trying to cash in on this recent vampire craze by exploiting the rights to the series without the genius behind it (Joss). I encourage you all to BOYCOTT IT!

Wow, 4/10 (unless Reyan can confirm a famous person and/or Bex's luck). I think that may be a personal worst.

Happy Earth Day!!!

2010-04-22T17:07:00.004-04:00

And a Happy Birthday to John Muir, because apparently (and probably intentionally) Earth Day is his birthday.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I didn't do "enough" for Earth Day this year. Of course it's hyped up in college (at least in my social circle), and last year I spent a month + planning an event for it, so the fact that there wasn't really anything special going on this year seems...wrong. Of course I do good things for the earth every day with this job. I spent today (like most days for the past month) killing Garlic Mustard. Or rather, working toward its eradication, because I didn't do much direct killing today. I continued my work flagging the border of a huge infestation throughout a drain that flows from one of our contract areas. Trust me, the work is a lot harder than it sounds. The terrain is rough (steep slope) and brushy (man, that place needs to burn!), and in order to delineate any meaningful border you really have to keep zig-zagging up and down the hill to make sure that you're at the true "edge" of the population. Of course there are likely stragglers beyond the border (though for the most part, I tried to encompass such patches, leaving the majority of the stuff far from the flagged boundary). But not many after the thorough searching that I've been doing! Though it is discouraging how little of the linear border I can get done in a work day.

Anyways, just thought that of all days, I should post something on Earth Day. Posts have certainly been few and far between lately, but I'll attribute that to starting a new job in a National Forest without internet access at home (and by home, I mean the trailer where I'm living for free. It's actually pretty nice, I swear!).

Has quality become non-existant?

2010-02-19T12:22:00.003-05:00

I suppose I'll begin with my beard trimming experience this morning. The adjustable guard that fits over the blade is cheap plastic, and has (well, had) a grip on each side to lock it into notches on the blade attachment. A while ago one side broke off, so the guard basically only locked on one side. I've been using it like that because, quite frankly, it's good enough and I already had to hold the guard with a finger to prevent it from switching length settings as I trimmed. Well, today the other side broke off and I decided to work with it anyways. Instead of merely holding onto the blade guard, I now have to apply enough pressure to keep it from sliding up or down the blade attachment (which would obviously change the length). Bad idea! I have a nearly shaven spot on the left side of my face now! Essentially, I need a new beard trimmer.

Basically, I started researching trimmers with the intention of spending more money on a quality trimmer. I don't want to deal with cheap, made in China plastic that breaks again (honestly, how much stress is really applied to a beard trimmer guard that would make breakage likely?). So I looked at some Wahl models (since this brand is professional grade as opposed to consumer grade), and I couldn't even find any with solid reviews!!! Obviously there were reviews that gave 5 stars on Amazon (and similar ratings on other sites) because that's going to happen with almost any product. I usually just go straight to the 1 star reviews to see what problems could potentially crop up. Essentially, the sense that I got was that Wahl is "going downhill." It seemed like a lot of the negative reviews were from older people who had used Wahls in the past (for YEARS), and when they look to replace them they get junk. Everything on the market is nothing but cheap, made in China plastic. What the hell?! I could see this being the case for the majority of trimmers that people spend $15-$25 on, but why can't I spend $50-$75 on a high quality trimmer that will actually LAST?!?!?

Is our globalized economy really driving quality goods into extinction? I don't want a shitty trimmer that only lasts for a couple of years; it's insulting as a consumer and as an environmentalist.

I've heard similar things about hiking boots too; namely how Vasques used to be made in Italy, but now they're made in China (I'm pretty sure the switch happened fairly recently, too). And it terms of quality, I haven't been terribly impressed with the last two pairs of boots that I've bought (both Vasques). They're more comfortable and more waterproof (at first) than the last pair of cheap Wal-Mart hiking boots that I bought, but they're not really more durable. In less than a year the Vasque Rangers had holes straight through the leather at the stress point where the boot bends because of my toes, and the stress wore through the GoreTex as well, meaning that they were waterproof for less than a year. So I have to wonder, why exactly should I pay $100-$200 for boots that aren't that much better than $30 Wal-Mart boots? And if Vasque is now following Wal-Marts business model of using cheap Chinese labor to make their boots, why should I, as a consumer, still pay the higher price for their products?

What's frustrating to me is that I simply don't want to buy cheap shit from China! I don't mind paying more for goods, but I want the quality to reflect the price! I really wish that the global oil supply would just dry the hell up already, so using cheap Chinese labor is no longer a viable business strategy. Because that's the only way I see the trend changing. The majority of consumers don't care if their stuff breaks in a year; it's cheap enough to just buy a new one (never mind that the "old ones" all end up in a landfill somewhere, which is especially problematic for electronic devices *coughcellphonescough*).

$20 per Gallon Wrap-up

2010-01-30T20:10:00.003-05:00

I've recently finished reading $20 per Gallon by Christopher Steiner. My original 2 posts on the book can be found here and here. While the book remained relevant, my interest did wane starting from Chapter $12 onward. I think this may have been because the predictions were further into the future, and thus by nature more general. Essentially, it was mostly stuff that anyone with any environmental education would consider common sense, without any real surprises or very many interesting facts along the way. Still, for the sake of completeness, I'll summarize the remaining chapters.

Chapter $12

This chapter started with an overview of New York City's subway system, and how efficient it is as a form of public transportation. The start-up cost would be huge for every major American city to follow in NYC's footsteps, and part of the reason for NYC's density is because the city naturally evolved to be efficient at density, before the invention of the automobile. Newer American cities, by contrast, have virtually no design at all, and are essentially just haphazard sprawl (some examples given are Atlanta, Phoenix, and Houston).

Going along with the theme of city design, the author summarizes the planning of Songdo, a city in South Korea being built entirely from scratch. Seoul is hemmed in by the sea, mountain, and North Korea on all sides, so South Koreans are used to being efficient with their space as the city has expanded with no additional land to do so. Songdo (40 south of Seoul, on a man-made island in the Yellow Sea) will essentially be a super-green, super dense city designed from scratch. Lots of high rises, solar panel, greywater systems, passive heating (through floors, for even heating), etc. Very interesting stuff.

Other than that, the rest of the chapter goes on for quite some time to simply describe the phenomenon that our cities will re-emerge as cultural centers as people start moving back into them to be closer to their jobs, and the suburbs will die. And good riddance. A lot of eastern and mid-west cities (Cleveland being one of them) currently have the infrastructure to re-invigorate the downtown/inner city, potentially giving them a jump-start over newer, poorly-designed cities (or rather, cities that lack design because their sprawl was simply a result of cheap oil).

Chapter $14

This chapter was similar to the previous one, though it instead focused on small towns. It opened by describing a "ghost box," which is a term used to describe abandoned Wal-Marts (usually because a larger property was secured nearby, so the franchise simply left the old structure to build a new one). The take-home message is that "ghost boxes" will start becoming more numerous, but for a very different reason. As gas reaches prices of almost $14 per gallon, Wal-Mart's business model of utilizing cheap Chinese labor and cheap oil for long-distance transportation will no longer be relevant. Simply put, the additional cost of transportation will eventually make the whole system unprofitable, despite the cheaper labor. Hah! No more cheap junk floating around!

With large chains no longer being as profitable, smaller, local business will prosper again. The population of small towns will migrate back to the area surrounding the old Main Streets, and away from the new subdivisions on the fringes that were close to the Wal-Marts built on those outskirts. Goods will cost more, but people will also value them more. If your vacuum cleaner breaks you'll no longer just go to Wal-Mart for a new one, you'll go to the repair shop in town and get it fixed. In general people will be (forced into being) less consumerist, and goods will be of higher quality (not to mention less dangerous, as they'll be crafted in the U.S. where the environmental and safety regulations are stricter). Jobs will be lost as Wal-Marts suffer, but as manufacturing returns here new jobs will open up.

The chapter also mentions a reduction in the amount of asphalt being used. Metal roofs will replace asphalt shingles (they'll cost more initially, but they're more efficient at temperature regulation and they'll last a lot longer, not to mention a reduction in waste). Concrete will become a more attractive material for roads (it's more resistant to the frost wedging that tears up asphalt roads every winter, so it lasts longer). Finally, we'll be forced to drastically reduce the amount of garbage we throw away, because when gas reaches these prices it will simply cost too much to have as many garbage trucks driving around as we currently have. Garbage trucks average about 2.8 mpg, in case you were curious.

Chapter $16

This chapter was pretty much a no-brainer. Food will become more local because transportation costs will be so much higher. What used to be suburbs surrounding our major cities will become farmland that is much less homogenous than the millions of square miles of monoculture (corn, wheat, etc) that are the mainstays of our current agricultural system. While this isn't mentioned in the book, an increase in smaller farms will provide a lot of new jobs, as more Americans become "farmers" (or at least farm workers). The rise in local (and likely organic) foods will mean that our produce will taste better too, as it will be grown for freshness and taste instead of a long shelf-life. In northern climes, hothouses will be used to grow produce in the winter (through a combination of passive solar heating and compost underneath it, they'll stay warm enough for crops to grow even during cold nights).

The chapter mentions invasive asian carp that are harvested in the Illinois river and shipped to China, where they're a delicacy (American's don't eat them). Sushi (particularly, bluefin tuna) will also suffer, since it has to be eaten very fresh but it's often caught halfway around the world from where it's served (thanks to cheap oil).

Fertilizer is also discussed; specifically, some guy in Iowa who is in the process of setting up an outfit where nitrogen is fixed using the electricity from wind turbines to harvest Hydrogen from water (instead of natural gas), producing carbon and pollution neutral ammonia. The byproduct: medical grade oxygen. Neato! Though admittedly I'd prefer to see agriculture move toward re-invigorating the soil where crops are grown, it's probably unrealistic to expect large-scale agriculture to continue to function (and feed a growing population) without our fertilizer applications. And at least this is a clean way to produce fertilizer.

Chapter $18

Light rails for the win! This chapter tells the tale of how we were progressing very well with our railroad system until the automobile became widespread. With driving becoming increasingly expensive, and the skies being largely emptied of airplanes, light rail will make a comeback (I just wish they'd get a head start on it already). This means more federal money needs to be spent to re-build our rail infrastructure, at the expense of our road systems. Not likely to happen until people actually start driving less en-masse.

The military will also have to make a lot of changes at this point, because a lot of their machinery (the B-52 Bomber and the Abrams tank being especially big offenders) is horribly inefficient. The tank's fuel efficiency is actually measured in gallons per mile (it takes three gallons of fuel to go one mile), largely because it hasn't seen efficiency upgrades since the 1960's.

Chapter $20

At this point, the chaos resulting from rising oil prices will begin to settle down. We'll generate a lot of our electricity by harnessing waste heat from a lot of our factories, etc. (it's currently not recovered because it's cheaper to just let it go to waste). Several different types of alternative energy types are discussed, and it's clear that Steiner doesn't think much of renewables. Hydropower is reliable, but there's not much room for expansion and most environmentalists don't like it because of the habitat degradation that it causes (I'm with him on this one). Solar is useless at night supposedly (though later on he mentions that energy can be stored in batteries during the daytime and used at night). He really should have given solar more thought. He also talks about wind, geothermal, natural gas, and coal. And finally, the energy source that he's put the most stock in, nuclear.

I'll give him this much, his prediction is likely to be fairly accurate. In terms of the sheer amount of energy that can be produced, nuclear is the clear front-runner. Of course he seems to dismiss the safety issues involved with nuclear (stating that 3-mile Island was our only major meltdown, and Russia aside nuclear plants are currently running pretty safely). My problem with nuclear is that while accidents may not be common, a single accident has absolutely devastating effects. Plus the fact that as global oil supplies diminish, eventually every country is going to have to develop nuclear power plants, and this means that they'll also have access to nuclear weapons. And while we're on the subject of national security, if we think that 9/11 was bad, imagine what would happen if terrorists attacked one of our nuclear plants! Plus, you know, the whole nuclear waste issue. Again, less pollution overall, but if containment for nuclear waste fails then you've created a disaster at a site that will not be mitigated any time soon.

I guess we'll just have to see where the technology takes us. If the risks associated with nuclear can be diminished to acceptable levels then it will become a very attractive source of power. I'm just very wary because one mistake has huge consequences, and one dumbass Monday detail missed by a Homer Simpson somewhere could have catastrophic effects.

$8 per Gallon and $10 per Gallon

2010-01-27T11:52:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I posted about the beginning of Christopher Steiner's $20 per Gallon (here is the original post). I've since finished 2 more chapters, which I'll summarize below.

Chapter $8 is titled "The Skies Will Empty," and it mostly focuses on how this price threshold will be the breaking point for many airlines. Apparently, a lot of the airlines in the U.S. haven't been doing all that great for years now, but have managed to limp along anyways. Eventually, only 2 or 3 major airlines will remain in the U.S., and the author realistically notes that this will be a massive blow to the economy, resulting in the loss of many jobs. A silver lining, however, is that certain business (the chapter opens with an introduction to the owner of an airplane scrapyard) will thrive in that environment. Another healthy dose of realism: distant parts of the country simply won't be as accessible as they once were, with plane tickets hovering around $1,000. The author predicts the people will stay closer to home, being less likely to seriously consider jobs and colleges across the country. Personally, I predict that even this consequence won't be so bad, assuming our country starts to develop the infrastructure for a light rail system. I recently watched Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea, and if people managed to travel from the east coast to Yellowstone by train around the turn of the 20th century, then we can do that again (but with faster, more efficient trains). Sure, with fewer cars on the road the number of frivolous trips will be reduced, but certainly the empty skies won't prevent families from vacationing in other parts of the country. The author does predict, however, that mega-resorts and Las Vegas will be hit hard, but as far as I'm concerned good riddance! Especially in the case of tropical beach resorts which, quite frankly, are too numerous and too gaudy.

In Chapter $10 the author moves away from airplanes, returning to the subject of cars (the chapter is titled "The Car Diminished but Reborn"). He spends most of this chapter discussing alternative fuel sources, though interestingly enough biofuels are not mentioned at all. Hmm. Quite disappointing. Not that I support using corn-derived ethanol as a fuel, which would simply eat up more land for agriculture as we try to fuel our cars and feed ourselves and our livestock. No, crop-based biofuels are a dead end, but ALGAE PONDS are NOT!! Algae can be grown in vertical cells (saving a ton of space) in land that is marginal for agricultural production, such as in deserts or even in the ocean. And algae produces biofuel a lot more efficiently than corn! Anyways, this isn't the place to discuss algae ponds so I'll end that tangent by saying "just wait," because it will be a big deal in the coming years and I'm very surprised that Steiner didn't cover it.

Compressed air powered vehicles are discussed (they'll likely show up, but only as a short range, niche vehicle), and Hydrogen Fuel Cells are dismissed (and rightly so), as being too unrealistic due to the energy required to extract hydrogen (from petroleum no less, as Steiner points out). So what does that leave for Steiner's predicted mainstream vehicle? Electric cars. I must say, in the example presented he's got the infrastructure down (actually, it's an idea formulated by Shai Agassi, the founder of Better Place); at fueling stations near-drained batteries would simply be replaced with fully charged batteries in less than 5 minutes (because actually charging a battery would take hours), and batteries would be constantly charged at the refueling station. Onboard computers would control charging at the home, namely communicating with a central system and partitioning recharge times for people on the same block, for example, so that their transformers don't explode. These ideas are interesting starts, but ultimately I don't see this being a viable solution once everyone has an electric car. Furthermore, Steiner notes that there will be a transition period which will be very tough on the lower income members of the populace. Gas cars will be prohibitively expensive to fuel, but the initial price of electric cars will be out of the price range for many people (especially those who normally buy used cars). I must admit, this could potentially be a huge crisis, and the best solution that I can think of would be for public transportation to step up. This will also signal the beginning of the end for suburbia as well, since it will make much more economic sense for people to live in cities, closer to where they work. Hopefully, this will result in a decrease in the rate of urban (suburban) expansion and development.

Other points that were made toward the end of this chapter were that recreational vehicles (snowmobiles, dirt bikes, jet skis, and motor boats) will decline significantly. Yep, I definitely see this as a good thing! Sailboats, kayaks, canoes, and rowboats will become more popular, and hikers crosscountry skiers, and snowshoers will enjoy more tranquility without the constant buzz of ATV and snowmobile motors. Finally, the production of bioplastics will expand. This actually really blew my mind: essentially, plastic can be made from bacteria. The process wasn't explained in detail, but it sounded like by tweaking gene expression and diet, the plastics could be given different properties (shelf life, malleability, durability, etc.), much like petroleum based plastics are today. Best of all, bioplastics are completely biodegradeable! Currently, bioplastics are only used for environmentally sensitive applications where biodegradeability is a major consideration, but once the price of oil brings petroleum based plastics up to the same production price as bioplastics, the industry will boom. Honestly, the ubiquity of plastics has always been a major concern of mine, as there are certain technologies and products that simply wouldn't exist without them (the computer that I'm typing on, despite being a Macbook with an aluminum casing, still contains a fair amount of plastics in the innards that make it tick). Learning about the existence of bioplastics has alleviated my concern that with the decline in oil will come a decline in the availability of technology.

So that's where I'm at right now. I'll likely continue to summarize chapters as I read through this book, because I feel that the subject matter is of general interest to most people. While I'm already finding parts of Steiner's "visions of the future" to be flawed, overall the book offers mostly plausible, common-sense-based consequences of the decline in petroleum after the zenith of peak oil (which he asserts has already occurred in 2006, keep in mind). It's biggest value is the fact that the vast majority of Americans likely don't think about such things, so hopefully this will get their mental gears turning (and preparing).

Peak Oil and its Inevitable Effects

2010-01-26T16:59:00.002-05:00

I just started reading $20 Per Gallon by Christopher Steiner. The book essentially describes what changes must occur as the price of oil rises (due to increasing scarcity and demand), with chapters being $2 intervals (i.e. $4 Prologue serves as an introduction, since that's currently the highest that gas has been per gallon (in certain parts of the country, in 2008), and the first chapter is titled "Chapter $6").

So far I've gotten through Chapter $6; my impressions thus far is that Steiner can be too repetitive at times, but the ideas are sound (indeed, the whole premise of the book is common sense, though most Americans are extremely reluctant to admit it). Still, the book takes an optimistic approach, arguing that once gas prices hit the $20 per gallon mark, our society will be the better for it.

One of the most shocking statements that I read so far was that evidence indicates that we've already hit peak oil, in 2006. Specifically, in the summer of 2006 oil production hit a record output of 81-82 million barrels per day, and has been on the decline since. I've heard projections that peak oil would hit between 2010 and 2020, so this came as a bit of a surprise! Part of it has to do with the fact that the price of oil went down in 2009, which the book nonchalantly attributes to the recession (makes sense).

But more than just peak oil threatens the fossil fuel age; apparently, the infrastructure (refineries, pipelines, etc.) are nearly at the breaking point, and will have to be overhauled soon if oil production is to continue as it has been. The amount of accidents occurring due to faulty/aging infrastructure is on the rise, including a major leak in BP's pipeline from Prudhoe Bay which resulted in 270,000 gallons of oil being spilled "in pristine Alaskan bush." The problem here should be obvious; overhauling the infrastructure to continue oil production which is guaranteed to steadily decline is foolish from an economic perspective. Not that drilling will stop; rather, I predict that aging infrastructure will be stretched to its limits, resulting in a decrease in safety (both for workers and the environment).

Now to move onto the first benchmark, $6 per gallon. The subtitle of this chapter is "Society Change and the Dead SUV." It details the rise of the SUV due to incredibly cheap oil prices, and notes that SUVs had fallen into disfavor during 2008 when gas prices were hovering just below $4 per gallon. Obviously when prices exceed that, smaller cars will become increasingly more popular. Most interesting was the following passage: "according to some of American automakers' own research, the type of people who tend to buy SUVs are insecure and vain. They're people who are frequently nervous about their marriage and uncomfortable about having become parents. They have little confidence in their skills as drivers.* And more than anything else, they're they're self-absorbed and narcissistic, with little interest in their communities and neighbors."

*Ironically, SUVs are incredibly unsafe, so this association tends to result in more collision-related deaths. Obviously these huge vehicles protect the drivers and passengers from injury during collisions, but their size and height makes them less maneuverable and prone to flipping over (in other words, it's more difficult for drivers of SUVs to avoid collisions). And obviously in a collision with a smaller vehicle, an SUV is more likely to cause fatalities (namely to those in the smaller vehicle). Statistics of deaths associated with certain models of cars, SUVs, and trucks back this assertion up. In summary, poor drivers tend to prefer vehicles that are more difficult to handle, exacerbating the problem.

The chapter goes on to discuss some of the benefits of gas prices reaching $6 per gallon, most of them tied to there being fewer cars on the road. Obesity may decrease as people walk and bike more (even if it's just walking to catch some form of public transportation). With fewer cars on the road, pollution and pollution-related illnesses/deaths will decrease. Police foot/bike/horse patrols will increase, resulting in the general populace feeling safer, and police officers feeling more connected and involved in their communities (research shows that the average person doesn't notice an increase in the amount of patrol cars, but when more officers are walking or biking, the public notices their presence).

Some other changes are a decrease in the distance travelled for middle and high school sporting events, as well as division II and III college teams. Schools will also be less able to provide bus transportation (school buses average about 6 miles per gallon), and maximum walking distances are already increasing in many school districts (these are distances where bus transport isn't available for students because it's close enough to walk). Hopefully with more police foot patrols, parents will feel more at ease letting their children walk longer distances to school. And finally, one other change will be in our transportation infrastructure. Right now, the US has a set gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, regardless of the price of gas. As gas prices rise and people drive less, this means that the government gets less money to improve roads and bridges. A percentage tax would be an intuitive next step, but few politicians would support that because it would be extremely unpopular, albeit necessary (imagine trying to convince people that as gas prices rise, they'll have to pay even more with increased taxes!). Steiner predicts an increase in tolls for heavily used roads, as London and Stockholm have already implemented such systems which, though they faced opposition at first, are generally viewed as a positive change by residents of those cities. Going along with this, more roadways will likely be privatized.

Interesting start to the book. I like the structure, how the author attempts to predict what changes will occur at which dollar "thresholds" ($6, $8, $10, $12, $14, $16, $18, and $20). It will be interesting to compare what really happens (when gas prices inevitably reach these thresholds), as the author's reasoning is sound thus far.

Jaynestown

2010-01-21T01:00:00.002-05:00

The Ballad of Jayne

Jayne, the man they call Jayne

He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne

Our Jayne saw the mudders' backs breakin'
He saw the mudders' lament
And he saw the magistrate takin'
Every dollar and leavin' five cents
So he said "you can't do that to my people"
He said "you can't crush them under your heel"
So Jayne strapped on his hat
And in 5 seconds flat
Stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal

He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne

Now here is what separates heroes
From common folk like you and I
The man they call Jayne
He turned 'round his plane
And let that money hit sky
He dropped it onto our houses
He dropped it into our yards
The man they called Jayne
He stole away our pain
And headed out for the stars

He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne.

Mountaintop Removal Mining causes irreversible damage

2010-01-10T12:00:00.004-05:00

Well, duh I should think that would be obvious. According to an article in Science Daily, a recent study in the journal Science confirms this little nugget of common sense. I'm not sure if this is the first time that MRM has been covered in Science, but hopefully it helps make the case that this destructive practice needs to end asap.

Interestingly, in the book that I recently read about the American Chestnut, it was suggested that GMO and/or backcross chestnuts (chestnuts hybridized with Chinese or Japanese chestnuts to confer resistance to the blight, and then crossed with pure American trees for several generations to dilute Asian genes-with the exception of the blight resistance genes, which provide a significant selective advantage) would make excellent candidates for reforesting old minefields. It's hitting two birds with one stone; the minefields get re-forested and the American Chestnut becomes re-established in Appalachia. There is concern, of course, that this could give coal mining corporations the false notion that the damage can be fixed. Yes, it's important to re-forest these sites and the chestnut would be a great candidate for that, but it doesn't change the fact that there's no longer a mountain there, and it certainly doesn't remove the fill or toxic chemicals from the surrounding valleys and streams.

Botanical Prophecy

2010-01-03T19:10:00.003-05:00

I'm currently reading American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree by Susan Freinkel. The following quote really struck me:

The only consolation may be a common belief that began circulating when the chestnuts started to die--something Coy Lee Yeatts repeated when I visited his store. "You know," he told me, "the old-timers used to say that after a hundred years the chestnuts will come back."

The Blight was first discovered in 1904 by the chief forester, Hermann Merkel, at the New York Zoological Park (now the Bronx Zoo). By the middle of the 20th century the fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, had reached the southern extent of the chestnut's range in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. So sometime within the next 50 years or so? And what does "come back" mean, exactly? There are a few hundred mature, decrepit trees that still cling to life, and of course there are the haunting sprouts that succumb to the deadly pathogen before they're mature. I'd like to think that it prophesizes the first step in re-establishing the chestnut into its previous niche as one of, if not the most, dominant tree in the Appalachians. I look forward to continuing this book (I'm about halfway through) and discovering what strategies are being used to "resurrect" the chestnut. What will ultimately prove to be the solution? Blight-resistant hybrids? GMO chestnuts? Biological control? Some combination, or something completely different? Or is the whole endeavor just a fool's hope?

It's odd how I've developed this emotional attachment to a tree that's been functionally extinct since before I was born. It started the first time that I saw sprouts while working in the Great Smokies. There are a couple of reasons that I can think of. One is the sheer magnitude of the tragedy (the American Chestnut was extremely important, ecologically, as I've posted about previously). It's the epitome of the destructiveness that our species is capable of, especially considering that it was completely unintentional (those importing Chinese and Japanese trees had no idea that they were bringing the blight with them as well). Indeed, the chestnut was a very important tree economically (both the nuts and wood were valuable). Many rural Appalachian residents depended on this tree for their very way of life, as the mountain slopes were unsuitable for farming (including raising feed crops). Thus, hogs were fattened with forest forage, the nuts themselves were collected and sold, and the wood was extremely versatile. But most of all, the tenacity of the surviving chestnuts (to anthropomorphise) as well as the scientific efforts being put into the species fate present an opportunity to right a great ecological wrong.

Another reason is simply seeing the sprouts that the roots send up; a futile effort. The species is extinct, and yet tangible. Seeing one makes you yearn to view a series of ridges, covered in blooming chestnuts, or to wander through a forest in late summer, collecting the nuts (and eating them along the way). And yet, that vision is utterly impossible (but the tree's right in front of me, damn it!). Even if the blight is defeated, the chestnut is unlikely to be dominant to the extant that it once was in my lifetime. I was born a century too late, and hopefully a century too early as well.

New Year's Predictions 2010

2010-01-02T11:50:00.002-05:00

Check out this post for a review of my 2009 predictions. And for everyone who doesn't know, in college Reyan and I decided to make 10 predictions for the coming year as an alternative to doing resolutions. David joined in shortly afterward, and rumor has it that Mike will be making predictions starting this year. Soon it will be a global phenomenon (ok, maybe not, and note that that is NOT one of my predictions!).

I will finally buy my own car (the corollary to this prediction is that I'll finally have enough disposable income to actually afford a car).
This will be the year that I finally re-visit Denison's campus. I haven't been there since I graduated.
I will once again go backpacking somewhere in the Appalachians (still my favorite mountains).
I won't get sick all year. I was only sick once in 2009, and ironically it was on New Years day (got the flu, non-swine variety). I'll define "sick" as being sick enough to interfere with my day-to-day routine (assuming employment or school). So a mild cold where I'm coughing, etc. but otherwise feel fine doesn't count (though I don't even remember being mildly sick in 2009).
I've recently started a new D&D campaign, which is my 2nd long-term campaign. Despite the fact that the players will not always be in the same area (and indeed, I may not remain in the state for the whole year), the campaign will not die! Those of you who don't play D&D or other tabletop RPGs will likely not understand the significance of this (and those who do will likely predict that this prediction won't come true).
I'll travel somewhere unexpected, and it will be somewhere that I've never been before.
Someone I know will become pregnant.
One of my friends will meet someone famous.
Bex will have a year of bad luck for breaking a mirror on New Years Day.
A well-known movie will either be remade this year, or a remake will be announced.

Happy New Year!

(Belated) Trip Report part 2 - North Cascades, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Badlands

2009-12-30T15:02:00.002-05:00

North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park photos.

9/4/2009

Just woke up after 2nd night in North Cascades National Park. Camped at Hidden Meadows - one of the most spectacular places I've ever been.
Last night I climbed to a saddle in one of the surrounding ridges to see the view of the other side. Saw pikas, 2 different species of ground squirrel, and a (then) unidentified bird (which, when I had access to a field guide I later identified as a Clark's Nutcracker), as well as some kind of falcon (somewhat large, nearly the size of an accipiter, with rusty coloring).
Pack is HEAVY for this trip. Need to strip down base weight and food weight (a food dehydrator would be helpful).
1st night was at Fireweed Camp - T-storm.

9/4/2009, 2nd entry

Left Hidden Meadows today. The hike to Dee Dee Lakes was GORGEOUS! Walked slowly, elation so great I didn't even feel my pack.
Went swimming in upper lake. In attempt to cross lake I seriously almost died. Cold froze my muscles up, and I couldn't fully expand lungs.
Now it's raining again. Bed early.

Badlands (also Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in retrospective)

Photos from Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Badlands.

9/14/2009 (?)

Left N. Cascades early - more rain and colder according to hiker with updated forecast.
Drove to rest stop in eastern WA, watched stupid middle aged couple try to get dog into truck (45 min?)
Spent next night in Moscow, Idaho, then stayed in Bozeman, Montana the night after that. Drank lots of Moose Drool.
Yellowstone 1 night in campground outside park, 3 nights in Lamar Valley. Heard wolf howls and saw tracks and scat, but didn't see any.
I did a solo day hike up the Lamar River in my keens on the second day. Beautiful river.
1 night in national forest outside of Grand Tetons. Day hike up to Amphitheater Lake (~9600 ft.); highest elevation I've been so far.
Drove for hours, stayed half night at rest stop. Arrived in Badlands this morning. Saw Bighorn sheep. Waiting out mid-day heat right now.

So there you have it. Not the most detailed notes, but one doesn't usually feel like writing a long narrative while backpacking. Anyways, I think that the pictures are more telling, though even those don't come close to replicating the experience. Still, it's a nice reminder for myself, and hopefully it whets the appetite of readers who may be interested in hiking/backpacking.

(Belated) Trip Report - Mt. St. Helens and Olympic NP

2009-12-30T12:08:00.003-05:00

Wow, I meant to do this a while ago, but I was just organizing some magazines and found the notebook that I was going to use as a journal for my road trip back home from WA. It has exactly one entry, at which point I switched to my little 4x2 Rite in the Rain notebook (meaning that entries are fairly short, but it was much more portable for backpacking). For those that don't know, my friend Julie and her boyfriend Justin met me in Everett, where I'd been living (they had spent the past month in San Francisco), and we began our journey back east (backpacking a lot along the way). So here is a trip summary copied (with some editing) from my journal entries!

Mount St. Helens

Mt. St. Helens photos

8/25/2009

The evening before our climb, a large man with a sweat-stained shirt and an extremely large external frame backpack emerged from the trailhead, loudly stating "That was bullshit, I'm never doing that again!" We all started laughing. I slept outside that night, despite having set the tent up, and I woke up in the middle of the night to a good view of the night sky (clear, lots of stars).

Left for the climb at 7 a.m. and finished at 1! Six hours is actually really good time for a hike to the crater and back, especially considering that my knees were really starting to crap out. Worse than they ever have before, actually. It was a combination of joint, tendon, and muscle pain which main moving my leg to take a step awkward and painful no matter how I altered my stride. I'm hoping that they strengthen up as I continue hiking more. Note: A couple of days before, on my last day of work, I had slipped while walking in Canyon Creek and landed hard on (just) my right knee on a large boulder. This injury wouldn't have normally been all that bad, but it was very inconvenient considering that I was going to be hiking with a heavy pack for the next month or so. In the case of Mt. St. Helens and later in Olympic NP, I favored my left leg while hiking to help the right knee heal, with the result that my left leg soon became strained. So for about a week I had 2 bad legs, especially for the downhill hiking.

The first 2/3 of the summit hike was great. Started out in fir forest with Vaccinium understory, then after timberline there were various rocky specialist herbacious plants that I was not familiar with (though I did notice Fireweed and elderberry, as well as one willow fairly high up). Then the hike become rockier (with large boulders being the dominant feature), and it was officially a scramble. After the large boulders the substrate was mostly ashy, and it got cold and VERY windy. By this point, we'd pretty much gone into a cloud. The crater was anti-climactic, as visibility was only about 30 feet so we couldn't see down into it. Oh well. Currently at a free campsite along the Hoh River Road in Olympic National Park.

Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park photos

8/27/2009

Woke up to the sound of Roosevelt Elk crossing the Hoh River. Camped at bank (5 mile island). Occurred about 45 min to an hour before sunrise.
Went to get water shortly after, encountered the herd near the trail. They ran toward the open gravel bar before I saw them, and we watched each other from about 75 ft away. I cautiously passed. Several bulls. About 25-30 individuals.
Back at camp I watched crossbills for about 20 minutes. I'd never seen them before.

8/29/2009

Hike on 27th was brutal. 10ish miles to Elk Lake, the last half steep upill. Put moleskin on defective toe without noticing that blister had already formed. Hurt like bitch!
Elk Lake productive (aka mosquito infested). Constructed "armor" out of clothing and referred to myself as a Bedoin woman (all but eyes covered).
Yesterday hiked 2 miles (with ~1500 ft elevation gain) to Glacier Meadows. Resident doe and 2 point buck were very acclimated to humans. Saw small owl (Western Screech?) at dusk.
Day hiked to terminal moraine of Blue Glacier. Beautiful views! Then hiked to lateral moraine, down the inner scree slope (there was a "trail"), and then stood on the glacier! Drank refreshing glacier water. Julie did this all in flip flops.
Today hiked downhill to Olympus Ranger station. Park-like campsite with alders along Hoh river. Lots of bees and hornets.

8/30/2009

Hiked 9 miles out from Olympus Ranger Station to VC (visitor center). Very fast pace (est. 3 mph average)
Drove through Forks, not realizing that it was the center of Twilight madness. Showered at small motel that "smelled and looked like old lady." Then ate pizza and drank beer at small diner-like restaurant.
Drove to Lake Ozette, found $12/night campsite. About to go to bed before sunset.

To be continued in later post, probably later today.

Limb regeneration in Axolotls

2009-12-28T14:23:00.003-05:00

From the 12/21 issue of HerpDigest:

7) How Do Salamanders Grow a New Leg? Protein Mechanisms Behind Limb Regeneration
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — The most comprehensive study to date of the proteins in a species of salamander that can regrow appendages may provide important clues to how similar regeneration could be induced in humans.

Researchers at the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and colleagues investigated over three hundred proteins in the amputated limbs of axolotls, a type of salamander that has the unique natural ability to regenerate appendages from any level of amputation, with the hope that this knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms that allow limbs to regenerate.

"In some ways this study of the axoltol's proteins was a fishing expedition. Fishing expedition can be a derogatory term in biology but for us it was positive, since we caught some important "fish" that enable us to formulate hypotheses as to how limb regeneration occurs," said David L. Stocum, Ph.D., professor of biology and director of the Indiana University Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, both in the School of Science at IUPUI, who led the study.

"Comparison of these proteins to those expressed in the amputated frog limb, which regenerates poorly, will hopefully allow us to determine how we might enhance limb regeneration in the frog and ultimately in humans, Dr. Stocum said.

With few exceptions -- notably the antlers of moose, deer and their close relatives, the tips of the fingers and toes of humans and rodents, and the ear tissue of certain strains of mice and rabbits -- the appendages of mammals do not regenerate after amputation.

Limb regeneration in the axolotl occurs when undifferentiated cells accumulate under the wound epidermis at the amputation site, a process known as the establishment of a blastema. These cells are derived by the reprogramming of differentiated cells to a less specialized state, and from resident stem cells.

"We found proteins that point to several areas that need to be studied closely to give us vital information about the mechanisms that operate to form a blastema that then goes on to regenerate the missing parts of the limb," said Dr. Stocum, an internationally respected cell and developmental biologist who has studied limb regeneration for over three decades.

Investigating the proteins found in the axolotl limb, the researchers noted three findings that appear to have significance in reprogramming cells to grow new limbs:

1.Quantities of enzymes involved in metabolism decreased significantly during the regeneration process.
2.There were many proteins that helped cells avoid cell death. Because amputation is very traumatic, this is critical.
3.A protein which appears to keep cells from dividing until they are fully dedifferentiated and reprogrammed to begin forming a new limb was expressed at high levels throughout blastema formation.

Findings were published online in the journal Biomedical Central Biology on November 30 (BMC Biology 7:83, 2009). Co-authors of the study, which was funded by the W. M. Keck Foundation, are Nandini Rao, Ph.D. and graduate student Behnaz Saranjami of the School of Science; graduate student Deepali Jhamb and Mathew Palakal, Ph.D. of the IU School of Informatics; Fengyu Song, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D. of the IU School of Dentistry; Mu Wang, Ph.D. and Michael W. King, Ph.D. of the IU School of Medicine; Bingbing Li, Ph.D. of Central Michigan University; S. Randal Voss, Ph.D. of the University of Kentucky; and Derek J. Milner, Holly L. D. Nye and Jo Ann Cameron, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois. All except the final four are also affiliated with the IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine.

The School of Science, IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, IU School of Dentistry, IU School of Informatics, and IU School of Medicine are all located on the IUPUI campus.

Interesting article overall, though I wish they'd gone into more specific detail.

EDIT: I also ran into this article on ScienceDaily, which elaborates on the subject of Axolotl limb regeneration. Cool stuff! Especially the bits about salamanders being able to regenerate a sliced spinal cord and pieces of brain tissue that had been removed. I wasn't aware of that.

References:

HerpDigest (email Listserve), Vol. 9, Issue 56, 12/21/09, as appeared on Science Daily, How Do Salamanders Grow a New Leg? Protein Mechanisms Behind Limb Regeneration.

University of Florida (2009, July 2). Salamanders, Regenerative Wonders, Heal Like Mammals, People. ScienceDaily.

2009 New Years Predictions: Commentary

2009-12-25T00:36:00.005-05:00

It's almost that time of year again! In case you aren't aware, Reyan, David and I started this tradition in college (I don't remember which year, Junior year maybe?) of coming up with 10 predictions for the upcoming year instead of doing New Years resolutions. In anticipation of the 2010 predictions, I'd like to review/comment on the predictions that I made for 2009.

1.Winter and spring in WA will be dull, but the summer will make it worthwhile.
Hmm, I'm not entirely sure what I meant by this. Weather-wise, this was definitely true. I guess in general it was true, too. In June I went backpacking in the N. Cascades, and I started my road trip back home in late August (much of which was backpacking in WA). And the summer field season at the Task Force was definitely good; Tychman Slough assessment, Knotweed surveys, and monitoring/maintenance (which included me getting supervisory experience, and with a Dept. of Corrections field crew, no less!). Overall I'd say I nailed this one.

2.President Obama will assume a major role in addressing climate change, but will fall short with energy policies.
Hmm, I honestly haven't been paying very much attention to what Obama's been up to. I know he got a dog, lol. Not sure if he's still plugging "clean coal," but if so that's definitely some major points docked right there. As for climate change, from what I understand there's been a lot of talk but not much meaningful regulation. Seems like climategate didn't really make a dent in the perceptions of most educated people, as the subject just sort of died down. I've only read a couple of blogs on Copenhagen, but from what I gather it was pretty much a failure. Seems like Tuvalu is making more strides than the U.S.A. So, prediction tentatively failed?

3.Reyan will get another job writing about sports :)
As far as I know this didn't happen, but he did get to interview Seth Green, which is far more impressive.

4.I will get a sub-par job, but I will actually be making money (which I will then save up for travel/grad school)
Yeah...tried and failed. To be fair I only had from late September to really begin this, and then that whole recession thing was kind of unforseen. I need to get on that in January though. Need some income!

5.While in WA, I will consistently follow a self-education program which I began this very day by checking out a geology textbook from the library. Genetics is next.
I didn't do too bad with this. I actually got through the majority of the Geology book, but only a few chapters of Genetics. I just had no focus, especially considering the subject matter. Genetics is broadly interesting to me, but I was mostly brushing up on basics, which I needed to do but it was still dull. I did read a decent amount after that; just not necessarily textbooks (though I'd call some natural history books of the area"self education."). So...prediction successful, if not to the degree that I'd hoped for.

6.Erin and I will coordinate a really awesome camping trip for this summer.
Oh yes, North Cascades in June! Her roommate, Kelly, came along too. It was a great area and the weather was wonderful, and my only complaint is that the mosquitoes were AWFUL!!! Click on my shutterfly page and scroll down to North Cascades June 09 for pics!

7.At least one more of my friends will get engaged.
I'm fairly sure that Jimmy and Amanda were engaged in '09 (my conception of time has been somewhat impaired since graduating from Denison). So I'm counting it. In any case, both David and Jimmy asked me to be a groomsman in their weddings, so it was definitely a marriage-centric year.

8.I will once again remain single this year.
Is this really a surprise? Well, at least I'm fairly comfortable with being single.

9.I will NOT get poison ivy or stung by bees at all this year!
I will never make this prediction again, lol. Talk about doomed to failure. No poison ivy (surprisingly!), but I was stung by yellow jackets once in WA. The yellow jackets there are much less painful than the ones here though. Also got bitten by a ton of mosquitoes. And actually, I revise the "no poison ivy" comment because I may have had a very mild case after walking Angel in the park when I was home for Laura's wedding. Just a few itchy spots which could have been bug bites, but seemed more like poison ivy to me.

10.I will find $5.
I honestly don't remember if I ever found $5 this year. I think this was a joke prediction because I couldn't think of anything else. I'm going to assume that I didn't.

Total Score: 5/10. Not too bad, especially since #5 was the only one that I had complete control over.

P.S. I'd also like to point out prediction #2 from 2007, which I just noticed as I was giving all of the previous prediction posts tags: " I or one of my close friends will have a near death experience." I actually fulfilled that one this year (yes, I realize that it doesn't count because it's the wrong year, but I still wanted to mention it). Word of advice: the extremely cold temperature of alpine lakes severely impairs swimming ability. Cold muscles not liking to work and all. Stay close to the shore ;)

Ancient DNA preserved in permafrost

2009-12-23T14:58:00.004-05:00

I just read a post on the blog Laelaps on the extinction of mammoths and horses in the Alaskan interior. The discussion refers to this paper, which I haven't read yet but will hopefully get around to it soon. Instead of looking for fossilized hard tissues (bones, teeth), the researchers instead recovered mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the permafrost (in this form, it's known as sedimentary ancient DNA, or sedaDNA). Conditions for fossilization of bones are rare, and thus once a species becomes rare the likelihood of an individual becoming fossilized is low. However, these animals still bleed, urinate, defecate, shed hair, etc, and these activities are not rare (indeed, they occur daily). Thus, it may be easier to pinpoint a more exact timeline for extinction using these methods.

I'm not going to reiterate what's in the blog, so if you're interested in the subject just click on the link above. I will, however, add that global climate change poses a great threat to this type of research in the future. Permafrost is by far the best environment to find sedaDNA, but once it melts and the meltwater leaches through the soil that DNA will be lost forever. It's tragic, as this is an incredibly fascinating (not to mention informative) technique, and I hope that emphasis is placed on funding additional expeditions sooner rather than later. Information on different species and from different sites would be an extremely useful tool in piecing together the natural prehistory of the Pleistocene megafauna (possibly even shedding light on the cause of the extinction event).

References:

Haile, J., Froese, D., MacPhee, R., Roberts, R., Arnold, L., Reyes, A., Rasmussen, M., Nielsen, R., Brook, B., Robinson, S., Demuro, M., Gilbert, M., Munch, K., Austin, J., Cooper, A., Barnes, I., Moller, P., & Willerslev, E. (2009). Ancient DNA reveals late survival of mammoth and horse in interior Alaska Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0912510106

Northern Mockingbirds

2009-12-21T16:45:00.002-05:00

This morning while I was walking Angel around the neighborhood I noticed a bird that I hadn't seen around here before. There were two of them, and I got a good, fairly close look at them perching from several different angles and also in flight. I assume they were a pair, as they followed each other around in flight. I got back home and looked it up in my field guides, and they were indeed Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos). Northern OH is within their summer range according to Sibley and the National Geographic field guide (5th edition), though Peterson does have their year-round range going all the way up to Lake Erie.

I find it odd that a bird which I've seen only very rarely around here was overwintering in a suburban neighborhood. I emailed my grandparents to see if they'd ever seen mockingbirds at their feeders, and they said that they haven't.

Perhaps they were just vagrants, but I also wouldn't be surprised if their range is shifting northward.

Thoughts on Environmental Consulting

2009-12-15T14:09:00.002-05:00

I'd like to preface this post by noting that my knowledge of the environmental consulting business is relatively poor. Thus, I shall keep my thoughts extremely general. The first general problem that I've always had with the process of hiring an environmental consultant was the fact that the developer, etc. is the one that does the hiring. Environmental assessments are required by law, to ensure that the damage a proposed project would have is not too severe. Obviously, from the point of view of the developer the consultant's job is to give the project the green light, determining that the environmental damage would not be so great as to preclude the development of the project. In other words, the burden of proof is on the developer, which is all great and consistent with the Precautionary Principle.

However, problems often arise due to the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, environmental consulting firms are privatized. There is good old capitalist competition between different consulting firms, and this often gets in the way of scientific integrity. After all, how do we determine how much environmental damage is acceptable? Setting the bar higher is an obvious goal for environmentalists, as it reduces development to more marginal areas while protecting a greater amount of land. But that's not what the developer's want. They want it to be easier to develop in the most convenient locations regardless of the environmental impact, all the while negotiating the least amount of red tape. So if there's a specific consulting firm that's known for setting the bar a little lower, developer's are going to want to hire them. Disproportionately more than competing firms. That is, until other firms start to lower the bar just to prevent themselves from being run out of business. Free market competition is antithetical to the ultimate goals of the environmental laws that require consulting firms to be hired. But it's a balancing act, because clearly having successful firms with some standards (albeit standards that lean toward favoring developers) is better than letting developers run rampant, unchecked. After all, the most damaging projects won't be approved because any consulting firm that approves it will have its reputation completely tarnished, and will likely be harassed by environmental groups until their forced out of business. After all, developers won't want to hire a firm that gets such negative press, either.

It logically follows that projects near the border will be skewed in favor of development, because you can make an argument that the benefits outweigh the costs while still sounding reasonable. Thus, your reputation as an environmental firm isn't tarnished, but the developers that hire you can still appreciate your pro-development slant (even if the slant only exists to stay in business, not necessarily representing the personal convictions of the employees). I worry that this pattern results in the bar being discretely and incrementally set lower, especially in the face of a growing population and more land use "requirements."

My solution would be to remove environmental consulting from the free market and give it some sort of government oversight. I recognize that this could also be problematic, as large firms interested in development hold a lot of political influence. However, it's still better than having the developers hire consultants directly, in part because politicians - who need to be re-elected - are subject to more public scrutiny than private businessmen (after all, it's a free, capitalist country, and if you've built a business up you can't get voted out). Essentially, a developer would pay a mandatory consulting fee, probably commensurate with the scale of the project. Government consultants would then be sent to do the assessments. Employees from the disbanded private consulting firms could be hired as government workers, and the funding would come from the consulting fees. Without competition between firms, there would be no incentive to compromise scientific integrity, thus ensuring more objective assessments.

Summer Glau on Dollhouse!

2009-12-05T10:11:00.002-05:00

Beware, there be Spoilers!

Dollhouse returned last night for a two hour "event." Which is pretty much the schedule it's going to have all December, as Fox rushes to get rid of another Joss Whedon show as quickly as possible to make room for more of the senseless drivel that comprises most television shows. But at least Joss Whedon got pretty advanced notice that the show would be cancelled, and at least it got to its second season (unlike Firefly). I'm guessing that the remaining episodes will be thematically rich, as Joss and Eliza try to shove all of their ideas for what they wanted to explore in before the (series) finale.

Still wondering where Whiskey/Dr. Saunders (played by the wonderful Amy Acker) is, but I've read that she will be back. For that matter, Sierra/Priya (Dichen Lachman) was also absent for both episodes. But, as the title of my post indicates, we got Summer Glau as the D.C. Dollhouse's version of Topher (the character's name is Bennet Halverson). Bennet's an interesting character, but I'm not quite sure what to think of her. She seems more "evil" than Topher (who is just amoral; well, mostly), but she also got royally screwed by Caroline, which is how she got her dead arm. They didn't go into this backstory much, as we really only saw the imprinted memory that she gave Echo of her laying on the ground, pinned (by her arm, obviously) by a large concrete pillar. Seems like she was working some sort of job with Caroline (not Echo?!), and that Caroline left her there. Seems a bit out of character for Caroline. I'm sure there's more to this story, so I expect to see Summer Glau return (speaking of which, Alan Tudyk, another Firefly veteran, will return next week as Alpha!).

Perhaps my favorite part of these two episodes (technically only the second episode) was when Topher imprinted Viktor (Enver Gjokaj) with his own personality (so that when Topher went to D.C., he could leave "himself" behind). I was extremely impressed with Enver's acting here, as he played Topher perfectly (just as well as Fran Kranz). I've liked Enver throughout the series, but this was definitely the highlight (even better than when he accidentally got imprinted with Echo's imprint, Kiki!). It's something that you really just have to see.

And finally, there's the Senator Perrin (Alexis Denisof) storyline. The fact that he's a doll and his wife is his handler was certainly an unexpected twist. It's also an interesting concept that they didn't wipe his original personality, but rather improved it to create the perfect politician to use as a tool for Rossum. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense that Rossum would need allies in politics to ensure that laws get passed, allowing them to do whatever else they plan on doing. However, I see a flaw in this plan. They have one Senator that's a doll (that we know of). Obviously, some stuff hinted at in Epitaph One (last season's dystopian future season finale) would require some pretty major laws to make legal. I'm a little skeptical that proposed laws could be spun in such a way as to make them seem like a good idea to the majority of Senators and Representatives. There's only so much one person (even a person so "improved" by Rossum) could do. Given the political controversy over something like stem cells, the technology employed by the Dollhouses (which is shown to be under the radar of most politicians) wouldn't stand a chance at being legalized. But yes, it's a show and some suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy it. And regardless, it allows Joss to tell some good stories.

Where are you, snow?

2009-12-03T15:44:00.002-05:00

A couple of days ago I put up the Christmas tree, and for that matter I've been drinking Great Lakes Brewery Christmas Ale for about a month already, but it still doesn't feel like Christmas. Obviously the lack of snow is contributing to this. I'm especially anxious since I spent last winter in western WA, where it rarely snows. A larger factor is probably the shift in my perspective compared to when I was a child. I never attached much religious meaning to the holiday, which works out just fine for me now being an atheist. Even when I was being brought up Catholic, however, the rampant materialism pretty much overshadowed everything. I was excited about getting new toys, and of course getting a break from school was nice too. Since I've become increasingly less materialistic (coming up with a X-mas list is a chore now, and one that I haven't really begun working on this year), this aspect of the holiday has not only lost its luster, but become extremely annoying to me. Fortunately there was always something else about the Christmas season, the aesthetic values of the decorations, and the lights, and the Christmas tree. That's still there. And just last night I watched the old Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and despite being for kids it was still enjoyable (same with Charlie Brown Christmas). Then there's other movies, like Home Alone, etc. which I still enjoy, but the effect of instilling in me the "Christmas spirit" is short-lived. I guess I sometimes get nostalgic because Christmas used to be such a big deal, and now it's just merely a nice time of year with pretty lights when the first snow begins to fall. Oh well, it is what it is.

Musings on Soap

2009-11-30T21:14:00.003-05:00

Yep, you read that right. Soap. I started thinking about it several weeks ago, when my mom got this gross perfume-y soap for the bathroom. I honestly don't know how people think stuff like that smells good. Fortunately, I was allergic to the artificial fragrance in this soap, which lingered on my hands far longer than it should have. Since I already have indoor allergies, every time I would blow my nose or even touch my face, the scent from the soap would cause my allergies to flare up.

So, to avoid this complication I started using bar soap. It's pretty amazing how long a bar of soap lasts compared to a container of soft-soap. And before I started using bar soap, it never really occurred to me how incredibly useless those stupid little plastic soft-soap dispensers are! I'd always advocated buying the large refill bottles instead of buying individual dispenser bottles whenever one ran out, simply because a large bottle filled with a lot of soap requires less packaging than several small dispenser bottles. But no plastic soap bottles are even better! Why on earth did we as a society move away from bar soap? And how did the plastic soap dispensers get so entrenched in the American household? Simply put, it's a perfect example of how wasteful our consumer culture is.

As an added benefit, most soft-soaps have antibiotics in them, whereas bar soaps typically do not as far as I know. So phasing out the plastic dispenser bottles would also result in phasing out unnecessary antibiotics (which contributes to rampant antibiotic resistant bacterial strains, and according to the Hygiene Hypothesis results in a less robust immune system).

It's such an incredibly obvious (and remarkably painless) lifestyle change that I really can't believe why it isn't being implemented in the mainstream (or even suggested by environmental groups).

Just think about how many of those stupid plastic dispenser bottles are in a landfill for each person in this country...

CRU hack, part 2

2009-11-26T12:23:00.001-05:00

Just came across this article, which I think summarizes the situation better than anything I've yet seen.

Global temperature plateau

2009-11-26T11:40:00.007-05:00

This morning I (somewhat unintentionally) continued researching the whole CRU email hack issue again, and stumbled upon this article from BBC about a recent plateau in temperature increases. Overall I don't find it to be overwhelming evidence against AGW (anthropogenic global warming) compared to the drastic temperature spike occuring post industrial revolution, and unfortunately it may just be one of those things that we'll have to "wait and see."

Personally, the issue of whether or not to take action to prevent AGW is pretty obvious to me, and is simply a matter of invoking the Precautionary Principle. In this case, the action(s) potentially causing harm are pumping out greenhouse gases, etc. Furthermore, reducing fossil fuel usage would have multiple positive effects regardless of whether or not AGW exists. To name a few, it would reduce mountaintop removal, reduce pollution, and reduce US dependency on foreign oil. Besides, it appears that there is much more evidence in support of AGW than there is refuting it. Also, a lot of studies contradicting AGW appeared in the journal Climate Research, which is said to have a dubious peer review process and is not JCR listed.

Anyways, going back to the BBC article I can't comment on solar radiation as I know exactly zilch about the science behind it. I will note this quote about ocean currents, specifically the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which I was exposed to while working for the Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancemnt Task Force (it determines which Pacific salmon species are likely to be abundant). Here's a quote from the BBC article:

According to research conducted by Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University last November, the oceans and global temperatures are correlated.

The oceans, he says, have a cycle in which they warm and cool cyclically. The most important one is the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO).

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was in a positive cycle, that means warmer than average. And observations have revealed that global temperatures were warm too.

But in the last few years it has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down.

These cycles in the past have lasted for nearly 30 years.

Now, here's a quote about the PDO (for more information see this link):

Causes for the PDO are not currently known. Likewise, the potential predictability for this climate oscillation are not known. Some climate simulation models produce PDO-like oscillations, although often for different reasons. The mechanisms giving rise to PDO will determine whether skillful decades-long PDO climate predictions are possible. For example, if PDO arises from air-sea interactions that require 10 year ocean adjustment times, then aspects of the phenomenon will (in theory) be predictable at lead times of up to 10 years. Even in the absence of a theoretical understanding, PDO climate information improves season-to-season and year-to-year climate forecasts for North America because of its strong tendency for multi-season and multi-year persistence. From a societal impacts perspective, recognition of PDO is important because it shows that "normal" climate conditions can vary over time periods comparable to the length of a human's lifetime.

The causes for the PDO are not know, and therefore it can't be factually stated that the supposed correlation between the PDO and global average temperature implies a causation. Furthermore, the PDO has been in the warm phase since approximately 1980, when global temperatures were rising. However, the "hockey stick" graph showing the sharp (supposedly anthropogenically caused) increase in temperature also demonstrates relatively stable temperatures throughout the millenium (pre-industrial revolution). During this stable period, the PDO was presumably operating much as it has since it's been recorded (approximately 30 years between phase changes).

So with all of the uncertainty surrounding the PDO there doesn't seem to be much valid evidence for stating that it significantly influences average global temperature. There is much more evidence that humans are significant contributors, and so I once again invoke the Precautionary Principle. I'm not a climate scientist and I can't say that I'm 100% confident that GW is anthropogenically influenced, but the evidence does lead me to lean strongly in that direction. Besides, the burden of proof lies with those who wish to continue pumping out greenhouse gases (or, more realistically, pumping them out with weaker to no regulation) that they have no effect on climate. Especially considering what's at stake (predicted warming will have huge ecological consequences, especially given the habitat fragmentation caused by human impacts on the land, but that is a much more involved discussion than I would like to get into here).

I'll end this post on an unrelated note: Happy Thanksgiving!!!

References: embedded in text.

"Climategate"

2009-11-25T22:42:00.002-05:00

Ok, I'll bite. I've already posted two blog entries today, and it's already late, but I've just spent the last 2 1/2 hours researching this whole "Climategate" email thing (and climate change in general) and I feel like I should address it. But since it's late and my brain is exhausted from reading various articles, blogs, and discussions (some of them informative, some of them asinine) this entry will mostly be a collection of relevant links.

For a general overview of the situation, see the Wikipedia article.

For some biased news articles proclaiming "conspiracy!", check out the Washington Times and Telegraph.

Realclimate seems to be an often-referenced source in various discussions. The specific post about the CRU email hack and a summary post are specifically relevant.

This is the blog where I first learned of the email hack, and yes I did read all of the comments. I wouldn't recommend doing the same, but there were a few interesting nuggets in there. Here is another blog that I skimmed over. At this point it was getting quite late, and I didn't read any of the comments.

I'll be interested in seeing how this develops. For now I need to gather my thoughts, though I'll read up on this more after taking a break from it. Overall, it seems like a desperate (note that the emails were illegally obtained) ploy to reduce the likelihood that effective decisions will be made in Copenhagen, most likely because the hackers/those involved have a financial stake in "business as usual" (i.e. not acting to mitigate climate change). It sounds like some of the CRU scientists may have been involved in illegal activity, but even if they're convicted it doesn't invalidate the hundreds, if not thousands, of peer-reviewed journal articles that support Anthropogenic Global Warming. I'm hoping that this will be understood come Copenhagen.

Several species of prehistoric crocodiles discovered in the Sahara

2009-11-25T15:29:00.003-05:00

Discovered by my old pal, Paul Sereno (he gave a talk at Denison and then a large group of faculty and students, myself included, took him out to dinner). I don't have much commentary, other than the fact that the diversity of niches that these crocodiles occupied amazes me. I'll have to check out the November 2009 issue of National Geographic to learn more. My biggest question is that I wonder what the ancestral form of crocodiles is? I've always imagined that it was much like modern alligators, crocodiles, and caimans but this is mostly from the common anectodal notion that crocodiles have been around for millions of years, largely unchanged. Similarly, I've always assumed that the gharial was more derived, as it has the quick, narrow jaws of a fish specialist which are in sharp contrast to the body plans of the more generalist ambush predators (alligators, crocodiles, and caimans).

If this is the case, then what factors led to the persistence of the ancestral form + the fish specialist gharial, while the other highly derived species, each occupying relatively distinct niches, went extinct? Is the crocodile lineage simply more suited to its ancestral niche, with more derived lineages simply filling vacant niches until a superior competitor drives them to extinction (much like marsupials are almost always outcompeted by eutherians, or placental mammals)? Or is the modern crocodilian form more derived, with the ancestral form being more of a specialist?

Anyway, here is the text of the article from HerpDigest:

7) Cousins of Prehistoric Supercrocodile Inhabit Lost World of Sahara
ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2009) — A suite of five ancient crocs, including one with teeth like boar tusks and another with a snout like a duck's bill, have been discovered in the Sahara by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno. The five fossil crocs, three of them newly named species, are remains of a bizarre world of crocs that inhabited the southern land mass known as Gondwana some 100 million years ago.

Sereno, a professor at the University of Chicago, and his team unearthed the strange crocs in a series of expeditions beginning in 2000 in the Sahara. Many of the fossils were found lying on the surface of a remote, windswept stretch of rock and dunes. The crocs galloped and swam across present-day Niger and Morocco when broad rivers coursed over lush plains and dinosaurs ruled.

"These species open a window on a croc world completely foreign to what was living on northern continents," Sereno said. The five crocs, along with a closely related sixth species, will be detailed in a paper published in the journal ZooKeys and appear in the November 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine.

At 40 feet in length and weighing 8 tons, Sarcosuchus imperator, popularly known as SuperCroc, was the first and largest of the crocs Sereno found in the Sahara, but it was not the strangest, Sereno said. He and his teams soon discovered key fossils of five previously unknown or poorly understood species, most of them walking "upright" with their arms and legs under the body like a land mammal instead of sprawled out to the sides, bellies touching the ground.

The crocs and their nicknames:

•BoarCroc: New species, Kaprosuchus saharicus; fossils found in Niger. Twenty-foot-long upright meat eater with an armored snout for ramming and three sets of dagger-shaped fangs for slicing. Closest relative found in Madagascar.

•RatCroc: New species, Araripesuchus rattoides; fossils found in Morocco. Three-foot-long, upright plant and grub eater. Pair of buckteeth in lower jaw used to dig for food. Closest relative in South America.

•PancakeCroc: New species, Laganosuchus thaumastos; fossils found in Niger and Morocco. Twenty-foot-long, squat fish eater with a three-foot pancake-flat head. Spike-shaped teeth on slender jaws. Likely rested motionless for hours, its jaws open and waiting for prey. Closest relative from Egypt. The scientific paper also names a close relative discovered by the team in Morocco, Laganosuchus maghrebensis.

•DuckCroc: New fossils of previously named species, Anatosuchus minor. Fossils found in Niger. Three-foot-long upright fish-, frog- and grub-eater. Broad, overhanging snout and Pinocchio-like nose. Special sensory areas on the snout end allowed it to root around on the shore and in shallow water for prey. Closest relative in Madagascar.

•DogCroc: New fossils of named species, Araripesuchus wegeneri. Fossils found in Niger include five skeletons, all next to each other on a single block of rock. Three-foot-long upright plant and grub eater with a soft, doglike nose pointing forward. Likely an agile galloper, but also a capable swimmer. Closest relative in Argentina.

"We were surprised to find so many species from the same time in the same place," said paleontologist Hans Larsson, associate professor at McGill University in Montreal and a team member who discovered the bones of BoarCroc and PancakeCroc. "Each of the crocs apparently had different diets, different behaviors. It appears they had divided up the ecosystem, each species taking advantage of it in its own way."

To better understand how these ancient crocs -- mostly upright and agile -- might have moved and lived, Sereno traveled to northern Australia, where he observed and captured freshwater crocs. Realizing while there that he may have stumbled onto one of the keys to crocodilian success, Sereno saw freshwater crocs galloping at full speed on land and then, at water's edge, diving in and swimming away like fish. On land they moved much like running mammals, yet in a flash turned fishlike, their bodies and tails moving side to side, propelling them in water.

Based on interpretation of the fossils, Sereno and Larsson hypothesize that these early crocs were small, upright gallopers. In the scientific paper, they suggest that the more agile of their new croc menagerie could not only gallop on land but also evolved a swimming tail for agility and speed in water, two modes of locomotion suggested to be evolutionary hallmarks for the past 200 million years.

"My African crocs appeared to have had both upright, agile legs for bounding overland and a versatile tail for paddling in water," Sereno writes in the National Geographic magazine article. "Their amphibious talents in the past may be the key to understanding how they flourished in, and ultimately survived, the dinosaur era."

To study the crocs' brains, Sereno CT-scanned the skulls of DuckCroc and DogCroc and then created digital and physical casts of the brains. The result: Both DogCroc and DuckCroc had broad, spade-shaped forebrains that look different from those of living crocs. "They may have had slightly more sophisticated brain function than living crocs," Larsson said, "because active hunting on land usually requires more brain power than merely waiting for prey to show up."

To collect the croc fossils, Sereno and his teams endured temperatures topping 125 degrees F, living for months on dehydrated food. Logistics were challenging: For the 2000 expedition, they transported trucks, tools, tents, five tons of plaster, 600 pounds of water and four months' worth of other supplies.

Sereno's research and field expeditions were funded by the National Geographic Society and the Whitten-Newman Foundation.

References:

HerpDigest volume 9, issue 53 11/25/2009 (email listserve). Originally appeared on ScienceDaily on November 19, 2009.

Artificial border causes measurable ecological differences

2009-11-25T14:51:00.005-05:00

The following article was from today's HerpDigest:

6) Is Their a Difference in Israeli Rodents and Reptiles And Jordanian Ones?

ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2009) — A series of studies carried out at the University of Haifa have found that rodent, reptile and ant lion species behave differently on either side of the Israel-Jordan border. "The border line, which is only a demarcation on the map, cannot contain these species, but the line does restrict humans and their diverse impact on nature," says Dr. Uri Shanas.

Is a border line simply a virtual line appearing on the map? If so, why is it that Israeli rodents are more cautious than Jordanian rodents? Why is it that there are more ant lions in Israel than in Jordan? And how come there are more reptile species in Jordan than in Israel? A series of new studies at the University of Haifa's Department of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology and the University of Haifa-Oranim's Faculty of Sciences and Science Education are exploring the answers. "The boundary is only a virtual marking that appears on the map and is not capable of keeping these species from crossing the border between Israel and Jordan; but the line does stop humans from crossing it and thereby contains their different impact on nature," says Dr. Uri Shanas, a participant in the research.

The series of studies, which have been carried out in cooperation with Jordanian researchers, has examined a variety of reptile, mammal, beetle, spider and ant lion species on either side of the border in the Arava region. The Israeli team includes Dr. Shanas and research students Idan Shapira and Shacham Mitler, who set out to reveal whether the border -- unknown to the species -- could affect differences between them and their numbers on either side of the frontier, even though they share identical climate conditions.

The first study inspected the reptile population and revealed that the number of reptiles is similar on both sides, but the variety of species in the sandy areas of Jordan is significantly higher than the variety found in the sands of Israel. A second study revealed that Israeli gerbils are more cautious than their Jordanian friends, while a third study showed that the funnel-digging ant lion population in Israel is unmistakably larger than in Jordan.

According to the researchers, the differences between Israel and Jordan are primarily in the higher level of agriculture and the higher number of agricultural farms in Israel as opposed to Jordan's agriculture that is primarily based on nomadic shepherding and traditional farming. The agricultural fields on the Israeli side of the border not only create a gulf between habitats and thereby cause an increase in the number of species in the region, but they also hail one of the most problematic of intruders in the world: the red fox. On the Jordanian side, the red fox is far less common, so that Jordanian gerbils can allow themselves to be more carefree. The higher reproduction rate of ant lions on Israel's side is also related to the presence of another animal: the Dorcas gazelle. This gazelle serves as an "environmental engineer" of a sort, as it breaks the earth's dry surface and enables ant lions to dig their funnels. The Dorcas gazelle is a protected animal in Israel, while hunting it in Jordan is permitted and compromises the presence of the Jordanian ant lions' soil engineers.

"The current studies clearly display the influence that man has on nature -- for better and for worse. Over the past years, advanced agricultural technology has been transferred from Israel to Jordan; and we must strengthen our understanding of the influences that modern agriculture has on nature, so that we can assist in preserving the large variety of species in the Arava region," Dr. Shanas concludes.

Wow, this is simply fascinating. When you think about it, it's not terribly surprising that there are differences despite the absence of a physical barrier, considering the different ways in which the resident humans use the land on opposite sides of the border. It does, however, provide a great opportunity for experimentation, and I'm glad that opportunity is being taken advantage of. The only major variable is the different human populations on either side of the border, though this "one" variable is actually an aggregate of several different variables.

The study that has been done on reptile species shows that diversity is higher in Jordan, though reptile abundance is similar on both sides of the border. Presumably those species present in Jordan but absent in Israel were excluded by the more intensive agricultural practices and/or the red fox. I would be interested in reading about the life history characteristics of those species that were extirpated from Israel, though the reference on the ScienceDaily page simply reads: Adapted from materials provided by University of Haifa, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. I'm assuming that the original articles are not in English. In any case, I can speculate that the species (most likely squamates, i.e. lizards and snakes) that persisted in the agricultural landscape may:

Have more generalist diets (though most squamates tend to be pretty opportunistic feeders).
Have more generalist habitat requirements (such as the ratio of shaded areas to sunning rocks for thermoregulation, and perhaps more importantly the distance between these features).
Can tolerate soils that may be saturated from irrigation (may be relevant for species that burrow).
Are more mobile and/or have larger home ranges, allowing them to cross cultivated fields that would serve as a barrier to other species and/or hunt for more widely dispersed prey.
Are more adept at evading predators (the red fox seems to be the most obvious new predator).

Obviously this list isn't comprehensive; it merely represents my initial thoughts on the matter. Going back to point number 5, it seems odd to me that red foxes restrict themselves to the Israel side of the border, as they are a potentially wide-ranging species and seem to have an abundant prey base on either side of the border (gerbils). They may be hunted by the more nomadic people in Jordan, but I doubt that subsistence hunting is enough to eradicate such a secretive and adaptable animal as the red fox. Rather, I suspect that the foxes hang around the more agriculturally developed areas by choice. Intense agriculture usually means that large quantities of grain need to be stored somewhere, and this tends to attract rodents. This may provide a reliable enough prey base to keep red foxes in the area surrounding cultivated land.

I don't know much about how long red foxes have been in the region, nor how invasive they are, but I suspect that they are more than capable of colonizing Jordan as their population grows. Again, I wish I had more information on their status in the region because this article has generated a plethora of questions in my mind.

References:

HerpDigest volume 9, issue 53 11/25/2009 (email listserve). Originally appeared on ScienceDaily on Nov. 20, 2009

Cardinals and variable habitat choice

2009-11-24T22:31:00.004-05:00

Today I took both dogs for a walk (at the same time, that was interesting), and I checked out a path leading to the railroad tracks that I haven't used in several years. The surrounding vegetation is mostly tall meadow grasses (though it's only a narrow corridor between two parking lots) and scrubby shrubs (mostly sumac). Anyways, as I was walking along I flushed out several cardinals which were hanging out in this area. It made me realize that I hadn't seen many, if any, cardinals this fall in my neighborhood. They're usually pretty common, and especially easy to see once the leaves have fallen off the trees (they also tend to call even in the fall, drawing attention to themselves). I even pass right by a house with several bird feeders every morning when I walk Angel. It's usually swarming with birds, though they're mostly house sparrows (I see finches there too sometimes). I'm fairly certain that I used to see cardinals pretty frequently at these feeders.

I wonder why the cardinals haven't really been around in the neighborhood? Has there been a population crash? Are fewer people stocking their bird feeders because of the recession? Are people stocking different seed types (I believe cardinals prefer black oil sunflower seeds)? And I wonder if cardinals tend to hang out by the railroad tracks even when they're prevalent in the surrounding neighborhood?

Obviously I don't have the answers to those questions, and I guess I haven't even been terribly observant about it in the past so I can't really be sure of how great the difference is. It really makes me want to live somewhere more rural (or closer to the park), and to put feeders out so that I could actually observe birds every day (more than just the local house sparrows and starlings). Oh, how easy it was when I was in the Smokies...

Cultural differences of "invasiveness."

2009-11-20T10:55:00.003-05:00

Homo sapiens is the most invasive species that this planet has known, though I wonder if it's an inherent quality of our species. Take, for example, the history of human occupation in North America. Some 25,000 years ago humans crossed the Bering Strait (at that time a land bridge) into North America. These early peoples might be considered non-native, but the migration was natural (in the sense that technology didn't play a direct role). Whether or not early humans caused the extinction of the native megafauna ~10,000 years ago is still up for debate, but hunting pressure likely did play a role, if not the defining role. During this time the people of North America were certainly exhibiting the hallmark traits of an invasive species (non-native, rapid spreading, and causing major changes to the ecosystem which resulted in the decline and/or extinction of native species). For the 15,000 years prior to that, however, "invasiveness" is more difficult to discern. Moreover, between the great extinction event and the later centuries of this past millenium, most human cultures had become fairly well naturalized.

This isn't to say that Native Americans had no impact on the native ecosystems, because they did. Areas were burned to promote the growth of grasses (for pasture) and berry crops. Humans acted as a top predator, though it's significant that they didn't extirpate the other top predators (namely the wolf, which acts as a keystone species in at least portions of its range). Pre-Columbian cultures in general had an understanding of the continent's ecology, and the role of humans as part of that system. In other words, they lived sustainably and the native species were largely doing well.

Then comes Western civilization. Even before Westerners gained a significant foothold in North America, the areas that they did colonize they modeled after settlements in Europe. Still, not a huge ecological impact but the Industrial Revolution would change that. The idea that nature needed to be conquered and that resources existed to be gobbled up is a Western notion, and we wasted little time in changing the face of this continent. The Native Americans existed for thousands of years with the giant bison herds, relying on them for sustenance and culling herds much like any other large predator. In a remarkably short time frame after the expansion westward started, the herds were almost completely decimated. Even the megafauna during the extinction event 10,000 years ago took several thousand years to progress from initial decline to full extinction. If it weren't for a small refuge population in the (at the time only semi-protected) newly established Yellowstone National Park, the bison would have gone from flourishing to extinct in about a century. Indeed, this did happen with the Passenger Pigeon, flocks of which used to darken the skies and take hours to pass overhead because of the immensity of the group. The native cultures didn't make a dent in those populations, but Westerners managed to decimate them in short order.

Humans may be the most invasive species this planet has ever seen, but not all cultures participate equally. Western culture may be the biggest offender (in any case, we're the biggest offenders that I can think of), especially since we've displaced so many native cultures that actually lived sustainably, with respect for ecological processes and culturally mediated empathy for other species. The question now becomes, can a major cultural shift away from certain Western ideals and assumptions decrease the invasiveness of our species? Or have the cultural choices made generations ago, which led to our bloated population, already cemented the invasive qualities into us forever (barring global catastrophe)? I see a voluntary reduction in fecundity, a completely counterintuitive conception for any organism, as the best solution to overpopulation. But then here I've gone and strayed from the main point about culture and invasiveness. I think I'll just cut myself off at this point.

References:

Wikipedia (this is just a blog, I can cite wikipedia if I want!)

Yong, E. 2009. Tiny Fungi Replay the Fall of the Giant Beasts. ScienceBlogs.

Ripple, W.J. and Larsen, E.J. 2000. Historic Aspen recruitment, elk, and wolves in northern Yellowstone National Park, USA. Biological Conservation: 95, 361-370.

Burns, K. 2009. The National Parks: America's Best Idea. PBS.

Dams, water issues, and overpopulation.

2009-11-18T16:46:00.004-05:00

The following is an excerpt from HerpDigest:

4) Australian Dam Project Shelved To Save Fish, Turtles
Wed Nov 11, 09

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia on Wednesday rejected plans to build a massive new dam, despite pleas it is needed to provide water to residents, because of its feared impact on endangered fish and turtles.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the 1.8 billion dollar (1.7 billion US) Traveston Crossing Dam, in Queensland state, would have had an irreversible impact on Australian Lungfish, the Mary River Turtle and Mary River Cod.

"It is clear to me that the Traveston Dam cannot go ahead without unacceptable impacts on matters of national environmental significance," Garrett told reporters.

"The area that would be flooded by this proposal is a critical habitat for populations of these species."

The state government had pushed for the dam, with Premier Anna Bligh saying it was "absolutely critical" for the future of southeast Queensland.

"We are the fastest growing region in Australia and the people who are moving here need to drink water, their families need water to bathe, the industries that employ them need water to operate," Bligh said.

Garrett's decision paves the way for a 10-day consultation process on alternatives, including the possibility of desalination plants, with the government set to announce a final decision on November 25.

The Australian Lungfish, the sole Australian survivor of a family of fishes that have been around since the dinosaurs, has fins that resemble flippers.

First, I'd like to say that it's GREAT that this dam project fell through. Dams have screwed up our streams so much that if anything, we should be looking for ways to remove them, not build more. What I find especially disturbing is Premier Bligh's logic for the dam, in bold. If a given region cannot sustain a population of people greater than some number (that is to say, the population is at its carrying capacity), then people should NOT be moving to that region!!!! Dams, and diverting large quantities of water for human use in general, is simply not sustainable. Compare this situation to that in the American southwest. Too many people live there, and too much water has been (and continues to be) essentially stolen from the Colorado River. The river doesn't even reach the sea anymore, and its severely degraded. And yet people still stress the ecosystem by taking more and more water, despite the fact that the water crisis in that region is becoming more severe. What happens when we've completely killed the river? We've destroyed a natural system that will be very difficult (and costly) to restore, driving any endemic species to extinction, and where is the benefit to the people who "need" that water? They still run out, and they're still forced to re-locate (or die of thirst). Honestly, the situation is worse than a plague of locusts that decimates a prairie, because at least grass is extremely adapted to recovering from disturbances!

Unfortunately I can't recall the source where I originally read this, but based on dendrochronology studies of the American west we are currently at the tail end of an unusually wet period in the climatic cycle. During the days of Manifest Destiny, we populated the land based on the amount of water that was available at the time (and we still managed to overuse the resource), never realizing that a drying trend might occur in the near future (especially since the region was already quite arid to begin with!). If you ask me, that's a pretty good argument for keeping a population below carrying capacity, as there is generally less suffering involved when carrying capacity changes and the population is forced to respond (in the case of a shortage, "response" is generally equated with "death").

In terms of migration to already heavily populated (specifically, how many people the environment can support) areas, one would think that the increased stress on the would spur some sort of population control incentive to action. Several months ago I posted on overpopulation and received some very enlightening comments which (paraphrased) suggested increased taxation for large families. Currently, in America the more offspring someone has, the more tax breaks they receive. This is actually exacerbating the population problem, especially in more impoverished areas where larger families tend to be more common. Rather, the government should tax people more for each additional child that they have. This way economics provide a stronger constraint on population growth in poor areas (perhaps helping to alleviate poverty somewhat for families that choose to limit the number of offspring they have), while at the same time still allows for families who want more children to retain that right (assuming their willing to pay more in taxes). And really, in an overpopulated world resources become more scarce, and it naturally becomes more difficult to support offspring. A tax program like the one suggested would simply reflect that.

More on the American Chestnut

2009-11-16T17:57:00.004-05:00

I stumbled across some relevant links, and since I recently blogged about Chestnuts I figured I might as well post them here.

A blog discussing therapeutic vaccines from ScienceBlogs.

An article on a chestnut GMO.

PCR sneakiness

2009-11-16T15:53:00.001-05:00

I found this little detail from a chapter of Tears of the Cheetah on whales to be quite amusing. A whale researcher named Scott Baker had done a lot of genetic work on various species of cetaceans, and had collected enough DNA sequences (mitochondrial and nuclear) to identify a random sample to species unambiguously. Using this genetic database as a reference, he covertly sampled whale meat (kujira) from Japanese and Korean fish markets. Kujira can be legally sold in these countries provided endangered species (which are legally protected) are not harvested. However, because Baker suspected that some of his samples were actually illegally harvested endangered species, he couldn't take them out of the country for analysis due to CITES Appendix I restrictions on moving tissue samples (or even DNA) across international borders. So what's a researcher to do? Simple, just replicate the DNA using PCR!!!!

Baker continued his work for several years, and discovered that 10% of the kujira sampled came from illegally harvested endangered species. Most of the meat came from minke whales, which are not endangered, but Baker did discover that 1/3 of the minke whale meat came from a small, endangered (and legally protected) population of minkes in the Sea of Japan. His results were published, and the proper authorities (the International Whaling Commision, or IWC) now use his techniques to monitor kujira meat.

I find it fascinating that DNA generated through PCR does not suffer the same restrictions as a whale's original DNA. On a molecular level they are pretty much exactly the same; the only difference is where the base pairs, etc. originated from. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that (indeed, it allowed Scott Baker to complete his research which led to tighter controls on the harvest of whale meat), but it does illustrate the artificiality of definitions. The PCR products are still whale DNA, but because they didn't come from a whale they're not legally "whale DNA." Fascinating.

References:

O'brien, S.J. 2003. Tears of the Cheetah: And Other Tales From the Genetic Frontier. St. Martin's Press, New York, NY.

The Florida Panther

2009-11-15T22:24:00.002-05:00

Oh, what a misleading common name it is. It implies that the Florida panther is a subspecies of Puma concolor, and indeed it was once classified as such. At one point it was even elevated to the status of being its own distinct species (Felis coryi), only to be later reassigned subspecific status. This is not, however, consistent with the genetic history of the species.

Stephen J. O'brien recounts the tale in his book, Tears of the Cheetah (I've only read 4 chapters thus far, but it is a fascinating read, written in an engaging narrative style that is easy to understand, and I highly recommend it). The previous two chapters dealt with inbreeding depression (and the historic bottlenecks that caused them) in cheetahs and Gir lions (an Asiatic subspecies), respectively. Not surprisingly, Florida panthers were also suffering from severe inbreeding depression. Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellites were used to estimate the time of the historic bottleneck which caused the genetic homogeneity of the panthers. For those not well-versed in evolution, a bottleneck occurs when a population is severely reduced in size, leading to a reduction in genetic diversity (simply due to the fact that the survivors, being only a small subset of the original population, possess only a small subset of the former population's genetic diversity). Individuals are forced to mate with genetically similar individuals (as there is no other choice), often close relatives.

So how can mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites be used estimate how long ago a bottleneck occurred? Quite simply, it takes time for mutations to accumulate and for genetic diversity to re-establish itself. Thus, cheetahs today are genetically very similar because of the bottleneck that they went through 12,000 years ago. However, some genes mutate faster than others. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) does not reside in the nucleus of the cell, but in the mitochondria (organelles which supply energy to a cell, which are descended from single-celled organisms that were engulfed by the (single) cells of our very distant ancestors). Because mtDNA is separate from nuclear DNA, it doesn't benefit from the DNA repair mechanisms that are present in the nuclei of cells. Since mutations are essentially replication mistakes (or damage, but we won't get into that), and the mistakes of mtDNA don't get fixed, mutations accumulate faster than in an organism's nuclear genome. Mutations occur at a relatively fixed rate, so differences in mtDNA can be used to determine how long ago two species split from a common ancestor, or how much time has passed since a bottleneck. The situation for microsatellites is similar. Microsatellites are repeated sequences of a small number of base pairs. They exist in the nuclear genome, but are non-coding (i.e. they aren't a functional gene) and so also mutate at a greater rate than the rest of the genome.

So there's that tangent, and now you understand how the time since a bottleneck occurred can be estimated by using “molecular clocks.” Turns out, North American pumas (not just Florida panthers) experience a bottleneck 10,000-12,000 years ago (about the same time as the cheetah). I group North American pumas together because during the course of this study, the historical scheme of 32 different puma subspecies across North and South America was essentially invalidated. Rather, 6 genetically distinct populations were found, 5 of which were South American. All North American pumas could be traced back to the single, small population that resulted from the bottleneck, and yet puma fossils in North America go back much further than this (in fact, pumas were originally a North American species that migrated to South America when the continents became connected, displacing the existing South American marsupial carnivores). So how can this be explained?

The current hypothesis is that North American pumas went extinct during the same extinction event that killed off the dire wolf, saber-toothed cats, American lion, and American cheetah, as well as other large mammals such as mastodons. As a side note, the African cheetah's bottleneck is thought to have resulted from a small refuge population that persisted in sub-Saharan Africa while the rest of the world's cheetahs—which were wide ranging in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa—succumbed to the Pleistocene extinction event. But South America's pumas escaped this event (the extinctions were largely restricted to the northern hemisphere from what I understand). A small founder population migrated back to Mexico through Central America (small population=genetic bottleneck). This population was kept small through a combination of a geographic bottleneck (the Isthmus of Panama) and behavior—namely the fact that pumas are territorial and further northward migration was blocked off by the territories of the resident founders. The founders slowly made their way north, maintaining their status as a distinct genetic population by preventing southern cats from migrating across the Isthmus.

So all North American pumas are fairly homogenous genetically, but what about Florida panthers? They existed in a refuge of land largely unsuitable for agriculture: the cypress swamps of Florida. As cougars were extirpated from the rest of the southeast, migration to this small refuge population was (obviously) cut off. This naturally led to inbreeding depression, which was actually the cause of identifying traits used to distinguish the Florida Panther from pumas in the rest of the continental U.S. These traits included a dorsal cowlick halfway down the neck, and a kink at the tip of the tail. It's important to note that these traits were not present when the Florida panther was first described as a subspecies (before widespread extirpation throughout the east), and are actually the results of severe inbreeding. Another such consequence was cryptorchidism, a condition where one or both testicles never descend in males, leading to reduced fertility or sterility (if neither testicle descends).

A recent management decision resulted in several individuals from a Texas population (which historically overlapped with the Florida panther's range) being released into Florida. Offspring from these Texas females (which had obviously mated with male “pure” Florida panthers) did not exhibit the cowlick or tail kink, and also didn't develop cryptorchidism. The hybrids were also markedly healthier and stronger, often jumping clear over the research team after being treed by dogs (a feat that the weaker, inbred, “pure” Florida panthers were rarely able to accomplish).

I find this tale very interesting because it generates questions on where to draw the line with conservation efforts aimed at preserving the genetic integrity of small populations and/or subspecies. In the case of the Florida panther, prior to the genetic tests nobody wanted to “hybridize” them, tainting the genetic makeup of the “authentic” subspecies' population. After bringing to light that the smallest genetically distinct population was North American pumas in general, the case was made to re-introduce migrants. In the case of the Texas females, migration that existed freely before about 1900 was merely re-established.

References:

O'brien, S.J. 2003. Tears of the Cheetah: And Other Tales From the Genetic Frontier. St. Martin's Press, New York, NY.

Powdery Mildew

2009-11-13T11:30:00.007-05:00

We've had a lilac along the side of our house for years (rough estimate 10+?), between 2 forsythias. While I was in WA, my brother pulled up one of the forsythias (I don't remember why, but last I remember it was looking kind of runty, possibly near death) and planted another little lilac. When I got home, the new lilac had a small amount of white fungal growth on the leaves. It's gradually gotten worse, and I finally decided to look up what it was. Turns out, it's powdery mildew.

View of the whole plant

Close up of leaf.

Apparently younger plants are more susceptible, and severe cases result in curling, drying, and browning of the leaves (which this little guy exhibits). Nearly all ornamental plants can get some form of powdery mildew, but species are mostly host-specific. The mildew shows up mid to late summer, and the biggest problem with it is that it diminishes the aesthetic quality of the host plant.

The fungus itself will overwinter on fallen leaves, so I'm assuming that next year's infection could be reduced by removing the leaf litter from around the plant. Ascospores are released in the spring, and carried back to the new leaves via wind or splashed water. In sites with good airflow and well-drained soils, inoculation is less likely. Exposure to full sun also reduces the spread of the fungus. This is certainly observable in my lilacs, as the older lilac has a few lower (thus more shaded) leaves that have a small amount of fungus on them. Overall though, the older lilac largely lacks powdery mildew. Furthermore, the younger lilac is closer to the silver maple in my backyard, possibly increasing the amount of shade that it receives (the maple is south of the lilacs). Interestingly, though powdery mildew is supposed to hasten the fall senescence of the leaves, the older lilac's leaves are showing much more yellow/light green coloration than the younger, highly infected one, which is still largely dark green/crispy brown at some leaf edges.

References:

Nameth, S. and Chatfield, J. The Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet. Plant Pathology. Columbus, OH.

Partridge, J.E. 2008. Powdery Mildew of Lilac. University of Nebraska, Lincoln Department of Plant Pathology.

Trees of Life

2009-11-12T09:32:00.008-05:00

Western Redcedar

In the Pacific Northwest, the Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata) is often called the "tree of life." In fact, the use of it's wood and bark it's one of the defining features that represents the northwest coast indigenous cultures. Its wood is infamously rot-resistant, and since it's also easy to split it's an ideal resource, particularly in such a wet climate. Redcedar's slow decay time also makes it a very important tree ecologically, as logs persist in the understory of old growth forests (some species, including Western Hemlock, germinate almost exclusively on these "nurse logs") and in streams. Large wood is an important feature of streams because 1) the persistent wood releases nutrients into the stream slowly over time (attracting macroinvertebrates, which are then fed on by juvenile salmonids), 2) it creates a physical impediment to fast water flow, resulting in pools that spawning salmon use to rest in during their arduous journey upstream, and 3) it provides cover for juvenile salmonids as they rear in the stream.

Western Redcedar is a prevalent tree in low to medium elevations, and its cultural uses included, but are not limited to, the following:

The wood was used to make canoes, house planks, totems, and mortuary poles.
Wood was also used for such tools as arrow shafts, spear shafts, barbecue sticks, fish spreaders, bowls, dip net hooks, cradles, and coffins.
The wood makes an excellent fuel, particularly for drying fish.
It was said to possess healing and spiritual powers.
Bark was used for making blankets, clothing, and baskets.

American Chestnut

If Western Redcedar was the tree of life on the Pacific Northwest coast, then the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) was at one time the tree of life in the eastern deciduous forests. It was a dominant tree throughout most of its range, which spanned from Maine nearly to the Gulf coast, broadly following the arc of the Appalachians. It was ecologically important because it reliably produced crops of chestnuts every year. Since its functional extinction, oak species have primarily filled its niche, but oaks produce large crops of acorns some years, and small to no crops in other years. This puts stress on the myriad of species that depend on this food source, and results in wildly fluctuating populations between years. Commercially, chestnut lumber was valued for furniture, musical instruments, interiors, caskets, and fences. In addition to possessing quality wood, the chestnut's growth habit tended toward a tall, straight trunk making it extremely attractive for logging.

In the early 1900's tragedy struck as the Chestnut blight (a fungus of presumabely Asian origin) decimated the species. It is functionally extinct, though you may still find specimens in the wild. The blight does not destroy the roots, and so the tree will still send up sprouts which can reach "moderate" heights (the tallest I've seen was approximately 7-8 ft. tall) before they succumb to the blight. These sprouts rarely survive long enough to produce flowers and fruits. There is some work being done to hybridize American Chestnuts with foreign species to produce a blight-resistant tree, but as far as I know success is limited and these trees are primarily used as ornamentals.

I can't remember if I read this somewhere, or saw it on a documentary, but there was an elderly man recounting the beauty of flowering chestnuts in the spring. He lamented their loss, both in an ecological sense and a personal sense, since he can never again behold that spectacle. He then went on to say that it was unfortunate how younger generations never got to witness the American Chestnut as a dominant component of eastern forests. Having never seen them, they aren't even aware of what they missed out on. He implied with deep sadness in this statement that extinctions really only hit home for the generations that witnessed them. For the majority of people, this is probably true. For some reason though, I've developed an odd emotional attachment to the American Chestnut. I get legitimately upset when I see chestnut sprouts, because I know that they'll never survive and yet they're right in front of me! It's incredibly frustrating to me, despite the fact that I've never seen a mature chestnut. I have the feeling that I'm looking at a ghost, and in some ways I am. This was a site of a mighty chestnut, and now all that remains is this spectral sprout, unnoticed by most humans as just part of the understory, and by the species that used to depend on it as just another plant that doesn't provide a source of fruit. Of course with functional extinction there's always the hope that hybridization will be successful and chestnuts can once again thrive despite the blight. But how likely is it that the tree will make an ecological comeback? There's really no way of knowing, but one thing is for certain: even if a resistant chestnut is successfully bred or engineered, it will be generations before the world sees eastern forests with an ecologically dominant chestnut.

References:

Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. 2004. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. B.C. Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, B.C.

Petrides, G. A. and Wehr, J. 1998. Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Trees. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun

2009-11-11T17:11:00.005-05:00

One idea that I have for how to proceed with this blog is to provide commentary for various things that I read. This will likely tend to fall into one of the following categories:

Fantasy/mythology (as is the case with this post). Generally this will mean Tolkien or occasionally something fairly unique (such as the His Dark Materials trilogy), but overall I actually don't read much fantasy. Basically I can't stand the plethora of Tolkien clones, and the fact that a lot of authors write fantasy because they're interested in it, and not because they're actually any good at it.
Science/environment. This is really broad, and may encompass anything from academic material (textbooks, primary literature, etc.) to articles in Sierra (the Sierra Club's magazine, which I happen to be subscribed to).
Miscellaneous. Ok, this isn't really a category but I thought I would get more specific in the above two, and now I can't think of much else that I read about with the same regularity. Some oddballs may show up every now and then, though.

Alright, enough description, and on to the meat of the post.

Recently I read Tolkien's version of the Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, which is a re-telling of The Volsunga Saga. Tolkien drew upon various sources on the same legend, including the prose Edda of the Icelandic Snorri Sturluson, as well as the poems of the Norse Elder Edda. This was not a translation, but rather an original work which, while largely adhering to the source material, also contained a few creative alterations and interpretations of Tolkien's own invention. Indeed it was probably inevitable, since sometimes different sources on the same story contradict each other. But I'm not expert on the subject so I'll leave it at that; besides, it's explained very well in the book.

The book is comprised of two main parts, both in verse: The Lay of the Volsungs which tells the tale of Sigmund, and his son Sigurd, and The Lay of Gudrun, which occurs after Sigurd's death and follows his widow, Gudrun, and the conflict of the Niflungs (her brothers, Gunnar and Hogni) with Atli (historically, this is Attila the Hun). Tolkien follows the style of Norse eddaic poetry which, as the Foreword to the book points out, differs from that of the Old English epic poetry that I was more familiar with. In one of his lectures, Tolkien himself noted that "in Old English breadth, fullness, reflection, elegiac effect, were aimed at. Old Norse poetry aims at seizing a situation, striking a blow that will be remembered, illuminating a moment with a flash of lightning-and tends to concision, weighty packing of the language in sense and form..."

Reading it was a bit of an adjustment, as scenes would change with little in the way of contextual transition. The beginning in particular was difficult, as it dealt with the actions of gods (namely Odin and Loki), and I'm not terribly familiar with Norse mythology. It's definitely a subject that I'd like to read up on more. Fortunately, I still have the books from my Middle Ages and Middle Earth class (yes, I got to take a class on Tolkien in college), including The Volsunga Saga and Poems of the Elder Edda. It's strange how, in a way, I've come full circle with my reading of Norse poetry. In the class we looked at a few of the poems (Otr's Ransom comes to mind) with respect to the influence they had on Tolkien's writing (specifically The Hobbit and LotR, as Tolkien's Lays on the Sigurd legend hadn't yet been published). Essentially, they shed light on our source material, which was Tolkien's Middle Earth. Now I've read Tolkien's own version of the Norse legend, and I look back at that ancient, original source material to see how Tolkien has influenced it ("it" being the legend, in the sense that he's now contributed to it).

References

Tolkien, J.R.R. 2009. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. ed. Tolkien, C. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, New York, NY.

Where do we go from here?

2009-11-11T16:49:00.002-05:00

I haven't really been updating this blog all that much. I think part of it is because its subject matter tends to be very general, and quite frankly random, so I always struggle with what exactly to write about. Of course the larger issue is that I suspect that very few people actually read this blog, and I thus don't have much motivation to update. Perhaps if I posted more consistent subject matter more people would check it regularly.

I spent a good part of the day reading a D&D blog (for those that aren't familiar with the game, D&D = Dungeons and Dragons). That tempted me to focus on D&D, but at the same time few of my friends actually play or are interested in the game, and I currently am not playing in a campaign, nor am I DMing one. While reading through the blog (Grognardia, in case anyone is curious), I found myself gravitating toward posts on the author's ongoing campaign. This, in turn, really made me want to DM my own long-term campaign, but alas player availability is seeming to be an issue. If I actually manage to get a campaign going that would be the perfect opportunity to start a D&D related blog, but at the same time I almost think that this blog isn't the appropriate venue for such an endeavor. Namely because I would still like to use this for random musings, thoughts, and reports.

I really wish that blogs had an easy way to categorize subject matter by post title. For example, at the top of my blog (under the title) there would be links for "topics" (or something, I don't care what it would be called) so I could click on "D&D," "environment," "trip reports," etc. and all posts within that category would show up. Likewise, each topic would have its own url so if I wanted to link someone to my D&D blog, for example, on the Wizard's of the Coast forums, I could do so without them having to sift through all of my other random posts. I suppose I could always create a second blog (since D&D is different enough from my more...academic interests to justify it), but I really like the title "The Chamber of Mazarbul".

So I guess the take home message is that I would like to start updating this blog more regularly. Hopefully that will attract more readers. I'm just trying to figure out what direction I'm going to take with it. Some posts will soon follow as I test the waters.

Unemployment

2009-11-03T16:34:00.003-05:00

This whole being unemployed thing is starting to get old. It was nice for the first 3ish weeks of being at home. Now I'm just getting antsy. Ideally, I'd like to get a seasonal position with UPS being a "driver's assistant." They hire them during the holiday season to essentially grab packages from the truck and run them up to people's houses. I can't imagine that it saves enough time to justify the position (especially since the pay is quite decent, $13/hour from what I hear), but I'm not complaining. Someone somewhere must have done a cost/benefit analysis, and I guess it would be cheaper to pay a bunch of seasonal employees than to send out more trucks to make up for the increased volume of packages. In any case, thus far this is the only position I've really applied for yet, though I have been looking for jobs in the general area. Soon I'll have to lower my standards. Not having a car makes it harder.

In the not as near future, I'm working on applying to a position in the Sierra Nevada doing bird research as part of a field crew (possibly supervising). The pay is pretty good considering that these positions tend to just be living stipend + housing, but this one is $1800-$2700 per month with free housing and work vehicles provided. And I would basically get to go backpacking in the Sierra Nevada and count birds! My lack of previous experience with mist netting, point counting, etc. is unfortunate, but I'm going to apply anyways and see what happens. That would be mid-April until August. I'll also probably look into seasonal work at a national park, most likely the Smoky Mountains. In either case, I hope to have a car by that point. Which means that the pressure is on to get a crappy job and make some money. At least AmeriCorps is taking care of my loans for a while yet :D

I don't have much of an idea of when I'll be applying for grad school. It's partially because I'm not sure if I want to go for a Master's or a Ph.D. I love research, but it can be stressful and time consuming, especially if I ended up going into academics. I just don't necessarily like the idea of having my career monopolize most of my time. I don't want to be a slacker, but I also would like an appropriate amount of leisure time. You only live once, why let your job dominate your life? Even if you love your job, variety is good. I guess I'm leaning toward going for the Master's first, and seeing how that goes.

Coast to coast...

2009-10-06T21:42:00.003-04:00

I'm back home in OH after my road trip from WA. And a week and a half after I got back, I went to Maine to visit Liz. So in the last couple of months I've been to the beaches of Olympic National Park (Pacific) and Acadia (Atlantic). Good stuff :) But yeah, I don't think I feel like posting a lengthy trip summary, so I'll just list where I went on the way back.

Started out climbing Mt. St. Helens. Next we went to Olympic NP and hiked up the Hoh River Trail up to the Blue Glacier on Mt. Olympus. Then we went to the beach and did a day hike near Lake Ozette (Cape Alava to Sand Point). Then came North Cascades, and the trail we were going to do was on fire. So we did another trail but hiked out early because of rain (despite being on the east side!). So we got to Idaho early, visited Julie's friend Simon, and then visited another of Julie's friends in Bozeman, Montana before heading out to Yellowstone. Backpacked in the Lamar Valley (wolf hotspot, but we unfortunately never saw one) and then headed to Grand Tetons for a day hike. On the way back east we stopped at Badlands NP for an overnight, and then spent nights in Wisconsin and Chicago (with Mike!).

Acadia was fun too; I drove up there with Dawn for basically a long weekend (her grad school schedule didn't allow for a longer trip; oh well). 15 hour drive, and we drove through the night, got there at 7 pm on Thursday morning and napped while Liz went to work. She's doing environmental education in the park.

Ummm...yeah those were really short, lame trip summaries but I don't really feel much like typing right now.

3...2...1...Offblast!

2009-08-18T10:48:00.003-04:00

I fly back to WA today. Computer access will be limited, if not nonexistent. Aug 25th I climb Mt. St. Helens. Then it's off to Mt. Rainier NP, Olympic NP, N. Cascades NP, somewhere in Idaho, possibly Yellowstone, etc. That last part hasn't exactly been planned out yet :) Be back some time in late September, possibly with a long entry about the trip. And pictures, assuming my camera makes it :/

An encouraging attitude toward predators

2009-07-23T21:21:00.003-04:00

So today I was with the WCC field crew doing site maintenance at a landowner's on Jim Creek (I'll call him C.P., for the sake of anonymity). This site was planted this past fall, and so I was involved with the prep work, the planting, and now maintenance. So I've known C.P. pretty much since I started my position here. He's a bit socially awkward and when he makes jokes sometimes people just...don't really get them. He can also be pretty opinionated. He takes some getting used to, but in general he's a very good guy. He put a lot of work into the restoration site, and is very cognizant of environmental issues and being a good steward. I'm not completely sure what his source of income is (it's suspected by many in the office that he's independently wealthy, though nobody really knows the details), but he farms a good portion of his land. I'm not the best judge of area, but I'd say he farms 2-3 acres (so it's a pretty small operation). Organic, as far as I know. He gives a lot of his food away (to us when we're there; today I got beets!), and I've been told that he donates a lot of it to food banks. His lifestyle is encouraging.

Today he told a story about how "his" bobcat was shot by one of his neighbors. This bobcat would frequent C.P.'s land, catching mice in the field. He spoke very highly of the cat, and also lamented that there weren't any cougars in the area (as there historically were). Apparently this neighbor used the excuse that the cat had to be killed because otherwise he would kill too many chickens. I guess he (or one of the other neighbors) had a chicken coop that didn't have fencing completely enclosing it, and one time the bobcat got into it and killed all of the chickens. C.P. remarked "of course he killed them all, he was in a small space and there were chickens flying everywhere! You should have had wire over the whole thing!" C.P. then explained that one time when he had his chickens running free around the yard, he saw the bobcat kill one of them. He didn't do anything about it, explaining that "he [the bobcat] has to eat too, and one chicken isn't such a big deal."

This mentality needs to become widespread. Large predators are an integral part of ecosystems, and their extirpation has had deleterious effects across North America. Anyone from the midwest knows that we have too many deer. Wolves are widely considered a keystone species, especially after the negative effects of elk browsing on aspens were observed after their extirpation, and then subsequently reversed when wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone. Who knows how much the eastern U.S. has changed. The attempted re-introduction of red wolves into the Smokies was a good start (albeit an utter failure), and conservation action to recover Florida panther numbers is encouraging. But currently, the majority of Americans simply don't understand how to coexist with large predators. Honestly, it's just common sense. Give them habitat (stop needlessly developing so much wilderness!) so that they have a healthy prey base. This way they won't be tempted to prey upon livestock. However, some livestock predation is inevitable. Especially if people are too clueless to take proper precautions. Throw a few llama into a herd of sheep. Get a few extra dogs to patrol your land (this is more of a predator deterrent than anything). Electric fence around pastures. There are several other precautions that have shown to be effective in deterring wolves. Don't let small dogs and children wander around unsupervised.

I'm not saying it will be a perfectly harmonious state of affairs; there will certainly be human - predator conflicts. These can be minimized, however, and overall the presence of predators and the effects that they have on the surrounding ecosystems are a boon that far outweighs the conflicts.

And on a semi-related tangent: let beavers do what they do! They're much better dam builders than humans anyways.

Rant on Overpopulation

2009-07-20T23:13:00.004-04:00

"The Developers, of course--the politicians, businessmen, bankers, administrators, engineers--they see it somewhat otherwise and complain most bitterly and interminably of a desperate water shortage, especially in the Southwest. They propose schemes of inspiring proportions for diverting water by the damful from the Columbia River, or even from the Yukon River, and channelizing it overland down into Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

What for? 'In anticipation of future needs, in order to provide for the continued industrial and population growth of the Southwest.' And in such an answer we see that it's only the old numbers game again, the monomania of small and very simple minds in the grip of an obsession. They cannot see that growth for the sake of growth is a cancerous madness, that Phoenix and Albuquerque will not be better cities to live in when their populations are doubled again and again. They would never understand that an economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human." ~Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Interestingly enough, E.A. earlier described a microcosm example for global overpopulation, perhaps unwittingly as he didn't make the comparison directly. He described the rampant poverty on the Navajo reservation, and how Navajo are forced into the slums of the "white" cities, etc. as their own land has been essentially destroyed as a result of their increased fecundity (namely due to the introduction of the white man's modern medicine and its subsequent effect on infant mortality). Overused and overgrazed, the Navajo reservation no longer supports the (then) current number of Navajo, hence the population overspills out into white slums.

What happens, then, when we extrapolate the situation to a global level? Where will the "overspill" human population go? Sci-Fi offers romantic notions of escaping the planet and colonizing other chunks of rock in space. Utter absurdity. Life on Earth is adapted for Earth's climate, one of possibly infinite arrangements of climatic variables. What is the likelihood that we'll find a suitable planet for habitation, free of ill (and likely unforseen) effects? What if such a hypothetical planet were otherwise perfect, but the atmosphere failed to block out harmful solar radiation? It would be like sucking on lollipops made from Uranium 235, and the "colonists" would soon succumb to a most miserable, agonizing death. So much for expanding our available land. As much as I love Firefly, terraforming is a fantasy.

So our available planet space is finite. We will soon be trapped in our own depleted "Navajo reservation" to take what we can from what little is left of the land. It's less productive overall, for a higher number of people. The gruesome truth of Overpopulation. THIS is the single most dangerous threat to the environment, to society, to the existence of life on Earth. Pollution, habitat loss, etc. are all related to and amplified by population. We've overextended our carrying capacity in a way that no species (to our knowledge) has yet been able to do, as a result of cheap energy from the alchemically altered bodies of organisms that lived millions of years ago. It was cheating. Non-renewable energy provided a false sense of prosperity.

Of course the basic concept is not as unnatural as it at first appears. Carrying capacity is not a fixed value, but is dynamic (responding to changes in the environment). Changes like the applications of fossil fuel to industrialization. Changes like a boom in the population of hares, increasing the carrying capacity of the fox. Such cycles are common in nature, and as the increasing number of foxes prey upon the hares, the prey species begins to decline because too many of them are getting eaten. Well, that leaves less food for the fox, and its carrying capacity decreases. Or at least that's how the textbooks put it; they even make it easy to understand with a nice graph: a red sine wave slightly misaligned with a blue sine wave. Blue (fox) follows red (hare), and an increase or decrease in hares causes an increase or decrease in foxes (likewise, an increase in foxes causes a decrease in hares, thus the feedback loop is ongoing). The textbooks make it very crisp and understandable indeed (good for the visual learners, of course). Distanced from the reality of the Struggle for Existence. The graph can't evoke the hunger that the fox feels when he can't find any hares. The slow weakening of his muscles. The more he needs food the less able he is to hunt food. And so his body consumes itself; slowly, and painfully. Perhaps he goes mad. Starvation is not a pleasant death; if he is capable of emphathy (and perhaps he is? We know not...) then he certainly envies the quick death of the hares that were plentiful in his puphood. The sustenance that he hasn't known for weeks, or even months.

But with non-renewable energy, there is no cycle (at least not one applicable to the human reference frame). An increase in the utilization of petroleum certainly increased our carrying capacity, but what happens when that resource runs out? A drop in carrying capacity, much like with the fox. And then the biology student will truly understand that deceptively simple graph, with its red and blue sine waves.

Over-dramatic much? What can I say, I've been reading Edward Abbey. And of course the hypothetical example that I gave is a simplification; after all, renewable energy will provide a boost to our carrying capacity! But a boost equal to that of fossil fuels? And where exactly will that carrying capacity line hover? 6 billion? 9 billion? 3 billion? 1 billion?

And more importantly, what shall be the terms? We can continue to "cheat" and raise our carrying capacity beyond what the world can sustainably support. Instant gratification, right? Develop all the world; turn all the fields and forests into cropland; turn all the oceans into hatcheries; dam all the rivers and drain all the aquifers; use every last resource for the benefit of humanity and fulfill that prophecy of the 6th mass extinction!

Will the amphibians survive? Perhaps the African Clawed Frog (that vile harbinger of chytridiomycosis), for it's too valuable a research organism to let go extinct! Will the songs of scarlet tanagers, hooded warblers, common yellowthroats, and wood thrushes be silenced forever, only to be replaced by the obnoxious, monotonous cheeping of house sparrows? Who will the starlings have left to mimic?

Bottom line: sustainability cannot happen without stabilization of human population growth rates, and likely decreases. So how do we want to go about it? With our big brains we can (theoretically) foresee things like this. We can predict much more complex phenomena, so why is Overpopulation so commonly ignored? Perhaps because it's an uncomfortable topic. If "culling" is out of the question, then what? Birth limits (worked great in China!)? Forced sterilization? Well, making birth control/family planning available to third world countries is certainly a great start. But then again, the birth rate in America isn't even at that target net value of 0 (at least), and to top it off we're consuming a disproportionate amount of resources. How can population be seriously discussed and ethically addressed?

Hopefully we figure it out soon. As unorthodox as random sterilization sounds, it's a hell of a lot better than half the world starving to death.

So why are humans starving to death a problem exactly? After all, I did provide an example of how it's natural for starvation to stabilize population size (those poor foxes). Why should humans be any different? No, it's not because we're more valuable, or important, or because we have more of a right to live and be comfortable (as much as the vast majority of people would like to believe). The real danger is that humans have become such damn good competitors that, in securing resources for our own species' survival, we will degrade and destroy ecosystems and cause a disturbing numer of species to go extinct.

We're not the only species that can potentially do this; an example that immediately springs to mind is swarms of locusts destroying every living plant in a given area. The difference is one of scale; the locust destroys 10 acres, 100 acres, 1000 acres, perhaps even 1,000,000 acres. There are always new sources, however. The destroyed region becomes a sink population, but there is always a source to re-populate it. What happens when the scale of destruction is global, though?

It amazes me how much time and money people spend redecorating their houses, mowing their lawns, etc. and yet many of these people don't give a damn about the environment. Clearly they have some concept of taking care of the place that they live, so do they just not realize that they live on Earth too? What makes it even more absurd is that the "little boxes" that they care so much about are relatively easy to replace (if, for example, it were to burn down). Just move somewhere else! The Earth, on the other hand, is all that we have. Either people are ignorant of that fact, or they truly (and childishly) believe the Sci-Fi balderdash that we'll colonize other planets when Earth simply isn't enough. Perhaps they just don't believe that it will happen in their lifetime. But what about their children's lifetime? Don't they want to secure the continuity of their genes (why else would they breed at all)?

Denial isn't constructive.

To quote Abbey again, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." And we all know what happens to the "host" of a cancerous population of cells, when said growth becomes too prolific.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince first impressions SPOILERS

2009-07-19T18:33:00.003-04:00

Ye be warned: Spoilers!

I'd like to preface this by noting that I never expected Half Blood Prince to translate well from book to movie. So they did as well as can be expected I guess. Besides, it was still better than Goblet of Fire and the 1st two movies.

A few extra action scenes that weren't in the book were added, (Death Eaters attack the Muggle World and the destruction of the Burrow) and for the most part I think they were probably necessary. Granted, it's been a while since I read that book but I seem to recall it being largely Dumbledore giving Harry memory tours, backstory on Tom Riddle, and "teen drama" of the romantic kind. Not that I disliked the book (I remember it being one of the better ones), but yeah, once again I think the story is much better told in print than on film.

While I'm on the subject of the new scenes, I actually really liked the attack on the Burrow. It was one of the more intense scenes in the movies and the chase through the wheat field had some great cinematography. Bellatrix's playful, insane brand of evil was perfectly conveyed as she lured Harry away shouting "I killed Sirius Black!," as was Harry's reckless rage. The Weasley's sense of disbelief, and defeat, was felt as they watched their house (one of the more iconic locations in the Harry Potter universe) burn to the ground. It made me look forward to some of the scenes that were coming up at the end of the movie, but unfortunately those subsequent scenes were quite disappointing.

For some reason, the Harry Potter movies don't really do character death scenes all that well. They always seem too...casual? They just don't invoke the level of emotion that a death scene should (but maybe I expect too much, being a fan of Joss Whedon...). In any case, one of the most vivid parts of the book (in my head, when I was reading it) was when Harry chases down Snape after Dumbledore is killed. With the movie I just kind of reacted by thinking "was that really it?!" And I think I remember Faux immolating himself after Dumbledore's death in the book (or am I making that up?), but in the movie he just sort of flies off into the distance.

I surprisingly enjoyed Draco Malfoy's struggle to deal with his mission in the movie. Enjoyed in the sense that I think they did it right. He was shown frequently, and only at the beginning was he his normal braggy, jerk of a self. He came across as visibly tormented, which is good given that he's normally such a vile character who is hard to take seriously. On a related note, the Sectumsempra scene, while not quite how I pictured it in the book, was excellent.

A large part of the movie was devoted to Ron/Hermoine/Lavender drama, and Harry/Ginny drama to a lesser extent. Yay, teen angst (sarcasm). To be fair, it was far less annoying than it was in the book. Less drawn out I guess, and also a little bit of humor to make it bearable.

Why wasn't Katie Bell shown in the Quidditch scenes? Or maybe she was, but it just wasn't noticeable. Still, would it have been that hard for someone to address her at least once given that she was going to play a role in the plot later on? No, instead they decided that the first time you see her is when she's cursed. Whatevs I guess.

I liked the guy they got to play Slughorn, especially since my mental picture of him from reading the books was never too clear.

The Inferi looked like Gollum. Why, exactly? Sure, Gollum's a little creepy looking, but these are supposed to be zombie corpses, any classical zombie portrayal would have been better than looking like Gollum! But then again the movie series has a history of screwing up creepy bad guys (though I won't bash them too much for the Dementors, since the imagination is really the only place that those scary bastards can reach their full potential).

Yeah, ok, so they decided to make Fenrir Greyback a very prominent Death Eater. No mention of the fact that he's a werewolf though. And there was a pretty good opportunity to do so during the destruction of the Burrow scene, especially since Remus was present and the fact that he is a werewolf was mentioned!!!!

I just realized that they didn't show Voldemort at all in that movie (except for in the memory scenes, as young Tom Riddle). Huh.

Luna's great.

I'm getting tired of typing and I don't know what else to talk about, especially since it's been so long since I read the gosh-darn books.

North Cascades National Park

2009-06-18T00:54:00.005-04:00

Gorgeous!

Click here to view my pictures.

I went backpacking there with Erin and her roommate, Kelly, from June 11-14. Since the 11th was a Thursday, the first night we had the campsite (Big Beaver boat-in camp) all to ourselves--and it was a really popular campsite, too, which is usually booked on the weekends (as it was Saturday night). For good reason; this site was amazing! We were right on a spur of Ross Lake, with mountains all around us. We cooked on the rocky beach, watching the sun sink behind the mountains. Erin and Kelly read Monkey Wrench Gang out loud (I'd never read it before, but soon I'll remedy that!) as we drank rum. Erin tried giving Kelly dreadlocks, and I braided Erin's hair (it looked really nice too, and surprisingly symmetrical). As the rum slowly coursed through my veins, I began to act more and more like Gollum, especially when the mice started scampering about. I ran all over the place chasing them; it was quite fun. When we went to bed, there was a mouse that kept trying to climb up my corner of the tent. It would get about a foot up, and then slide back down. Tried this several times before giving up. Maybe it was playing.

I woke up to the sound of a loon calling. What a perfect alarm clock! I'd never heard (nor seen) a loon before, and it had always been a goal of mine to wake up to the sound of one. Worked out well! So I crawled out of the tent (I was the first to rise, and we were all in Erin's ginormous 4 person dome tent, which we opted to take instead of the 2 backpacking tents) and was greeted to a crisp mountain morning, with the tops of the surrounding peaks veiled in clouds. I slowly walked along the beach, looking at schools of fish swim about, occasionally breaking the surface to gobble up some tasty morsel. And then I saw the loon, and in breeding plumage no less! I watched him for quite some time, then went back to the tent for my binoculars. He repeatedly dove underwater, often remaining submerged for a surprisingly long time, and then reappearing far away. Soon the osprey (whose nest was right across the lake from our camp) started fishing as well. Sights like these are enough to make me a morning person (temporarily, at least)!

After a quick dip in the cold lake, we headed out to our next destination: Thirtynine mile campsite. We ate lunch on a large boulder (~15 ft. tall?) along the Big Beaver Creek Trail. We passed several very large western redcedar, as well as a beaver pond. It was beautiful, but the mosquitoes pressed us onward. The mosquitoes overall were actually really terrible; the only negative part of the trip. They apparently liked me the best, and I probably had over 100 bites, mostly on my arms. The majority of the time I hiked in long sleeves (my body armor), despite the heat. At one point along the trail the ground was covered in rough, white cobbles. They comprised the whole forest floor! It almost looked like the ground was snow-covered. It was a strange sight, for many of the trees didn't look all that badly beaten. I wonder how long ago the rocks came down the slope?

We got the Thirtynine mile late afternoon/early evening and I decided it would be fun to climb a mountain (off trail) until I hit snow. I got tired and hungry, and was running out of water, without seeing any snow (at least on my slope). Across the valley I could see that some of the low areas on the other slopes had some spotty snow, which looked to be below the elevation that I was currently at. I guess I picked the wrong slope to climb for snow. Oh well, it was least steep. Though still a tough climb (which required scrambling over rock and talus at times). My heels started developing hot spots from trying to climb so fast, but no actual blisters. Which makes me very, very happy, since this was the first long hike that I'd gone on in my new boots! I'm very happy with those boots. Anyways, I decided to turn around after a while, and the climb down went much faster. At one point I thought I heard tanagers calling, but I couldn't locate them in the treetops. Darn, hopefully I'll get to see a Western Tanager before I go back east! By the time I got back to camp, Erin and Kelly had just finished dinner, and were debating whether to wait or not (or rather, had just decided that they weren't going to wait for me, lol). So perfect timing there. We built a fire a little while later (my primary goal was to smoke out the mosquitoes, which sort of worked).

Our itinerary put us back at Big Beaver the next night, but we decided it would be best to see if one of the other camps closer to the trailhead was available (by hiking to it, of course, lol). So we went a little further than planned that day, but this shortened our hike for Sunday morning (which was good since it was a 2 1/2 drive back to my house, and then Erin and Kelly had a 5 hour drive after that). In the afternoon we heard thunder, though the main storm stayed in a different valley. We did get sprinkled on, and the rain was welcome, as it drove the mosquitoes away for the rest of the day! It was still raining as we set up camp, but we found a dry spot under some doug fir and shore pine to cook our dinner. During dinner, the rain stopped. Everything was able to dry. The weather was perfect; rain to get rid of the mosquitoes, but stopped before it could become a nuisance!

We saw a lot of cool flora and fauna, too, including some notable herps. Two western toads (Bufo boreas) that were impressively large. I'd estimate about 5+ inches SVL. Several Pacific tree frogs (Pseudacris regilla) and several alligator lizards (Elgaria sp.), one of which I thought was a skink at the time (but after looking up the Western Skink, I realized that it was not what I saw). And coolest of all, a rubber boa (Charina bottae)!!!

And that concludes my trip summary. Now it's bed time. I can't wait to get back to this park in September (next time bug spray will be a required item!). I'm also excited to backpack Olympic NP and Banff NP!

Weird dream I had last night

2009-06-01T22:16:00.003-04:00

Not the weirdest I've ever had, but it's been a while since I've remembered a weird dream. Plus I was strangely inspired to waste 9 precious minutes of my morning writing it down instead of getting ready for work in a timely fashion. So here goes.

I was moving into a new dorm (presumably at Denison?) and David was my roommate. We opened the door to discover that the building was structurally warped, such that the walls of our room (which was on the ground floor) were bent down at an 70-80 degree angle, but the floor was still level. Oh, and the walls were also sort of twisted (I swear, it must still be that time that snow collapsed my tent, twisting it on itself that haunts my dreams...). The windows were weird, kind of like bay windows but they only went out about 4 inches, and they were pretty small for the room (maybe 2 ft. by 2 ft?). And of course, there was only one double bed in the room (which was so small that there wasn't even room for another bed). No desks. Just a bed. So David and I throw our crap on the floor, lay in bed as if a TV were going to magically appear on the wall, and then after a few minutes decide that we were going to check out the rest of the building.

So we get to one of the upper floors (3rd or 4th), and there are balconies! So we hung out on the balcony for a while, and a strong wind steadily increases in speed, blowing against the building. Then seagulls start to get carried by the wind toward the building. They're blown up to it, and basically are forced to run up the walls to get over because the force of the wind won't let them change course (that, or they're really stupid seagulls). David and I begin to fake shoot the seagulls with our hands as guns, because David jokingly suggested that we catch one and eat it, since we haven't had time to go grocery shopping yet and it's dinner time. Then all of the sudden a seagull crashes/lands on the balcony with us, and I grab it by the neck and bash its head against the railing.

I give the bird to David, who starts skinning it. Then we both gut it, but we do it as if we're doing a dissection, being careful to preserve the organs intact as we take them out. I take out the ovaries/oviduct, and then see these weird organs inside so I take them out. It's a pair of blue reniform/spherical structures and a pair of red ones. I think the shapes were slightly different between the two colors, but I don't remember details. And I'm pretty sure they weren't connected to each other in any way. I ask David what they are, and he says "duh, it's the (insert nonsensical molecular gibberish, much like the chemistry that was in Bob's James Bond paper, here), don't you remember anything from your dissections?"

"Oh yeah, that's right." I reply. Even though I dont' think I had any idea what the hell he was talking about. Then for some reason I go downstairs, and I throw away our pizza boxes (yeah, I don't know where they came from either). I also brought some more of our stuff up to the room. So I walk down the hall, past the receptionist who is behind a big glass window (oh, and the walls look like Morrow's lobby). I'm now walking to our room, which is apparently upstairs now. So I open my door, and all of the sudden David isn't my roommate anymore. Liz's little sister, Maggie, is. WTF?! She's sitting on her bed, which is the bottom bunk of an L-shaped arrangement (Blair and Erin style). She's braiding someone's hair (I don't remember who), and there are two other people sitting on the floor (playing video games? I'm not sure). I'm also not sure who they were. One of them was Reyan maybe, or Josh, and David may have still been there? Two of those three maybe. But I really don't remember.

This is where it gets fuzzy, and I wake up. Two minutes before my alarm goes off. But I think that it's an hour and two minutes before my alarm should go off, so I go back to sleep right away and re-enter the dream for like 10 seconds before the alarm wakes me up.

Weird, huh?

Musings on "House"

2009-06-01T00:19:00.002-04:00

"Like Socrates and House, we need people to confront us. If others either agree with us or 'agree to disagree with us' to avoid engaging us in debate, we'll stay confined to our own little reality. We need someone to stand up against us.

Yet very few people will do this for us, because they know we'll reciprocate and ask questions about their beliefs and opinions. Having one's most basic assumptions challenged is unpleasant, unsettling, and considered offensive in our society. Most people will simply refuse to do it...unless they are attacked and feel threatened. To learn anything, people like House and Socrates need others to question their opinions. Since others usually avoid conflict, they have no choice but to relentlessly attack people's beliefs from all sides, and harass them with questions and ironical remarks, until someone 'awakes from their slumber' and strikes back, criticizing House's or Socrate's own assumptions.

Should we condemn such an attitude? If we think about it, an education that wouldn't challenge and change the ideas students already have would be a poor education indeed. And a doctor who wouldn't display a healthy skepticism about the current state of medicine wouldn't be more than a medical ATM, dispensing drugs according to some preestablished guidelines. Yes, just like physical fights, intellectual confrontations are painful. But they lead to our greatest discoveries. At least with respect to knowledge, House is right: 'Being nice is overrated.'"

~Melanie Frappier, from her essay "'Being nice is overrated': House and Socrates on the Necessity of Conflict" in House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies.

Ok, so the title is a bit misleading as these aren't exactly my musings, but they generate further musings so whatevs :D

Pictures from Tychman Slough assessment

2009-04-21T20:52:00.004-04:00

A lamprey! This was the 4th one found over 2 days, and the second one caught. I caught a larger one (5-6 inches?) on 4/20, and James caught this one (it's on a meter tape, so maybe 2 1/2 - 3 inches?) on 4/21. He didn't grab it like I did because he was afraid it would latch on.

Rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa)!!! I stressed her out trying to get good pictures, but not enough to make her exude toxin (and a good thing too, because they're one of, if not the, most toxic amphibians in the world and this was before lunch).

There she is at an interesting camera angle.

The one on top is the female (pictured before), who is quite possibly gravid here, and the one on the bottom is the male in breeding condition (adult newts go through a second metamorphosis during breeding season, whereby they become more aquatic; the tail is laterally compressed and the skin becomes smoother). As with Ambystomid salamanders, you can sex males during breeding season by noting the swollen cloaca.

Looking upstream the Skykomish River, from the inlet of Tychman Slough. The trees lining the right bank (which is the bank that's on the left in this picture) are Black Cottonwood. Yay, they're leafing out so it's officially spring!

Pictures from my Ordinary High Water Mark (OHWM) Training

2009-04-19T21:32:00.003-04:00

Anyone have any idea what these little guys are? They seem to be cases (not really hard enough to be considered shells; def. not mineralized) of some type of filter feeding organism. They were attached to the bottom of a piece of driftwood, and the bay that they washed up from was probably on the very high end of brackish (not sure how much the Samish River dilutes the seawater this far from the mouth....).

The erosive power of water (or, rather, sediment in the water) has sculpted this piece of driftwood.

Ladybug crawling over a dried up piece of kelp (?)

Looking out into Puget Sound (between Padilla Bay and Samish Bay) from Samish Island.

2009-04-17T22:25:00.001-04:00

"In physics, if it works, it is generally considered correct. But evolution has jury-rigged organisms to work in all sorts of ways, and any number of hypotheses are possibilities."
-Bernd Heinrich, "Ravens in Winter"

Pictures

2009-04-12T13:24:00.004-04:00

For some reason Facebook wanted to make my pictures too small, so I'm putting a few up here. I'll probably set up a webshots, flickr, etc. page at some point. Anyone have any recommendations on what they like the best?

View of the port from the top of the bluff above Howarth Park. You can see Mt. Baker in the background.

Looking into Beaver Lake from the outlet at the beaver dam. This is at Lord Hill Regional Park.

Frogs in amplexus. I think the female might be a bullfrog (ARGH!), but I'm not sure what the male is (not a bullfrog though). Could be wrong about the female. I didn't get a good look at them in the field because they were underneath two large pieces of wood in the stream, so I basically just got my camera as close as I could and hoped that the pictures would come out.

Temple Pond at Lord Hill Regional Park.

It's that time of year again...

2009-04-02T20:07:00.002-04:00

I saw a rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) today!!! It's one of the most poisonous amphibians in the world and I got to hold it :D It's only predators are certain populations of Common Garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis), which have developed incredible resistence to tetrodotoxin. The snakes got more resistant, so the newts got more toxic. Repeat throughout the duration of the coevolutionary history of the species. Hehehe. Anyways, this little guy was pretty laid back (as is to be expected). I know he was a guy because it's breeding season, and so the males have swollen cloacas. He just sort of crawled around on my hands and rainjacket, and a couple of times he got quite a bit frustrated. He never did the full on head and tail both up in the air warning sign (which exposes the bright orange ventral portions of the animal, advertising its toxicity), but he did raise his head a few times (35-45 degree angle) and puff out his throat, which also served to display the orange on his chin (I'm assuming this was a less severe version of the warning posture). I wish I would have had my camera with me!!! But if I carried my camera everywhere in the field, the rain would just about kill it. Oh well, I get to handle an incredible Caudate species, so I'm happy :D

What I miss about the Smokies

2009-04-02T01:31:00.002-04:00

This past summer was awesome. I don't want to get all nostalgic trying to compare it to the summer before, when I was doing research at Denison (which was also awesome). They were different experiences, and I'd prefer not to get all Denison nostalgic right before bed. But the Smokies I shall discuss.

I miss the simplicity of the lifestyle a lot. I lived in a cabin, with people who were mostly around my own age. Typical day: I'd get up, and get ready for work. I was usually the first of the guys to get up, which made bathroom access nice (especially living with 5 guys! The early bird gets the...toilet I guess, lol). Fortunately I didn't shower in the morning, so it was a nice system for all (except when my poison ivy was bad, in which case I would heat treat it in the shower in the morning). I'd walk over to the pesticide building, and my schedule was laid out for the week, with the days tasks on the whiteboard and who's doing what, etc. I miss the trucks!!! Dear lord, do I miss those trucks. I like how they had names. Optimus was awesome, except for the lack of radio. Though sometimes if you pounded the dash you could get it to work. I hated riding in the backseat of Skeeter. Skeeter was the small truck, and even though it was new, it was VERY uncomfortable for anyone in the back. Fortunately we usually only took Skeeter if there were only two people in the truck. And then there was Nemo, Exo Six, and why can't I remember other truck names off the top of my head? Oh well, that's 4 of them, and the 4 we used most frequently. Then there was the drive to the site. I liked when it was a long drive, because napping in the truck was something that I got very good at. I also liked when we passed a store, because I would often get a muffin on the way.

Depending on the day, it was either spray exotics and get exposed to poison ivy (I hated that at the time), treat hemlocks, or occasionally do monitoring or some other random task(s). It was simple work, and VERY low stress. Sometimes it would wear on me, but I think that was partially the timing (going to the park almost right after graduation). That definitely got worse toward the end of my internship, when I knew that it was almost over. Anyways, the drive back to HQ was always nice (more napping, usually). Then it was back to the cabin. If it was hot, we might head over to the swimming hole before dinner. Sometimes we would get a fire going and cook food outside. We'd sometimes slackline, or play 4 square, or watch Scrubs. And of course, on Thursdays (for 4 day weeks) and Fridays (for 5 day weeks) we would inevitably go to the Brewery. I REALLY MISS THE BREWERY! I'd usually get a tall Porter or Cherokee (sometimes two, sometimes a tall and a pint). Either way, it was almost always the perfect amount of beer to get me relaxed, and it was made even better if I was feeling spendy enough to get dinner there (a philly or a white pizza, both were so delicious that I rarely got anything else).

Weekends were awesome, though I would always think that our 2 day weekends weren't quite long enough. How I loved the weeks when we had 3 day weekends! I'd get up early; way before anyone on the guy's side of the cabin and often before anyone on the girl's side. I tried to go birding regularly, or looking for salamanders. I'd make chocolate chip pancakes most weekends, and I usually went hiking at least one day. And I would read (more than I've been doing here, actually). And since Gatlinburg was 2 miles away, and the library was only open when I was free two days a week, I had very little computer access. And given my signal, I'd have to walk the two miles even to get cell phone reception!!!! That is, until I found the sweet spot at the bridge behind my cabin. The lack of electronics definitely contributed to the experience. Of course we had Paul's computer that we would use to watch DVDs (from the library or Alex's collection), but I generally didn't watch as much as other people (so I unfortunately missed a good chunk of episodes from seasons 1-3 of Scrubs).

And it was easy to hang out with people there. Not that I was super close to anyone (3 months is far too short a time to get very close), but I enjoyed the community. I was at ease there (like I said, very stress-free lifestyle!). I'm not sure I realized quite how good I had it. I loved living in the park, and I miss that, especially now that I'm living in Everett. For all of the outdoorsy hype surrounding the Pacific Northwest, I sure don't feel very connected to wilderness here. I'm doing great work, but always on a private landowner's property, or a small park (not tiny, but nothing more than a few miles wide).

And the mountains out west have been somewhat of a disappointment to me. Perhaps that will change when I've spent more time exploring them (during the road trip AFTER this position, it should be noted). Pictures just don't capture the essence of a place, and I guess my best interpretation of the "hidden essence" from pictures was off. The agricultural areas here look pleasant enough, but they don't hold a candle to midwestern ag land (the kind with patches of forest, and rolling landscapes with small farms; I'm certainly not referring to huge commercial monocultures that stretch for miles...). The fall foliage was unimpressive, and the lack of snow in the winter was quite depressing. If it's going to be cold, I at least want snow. Even if it wasn't raining here, there was often just a "wet" look to everything. And now that it's spring, I'm sure the days without rain will become fewer and fewer.

I guess I can't even begin to describe the sense I get from the land here. The disappointment is part aesthetic, and part emotional. Part of it is because I feel very detached from the land, and it's not just the geographic distance from my home state. It's a sort of uncomfortableness that the alders, and the cedars, and the sword ferns exude. The lush green looks great in pictures, but in person it's a wet, dismal green, and there's a lot of "dead" yellows and browns (at least this time of year). Overall, most of the winter it felt like those late winter days in Ohio (or midwinter warm snaps) where the snow is mostly melted and the ground is slushy and wet, but it's still cold. Only warm enough to expose the dead and dormant plant material that has been festering underneath the snow for weeks, and to turn the once frozen soil into near-frozen mud. Though I'm sure that this isn't an intrinsic aspect of the landscape, as it hasn't been lying under snow (at least not in the lowlands). Just the association that I have from snowless days in Ohio. But then again, even those who live here don't find it pleasant (they simply go on and on about the summers here, which from what I hear are very short--the "prime" can be as short as a week or two!!).

And people here joke about how the Appalachians "aren't really mountains." HA!!! I LOVE Appalachian landscapes! Their aesthetic and richness surpasses anything I've experienced here thus far! And yet, I'm glad that I'm not longer drawn to something that isn't what I thought it was (the Pacific Northwest). I will never live here. Now, I feel compelled to visit other places that I aspire to go someday, to see if they live up to expectations or if they fall short. Alaska (I suspect it won't impress me, though the tundra in midsummer would probably be worth it, and perhaps a winter aurora show...), Yellowstone, the Sierra Nevada, the Rockies, the Boreal forest, Banff, Maine, etc. And I hope that when I go backpacking in Olympic and North Cascades, Washington will be partially "redeemed."

Not that everything here is terrible. Just happens to be a night that I'm feeling nostalgic for the Smokies, and Denison, and the comparison is not in favor of my current situation. But this is good work experience here. I definitely don't regret doing this, but I am glad that it's not long term :)

Bed time!

Lessons

2009-03-30T01:22:00.002-04:00

I learned two important things today. Against all odds, it happened to actually be a nice day. No rain, not even cloudy! Since the sun's presence is somewhat of a rarity around here, I thought that I should take advantage of it. Besides, what better way to help break in my new hiking boots? A slow, and daunting task. It usually takes me a while to break in boots. They fit awesome the first time I try them on, but then as I slowly use them, they become uncomfortable in several different ways. Then begins the process of them becoming comfortable once again as they conform to my strange, strange feet.

Since I'm on the subject of my new boots, I'll begin with lesson #1: Don't walk in streams with light hiking boots! There are a few good reasons why I went with the Vasque Breeze, and the first, as the name of the boot implies, is that they offer respectable ventilation for a waterproof boot (obviously they're Goretex, but they also have several patches of mesh-y cloth to allow ample airflow. Which is great for me, as my feet are prone to sweating. And if I'd gone with heavy, sturdy backpacking boots, it wouldn't matter that they were waterproof if the weather was warm. Second, I've heard that heavy boots can take days to dry after getting wet (because given enough water, there is no boot that is completely waterproof). This was confirmed by Julie today. And even my previous boots (which were also lightweight), could easily take about a day or two to dry if they were kept indoors without ample airflow. And there's nothing worse than putting your dry feet into a still-wet boot before a day of hiking! So I'm glad I went with boots that will dry faster. However (and I did read this previously), they also get wet faster, despite being Goretex. To be fair, the insides were merely damp after walking in a creek. Sort of like how the inside of a Goretex jacket will be damp on the inside if it's been out in the rain. But it usually doesn't get any more than just damp, and my clothes stay dry underneath. So we'll see how the boots work. I'm sure that it's impossible to find a truly adequete hiking boot. One way or another, your feet will get wet! Whether this be from sweat, or external sources of water. The question becomes, is it better to get your feet wet more frequently but have boots that dry quickly, or have boots that keep water out in all but the most extreme circumstances, but take forever to dry. Also, in warm weather the sweat will be a problem in terms of comfort, though this certainly won't soak the boot and therefore drying isn't an issue. So what's the moral of the story? Yes, it's a tradeoff, and I think I made the right choice. I just need to get used to limitations (i.e. instead of walking through many puddles on an otherwise dry day and risk reaching that dampness threshold, avoid getting my feet when when possible).

Now onto lesson number two that I learned today. Nettles here are kind of a bitch. The nettles I've run into back on the eastern side of the country never really bothered me that much. Sure, they were a bit painful, but it was like a very mild sting, and gone after a couple of minutes. Still, some people really hate nettles, and I just figured they didn't affect me as much. That was until today. Perhaps it was because I encountered a species that I hadn't come in contact with before, but the effect was definitely exaggerated! When I first came in contact with it, the initial "sting" was a little more painful (still not very high on the scale of painful things though) and then the lingering painful numbness. Which usually dissipates after a few minutes. This didn't. In fact, at 10:45 pm as I type this, I can still feel the "sting." Perhaps whatever toxin/acid that this species has is more persistent in animal tissue. Interesting. I wonder how common this stuff is.

After WA

2009-03-27T11:23:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything on here. This won't be very long since I'll have to leave for work soon. Yay for late days! I spent the extra time I gave myself in the morning doing research for the road trip at the end of August. So far Olympic NP, North Cascades NP, and Banff NP (Canada) are the three main targets for the return journey. I'm tempted to head up to Alaska, but I think that would be pushing it in September.

I've also thrown around the idea of substitute teaching when I get back to OH. The demand is high, and I honestly don't think I'll have much success finding an appropriate job in October or so. I can just teach until I hear about some seasonal positions in NPs. They'll most likely start in spring. Not sure which park yet, but that's the general plan that I'm leaning toward. Of course who knows what else might come up.

Yesterday one of the kids found a western red backed salamander (Plethodon vehiculum) at Stillwater. This place is basically a meadow, and the adjacent riparian forest that we're widening is not the greatest quality for Plethodontids. Oh well, it was a pleasant surprise, and I taught them about mimicry :D

February in WA

2009-02-03T21:46:00.003-05:00

So from what I've heard, February is actually one of the nicer months in western WA. And so far that has been pretty much true. It hasn't rained for nearly a week, and not only that, but it's actually been somewhat SUNNY! Most of our non-rainy late fall-early winter days have either been very cloudy, or foggy. This is definitely a nice change of pace! Unfortunately, I'm also told that it won't last through March. Darn.

Anyways, in celebration of the good weather, I went for a hike this past Saturday. It was just in Everett, specifically Forest Park. I'd been to this park before and wasn't impressed with the amount of trails (probably less than a mile of convoluted connecting and twisting paths in a wooded section of the park). These trails were pretty cool for a park in the middle of a city, but not enough to amuse me for very long. Well, I found more trails! There was a random gated park road that I walked down, and it ran parallel to a stream (Pigeon Creek, I believe). There was some pretty cool erosion, and part of a steep bank had been carved away; it looked like sandstone with a younger conglomerate stratum, and then possibly more sandstone/soil above that. When I crossed the creek and took a look at what I thought was a spring coming out of the rock, I realized that the bank wasn't lithified at all! The "conglomerate" stratum was overhanging me, and so in the interest of safety I immediately vacated the area, lol. The "spring" was actually a pool set in a gouge that the flood waters had carved out, and I'm guessing that was the level of the water table on that side of the bank? Which seemed a little odd, as it was at a higher elevation than the other bank, but whatever.

Anyways, I got to the end of this road only to find...a sewage treatment building of some kind. Anticlimactic, huh? Well, not quite. Beyond that was a barbed wire fence, some railroad tracks, and a small sandy beach!!!! Now, the fence said no trespassing, but that of course didn't stop me :D This road was actually in the valley that Pigeon Creek ran through, and so there were decently steep slopes flanking the ends of the fence. Made it pretty easy to simply WALK AROUND the fence, if you took the opportunity to actually investigate those areas. I'm going to return to this beach regularly, I think, in the hopes of finding sea lions.

As I was about to turn around, I noticed that there was a trail going up one of the slopes. The park property was pretty extensive on either side of the road, and there were actually a decent amount of trails on the slopes/in the uplands!!! Overall it was a nice hike, and the weather was very spring-like. It even smelled like spring. At one point at the top of the hill there was a large waste water treatment facility, with a big-ass pipe (4-8 foot diameter? It was fairly far away...) spewing water into a reservoir. The whole complex was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, and around it on the outside was a typical suburban greenspace with some cool meadowy type grasses along the perimeter of the mowed grass, and then of course the terrible, invasive Himalayan blackberry. But for some reason the place really reminded me of my childhood. Exploring around the railroad tracks and such. Not exactly "wilderness," but urban/suburban outdoors that hadn't succumbed to development yet. Not sure if that area was park property or PUD property. Anyways, it was back into the woods after that. The trails through the wooded area had a lot of side paths branching off of them, and the topography was decently variable given the area. A lot of small ridges and valleys.

So yeah, there's at least one place in Everett with hiking that isn't terrible. Which is good. Plus the "secret" beach. There was one guy standing down on the beach, and so I didn't go down there. Wasn't sure if he was some type of worker or just a fellow trespasser like me, hehehe. Honestly though, I suspect the "no trespassing" signs are just a formality to keep kids off the train tracks, which do see a lot of train activity so it's a valid concern.

Ok, I'm done rambling on now. I'm sure a lot of people in the midwest would be very jealous if they read them, but I gotta say, I do really miss the winter. And this January had record snowfall!!! Yarg. I would miss that. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to wait until next winter. Speaking of which, not having a winter is really screwing with my biological clock. It feels like early spring for me...like it should be April, and that I hibernated through the winter or something. In a month or two I'm going to expect warm weather and it's just not going to come.

On my Self-Education

2009-01-22T00:08:00.002-05:00

I'm not going to get super philosophical with my definition of self-education. In this case, I'm simply referring to voluntary activity similar to what I would be required to do were I still in school. Essentially, my efforts are being focused on obtaining textbooks, reading them, and taking notes. You could argue that it's not the most effective way to learn, but it's what I'm used to so why not go with it? It's unfortunate that I can't really incorporate a field component very easily. For example, my current subject of study is geology. I can go out and attempt to look at rocks and rock formations all I want, but without an experienced geologist to guide me, answer questions, and either confirm or correct my thoughts, it isn't going to help me much. And so I am utilizing the textbook. But no matter: knowledge gained from books, if nothing else, provides a solid basis for experiential knowledge that may be gained later in life. I am aware of how inarticulate this paragraph may be...and I don't really care all that much. I'm sorting through thoughts a little bit here, and I feel like updating so why the hell not?

So geology is sort of interesting I guess. Learning the basics is a little dull, and I'm eager to get to chapters later in the book. But I don't want to rush it, because oftentimes boring stuff can be important to know, and it may inform more exciting stuff. Overall I'm making decent progress. I think I've read 6 chapters at this point? And since the book is due back next Monday, I've had it for 2 1/2 weeks. Not too shabby, but I'll definitely be renewing it at least once, probably twice. Interesting observation: one would think that chapters on natural disasters would be the good, juicy stuff that most people would want to read about. But I skipped the chapter on volcanism after the igneous rock chapter in favor of trudging right through sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, and I definitely plan on skipping the chapter on earthquakes. I may go back to them later, but my initial reaction was that these topics just didn't pique my interest.

I know that it's looking somewhat far ahead, but I'm debating whether my next subject should be Ornithology or Genetics. If I put off genetics, I'll probably continue to do so in favor of more interesting topics, but I'd really like to have a basic understanding of the subject (beyond the Mendelian stuff you learn in intro bio and E&E). And given that my textbook source is currently the library, and said books have a due date and a limit on the # of renewals, I don't want to take on multiple subjects at the same time (especially since I plan on reading various other books too). I suppose if I find a good textbook at Goodwill or something I can pick it up and take as long as I would like. But last time I was there (which, admittedly, was a couple of months ago) they didn't really have anything that I felt like buying.

Question: how bored does one have to be to actually read through blog posts of this nature? If someone else wrote this and I started reading it, I think I'd move on after the first few sentences...

Oh well, whatevs.

2009 New Years Predictions!!!

2009-01-06T00:39:00.004-05:00

I know they're late, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, does it? I am determined to go through with this tradition, especially after Reyan actually WROTE about it.

1.Winter and spring in WA will be dull, but the summer will make it worthwhile.

2.President Obama will assume a major role in addressing climate change, but will fall short with energy policies.

3.Reyan will get another job writing about sports :)

4.I will get a sub-par job, but I will actually be making money (which I will then save up for travel/grad school)

5.While in WA, I will consistently follow a self-education program which I began this very day by checking out a geology textbook from the library. Genetics is next.

6.Erin and I will coordinate a really awesome camping trip for this summer.

7.At least one more of my friends will get engaged.

8.I will once again remain single this year.

9.I will NOT get poison ivy or stung by bees at all this year!

10.I will find $5.

So there you go. Happy New Year! Just think, this is the last year that you'll be able to date things with a year beginning with '0. Unless the science of preserving heads in jars to survive indefinitely is perfected within our lifetimes. Which is possible, given that many modern celebrities have heads in jars in Futurama. Of course many dead people also have heads in jars, so clearly they will develop the technology to resurrect heads, but in a lot of cases I doubt some of those celebrities WOULD be resurrected. I'm sure it's a costly process, and it wouldn't be worth it for many of the heads on that show. But the point is still moot I guess, since heads in jars can't sign a date anyways. Unless they have cyborg or robot bodies. I'll bet most of us won't get those.

2008 New Years Predictions Reviewed.

2009-01-03T19:39:00.006-05:00

In the past I've been good about getting these done before the new year, but this year the holiday time was unusually busy. In a good way. I saw a lot of people, and I'm glad I did because I had to. I fly back out to WA tomorrow, and I won't be back in OH again until August. It's kind of scary that 2009 will be roughly 2/3 over by the time I get back; oh how the time does fly.

Unfortunately, the first thing that I happened to do in 2009 was get the flu. It was actually really bad, too. I wasn't able to travel back to Maple Heights on the 1st, so I spent an additional night at Erin's house. I REALLY hope that nobody else gets sick!

Anyways, in the interest of brevity (since I'm still not feeling so great), I shall review last year's predictions and hopefully I will still be motivated to post 2009 predictions tonight.

2008 Predictions Reviewed:

1. I will graduate from Denison, and it will be an incredibly messy slew of emotions.

Yes, I suppose this was a given, but I was surprisingly numb on the actual day of graduation. I guess there was just so much going on and it happened so fast. I am, however, extremely glad that I've been able to see as many Denison people as I have since graduation, I'm glad that I've stayed in contact with so many people, and for those who I haven't seen yet, hopefully there will be opportunities in 2009.

2. One of my friends will have a difficult time adjusting to life after Denison.

Nothing too serious that I can think of.

3. One of my friends will be presented with an amazing and unexpected opportunity.

Hmmm...not super sure about the "unexpected" part. I'm also apparently having a mental block tonight (I blame being sick) and apparently can't think of specific examples of anything, really. Also, this question is so very subjective and relies on the perspective of the one granted the opportunity much moreso than me...

4. Reyan will finally finish something (I’m not giving up on that one)!

Have you? ;)

5. I will show interest in another girl, but I will remain single the whole year.

Depends on how you define "interest." I did go on a date, but I doubt that will lead anywhere, seeing as she's going to be in Costa Rica for most of the time I'm in WA. I did, however, remain single :D

6. I will go on an amazing camping trip and finally see a large predator in the wild.

Ha, I don't even remember how many black bears I saw in the Smokies. Somewhere between 10 and 20. If you count them as large predators. They're mostly omnivores, sure, but they ARE in the Order Carnivora and they DO weigh more than me. Aside from that I did see some rather large cougar tracks while hiking in the Cascades with Erin, but we never saw the owner of said tracks (of course we were hiking at night and probably wouldn't have seen the kitty if it were right off the trail, but I digress...)

7. I will come to a realization about my future which will inform my grad school search.

More like scattered thoughts I suppose. I did realize that I definitely do not want to live in a large city (my definition of large is probably much smaller than most people's...). Ok, so I figured that before but living in Everett has really proven it. Other than that uhhh...I guess I haven't really thought about grad school all that much. I still have plenty of time. I do miss the academic environment, and so I guess that's telling too, right?

8. Someone I know will decide to live in a different country.

Does it count if I also met said person this year? Sure, why not! Paul, one of my fellow SCA interns from the Smokies, is doing a Masters program in England. Oh, and I guess Alice Brindle is too, so there's two people in different countries.

9. I will have distressing financial troubles.

I wouldn't call them "distressing" yet, at least not for me, but I'm sure many people would not be too happy if they were in my shoes. Or boots, specifically, because my lovely Gore-Tex boots are getting too worn out, and so they leak. And I can't afford new ones. Oh, and my other pairs of shoes are falling apart. I've pretty much brushed footwear off as a low priority until the situation becomes much more dire.

10. I will spend my “time off” after graduation meaningfully.

Yay SCA! The summer was good. My AmeriCorps position has certainly been meaningful so far as well, if not consistently as enjoyable as the SCA internship. I'll just have to try to get as much out of my residency in the Evergreen State as I can while I'm there!

So 6/10 for 2008. 7 if Reyan actually finished anything, but I'm guessing since he was so busy getting published a billion times that he probably did not...

2008-11-26T09:36:00.001-05:00

"We can not solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when
we created them." -Albert Einstein

Argh internets!

2008-11-18T21:44:00.002-05:00

Soooo the internet in my house is down. Has been down for the past three days. It kind of sucks, because now I have to go to the library for internet, but I guess since the library's like a one minute walk from work it's not that bad. And it's open until 9. I've dealt with worse *coughGatlinburgcough*.

On Sunday morning I looked up a couple of recipes for stuffed cabbage b/c the landowner from the planting the previous weekend had given me a HUGE cabbage from his field. Well, later that afternoon was when the internet crapped out so I was flying blind cooking this stuffed cabbage. I used some stuff from a couple diff. recipes, in addition to simply making it up myself. Didn't turn out half bad. Actually it was a damn good first attempt, the more I think about it.

Yeah, I don't really have anything else to say.

Some quotes

2008-11-14T00:51:00.002-05:00

I've been reading a collection of John Muir's work ("Nature Writings") and I pulled out some good quotes from what I've read so far. So, for anybody who reads this and is even remotely interested, here they are:

On poison oak: "Like most other things not apparently useful to man, it has few friends, and the blind question, "why was it made?" goes on and on with never a guess that first of all it might have been made for itself." ~John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

"Here, we are camped for the night, our big fire, heaped high with rosiny logs and branches, is blazing like a sunrise, gladly giving back the light slowly sifted from the sunbeams of centuries of summers; and in the glow of that old sunlight how impressively surrounding objects are brought forward in relief against the outer darkness!" ~John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

"No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself." ~John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

quick update

2008-11-08T00:37:00.003-05:00

I'm going to Corvallis to visit Erin for thanksgiving!!! Yay!!! Unfortunately it's more expensive than I thought it would be, and involves more sitting on a Greyhound than I would like, but I don't care. I get to see Erin!!! And then, for those who don't know (and actually read this blog), I'm coming home for Christmas for almost three weeks, actually. I fly out of here December 16th and fly back January 4th. So I'll be around for New Year's, too.

Tomorrow I have my second planting, and it's going to be muddy as all hell. Hopefully it'll be fun though. I'll stay more or less dry through the miracle of raingear, and I just hope that the volunteers will not be miserable. Especially the little kids. I'd rather deal with mud fights than complaining kids :)

Just putting it out there, but this season of The Office is amazing.

I want to go camping. Really badly. I suppose I should probably wait until it's not raining every day though...

Happy Halloween everyone!

2008-11-01T00:13:00.002-04:00

I like Halloween in theory, but it's just one of those holidays that could easily be a "normal day." Obviously when you're young you want the candy, and you like dressing up. Ten years ago I'd have just finished trick or treating, and I'd be rummaging through my candy right about now (assuming that Pacific time=Eastern time, for the sake of argument. It's all time as perceived by me anyways). In Granville, the kids would have been finished trick or treating before it even got dark. I saw some random little kids with parents trick or treating in Everett today driving back from the field. Other than that, I've been pretty isolated from the whole Halloween phenomenon this year. Though I did watch the Office on nbc.com, and the beginning at least had Halloween references (Creed was a KICK ASS Joker).

I guess, like most holidays, Halloween just isn't fun if you're not around people who are into it. I miss Denison. Not the stupid drunken Halloween parties and people running around in ridiculous costumes. THAT I can live without, lol. I miss going out to Pigeon Roost and getting pumpkins, and then carving said pumpkins. I miss baking the pumpkin seeds. I miss walking around campus and hearing the freshly fallen leaves crunch beneath my feet (I believe there's a Facebook group honoring that). Essentially, I missed out on the Midwestern fall this year (the leaves were just starting to change significantly when I left). It's weird though, because it doesn't feel like it should have happened yet. All my life it's happened about a month, give or take, after I've started school. This year I didn't start school, which I THOUGHT would be the weird part, but it just sort of went unnoticed. The real "void," I guess, is that seasonal phenomena that occur September-onward just don't feel like they should be here yet, and thus some things have sort of flew by unnoticed. Perhaps that's partially because I'm in a new place, and it's been a huge transitional period. Old routines are easily forgotten in the whirlwind of the new. But I think that the academic state of mind has largely been tied to my "seasonal emotions." And this meant different things at different points in my life, I think. Most recently, and what I miss most is that the essence of Denison and, more importantly, all of the people that I am friends with from Denison, have become a huge part of my seasonal routine. So I have to re-define that routine and take back what the seasons mean, but I'm not quite sure how to go about that. It's happened before in my life (from different stages of childhood, HS to college, etc.), but somehow it's different now. Maybe it's just because the seasons don't have the same meaning in the Northwest. Perhaps this process initiated in Tennesee, which through off my rhythm even when I was in Ohio. Will something as blatant as Christmas bring me back on track? Or do I simply have to get used to the fact that connectedness with the annual rhythms has taken a new form, which I don't recognize? Is that ok? And will the recognizable seep back into my present consciousness?

Not sure if that made sense or not. It's sort of outlining some abstractions that are flying through my brain right now, and I don't feel like expending the effort to explain.

I meant to post an entry about my SERVES training in Wenatchee, WA. I was there from Tues-Thurs. Every WSC Americorps member in the state (somewhere between 700 and 950, I've heard varying estimates) was there. But at this point I don't feel like there's much to say. Even though there sort of is. I guess I just don't feel like getting into it.

I've had a strange form of insomnia for nearly a week now. I can get to sleep (more or less) fine, but it's a restless sleep (interspersed with the occasional dream that is unusually comforting, but that doesn't last) and I usually wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep. I guess I sort of go in and out of sleep, so it's better than being wide awake I supposed, but it's not consistent with a normal modern sleep cycle. I've been getting only about 4 or 5 hours of the type of sleep that I actually need each night. It's taking a toll in a subtle way, I think, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I guess I've never been a particularly good sleeper.

Vague longings for an AT thru hike are cropping up again. It's damn impractical, and I'm not sure if I see myself getting enough out of it to justify doing it, but you only live once, right? Maybe I just need to go camping in general.

Everett, WA

2008-10-22T00:17:00.002-04:00

So I've arrived in Everett. I flew in on Wednesday, and Thursday was my first day of work. Just to provide some background for those I haven't talked to, I'm working at the Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force, which is a small non-profit organization. The name comes from the fact that we work in the Stillaguamish and Snohomish watersheds. The position is through Americorps (and more specifically, Washington Service Corps), and is pretty varied. Over the course of the next 10 1/2 months I'll be doing a lot of habitat restoration (including invasive plant control, riparian plantings, and nutrient enhancement, aka carcass distribution), education (working with volunteers and/or school groups to accomplish the above restoration goals, as well as some classroom lessons I guess), and project planning/office work type stuff. So far I've mostly done office work. I did get to do some mapping, but the Task Force has a really old version of ArcGIS (technically it's ArcView v. 3.2, and if anyone from my mapping class is reading this they'll understand hopefully). Obviously the older program can't do as much, but that lowered the learning curve for me a bit, as I'm used to wading through a bazillion more options. Of course, it was no fun looking for stuff that ArcMap v. 9.whatever Denison has can do, but the older version simply doesn't have...but whatevs.

So enough about the position itself. I'll probably have more to post about as I delve deeper into the work. Living in Everett, to put it bluntly, pretty much sucks. I really do hate cities quite a lot. You would think that having more options in the general vicinity would make things easier, but honestly I feel just as constrained as I did in the Smokies. In some ways, I feel more constrained. I don't care if I have 5 different Teriyaki places within walking distance. I have ZERO natural areas within walking distance. Yep, that's right, ZERO. No access to Puget Sound really, no access to mountains, no access to forests. There's an arboretum at the north end of the city, but it's quite pathetic. As someone who would rather run around in the woods, climbing trees and looking for birds and salamanders, yes, I feel incredibly constrained in Everett. Field work will alleviate that somewhat, but it's not totally the same. In the Smokies I could wake up early to go birding on weekends, or just decide to go on a long hike up a mountain and GO. Here, I can walk to the grocery store, or walk around neighborhoods, but that just doesn't appeal to me that much.

And then we come to the house. It's not terrible I guess. It's certainly not a dump (in fact, it's kind of nice I guess). It's just that there's not really a useable common room. There's a "living room" (which is really just a hallway basically), but it doesn't have a TV, chairs, a couch, or anything else except a few lamps and our wireless router. That said, the internet connection here is DAMN good. But then we move to the kitchen. It's nice enough, stocked with dishes, and cooking stuff, etc, but it is missing something that I just assumed all kitchens had: a kitchen table. There's a small metal patio table type thing with one metal chair, but honestly, that's just not the same. So needless to say everyone pretty much just stays in their individual rooms (there are 5 rooms being rented out on the main floor, and the landlords live downstairs). And aside from Claire, the other Americorps IP (Individual Placement) that works at the Task Force, there's nobody else my age in the house. Makes me miss park housing in the Smokies.

But perhaps I just need to give things more time. I probably won't ever get to the point that I actually LIKE living in Everett. But I'm sure even that will be valuable: I doubt I'd ever move to a big city again unless I had a VERY good reason, and it would have to be temporary.

I DID get a new computer though. Which is why I'm able to provide this lovely update. It's one of the new Macbooks, with an aluminum casing and more energy efficient screen (sorry Kim, I know you advised me not to go with a Mac, but I've used Vista and hate it, and the new Macbook is a very environmentally conscious computer, which to me is WELL worth the extra cost).

So yeah. That's enough of that. Sorry if this post was a bit too negative. Maybe I just need to settle in a bit more. But for now it's almost bed time (yay for field work tomorrow!).

Goodbye Ohio...

2008-10-08T13:45:00.003-04:00

Wow, for some reason when I typed in the "Goodbye" in the subject line "Goodbye Ida" popped up as something that I'd posted before. Well, seeing as Ida departed Curtis forever after FRESHMEN year, and I just made my gmail blog last year, I don't see how that's possible. Computers are creepy.

Anyways, in one week I will depart the state of Ohio. I was offered the fisheries position in Washington (state), and I accepted it today. I also secured a pretty much guaranteed source of housing 5 min. from work, though I'm still going to check out one other source to compare prices. Now the task that is before me is whether to take the train (more environmentally friendly and slightly cheaper) or fly (MUCH faster). Either way, I'm going to force myself to purchase a ticket by tomorrow, because I don't want to get screwed. This is already last minute. Today would probably be better, but we'll see.

And so begins my next exciting adventure. At this point I'm really most excited about being in Washington. I'm not sure what they'll have me start out doing for work (though I suspect that the first couple of days will be training of some sort). I won't have a car, obviously, but that won't be an issue in terms of day to day life (or so I've been told). The major drawback will be not being able to drive somewhere to go camping/hiking. If I have time off I'll probably rent a car or something. Take a little backpacking trip, or perhaps visit Erin (who, despite being only one state away, will still be about 5 hours away). Another unfortunate side effect of doing an Americorps position is the pay, but my loans will be deferred and I'll get another education award (of larger sum). So money will be tight for the next 10 1/2 months, but not as bad as it was this summer.

Since I'll be flying or taking the Hogwarts Express, I won't be able to bring my computer :( I'm sure there will be a library somewhere nearby, but that was kind of annoying over the summer and so we'll see how this all works out. I am considering getting a Macbook (while I'm in WA), since I don't have plans to get a car in the next year or so. Might as well take a chunk out of my savings with something, right? Hehehe, bad logic, I know, but I think having a laptop will be worth it. I don't need anything fancy, either. I just feel bad because my desktop is only 2 years old, and I don't want to be one of those nerds with multiple computers (cue comment from Josh here).

Anyways, I guess that's all for now. I'll actually be doing something with my life again, and who knows, maybe I'll even have reason to post on this blog more often...

Latest job news

2008-09-23T09:58:00.002-04:00

Hmmm, amphibian surveys in Northern California. I'm sort of hoping I DON'T get the fisheries position in Washington, since I'll likely have to commit to that before hearing about the amphibian one. And I'd hate to turn the fisheries position down and then NOT get selected for the amphibian one. That would be risky, but possibly worth it? Oh, and the amphibian position pays more than double the fisheries one. I'd be able to afford a not piece of shit car, and make loan payments! And shit, the position is damn near perfect for me. Decisions, decisions. Watch me get neither and end up a bum though :(

Short update on my life

2008-09-02T11:33:00.002-04:00

I've recently started thinking more intensively about jobs. I found a really cool 6 month SCA position somewhere on Florida's panhandle. The following is a description for the position, taken straight from SCA's website: "Conduct gopher-tortoise/indigo snake and flatwood salamander surveys and associated data entry; assist with red-cockaded woodpecker management, amphibian monitoring, GIS analysis and prescribed burning (possible). This position is perfect for you if you are self-motivated and enthusiastic and wants to pursue your own research interests, within the scope of assigned duties."

Is that not perfect for me? Well, I guess Florida isn't the most ideal location, but that's not too big of a deal I guess. I've also found a promising position as a research assistant for a professor at the University of Rhode Island. He's studying various aspects of the ecology of hemlock wooly adelgid. So while I technically don't have as much research experience as he's looking for, I'm going to sell the fact that I spent all summer treating hemlocks for this damn insect! I also found an awesome position as a research assistant in KENYA!!!! Yes, Kenya. And the best part is that room, board, a roundtrip airline ticket, and a monthly stipend (amount not specified) are provided!! The position is looking at host behavior and parasite infection in Grant's gazelles. So I'll get some animal behavior field experience, and of course I'll be in KENYA for 6-9 months! Obviously that position offers the most unique and exciting opportunity, but my mom is really not very happy about it at all. So everybody cross your fingers that I get one of these :)

Another thing that's been stressing me out is the fact that I need a car. I resisted for a very long time, but it's finally come to a point where not having one is a severe inconvenience that will effectively cut off a good amount of my options for the next few years. My highest criteria are good fuel efficiency, small, and reliable (oh, and relatively cheap, of course). So far the top candidate is a Honda Civic, but I'm having issues determining whether I should go for a new car and struggle financially, or go for a used car and struggle financially if it breaks down, plus not have as many choices. Oh, and a lot of the used Civics that Honda dealers in my area have a more expensive than the damn new ones. Granted, I'm looking at bare bones packages in new cars, and I'll go for a manual and learn how to drive it if at all possible, but come on now! When you get a new car they have to MAKE A NEW CAR!!!!! That's resources expended!! Used cars should be way cheaper! What a rip-off. Damn greedy bastards. But whatevs, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. The search continues...

Pictures

2008-08-25T17:06:00.002-04:00

As I've been home, I've had more time to browse the internet and as a result I've Facebook friended more people from the Smokies and have even had time to browse their photos. Now I took my fair share of pictures, and some of them are ok, but some of the pictures that other people took are just incredible! I didn't get as many plant pictures as I could have. I didn't really do much in the way of sunset/sunrise (though I did get a pseudo-sunset in N. Carolina, which was mostly just cool-looking clouds). And I didn't really take any pictures of the streams that I'm so fond of! Hell, I never even took a picture of the cabin, which is unfortunate because it would have been cool to show people where I lived this summer. The main subject of some of my better photographs ended up being salamanders. Not that that's a bad thing (and I did get some really cool salamander pictures), but I just feel like I missed some good photo opportunities while I was in the Smokies for 12 weeks, and now it's pretty much too late.

That said, one of these days I'll probably get around to uploading some of my better pictures to facebook. But that will require that I sort through them, and there's enough to make the task a little daunting (enough to put me off in any case). So don't hold your breath for pictures. Unless you see me in person, in which case I'll be happy to show you the pictures that are on my computer.

Better late than never

2008-08-15T08:45:00.002-04:00

Now that I'm home and have more time available for the internet, I decided to go ahead and transcribe the description of my first solo backpacking trip from the 4th of July weekend.

July 5th, 2008

Back from my first solo backpacking trip! I realized while on the trip that it was fitting to go for Independence day, since going solo is a step toward a kind of independence in a way.

I left a half hour later than I planned on Thursday morning, filled out the permit, and then walked the horrible 2 miles along the side of the road (which of course doesn't have shoulders) before getting to the Huskey Gap trailhead. I hiked onward at a relatively good pace (perhaps TOO good) until reaching campsite 23 on the Goshen Prong trail. I'm not sure what time that was, but it was mid-afternoon. The total hike was about 10 miles. I read a lot when I got to camp (Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods"), made dinner (pasta sauce in a duct-taped tupperware doesn't leak!), read some more, then I was in bed before it was even fully dark. Not a great night's sleep, but not the worst.

On the 4th I continued on the Goshen Prong trail to the AT and spent a little time in the high elevation Spruce-Fir forest. In retrospect I should have rested there and enjoyed it a bit more. I reached the very disappointing Siler's Bald and had lunch there. The bald isn't maintained, so the only grassy area is about 10 ft X 10 ft. A beech forest is taking over, however, and the forest after the bald was comprised of young beech with an understory of ferns and soft-looking grass. I did take the opportunity to rest in this forest, and I realized how extraordinarily beautiful it was with the sun shining through the beech leaves and all of the vegetation such a fresh shade of green. While I was watching the patterns that the sunlight made on the ground through the gently whispering beech canopy I had a perfectly "zen" moment, for lack of a better word. A surge of powerful emotion that I cannot explain (in fact, don't even fully understand) overtook me nearly to the point of tears.

And then on I hiked. I got off the AT at the Miry Ridge trail and hiked to campsite 26. Before that, however, I saw an enormous rattlesnake. It was easily 4-5 inches in diameter, and was probably bloated from a good meal. It was about a foot off the trail, stretched out, when I noticed its enormous, beautifully patterned but slightly terrifying form. It almost looked like it belonged in the tropics, and without seeing the head or tail my initial (though unfounded) reaction was "python!" Needless to say I was startled and jumped back off the trail and just looked at it for a second. And then the rattling started. It must have been used to hikers passing it, unnoticed, but it definitely didn't like my sudden movement. It never coiled though, so it wasn't TOO perturbed. I took a picture (unfortunately I was never able to see the head through the vegetation from my position, but I did photograph the rattle). Then, a short distance down the trail I met two older guys who turned out to be staying at the same campsite as me. They informed me that the water source was more or less dry. They had dug holes in the mud and were waiting for the sediment to settle, but wanted to scout out any alternative water sources. I warned them about the snake and then set up camp.

After looking at my map, I decided to check out a drainage about 1/4 mile back up the trail. I ran into the two guys again (the older one was John, the name of the younger escapes me), and they said they'd checked it out but found only wet rocks. I decided I would go anyways, but travel further downstream. I ended up bushwacking about 1/2 mile down the drainage before I found adequate water. Hiking back up the slope after having already hiked 13 miles with a pack that day was taxing, but I'd managed to collect enough water.

I cooked Zatarain's black beans and rice (which overboiled once, giving me a second degree burn on one of my knuckles). I did devise a good method for simmering with a Whisperlite, however. The trick that I'd heard on the internet is to de-pressurize the fuel tank and then re-pump it 5 times so the flame is weaker. THAT didn't work. But I did think that the burner would stay hot after the gas was turned off, and that if I kept turning off the stove and re-lighting it to keep the burner warm my rice would simmer. The trick is to use a flint and still fire starter to re-light the stove so that matches or lighter fluid isn't wasted. It worked, it just takes some patience.

Later on that night the two guys invited me over to their fire and we chatted until about 10. They had a mixture of rum and honey that was quite good. They both had made and used alcohol stoves and swore by them, so some day I'll probably try to make myself one. I had a good night's sleep, except for a brief period when a skunk or raccoon was nosing around right outside my tent (as in messing with the tent itself).

In the morning, just as I finished packing everything up, it started raining. It rained pretty much all morning, but the pack cover that I'd just purchased worked great and everything in the pack stayed perfectly dry. For some reason though, my GORE-TEX boots did not stay dry. They didn't even help much. They used to. I'm not quite sure what the issue is. The right one leaks especially fast, and I suspect that I may have tore the Gore-Tex when I stepped on glass on the Foothills Parkway (a rather large shard that did tear the sole). I did find a Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus) sitting on the trail when it was raining, which is odd since they're normally not very terrestrial and there wasn't a nearby stream, but I guess the rain made it wander into the upland a bit.

In the afternoon the rain stopped, and as I was hiking back to Huskey Gap I saw a bear foraging along the side of the trail about 20 feet away. I shouted at it and clapped my hands, but it was ineffective. The bear simply took its sweet-ass time crossing the trail and walking far enough away for me to safely pass. Shortly afterwards, I was back on the road (definitely the worst part of an otherwise good trip) on my way to the cabin. And there you have it.

2/3....

2008-07-12T11:53:00.002-04:00

So I'm 2/3 through my internship. I only have 4 more weeks and then I'll be back at home. In some respects I'm looking forward to being back home, but at the same time this summer seems to have gone by pretty quickly. It's going to be tough to not have ready access to so many trails, and so many salamanders, and so many birds. And it sucks that I've only gone backpacking once here this summer (4th of July weekend, I'll probably post about that when I get home and have more internet time). I have been gradually building up my gear though. I can obviously take a backpacking trip successfully, but there are just a few more things that would make it more effective. I already ordered a backpacking tent (it was actually delivered here already but who knows where the hell it is; I'll have to check the warehouse on Monday), and really the other major thing that I need is a water filter/Steripen. I'm definitely leaning toward the steripen. It just really sucked trying to chemically treat all of my water. The Chlorine Dioxide that I bought was the only one that killed Giardia and Cryptosporidium, but it also takes 4 hours to completely work. Which means that you have to carry more water than you normally would with other filtration means. Also, I was reading the label and the chemical is quite nasty (before the 4 hours are up). Extremely toxic to aquatic life (don't fumble and drop one in a stream!) and you shouldn't even really touch the stuff (which we definitely did last summer when we used it).

Anyways, my computer time is about to expire, and this is my third session online already. So I'm going to have to cut this short so I can eat/make phone calls/maybe browse around the Happy Hiker.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in hiking the AT, I"m thinking about doing it...

Randomly feel like posting

2008-06-10T18:30:00.003-04:00

I know I just posted an update a few days ago, so I don't have much new info. I'll try to keep this non-pointless though. I've sort of been wondering what I'm going to do in the fall, after I return home. I would definitely like to go camping (and I really hope that the Yellowstone trip with Liz and whoever else wants to come ends up working), but I also probably need to make some money. I decided to drop out of an SCA position that sounded pretty cool. It was in Colorado doing wetland/riparian restoration and wildlife surveys, but it was another short position and I would basically have to leave like a week after I got back. That's too soon, and I don't need the stress. Plus I want my next SCA position to be a long one (6 months). Not necessarily because I want to spend 6 months in any one place, but the weekly stipend is more and the Americorps education award is higher. And since I can only get two Americorps awards and I've already gotten (am getting, technically) one, I should wait for a financially ideal position to present itself. And if nothing turns up this fall, I could always do something else. Work seasonally somewhere (if that's at all an option) or hope that someone on ECOLOG is looking for a field assistant. In any case, if anyone hears about an cool temporary employment that would interest me, let me know.

This past weekend was the first time that I got REALLY nostalgic and started longing for Denison. I've had brief moments of nostalgia since graduation, but nothing like this. I just kept thinking about it. It wasn't tormenting or unbearably sad or anything, but it was definitely a significant emotional presence. I honestly thought that it would occur sooner than this. It's been almost exactly a month since I graduated (tomorrow will be a month). It sort of seems longer than that. But I don't know. I think I've more or less gotten settled in here. I'm less reserved when I'm at work, but I still wouldn't say I feel completely comfortable here. Though in 3 months, I'm not sure if that will ever happen. But who knows.

I've been thinking about geographic location quite a bit recently. I think it started when someone commented on my first day of work about how people from the midwest often come down here to visit/intern/whatever and then end up moving here. I decided shortly after that that I would almost certainly not be one of those people. It's nice down here, for sure, but I can't see myself settling down here. It just doesn't feel like home. Part of it is the weather. I know that it's sunnier down here, but that also means that it's hot. And there's not enough snow. Honestly, it's possible that I might stay in the midwest, but if I did I would settle down further north, like northern Wisconsin/Minnesota. Though I haven't ever been up there, I like it in theory. Probably some place I should visit. I would also love to go to Canada very soon. I think I just need to go more places and experience them before I decide where I can settle down. But as of now, those are my thoughts. New Hampshire was cool too, when I visited Laurel. Who knows. I guess I probably have many years before I actually have to make a decision about that, and even then it could always change, right?

I want to visit Erin in Oregon.

Mountain Adventures

2008-06-07T11:12:00.003-04:00

As per Amanda's request, I am updating my blog. I usually don't have time to do this since my internet time is limited. After my internship I may do what Laurel did and post some of my journal entries.

Anyways, I don't really remember what I posted about last time so I'll just randomly mention a few things.

The log cabin is pretty crowded at this point. There are four girls and five guys living there. There aren't any more beds on the girls side, but since the guys side has bunk beds for some stupid reason, technically three more guys COULD fit. But if even one more guy moves in, I am probably going to move into the back yard with my tent. It's a lot of people for that space.

Last weekend was exciting (though not for me personally), as there were two copperhead bites (there was alcohol involved). One of them was one of my roommates (Noah), who got bit on the ass when he sat on a rock, which crushed the baby copperhead that was sitting under the rock (the copperhead was later found dead from this injury). The other was a dry bite. One of the fisheries guys saw the snake and decided that it had to be relocated, so he drunkenly tried to pin it down with a mop and pick it up. He got bit, and then proceeded to pick it up again and threw it in the woods. The night after these bites occured, I was crouching on the ground at night watching a spider devouring a cranefly after pouncing on it (I had swatted the cranefly, which was attracted to my headlamp, down and the spider took advantage of the opportunity). Suddenly, I noticed a copperhead about a foot and a half away from me and slithering closer. I jumped back and it stopped for a second, and then slowly slithered away from me, stopped again (presumably assessing the situation), and then slithered back into the woods. I guess it was attracted to my headlamp? But in any case, copperheads are usually pretty docile (as was the case in my encounter), so don't let the snake bite story scare you. Just don't mess with venomous snakes when you're drunk. Duh.

Yesterday I went on a really cool hike. We took two cars and parked them on opposite trailheads of the Sugarland Mountain trail and starting at the high elevation (it was 5,700 feet approximately I think?) we hiked 12 miles downhill. There was a lot of stopping to look at plants and I worked on my bird songs. I heard a Scarlet Tanager toward the end of the hike (I'd been specifically trying to see one of these since I started birding) and I tracked down the song and FINALLY SAW ONE. So that was exciting.

We also saw some little chestnut sprouts, as well as one that was taller than me. In case you are unfamiliar with the current chestnut situation, the chestnut blight pretty much killed all of the chestnuts in the 1930's I believe (plus or minus a few decades). The blight is a fungus, which doesn't kill the roots, so the still-living roots will sometimes send up sprouts. The sprouts die when they reach a certain hight. It's so weird actually seeing these trees, which were so impressive during their time. The Smokies used to be dominated by chestnuts. Seeing the sprouts is like seeing ghosts, or like the blight is playing some cruel joke. Knowing the history and then seeing the sprouts was kind of an emotional experience for me. These sprouts are doomed, and there is no way that I can ever see a towering chestnut.

Anyways, I hope that was enough to satisfy you Amanda (and anyone else who reads this). More entries will follow, but I'm not sure when exactly.

In the Smokies

2008-05-20T18:24:00.003-04:00

So I'm at a computer at the Gatlinburg library, and they have computer access for 30 minute increments and there is this little timer at the top of th screen that is counting down. It's pretty frustrating. I'm at 9:33 right now. And counting. So this post will be short (whatever I can write in 9 minutes). I'm not sure if I have a lot to write about, but I potentially do. I guess I'll start with my quest to get down here.

Took the Greyhound, which left at 11:00 pm Friday night from Cleveland (more like 11:30 because Greyhound tends to be late). It was definitely interesting. It wasn't too bad, but more "stressful" than flying. Not that I was super stressed. It was just an "oh this is kind of sketchy and nobody is really that friendly and it's crowded and I'm tired and what if they forget to load my checked bags when we transfer" etc. It all worked out fine though. Cheaper than flying.

I'm living in a log cabin, which is pretty nice inside. There's a huge common room, and then on either side is a doorway onto the girls side or the guys side. Each gender specific side has a kitchen (bigger than the one I have at home), a bathroom, and two shared bedrooms. The bedrooms each have two sets of bunk beds (so they can each accomodate 4), but supposedly there probably won't be more than 2 to a room. I already have one roommate, and the guy in the other room (Paul, the air quality intern) still has his own room.

I guess I'm not sure how much more I want to go into the living situation, because I'm still not sure how I feel about it. But it will definitely suffice for the summer.

Yesterday was my first day "on the job," but since there are two more interns coming in over the weekend (they will be in my cabin), orientation was postponed until next week. So I'm just doing stuff that doesn't involve pesticides basically. Yesterday I planted native grasses in the increase fields at Cades Cove (if you want to know what an increase field is, then just ask and I'll explain but as of now I have less than 3 minutes left). Today I looked for Ash trees to set up Emerald Ash Borer traps in. There are very few Ash in te park, and th EAB hasnt' come here yet, but this is the most visited NP in the country and people will inevitably bring firewood.

Ok, I'm gonna cut this short. I might write more if I can get more time.

Nature and Human Economy

2008-05-15T11:32:00.004-04:00

I've spent a good portion of the morning reading a topic on a backpacking forum that I sometimes frequent on trapping. Obviously a topic such as this spurred some debate. There were contradicting statements made by different people, all claiming to have had experience trapping. Much of the arguments focused on whether or not trapping was cruel. That particular topic is not one that I will address here, as I do not know enough about the practice even after reading about it, and more importantly I've never witnessed it. However, an interesting aside was mentioned a few times in the debate. Basically, when public trapping is banned the government gets to go in and trap for "management purposes" anyways. So instead of selling trapping licenses (I know that hunting licenses benefit conservation, and even if the same isn't currently true for trapping it could certainly be set up in the same way) our taxes are used to fund government trapping. One (or a few, I don't remember) forum members mentioned that much of this "predator management" occurs in order to lower livestock mortality. Though I've certainly read about alternatives to minimizing livestock mortality in areas with predators, I don't remember the specifics and would need to research that a bit more in order to talk about it. Essentially, it comes down to the government trapping in order to cater to large scale ranchers. Agribusiness on the large scale, which has obviously been so extremely harmful to the environment and our economy, as well as the livelihoods of small, local farmers and ranchers.

I've been thinking a lot lately about whether or not our economic system is viable. Everyone knocks communism/socialism, saying that it's a good idea in theory but it's proven ineffective in practice. Well, unfortunately here is where some historical knowledge would help me, but from what I understand it was socially ineffective. Rebellions and dictatorships and such resulted from it. Please correct me if I'm mistaken, or comment with specifics if you know them.

Capitalism, however, is socially more effective but it's fairly clear that it's unsustainable in the long term, and on a large scale. Sure, it's taking more time to prove capitalism's ineffectiveness, but the result is even more dangerous. Large scale agribusiness has mostly taken over our food industry. I'm not going to go into a long rant about why it's so bad because I would probably rant for far too long and that's not really the point. In short, monocultures are unstable, genetic diversity is reduced, they are only useful for their single purpose (no habitat value), our soil is being depleted, government subsidies for large scale agriculture are driving small, sustainable farmers out of business, and the low cost of mass-produced food is exacerbating the problem. Not the mention the atrocious effects of fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides. The point is, if large scale agriculture continues we will destroy much of the natural world. Eutrophication and coastal dead zones will develop from runoff (a severe blow to fishing/fisheries), chemicals will accumulate in ecosystems, poisoning organisms from insects to ourselves, our soil will become barren resulting in a need for more fertilizers (compounding the problem), a greater population and lower production efficiency of the land will result in more habitat being lost, and eventually desertification will probably result. Look at the Middle East. That place used to be the Fertile Crescent. It's desert now because of how many large civilizations have abused the land in that region. North America certainly hasn't been utilized for as long as the "Fertile" Crescent, but our population (and the world population in general) is larger than it's ever been and growing. So yes, the destruction of the land that we depend on certainly could happen on a shorter scale. I'm not saying that it will, because as a society we could change our infrastructure and values. But if we keep going on the current track that we're on, then we're going to doom ourselves. And destroy a large chunk of the natural world in the process. A 6th mass extinction indeed.

So that's largely why I've been thinking about how our economic system is inadequate. But I wish I'd taken an econ class, because I really don't understand our economic system that well. I'm aware of its inadequacies, but could capitalism be made to work sustainably? Going back to the forum topic, someone mentioned that agriculture should once again be placed into the free market (then there was a snappy comment about how the demand for food certainly isn't going to go down). Would something like that even help? Obviously local, sustainable farms that do not grow crops in monoculture would greatly help this problem, but would capitalism allow that? Wouldn't we just get big big "Wal-Mart" style farms that were privately owned instead of given government subsidies? Hell, large chain stores are running small businesses out of business. Is this an inherent failure of capitalism? Would some variant of socialism be more sustainable? Were the failures of socialist systems simply due to the fact that the social timing was not right?

Any comments by anyone who has any idea of what they're talking about when it comes to things like this would be more than welcome. I guess a liberal arts education gave me just a taste of certain fields, but not enough to make me feel confident and/or knowledgeable. Or maybe I strive for too great a knowledge of the big picture, and the details of all of its components. Should I be content to focus on the scientific aspects of ecology and conservation? How can I best preserve the natural world and work towards creating a sustainable society using my field? Am I trying to do too much? Taking on for myself the work of what needs to be our entire society? Well that's an obvious question. Of course it needs to be our entire society, or at least a great majority.

I'm going to end with an article that someone posted in the trapping topic.

It talks about how language perpetuates our perception of nature/economy as a society. The article itself is a little extreme (nobody thinks completely like that), but I think the extremity is necessary. As a society, I think that we do use language that justifies or desensitizes our effects on the environment. And in the context of this language, I think that the points are valid. I thought it was an interesting read in any case.

Day after graduation

2008-05-12T19:48:00.003-04:00

As the title indicates, I graduated from Denison yesterday. And summa cum laude at that. It all happened very quickly, and even today I'm not sure that I've processed everything yet. Overall it wasn't really what I expected. I didn't get super emotional. Although it didn't seem like many people did. Shannon was the only person who cried that I saw. I just couldn't really focus in on any one emotion since I was feeling so many of them. I thought that the goodbyes would be rough. And they were sad, but not overwhelmingly so. I know that I'll see almost everyone again. And probably sooner than I think. I also actually didn't get to say goodbye to a lot of people. With the confusion it's understandable though. Seems like that happened to a lot of people.

Commencement itself was long. Cicerone was a great speaker though, and I'm glad that our class got to have him. I found myself spacing out a lot as the B.A.s were walking the stage. There weren't very many B.F.A.s (5, I believe) and most of the people that I know got B.S.s (and there really weren't that many of them either). So after that I would read ahead in the program until I found someone's name that I knew, and that would give me an indication of how much time I had to try to focus my thoughts. It worked only moderately well. I was in such a haze through the whole thing that I didn't even know if they'd pronounced my name right (I was told later that they did). I feel like the day would have been much more enjoyable overall if the stress of cleaning the apartment and moving out by 7 wasn't there. That really is the stupidest thing ever. I know that we should pack during senior week, and I largely DID pack during senior week. But loading can still take quite some time, and packing stuff that is used until the last day. And of course cleaning took by far the longest time. Mike left more than his share of stuff/mess behind, but Josh, Reyan and I all worked together and cleaned the place up fairly quickly. It was still stressful though, because I just kept thinking about whether people had left already and when/how I would track people down. I guess that just reinforces the notion that I will definitely miss the people more than anything else.

I am so thankful that I lived in Morrow freshmen year. Not only were a lot of my current friends fellow Morrow residents, but I really think that it helped my social life freshmen year. Even with the close atmosphere of Morrow I was anti-social until Anne made me hang out in the common room. And I'm so glad that it was a nerdy north-quad dorm, because that was also integral in forging relationships with people living there. Saturday night before graduation Liz and I were toasting buildings with a bottle of wine, and I regret that we never got around to north quad to toast Morrow. When I think of Denison, the innards of that building are still often the first thing that comes to mind.

Going back to commencement, President Knobel's class charge to us was to experience ubuntu whenever we could. At first I thought that that was sort of a weak charge for our class. But I guess it's sort of fitting, and my first act of ubuntu (is ubuntu a verb? I should research the word later) is really the solidification of my intent to remain friends with as many people as possible. I've largely lost touch with people from my High School, and if I get around to talking to people it doesn't happen very often. I feel like it's easy for me to do things like that, but I should really work hard to not make the same mistake twice.

I'm not sure how coherent this post was, but that may reflect my current state of mind. Then again, a few people have mentioned that their thoughts probably weren't coherent and they seemed fine to me. Anyways, I think that's it for me right now. I still have to wrap my mind around the fact that I'll be in Tennessee in less than a week, after I let all of this graduation stuff to sink in.

Magee Marsh

2008-05-03T16:20:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went birding at Magee Marsh, and here is the breakdown of what I saw:

Visitors Center:

American Goldfinch
Robin
Red Winged Blackbird
Barn Swallow
White Crowned Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Grackle

Drive to Board Walk

Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Great Egret
Coot
Tree Swallow
Lesser Yellowlegs

Boardwalk

Yellow Rumped Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Swainson's Thrush
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Ovenbird (warbler)
Veery (thrush)
Black Throated Green Warbler
House Wren
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Swamp Sparrow
Blackburnian Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
Black Throated Blue Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Red Breasted Nuthatch
White Throated Sparrow

Additionally, Meredith saw a White Breasted Nuthatch and a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but I missed them.

Ottowa Wildlife Reserve

Double Crested Cormorant
Killdeer

Magee Boardwalk take 2

American Woodcock!
Least Flycatcher
female RW Blackbird making a nest
Hooded Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Waterthrush (warbler)
Blackpoll Warbler
Whippoorwill!
Ruddy Duck
Baltimore Oriole
Bald Eagle

Additionally, others in the group saw a Redstart.

My total was 43 birds seen, 29 of which were firsts for me. The group list was an impressive 76! Meredith had 44, because she had the White Breasted Nuthatch and Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but she didn't see the Hooded Warbler.

I definitely need to go to Magee Marsh again. I wonder if it would be good during the fall migration? If not, whatever, I can go in some future spring again...

Getting closer

2008-04-27T16:45:00.002-04:00

I'm almost finished with Painting. Basically the only thing that I have left to do is show up to the critique. And then clean out my stuff on Sunday and collect my paintings. I finished my final painting today, and it really didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. Probably because there wasn't a whole lot of detail work. I mean, I could have made it photorealistic and I half intended to, but when I had my first couple layers of paint on and the trees painted in, I decided that I liked how it looked as it was. And then once I painted in all of the reflections, my mind was made up. The only really detailed elements were the frog in the foreground (which looks amazing and didn't actually take me as long to paint as I thought it would) and there's a turtle basking on a log that is kind of detailed but it's so small that there wasn't much detail area to cover. I decided to leave out the dragonfly (which probably would have taken a few hours to paint) because of focusing issues. It would be "zoomed in" but the background wouldn't be blurry, and since a painting is 2D the viewer's eye wouldn't make the background blurry just by looking at the dragonfly so I think it would have ruined the painting. And I'm sure that I could have worked on it more (I spent like 7 hours outside of class on it, and I suspected it would take me between 12 and 16), but even yesterday I kept looking at it and thinking to myself "this is finished." Even without the frog and the completed reflection of the weeping willow it looked done. But I didn't want to leave the frog out, and I knew that it would look better with the improved willow reflection, so I went back in today. I'm quite pleased with it. Even moreso since it took me so little time, and I actually enjoyed painting it.

So basically now I just have my GIS final project which I present on Wednesday and need to have the paper turned in by next Monday, the Vertebrate Zoology paper that's due tomorrow and just needs to be edited (hopefully not too much, as I haven't seen the sections that Liz and Meg wrote), the plant collection, and the finals in Vertebrate Zoology and Plant Systematics (which will be on the same day, next Monday). So my massive end of semester workload suddenly seems a lot lighter, and a huge part of that is because the painting went so well. Because in theory I could have spent the rest of today and most of tomorrow on that painting if I had to, and then I would have hated it and been quite pressed for time on GIS.

And anyone who actually enjoyed reading this entry is crazy because it's boring. Honestly now, who really cares about my last undergraduate assignments? Well, perhaps I'll look back on this some day and enjoy reading about it. Who knows. But probably not.

Ok, I'm done procrastinating now.

Last week of undergraduate classes

2008-04-23T23:52:00.003-04:00

The last week of classes at Denison is almost over. Just thought I'd throw that out there. It hasn't really sunk it how soon I'll be out of here. That's probably for the better. My departure should be quick and painless. No need to get reminiscent. It'll happen eventually though. As soon as more of my insane quantities of work start to get done. Right now I haven't really been able to enjoy the nice weather, or enjoy the company of people who I probably won't see again for a good long while. But I think I've already spent much of this year processing the fact that it's almost over, so maybe it won't be too bad. There are a lot of things that I'm ready to be done with, and I do feel like I need to move on. Things have been stagnant this year, and last year as well to an extent. I would have liked my senior year to be better, but there's really nothing I can do about it now. And it hasn't been bad, necessarily. Just not the great "last hurrah" that was supposed to bookend my Denison career. Freshmen year was the best for me because of Morrow, and I guess I had this idea that because I needed to make the most of it this year would also be great. But alas. I guess it's just been kind of dull. I'm sure noteworthy things have happened, but there hasn't been very many defining events. I sort of wonder what a 5th year would have been like, if that were the norm, and I think that I would probably be thoroughly sick of Denison after that year even if everyone I knew stayed. But anyways, I think it's bed time. Enough tired rambling.

Birds

2008-04-12T12:29:00.002-04:00

It's been an interesting few days. It's becoming more and more obvious how little time is left in the semester, and oddly enough I'm becoming a little more ok with it. There are a lot of things that I just want to be done with, as is usual, and it doesn't really matter that that also means that my college days will draw to a close. This place has done a lot for me, but part of me feels like it can't help me anymore, and that I need to move on to other things.

Yesterday was Relay for Life, and for some reason the energy of the previous two years just wasn't there. There were fewer people there, and everyone seemed to be less into it. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't the experience it usually is. Andy stayed for a while this time, and I spent a lot of time talking with him. It made me feel good about where I'm at in my life, and where I'm going. Grad school is definitely in my future, but first I need to just explore. Explore the world (or at least parts of it), my options, and myself. Because I'm starting to realize that I don't have as firm a grasp of myself as I thought I did. Which is a pretty strange thought, and I'm not sure how to articulate it so I won't say anything further about that.

Now on to the title of this post. I left Relay early because I had to get up early today to go on Dr. Schultz's bird walk. Well, I didn't have to, but I wanted to. It was at 8 (which is late for a bird walk). I didn't get much sleep because I had one of my weird dreams and woke up, unable to fall asleep for a good long while. I've been having a lot of dreams like it lately, where I create this task for myself in my sleep, and I wake up absolutely convinced that I'm supposed to get it done in real life, and that I've procrastinated it or am somehow on a really tight schedule and should figure it out so that when I wake up I can just get right on it. And they're absurd things. Like last night, I was supposed to count plants for DUBS. There were strips of grass and sod with little flowers in them, just laying on the ground in Mitchell, and Bridget kept telling me that I had to count the flowers. It didn't make sense to me why (it certainly didn't seem very scientific) but I felt like I really had to do it. But for some reason counting wasn't just a simple task. I'm not sure why it was so complicated, but it began to really stress me out. And then in my stressed out state I couldn't fall back asleep. I'm also not sure how much of this happened when I was fully asleep, in the dream, or half awake.

But I digress. Back to the birds. A good number of people showed up (5 students in all: myself, Meredith, Liz, Sarah, and Alice, and of course a bunch of people from Granville). There weren't many birds out (it was the morning after a storm and the temperatures were cooler), but that didn't really bother Dr. Schultz, who was really good at explaining the biology of everything that we did see (most of which was fairly common). There were quite a bit of tree swallows out, which are pretty common (they're utilizing a lot of the nest boxes that are set out) but they're one of my favorites anyways. And I found out that there have been SANDHILL CRANES at Dawes recently, and I would REALLY like to make it out there. That is a very rare sight in Ohio. Overall it was a good re-introduction to birds for me. I started learning my birds last year, but then never really continued that this year. I'm surprised I didn't try more over the summer. Hopefully this summer I'll work on it a bit more.

After the bird walk I helped Meredith check buckets, and there were a fair amount of salamanders (mostly males) leaving the pond. Unfortunately, a lot of toads decided to go back and forth as well, and they were not so fortunately toxic. Raccoons had raided many of the buckets, and there were a lot of mangled toad carcasses. The ventral portions were eaten and their backs were left, of course, because that is where their glands that produce bad-tasting chemicals are produced. And oddly enough, there were eggs scattered around, so when a gravid female was eaten the raccoons left the eggs alone. I'm kind of wondering why, as I would think they'd be nutritious and delicious. The worst part was that a decent amount of toads had sustained really severe injuries but were left alive in the buckets. The first toad that we saw was in one of the minnow traps (so I don't know HOW a raccoon managed to do this) and had the skin ripped off of one side of its body and a hole through the axial muscles so that you could literally see into its body cavity. And it was hopping around relatively normally, though more sluggishly than most toads. When I set it down on the ground and it tried to hop away from me, some intestines started poking their way through the hole. A lot of other toads had various organs spilled out, but were still alive (barely). There was one female with a large tear in her side and eggs and viscera were spilling out, and an (uninjured) male was in amplexus with her. She was still alive, but barely. Why the raccoons didn't just finish these toads off I don't know. But it was a little traumatizing to see the results.

And so that I don't end on such a gruesome note, I'll say that after checking buckets Meredith and I picked Liz up and we went to the indoor farmers market and I got some more grass-fed beef (only a pound this time, because it doesn't have to last me super long). I also got a delicious chocolate chip scone from the village bakery. And all of this was accomplished before noon. I actually kind of like getting up early, it makes me feel so productive. And I should probably get used to it anyways.

LOLZelda

2008-04-05T16:01:00.003-04:00

I thought of this pun randomly earlier this week, and thought it would make a funny LOL for the (probably 3) people knowledgeable about both Zelda and Geo.

In case you don't get it, I'm going to be one of those losers that has to explain their joke. Gorons eat rocks. Apatite is a rock (or a mineral, or whatever it happens to be. For non-Geo people like me, it's essentially a rock). I'm sure you can figure it out from there.

Media Collage Painting

2008-04-03T20:55:00.002-04:00

After the ridiculous workload that was the portrait projects, we are now starting on our media collage paintings in Intro. The way this works is that we chose images from the media and made a physical collage, and now we have to make a painting from that collage source (though we are free to incorporate collage into the painting or represent the collage in different ways on the painting). I've had an idea for this painting for several weeks now, and after collecting some choice images I was actually amazed at how well they fit together. I think my subconscious was intentionally searching for specific imagery, because I inexplicably visualized some of the key images (though not necessarily their relations to one another) from the outset. Anyways, Chris never got a chance to talk with me about the painting in class today, so he asked me to write an email explaining my thoughts on the project. So here is that email, just to give you an idea of what is going on with my painting:

Hey Chris,

So the basic theme of my painting is going to be media in excess and its negative
impacts on people/society. The generic excessive viewer of media is portrayed in the
center of the painting as a large, very bloodshot eyeball and a brain just behind it,
which will be dull, drippy, and ugly (not quite a "this is your brain on drugs" but
close). The brain will be entangled with two cords: one from a mouse and one from an
x-box controller. The brain imagery will also be enhanced by an MRI scan showing
hemorrhaging. Around the periphery of the central viewer, there will be various media
images.

Some specific media images related directly to each other. There is a CNN screenshot of
soldiers in Iraq holding up what looks like some kind of missile launcher. This image
will be obscured/blocked by a stormtrooper holding a gun (at the exact same angle as the
rocket launcher) and a screenshot from Halo. These fictional images cover the CNN image
to suggest that the fictional media world of video games, etc. is more real to the
viewer than real life. An image of Warcraft, a PC role playing game which has a
tendency to completely take over people's lives (I know a few), plays into that theme
more. Warcraft is essentially in its own virtual world, which essentially replaces the
real world for players (moreso than most other video games).

I'm also including images of popular TV shows, specifically CSI and Lost. The Lost
image is particularly important, as it suggests that the viewer has lost touch with the
real world, or is even lost among the many fictional media worlds. I've also included a
picture of Homer Simpson and the American Idol logo, both of which are popular TV shows
but the images also have a specific relation to each other. American Idol is spatially
right below/overlapping Homer Simpson, suggesting that this character has become the
ideal American (a lazy person who sits on the couch and watches TV all day).

Finally, I've included some popular internet media sources as well because it's so easy
to waste a lot of time on the internet. A picture of Potter Puppet Pals in Harry Potter
and the Mysterious Ticking Noise (the Snape, Snape, Severus Snape video, if you have
seen it) represents Youtube in general, and I've included 2 LOLcats. Which sort of
proved my whole point, as I spent easily over an hour looking through the LOLcat images
even after choosing two. One is a video game reference to play into that (it says Bad
Respawn, relating to the feeling of immortality and power that goes along with video
games) and one references models and negative self image (a cat is sitting next to a
thin cat statuette).

Some things I'm not entirely sure about are how drastically disgusting I want to make
the brain. A "rotten brain" seems a little too extreme, and I think that the
hemorrhaging brain MRI covers that aspect, so I'm wondering if I should just go with a
sickly looking color. Also, I'm not entirely sure of what to do with the background. I
know that I sort of want the images to blend into each other and/or a fuzzy or foggy
background to create a swirl of media chaos, or an ethereal plane leading to many
different media universes. I'm still trying to work out how to portray that visually.

That was probably a longer email than you expected, but those are pretty much my
thoughts on the painting so far.

*Brian*

So there you have it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Hopefully I have the energy to make this painting as awesome as my plans for it are. Those portraits really did drain me though. As did other recent events.

Also, I could use some suggestions for my final painting (which is coming up really soon!). I initially wanted to do a pondscape with frogs and dragonflies and such just because I like wetlands and wanted to paint it. But I think that Chris will feel that it doesn't have enough meaning. It's basically just a realistic scene more or less copied from a few images. I like the scene, but it would really just be a pretty picture. So now I think I want to do something with anthropogenic environmental effects. I read an article on amphibian declines recently, and the title was Ghosts in our midsts: something or other about amphibian declines. That ghosts in our midst imagery kind of stuck with me, and I think I may paint some phantom frogs to comment on amphibian declines (because they're important, damnit!!!). And I think that in the distant background, I want to have a city. I don't want this to be an urban pond. I think that on the left side I'll have a cityscape, with a natural landscape on the right. So it's a pond at the threshold of human habitation. And I want to somehow portray urban expansion. My initial thought was some kind of creeping/groping hands (evil-looking, of course) pulling up trees in the background or otherwise engulfing the natural land. And the pond will of course look pristine and wonderful, but will be in obvious danger.

Anyways, if anyone has any brilliant thoughts on what else I could do with that/better ways to portray expansion, let me know.

More on the Smokies

2008-03-31T17:59:00.002-04:00

I finally finished all of the paperwork and mailed it in today. There was a LOT of it. I originally planned on scanning it in the library and emailing it, but the scanners are slow and I couldn't get the file size to be reasonably small. Also, I couldn't figure out how to save the scanned images as PDFs. So I gave up, took the 20 minutes (and $3) to walk down to the post office and have them mailed. Glad that's over.

While I was filling out the travel grant form, I realized how much cheaper it was to drive than fly. I mean, sure Skybus is cheap, but they don't fly to Knoxville, and Chatanooga is 100 miles away, I believe. Plus Skybus doesn't have flights listed past mid-April. I don't know what's up with that. So I think I'm going to take Greyhound down there. That'll be interesting. It's even cheaper than driving yourself, if I'm remembering the rates correctly. And WAY cheaper than flying. I just have to do a bit more research (when I have less work to do) about luggage and such. Turns out I'll need to bring bedding and stuff, so that's more than just a backpack. And I won't have much room in my backpack for clothes anyways, as I plan on bringing all of my camping stuff (yay!!!!). And I'm sure that I won't be able to bring my bike, but oh well. Gatlinburg is 2 miles away from where I'll be staying, and even though it's pretty hilly a bike would be useful. Not sure how groceries are going to work yet, and I'll probably have to walk to Gatlinburg to go to the library (the nearest place with internet access unless I decide to buy a laptop and get a wireless card. Given my financial situation, that's not going to happen). And there's no TV reception there, so I'll pretty much be without TV. So I should probably pack lots of books. Plus I'm sure I'll get a library card there (which is funny, because I never even got a Granville library card and I've been here for 4 years). I guess I'll need the public library more this summer than I did here though.

It's really beginning to set in that I'm actually going to be doing this soon. And the more I've thought about it the more excited I am for it. It will be an adjustment, but it's not as remote as some of the other positions that I applied for. And I DID want something remote. But 12 weeks is a long time if I decide that I need to have some civilization every once in a while. I guess this will be a good position to test those waters. Hopefully it will be good for a lot of reasons. And I hope there are plenty of people living around me (based on the map there seems to be several buildings in the housing area). And (Julie should note this) every other week in my schedule I get Fridays off, so if anyone wants to come down and visit me, we could feasibly backpack Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night.

Summer internship

2008-03-26T23:51:00.002-04:00

I have accepted a summer position in the Smoky Mountains. It seems like it will be pretty cool, and consists mostly of invasive (plant) species monitoring and removal. It wasn't my ideal position, but it's certainly good enough. I would have liked to get a 6 month position just to keep myself occupied a little longer, but this just means that I'll have to search for something else in the fall instead of the winter. In theory that should be a little bit easier. There was also a really cool 2 month position that paid really well, and I would be doing amphibian population monitoring, but I wasn't guaranteed that and I sort of wanted to be on the safe side. I was in the top third of their applicant pool, but not in the top 3, who were being contacted first. I was competing against people with more experience than me though, so I don't really feel super bad about it. I just wish I could be doing stuff with amphibians instead of plants and insects.

However, even though I wouldn't be officially researching them, the Smokies are pretty much the center of caudate diversity in the world. So I'm thinking that in my free time I will probably poke around and try to find and ID as many different salamander species as I can. And the actual work that I'll be doing will be good. GSMNP is one of the most heavily visited national parks in the country, and with lots of visitors comes a greater chance of introduced exotic species. And I guess in some ways it might be good for my first internship after graduation to be just for the summer. It will potentially be an easier transition, especially since it's closer to home than a lot of the other positions that I was looking at.

Anyways, I'm tired now and should have gone to bed a half hour ago (there was no reason not to) so I'm gonna do that now.

The icing on the spring break cake

2008-03-22T11:16:00.002-04:00

So. Obviously, as anyone who has read my previous post knows, my spring break plans just did not work. At all. Well, I found out yesterday that the outing club DIDN'T LEAVE UNTIL SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to call me and let me know, Bob! Even if I HAD been able to go to my conference, I still could have left for Florida on Sunday!!!! And the fact that I WASN'T able to get to the conference made it worse anyways.

UGH!

Spring break rant

2008-03-07T21:53:00.003-05:00

Wow, so for the THIRD TIME this year I've had spring break plans that won't be happening. Which is ridiculous. I feel like this year has just been so full of promise but then nothing comes of it. Winter break I was supposed to go to Texas, but that ended up not happening (though I do understand the reasons why Liz didn't want to go, and I don't hold it against her. It's just unfortunate that Texas didn't happen). And now spring break. Last year was the complete opposite, which is what I don't get. The Habitat trip happened over winter break, and that sort of got me in a "travelling" sort of mindset, and then Arizona was a huge success. And over the summer Bear Island and the Smokies certainly came together after some difficulties. Those successful trips just convinced me that I could pull together anything if I really tried hard enough. But I guess this year is a learning experience, in that I get to realize that it's not always the case. Sometimes it's just not the best option for things to work out.

So in case anyone is wondering what went wrong with spring break (and because I feel like ranting about it because it's so absurdly ridiculous), I will explain pretty much in full. So last semester Meg told me about this trip to New Orleans that Green Team was pulling together, restoring degraded wetland habitat. I went for so long assuming that it would be great and psyching myself up for it. And then the person who was organizing it was a loser and it ended up not happening. And I've heard no good reason why it didn't happen, because I think it totally could have if whoever was in charge of it would have tried. Damn, next time maybe I should just be in charge of things like that. Anyways, that was failure number 1. So after that realization, I decided to go on the Outing Club trip to Florida. 4 days of backpacking in Ocala National Forest, and then 3 days of canoing in the Everglades. Sounds amazing, right? Well I'm sure it will be. I got my defensive driving certification for that trip and everything. And then less than two weeks ago, I find out that MEEC (Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference) is the FIRST WEEKEND OF SPRING BREAK!!!!! I'm (probably, but I'll get to that later) presenting my summer/senior research there, and it's been planned since the summer, and I'd already registered and paid and everything. I knew that it was in March, I just didn't know what the exact date was. But yeah, it's tomorrow (the first Saturday of Spring Break), and the outing club left this afternoon. Obviously these two events were not compatible, and since I was already all set up for the conference and I hadn't even turned in my money for the FL trip, I decided that I wouldn't back out of the conference. Once again, I had no spring break plans. And then, just YESTERDAY (the Thursday before break) I found out that Liz didn't have to drive to the airport for her Geo trip, and so she lent me her car. FINALLY, I COULD PUT SOMETHING TOGETHER FOR MYSELF!!!!!!!!! I planned on going backpacking solo, but mom freaked out and wanted me to at least try to convince someone to go. So I asked Dawn, and she was totally for it, and I planned it out perfectly in less than a day. I spent the morning packing, and I had the food worked out and everything. And then, of all times, an actual winter storm hits CENTRAL OHIO!!!!!! How often does that happen? NOT VERY!!! I mean, Granville schools get snow days all the time, but it's usually for nothing serious (central Ohioans don't know how to deal with snow). But this time it's apparently pretty bad. I70 is closed. Who closes an interstate, there's less than 6 inches of snow!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, anyways, that would be fine and all, except that tomorrow there is supposed to be a legitimate blizzard. And it better be a damn serious blizzard, because the third spring break failure is completely due to this weather. We were supposed to drive down to the conference tonight because the weather will be worse tomorrow, but on her way home Dr. Homan saw 2 cars that had gone off the road (she lives really close to campus) and decided that we'd wait until tomorrow morning and see what happens. Well, if the meteorologists are correct (and not exaggerating things), there's going to be a BLIZZARD tomorrow, so I'm not going to be the least bit surprised if we just don't go to the conference. So I COULD HAVE GONE ON THE DAMN OUTING CLUB TRIP IF I"D KNOWN THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the blizzard is keeping Dawn in Columbus (because 70 is closed), and I decided that I wouldn't go solo to the Smokies because gas would be too expensive if I was paying by myself, and it wouldn't be worth it for just 2 nights. So I looked at places that were closer (hell, I have winter camping exp., no big deal) but the trail I had in mind in OH is accessed through various minimally developed roads (some are forest roads), and if there IS a blizzard, then those roads sure as hell won't be maintained. I do NOT want to get stuck somewhere, and I want no harm to come to Liz's car. So that's out. And I looked at this place in West Virginia, but I would take 70 (which is CLOSED) to get there, and even that would be a lot of gas for just myself when I'm pretty financially screwed at this time.

So that was my rant. I'm probably going to stay at Denison until Sunday (after the blizzard), and then drive home. Three failed plans, what are the odds of that happening? And 4 if you count the conference that we probably won't be going to.

Ok, I'm done ranting now. I'm just sick of explaining this crazy situation so now people can read it to get the details.

A new semester

2008-01-21T12:13:00.001-05:00

So the first week of classes of my last semester is over. As is the first weekend (pretty much). It is Monday, MLK jr. day, and we actually don't have classes for the first time since I've been at Denison! We usually have our three day weekend the week after the actual holiday, which is a bit silly. Anyways, this will mostly just be a brief retrospect of my initial impressions of my classes.

Vertebrate Zoology is ok so far. Nothing too exciting, and I think that it will be a fairly easy class. Our review paper (which is our major paper for the semester) only has to be 5-6 pages. The hardest part will be keeping it to 6, because we'll get POINTS OFF for going over. AHHH!!! I ALWAYS end up going over. Labs should be fun once we get our group project going. Meg, Liz, and I are doing a small mammal survey. Liz and I scouted out some locations in the Bio Reserve, and we'd like to do a "disturbed" location as well, most likely on campus or possibly at Dr. Frolking's.

Plant Systematics feels a bit strange at the moment. I guess I'm just not used to Dr. Hauk's teaching style. Class is laid back, but in a strange way. Maybe it's because it's just after lunch. Or possibly because it's in the same room as Animal Behavior and I sit at the stupid little "island" of tables in the middle of class. And it's moving a bit slow. I certainly don't know much about plants, but I DO know about phylogenies and I don't think we needed to spend so much time on them. The textbook is just so detailed, and the difference between that and the very watered down lectures (so far) is a little jarring. I think it will start to get fun when we learn more details about how to identify plant families and such.

Mapping only meets two days a week, and that is definitely a good thing. Our main "textbook" is basically an instruction manual for ArcGIS. It's dull. And our first little intro lab was also pretty dull. I think that the class will be boring, but at the end when I realize how much I can do with ArcGIS I'll be happy I took it. Besides, it's a good skill to possess.

Painting is going to be my most time consuming class, I think, but in a relaxing way. It'll be a little challenging to find large enough blocks of time to work (at least 2 hours at a time is probably needed). Today I only worked for an hour, but I also finished the painting that I was working on (a box still-life, painted in grey scale). In some ways I'm glad that I "waited" until senior year to take Painting. It's a nice change of pace. So is Mapping, actually, as it's pretty much a computer class and much more practical than other classes I've had. Having those two classes is nice, since last semester I had research and three science classes (physics, biochem, and wetland eco). I'd gotten into such a science routine, it's good to break free of that comfort zone a little bit.

Wisconsin

2008-01-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

I can add another state to my list of places that I've been. Today I got back from visiting Liz in Wisconsin for a few days. Now I'm home for two or three more days before heading back to Denison for my final semester. Let's not get into the fact that this is going to be my final semester. That's a complicated topic, and I'm not even sure how I feel about it, so I'm certainly not going to write about it in a blog. Anyways, Wisconsin was fun, but I was sort of in a funky mood most of the time. A little tired and apathetic, and I tried not to make it show but I'm not sure how well that worked out. The point is, I think it was because I've been such a lazy ass at home for the past three or so weeks. Moreso than usual, I think, or maybe I'm just becoming more restless in my old age. I haven't been getting enough exercise, and I haven't been keeping myself busy enough. Sure, I was occupied re-reading all of the Harry Potter books, but that was actually quite a lot of reading, especially on just one subject. I really wanted to finish them all again over break, and I succeeded, but I probably should have done other things as well. And I overslept a LOT. I'd been getting around 10 hours of sleep every night. Sure, that sounds great and all, but it was too much of a good thing. Too much sleep makes me tired, and having nothing better to do, I would just sleep more because I didn't feel like doing much of anything else. I didn't even really move forward on the job search front at all. Let this be a lesson to me. I need to keep myself occupied in a variety of ways. Because I'm sure that before I start grad school, there will be periods where I'm not really doing much of anything. I just hope I get one of the longer SCA internships. And I hope it helps me to figure out what the hell I'd like to do with my life. And damn, I wish I had some money to travel. Maybe I'll look for an actual job some place cool after that first internship (which I'm assuming I'll get) so I can be in a new and exciting place and make some money. I might need to get a car, too. Damn. Oh well, time for all of that later, I suppose.

2008 New Years Predictions!!!

2007-12-31T16:58:00.002-05:00

That's right, it's that time of year again! Since my plans to be at Denison for New Years ended up not happening, I had some extra time today to be bored (and make these predictions)!