Where I've been and what I've learned along the way…
Here’s a nice parallel from man to nature and back again.
The Incas worshiped mountains as deities. But directly visiting far away peaks was very difficult. So they used nearby rocks to stand in for the mountains. Here is one such “Picture Rock” from Machu Picchu…
I recently took this photo of natural picture rocks in the BWCA…
Source: Science 334(6056):666-670
Wrens are one of my favorite bird families. Our local representative is the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) whose song resembles a pleasant car alarm [listen]. In a recent paper by Eric Fortune at al published in Science there are several recordings of Plain-Tailed Wrens (Pheugopedius euophrys) from South America singing what are obviously coordinated duets. I’d love to have these in my backyard!
I ranted about this last March. Since then Scientific American has made Daylight Savings Time number one on their list of Human Creations the World Would Be Better Off Without.
This week-end SA editor David Biello added his voice to the growing consensus that DST should be abolished.
DST is an ill-conceived anachronism and a bumbling attempt at social engineering. It’s major raison d’être is energy conservation, but there is growing evidence it has just the opposite effect. In their 2008 study of DST in Indiana, Kotchen and Grant concluded…
Our main finding is that—contrary to the policy’s intent—DST results is an overall increase in residential electricity demand.
Times have changed and it is time to stop messing with the clock twice a year!