[Kako]
What do I spy with my little eye?
Monthly Archives: July 2006
Open thread
Ouch! “Distaste for America runs so deep that, for example, at the recent World Cup in Germany the American team was the only one asked not to display its national flag on the team bus. In South Korea, traditionally a U.S. ally, two-thirds of people under 30 said in a recent poll that if there were war between North Korea and the United States, they would side with North Korea.” Again, ouch! And note in the article that the rapid decline of America’s image is “a trend that has accelerated sharply under President George W. Bush, many of whose foreign policy decisions have been criticized as unilateralist and arrogant.” He’s a miracle worker, but not in a good way.
Go watch this video of a bizarre creature. Before you ask, no, it’s not an alien, although it’s easy to see why one would think so. It’s actually a puss caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis). That’s the larval stage of a flannel moth, and touching it is a very bad idea. But yes, it’s a real insect despite appearances. Cool, huh? [via PZ]
Once again, you have to see Day by Day cartoon. Flawless!
Live and learn: “New research shows that a chemical compound found in many air fresheners, toilet bowl cleaners, mothballs and other deodorizing products, may be harmful to the lungs.”
And we keep on learning: “A new group of mini-volcanoes, dubbed ‘petit spot’ because of their size, cannot be accounted for by any conventional theories of volcanism.”
More cool insect photos. Be sure to check out the one entitled “Bumblebee & parasitic wasp?” It would be interesting to know precisely what’s happening in that picture… [via RPM at evolgen]
Remember “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”? It doesn’t really work that way. They asked. He didn’t tell. They got rid of him anyway. Oh, and he’s one of the very few Arabic linguists in the military. Those are the same specialists our government is always — including currently — clamoring to find. They “fired” him anyway, and all because of an anonymous e-mail campaign. It’s wonderful to see we disregard our own policy on this issue, we believe anonymous sources over enlisted and identifiable soldiers, and we readily dispose of critical resources our own government is desperate to have (namely, those who fluently speak Arabic). Huh. So that’s how we win the War on Terror™? What tremendous ignorance and intolerance.
How’s your American spirit? According to this poll, not very good. To wit:
65 percent [of Americans] say they feel less confident that life for their children’s generation will be better than it was for them. In December 2001, the last time this question was asked, respondents — by a 49-42 percent margin — said they were confident life would be better for their children.
In addition, only 27 percent think the country is headed in the right direction, while 58 percent say they are less confident the Iraq war will come to a successful conclusion.
And among those who believe that the nation is headed on the wrong track, a whopping 81 percent believe it’s part of a longer-term decline and that things won’t get better for some time. Just 12 percent think the problems are short-term blips.
[…]
For the eighth straight survey since October 2005, President Bush’s job approval rating sits below 40 percent; for the fourth straight time since March, just a third approve of his handling of Iraq; and also for a fourth straight time since March, only a quarter believe the nation is headed in the right direction.
Sounds ’bout right. Hey, I voted for Kerry and get to point the finger at the mindless idiots who voted this abomination into office for a second term.
Perhaps a restraining of eminent domain
I’ve never agreed that eminent domain should be used simply because there is financial incentive to do so. In the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex recently, an example of this was Arlington’s use of eminent domain to wipe out an entire neighborhood to make room for the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium. Yes, that’s right: the government kicked people out of their homes so they could build a sports arena for a professional team that makes millions of dollars and seriously overpays its athletes.
Tell me again why the government is taking homes away from citizens for a sports team? Tax revenue? Economic development? Not good enough, I say. That is an abuse of eminent domain in my opinion. Thankfully, cases like this are springing up all around the country, and courts are ruling that such use does in fact constitute an abuse of power by governments.
Here’s a great example from Ohio:
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that economic development isn’t a sufficient reason under the state constitution to justify taking homes, putting a halt to a $125 million project of offices, shops and restaurants in a Cincinnati suburb that officials said would create jobs and add tax revenue.
[…]
“For the individual property owner, the appropriation is not simply the seizure of a house,” Justice Maureen O’Connor wrote in a case that pitted the city of Norwood against two couples trying to save their homes. “It is the taking of a home — the place where ancestors toiled, where families were raised, where memories were made.”
Precisely! And the court gets it! How refreshing.
The greater tragedy is that the “U.S. Supreme Court last summer allowed municipalities to seize homes for use by a private developer.” It was a terrible blow to citizens’ property rights across the country, but things are changing.
Dana Berliner, an attorney for the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice that represented property owners in the case, said Wednesday’s decision will have ramifications in high courts and legislatures across the country.
“This case is really part of a trend throughout the country of states responding to and rejecting the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision last year,” she said. “There are now 28 states that have taken legislative steps to protect owners more after that decision, and this case is the next movement in that trend, and I believe now not only legislatures but other courts are going to begin rejecting that terrible decision.”
Despite the SCOTUS’ poor judgment in the Kelo case, state bodies are moving to intercept and disable it in order to protect families from losing their homes in the name of economic progress. Again, the recent Arlington event is a perfect example as many people were upset about losing their homes, and that neighborhood was in no way deteriorating. It was quiet, peaceful, well-established, long-lived, and wholly abused by government power in caving to the special interests of a professional sports team that was unable to get it via respectable and legitimate means. In fact, that instance was a case of the team and government choosing a neighborhood to destroy simply because it would allow them to place the new stadium near the Texas Rangers baseball stadium. Pathetic.
“This was a perfect example of what is going on all over the country: a perfectly nice, working class neighborhood with no tax delinquencies, no falling down buildings, a nice neighborhood of homes and businesses, that a developer thought could be much more profitable as an upscale shopping and high-end housing center,” she said.
And that’s the point. Legislatures and courts need to curb such abuses of this governmental power. Let’s hope the trend continues.
Random Thought
[W]hen the martyr’s righteous forebrain is exploded by the executioner’s bullet and his mind disintegrates, what then? Can we safely assume that all those millions of neural circuits will be reconstituted in an immaterial state, so the conscious mind carries on?
— Edward O. Wilson
5 raccoons + 2 cats + 1 human = mayhem (part 1)
It was a few minutes before 5:00 in the morning when my eyes popped open. I was wide-awake. I hate it when that happens, especially when I’d prefer to sleep. With no hope of that, I climbed out of bed.
A quick glance outside indicated there were no visitors. I was mainly looking for the cats, Vazra and his lady friend Larenti. Sans external obligations, I stepped into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, put out fresh food and water for The Kids, and nearly leaped out of my skin when both Kako and Kazon literally flew out of the bedroom at warp speed. Both had been resting comfortably by the patio door, so I assumed they were frightened by something outside (not frightened of it specifically, but rather frightened by a sudden noise or movement).
I glanced in the bedroom and saw Vazra sitting outside. I was correct: Kako and Kazon probably were frightened when he leaped atop the fence, a maneuver that often makes a sudden and loud noise. I giggled to myself as both cats slowly came back to the bedroom door to take a peek at whatever must certainly be coming to get them. The sight of Vazra sitting patiently put everyone at ease.
I went to the kitchen and retrieved some bowls, put some cat food in one and fresh water in the other, and then stepped outside. Vazra, as always, was quite happy to see me. Before I had to ask if she was there, his lady friend came around the corner and spoke. Both would get some breakfast this morning (although I’ll admit she visited late the night before and got a midnight snack).
I placed a small handful of food outside the fence as she waited patiently. Only a few small meows from her punctuated the silence. Vazra was already too busy eating to speak. The moment the food was in place, she began munching as well.
While both felines enjoyed the first course of breakfast (the later courses would be during their return visits, if any), I stood and quietly spoke to them while petting Vazra. We all heard the noise at the same time, and all three of us snapped to attention. Something was coming. In the context of the wildlife in this area, it sounded like a herd of elephants trampling through the undergrowth.
In the darkness, the first thing I saw was some tiny little creatures scurrying around the corner, but they were following something large. Their approach kept them from being completely visible to me. All I could see were some faint shadows moving about in the darkness. Given the size of several of them, my first thought was that it was another cat with kittens in tow. I was wrong.
It was a mother raccoon with three babies. They were so small and cute, each probably no more than 6 – 7 pounds (2.5 – 3 kilograms). They followed their mother closely.
The female cat was on full alert by the time the raccoon family rounded the corner. Unlike Vazra and myself, she was outside the fence. And she was standing over a pile of cat food.
“Oh, hell!” I blurted out. She was standing over a pile of cat food… Uh-oh. While raccoons are terribly fearful of dogs (even though a raccoon can kill a dog), they don’t see cats as anything more than an odd curiosity. That’s true except when it comes to a mother and her babies. Under those circumstances, a female raccoon might consider cats a threat to her young. Specifically in this case, they’d also see her as an obstacle between them and the cat food.
I immediately reached into Vazra’s bowl and grabbed another small handful of food. I quickly tossed it over the fence directly into the path of the oncoming family. My hope was that it would stop them from trying to take the cat food before my feline friend was through eating her breakfast. It would also give me time to run inside and get something else to offer the raccoons lest this situation turn ugly.
My plan worked. I returned to the patio with some pecans, almonds, and a Fig Newton. The cookie is something sweet and can keep the raccoons occupied with diversity instead of focusing on the other food they smell. I tossed the nuts over the fence so the meal landed close to the mother and babies. I then broke the cookie up into several small pieces and tossed those over the fence as well. All four raccoons were quite happy and munched away.
Let me note that I absolutely do not like to feed the wildlife when they can see me. I do not want them growing accustomed to me, and I do not want to lessen their fear of humans. Despite that, this was an urgent exception to that rule in hopes it would protect the cat.
Vazra by that time forgot his own breakfast and was more interested in keeping an eye on the masked bandits. This was also true of the female cat. Because her location was far more easily compromised, I couldn’t blame her for not returning to her meal. She didn’t walk away from it, but neither did she continue eating it. It would be too much of a diversion when her attention needed to be focused on the four wild animals in close proximity.
Then all seven of us heard it and reacted in kind by turning our attention to more noise approaching from around the corner, although this time it sounded like a single animal. I believe it was then I muttered something akin to “Oh shit. What now…”
A large raccoon came around the corner and headed for the family of four. This time Vazra hissed and backed away from the fence. His lady friend stood her ground while she watched the raccoon numbers increase to five, two of whom were rather large with the mother being only slightly smaller than the new arrival.
The situation was getting complicated fast. The cat food outside the fence would certainly tempt them as soon as someone stopped eating long enough to smell it. How I wish I could get that cat to come onto the patio.
The most recent arrival ate a bit of the nuts and cat food I’d tossed out before turning his attention toward the female cat and her supply. I noticed this and stepped over behind her (obviously inside the fence). I know raccoons have no problem approaching a cat, but they would be more apprehensive with me standing there. I was right; the largest raccoon stopped his approach and looked at me.
It was then I realized the other four raccoons had finished the nuts and cookie and were now in search of other goodies, and they too smelled the cat food.
“Fucking hell!” I said, and this time there was no murmuring about it. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control, and it was too late to go back inside for more food as that would leave both cats in danger.
[Part 2]