Wing your way over to I and the Bird #36 for loads of bird blogging.
JUST LOOK AT THIS PUPPY! And in a basket, no less. Darn near the cutest little tidbit of fur I’ve ever seen—at least for a dog.
This is really funny about the Republicans now eating their own and pointing at their own various factions in order to place blame for the staggering losses they suffered on Tuesday. “After minutes upon minutes of soul-searching, Republicans are now in recrimination mode. And the GOP’s various factions all agree: This wouldn’t have happened if the party had listened to us. In the aftermath of the historic GOP losses Tuesday night, moderate Republicans quickly concluded that the party needs to be more moderate. Conservative Republicans declared that it should be more conservative. Main Street is angry at Wall Street, theo-cons are angry at neo-cons, and almost everyone is angry at President Bush and the GOP congressional leadership.” The party now begins purging its own limbs in an attempt to get rid of whatever might have caused the problem. It’s a shame they’re so blinded by their own partisan hackery that they’re unable to really and truthfully evaluate the mood of the country, their own platform and initiatives, and their performance over the last six years, all to come out on the other end with a clear mission to return to the true moderate conservatism that is attractive to so many. Until they realize the zealots, criminals, and fringe elements controlling the party are to blame for this smackdown, they’ll never move forward or regain the respect of Americans.
Hang his ass! And I don’t mean Saddam. “A well-known birder and founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society has been charged with animal cruelty, accused of shooting a stray cat with a .22-caliber rifle.” At least ten cats have been killed in this manner over the last year, four in the past week along. Add to that the man ran into a toll bridge employee’s car in order to stop him from identifying the criminal as the person who was shooting the cats. Pathetic little weasel.
Once considered a dead satellite, there’s new evidence showing the moon might still be alive. “Conventional wisdom says the Moon is dead. Conventional wisdom may be wrong. [Yesterday] in the journal Nature, a team of scientists led by Prof. Peter Schultz of Brown University announced evidence for fresh geologic activity on the Moon. Although lunar volcanism was supposed to have ceased billions of years ago, there’s at least one place on the Moon where ‘outgassing’ may have happened within the past 10 million years–and may still be happening today (Schultz, Staid and Pieters, Nature, 444, 184).”
In case you hadn’t heard, a “new volcanic island has risen from the South Pacific near Tonga.” It’s just come to the surface and is still growing. How cool is that? Oh, and even better than reading about it, why not go see some photos taken by one of the vessels that discovered it as it was happening. Not only do you get to see the new island while it’s still erupting, but you also get to see the pumice ocean it created (literally tons of pumice floating on top of the water, so it looks like fluid rock).
Don’t forget to visit Friday Ark #112 throughout the weekend for links to all sorts of great animal photos and carnivals.
Speaking of carnivals, I’ve discovered a new one I’ll be following from now on. The most recent is the fifth international carnival of pozitivities. It’s about HIV and AIDS and covers the gambit from politics to science to personal experiences and a great many topics in between.