Toothpaste more dangerous than a loaded gun?

I wish someone would ask the Supreme Court how constitutional it is to require people to take off their shoes and turn in their shampoo and toothpaste to fly.

Well, not SO many puffins...

Rats. I just got an email that the boat trips to Machias Seal Island the days I can go are filled. I'll still be going on the Audubon trip to Eastern Egg Island, which has enormous ornithological importance--it's where Steve Kress first tried out his puffin decoys to lure real, live puffins back to their historical breeding grounds. Roger Tory Peterson once worked as a naturalist on Hog Island, and now Scott Weidensaul is there, and I'll be interviewing some of the staff, so this is still a thrilling opportunity.

Puffins!!!

I'm so excited! Next weekend (the weekend of the Fourth) I'm headed out to Maine! I'm for sure going to meet with Audubon naturalists at Hog Island and weather permitting will head out on a boat trip around Eastern Egg Rock to see Atlantic Puffins. With luck I'm also going out to Machias Seal Island, where I first saw Atlantic Puffins, to get closer photos, videos, and sound recordings. This is going to be SO fun!

Chuck and Sue

Chuck and Sue, the pair of robins nesting on my apartment building, fledged all four of their babies last week. I miss them! I'll have lots more photos and information in the coming days. These photos of Chuck holding a bug (I couldn't bother him for long because he wanted to feed #4) were taken at nice close range, from just outside my door, on Sunday morning.

John Havlicek commercial

ON EDIT: Thanks to Sandy Varno for telling me it's now on YouTube!!


Oh, dear--it's probably because of the NBA championship, but suddenly I can't get a commercial from about 1970 out of my head. John Havlicek (I had SUCH a crush on Hondo!) was SINGING a song--his voice was great!--about a diet cola (maybe Diet Rite?) that went, "No, sir, I'm not on a diet. That's not why I buy it. 't's just got the taste that's right for me." It went on another stanza that I can't remember, and then he's in the locker room with the other Celtics and sings (with them repeating) "What a waste! (What a waste!) What a waste! (What a waste!) When it's got the greatest cola taste!"

Anyway, I never did try the cola, so it must not have been that compelling a commercial, but it sure was delightful. But it doesn't seem to be anywhere on YouTube. If you know where I can see it, let me know.

I think it's such a rooky deal that my brain is so filled with this kind of thing from 1970, but I have trouble remembering people's names and other important details of my life in 2008. Chickadees have it so much better than us. Every fall they can selectively allow brain neurons to die, presumably when the neurons are storing memories they no longer need, and they can actually replace them. I wish I could delete unnecessary files and defrag MY hard drive.

Colbert Report: Israel's new national bird

The ever effervescent and newly-uniformed BirdChick beat me to it, but a recent Colbert Report focused in on Israel's new national bird. I have other photos of Hoopoe's on my Iraq Bird Gallery. Soldiers, contractors, and civilians in Iraq send me photos of the birds they see for my gallery. Check it out!

Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile

When Katie and I were driving through Illinois yesterday en route to Duluth, I had a strange moment of deja vu. I was driving, but Katie got this photo with her cell phone.

Not about birds but sublimely silly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMLITlAA0QM

This is sublimely silly. Bea Arthur as Carrie Bradshaw? Sally Struthers as Samantha?? Katherine Helmond as Miranda? Check it out! And add me to the list of people who (mistakenly) thought Abe Vigoda was dead.

A tiny little political rant

When I read Slate's news for today, I laughed out loud at this:

In a dramatic dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the decision will bring about "disastrous consequences" and "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed." He went on to write that "the nation will live to regret what the court has done today."

I mean, really. Did he care about the "disastrous consequences" that almost certainly really did cause more Americans to be killed as a result of a 5-4 Supreme Court decision 8 years ago? Does he care that the nation has lived to regret what the court did on that black day?

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
--Benjamin Franklin

Roadrunners for Susan

I'm posting these in hopes that Susan sees many more, in better light. I saw them in New Mexico this past November.