Coffee and Provocation

• Dog Bloggers Make a Difference. A huge hat tip to all the folks that helped stick a needle in the gas bag of hot air that is PETA, which put out a press release trying to shoe in on the legitimate concerns of those of us who LOVE DOGS and want to see them improved. PETA, of course, simply wants to kill dogs, going so far as to object to guide dogs for the blind as Christine Keith points out in a very nice piece yesterday. The Los Angeles Times rolled out a piece quoting Jemima Harrison's press release blasting PETA for ("BBC documentarian: "PETA is a bunch of crackpots") and followed it up with a piece noting that almost NO ONE commenting on the previous Los Angeles Times piece supported PETA ("Does everybody hate PETA?"). The answer: Everyone with a brain does. Or, as Gina at Pet Connection puts it: "Why is anyone still listening to PETA?" You want to know who speaks for dogs? Here are a few of those who stood up and spoke up this week: Ryan at DogMagazine.Net, Heather at Raised by Wolves, Gina and Christine at Pet Connection, Chas at Southern Rockies Nature Blog, Patty at Dolittler, Doug at Harris Hawk Blog, Shirley at Yes Biscuit!, Selma at Caveat, and Janeen at Smartdogs' Weblog. Thanks for helping define the debate 'y'all!
  
  
• All of the old Whole Earth Catalogues are now on line. This is the best thing yet! All 40 years worth of catalogues can be found at >> wholeearth.com
  
  
• Signs of the Apocalypse. The Bible says that in the end "the lion will lie down with the lamb." We're not there yet, but apparently we're getting close: See the rat on top of the cat, on top of the dog.
  
  
• I am a global warming skeptic. Not that it is not happening (though I think there is some reason to question the depth of the science here, as I will point out in a second), but that even if it is happening it may not matter very much in the long term. Here is why: Does anyone, anywhere, think we will be using gasoline in our cars 30 years from now, or fueling anything with coal 50 years from now? No and nope! The world is about to change in fundamental ways, and the era of hydrocarbon energy is just about dead. That said, it's still not clear that global warming is occurring. You see, most of the stuff people are pointing to is little more than weather, which is not the same as climate. The difference is time scale. Consider these two recent headlines for example. The first is from New Scientist and the headline reads: "Arctic Melt 20 Years Ahead of Climate Models." Oh. My. God. We are doomed! Where is the kayak and the canoe? The next headline reads "Sea Ice Ends Year at Same Level as 1979." So we are back where we were 30 years ago, eh? OK. Is the former prediction "climate" and the recent observation "weather"? Or are we just too low on the learning curve to know? Perhaps Robert Frost had it right when he wrote: "Some say the world will end in fire; Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to know that for destruction, ice is also great, and would suffice."
  
  
• Your Game Camera Is Underwater for Hours. But if you're Cliff, over at Game Camera Logbook, it will probably still work. That's about as amazing as my Ipod Shuffle making it through both the washer and the dryer without skipping a beat. Which it did. I am still amazed.
  
  
• From the Scottish Terrier and Dog News blog comes a video showing the worst dog invention of all time. And yes, it's for dog poop.
  
  
• Blow your own mind by checking out these Seven Architectural Wonders of Nature. How about that glass hermit crab shell? Wow! And the termite mounds? More wow!
  
  
• Let's see camera trapping added to school curricula! Can you think of a better way for schools to get kids reconnected to the environment? Chris Wemmer at Camera Trap Codger has the details.
  
  
• Micro video cameras are getting smaller and cheaper, but they consume a lot of memory. Still, if you have kids, or need to film folks covertly, this is the way to go.
  
  
• The Alligator River Red Wolf Sanctuary in North Carolina is now a seamless whole reports Buck at The Conservation Report. Excellent!
  
  
• Wild ... Wilder ... Wilderness. The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 (S. 22) includes 22 separate wilderness bills and 160 public land measures and has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). With Barack Obama in the White House (soon), and the House and the Senate in Democratic hands, look for increasing wild land set-asides as well as public works projects to rebuild the sagging infrastructures of our national parks and recreation areas. What did Bush do for public lands? Nothing but try to drill them, road them, and chainsaw the down.
  
  
• Chas Clifton at Southern Rockies Nature Blog has a link to hat maker Tom Hirt. I love it. Real blocking, real beaver, real craftsmanship, justifiable pride, and prices without apology. In short, all as it should be.
  
  
• Chad Love over at Field and Stream wonders about cloning Neanderthals. Yes, he is right; it would be a heck of a lot easier that cloning a mammoth, and it will probably be done some day. Perhaps this is how the Morlocks of H..G. Wells' fiction piece will start. We are surely on the fast track to being Eloi, aren't we?
  
  
• Remember this Social Security Story: From Bloomberg: "Patrick Littaye, co-founder of Access International Advisors, who lost his savings after investing with Bernard Madoff, expects to lose his house in his hometown of Saint-Malo, France, and says he’ll canvass investors over the next few weeks to see whether he has also lost his business. Littaye, 69, invested all of his own money with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC last year, enticed by the firm’s positive returns as other hedge funds slumped. His error was compounded because he borrowed money to increase the return on his investment, leaving him with $4 million in personal debts. Littaye ... declined to specify the amount he had lost. “I’m going to sell everything I have and start over,” Littaye said from Brussels, adding that he planned to subsist on his French social security payments.
  
  
• A mountain lion outside of Boulder, Colorado ate a Jack Russell terrier. As the comments to the local newspaper article note, this is something that "goes with the territory" when you move into the foothills of the Rockies. The outlanders need to get over it; the solution is not to kill every big cat or bear in the state. It's to keep your small pets inside at night. How often does this need to be said?
  
  .