Astounding.
Category Archives: nature
Donna Haraway reads National Geographic part 2
Filed under academics, Animals, colonialism, communication, feminism, learning, media, nature, representation
Donna Haraway: from cyborgs to companion species
I watched this just before going to bed the other night. Ridiculously thoughtful posthumanist insights.
You see, that’s my dog.
Filed under Animals, communication, feminism, juxtaposition, learning, nature, representation
Juxtaposition: New York Times on spray tans and Toxins in your couch
Artifact one: Who Made That Spray Tan? – NYTimes.com.
Even so, the bottle tan — especially when slathered on — tends to turn out brassier and Snookier than the real thing. But at least it’s safer than a binge in the sun.
HOW SAFE IS THE SPRAY-TAN BOOTH?
Darrell Rigel is a clinical professor of dermatology at the N.Y.U. Medical Center.
Are spray-tan booths, where the customer is standing in a fog of chemicals, safe? The concern used to be that you’re breathing in acetones — those fumes that smell like nail polish. Recent studies have suggested that dihydroxyacetone binds with a protein in your skin, and it does get absorbed systemically, but there are no smoking guns.
What do you tell your patients? I say don’t inhale in there. You’ll probably be O.K., but it’s not a totally benign alternative.
via Who Made That Spray Tan? – NYTimes.com.
Artifact 2: Arlene Blum’s Crusade Against Toxic Couches – NYTimes.com.
The problem is that flame retardants don’t seem to stay in foam. High concentrations have been found in the bodies of creatures as geographically diverse as salmon, peregrine falcons, cats, whales, polar bears and Tasmanian devils. Most disturbingly, a recent study of toddlers in the United States conducted by researchers at Duke University found flame retardants in the blood of every child they tested. The chemicals are associated with an assortment of health concerns, including antisocial behavior, impaired fertility, decreased birth weight, diabetes, memory loss, undescended testicles, lowered levels of male hormones and hyperthyroidism.
via Arlene Blum’s Crusade Against Toxic Couches – NYTimes.com.
Filed under capitalism, communication, juxtaposition, nature, representation
Blue whale poop
Photo by Eddie Kisfaludy. Taken from Wired.
The waters were rich in krill, the tiny crustaceans on which blue whales feed, and their orange hue was brightly visible in a fecal plume he photographed. It’s hard to judge absolute distances from the photo, but in scale the deposit is nearly as long as a full-grown blue whale.
It may well be the world’s largest documented poop. It’s also an exclamation point to a line of research pursued in recent years by marine biologists who say whales are the ocean’s unappreciated gardeners, playing enormous roles in nutrient and carbon cycles. In short — or perhaps in long — their poop helps make the aquatic world go round.
via The Hidden Power of Whale Poop | Wired Science | Wired.com.
Thanks to Dan Weiss and his morning coffee links for the connection.
Camping in the Trinity Alps
Firefighting helicopter. Photo taken while driving
photo from the drive up the mountain
Early morning I noticed that a thermal wind was drawing all the mist from the lake into a funnel. Pretty amazing.
- Here I am outfitted in the latest in technical camping gear. All cotton, bungee cords and LL Bean circa 1989.
- Happy birthday whitefeather!
Filed under documentary, nature
Insights from Lil’ B
Thanks to the Fader for the photo of Lil' B.
The Based God, Lil B gave a lecture at NYU a couple of days ago. Here are a few of my favorite gems:
I tell you, bruh, I was looking at insects. I do my observations when I go out. If I become a neurosurgeon or I’m about to come into some bugs, I’m rocking. With the bugs, man, you just be looking at them. Because I was having these big ant problems in my house. It was crazy. And these are people in their own way, too. As I was studying these ant colonies infesting my house daily, I’m not kidding you, I left food out and 20 minutes later r-r-r-r-r and I’m like, man, they already know! They get it down pat! And real talk, like, seeing these ants and studying them and respecting them, it’s like, man, they’re in their own community too. They’re trying to survive. They love. They fight. They telling themselves something. We can’t understand, but one day we will. I’m trying hard to figure it out. I’m there with them. We’re very smart animals, you know, or whatever we are. Organisms? What are we? What do y’all think we are? Is there like a fact? Does anybody have any proof what we are? Live that life, experience it, travel, and come up with your theories man. Read the books, too, but experience your own. It’s crazy.
via Based Scripture: The Full Transcript of Lil B’s Lecture at NYU « The FADER.
Real talk: Don’t ever deny the voices in your head either. When you’re sitting at home alone, right, we all go through depression, anxiety. You’re by yourself and you hear those voices going wild in your head, in your unconscious, those angels by your side, your mental, your gut feeling, your heart. Listen to them. Let your mind tell you how you feel. Let your body tell you. Be in tune with your rare—this is a very rare thing. I’m like a robot. Hey look, tell your hand to do this. [Raises hand]. It’s like, man, that’s amazing! That’s amazing to me.
via Based Scripture: The Full Transcript of Lil B’s Lecture at NYU « The FADER.
I was a product of the media and my environment. I seen the people I like with gold teeth, and I was like, man, I want gold teeth. He looked like me and I wanted gold teeth. Everybody can get a grill in here. Everybody should embrace that. Get gold teeth! Don’t be thinking so hard, like, “Oh, man, I can’t get gold teeth.” Who is going to say what to you? We got love in our heart. We good people. Can’t nobody tell you nothing if you doing it from the love and you’re embracing people. Try to have fun and try to be as less ignorant as possible and meet people. I’m trying to set a tone for the younger generations.
via Based Scripture: The Full Transcript of Lil B’s Lecture at NYU « The FADER.
My grammar and spelling and how I say things might not be technically what we hear or textbook, but as long as you understand me? You have to work as a human with empathy and love in your heart, staying positive and staying based and staying normal. You have to make an effort to learn about people. You have to make an effort at your job. You have to make an effort to care.
via Based Scripture: The Full Transcript of Lil B’s Lecture at NYU « The FADER.
[Audience member: “Do you like to paint?”] I definitely do, man. My mom was a painter. Ay, bruh, feel me. But you know what I do rock with? My favorite is watercolors. I’m a watercolors type of dude, so definitely collect some of my rare paintings.
via Based Scripture: The Full Transcript of Lil B’s Lecture at NYU « The FADER.
Filed under academics, Animals, art, capitalism, communication, hip hop, learning, music, nature
Understanding gangs of starlings
Starlings above Rome. Photo from the Telegraph.
Rather than affecting every other flock member, orientation changes caused only a bird’s seven closest neighbors to alter their flight. That number stayed consistent regardless of flock density, making the equations “topological” rather than critical in nature.
“The orientations are not at a critical point,” said Giardina. Even without criticality, however, changes rippled quickly through flocks — from one starling to seven neighbors, each of which affected seven more neighbors, and so on.
The closest statistical fit for this behavior comes from the physics of magnetism, and describes how the electron spins of particles align with their neighbors as metals become magnetized.
via Starling Flocks Behave Like Flying Magnets | Wired Science | Wired.com.
Filed under Animals, communication, learning, nature
Mario, raccoons and suicide food
Nintendo’s new Mario video game apparently contains some animal violence. Humans, playing the game can kill a tanooki raccoon dog and wear it’s skin to get special powers. I’ll probably skip playing the game.
I thought the defensive reaction was pretty interesting.
While it is true that at points in the game, Mario dons a raccoon-ish looking “Tanooki” suit that enables him to float in the air and swat bad guys with his tail, he never slaughters an animal to get it.
Instead, as MSNBC’s In-Game blog points out, “the magical Tanooki suits that [Mario] wears in the game typically spring from magical squares that magically hover in the air. These squares magically give up the suits, (which at first look like magical leaves), when Mario bumps his head into them.”
via PETA takes on Nintendo’s Mario and his Tanooki suit – latimes.com.
This is an interesting take on the notion of suicide food. I’m not buying the argument that abstract violence against animals in the fictional world is any less significant because the realism has been distorted. In particular this is the slaughterhouse-as-magic-box theme. I think this idea only fuels the disconnect between eating meat (or wearing fur) and the killing of the animal.
Filed under Animals, media, nature, representation
Life of refinement 