redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
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weird animal fact

( Sep. 29th, 2023 05:20 pm)
Apropos of nothing at all, today I learned that whale sharks have teeth on their eyeballs. These aren't the teeth they eat with; rather, they protect the sharks' eyeballs.

By "apropos of nothing," I mean that this was a random cool thought dropped into a meta-conversation about making social conversation, and the "chaos goblin" approach of stating something weird and cool like that, rather than answering "how are you?" either with something like "fine" or "could be worse" or with something like "I went to the beach yesterday" or "I just read a good mystery novel" as a mild conversation-starter.

The person who suggested this said that you'd either get into some kind of weird but interesting conversation, or they would decide you were the wrong sort of weird and you'd each look for someone else to talk to.
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redbird: a Cooper's hawk sitting on a branch (cooper's hawk)
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It could have been worse

( Aug. 4th, 2007 11:27 pm)
The Idaho state commemorative quarter has a rather attractive portrait of a bird, supposed to be a peregrine falcon (it's hard to tell at that scale), the outline of the state, and the motto "Esto Perpetua," which I want to read as "Always this" but which the first web page I found about the quarter says translates as "May it be forever." That web page also tells me that one of the rejected designs had the words of the state song. There are two four-line verses, and an eight-line chorus; I can only guess that the engravers at the Mint, who are asked to mock up the designs the states submit, aren't allowed to say "Hey, I know you mean well, but this just can't be done in that little space." Not if they wanted it read, rather than to just say "Hey, we have an inane state song, like most of the other states." [Not all--Georgia and Oklahoma have songs people listen to.]

I also found a Web page hosting a petition urging that the design be changed, on the grounds that peregrine falcons aren't specifically Idahoan, that the Mountain Bluebird and the Syringa have been state symbols longer, and that non-Boiseans would feel alienated by a design that connected to the World Center for Birds of Prey.
Tags:
redbird: a Cooper's hawk sitting on a branch (cooper's hawk)
»

It could have been worse

( Aug. 4th, 2007 11:27 pm)
The Idaho state commemorative quarter has a rather attractive portrait of a bird, supposed to be a peregrine falcon (it's hard to tell at that scale), the outline of the state, and the motto "Esto Perpetua," which I want to read as "Always this" but which the first web page I found about the quarter says translates as "May it be forever." That web page also tells me that one of the rejected designs had the words of the state song. There are two four-line verses, and an eight-line chorus; I can only guess that the engravers at the Mint, who are asked to mock up the designs the states submit, aren't allowed to say "Hey, I know you mean well, but this just can't be done in that little space." Not if they wanted it read, rather than to just say "Hey, we have an inane state song, like most of the other states." [Not all--Georgia and Oklahoma have songs people listen to.]

I also found a Web page hosting a petition urging that the design be changed, on the grounds that peregrine falcons aren't specifically Idahoan, that the Mountain Bluebird and the Syringa have been state symbols longer, and that non-Boiseans would feel alienated by a design that connected to the World Center for Birds of Prey.
Tags:
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
»

Five random things make an entry

( Jul. 29th, 2007 03:03 pm)

  • This summer's butterflies are red admirals. There are cabbage butterflies, as always, but lots of red admirals and few swallowtails or monarchs. I'd noticed that a lot here in New York, but there were quite a few in Montreal as well.

  • Knowing that fretting is pointless helps a little, but only a little. Tea, hugs, and actually getting the good news (or lack of problems) confirmed is much better.

  • It's been a good summer for fireflies, at least compared to the last few. (I don't remember well enough to say whether there are more or fewer now than when I was a child.) Also, either they've gotten better at evading capture, or I've gotten slower: I had trouble catching one on my hand a few weeks ago.

  • It appears that the only agreed-on border in Arctic waters is that between the United States and Russia. (The Atlantic and Pacific boundaries further south seem mostly settled, at least on paper.)

  • New York City may set a record for rainfall this year. OK, this happens, the data set is only 150 years. What worries me isn't the amount of rain--it's that the forecasting is noticeably less reliable than it was three years ago. That's both likely evidence of climate change--an increase in chaos in the system--and a practical inconvenience. Inconvenience now, when it's whether to carry an umbrella. More than that come blizzard season, or when the next hurricane hits Long Island.

  • Current Mood: pensive
Tags:
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
»

Five random things make an entry

( Jul. 29th, 2007 03:03 pm)

  • This summer's butterflies are red admirals. There are cabbage butterflies, as always, but lots of red admirals and few swallowtails or monarchs. I'd noticed that a lot here in New York, but there were quite a few in Montreal as well.

  • Knowing that fretting is pointless helps a little, but only a little. Tea, hugs, and actually getting the good news (or lack of problems) confirmed is much better.

  • It's been a good summer for fireflies, at least compared to the last few. (I don't remember well enough to say whether there are more or fewer now than when I was a child.) Also, either they've gotten better at evading capture, or I've gotten slower: I had trouble catching one on my hand a few weeks ago.

  • It appears that the only agreed-on border in Arctic waters is that between the United States and Russia. (The Atlantic and Pacific boundaries further south seem mostly settled, at least on paper.)

  • New York City may set a record for rainfall this year. OK, this happens, the data set is only 150 years. What worries me isn't the amount of rain--it's that the forecasting is noticeably less reliable than it was three years ago. That's both likely evidence of climate change--an increase in chaos in the system--and a practical inconvenience. Inconvenience now, when it's whether to carry an umbrella. More than that come blizzard season, or when the next hurricane hits Long Island.

  • Current Mood: pensive
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