Tiny visitor

We found this little fellow -- a baby blue-tit -- on our front doorstep when we came home from work this evening.

He fluttered around there for a while (actual flying still seems beyond his abilities) before hiding in some ivy in our back garden.

While we ate our own dinner, we watched him (we've rather spontaneously named him Ferdinand) be fed by his parents.

Shortly afterwards, we noted two other baby birds on a branch in another part of the garden. We think they're redstarts, but they might be finches.

It's all gotten very lively in the garden all of a sudden.

We're just hoping that they survive the neighbourhood cats. 

Fingers crossed.

[UPDATE]: They are redstarts. The Wife just saw the parents feeding them what seemed to be grubs. Yum!

Rock 'n' roll excess ain't what it used to be

In the Guardian, Justin Hawkins, of the Darkness, explains his band's video for 'Everybody have a Good Time', from their new album, 'Hot Cakes'.

It was going to be a monkey, but animatronic monkey faces were too terrifying. So we came up with the bear. Unfortunately, the record company said it would be too expensive to have an animatronic one, so it had to be a guy in a bear costume. With a bra on.

In an age of austerity, I suppose, such corners must be cut.

Affenschande

Noted, over lunch, in a post at Blood & Treasure about Rudolf Herzog's recent book on humour in Nazi Germany:

Nazi actions are, at times, the funniest things in the book. For instance, when a circus performer taught his apes to give the Hitler salute, a law was passed forbidding apes from doing so on pain of death.

This rang a bell, as the other day I was reading about another group of apes who, in certain circumstances, seem compelled -- as if by an irresistable force -- to give such salutes.

Filmic wanderings

It's funny how the internet leads you places. Just today, for example, while looking up something quite different I ran across two very interesting videos.

The first, an excerpt from Werner Herzog's Antarctica documentary Encounters at the End of the World:



The second, the trailer from the upcoming Terrence Malik Film, The Tree of Life, which looks excellent:

Brief aspirational aside

Now added to the list of Things I Want to See Happen: a race horse with the same name as this blog. If other blogs can have one, why can't we?

(C'mon, it would at least be better than 'Yorkshire Knight'...)

Tales of the unexpected

On a lighter note: I think I can assure you that among the more unlikely headlines I ever expected to read in my life, 'Porpoises rescue Dick Van Dyke' ranks very highly.

I'm rather at a loss for words on this one.

Avoiding all thoughts of the coming night

Quite a nice image from Orwell, 21 September 1940:

Withal, huge areas of London almost normal, and everyone quite happy in the daytime, never seeming to think about the coming night, like animals which are unable to foresee the future so long as they have a bit of food and a place in the sun. 

Along with noting the imagery, it occurs to me that 'withal' is used far too seldom these days.

Born to be...um...wild

Funniest headline this week this month ever: 'German student attacks Hell's Angels with puppy'.

I mean: we're not quite in Sophie Scholl territory, but still, it takes some guts to attack a violent motorcycle gang armed with nothing but a puppy.

(Said puppy, it is to be noted, is 'now in safe hands', hence my ability to be so flippant about this weird story.)

(via German Joys)

Ohne Worte

Allium "Globemaster"



Dorcus parallelepipedus




Penile Mandrake




Sunday running, brand new trainers

Applied science: Make my day edition

According to a report in the Guardian, new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (the original article is freely available) considers the relative speeds of proactive and reactive movement.

In the context of a quickdraw gun duel.

The conclusion:

"You move faster if you draw second, but you're still going to die," Dr Welchman said. "You'll die satisfied that you were quicker, but that's not much use to you."

So, along with that other scientifically sound gun-related admonition ('Always aim for the head when confronted by zombie hordes') we can add something else: 'always draw first'.

We have also learned something else: it seems that Niels Bohr was handy with a pistol.

Niels Bohr, who worked on the structure of the atom at the beginning of the 20th century, tested his theory by staging his own mock duels with toy guns at his institute in Copenhagen. His gunslinging partner, the Russian-born George Gamow, drew first and lost every time.

"[Bohr] can't have won because he was quicker in reacting," Welchman said. "It must be that he was a really good shot as well as a really good physicist."

I wonder how rare that particular combination is.

Incidentally, the PRS website is full of fascinating stuff: the currently most-read article is apparently Brennan, Clark and Prum, 'Explosive eversion and functional morphology of the duck penis supports sexual conflict in waterfowl genitalia'; full text is also available for free.

The methodology in a nutshell:

We used high-speed video of phallus eversion and histology to describe for the first time the functional morphology of the avian penis.

This does not sound like quite as much fun as staging mock duels with toy guns in the lab: but it sounds pretty damned interesting.

Science is so cool.

Making new friends

We have a new addition to our household.

Well, maybe not new, as we're not sure exactly how long she's been here.

In any case, a few days ago we spotted her lurking terrifyingly casually hanging around in our front hall.

Folks, meet Erika:

Erika, perched above a doorway in the front hall where she can more

easily launch a surprise attack partake in the warm familial atmosphere.

I admit, we're just guessing on the gender and as for the name itself, it just...kind of occurred to one of us and has stuck. It has no specific significance.

But, just possibly, personalising our new eight-legged friend helps one of us to cope better with an almost paralyzing fear of arachnids (we won't mention which one of us it is, other than to note that he remains convinced that said phobia does not in any way serve to undermine his otherwise virile masculinity).

And it also occurs to me that our practice of naming the critters that wander around (and, far more rarely, into) our house allows us to feel a similar sense of animal companionship enjoyed by actual pet owners without...well, all the hassle of actually being a pet owner.

Perhaps.

Erika, by the way, is no longer in the front hall.

She was seen later hanging around in the corner where the wine lives in the Wohnzimmer.

She has since set off for parts unknown.

"She's probably moved into your coat", said The Wife, helpfully.

I'm not sure, but I think this may explain why I've not been out of the house for three days.

Thinking only nice thoughts

To clear the palate of the last, rather negative post before moving on to more pleasant things, I can only recommend Geoff's collection of his best photographs from 2009.

Especially this one. (We had such a baby bird in our yard this year, but didn't manage to get a photo.)

Thanks Geoff!

Octoborg

I love it when humble invertebrates confirm the precepts and propositions of contemporary "theory". Like these here Indonesian octopuses (yes, that's right, puses) who - with their sophisticated use of coconut halves as sleigh-like contraptions - seem to subscribe to Donna Haraway's wildest prosthetic fantasies:



Transhumanity affirmed by cephalopods! Cyborg theory lives!

Obviously, this news item calls for an appropriate soundtrack. It's so quiet in the blue deep:

Is it because I is grey?

Having been attacked by marauding hordes of grey squirrels in London parks and gardens in the past (in fact, only recently), I stand firmly by my opinion that - while cutely Disneyesque - the grey squirrel has the makings of a vandal in it.

I don't trust these overfed, overweight and over here critters and their bolshy "Oi - less 'ave yer spare nuts" attitude. Give me an elegant, sinewy red squirrel - like the ones that sometimes frolic in our garden - any day. I'm convinced they speak foreign languages, too.

My pro red squirrel bias would not stand me in a good stead with Dr. Ian Rotherham of Sheffield Hallam University, who according to this article in the Telegraph (and this),

said controlling grey squirrels was “eco-xenophobia”. He said of schemes involving population management “that they resonate with ideas growing with the BNP in the UK, and with other right-wing groups across Europe”.

The "schemes" here referred to are probably those pursued by the Friends of the Anglesey Red Squirrels, which seems to have been a rather successful conservation project.

Well, what can you say?











"Political correctness gone mad!"

(picture via; more from squirrel expert da Wife, with embarrassing evidence of stylistic repetitiveness, here)

The lord god made them all

Did you hear the one about the dog that got left behind after the rapture?

In the kingdom of the psychedelic Fledermaus

The Institute of Jurassic Technology points us to a remarkable collection of scanned images from German biologist Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.

I think my favourite is this one, of bats:



Though there are so many to choose from.

Life imitating science fiction: Attack of the giant squid edition

In the Guardian today, one of my favourite headlines of recent weeks:

Giant squid terrorise Californian coast

Interesting story, and it made me think immediately of Frank Schätzing's rather good thriller Der Schwarm (which I see has been published in English as The Swarm) in which marine life starts attacking humanity in all kinds of interesting and horrifying ways.

Although recent events in California may not be as exciting as they at first sounded, as noted at the end of the Guardian article.

Roger Uzun, a veteran scuba diver and amateur underwater videographer, swam with a swarm of the creatures for about 20 minutes and said they appeared more curious than aggressive. The animals taste with their tentacles, he said, and seemed to be touching him and his wet suit to determine if he was edible.

Ah, well that's OK then.

Little Dieter has two daddies

To keep in mind when you next hear that homosexuality is 'unnatural':

A pair of male penguins has adopted an abandoned chick, now about a month old, at a zoo in Bremerhaven, Germany. Zoo veterinarian Joachin Schöne said Wednesday that the two Humboldt penguins took turns incubating the egg, which had been abandoned by its biological parents. Zookeepers had placed the egg near the two male penguins in the hope that they would care for it as their own. The experiment, so far, has worked.

(German version)

Here, an image of the proud baby daddies, 'Z' and 'Vielpunkt', and their adopted offspring:


Ah, family values, eh?....

(Image Source)

A further victory in the eternal struggle between man and pigeon

Another article from the Daily Herald, 1928.

M.P. Wins Race with Pigeons

Modest Taxicab and Train Champion

Five hundred pigeons raced a Labour M.P. home from the House of Commons on Saturday, and the M.P. won.

He was Mr. J. Tinker, and the goal the Borough of Leigh, in Lancashire, which he represents.

Mr. Tinker must be added to the very short list of sporting champions who have not expressed their absolute confidence of victory before the race.

‘I am afraid the betting is on the pigeons,’ he said while awaiting the start in Palace Yard, Westminster.

‘In spite of the strong west wind they should win. They are fine birds, and I calculate that if they fly 1,032 yards a minute they will reach Leigh first.’

THEY’RE OFF!

At ten past one Mr. Allen Parkinson, M.P. for Wigan, released the pigeons from 30 baskets.

Simultaneously, Mr. Tinker got off the mark and dashed—into a taxi-cab!

He caught the 1.30 train from Euston, arrived at Warrington a quarter of an hour late, took another taxi-cab and clocked-in at Leigh Town Hall at 5hr. 58min. 5sec p.m. No birds had then arrived.

The distance travelled was roughly 200 miles for Mr. Tinker and 175 miles for the pigeons, and the novel race was part of an effort by pigeon fanciers in aid of Leigh Infirmary and Children’s Holiday Camp.

Daily Herald, 2 July 1928, p. 5.

It's quite a nice story on which to end the week, I think.

And one should never pass up an opportunity to use the word 'pigeon fancier'.

Casting the first stone

A chimpanzee in Sweden has exhibited what is perhaps the first known example of non-human foresight and planning.

His apparent purpose: to wage war.

Cue music...



And we know what this might lead to: