I’m back at the fairgrounds. One of my daughter’s roosters won first place. Her picture is hanging on his pen, braces reflecting the camera’s flash. As I sit here in the barn, I just watched her other rooster, the obnoxious and butt ugly turken, nail a guy who put his finger through the chicken wire (live and learn buddy). They are the largest chickens at the fair, which also makes them the loudest (WAV file, turn it all the way up). I’ll wager that the decibel level is outside OSHA limits. People turn their heads when one lets loose with a crow, and some toddlers even go running to mom. I can imagine what it would feel like to look eye-to-eye with a rooster your own size.
Bumblebee is gorgeous in his black and reds. JD is as ugly as Bumblebee is beautiful and the two of them contrast starkly in their shared pen. Bumblebee is also photogenic, walking up to anyone with a cell phone camera for close ups. My daughter looks like a celebrity on the red carpet when she gets him out for petting time.
Ever see a runner duck? I am guessing that the selective pressures that caused them to develop an upright posture also made them better at walking long distances. If so, then maybe that same pressure gave us our upright posture, making us the hairless runner ducks of the primate world.
Restored antique tractors are fascinating. The turn-of-the-century steam engine tractor is gigantic and primitive looking, using chains on a rotating shaft to steer. The contrast between new and old technology is stunning. Humanity's future and that of the world's biodiversity depends in large part on new technology. The technology curve is presently lagging behind consumption but that may change in my lifetime as population growth continues to fall off and technology growth continues to explode. It is a hopeful trend, as are the trends toward urbanization, lower fertility, and poverty reduction.
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Biodiversivist 6
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Posted 11:41 PM on 25 Aug 2006
by Biodiversivist -
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I’m back at the fairgrounds. One of my daughter’s roosters won first place. Her picture is hanging on his pen, braces reflecting the camera’s flash. As I sit here in the barn, I just watched her other rooster, the obnoxious and butt ugly turken, nail a guy who put his finger through the chicken wire (live and learn buddy). They are the largest chickens at the fair, which also makes them the loudest (WAV file, turn it all the way up). I’ll wager that the decibel level is outside OSHA limits. People turn their heads when one lets loose with a crow, and some toddlers even go running to mom. I can imagine what it would feel like to look eye-to-eye with a rooster your own size.
Bumblebee is gorgeous in his black and reds. JD is as ugly as Bumblebee is beautiful and the two of them contrast starkly in their shared pen. Bumblebee is also photogenic, walking up to anyone with a cell phone camera for close ups. My daughter looks like a celebrity on the red carpet when she gets him out for petting time.
Ever see a runner duck? I am guessing that the selective pressures that caused them to develop an upright posture also made them better at walking long distances. If so, then maybe that same pressure gave us our upright posture, making us the hairless runner ducks of the primate world.
Restored antique tractors are fascinating. The turn-of-the-century steam engine tractor is gigantic and primitive looking, using chains on a rotating shaft to steer. The contrast between new and old technology is stunning. Humanity's future and that of the world's biodiversity depends in large part on new technology. The technology curve is presently lagging behind consumption but that may change in my lifetime as population growth continues to fall off and technology growth continues to explode. It is a hopeful trend, as are the trends toward urbanization, lower fertility, and poverty reduction.
My real name is Russ Finley. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be. In an attempt to minimize the workload on Grist editors responsible for turning my submissions into intelligible articles, I will also be posting on a seperate blog called Biodiversivist, which will contain articles in addition to those submitted to Grist.
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caniscandida Posted 10:37 pm
25 Aug 2006
Thou wrotest: "Ever see a runner duck?"
No, I have never seen one of these curiously constructed theropod dinosaurs.
Thou wrotest further:
"I'm guessing that the selective pressures that caused them to develop an upright posture also made them better at walking long distances."
Ummm. How "natural" is the posture of "runner ducks"? And how "natural" are they themselves? Neither the Sibley Field Guide to Birds of North America nor the National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America has anything about them. Curious, no?
In theropod dinosaurs, and their avian descendants, "natural" is a disposition of the vertebrae between the pectoral and pelvic girdles more or less horizontal. Any deviation from that disposition is arguably "unnatural," and quite possibly painful, and most certainly not recommendable.
Thou wrotest:
"If so, then maybe that same pressure gave us our upright posture, making us the hairless runner ducks of the primate world."
Didst thou indeed discover a Book of Biodiversivist, which thou intendest to publish before long?
I have grave doubts about these ducks. Sure, the vertical posture may be an opportunist adaptative posture, but it can hardly be considered normative.
Best wishes to your daughter and her velociraptors. Don't get eaten. Make sure she keeps them away from the ducks. Who knows, the ducks may turn on the velociraptors, and win! They have it in them, after all, you know.
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amazingdrx Posted 11:44 pm
25 Aug 2006
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog
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Biodiversivist Posted 1:34 am
26 Aug 2006
Not sure what you mean about that book Canis, but this this one comes pretty close.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com
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caniscandida Posted 3:46 am
26 Aug 2006
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bottleman Posted 1:59 pm
27 Aug 2006
Sorry to get serious here -- but you spoke of technology. Visiting the animal barns makes my thoughts turn to animal breeding and how queesy it might make some erstwhile greens. Usually the fair comes with the idealized picture of the family farm -- people living with nature as partners rather than masters.
But think about it. All those super breeds that we love to see at fairs -- the maddeningly lactoproductive microgoats, the adorable long-eared lops, the awe-inspiring draft horses -- aren't they really the product of long term genetic meddling by the human race, as breeders again and again crossed individuals with desired characteristics? Haven't we created our own forks in the evolutionary tree?
It's not quite genetic engineering, since the crosses are between closely related lines, not ones that diverged a billion years ago. But it's still got the same theme: humans directing the rest of life in a very intentional way.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I love the lops! But once you acknowledge the merit in humanity's long history of breeding animals, genetic engineering stops looking like a dungeon of horrors and more like a potentially useful tool. I'm thinking about its possibilities more and more.
http://bottleworld.net
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mihan Posted 3:49 am
28 Aug 2006
In any case, congratulations are in order! I'm just sorry I can't listen to them.
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