tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post5373819081115173036..comments2024-02-06T10:31:24.491-07:00Comments on Watching the World Wake Up: Coolest Sight Ever, Birds, Exotics and Glass HousesWatcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-65215928493230661532009-05-11T14:58:00.000-06:002009-05-11T14:58:00.000-06:00Sorry about the repeat reference to the Scientific...Sorry about the repeat reference to the Scientific American story. It was pretty cool, though.<br /><br />Just to show I'm not "Johnny One Note" I'll recommend another magazine article I think you'll find interesting. It's a New Yorker article that's not online, but there's a summary here:<br /><br />http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gopnik<br /><br />The whole article is fun but the nugget I found most interesting is the idea that ornamentation and elaborate showiness might not be a result of evolutionary pressure, but be the natural tendency of biological systems. Such thinking runs against conventional perspectives that, for example, the drab peahen is the default body plan and the gaudy peacock is the result of extreme evolutionary forces. It argues that the opposite is actually the case. Showiness flourishes in easy times, and tough conditions prune it down.<br /><br />I'm not sure that the perspective is correct, but it's a novel twist that sounds like something you might enjoy having pop into your head during a solo ride.<br /><br />MarkMark Vande Kamphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14839049554383052515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-57833712560055457992009-05-08T06:47:00.000-06:002009-05-08T06:47:00.000-06:00Awesome, Ted. Reading your story totally made my m...Awesome, Ted. Reading your story totally made my morning. Congrats and great job.Watcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-34583547765659350372009-05-07T18:47:00.000-06:002009-05-07T18:47:00.000-06:00I've only seen what I surmised were golden eagles ...I've only seen what I surmised were golden eagles on a couple of occasions - as opposed to bald eagles which I see regularly anymore (unlike 30 years ago when I first started paying attention to such things). They are truly magnificent birds.<br /><br />I beat that cop (read about it on my <A HREF="http://bikesbugsandbones.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/bugman-1-city-of-frontenac-zero/" REL="nofollow">other blog</A>) - take that, stupid!<br /><br />regards--tedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-41696293991769484782009-05-06T20:34:00.000-06:002009-05-06T20:34:00.000-06:00Laurel- that's great info, thanks! I know exactly ...Laurel- that's great info, thanks! I know exactly where you're talking about and ride near there often. I'll start working it into my lunch rides over the next couple weeks and see if I get lucky.<br /><br />Hermano Felipe- good job on the photo and thank you for your visual contribution/ addition to the post! However yes, the real outfit is substantially more revealing... I read Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower" 6 months ago and really enjoyed it. Think I should still read Vowell's book?<br /><br />KK- "Hooters for the rich" is even more succinct. I think she nailed it.<br /><br />SBJ- Not to rathole on the whole symmetry thing, but symmetry could have been achieved equally well by lowering the other side...<br /><br />Mark- yes, thanks for the reminder. You clued me into the multichromtaic hues of Starling plumage back in the <A HREF="http://watchingtheworldwakeup.blogspot.com/2008/11/mountain-biking-moonlight-color-vision.html" REL="nofollow">tetrachromatic vision post</A>, and I was subsequently able to find the <A HREF="http://www.csulb.edu/labs/bcl/elab/avian%20vision_intro.pdf" REL="nofollow">original article</A> in Scientific American. It was really fascinating. Thanks again!Watcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-42843226395241000462009-05-06T17:43:00.000-06:002009-05-06T17:43:00.000-06:00I don't remember where I read this, but I seem to ...I don't remember where I read this, but I seem to recall that although both male and female starlings seem to be equally drab to humans, when seen with the multi-chromatic vision of starlings themselves, the males are quite gaudy.<br /><br />So there's one more interesting little link to one of your past posts that should make you think starlings aren't quite as "vulgaris" as they seem.Mark Vande Kamphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14839049554383052515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-25748920878604585812009-05-06T11:54:00.000-06:002009-05-06T11:54:00.000-06:00Given your penchant for symmetry, how do you get o...Given your penchant for symmetry, how do you get over the drivetrain being on one side of the bicycle/motorcycle?<br /><br />Also given your penchant for symmetry, you would have probably had a problem with the waitress we had at La Caille who was "accidentally" playing peak-a-boo on just one side. I've wondered since if she didn't notice or was just trying to get a bigger tip. Nobody at the table was enough of a symmetry freak to ask her to pull her top up.Ski Bike Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12295969126174565599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-8129940381392937192009-05-06T09:23:00.000-06:002009-05-06T09:23:00.000-06:00Here's a La Caille story from a friend I used to w...Here's a La Caille story from a friend I used to work with:<br /><br />One Valentine's Day he and his wife wanted to go out but didn't know where to go. On a whim they decided to splurge and go to La Caille. Upon arriving and being seated his wife looked around, noticing the obvious similar 'feature' of all the waitresses and whispered: "This is Hooters for the rich."<br /><br />Wow, a Golden Eagle - very cool!<br /><br />Poor Robin, Turdis? The namer is probably dead now, otherwise more than a few bird lovers (and even me, a bird admirer) would take issue with the choice of latin.KanyonKrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954169751206336705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-67254254717382049322009-05-06T08:23:00.000-06:002009-05-06T08:23:00.000-06:00Three things:
1. I know the Betsy Ross story isn'...Three things:<br /><br />1. I know the Betsy Ross story isn't true. But the American flag does look <B>a lot</B> like a quilt someone was making for their guest room when they suddenly ran out of red cloth and had to punt. Then Washington dropped by, and the rest is (fake) history.<br /><br />2. I just finished Sarah Vowell's "The Wordy Shipmates", which was not what I expected but still enjoyable. In it, she talks about the early ideological struggles of the "high-minded, spiritually-oriented... founding fathers and Mayflower Pilgrims". More than anything, the early Pilgrims/Puritans were driven by (a) a desire to practice their own brand of Protestantism, and (b) making sure their kids didn't grow up Dutch, since they had religious freedom but not English culture in Holland. Of course, the Pilgrims weren't here 20 years before they were exiling "heretics" from their new community, like Anne Hutchinson, whose doctrinal crime was preaching a form of Protestantism we'd call "born again" today.<br /><br />3. Most importantly, here is a <A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/cnttgz" REL="nofollow">pretty good approximation</A> of a La Caille waitress, only less revealing than the real thing. (Man, I hope they don't bust me for Googling this image at work).Phil O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14499273759083108847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-15688046760113372922009-05-06T07:16:00.000-06:002009-05-06T07:16:00.000-06:00There are bald eagles here -- at least there was o...There are bald eagles here -- at least there was one last spring. I saw it on a lunch road ride (of all things) sitting very calmly by the side of the road by that old mill (Old Mill Road?) Somewhere below the porcupine grill. <br /><br />Thanks for the great flower posts! It has made the shoreline rides super fun, finally knowing the names of all of my favorites.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com