Pride

Yes, I know this appears to be a crass copy of the pose seen here, but unless that otter is actually eating a vole, I’d hazard that the evidence leans towards coincidence.

I had earlier spotted the same species jumping spider as this one, atop a log and showing off its vivid rust-colored abdomen, but it was so shy that I never got remotely close enough to photograph – the same can be read more

… and part two

There are actually two themes I’m continuing here. The first is the limits of our knowledge, which is a “half-empty” perspective there’s a better way of expressing it, which we’ll get to in a moment. The second theme being continued here is special efforts made by scientists to communicate their work to the general public. The previous example (last read more

There isn’t always a complete answer, part one…

For those of you who have been hanging on the edge of your seat, checking thrice daily to see if I’ve offered an update, I apologize for keeping you in suspense. Actually, no I don’t – suspense is good for you, and anxiety strengthens the heart. Well known fact.

Anyway, I mentioned trying to follow-up on the read more

That’s 154 to you and me



On this date 22 years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope was borne into space on Shuttle Discovery, the one that recently did its last flyby over DC (well, okay, it had help) before delivery to the Udvar-Hazy center. The Hubble will be retired read more

Back atcha

Last year, I did a post on macro photography that featured some detail pics of a Giant Water Bug, also called an Electric Light Bug but better known by the scientific name Belostoma flumineum. This post totally rocked the internet, and by that I mean, was just another post on just another blog, read more

Good morning!


I thought I was pretty fortunate to discover a few tiny praying mantises on the azalea bushes out front yesterday, until I went out this morning right after sunrise when the dew still hadn’t cleared…

If you look closely at the top pic, you’ll see a large dewdrop adhering right between the mantis’ eyes. Which means, if you look at the image to the left, that forward bump by read more

How’s that sound?

This is a follow-up to the earlier book review of Brain Bugs, by Dean Buonomano. The author raised an interesting bit of speculation within that I wanted to examine – first noting that the likelihood to establish any such speculations as accurate or even worthwhile is pretty slim. This is more of a thought exercise.

In chapter 8, Buonomano admits to leading away from the clinically-supported read more

Okay, maybe I don’t do “cute”



I’ll let you in on a little secret. No, it’s not that I can’t photograph cute animals – that’s pretty damn obvious. This has to do with book reviews. You see, I spend more time on the illustrating image of the book cover than I do on the review itself, largely because I get a concept in my head and try to produce that image, which may or may not work.

In the case of read more

Book Review: Brain Bugs

A friend of mine (yes, I have some, hush) handed this book over to me, because we’d had numerous discussions related to the content while he was reading it – and I was the one who initiated them without even knowing about the book. Anyone familiar with the content of this blog may be forgiven if they suspect it’s about insectivora, but that’s not the kind of bugs we’re read more

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