I pushed through this book to try and get a review up before it went off sale this month, and this was more than I bargained for – it is a work of great detail and no small amount of illustrated points. One would think that images in books would make the reading go faster, but this does not hold true if you’re examining them for the details illustrated within.
Author: Al Denelsbeck
Amateur naturalism, part five
While I’ve covered some details about specific types of animals in the previous posts, I’ve been slow in getting back to some overall tips that apply to all of them, so with that in mind, let’s talk about behavior.
Years ago I worked at a humane society that, among many other things, offered obedience classes and sport training for dogs, as well as some counseling on behavior problems.
Storytime
Previously, in regards to the talk by Sean Carroll, I mentioned revisiting the comment about the universe being made of stories, and so I return. This is little more than stream of consciousness, I admit, so don’t expect anything major.
First off, what does “the universe is made of stories” even mean? Is this metaphorical, poetic, or what? Well, as Carroll says, it means that we
The binary age
This is just a casual, rambling observation, inspired by far too many of my experiences, but the skeptic in me forces the admission that none of this has been empirically tested or statistically supported. Yeah, you get that way when you spend too much time on such forums…
Much is made about the “connected” nature of our society anymore, and by that I mean, the ability by a noticeable
It’s original
So, here’s a thought I had the other day about the nature of good and evil, which theologians and philosophers call theodicy I’m pretty sure philosophers have a name for those little lint balls that you get in your navel. And theologians have some kind of explanation that they’re god’s plan – just not how or why.
Anyway, genesis tells us that everything was hunky-dory
Muttering darkly behind winter’s back
North Carolina winters are usually not too dire, and we can count on some good outdoor weather pretty much throughout, but this doesn’t mean that good photo subjects will be as readily available, so I’m resigned (albeit reluctantly) to the arrival of the slow season. This little gallery is my minor act of defiance.
Above, a photo that’s harder to capture than you might imagine.
Two hooked at once
At the moment (at least as I type this,) two prominent atheists are tossing forth and back about the old question of what would, or could, constitute evidence for god. Michael Shermer at Skepticblog and Jerry Coyne at
On composition, part 15: The background
We all have experience with missing something right under our noses, or someone speaking to us who remains totally unheard because we’re concentrating on something else. The proper term for this is inattention blindness, and lots of videos and examples can be found online (Richard Wiseman, over there in the sidebar links, deals with this trait from time to time.) It is something that
By the numbers
The last post was one from my numbered series, and unfortunately I have three more from other series in the pipes, so you’re going to see a lot of sequels – I’m going to try and space them out as much as possible. And hopefully, I’ll do a better job than Hollywood sequels. At least mine are all by the original director…
Too cool, part 16: Now this is smart
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me about his young son, then three years old. It turns out the sprog was not only playing games on his folks’ computer, he had figured out how to install new ones on his own. This was not a child prodigy, and he wasn’t reading at the time – he’d learned it intuitively, by watching what his parents did and noticing how user interfaces