Run Grandma, it’s them bugs again!

[[This is not actually from today, but from sometime in the last few weeks from Writers Almanac. We can’t recognise a good pestilence these days even when it’s thick around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue]]

It was on this day in 1875 that the largest recorded swarm of locusts in American history descended upon the Great Plains. It was a swarm about 1,800 miles long, 110 miles wide, from Canada down to Texas. North America was home to the most numerous species of locust on earth, the Rocky Mountain locust. At the height of their population, their total mass was equivalent to the 60 million bison that had inhabited the West. The Rocky Mountain locust is believed to have been the most common macroscopic creature of any kind ever to inhabit the planet. Swarms would occur once every seven to twelve years, emerging from river valleys in the Rockies, sweeping east across the country. The size of the swarms tended to grow when there was less rain—and the West had been going through a drought since 1873. Farmers just east of the Rockies began to see a cloud approaching from the west. It was glinting around the edges where the locust wings caught the light of the sun. People said the locusts descended like a driving snow in winter. They covered everything in their path. They sounded like thunder or a train and blanketed the ground, nearly a foot deep. Trees bent over with the weight of them. They ate nearly every living piece of vegetation in their path. They ate harnesses off horses and the bark of trees, curtains, clothing that was hung out on laundry lines. They chewed on the handles of farm tools and fence posts and railings. Some farmers tried to scare away the locusts by running into the swarm, and they had their clothes eaten right off their bodies. Similar swarms occurred in the following years. The farmers became desperate. But by the mid 1880s, the rains had returned, and the swarms died down. Within a few decades, the Rocky Mountain locusts were believed to be extinct. The last two live specimens were collected in 1902, and they're now stored at the Smithsonian.

Smoke gets in yr eyes.

Nuke schmuke...

[[This is a pretty lengthy watch for the web, but the 30 min. of initial presentation is worth the struggle. With this administration trying to make us afraid that doom is coming because somebody’s grandma has managed to slip onto a plane with a pair of nail clippers or a bottle of Evian, it’s interesting that they’re also encouraging nuclear energy, which I’m convinced we’re not ready for. “Every recent acquisition of nuclear weapons has been tied to civilian nuclear power”]]

“We have met the enemy,
and he is us.”—Pogo

On October 27, 2006, a debate on the future of nuclear power and its role in climate took place in Burlington, VT before the Society for Environmental Journalists, between Moore, former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford and Greenpeace US nuclear safety analyst Jim Riccio.

To see the video of that debate and an accompanying slide show that provides additional commentary, click here.

************

Peter Bradford is a former Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and former chair of the New York State Public Service Commission and the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

Patrick Moore is chair of Greenspirit Strategies, Ltd and co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute. You can read more about Moore’s position on nuclear power here: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Patrick_Moore_on_Nuclear_Power

Jim Riccio is nuclear safety analyst for Greenpeace US and formerly worked with Public Citizen and Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

Oh, HEPPY Birthday, Don Marquis.

Today in 1878 newspaper columnist, playwright, and short-story writer Don Marquis was born in Walnut, Illinois.

[[I discovered Marquis’ Archy and Mehitabel because of my love of Krazy Kat creator George Herrriman, who did lovely illustrations for several of the books—text is by peter campbell—krazy.com]]

While Krazy Kat is certainly Herriman’s great work, he is also noted for his wonderfully appropriate renderings of “Archy & Mehitabel.” archy was a talking cockroach and Mehitabel was an alley cat. Due to a tragic mishap of destiny, archy, once a great poet, was reincarnated as a roach, but maintained the poet’s soul, which he poured out in verse each night by hopping from key to key on Mr. Don Marquis’ rusty old typewriter. Archy told stories about Mehitabel the cat, Freddy the Rat, and other denizens of the garage he lived in. Since he couldn't manage the shift key, his verse was relatively unadorned by punctuation.

Don Marquis, the man fortunate enough to have archy living in his garage, was born Donald Robert Perry Marquis. He lived from 1878 until 1937 in the small town of Walnut, Illinois. He was an author and a playwright, and he published archy’s poems in a column he wrote for such distinguished newspapers as the New York Sun and the New York Tribune. All told, three volumes of archy’s poetry were published, one posthumously (for Mr. Marquis, that is—archy, apparently, lives on).

#2-nicorn

Giant Squid!! Hide yer fish sticks!

[[I think after years of dealing with voracious predators like entertainment lawyers, theatrical agents, and cosmetic surgeons, California can survive this—I’m just worried about poor Mrs. Paul and her fish stick supply!]]

Voracious Jumbo Squid Invade California
From Associated Press—July 24, 2007 8:46 PM EDT

MONTEREY, Calif. - Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds is invading central California waters and preying on local anchovy, hake and other commercial fish populations, according to a study published Tuesday.

An aggressive predator, the Humboldt squid—or Dosidicus gigas—can change its eating habits to consume the food supply favored by tuna and sharks, its closest competitors, according to an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

“Having a new, voracious predator set up shop here in California may be yet another thing for fishermen to compete with,” said the study's co-author, Stanford University researcher Louis Zeidberg. “That said, if a squid saw a human they would jet the other way.”

The jumbo squid used to be found only in the Pacific Ocean’s warmest stretches near the equator. In the last 16 years, it has expanded its territory throughout California waters, and squid have even been found in the icy waters off Alaska, Zeidberg said.

Zeidberg’s co-author, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute senior scientist Bruce Robison, first spotted the jumbo squid here in 1997, when one swam past the lens of a camera mounted on a submersible thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface.

More were observed through 1999, but the squid weren't seen again locally until the fall of 2002. Since their return, scientists have noted a corresponding drop in the population of Pacific hake, a whitefish the squid feeds on that is often used in fish sticks, Zeidberg said.

“As they’ve come and gone, the hake have dropped off,” Zeidberg said. “We’re just beginning to figure out how the pieces fit together, but this is most likely going to shake things up.”

Before the 1970s, the giant squid were typically found in the Eastern Pacific, and in coastal waters spanning from Peru to Costa Rica. But as the populations of its natural predators—like large tuna, sharks and swordfish—declined because of fishing, the squids moved northward and started eating different species that thrive in colder waters.

Local marine mammals needn’t worry about the squid’s arrival since they’re higher up on the food chain, but lanternfish, krill, anchovies and rockfish are all fair game, Zeidberg said.

Master Yoda as a Boy.