Adventures + Tim Minchin

Fellow internet and IRL adventurer Wowbagger is now the official Baltimore Outdoor Adventure Examiner! Check out his column for reviews, ratings, and pictures of some of the hoopy outdoor adventures to be had in the DC/Baltimore area.

He is also responsible for my new obsession with Tim Minchin, singer/songwriter/comedian extraordinaire. Embedded for your viewing pleasure is one of his videos. This one's fun, and will tickle the skeptically inclined. Safe for work.





If you want more (you know you do), this one is hilarious and actually rather virtuosic. Decidedly NOT safe for work. Enjoy!

The Beeb does whales

Two articles in the BBC this week:

• How to rescue a stranded whale (with video)

Each year anywhere between five and 50 whales, dolphins and porpoises are washed up on Britain's beaches. British Divers Marine Life Rescue, a volunteer charity, was set up in 1998 to rescue them.

To find out how it's done Nick Higham, and volunteers including a chef, a plumber, a man who runs boat trips and a woman who works in IT, encountered a two-tonne inflatable whale for a training course on a Kent beach.

• Whaling plan draws anger 

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has published draft proposals for regulating whaling for the next decade.

Japan's Antarctic whale hunt would fall in stages to less than a quarter of its current size. But hunting would continue on the endangered fin whale.


Key countries, including the US and Japan, have limited comments to saying they will consider the draft proposal carefully.


But some conservation and animal welfare groups have already indicated opposition.


"The fact that this proposal is even being discussed shows just how far out of touch the IWC is with modern values," said Claire Bass, manager of the Marine Mammal Programme at the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).


"It is entirely missing the point that blasting conscious animals with exploding harpoons is grossly inhumane."


However, others argue that the aim of completely banning whaling is unrealistic, and that a major down-scaling, combined with bringing it under international oversight, is a worthwhile compromise.


But the inclusion of fin whales and the continuation of hunting in the Southern Ocean - which has been declared a whale sanctuary - are points of concern.

With regards to "completely banning whaling is unrealistic, and ... a major down-scaling...is a worthwhile compromise", I am reminded of this article from the Onion:

VATICAN CITY—Calling the behavior shameful, sinful, and much more frequent than the Vatican was comfortable with, Pope Benedict XVI vowed this week to bring the widespread pedophilia within the Roman Catholic Church down to a more manageable level.


Addressing thousands gathered at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, the pontiff offered his "most humble apologies" to abuse victims, and pledged to reduce the total number of molestations by 60 percent over the next five years.


"This is absolutely unacceptable," Pope Benedict said. "It seems a weakening of faith in God has prevented our priests from exercising moderation when sexually abusing helpless minors."


"And let me remind our clergy of the holy vows they all took when they entered the priesthood," he continued. "They should know that they're only allowed one small child every other month."

The Pope forgives

The Onion, America's Finest News Source, reports on some recent news out of the Vatican: the Pope has graciously absolved thousands of priest-molested children of their sins.

"Though grave and terrible sins have been committed, our Lord teaches us to turn the other cheek and forgive those who sin against us," said the pope, reading a prepared statement from a balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. "That is why, despite the terrible wrongs they have committed, the church must move on and forgive these children for their misdeeds."

"As Jesus said, 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,'" the pope continued. "We must send a clear message to these hundreds—perhaps thousands—of children whose sinful ways have tempted so many of the church's servants into lustful violation of their holy vows of celibacy. The church forgives them for their transgressions and looks upon them not with intolerance, but compassion."

More animals + Saturn

An octopus hatching and being sly with a jar!

Slow loris! Being tickled!



The slow loris is endangered, but these people live in Russia, where it's not illegal to keep one. Not sure how I feel about that, but it seems very very happy to be tickled.

And Saturn. Hubble turned its eye on Saturn the other day and captured a movie of aurorae going on both poles of the planet. Story here.

Snow madness + sexy links

It's snowing sideways outside: big tasty flakes. Little kidlings are frolicking around on the steps, all bundled up, and all classes have been canceled. The snow is still accumulating, but I think it's almost time to whip out the big boots and do a little frolicking myself. This is exciting!

In honor of the snow day, I am sledding the intertubes instead of working. Some tidbits:

• Neil Gaiman is not - I repeat - definitely not writing an upcoming episode of Doctor Who. This nonexistent episode, originally titled "The House of Nothing", will fail to air in approximately 14 months. 
• In botnet news, a new Russian Trojan has started trying to kill its password-stealing rivals. This has happened before, but it's still slightly alarming. The internet is beginning to look more and more like a petri dish, squirming with dumb-but-elegant, cannibalistic, increasingly autonomous entities, programmed to reproduce at every opportunity. If you've ever played Spore, you should be getting nervous. Still, this could be fun -  Russell Munroe tells me they they make great pets (click image to embiggen):

Viva la Evolución!

Creation, a Darwin biopic starring the wonderful Paul Bettany, came out recently. In a disgusting development, the majority of US distributors have refused to pick it up. This is a film which would tear the nation apart, apparently. It would prove so hugely controversial in this, our country of Big Macs, guns and superstition, that they could only lose money on it.

That's my charitable interpretation, and the most likely scenario.

The uncharitable one, and the idea that fills me with fear, is that they are simply willfully ignorant, backwards people themselves. The elites, the presumably well-educated potentates who mandate what we see and hear and experience - because media is far more powerful than politics - could themselves be prey to the same regressive pettiness that the rest of us proles face. As a shameless elitist myself, I suppose I had more faith in the sinister media oligarchy.

Numbers after the jump.

Morally perfect

I haven't been posting that regularly. The internet's been a bit of a sterile promontory recently, and I haven't found anything to get that worked up about.


In fact, that's sort of the problem. There are a great many social things I probably should be actively involved in, fighting against, agitating for, etc. But I'm not. I have good friends who are very much invested in society and politics and injustice, but I can't even get it up for international news. There's a distinct sense of unworthiness that comes of hanging out with feminist vegans, a kind of realization that my morality perhaps doesn't extend as far as it should.

Guilt and rationalizations after the jump.

Dogma (and to all a good night)

Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas. I really do. Lights in snowy darkness, and music and parties and a tree (a tree!) inside your house, just dripping with baubles. Oh, and presents. I love giving presents. Receiving them is nice too, but there's a very ingratiating part of my personality that makes me warm and fuzzy when someone reacts happily to something I've given them.

As secular as Christmas has become (thank goodness), it becomes impossible to escape the presence of tradition around this time of year. We take comfort in ritual as we try to assess what's going on, and how another year could have possibly passed so quickly.

At the dark end of the year, we try to sum up what's past into a coherent package and charge it with meaning. Maybe you'll use it to inform how we live the next year. Or maybe this is the sort of package you can't wait to get rid of.

More packages (and modules!) after the jump.

Finals week madness + sexy links

I've got my schedule for the next two days plotted out to the half hour, but it's all over on Monday. I'm shipping home an hour after my last exam ends. In tow: two computers, enough other electronic devices to keep a small army amused for decades, and an entire suitcase full of Christmas presents.

Many sexy links after the jump. Major tl;dr, but comb through and see if anything catches your eye.