Monarch!

My neighbour Allison, who is fascinated by bugs of all sorts, spotted this slightly damaged Monarch butterfly on the porch the other day. He coudn't fly properly, because one of his wings was broken, but he was a very good sport about posing for photos (click on the images for a larger view).





Monarch are famous for their yearly migration across North America, but I had no idea (until I wikied them) that they are even capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean, which coincidently is what I'm about to do in a few hours.

So, see on the other side...

- Mr. Ed

An hour well spent

Yes, yes, we all know, Television (and the watching thereof) is a dreadful waste of time, but the last thing we needed was for someone - someone who obviously is not a golfer - to try and quantify just what we could achieve, if we weren't watching TV all the time. I counter with this:

"The 1981 Feynman Horizon is the best science program I have ever seen. This is not just my opinion - it is also the opinion of many of the best scientists that I know who have seen the program... It should be mandatory viewing for all students whether they be science or arts students."

- Professor Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Prize for Chemistry

So there! Now, go and waste your time watching it.

- Mr. Ed

On May 1st...

...vote Zippy?



Love
Chives

Oh, our Belgian cousins...

Yes, indeedy, friends, if you hang around the Pony Club long enough, then a strange sense of deja-vu can begin to set in. Here's another set of Mentos related (and judging by the rainhoods, Mentos-sponsored) mess-making. But never let it be said that your P-Club didn't get there first*...

-Bluecupboard

*We did back in 2006, but the video isn't there anymore, alas, so you'll just have to take my word for it. In addition, we discovered the Americas, tamed electricity,and invented written language, but those P-Club links have also been accidentally deleted. The P-Club was also Alfred the Great. Now that we've got that clear...

1337 Lords Prayer

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4|\/|3|\|.


Via boingboing.

Click here for a translation/explanation.

More Marvelousness..

Hard to believe David Rees has been doing Get Your War On since before the start of the Afgan war (WW2 eat your heart out!). A little more brilliance from him a few weeks ago... If you've got an afternoon to spend, then just start at the start and enjoy bang after bang of the shambles that is recent history...









I believe this constitutes a second P-Club plug for GYWO, but it just gets better and better, so...

- Bluecupboard

A day out at the Beidler

Steinbrenner (aka Pickle*) and I had a lovely afternoon out yesterday at the Francis Beidler Forest. The FBF is managed by the Audubon Society and there is a 1.75 mile boardwalk running through an 1800 acre stand of virgin Cypress and Tupelo Gums, many of which are over 1000 years old. The Francis Beidler Forest accounts for roughly one third of the 45,000 acre Four Holes Swamp (Google Maps), a major tributary of the Edisto River, the longest unaltered blackwater river system in North America. Blackwater rivers are fascinating environments. The water is very clear although tannins, from decomposing wood and leaves, give the water a reddish-brown hue. Despite and abundance of animal and plant life, blackwater is actually quite nutrient poor, and the ion content is so low that it has a conductivity similar to rainwater (the science geek in me wanted to end that sentence with an exclamation point, but I'll refrain). On our walk we saw lots of animals including a Greenish Rat Snake, Carolina Anoles, Skinks, Alligator Snapping Turtles (but no alligators, alas) a Pileated Woodpecker (not featured) and several Prothonotary Warblers (for more on the wildlife there, check out the FBF blog). We also saw some Turkey Vultures eating a dead deer on the way home.




All in all, a creature-tastic adventure.

- Mr. Ed

* Look out for Pickle Says, a forth-coming P Club feature...

Fox's Irish Weekend

For those who were there and for those who weren't.......so that's everyone then.
Sound up for full Irish atmospherics.




- Scout

Strong Medicine

Here in the late hours of April the 4th, 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., I came across this by way of Matt Yglesias's page at The Atlantic.com. It remains a speech of such spectacular relevance that you hardly need take the word "Vietnam" and exchange it for "Iraq". It is also yet another overwhelming reminder of the quality of King's oratory, although, the text is here...



It's long, but, go on, listen to the whole thing- it's well worth it. We just listened to it twice in a row...

-Bluecupboard

Ever imagined a scenario...

whence the Talking Heads might have set sail on the seas of cheese, the bay of biscuit, with, perhaps, the Doobie Brothers a-doobyin' along for the ride? No? And neither had Chives. However, as Vampire Weekend moot here, all indications are that it would prove a disturbingly pleasant voyage....



Check out "Oxford Comma" as well please.

Chives Eclair