If fortune tellers can tell a person's fortune by reading the lines on one's palm, or by studying the the dregs of a cup of tea, then what secrets might these seemingly meaningless squiggles hold?

These are the telltale meanderings of a tiny insect called a leaf miner. It lives inside the leaf, and as it chews its way around, it leaves these scribbling marks. I have long imagined what sort of meaning one could make of the lines.



OK, this one probably has more information than I would care to know.

To try to get a good, sharply focused picture of a walnut husk fly.

You know, I've never seen a better version of the double-mustache than Skip Jutze's double-mustache.

For users of Profiles, I have good news to report: we will keep the feature with no plans to discontinue it.

We were persuaded by the well-reasoned, sincere responses of loyal members who very much value this feature. As someone who enjoys helping his four-year-old daughter manage her one-DVD-at-a-time, G-rated sub-account, I identified with these thoughtful pleas to maintain Profiles.

Because of an ongoing desire to make our website easier to use, we believed taking a feature away that is only used by a very small minority would help us improve the site for everyone. Listening to our members, we realized that users of this feature often describe it as an essential part of their Netflix experience. Simplicity is only one virtue and it can certainly be outweighed by utility.

As for improving Profiles, there are no definite plans in place yet, but, like everything at Netflix, we seek to make it better and we are open to suggestions. Non-users of the feature and new members will be able to access Profiles in 2-3 weeks. Existing users will be able to continue their use, uninterrupted.

We apologize for any inconvenience the previous announcement caused.

Enjoy.

-Todd

Well, my computer and I have barely been on speaking terms lately, and I would love to post a picture here of a really cool mantis, but something's not cooperating in my little space-time continuum. So just click this link for a whole set of digitally altered and really neat mantid photos on respi78's Flickr.

Thanks, Andy!

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about the no-smoking rule that was introduced in the Dutch catering industry on the 1st of July 2008.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

Mrs. G wondered what my living space looks like. I think the answer is that it's about half-way to where I'd like it to be. The half that I could bring with me from the UK gives me a sense of home. But the half that I couldn't - the more permanent decor aspects - are not to my taste. So it cannot be said that our home is an accurate reflection of our souls. If we had our way, we'd have more

Audio

Model 500 - No UFO's (remix) - R&S Records
Kalbata - Solution - Soul Jazz Records
Tetine - Eu To Aberta - Soul Jazz Records
RSD - Speeka - Punch Drunk
Benga - Night \ Digital Soundboy Remix - Tempa
Tony Joe White - As the Crow Flies - Munich Records
Katkhuda - The Ballad of two minds - Katkhuda
Half Man Half Biscuit - Petty Sessions - Probe Plus
Abacothozi - Theme Maboneng - BBE
Imael Lo - Tajabone - EMI
Ray Barretto - o Elefante - Universal - Fania
Little Walter - High Temperature - Chess
General Reuteu - Tuff Cuts - Pressure Sounds
Jahtari Riddim Force - Farmer in the Sky - Bastard Jazz
I-Roy - Come Down - Orange Street
Mighty Two - Conqueror - Joe Gibbs -
Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - Cast Eye Boy - 17th North Parade
Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking - Ujama
Gussie P All Stars meets Mafia & Flux - Dub on the Go - Gussie
Wareika Hill Sounds - Pressure Sounds - Honest Jons
Pale Rider - Selassie - Cassava -
Jack Rose - Blessed be the Name of the Lord - Beautiful Happiness
John Renbourn & Robin Williamson - Little Niles - Castle
Alice Coltrane - Galaxy in Satchidananda - Impulse

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about the Dutch public transport company Qbuzz. A spokesman of the company had mentioned that they wanted to express the 'Orange feeling' (related to the Dutch royal family and involving patriotism).

Although the cartoon's meaning is only fully understandable for Dutch viewers I thought to post it here because I am pleased with the 3D image.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

The past few weeks have definitely been a different flavour. Heading steadily to the north of India, the people and country side have both shifted towards mountainous and Buddhist, culminating in Ladakh which is called the closest thing to Tibet on the subcontinent. It was far and away one of my favorite places in the country.

The main city of Leh is almost indescribably beautiful. The town is a fertile strip of green nestled between the desert hills of brown and a back drop of Himalayan peaks. Set against crystal clear skies the view is an every changing Crayola box of greens, blues, whites and brown.

The culture is also an interesting departure. The area only opened to tourists in 1974 and until then a remarkably self sufficient society had braved the high desert and -50C winters for centuries, key to which was a strong sense of environmental values and strict population control. In addition to a large population of Buddhist monks and nuns, the area is one of a handful of cultures that actively practiced polyandry - the taking of more than one husband by a single woman (pause for applause from my female readers.....)

Polyandry is now a thing of the past (pause for tears from my female readers...), however the strong position of women and an intimate sensitivity to the natural environment has remained, giving the place a far more progressive spirit then many other places in India. I spent
most of my time there hiking up the nearby hills and visiting the centuries old Buddhist ruins, the centre piece of which was the palace looming above the town of Leh itself. Extensive restoration is going on, but despite that it was mostly just me wandering unobstructed
through 9 stories and 400 years of ruins. It was fabulous.

Fabulous and, as I mentioned, solitary. On the verge of departing from India that has probably been one my biggest surprises. This has far and away been the most isolated period of travel I've ever had. There are other travelers around, but the entire time in India has been a strange anti-confluence, like a trip to a parallel universe as if I disembarked in Bombay at platform 9 3/4.

Even where I've been following what should be the beaten path, things turn up empty. The most recommended hotels are barren, restaurants are strangely empty, and when I do things that seem to be the most natural cultural or tourist events there's nobody around.

In a day-trip outside of Leh I visited the active monastery at Hemis, the richest in the province and a 'must see' stop to witness the monks during morning prayers. The monastery again is impossibly beautiful, tucked high into a side valley away from the Indus River and surrounded with green trees and flowers. It was just myself there, taking a humble and uninterrupted seat at the back of the gompa (Buddhist temple) where I was graciously welcomed and served hot tea along side the monks. It was a stirring experience, admittedly made more so by the lack of outside distraction.

It was a similar case a few days later during June's full moon. It was one of my last days before leaving and the natural thing to do (as I saw it) was to climb to the "Shanti Stupa" - a stunning brand new Buddhist monument gifted by the Japanese. It's the highest point in town and the
only vantage point complete with a tea house/cafe. Again, mysteriously, it was virtually tourist free for the rise of the moon, which I can happily say was completely breathtaking.

None of that is to take anything away from the incredible time this has been. There have been countless things to see and there are the more than enough encounters with friendly locals, shop owners, and traders. However, over the course of some weeks, or months, I find I need a
little more than the same two conversations, "What country?" and "Very long man!...How long?", "....that's none of your business sir!."

After being turned back by fictitious concerns about the twin typhoons that recently rolled through the Philippines, I'm now in Bangkok - heading to the beach and the slow lead up towards heading home.

Here's the photo show from Ladakh.

Thanks to everyone who's emailed and helped me kick the habit! I have to wrap up the trading for the next few days. No new traders, please. Existing traders will be sent cards in the next week.

See the Dugout Central piece.

Art Pennington's MySpace page, with instructions on how to help.

Many many congratulations to Drew Nichol who's turned his interest and love for the Mountain Gorillas into a huge fundraising success. The Seattle Times reports on his latest walkathon which raised over $30,000 for the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project.

Details of his campaign are on his excellent Gorillas In Our Midst website.

Other than having to sit out one day to nurse a cold and severe shin splints, a Woodinville man who walked from Seattle to Portland to benefit Africa's mountain gorillas said the adventure was a great success.
[...]
Nichol, whom acquaintances sometimes call "the Crazy Gorilla Guy" because his office is filled with gorilla paraphernalia, has felt a growing connection to the animals since he saw the remake of "King Kong" in 2005.

He's finishing up a DVD to benefit the gorilla project and plans to visit Rwanda to see the gorillas for the first time this fall.

(Thanks for the tip, Chris)

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about the return of Shell to Iraq to establish an increased oil production.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

Besides 0/0 cards of rejected card art, here are a few things I'd like to see happen:

• Swatch Shirts How many more years of game-used shirts and pants cards do we need before there are more of them than regular cards? I'm guessing we're two or three years away, so in three or four years I'd like to see an artistic-minded individual crack open a whole lot of swatch cards and sew together a shirt, or a handkerchief, or a pair of socks. The artist will need at least 2,000-3000 swatch cards to make this work (and that's a conservative estimate). Think of how cool that would look. What kind of value do you think something like that would hold?

• Ozzie Smith Home Run History insert set The Hall of Famer smacked just 28 career home runs, so that would be a fairly manageable insert set, plus it would be a little tongue-in-cheek reference to the gargantuan, soul-crushing Bonds, Rodriguez, and Mantle HRH sets it followed.

• O-Pee-Chee Heritage Baseball Who do I need to talk to for this to happen? I know I'm on record as saying that this year's Topps Heritage should be the last one for the brand, and I stand by that. But OPC Heritage? That's entirely different. I guess Upper Deck owns the OPC rights now, so it's to them I say: we need OPC Heritage '71.

• A National Sports Card Show in New York City Especially this year, with the All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium, the National definitely should have been in New York City. The city's got the space (Javits Center), it's a transportation hub, it's Topps' hometown, and it will be the center of the baseball universe this season. It's an obvious choice.

• The Return of Topps Posters Fold 'em up, shove 'em in packs at random. The original 1967 insert had 32 subjects, a number that could be met easily. Here's my checklist on who to include:

1. Vladimir Guerrero, Angels
2. David Ortiz, Red Sox
3. Brian Roberts, Orioles
4. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays
5. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
6. Carl Crawford, Rays
7. Ichiro, Mariners
8. Michael Young, Rangers
9. Nick Swisher, White Sox
10. C.C. Sabathia, Indians
11. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers
12. Joe Mauer, Twins
13. Alex Gordon, Royals
14. Rich Harden, A's
15. Kosuke Fukudome, Cubs
16. Ken Griffey Jr., Reds
17. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
18. Rafael Furcal, Dodgers
19. Johan Santana, Mets
20. Jake Peavy, Padres
21. Lance Berkman, Astros
22. Chipper Jones, Braves
23. Ryan Howard, Phillies
24. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
25. Prince Fielder, Brewers
26. Barry Zito, Giants
27. Jason Bay, Pirates
28. Matt Holliday, Rockies
29. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
30. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
31. Evan Longoria, Rays
32. Jay Bruce, Reds

1967 Topps Posters visual checklist

Dad's nickname in high school was smiley. But for some reason trying to get him to smile for a portrait is like pulling teeth. Do you find the hardest subjects in photography to be your family? I know I do......

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about high ranking staff members who left the internet company Yahoo, after the take-over by Google.


Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about the news that depression increases the chance to get Alzheimer's disease.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

Thanks to Bug Girl, I've found out just in time that it's Pollinator Week. And I've already sort of been celebrating without realizing it, with yesterday's bee post.

This news also comes just in time for our big Bug Safari at the arboretum tomorrow night. We can point out the pollinators in action (hopefully we'll see some before they turn in for the night!), and talk about their importance to the environment, and how people can help.

Lots of little updated combined into one here...

Java is fine. He is eating and gaining weight and back to himself. We finally had someone come and deal with mowing the yard after the lawnmower died (again), and found lots of wipes that Java had eaten. He was trying a little intestinal roto-rooter. Yuck. We have stopped putting any wipes in any unsealed garbage can.

I ran 7 miles yesterday from Big Peach Running Company in Buckhead, down to 10th and Peachtree in Midtown. (Map) This was my longest run yet in both mileage and time (1 hour 17 min). My pace was slower than I'd like for the Peachtree at around 11 minutes/mile, I'd love to get this just below 10 min/mile for the Peachtree. Two weeks more running to work on that.

Finally, I have started building a family tree for Maya. This was spawned from Steph buying a baby book to document her life in. There is a spot for a family tree, but Steph wasn't sure how to go about filling it in. So I used Ancestry.com to put one together. I now know more about my family tree than I ever could have imaged. Most of it is on my father's side, but I am working to fill in more on my mom's side too. I'm shocked that I can trace back 6 generations from Maya to her great-great-great-great grandmothers Pauline Edelstein (maiden name? married name?), Sarah Berkman (married name, maiden unknown) and great-great-great-great grandfather Harris Berkman, all born in the early/mid 19th century. Most of the trails backwards lead to Russia, Poland, etc., so I doubt I'll find much prior to their emigration to the US, but it's been fun anyway.

The Southland Times reports that an enthusiastic crowd very much enjoyed the chance to see the six 2008 Kakapo chicks on display in Invercargill this weekend.

Southlanders were invited to see the newest additions to New Zealand's small but increasing kakapo population.

Only 91 kakapo, including the chicks, remain.

The Department of Conservation offered a public viewing of kakapo and about 3000 took the opportunity to see the six parrots at the Invercargill Workingmen's Club yesterday.

Recently at the arboretum


A nice bumblebee with pollen



This honeybee has collected pollen in the pollen baskets on her back legs, but is also pollinating this salvia flower with the back of her head and thorax. I love the way these flowers have evolved in such a way that the stamens are pulled down to brush their pollen on the bee as she sticks her head down into the flower to get the nectar. Every time the bee visits another flower, she leaves a little pollen from the last flower, and brings more along to the next. This transfer of pollen is accomplished "automatically" by the bee thanks to the adaptive design of the flower.

It's a different matter when it comes to collecting pollen to bring back to the hive. The bees do it deliberately, usually by moving themselves through and around the stamens. Sometimes you can see them using their other legs to secure the pollen in the pollen baskets. Sometimes they get so loaded with pollen, it almost covers their whole body.

Here's a little video clip of bees inside a cactus flower.



Metallic green-backed halictid bee with lotsa pollen.



This swarm of honeybees was about the size of half a beachball. The next day I returned and they were gone.

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about a research project which concluded that chimpanzees have an unexpectedly complicated sex life.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

Audio

Daedelus - My Beau featuring Erika Rose - Ninja Tunes
Daedelus - Fair Weather Friends - Ninja Tunes
The Bug - Freak Freak - Ninja Tune - Zen
Lulu Rouge - Lulu's Theme - Music for Dreams
King Cannibal - Badman near Dark (Komonazmuk mix) - Combat
Matamassik - MBMestizo - MBD Electric SNDR
E.S.C. - Legacy (Andrew Weatherall Mix) - Harmless
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Going up country - Sunday Best
Tony Joe White - Set the Hook - Munich Records
Sa DingDing - Qin Shang - Universal
Mechanical Bride - MB - Transgressive Records -
Freshly Ground - Pot Belly - Wrasse
Hold Steady - sequestered in Memphis - Rough Trade -
Fes Parker - This History - Pressupable Recorings
Less Than Jake - Does the Lion City Still Roar - Cooking Vinyl
Metonia - Metonia - Demo
Calvin Party - Come on in - Probe Plus
Oddfellows Casino - The Ghost of Oddfellow - Pickled Egg
Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra - I, When We Embraced - Full Time Hobby
KatKhuda - Beneath the Arcade - Radial Music
The Twilight Sad - Cold days from the birdhouse - Fat Cat
Liam Finn - Second Chance - Transgressive Records
Laymar - Rec#4 - TV
Fake Empire - Without Permission - Beggars Banquet
Alexander Tucker - Energy for Dead Plants - ATP Records
SvartBag - Loop#9 - Rump Recordings

Working in 2D is a very relaxing escape from creating in 3D.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

Sun's shining, there's not much wind besides a faint breeze, birds are chirping, traffic's light, neighborhood kids are quiet––it's a glorious day. And I'd be out there, too, if I weren't sorting baseball cards. Instead I've got Langhorne Slim and The 1900s pumping on the stereo, a glass of ice water and 150,000 of my closest friends spread out in messy stacks on the dining room table.

Here are some highlights:


I got this Doug Flutie in a box of CFL cards I bought in 1991. Not quite sure why I bought CFL cards, let alone a whole box of them, but I'm glad I have this card of Flutie. By the way, if you live in the Boston area, the service road to the Framingham 14 movie theater complex is called 'Flutie Pass,' making it officially the greatest name for a road in the history of mankind.


What exactly is the purpose of having so many different parallel versions of this set (1952 Style Topps Basketball)? The blue ones look okay, but these gold ones are really bad. This one's numbered 13/25. I think it would be awesome for Topps or UD to make a 0/0 set. Since the set would have no cards in it, it would be the world's rarest. Or maybe to be more practical, the set could be won through a redemption card, consisting of rejected card art. That might be kind of cool, actually.


When I went to pick this card up it bent itself into an origami swan. That's not true, but I count eight creases, like an aged palm. This is my kind of card.


If the NHL ever decides to plop a team down in Quebec City again, I would recommend a team consisting of Muppets. I know I'd go to at least two games, maybe three if they could convince an over-the-hill Eric Lindros to coach. I smell reality-show gold if this gets the green light.

This post is about toothpaste. I know! Steady-as-she-blows! The topic of toothpaste can hardly be said to be cutting edge blog material, but I have made a discovery and I must share it.First I would like to cast our collective mind back through the green mists of time, to when I was a young chickadee. I have mentioned elsewhere on this blog that I suffered through extensive dental issues*

This little spider was sitting on the opposite end of the same nasturtium flower as a baby katydid. It's possible the katydid became the spider's breakfast, but I didn't stick around long enough to find out.

I am scouring every inch of the arboretum this week, looking for the best places to take people next week when we will host what may be our biggest bug safari of the season. So far, I've been a little disappointed with what I've found. Not too much yet in the way of good grasshoppers or spiders. Mostly a lot of small stuff, few and far between.

To make matters worse, the gardens are seething with wasps, who are also scouring every plant in search of tender larvae and other tasty morsels to eat. More for them means less for me.




Dang. There goes another one.

Two things going through my mind today:

1. Will the Celtics be smart and offer James Posey a 3-year deal?
2. What's more fun than a stack of commons?

That's right, the Kick The Habit Trade-away is going strong, with new traders welcome. I feel like Carnegie here (though taller and without the bad Homestead karma), dispersing cards to anybody that wants them. So far I've doled out 1,500 cards... and there's plenty more where those came from.

Email me if you feel like trading, and scroll down the page to view my trade requests.

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about the departure of the Dutch politician Jan Marijnissen as the chairman of the SP party.

[The SP party's logo is a strongly stylized tomato]

More at Sevensheaven.nl

I've been substantially away from the home front news for quite awhile, but this is worth mentioning on both a national and personal note.

On June 18, Canada became the first country ever to be brought to court for failing to comply with its legal commitments to combat global warming, specifically its failure to meet (and perhaps more to the point, their failure to do anything about) their mandatory legal obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

The lawsuit itself is being argued by a coalition of groups - most notably my former workplace, Ecojustice Canada - and seeks a declaration from the Court that the government has not complied with the law, and an order requiring it to do so. A decision is likely to occur in the coming months.

For readers unfamiliar with Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund), I strongly recommend them as a worthy organization to support (I do so myself). For my American readers, think Earthjustice.

As a Netflix product manager I'm tasked with the wonderful job of helping members find movies they'll love. But today my job is more challenging as we've decided to terminate the profiles feature on September 1. Please know that the motivation is solely driven by keeping our service as simple and as easy to use as possible. Too many members found the feature difficult to understand and cumbersome, having to consistently log in and out of the website.

Continuing to maintain the profiles feature for the passionate few who use it (including myself) distracts us from the mission of presenting to all our members the easiest way to find the best titles for them from the 100k plus on DVD and the 10k plus available instantly.

We will do our best to find better ways for families to share accounts than the existing profiles feature and will continue to invest in improving the website experience in many different ways.

- Todd

I got an email today from a collector, wanting to tell me about his latest eBay purchase. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. Here's where it gets weird:



I'll let him explain it in his own words:

I don't know how I found this auction but it was an auction for a 1991 Topps Chipper Jones graded by Beckett grading... the interesting thing about this card is that on the back of the card is a 1990 Topps football player! It is authentic and was not tampered with but I have never seen anything like this... Take a look at the photos that I have provided and I would be interested in any input you could provide....

I have collected cards for over 20 years and I have never seen this. They must have accidentally put a 1990 Topps Football Sheet with the 1991 Topps Back Sheets... Most likely since football cards were produced later in a given production year and baseball cards were produced sometimes before the year even started there may have been an overlap. So the question is was an entire sheet produced of 136 1991 Topps Cards with 1990 Topps Football Backs?

Here's what I want to know: What did the guys and gals at Beckett Grading Services think when they saw this card? Also, does a wrong back or blank front/back hurt the grade of a given card? Any answers for us, BGS?

Terribly sad news from the TimesOnline which I think we all knew was almost inevitable. Rhino specialists have been unable to locate any of the four rhinos that were still thought to exist in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it looks like the only remnants of the species are to be found in zoos.

The northern white rhino, Ceratotherium simum cottoni, has been struggling for suvival since the 1970s, when numbers dropped from about 500 to 15. A slight recovery was recorded in 2003 when 30 were counted but by 2006 only four were left. All of them were recorded in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo but war and civil unrest in the region has led to an increase in poachers.

“Worryingly, recent fieldwork has so far failed to find any presence of these four remaining rhinos,” Dr Martin Brooks, a rhino specialist with the IUCN, said. “Unless animals are found during the intensive surveys that are planned under the direction of the African Parks Foundation the subspecies may be doomed to extinction.”

I haven't done a Mantis Monday in a while. Here's a lively mosaic.

Praying Mantis Dancing in the Grass by Pyari Cau

You can see a bunch more cool and colorful insect mosaics here.

Over the weekend, more than 5000 visitors took the rare opportunity to see the Kakapo chicks up close and personal at the site of Nelson's proposed Brook Waimarama Sanctuary. The Nelson Mail has the story.

Over the weekend six kakapo chicks were on display in the sanctuary's visitor centre to give the public a chance to see the large flightless parrots.

There are only 91 kakapo in the world, including the six chicks.

The chicks were taken from Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, which is just off Stewart Island, in April to be hand-raised by Department of Conservation staff in Nelson after the rimu fruit their mothers would usually feed them on did not ripen this year.

The chicks will be returned to the island in a week. For many people the weekend's event was not only the first time they had seen a kakapo, but also the first time they had visited the sanctuary.

Two days have passed and Java seems to be eating regularly, looking healthier and generally feeling better. But he is still super skinny, so we're doing the ultrasound tomorrow to see what, if anything, is going on with him...

I started the day with a ~5 mile trail run at Sope Creek... a great beginning to my first father's day. And much more fun/interesting than running on the road. After visiting with some family, Steph, Maya, the dogs and I plan on spending the remainder of the day together. Other than a few hours work later today, it's my day to be lazy.

Yay for mostly lazy Sundays...

Audio

Ramp - American Promise - ABC
Erykah Badu - Amerykahn Promise - Universal
Jimmy McGriff - The Bird - Blue Note
Touchdown - Ease your mind (remix) - Record Shack - Shack
Fela Kuti - Open & Close - Sterns
Joey Negro - Days gone by - Z Records
Pleasure - Ghettos of the mind - Fantasy
The Quantic Soul Orchestra - She said what? - Tru Thoughts
Donny Hathaway - Magnificent Sanctuary Band - Atlantic
Mark .E. - r+b drunkie - Golf channel recordings
Funk Masters - Love Money - Nuphonic
4 Hero - Look Inside (Original Extended DJ Mix) - Raw Canvas
Impressions - Potent Love - Buddha
Mellow Madness - Save the Youth - Kay-Dee
Marc Evans - Reach out for Love - Defected -
Dandy - Popagandist - Giant
Bonnie - Did you get the message - Skabeat
Fugitives featuring Joe Joe - The Lecture - Doctor Bird
Ellipsis - People - Jazzman
Eddie Bo - Check your bucket - Soul Jazz

When I was growing up I felt different from my friends. You see, I was a collector. Not just of sports cards and other sports stuff, but of books, of postcards, of stamps, pennies, stickers, geodes; pretty much any and everything I could get my hands on. And as I grew older, I felt an internal struggle take hold. Part of me loved being surrounded by my stuff, the more the merrier. But the other half of me was going minimalist, call it the voice of reason. Not wanting to become a hoarder and end up buried alive in a Collier's mansion, I scaled back.

Why I am bringing this up, you ask? Well, I've hit another wave of reason, and I've decided I'm going to scale my collection back. Shocking as it may sound, I'm really going to only try to finish those sets that interest me and trade away the rest. That's right: the rest, as in the remainder of my collection, all 150,000 or so cards of it. Stars, commons, inserts, the whole shebang. It's the logical conclusion to writing The Baseball Card Blog full-time. (Year One: Revel in the re-found love of cards; Year Two: Try to make sense of the current scene; Year Three: Find the right path in collecting/Move on).

Thanks to everyone who traded with me!

Last Saturday, we fulfilled one of our New Zealand ambitions: seeing the All Blacks* play. This match was against Ireland, as part of something called the IVECO thingamy-wotsit. I think IVECO make lorries. Who cares? It's fit men in tight jerseys, getting muddy.The day had been one of sunshine and cheer, so we were hopeful we would be nice and toasty watching the legends of the game of rugby

Java is once again giving us a health scare. After returning from Asia Steph and I both discussed that Java was looking skinny and then he stopped eating for a few days. Before heading to Boston we went to our vet to get a check up. Java has been known to raid the trashcan, but it appears he has been stealing used wet wipes from the trash can (not diaper genie!) in Maya's room. Java lost 7 lbs since February, about 10% of his body weight! We put him on some meds and wet food and he appeared to be getting better and was eating regularly.

Yesterday Java stopped eating again. He is back on medication from the vet and did eat some today, but is now refusing food again late this evening.

He's skinny. Scary, heroin chic skinny. I brushed him tonight and he is bony, I can feel most of his spine on his lower back quite easily. His tail is down, he is seemingly weak and lethargic and not acting like himself at all.

I'm not sure what the next step is. We'll call the vet tomorrow, they may try an ultrasound to see if he has a blockage which they can remove. But for tonight all I can do is go to bed and hope that Java is as stubborn now as he has been the rest of his life. If he is, he'll pass whatever may be inside him, if anything, gain weight and get back to being the happy "old man" that he was just a few weeks ago...

• I've never liked Kobe Bryant. His game doesn't really scare me, even when he's in 'untouchable, no man can stop me' mode. You know why? Because he can't take over a game. He doesn't alter the defense of good teams, and he's not especially good in a one-on-one setting. Maybe I've been spoiled from watching Paul Pierce and James Posey defend him, but he's definitely not as good as Michael Jordan. I'd say he's more like Clyde Drexler: he needs a big man in order to win a championship. And in case you haven't noticed, Pau Gasol is not a good stand-in for Hakeem. Or even Shaq. If the Lakers still had O'Neal--performing at any level of dominance--I'd say the Celtics would have their work cut out for them in this series. He's big, lumbering, can't hit free throws, and doesn't have a shot he can hit away from the basket. But he's the perfect complement to a guy like Kobe Bryant, a guy that forces the defense to collapse, leaving Kobe open to hit from the perimeter or attack.

I'm not saying anything new here, that's obvious. But as you watch the rest of the Finals, keep two things in mind:
1. Would Michael Jordan be called for cheap fouls?
2. Would the Celtics have stolen Game 4 if Shaquille O'Neal--at any capacity--had been on the floor for LA?



• Is it just me, or do Clinton and Bush look like reanimated corpses on this card? Seriously, someone should have slipped twenty bucks to one of those goofy Topps graphic artists to add blood dripping down Bush's chin.

After sleeping off jet lag yesterday, I signed up for Toppstown, like I said I would. And I have to say, it's not bad.

Granted, it's geared towards children, and the sound effects are really loud, and there's no way to turn them down without muting the whole computer system, and it's a little hard to navigate, but the graphics are cool and there seems to be a lot to do.

But perhaps the best thing about it is that it's not tied to reality. My character, er avatar, is Dr. Satchel Taco. He's funny looking, kind of like Ed Kranepool on a bad day. I made the team affiliation 'St. Louis' as an homage to Paige's tenure with the Browns, and I plan on trading in ToppsPoints for the ability to jump teams for more money (if the game will offer such an historically-accurate item).

Other things I like:

• The presentation of the cards. The binder idea is great; I like seeing that there are many cards I don't have, like a visual checklist. It harks back to the Panini sticker book. In fact, I almost wish the visual arrangement mimicked a sticker book. As it is, the black and red scheme is very grown-up and serious; the sticker book visual would bring that down a notch or two.

• The no-pressure trading zone. Back before I didn't give a damn with what I got in a trade, each trade was an opportunity for me to stress out over getting equal value. Trading virtual cards seems like it would be stress-free. I'd have to think that a collector would be able to disassociate him or herself from a virtual card simply because they can't hold it.

• The anonymity. Truthfully, this service isn't about camaraderie with your fellow collectors. It's about building a collection in a no-pressure situation. It's about grooming young collectors into future eTopps buyers.

And it's about a relatively staid company like Topps going electric, I mean, connecting with their core customers (children) in a way that would suggest they know how they think. It's not completely the same promotion that Upper Deck runs with codes on the backs of every card (that lead to cool prizes like actual stickers and cards), but it's a start.

Wildlife Extra has some exciting news that this year's Kakapo chicks will be on display to the public on June 22nd before they go back to their island sanctuary.

The Department of Conservation is offering the public a rare and special opportunity to see the newest additions to the small but increasing kakapo population.

The public viewing of the chicks will take place on June 22 at the Invercargill Workingmen's Club from 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.
[...]
while all precautions were being taken to ensure the chicks weren't affected by the event, the chicks' welfare was the number one priority. "If there are any concerns about their wellbeing, the viewing will be called off."

The last time the public were able to see kakapo chicks was in 2002 in Nelson. The event attracted more than 2000 people.

I bought some packs at a place out on Geary the other day and as I scanned their backs on the bus ride home I got to thinking: what is the purpose, exactly, of the Canadian Skill Question?

Have there really been instances of Topps denying a collector north of the border a card because they failed a math test? Seriously, am I missing something here? Is there something the Topps braintrust knows about Canadian mathematics that the rest of don't?

And it's not like this is a new phenomenon; this type of ridiculous question has been on the backs of packs for years. What I want to know is, who was the guy at Topps who decided that a question like that needed to be on the pack (as if to weed out the intellectually inferior)?

Stuff such as this boggles the mind...


And speaking of odd things, have you ever wondered what the 'M.' stands for in 'M. Night Shyamalan'? Personally, I hope it stands for 'Mortimer.' Gets you thinking, though, doesn't it? Kind of makes me wish professional athletes would adopt this practice:

G. Herman Ruth.
B. Joe Robidioux.
L. Steven Jeltz.

I'm telling you, we're on to something here.

Fern is almost 4, which is so hard to believe. This was taken this Easter. Where in the world does the time go.......

'Life from A to Z', the theme for an illustration I made for the Library of Genck. Have a closer look on my Flickr-account.

This is as much a reminder note to myself as a blog post. This plant is a native California milkweed species. Looks a lot different than the ubiquitous (at the arboretum) A. curassavica, which has the orange-red flowers, and which the monarch caterpillars normally prefer.

Last week when I was distributing the school's excess caterpillars throughout the arboretum, I stuck a couple on this plant. I've only seen a monarch caterpillar on it once before, but it was in the summer, and it was a fat, healthy looking one.

Cartoon for the Dutch Nu.nl news website, about the news that the USA's military budget for 2007 hadn't been that high since the Second World War.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

You will find this Polaroid in my book Vanishing Land. 40 pages of hand-made Polaroid Collages. You can click on the link below and get a 15 page preview for free. Hardcovers are $40.00. Softcovers $27.00

VANISHING LAND

By Richard Pearson

Book Preview

The rescued divers have been telling the tale of how they had to fight off curious Komodo Dragons by hurling rocks at them. There's a lot of coverage around the web about this story, including this one at the Mirror.com.

Last night - just hours after being rescued from a remote Indonesian island - they told how they:

Clung to a piece of driftwood for nine hours as they drifted more than 20 miles in shark-infested seas.

Hauled themselves exhausted on to a remote island...only to find themselves confronted by giant lizards known as komodo dragons.

Fought off one of the beasts - which theoretically could kill with its venom - by hurling rocks at it.

"They will eat anything that washes up on the beach. That's why these people would have been in danger. When you have animals on the brink of starvation they will be very aggressive and humans are not very powerful.

In the wild they are very dangerous and would attack humans unprovoked. They bite their prey and their saliva has 80 strains of bacteria. They then wait two days for it to die and feast as a group on the kill

"If you have a couple of people throwing stones or sticks, that can work as long as you are only dealing with one or two [dragons]. They were in danger but they did the right thing.

Here's an interview with Dr Miriam Marmontel, the conservation scientist who helped save Piti, the baby Amazonian Manatee recently. We covered that story back in early May.

Q: What's the story behind Piti, and how has Dr. Gregory Bossart been able to help?

A: Every year there are a number of cases of orphaned manatees, either because they became entangled in fishing nets or because the mother was killed. They may also be used as bait to attract the mothers for an easier kill. The animals that are rescued by the environmental agency (IBAMA) or donated are usually taken to one of 2 authorized facilities for rehabilitation, in or close to Manaus. However, those facilities are close to their maximum capacity, and they don’t have the policy of releasing animals after a few years (some have been in captivity for 30 years). We feel a need to release those animals as soon as possible, so that they can become part of the genetic pool.

We're on the way home from a quick trip up to Boston, flying somewhere over the eastern US. The flight is pretty empty, so Steph, Maya and I have 3 seats together, allowing Maya to sit in her car seat for the flight. The girls are both passed out...

We came up on Thursday to visit my grandparents, Maya's great-grandparents, as well as my aunt Robin and uncle Ronnie. Due to their advancing age, my grandparents aren't able to travel any longer. This was an important trip for us to make, however, it was not about a vacation or doing something for our own enjoyment. The timing couldn't have been worse with my recent crazy travel schedule and lack of time alone with both Steph and Maya. Instead, this trip was about being selfless, giving of ourselves to provide some happiness to others. We made the trip solely for Grandma & Grandpa so they could meet Maya, spend time with her, hold her and get to "know" her at this very cute stage of her life. I know we brightened their days by introducing them to their fourth great-grandchild, making the difficulty of the trip worthwhile.

Maya, for the most part, was an angel. She has been extremely well behaved on the flights to and from Boston and in the airport at either end. She's been a pleasure to travel with, but it amazes me how much crap one little girl needs! Instead of traveling with a single suitcase and my backpack, we've got 2 suit cases, my backpack, a diaper bag, pack and play (portable crib), stroller and car seat. Holy crap, that's a LOT of stuff to travel with. Our days of traveling light are over for a while, I guess.

We're all looking forward to getting home, getting back on a normal schedule and... What's normal anymore? While Maya is going back to her schedule with Steph, I won't be on any kind of normal schedule as I am traveling to Newark tomorrow and then down to Baltimore Monday through Thursday for work. Perhaps in July I might get to spend some quality time at home with Steph and Maya...

Audio

Lee "Scratch" Perry - Explaining (Jungle relick) – Beatink
Mark Stewart - Intro
Mark Stewart - Rise Again - Beatink
Lee "Scratch" Perry - Meets the Moody Boys - On U cdr
Eek-A-Mouse - Anarexol - Greensleeves
Municiple - Brick and Mortar - mp3
Disrupt & Rootah - Get it already - Scotch Bonnet
Disrupt & Mikey Murkah - Empress - Scotch Bonnet
Dub Terror & A-Miti feat Warrior Queen - Reload warrior - Deep Root
Dub Terror & A-Miti feat DJ Santanu - Burn Britona Burn - Deep Root
The Bug w/Flowdan - Ganja - ninja
GothTrad - Far East Assassin (Distance rmx)
Elemental - Raw Material - Scape
Section 25 - Dirty Disco - LTM Recordings
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing - Instant
Bo Diddley - Mumblin' Guitar - Chess
Bo Diddley - I'm a Man - MCA Records -
Bo Diddley - The Story of Bo Diddley - Chess
Bo Diddley - You Can't Judge a book by a Cover - Instant
Buddy Holly - Bo Diddley - Musical Memories
Will Tang - The Other Side - Zen Music
White Denim - All you really have to do - Full Time Hobby
The School - Let it Slip - Elefant Records
Laymar - Nu1 - TV Records
Goldblade - Jukebox Generation
Seckou Keita Sko -Konte Djula -Sko

May's edition of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund newsletter has the exciting news that they're celebrating the birth of five new babies.

The year has started very well in terms of mountain gorilla births, with five newborns in the gorilla groups monitored by the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda. Not only that, but three of the newborns were born to first-time mothers.

In scientific terms, we use the word “nulliparous” to denote females 8 years of age or older who have never given birth. After they have given birth, they are called “multiparous” females.

Kakapo Cottage left a comment on our post "Kakapo Encounter 2008 is coming which I thought was worth promoting a bit more. They say...

Looking for accommodation for the 2008 Kakapo Encounter, Ulva Island at Stewart Island, New Zealand? Check out our holiday home at Stewart Island - www.kakapocottage.co.nz. We are donating 10% of the value of Kakapo Encounter accommodation bookings to the Ulva Island Trust.

The five divers who went missing in Indonesian waters in Komodo National Park have been found alive on a remote beach. Excellent news! BBC News with the story once again.

Britons Kathleen Mitchinson, Charlotte Allin and James Manning and their two European counterparts had been diving in waters off the Komodo National Park.

Charlotte's father Dave Allin said his daughter had called to say she was dehydrated and exhausted, and had only cuts and bruises.

Police say the divers were found on Saturday morning on the southern coast of Rinca island, about 20 miles south of their dive site.

Powerful currents had swept them away as they waited for their dive boat.

Five scuba-divers are currently missing after a dive in the waters of the Komodo National Park. Three of them are British and have been named as Kathleen Mitchinson, Charlotte Allin and James Manning. Our prayers are with them and their families during this time. BBC News has the full story.

They are believed to have been swept way by the current more than 24 hours ago. There has been no sign of them despite an intensive search.

Ms Mitchinson and her husband Ernest run a dive company in Bali called Reefseekers, and she is described on diving websites as experienced and knowledgeable.
[...]
Ernest Lewandowski told the AFP news agency the pair had been leading two separate groups of tourists on the dive.

He noticed his wife's group was missing when his group surfaced an hour after they entered the water.
[...]
He said the search was being hampered by a lack of fuel for aircraft.

Reports in a new study from China are that the planet's last river-dwelling finless porpoises are dying from exposure to insecticides and mercury. Kazinform has the news.

The mammals had already been declining as their natural habitat in and around the Yangtze River deteriorated.

In the new research, scientists also found high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other pollutants in the organs of porpoises found in central China's Dongting Hu Lake, which is connected to the Yangtze.

"In recent decades the [Yangtze finless porpoise] population decreased sharply each year by approximately 7.3 percent because of human activities on the river, including fishing, pollution, transportation, and dam construction," said lead study author Wang Ding of China's Institute of Hydrobiology.

I've been thinking about gimmick cards the last few days and about a comment left on a previous post. The comment asked how I could label something both 'tiresome and predictable' and 'fun.' Here's what I meant.

Gimmick cards, when handled individually, are fun. Whether a dopey parody, a card written in Japanese or an obviously doctored photo, it's fun to get a card that's different from the rest of the set.

But then step back and look at the Gimmick Card Era our hobby has fallen into. It's an idea that's now central to the livelihood of the hobby. Every year there's a new handful of cards that don't really have anything to do with the rest of their sets. Their presence feels a little cheap to me. Like maybe the hobby's hit hard times.

It makes me think that maybe companies have lost their focus and are a little too in love with generating publicity. That maybe instead of (or most likely in addition to) resorting to gimmicks a company should invest more in making their product(s) better. By 'better' I really mean 'less sloppy': cutting out unintentional errors, using higher quality photography and greenlighting a more cohesive card design.

By elevating the overall strength of the set, gimmick cards don't have to do too much of the heavy lifting and collectors don't feel as disappointed if/when they don't find one in their pack or box.

To summarize: Gimmick cards: Fun (individually). The Gimmick Era: a tiresome and predictable skein of publicity stunts that hides the true sloppiness of the products involved.



The title of this post refers to the current year in the Gimmick Card Era. I'm torn as to when the era starts, so I've slapped 'Modern' on the front and had it start in 2006.

1. Professional makeup and hair artists are worth their weight in gold
2. TV lights are solely responsible for the growth of the Botox industry - they showed up wrinkles that had not even surfaced yet.
3. People say the camera adds 10 kilos. Do not listen to this as this is a total lie!
4. The camera adds 35 kilos.
5. All clothes will look shit unless you weigh 12 kilos.
6. Do not smile like a crazy bag lady for the entire time - it makes you look insane and exasperates facial flaws.
7. DO let other people finish a sentence before you begin.
8. Never interrupt the host. Twice.
9. Do not assume that NO ONE WATCHES MORNING TELEVISION. 45 friends and family called to let me know "We just saw you on telly - why didn't you tell us?"
10. Do have a new found awe for people that actually do that everyday (i think that is why they are all so skinny - very fast paced and nerve-wracking)
11. Do be patient and wait until the film comes out on DVD before asking for any more "favours".

Even though the school is only a couple of miles from the arboretum, for some reason school has tons of monarch caterpillars and no milkweed plants left, and the situation at the arboretum is exactly the opposite. So, for the second time in about 2 weeks, teachers have besought me to rescue their hungry larvae and take them to the land of plenty.

Poor Mrs. M. actually bought 20 milkweed plants yesterday (at 6 bucks apiece, no less). By this morning, they had been eaten down to the stems. She was desperate. Mrs. W., who gave me 17 caterpillars to release just the other week, said her plants had recovered enough to take 20 of the smallest ones. Mrs. M. kept about 8 or 10 of the biggest ones that would be ready to pupate soon. I got the rest. I plucked them off the empty stems, from the rims of the plant-pots, from the walls and other surfaces where they had begun to wander when their food supply ran out. I just put them in a plastic box and took them to the arboretum. But before I made like Johnny Appleseed, (only with caterpillars), I took a picture looking down inside the box. That way I could take the time to count them later.

A couple of recent posts over at the Kakapo Recovery Programme website have the sad news that one of 2008's chicks "Mokopuna" has died, and that all efforts continue on rearing the remaining 6 chicks. By my calculations that puts us down to 91 kakapo.

Mokopuna dies

Firstly her weight started to plateau, and then she became lethargic and resistant to feeding. The attention of vets and experts, and loads of time and energy from the team tending to her and administering medication didn't prevent her death. It would appear that she died from an infection in her lung - something that would have killed her much sooner in the wild.

After the loss of "Mokopuna" attention has been fully focused on the remaining six chicks, and the ups and downs have continued. Raising chicks in captivity means trying to replicate what would happen in the wild as closely as possible, in order to fledge a healthy chick.
Unfortunately, us humans are never gonna be as good at it as mum kakapo so we always run into problems, and inevitably each season different health issues arise. At present there are three birds in the sick bay recovering from minor unexplained ailments. We've had constant advice from our vets at Auckland Zoo

The Telegraph happily reports the birth of a baby southern white rhino which was captured live by the South Lakes Wild Animal Park's webcam. The video footage of the birth is pretty amaing to see, and here's the live webcam link to see how mother and baby are getting on.

Ntombi gave birth to 70kg Nyala at South Lakes Wild Animal Park near Barrow after a 16 month pregnancy.

The labour itself lasted just 15 minutes and the baby rhino's arrival and first tentative steps were all caught on camera.

"[...] when her labour started it was perfect for the camera. People all over the world saw the baby being born.

Well, its set let the general-election begin. Why does it feel like this election will go on forever? Maybe because it has gone on forever! Buckle up because its going to be a Wild one. Something tells me we will be seeing a lot of the Good, Bad And The Ugly. Sorry thats not fair to compare this election to such a Great Movie. America your telling me that this is the best you can offer? That these two candidate will lead the free world in the right direction. Something is just not right, and I can't put my hand on it. America is falling and the bottom is no where in site.........

I think things are returning to normal now. I want to get back to taking bug pictures and posting them here. I had a Bug Safari at the arboretum last weekend, and I snapped these shots while doing a little pre-tour scouting.


Tiny wasp #1. About half the size of a grain of rice.



Tiny wasp #2. About double the size of wasp #1.



Seed bug



OK, this wasn't at the arboretum, but I thought it looked cool. It's a collection of little dead bugs in my kitchen lamp. And, yeah, I need to clean it out. I'll get to it.