botany, shoes, books, and justice
I went to Flagstaff’s first Friday artwalk last night. I didn’t take pictures of the art. Mostly because at the only exhibit I really liked, I forgot I had my camera.
A Seasoned Kitchen, which sells all sorts of wonderful, colorful, tempting cooking things, was open for artwalk. At artwalk, most places have snacks. A Seasoned Kitchen won me over with white chocolate.
So I’ve written about the first two days of spring break already. It’s been over a month since the trip, so I thought I’d try to finish up this week.
The third day of the trip was spent mostly in the van. No one died. We did stop to stretch our legs and get a last look at the ocean before we turned inland for a bit. Of course, there was botanizing. Here, Marissa disagrees with Frankie’s grass ID.
A few hours later we stopped at a small vineyard and herb shop. It was a quirky place. We picked up lots of scented geraniums we thought would sell well at the plant sale and then had no place for our feet in the van.
I was excited about how much warmer it was here. The cool, damp climate near the ocean was not especially pleasant. I definitely wanted warmer socks most of the trip.
Just before dark, we arrived in Jalama. Jalama might have been the most beautiful part of the trip, but no pictures until tomorrow!
This weekend I’m studying, studying, and studying some more. But last weekend I hiked Fisher Point. The little valley was carved by glaciers and is incredibly beautiful.
I was a little worried about 11 miles since I’ve been sticking around campus for the past few months, but it’s a pretty flat hike most of the way. I was only a little sore (but very sunburnt!) the next day.
The 23rd edition of Festival of the Trees is up at 10,000 Birds. Of course, you also think trees are almost the best part of the world we live in and will go read every entry. Just in case you don’t, though, the best bits are right here:
From the intro this post on magnolias got, I was expecting much larger trees! This author has obviously never visited the southern US.
The world’s oldest known tree – a spruce almost 10,000 years old.
1. Plant trees where trees belong.
2. Plant trees that belong where you’re planting them.
Morphology of baby leaves.
My free from a friend bike:
Temperatures are expected to be a bit cooler in the next decade due to natural cycles, but after that, the current too-fast rate of warming will continue. Hopefully people pay attention to articles like this instead of saying “well it’s been really cold the last few years so global warming can’t be a problem.”
Some scary things have happened on the supreme court in the past few years. Do something about it.
Nuclear power has some serious problems. Like nuclear waste. Also, it’s got a wicked high carbon cost.
The new poll tax.
Dave Neiwert on Obama, Jeremiah Wright, and things Americans don’t like to talk about:
It’s human, of course, to want to think of yourself as a good person, and your country as a good country. Which is why it’s human of white Americans — the descendants and beneficiaries of the people who perpetrated these atrocities — to want to forget that these things happened. And they want to believe that because these events were in the past, and they took some initial steps toward reconciliation 40 years ago, the issues should have gone away, and if they haven’t, well, it’s the victims’ fault.
Choosing to buy bottled water may lead to having to buy bottled water as our municipal water supplies go bad. So don’t buy bottled water.
This is definitely what those crazy churches’ retreats are like. It’s terrifying that there are so many people who’ve been taught not to think.
And in the same vein, religion is child abuse.
Good science education is important for everyone. An English TA comments on a student paper: “I personally have lots of reservations regarding evolution (even scientifically).” This is appalling. As one scientist put it
“Imagine a teaching assistant writing, ‘I personally have lots of reservations regarding the fact the Earth is round.’”
You may have heard Ben Stein recently claiming that “science leads to killing,” specifically that it led to the Holocaust. A powerful refutation of his nonsense.
My period might save your life.
Someone needs to tell the Swiss government that plants could care less about their dignity.
Compassionate conservative Douglas Bruce calls immigrants “illiterate peasants.”
Obama and Clinton tap into anti-intellectual sentiment.
In Britain, donkeys get more government support than women.
The 4th edition of Berry Go Round is up at Foothills Fancies. Go check it out!
Highlights:
This post on redbuds makes me terribly homesick.
Julia is right: this seed fern fossil discovery is very exciting.
The twists and turns of research.
Bryophytes rock my world.