Got a runaway call at 11pm... a twelve year old girl that high-tailed it because her grades were bad. I put the system in motion, and right as I was getting ready to hit the approve key for launch, Miami police called back on the other line and let me know that she was found, safe at her dad's place. (She's in custody of her mom and stepfather.) I asked if friends and family were notified, but I guess they didn't think to call the kid's birth-father right away. ah well... That saves me from maybe waking up about 960 folks if they go to bed before 11pm. (They would've gone knocking door-to-door if the child wasn't found by 11:45, so there'd not been much sleep for anyone in that neighborhood, even with unlisted numbers.)
Sweet Sakes, these wasabe peas are the hottest things I've ever had. Are they just wasabe rolled in a ball? are there no peas?
Bro stopped by and dropped over a "prize" he "won" from a nearby car show. I smell BS, because he was evasive and unclear as to how he got it. I suspect the prize (a stereo/tool battery-charger) is something that fell off of the back of a truck. His chin looks fine, the stitches are barely noticeable.
Make a movie out of any given webpage (thanks!)
For example, my journal produces -
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER
a romantic comedy screenplay by
www.astonishingtales.com
and
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
FADE IN.
INT. FLOWER SHOP
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are selling flowers.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
You know, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL), sometimes I think I should give up my independent florist ways and settle down with a decent man who will take care of me.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
-- mostly monster movies, old gaming, mental leaps, mutual acquaintances, and so on.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES nods in thought.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Hmmmm.... I'd never thought of it like that before. Maybe I will keep this flower shop and not fall in love.
Suddenly, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO comes into the shop. He is not impressed with the flowers on offer.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
Look here, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES. I am not impressed with the flowers on offer here. Your flower shop is stupid.
He leaves.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
How incredibly arrogant that LEONARDO DI CAPRIO is! I don't like him one bit.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Random Scotto factoid - I'm really overcautious when it comes to handling hot objects.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
That's exactly what I was thinking LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL). Come on, let's continue our work as florists.
CUT TO.
INT. A COCKTAIL PARTY
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are enjoying themselves at a cocktail party. CATHERINE ZETA-JONES is talking to a handsome man while LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) is also making small talk with a member of the opposite sex.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Cobblestone Minefield -Simply get from the top right square to the bottom left.
MEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE SEX
Hahahahahahaha!! Oh, how frightfully witty. Shame on you, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES for not introducing me to LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) sooner.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I knew you two would get along famously. Now, why don't we all head out onto the dance floor and lambada?
Before they can do so, there is a tap on her shoulder. She whirls around to find LEONARDO DI CAPRIO smiling charmingly.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
Hello, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES. Perhaps you'd care to dance with me instead?
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
No I most certainly would not, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO! I doubt I would ever fall in love with you.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Fortunately, he was able to call an ambulance with his cell-phone.
Everybody laughs.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
... as the actor said to the bishop.
Everybody laughs even more.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
(eyelashes a-flutter)
Oh, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, how excitingly quick-witted you are. I think I shall fall in love with you. Who would have thought that would ever happen, what with my instant dislike of you when first we met?
FADE TO.
INT. MASSAGE PARLOUR.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are receiving massages and talking.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO and I stayed up all night last night just talking. It turns out that we're both enormous fans of Jon Bon Jovi. I feel like I'm in that beautiful Shakespearean love sonnet. You know the one, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Time has no meaning, under the coolly buzzing fluorescent lights far overhead.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
No, not that one. The other one. Oh, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL), LEONARDO DI CAPRIO makes my heart swoon so.
The masseurs start pounding their backs.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Oh. That feels good. (pauses) Gee, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL), I have never felt this way about a man before. Do you have any advice for me?
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Seriously, it was without exaggeration, a near religious experience, and took my breath away.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I hope you're right, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) I'll keep that in mind.
FADE TO.
EXT. A PARK BENCH
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES is crying. LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) is consoling her.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I can't believe we accidentally saw LEONARDO DI CAPRIO out with another woman! I thought he loved me. You were closest to the two of them, what was he saying to her?
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
The sushi and green tea ice cream satisfied my belly quite nicely.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES bursts into renewed tears. LEONARDO DI CAPRIO comes running up to them.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I don't want to talk to you, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO. I heard what you were saying to that horrible other woman.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
But CATHERINE ZETA-JONES, this is all a ghastly misunderstanding of some kind.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Leave me alone. I have a broken heart.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
I guess I will take that job in that other country then.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO leaves
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Hopefully the visit to the courthouse will be brief and inexpensive.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Thank you, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL). That's just what I needed to hear now that I have a broken heart. No wonder you are my best friend.
CUT TO.
EXT. A ROAD
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are driving as fast as they can in CATHERINE ZETA-JONES's car.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Oh, why won't this car go any faster? We have to get to the next train station in time to intercept LEONARDO DI CAPRIO before he leaves forever.
She accelerates.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
If only I'd got his letter that explained how our breaking up was all just a ghastly misunderstanding sooner. Read me the PS again, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
(reading)
The kids thing can backfire if the parents are exceptionally paranoid.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I still don't understand what he meant by that.
They drive faster and faster and eventually make it to the train station in time. They rush onto the train and find LEONARDO DI CAPRIO.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Oh, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO please don't go away forever. I got your letter which eplained the ghastly misunderstanding. I now understand why you did what you did. And... I love you.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
And I love you, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
They kiss. They are in love.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Wondering what cute, fat canal-creatures have to do with early movie seating.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO and CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
You said it, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL). You said it.
THE END
Going back on call for ACIM tonight. Not taking any painkillers, so I'm legal and clear to do phone work. I never did get out to pick up the magazine today, and now I'm tethered in for the night o heading out now isn't in the cards. Tomorrow after PT looks like a more likely time.
In weather news, the winds have died down this evening, but the air is cool and fresh... the day is quiet, now that the sky is dark and the air is still.
Coolest inventions in 2003 chosen by Time Magazine.
Oh, I really like this feature.
Just hung out this morning, thinking pleasant thoughts of my sweetheart, enjoying the sounds of heavy winds outside against the chimes. Contemplating where the day will take me today. I see a little journey out and about midday, perhaps. Playing with the new "voice-blog" thingum, and look forward to seeing how it turns out.
Random Scotto factoid - I had a huge crush on Melanie Chartoff in the early 80s, when she was on the SNL copy called Fridays. (I was about 12 at the time, but knew a cutie when I saw one, still do, in fact.)
Turns out that climate changes may just be causing the common Monarch butterfly to be endangeredMonarch butterflies, which journey hundreds of miles to spend the winter in a mountain forest in Mexico, may be endangered within 50 years because a changing climate could make their winter refuge too wet and cool.
A study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says climate models show that rainfall will increase significantly in the winter home of the monarchs as the planet warms during the next half-century.
This increased rainfall, combined with the persistent cold typical of the refuge area, could cause a massive die-off of the colorful migrating butterflies, said Karen Oberhauser, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and the first author of the study.
An increased wetness in the winter refuge, a mountain fir forest west of Mexico City, will leave the butterflies with no place to spend the cold months, she said Monday.
"The conditions that monarchs need to survive the winter are not predicted to exist anywhere near the present overwintering sites," said Oberhauser.
Monarchs, which have bright reddish-brown, black-edged wings, are one of the most common North American butterflies. The insects each season reproduce several times in an area stretching from Texas to the Minnesota.
As fall approaches, the final generation of the season starts a heroic migration, flying from as far north as the Canadian border to mountain groves of Oyamel firs west of Mexico City. The trees provide shelter from rain and from temperatures that can dip below freezing.
In the spring, surviving monarchs fly north, stopping at fields of milkweed to lay eggs. Succeeding generations continue the northward migration until the cycle starts over in the fall.
Oberhauser said the monarchs have a narrow range of temperature and wetness tolerance during the winter. A combination of freezing temperatures and rain can be lethal.
"If it rains and the temperatures drop and ice crystals form, it will kill them," she said. These conditions occurred in January, 2002, and about 80 percent of the monarch population overwintering in Mexico died.
Based on computer modeling of global climate changes under way, Oberhauser said such conditions could begin to become common over the next 50 years in the monarchs' winter home.
Under these changing conditions, she said, one of three things could happen: the butterfly could become extinct; the insect could find another winter refuge; or the monarch could adapt somehow to the changing conditions. Oberhauser said no other area exists near the current refuge that could shelter the butterfly.
"I think the question is whether they will have the flexibility to survive," she said.
Climate experts predict that global temperatures will increase by a few degrees over the next century. This would cause more ocean evaporation, and would be expected to increase rainfall in many places including central Mexico.
Oberhauser said the plight of the monarch is an example of how the changing climate will put some animal species at great risk of extinction.
Well, all *I* have to say is, WHO'S been flapping their wings and causing all those hurricanes?
Hoist with their own petard, if you ask me.
'Da Vinci Code' generates discussion (Sums up things very completely, I think)
Commenting on "The Da Vinci Code," Dan Brown's best-selling novel, has become virtually unavoidable. I'm not inclined to read popular thrillers, even those that purport to provide serious discussion of religious history and culture. Though friends and acquaintances sprinkled my e-mail with questions about its credibility, I resisted taking the book seriously enough to buy and read it. Then my daughter-in-law asked that I read it and sit in on her book group's discussion of it.
In his tour de force laced with the familiar conspiracies associated with Western Christian history and culture, Brown mentions most of the usual suspects: the Vatican, Freemasons, the Knights Templar, even Opus Dei, the powerful, influential and semisecret Roman Catholic order. Central to the book's plot is the author's largely speculative story of a secret society allegedly founded in 1099, the Priory of Sion. Members of the Priory supposedly included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci. The Priory has been the keeper of the secret of the Holy Grail.
In addition to these components, Brown uses two themes that give his story added currency: the scholarly and popular rehabilitation of Mary Magdalene from her former status of forgiven prostitute to that of important disciple, perhaps even apostle; and interest in the obliteration of goddess religion by a patriarchal power structure.
"The Da Vinci Code" mixes a good deal of historical fact with fictional narrative. Descriptions of geographical settings (mostly modern Europe), artwork and architecture seem to be quite accurate. Much of the historical information is commonplace material.
Some of the interpretation of legendary narratives and their alleged documentation is more problematic. There are generous servings of conspiracy theories and secret rituals, religion and eroticism, romance and violence, in premodern and postmodern contexts, and all presented at breakneck speed. Some chapters are less than two pages long!
Leonardo's secret (revealed in his code) is that Mary Magdalene was the companion (wife) of Jesus and that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child and subsequent heirs who founded the Merovingian bloodline of European nobility. The French connection in this Magdalene legend is not a plot invented by Brown. In fact, little in "The Da Vinci Code" is original, but Brown deftly packages ideas others have been using in similar books.
I am primarily interested in the novel's impact as cultural phenomenon. It has been at least 30 weeks on The New York Times' best-seller list. What interest or need is it touching in so many readers? One thoughtful woman who didn't necessarily buy into Brown's whole argument e-mailed the following comment: "It's so obvious that women were teachers, healers, interpreters in the early days until patriarchs decided that was blasphemy. How intriguing it is to think how Christianity might be today if we pictured Christ not as a single man with a halo, high above a circle of male disciples gathered at his feet, but as a family man."
Karen King, Harvard Divinity School professor of New Testament and early Christian history, spoke wise words in connection with "Jesus, Mary and da Vinci," an ABC news special that aired this past week: "Sometimes religion is presented as something that's fixed and stable. When you have to accept and reject it. But the fact is that religious traditions, and certainly Christianity among them, are very diverse, very filled with possibilities."
"The Da Vinci Code" has let readers participate in the adventure of historical debate on matters religious and cultural. Apparently large numbers of people are pondering theology and engaging in cultural criticism. Not a bad outcome for a popular thriller.
Apparently, the issue of Popular Science Magazine with my journal in it is in print, and on newsstands, now. I'll have to pick it up.
I did it in 0 seconds.
I deserved an A++!!
Take the How Dexterous Are You? Quiz!! Um, I don't get it. I just hit the key and went straight in? I don't know if I got lucky, or if it's broken. I don't get the trick to it being tough.
Sweet Sakes, these wasabe peas are the hottest things I've ever had. Are they just wasabe rolled in a ball? are there no peas?
Bro stopped by and dropped over a "prize" he "won" from a nearby car show. I smell BS, because he was evasive and unclear as to how he got it. I suspect the prize (a stereo/tool battery-charger) is something that fell off of the back of a truck. His chin looks fine, the stitches are barely noticeable.
Make a movie out of any given webpage (thanks
For example, my journal produces -
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER
a romantic comedy screenplay by
www.astonishingtales.com
and
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
FADE IN.
INT. FLOWER SHOP
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are selling flowers.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
You know, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL), sometimes I think I should give up my independent florist ways and settle down with a decent man who will take care of me.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
-- mostly monster movies, old gaming, mental leaps, mutual acquaintances, and so on.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES nods in thought.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Hmmmm.... I'd never thought of it like that before. Maybe I will keep this flower shop and not fall in love.
Suddenly, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO comes into the shop. He is not impressed with the flowers on offer.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
Look here, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES. I am not impressed with the flowers on offer here. Your flower shop is stupid.
He leaves.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
How incredibly arrogant that LEONARDO DI CAPRIO is! I don't like him one bit.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Random Scotto factoid - I'm really overcautious when it comes to handling hot objects.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
That's exactly what I was thinking LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL). Come on, let's continue our work as florists.
CUT TO.
INT. A COCKTAIL PARTY
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are enjoying themselves at a cocktail party. CATHERINE ZETA-JONES is talking to a handsome man while LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) is also making small talk with a member of the opposite sex.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Cobblestone Minefield -Simply get from the top right square to the bottom left.
MEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE SEX
Hahahahahahaha!! Oh, how frightfully witty. Shame on you, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES for not introducing me to LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) sooner.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I knew you two would get along famously. Now, why don't we all head out onto the dance floor and lambada?
Before they can do so, there is a tap on her shoulder. She whirls around to find LEONARDO DI CAPRIO smiling charmingly.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
Hello, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES. Perhaps you'd care to dance with me instead?
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
No I most certainly would not, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO! I doubt I would ever fall in love with you.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Fortunately, he was able to call an ambulance with his cell-phone.
Everybody laughs.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
... as the actor said to the bishop.
Everybody laughs even more.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
(eyelashes a-flutter)
Oh, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, how excitingly quick-witted you are. I think I shall fall in love with you. Who would have thought that would ever happen, what with my instant dislike of you when first we met?
FADE TO.
INT. MASSAGE PARLOUR.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are receiving massages and talking.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO and I stayed up all night last night just talking. It turns out that we're both enormous fans of Jon Bon Jovi. I feel like I'm in that beautiful Shakespearean love sonnet. You know the one, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Time has no meaning, under the coolly buzzing fluorescent lights far overhead.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
No, not that one. The other one. Oh, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL), LEONARDO DI CAPRIO makes my heart swoon so.
The masseurs start pounding their backs.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Oh. That feels good. (pauses) Gee, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL), I have never felt this way about a man before. Do you have any advice for me?
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Seriously, it was without exaggeration, a near religious experience, and took my breath away.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I hope you're right, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) I'll keep that in mind.
FADE TO.
EXT. A PARK BENCH
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES is crying. LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) is consoling her.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I can't believe we accidentally saw LEONARDO DI CAPRIO out with another woman! I thought he loved me. You were closest to the two of them, what was he saying to her?
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
The sushi and green tea ice cream satisfied my belly quite nicely.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES bursts into renewed tears. LEONARDO DI CAPRIO comes running up to them.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I don't want to talk to you, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO. I heard what you were saying to that horrible other woman.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
But CATHERINE ZETA-JONES, this is all a ghastly misunderstanding of some kind.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Leave me alone. I have a broken heart.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
I guess I will take that job in that other country then.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO leaves
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Hopefully the visit to the courthouse will be brief and inexpensive.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Thank you, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL). That's just what I needed to hear now that I have a broken heart. No wonder you are my best friend.
CUT TO.
EXT. A ROAD
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES and LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL) are driving as fast as they can in CATHERINE ZETA-JONES's car.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Oh, why won't this car go any faster? We have to get to the next train station in time to intercept LEONARDO DI CAPRIO before he leaves forever.
She accelerates.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
If only I'd got his letter that explained how our breaking up was all just a ghastly misunderstanding sooner. Read me the PS again, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
(reading)
The kids thing can backfire if the parents are exceptionally paranoid.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
I still don't understand what he meant by that.
They drive faster and faster and eventually make it to the train station in time. They rush onto the train and find LEONARDO DI CAPRIO.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Oh, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO please don't go away forever. I got your letter which eplained the ghastly misunderstanding. I now understand why you did what you did. And... I love you.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO
And I love you, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
They kiss. They are in love.
LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL)
Wondering what cute, fat canal-creatures have to do with early movie seating.
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO and CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
You said it, LIVEJOURNAL.COM (THE POD'S JOURNAL). You said it.
THE END
Going back on call for ACIM tonight. Not taking any painkillers, so I'm legal and clear to do phone work. I never did get out to pick up the magazine today, and now I'm tethered in for the night o heading out now isn't in the cards. Tomorrow after PT looks like a more likely time.
In weather news, the winds have died down this evening, but the air is cool and fresh... the day is quiet, now that the sky is dark and the air is still.
Coolest inventions in 2003 chosen by Time Magazine.
Oh, I really like this feature.
"Coming soon...
Friends page via POP3
This isn't available yet, but soon paid members will be able to check their friends pages via POP3. That's right: you'll just have to add LiveJournal as an incoming mail server in your mail client, and let it check for friends updates in the background. All the details aren't worked out, but it's looking good so far."
Just hung out this morning, thinking pleasant thoughts of my sweetheart, enjoying the sounds of heavy winds outside against the chimes. Contemplating where the day will take me today. I see a little journey out and about midday, perhaps. Playing with the new "voice-blog" thingum, and look forward to seeing how it turns out.
Random Scotto factoid - I had a huge crush on Melanie Chartoff in the early 80s, when she was on the SNL copy called Fridays. (I was about 12 at the time, but knew a cutie when I saw one, still do, in fact.)
Turns out that climate changes may just be causing the common Monarch butterfly to be endangered
A study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says climate models show that rainfall will increase significantly in the winter home of the monarchs as the planet warms during the next half-century.
This increased rainfall, combined with the persistent cold typical of the refuge area, could cause a massive die-off of the colorful migrating butterflies, said Karen Oberhauser, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and the first author of the study.
An increased wetness in the winter refuge, a mountain fir forest west of Mexico City, will leave the butterflies with no place to spend the cold months, she said Monday.
"The conditions that monarchs need to survive the winter are not predicted to exist anywhere near the present overwintering sites," said Oberhauser.
Monarchs, which have bright reddish-brown, black-edged wings, are one of the most common North American butterflies. The insects each season reproduce several times in an area stretching from Texas to the Minnesota.
As fall approaches, the final generation of the season starts a heroic migration, flying from as far north as the Canadian border to mountain groves of Oyamel firs west of Mexico City. The trees provide shelter from rain and from temperatures that can dip below freezing.
In the spring, surviving monarchs fly north, stopping at fields of milkweed to lay eggs. Succeeding generations continue the northward migration until the cycle starts over in the fall.
Oberhauser said the monarchs have a narrow range of temperature and wetness tolerance during the winter. A combination of freezing temperatures and rain can be lethal.
"If it rains and the temperatures drop and ice crystals form, it will kill them," she said. These conditions occurred in January, 2002, and about 80 percent of the monarch population overwintering in Mexico died.
Based on computer modeling of global climate changes under way, Oberhauser said such conditions could begin to become common over the next 50 years in the monarchs' winter home.
Under these changing conditions, she said, one of three things could happen: the butterfly could become extinct; the insect could find another winter refuge; or the monarch could adapt somehow to the changing conditions. Oberhauser said no other area exists near the current refuge that could shelter the butterfly.
"I think the question is whether they will have the flexibility to survive," she said.
Climate experts predict that global temperatures will increase by a few degrees over the next century. This would cause more ocean evaporation, and would be expected to increase rainfall in many places including central Mexico.
Oberhauser said the plight of the monarch is an example of how the changing climate will put some animal species at great risk of extinction.
Well, all *I* have to say is, WHO'S been flapping their wings and causing all those hurricanes?
Hoist with their own petard, if you ask me.
'Da Vinci Code' generates discussion (Sums up things very completely, I think)
Commenting on "The Da Vinci Code," Dan Brown's best-selling novel, has become virtually unavoidable. I'm not inclined to read popular thrillers, even those that purport to provide serious discussion of religious history and culture. Though friends and acquaintances sprinkled my e-mail with questions about its credibility, I resisted taking the book seriously enough to buy and read it. Then my daughter-in-law asked that I read it and sit in on her book group's discussion of it.
In his tour de force laced with the familiar conspiracies associated with Western Christian history and culture, Brown mentions most of the usual suspects: the Vatican, Freemasons, the Knights Templar, even Opus Dei, the powerful, influential and semisecret Roman Catholic order. Central to the book's plot is the author's largely speculative story of a secret society allegedly founded in 1099, the Priory of Sion. Members of the Priory supposedly included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci. The Priory has been the keeper of the secret of the Holy Grail.
In addition to these components, Brown uses two themes that give his story added currency: the scholarly and popular rehabilitation of Mary Magdalene from her former status of forgiven prostitute to that of important disciple, perhaps even apostle; and interest in the obliteration of goddess religion by a patriarchal power structure.
"The Da Vinci Code" mixes a good deal of historical fact with fictional narrative. Descriptions of geographical settings (mostly modern Europe), artwork and architecture seem to be quite accurate. Much of the historical information is commonplace material.
Some of the interpretation of legendary narratives and their alleged documentation is more problematic. There are generous servings of conspiracy theories and secret rituals, religion and eroticism, romance and violence, in premodern and postmodern contexts, and all presented at breakneck speed. Some chapters are less than two pages long!
Leonardo's secret (revealed in his code) is that Mary Magdalene was the companion (wife) of Jesus and that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child and subsequent heirs who founded the Merovingian bloodline of European nobility. The French connection in this Magdalene legend is not a plot invented by Brown. In fact, little in "The Da Vinci Code" is original, but Brown deftly packages ideas others have been using in similar books.
I am primarily interested in the novel's impact as cultural phenomenon. It has been at least 30 weeks on The New York Times' best-seller list. What interest or need is it touching in so many readers? One thoughtful woman who didn't necessarily buy into Brown's whole argument e-mailed the following comment: "It's so obvious that women were teachers, healers, interpreters in the early days until patriarchs decided that was blasphemy. How intriguing it is to think how Christianity might be today if we pictured Christ not as a single man with a halo, high above a circle of male disciples gathered at his feet, but as a family man."
Karen King, Harvard Divinity School professor of New Testament and early Christian history, spoke wise words in connection with "Jesus, Mary and da Vinci," an ABC news special that aired this past week: "Sometimes religion is presented as something that's fixed and stable. When you have to accept and reject it. But the fact is that religious traditions, and certainly Christianity among them, are very diverse, very filled with possibilities."
"The Da Vinci Code" has let readers participate in the adventure of historical debate on matters religious and cultural. Apparently large numbers of people are pondering theology and engaging in cultural criticism. Not a bad outcome for a popular thriller.
Apparently, the issue of Popular Science Magazine with my journal in it is in print, and on newsstands, now. I'll have to pick it up.
I did it in 0 seconds.
I deserved an A++!!
Take the How Dexterous Are You? Quiz!! Um, I don't get it. I just hit the key and went straight in? I don't know if I got lucky, or if it's broken. I don't get the trick to it being tough.
posted by Scottobear at
11:18:00 PM
0 Comments
