Why Aratina Cage is The Best

Better than chocolate:

[This person has been banned from commenting because of making threats of violence to the blog writer.]

[Comment removed by moderator policy.]

Thank you Aratina, for having restored sanity to this little corner of the blogosphere. I think I'm not alone in being grateful...






© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Should Oil-Soaked Birds Be Euthanized?

Dead Pelican, Breton Island (Agence France Press)

German Biologist Silvia Gaus has been quoted as saying that cleaning and attempting to rerelease oil-soaked birds is inhumane. In an article in Spiegel Online International, Gaus states that mid-term survival of cleaned birds is under 1%. Even the folks at Audubon Magazine are debating the issue on their blog. It's pretty hard to find accurate statistics on the subject but since oil-damaged feathers will fail to thermoregulate a bird's body temperature, it's not surprising. This evening on Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC, I heard that BP exec Tony Hayward says that the environmental impact of the spill will be 'very, very modest'. Sure enough, I found the Agence France Press article quoting him as saying just that. Then I heard him say it on Rachel Maddow. 

Someone really needs to get these people to wake up and see that they are not fooling anyone.

Surprisingly Vulnerable

(image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The whale shark, at about 40 ft (12.5 meters) and 45K lbs (21 metric tons) is the largest fish on the planet. They are very vulnerable in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. These gentle creatures are filter feeders or top skimmers, which means that they will ingest oil that rises, i.e. the oil fraction of crude with its density lighter than water, while they skim for plankton and the occasional small fish.  In recent years there have been huge gatherings of whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. Reports in 2008 and 2009 confirmed very large numbers sighted.

I was lucky to see a whale shark in the wild in the late 1980's, while on a diving trip in the Caymans. They are gentle creatures of truly awe-inspiring beauty.

Thirsty for change?

(Mad Hatter's Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Angel Dominguez)

Why, have a biscuit....

Plumes

Leaving off with the noisome issue of atheist trolling, the situation in the Gulf of Mexico continues to astonish in the worst possible way. The New York Times reported yesterday that 'giant plumes" of oil had been discovered in deep water by scientists working in the region of the spill. The Times reports that "Scientists studying video of the gushing oil well have tentatively calculated that it could be flowing at a rate of 25,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil a day. The latter figure would be 3.4 million gallons a day. But the government, working from satellite images of the ocean surface, has calculated a flow rate of only 5,000 barrels a day."  Truly daunting to consider. One such plume is described as "10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots." Oxygen levels in the water are sharply down, boding ill for all marine life and making it likely that the dead zone in the Gulf will be broadly widened by the spill. This afternoon the NY Times reports that BP has had some success at inserting a tube into the blown riser pipe to divert and capture some oil and gas.

On the NY Times Interactive Spill Tracker site, BP's worst case scenario estimate is now 66 million gallons spilt, some 6 times that of the Exxon Valdez. The estimates of Dr. Joye and her University of Georgia team now make that figure look as if it may not be far from the mark when we consider that we are just shy of one month since the Deepwater Horizon rig blew.

Meanwhile, on Friday President Obama announced "Top to bottom reform of the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling. It's about damn time...

Some AP footage of the plumes and the spill in general:

Deep Cleansing

For Jack, I mean Dave. ;)

PC#22

Summer, Benton Shrine, Shiba by Kawase Hasui

Top Ten Things I Know and Love about DM aka David Mabus aka Dennis Markuze

10. He's got posts devoted to him on other blogs!

http://wellknowntrolls.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/david-mabus/
http://skippytheskeptic.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-hell-is-david-mabus.html
http://mikesweeklyskepticrant.blogspot.com/2008/03/david-mabus-is-giant-pussy.html
http://www.evolvedrational.com/2009/04/david-mabus-strikes-again.html
http://baconeatingatheistjew.blogspot.com/2009/07/getting-spammed-by-david-mabus.html
http://podblack.com/2010/04/when-david-mabus-is-your-biggest-fan-aka-nostradamus-sets-my-goats-on-fire/
http://blog.matthewmiller.net/2010/03/dennis-markuze-aka-david-mabus.html
and is featured in our beloved PZ's Dungeon, convicted of insanity.

9. He loves Depeche Mode.

8. He has some serious issues with James Randi.

7. He luh him some Nostradamus.

6. He writes really interesting *cough* thoughts about things that appear directly related to your post topic *cough*.

5. David réside dans la région de Montréal.


4. His IP address is all over my blog and that of several friends' blogs, too. It's 72.12.103.179. That's for CIDC.net. The server he's surfing with is operating out of Granby, Quebec. Lots of forest around there. I'm hoping there are no, ahem, suspicious mounds of recently tilled soil.


3. I know a bit of stuff about his computer. Okay, maybe more than I want to say or he'd like my knowing in my atheist gay-friendly, Big Brotherish kind of way.

2. Clearly, I'm getting one step closer to serious blogging if Dennis/David/D has found me. (I'm just astonished, frankly!)

1. If I believe Matt Miller (and I so very much do...), the best (worst?) thing that I can tell DM is:

(Drawn from http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/forums/showthread.php?p=8644)

Dennis Markuze aka David Mabus - former computer salesman - Montreal, Canada.

please seek advice.

http://www.montrealtherapy.com/
1-800-THERAPIST network

Montreal Psychology Office
Obtain help for depression, anxiety, smoking cessation, relationship issues, and more...
http://www.psymontreal.com

If you are more comfortable in a French speaking environment:

Luc Blain, psychologue clinicien
La vie est une succession d'événements qui amènent l'individu à les subir, à les nier, ou encore à les transformer pour les rendre digestes psychiquement. Dans le processus de transformation, la personne retrouve une plus grande liberté intérieure dans différentes dimensions de sa vie: capacité d'avoir du plaisir, d'aimer et d'être aimé, de s'épanouir dans un travail ou des activités.
http://www.lucblain.ca

And all I can say is, the fact that he posted on a day when I tried to do something nice for Rae is just so massively annoying. Which I guess is kind of the point about Dennis. He tries to annoy, and he did, but he annoyed a person who is just so over-the-top call it as she sees it lately that really, I think I'll be amazed if he comes back. Because Dennis, I know so much about you from your IP connection and a thorough search of the internet, that baby, whether you're trolling atheists or after straight people that support gay people (like me), or gay people or *gasp* gaytheists and their über tolerant atheist friends, I will mock you until you really just go away.

Simply isn't a comment that you can make that I can't twist around, dear. Simply isn't. And I'll keep recommending (heartfelt after all I've read) that you seek the help you need, dear man. Because really, I worry for you. I know that atheists are supposed to be all immoral or amoral (since there's no God threat standing over us as the only thing that is forcing us, nay DEMANDING of us, that we be good and all) but really, I don't like to think about suffering and what would have led you to track all over the internet with your issues. I feel for you. And I hope that you get what you need. Which is clearly (oh so, clearly) some help.

Book recommendation: The Heart Sutra might be a good one. 

"All Bodhisattvas rely on and abide in the perfection of wisdom; their minds have no obstructions and no fear. Passing utterly beyond perversity, they attain the final state beyond sorrow."

This I wish for you, DM. Fervently.

P.S. Dennis, I don't mean to annoy you, but really and honestly, there have been people reading my blog from the US Department of Homeland Security in recent days (I kid you not) because they seem fascinated with my bee and food posts. So, um, like seriously, maybe you should rethink commenting here. Because, you know...

(image credit: attribution unknown)

In honor of Rae. :)