tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post1588370673388642120..comments2024-03-28T06:07:03.667-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: JUSTICE FOR SQUIRRELSRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-3188458440765882882013-11-25T13:02:47.530-05:002013-11-25T13:02:47.530-05:00Squirrels chewed up the wiring on my riding lawnmo...Squirrels chewed up the wiring on my riding lawnmower. Twice. They don't like me riding around in the yard so now I push. I'm not a fan. Superfluous Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14935534194246434873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-7038087968881309562013-11-25T12:55:59.066-05:002013-11-25T12:55:59.066-05:00Prof.
You just need to visit Canberra (a.k.a. &qu...Prof.<br /><br />You just need to visit Canberra (a.k.a. "Crow Town", as a friend used to say) once for a few days to know all about the little devils.<br /><br />Incidentally, my avatar (the picture of the two birds), shows a magpie chasing an imprudent kite.Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-62078940616385168452013-11-25T05:14:23.670-05:002013-11-25T05:14:23.670-05:00I wondered about the internet name. The marvelous...I wondered about the internet name. The marvelous thing about a blog is that no matter what you choose to write about, someone out there will turn out to be a specialist on it!Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-7854559529581573142013-11-25T04:10:22.673-05:002013-11-25T04:10:22.673-05:00Not surprisingly, my favourite animals are corvids...Not surprisingly, my favourite animals are corvids and related birds: Australian magpies (Cracticus tibicen), crows and ravens.<br /><br />Spring is the magpie season in Australia: males become very territorial and brazen.<br /><br />7News : Magpies attack in swooping season<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heE9BQEtvUM<br /><br />Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-89453620256446608112013-11-24T16:26:45.524-05:002013-11-24T16:26:45.524-05:00If you like "an exaltation of larks", yo...If you like "an exaltation of larks", you would appreciate James Lipton's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-The-Veneral-Game/dp/B000GVB0DE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385328183&sr=8-1&keywords=the+veneral+game" rel="nofollow"><i>An Exaltation of Larks or the Veneral Game</i></a>, which I imagine is the book David Auerbach is referring to.Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757157459780259514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-47972012054589082032013-11-24T12:33:09.888-05:002013-11-24T12:33:09.888-05:00Lovely editorial in the New York Times on November...Lovely editorial in the New York Times on November 19, 2013, written by VERLYN KLINKENBORG. Enjoy!<br />Sounds from the Sky:<br />Among the phrases I have never trusted are the collective nouns associated with animals — a murder of crows, a scurry of squirrels, that sort of thing. They turn up mostly when people are making lists of collective nouns associated with animals, and their roots — if they have roots — are usually never mentioned. All in all, they reek of a kind of linguistic cleverness I find far too cute. Plus, they’re all too easy to make: a puddle of poodles, a terrine of terriers, a rumpus of reptiles, etc. <br /><br />The other morning I heard what sounded like the rattling of geese in the sky. I looked overhead and then scanned the horizon. In the north, above the trees shading a dry creek bed, there were a lot of crows. A bunch of them. I’d go so far as to say that it was even a crowd of crows. Dozens, in any event. They settled into the trees and then roiled upward, like ash and cinders from a fierce fire. The sounds they were making were too sharp and staccato to be called cawing. They no longer sounded like geese to me. They sounded like timbers snapping in a fire that seemed to be heaving them skyward. <br /><br />I have no idea what brought them together there. They weren’t about to migrate, and they didn’t look as though they were scavenging. I felt as if I were looking in on a corvine colloquium to which I had not been invited. <br /><br />When I go outside, all too often I hear what I expect to hear, only to find it was something else. Those crows didn’t really sound like geese, but coming from skyward, I thought I should be seeing geese. Lately, the wind has been roaring through the bare trees in the night — always a disquieting sound. The other night it seemed to be roaring again. And then I realized it was a freight train, one of the oldest and most settling sounds I know, wheels clacking, rails ringing as a boredom of boxcars rolled down the valley.<br /><br /><br />decesserohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15764798594543433377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-92071206449526812882013-11-24T11:41:43.011-05:002013-11-24T11:41:43.011-05:00I bow to David Auerbach's superior grasp of th...I bow to David Auerbach's superior grasp of the collective terms for birds [though I do hope he meant "venerable" and not "venereal."] I myself am partial to "an exaltation of larks."<br /><br />Jerry, the Adagio was a triumph [in amateur quintet terms]. It turns out that when one is playing with everyone else, the syncopations are easy! Now I am trying to put together my own quartet. At this point, I have a violinist, with whom I shall try to play Mozart violin-violas duets, and the promise of a cellist. One more violinist and we shall be off to the races.<br /><br />Back to the birds and animals. I know that anyone trying to raise vegetables finds deer and rabbits to be just pests, but as a typical city boy, I rather like deer. This may of course just be a consequence of the fact that when I was very little I was much taken with Bambi.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-44878808785452460602013-11-24T11:02:11.898-05:002013-11-24T11:02:11.898-05:00I've been feeding birds quite regularly here i...I've been feeding birds quite regularly here in northern Italy. Very disappointing. All I get are sparrows. But I've grown accustomed to them and enjoy watching the way they hop around.<br /><br />Now, I'm sure your audience, as I, is awaiting THE report: so whatever happened in the Adagio?Jerry Fresiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01427077490696059928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-21425655637109338662013-11-24T10:13:04.973-05:002013-11-24T10:13:04.973-05:00I think there are additional factors that, uhmmm, ...I think there are additional factors that, uhmmm, factor into "importance".<br />In addition to striking (to us) appearance, there's rarity. Squirrels are just damn ubiquitous. There may also be a cognitive component; we know what magnificent (to us) creatures hawks are. Buzzards, not so much. Crows are also rather amazing and if you went and read a book about corvids you might want to report on them. Though perhaps only if they were exhibiting some hallmark behavior, like harassing the hell out of some poor hawk. Deer, I fear, I find loathesome because of their ubiquity and its consequalia.David Auerbachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612242467208247588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-1612422029182622342013-11-24T10:04:53.288-05:002013-11-24T10:04:53.288-05:00Wolff nods.
It's owls who parliament.
It's...Wolff nods.<br />It's owls who parliament.<br />It's 'a murder of crows'<br /><br />(and 'a quibble of philosophers'). Somewhere on my shelf is a collection of these venereal terms, both classic and modern snark. ('a rash of dermatologists)David Auerbachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612242467208247588noreply@blogger.com