Nature

September 2, 2012 — Steven Hayward

California Dreaming, Chapter 3

Featured image For this installment I take time out from observing California’s socialist-utopian dysfunctionality to observe a few of those “exploitable asymmetries” mentioned previously that make it possible for California to get away with so much of its nonsense.  The other day a pod of whales frolicked on the water just offshore from me, and I managed to catch a great blues act, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, at one of »
March 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Theater of the Absurd Seasons

Featured image Here in Minnesota, we have enjoyed an unusually mild winter, and now it seems to be rushing pell-mell into summer. The thermometer has edged over 70 degrees several times this week, and today I think it got up to 75 or so. This is truly extraordinary for mid-March in Minnesota; March ties with February as Minnesota’s snowiest month, on the average. A few days ago, the Minneapolis Star Tribune posted »
December 29, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Pigeon vs. Peregrine Falcon

Featured image My office is on the 25th floor of an office building in downtown Minneapolis. On any day when I look out my windows, I see peregrine falcons cruising, looking for prey–pigeons, mostly. It is not unusual to see a falcon dive-bomb a pigeon, bring his carcass to a ledge on my building, and eat him. Concrete canyons like the ones my office overlooks have turned out to be excellent habitats »
November 4, 2011 — John Hinderaker

A Modern Jonah, Almost

Featured image If you have ever wondered about the mechanics of how Jonah could have been swallowed by a whale–or even if you haven’t–check out this video, shot near Santa Cruz, in which a surfer and two kayakers are very nearly swallowed by a humpback whale (there are two whales in the video). It’s the kind of thing that could ruin your whole day, if the whale had been just a few »