Chicago Area Wildlife Society Has Its Own Blog

I decided The Wildlife Society needed space to stretch its wings (sharpen its claws, multiply like bunnies) so The Society officially has its own blog on Wordpress. The Society's new banner is lovely, I think you'll agree. The blog is in a rudimetary state now, but we'll see where the Wildlife Society goes on its own. For the full story behind Falcon vs. Kitty—written by Society member Cynde— take a visit.

If you have good urban wildlife stories, please send them to me. Include photos if possible.

Five Days A Week

There are three people I need to spend more time with, Thus, I'm no longer posting on weekends. See you Monday!

Forgot The Egg

My earlier post on the best of Costco was missing perhaps the best of the best of Costco: their organic brown eggs. Eating one is a spiritual experience. These eggs—velvety and mild—make white grocery store eggs taste like superballs.

Best of Costco

Is Costco worth the annual fee? Of course if you buy enough diapers and dishwashing liquid it is. But Costco also has gourmet items not found anywhere else, or at least not anywhere near the price. All items listed are much larger than they appear in photo.

Galvanina Blood Orange Soda
It’s pretty. It’s organic. It’s carbonated. It’s Italian. What more can you ask. Comes in cases of six.

Pilaros Olives
Good jarred olives are hard to find. They’re usually bitter, hard, and the meat clings to the pit as if cemented there. These olives are superior because a.) they’re not bitter 2.) they’re not hard and 3.) the meat falls off the pit.

Dakota Organic Ground Beef
If ground beef were tofu, Dakota would be silken. Almost creamy, this burger crumbles if cooked on too low heat. Sear it then lower the heat. It comes in packets of three individually wrapped 1 pound servings.

Kirkland Raw Almonds
My mother-in-law turned me on to raw unsalted almonds, which I find are excellent when cooked and salted. Toss a cup or two in a bowl with tamari (not soy sauce) and a bit of shaved ginger. Bake them on a cookie sheet at 350 for three minutes. Put them back in a bowl and toss them with tamari again. Cook 5 more minutes. Eat warm.

This post is a rip-off of my friend Mark who lists his own Costco favorites.

Found Object No. 1

The detritus that rolls into our yard normally takes the form of beer bottles and beef jerky wrappers, so this shiny package caught my eye. It’s bright and colorful, like a candy wrapper. But who’s the guy, Steve Carrell? Whoever he is, he’s important—his face appears again in the holographic foil behind him. The heart motif up the side made me think condom wrapper. That would be pretty cool, customized condom packaging with your face in holographic foil. Look out, ladies.

Google says Premium Ready Made Spitt is chewing tobacco. I still don’t know who the guy is. If you do, drop me a line.

Flickr Commons

Flickr, The Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institution, The Brooklyn Museum , The Powerhouse Museum, George Eastman House and Bibliothèque de Toulouse have joined together at Flickr Commons, a photo collection with no known copyright restrictions—allowing me to add a little copy to the Smithsonian photo above and not having to answer to a soul about it.


Found at Boing Boing,

Thai Pop Taste Test

I caught a certain amount of grief for posting about the taste of Mangda na without trying it. So while I was initially going to post a photo of these three cans of Thai pop simply because they are beautiful (aren’t they purty?), I decided to man up and taste them. Being a big chicken, I enlisted two guest judges/moral supporters, Chris and Bing.

We tried them in the order of most familiar taste to least familiar taste. Our first surprise was the drinks were not carbonated. After looking at the cans again, they do say “drink” and not “pop”. Helps to read labels. The second surprise was the color. The lychee was not red, the white gourd was not white and the birds nest was not twig colored.

Here are our conclusions:

Lychee Drink
Looks like: sugar syrup
Smells like: feet + pears
Tastes like: sugar

White Gourd Drink
Looks like: weak pee, apple juice
Smells like: feet + ritz crackers + vanilla + almond
Tastes like: sweet + ginseng

Birds Nest Drink
Looks like: weak green tea
Smells like: strawberries
Tastes like: we couldn’t think of anything to compare it to, but definitely the best of the three

N.B. I did get sick to my stomach, though Chris and Bing did not. From here on out, I'm content to post food and food packaging solely on their aesthetic appeal. Thanks, judges!

There's An Old Man Sittin Next To Me

I only like one Billy Joel song, but I live for it: Piano Man. It has the exact histrionic crescendos and lack of subtlety I look for in my music. So when Fark called a seven year old's version "one of the greatest renditions of Piano Man," I had to check it out.

Well the kid sings it better than I do, but so could a beluga whale. There is a curious tag underneath the video that says: "This is a video response to Piano Man - played by Justin. "

A battle! Off to Justin's version.

After 6 seconds of Justin, it's clear the 7-year-old creamed him.

Still and all, Elton John trumps them both.

(Also: Does Billy Joel look like Jesse Jackson?)

Random-ish Thought

Has anyone else noticed Anthony Trollope’s short story “Malachi’s Cove” (1864) and David Guterson’s novel Snow Falling on Cedars (1995) is the same story?

Check it out:
1. both are set in a coastal area
2. plots are centered around a water-related death and/or injury
3. a character is wrongfully accused of causing that death and/or injury
4. the false accusations are steeped in prejudice
5. the wrongly accused character is vindicated at end of story (yay!)

The Miracle of Low Expectations

I like to pass on the secrets to good life when I have them. Sea salt was the first. The second secret is: set low expectations for yourself. There is surely value in thinking big & shooting for the stars & going for gold, but thinking meekly produces its own sorts of miracles.

For example.

Writing books tell you write 1 hour a day, or three pages a day, or 1,000 words a day or whatever it is that works for the author. One hour doesn't work so well for me what with two children and a job and a bunch of meetings each week. The books say if you have kids and jobs and meetings,  get up an hour earlier. Ha, ha! That's hilarious! The people who suggest this don't have little kids and jobs and meetings themselves, for the most part; usually they use J.K. Rowling as their example of someone who actually pulled this off.

Try 10 minutes of writing a day.

Using the At Least 10 Minutes A Day system, I completed a 300-page memoir in 18 months. Not that the manuscript found a publisher (though two excerpts have been published  this year, one in Word Riot and one in Hip Mama). I'm 120 pages into a novel, started last November. If I made myself write an hour, I'd never get a word on paper. Anyone can write for 10 minutes.

At Least 10 Minutes A Day can be applied to exercise, meditation, home projects, work goals, anything. It works.

Saturday News Round Up

Two from the Telegraph:

When Life Gives You Dead Cats, Make Cat Hats
Yikes, a 60-year old Australian grandmother constructs hats of feral cat skins delivered frozen to her door each week. To think I complained about my grandmother's peanut brittle. Robin Eades thaws and skins the cats, and out come the hats and purses. Feral cats on her island and have been blamed for a decline in the population of the rare orange-bellied parrot. Take that, cats.

I Love Your Hat!
Be careful. Her tabby headgear may make her appear a person of fine taste, but you just might be complimenting a narcissist. Narcissism: a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. A study shows how to spot a narcissist: “The giveaway clues [of narcissism] were a neat, organised and attractive appearance; stylish and expensive clothes; and a cheerful demeanour.”

One from Reuters:

Beijing takes dog off the menu for Olympics
"Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month's Olympics and September's Paralympics . . . but made no mention of the many popular establishments with donkey on the menu."

"18-Course Gastronomic Extravaganza "

This irony rivals David Vitter and Larry Craig re-introducing the Marriage Protection Amendment to the Constitution:

The menu at the global food crisis summit in Hokkaido, Japan included "caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S."

I had to check Snopes, it sounded so unbelievable. But it's true, our world leaders met to discuss world hunger over an 18 course meal. The menu included a working lunch with two different wines and dinner with six. I too get my best ideas for ending world hunger after a couple glasses of vino.

Says Dominic Nutt, of the charity Save the Children:

"If the G8 wants to betray the hopes of a generation of children, it is going the right way about it."

Ouch.

Why Does Everyone Pick On Parents?

I was doing my daily skim of the Huffington Post when I saw the headline: "Raising Mini Addicts." The article was by a mom, who has some kids, who went to a birthday party, who saw video games set out on a table. Once the mom picked her jaw off the floor, she was moved to conclude:

"We are raising a generation of children who can't go about their daily lives without all these technological gadgets. "

Mini addicts, if you will. Perfectly logical concern, if you believe a four-year-old who likes video games can't possibly also like reading, drawing, bugs or unicorns.

The article reminded me that I planned one day to blog about the glut of articles written on how badly parents suck. What better time than the present? I hopped over to Google News, searched "parenting today," and was presented with these pretties from The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Sydney Morning Herald, Times of India and others:

Today's parents are poor role models for children

Pushy parents are snatching their kids' childhood

Are parents today getting it all wrong?

A scathing commentary on today's parenting

Have you been a good parent today?

Are we Raising A Nation of Wimps?

Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting

Why We Fear Parenting

Yowza. Is any of this useful? Really?