Not Quite So "Weekly" Five

And not exactly "Five", either. A bunch of links, anyhow. Mostly intriguing photos, ones that made me think, this time.

• Creek Running North; on nature photography. Down at the bottom, interesting shots of a coyote who has learned the rules of the road.


• This, you must see! The Science of Bubble Rings. Dolphins make and play with the underwater equivalent of smoke rings. I watched the video 5 times. Via Zooillogix.


• Also from Zooillogix, Parasites turn Ants into Berries. One of those amazing "inventions" that either elicit a "Wow!" or an "Ewwww!" Or both.


• From Deep Sea News, a bi-coloured lobster. I thought, at first, that this was fake. A plastic lobster. But no, it's real; it grew that way. As McClain explains,

  "Because the two sides of lobster develop independently of each other an error can occur on one side and not the other."

• Let's get involved! Here's a fun way; the Annual GBBC (Great Backyard Bird Count). Count the birds you see at any place of your choosing (N. America only; sorry.) for 15 minutes, and post your results. Here are their instructions:
  

  1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 15–18, 2008. Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like—just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.
  
  2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down. (You can get regional bird checklists here.)
  
  3. Enter your results through our web page.
  
  That's it! We'll look forward to receiving your counts.

  
  And there is a photo contest, as well. If you end up getting a great shot, consider entering it here.

A couple more, moving away from the photo albums:

• This one is an entire blog; every post I've seen so far has been worth reading. Dot Earth. Today's entry is Earth is Us, introducing the term, "the Anthropocene epoch". Some other recent topics are wolves, whales, alternate energy, climate change, the Nano car, and those new fluorescent light bulbs.


• And a book report: A germ's eye view of history. From Gene Expression, a review of "Plagues and Peoples". I have this book, and it's on my "To Be Read ASAP" list. I think I'll move it to the top.
  Long, long ago, I read Hans Zinsser's classic, "Rats, Lice, and History", which deals with the same topic; it gave me a whole new perspective on our heritage, one less focussed on VIPs, battles, and dates, and more on the real people whose joys and sorrows are ours. "Plagues and Peoples" will be a good reminder.

Double heron. An old photo, scanned. Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver.