Curations from the Human Jungle
[I dunno ... doesn't seem to be quite the bucket list item it was back in 1965. SB SM] The Mother Road has seen better days, sure, but some of its weirdest landmarks refuse to fade into history. These ten survivors prove that America's appetite for roadside oddities is stronger than ever. 1 Blue Whale of... Continue Reading →
[As much as we love Mud Season, all good things must come to an end. SB SM] The Outside Story Paddling Floodplain Forests By Catherine Wessel By early April I start to get impatient for full-blown spring. I’m ready for the treetops to be full of warblers and the understory to be crowded with blooming... Continue Reading →
[We've published excerpts from this book before. It's a story that never gets old. Eat bananas instead.. SB SM] Today's encore selection -- from Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism by Bartow J. Elmore. Sugar and the 5¢ Coke: "Humans love sugar (sucrose), a disaccharide consisting of one glucose molecule bound to one fructose molecule, and for good... Continue Reading →
[Nancy Ritz? Archie Andrews? Who knew they had last names? SB SM] 1 Thelma from The Family Circus Here’s a little bit of trivia: cartoonist Bil Keane didn’t just imagine Thelma—he sketched her straight from life, inspired by his own wife. Far from being a background character, she stands as an anchor in a house full of... Continue Reading →
The Outside Story By Maggie Weng Light in the evening brings the first sign of spring’s arrival. Before the snow has fully melted or any scraps of green start to appear, those lengthening days are a promise. Just when I’ve forgotten the world was ever anything except cold and gray, I’ll step outside into a... Continue Reading →
[You can't have it both ways. Capitalism is about making money. That's it, end of story. Left unchecked, capitalism becomes greed. It's what we are witnessing in America these days. SB SM] The Grand Old Illusion of ‘Ethical’ Capitalism Donald Trump’s Big Oil bonanza is an environmental disaster — but the industry’s reaction exposes a... Continue Reading →
[Dr. Steven Shepard warns us about noise pollution. Here's yet another way we humans are negatively impacting the planet. SB SM] Today's encore selection -- from An Immense World by Ed Yong. The plight of light pollution and the added impact on birds: "In 2001, when astronomer Pierantonio Cinzano and his colleagues created the first global atlas of... Continue Reading →
[Is this list definitive? No way! The best thing about the Beatles is that you could debate this forever, and ... in the end ... the list you make is equal to the list you fake? break? rake? bake? mistake? SB SM] https://www.jamzone.com/blog/1527-the-10-most-iconic-beatles-songs-of-all-time.html Photo by Sam Jotham Sutharson on Pexels.com When discussing the greatest contributions... Continue Reading →
[The robins in this part of the world do migrate, so it's a big deal when the first ones of the season show up. We look for them around the Ides of March. Whatever happened to Bobby Day? SB SM] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IekQ1gAW7Zc So, let's hear the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSfq-EXnIDI&list=RDjSfq-EXnIDI&start_radio=1
[If you asked me back in the late '70s who would be my generation's most memorable film stars Bud Cort would have been at the top of the list. Alas, it was never to be. He was just one of us who peaked too early in life, then could never lived up to his own... Continue Reading →