I'll probably be posting over here again more often. Not much science to chat about lately.
Know Your Biomes IX: Chaparral
As much as any biome or global ecoregion is a challenge to group, differentiate or otherwise generalize, the chaparral or Mediterranean woodlands (scrubland/heathland/grassland) biome may be the best example such…
The new Encyclopedia of Life: Collections
I have to admit, I didn't use the Encyclopedia of Life very frequently in its first incarnation. I perused for media every now and then, or doubled checked the taxonomy…
[Un]remarkable space
Another move finished. That's seven-ish in the past four years. I swear I'm not going anywhere this time. I said that in February of this year. "We're not going anywhere…
Writing arm
There's something sad about the fact that, after 10 uninterrupted minutes of writing with a pen in a paper notebook, my hand muscles ache and the tendons in my arm…
Harry Potter is a survivor, maybe, but no hero
Like most of the country, sometime in the next week I’ll shuffle up to a ticket booth, shovel out 40-ish dollars and see the second half of Harry Potter and…
To dearest CFI and ‘the secular movement’
It's hard to take any of you seriously as intellectual activists when you indulge in high school bullshit. You should lobby the Science Channel for a reality show. For realsies. Links via…
Selected posts
Finally got around to adding a tab for a list of the better posts I've written under the VG banner over the years. Navigating tags is a pain, this seemed…
I don’t write about science anymore
...but I want to. For the past four years, we've been bouncing around the eastern seaboard, and toward the end there, I just wanted to be home. Heather and I…
Nature and the illusion of peace
In the clearing just below my grandfather's hunting cabin, between thick rows of red and blue spruce, you have to be careful with the lawn mower. Three perfect white sitting…