http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/ A weblog on nature and place, the design arts, critters, and baseball... en-us 2005-06-10T22:51:24-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/06/10/migrations.html For several months now we've planning to move Feathers of Hope off of Movable Type, mostly because of the plague of comment spam, which finally exceeded our system's capabilities last week, but also because Movable Type isn't scaling well for... Miscellaneous Numenius 2005-06-10T22:51:24-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/06/09/cars_and_more.html Last fall I took a class through Davis Adult Education on basic auto mechanics. I was driving a new Honda Element that didn't need an oil change yet or a whole lot else but I spent many evenings hunkered over... Miscellaneous Pica 2005-06-09T21:33:42-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/06/08/umami.html During our visit to North Carolina, Nicole taught us about umami. I had no idea that there is now considered to be a fifth primary taste sensation, in addition to the familiar ones of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. This... Miscellaneous Numenius 2005-06-08T22:55:09-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/06/07/point_and_click.html I'm getting the cats back into clicker training. It reminds them they're in charge. It relieves boredom for cats whose world is very small. It incidentally teaches them things like "down" and "up" and "target." They are very enthusiastic and... Cats Pica 2005-06-07T20:30:25-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/06/06/dog_days.html We're back from our trip to North Carolina and Virginia. The wheatfield is ready for harvesting: the wheat stalks all bent over. The peaches are nearly ripe. The Bullock's oriole has stuck around, and there's now a chicken in residence... Critters Numenius 2005-06-06T22:29:59-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/06/01/countin_churches.html We've been in the southeast for a week now. A trip to Cape Hatteras and two boat trips, a quick trip to Kitty Hawk, a quick trip to Floyd, a quick trip to Greensboro (John Neal Books), and HUNDREDS of... Nature and Place Pica 2005-06-01T18:26:04-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/24/heading_east_aga.html We're off on a trip to the southeast, to see Nicole and Mike and birds and Fred. Blogging will be sporadic. The cats will be left in the wonderful care of Becky, of crow fame, who will now be able... Miscellaneous Pica 2005-05-24T21:39:23-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/23/middle_course.html The Senate this afternoon reached a compromise over the filibuster standoff. Hard-liners on both sides are decrying it, which I suppose means it was a good day for moderation. Anyway, how can one not be a little pleased when Michelle... Politics Numenius 2005-05-23T23:02:09-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/22/another_blogger_.html Today was one of those perfect San Francisco days: warm, sunny, nothing more than a light breeze. We drove to Vallejo and took the ferry over. It is such a peaceful way to enter a city, by boat. And... Miscellaneous Pica 2005-05-22T21:06:39-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/21/gremlins.html You know you got 'em when the electrical igniter for the gas stove top starts clicking away every couple of seconds of its own accord with nobody around to have influenced things. Helpless renters that we are (there's a reason... Miscellaneous Numenius 2005-05-21T22:33:09-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/20/expanding_vista.html There's been an Airstream trailer outside our back door for the past three months. The landlord's son who keeps bees has needed a lot of extra help getting new hives built, honey extracted, and bees trucked around the valley (it's... Nature and Place Pica 2005-05-20T21:36:58-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/19/rule_creep.html Back in 1982 Douglas Hofstadter in his Scientific American column Metamagical Themas described a game called Nomic which was invented by philosopher Peter Suber. Nomic is a game where play consists of modifying its own rules. Initially rules changes have... Politics Numenius 2005-05-19T22:34:43-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/18/presence.html Sometimes you hear someone and you know after about three sentences you had really better pay attention because what they're saying is so important and ruthlessly close to what real is for you and for everyone and for the world... Politics Pica 2005-05-18T21:38:39-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/17/capricious_deiti.html Baseball Numenius 2005-05-17T22:58:00-08:00 http://www.magpienest.org/feathersofhope/archives/2005/05/16/caterpillaration.html The painted ladies we saw in their thousands a few weeks ago have disappeared, but on Thursday I noticed hundreds of caterpillars on a section of the bike path between here and campus. Same on Friday. They're dark gray, spiky... Critters Pica 2005-05-16T21:25:15-08:00