Something interesting going on with the California State Parks Foundation:

In the last several years, California’s state park system has been proposed to be shut down to the public – first in January 2008 and again in May 2009.  These proposals have been eye-opening to all Californians who support their state parks.  Yet often in times of crisis, opportunities and new ideas emerge.   In this moment, we believe it is critical to begin a public dialogue about what excellence in California’s state park system should look like.

They’re opening up an online survey to solicit views on how the state park system should be run.

Sad news. John Thorbjarnarson, Senior Conservation Scientist for WCS and renowned reptile expert, died suddenly early this week. A warm and fitting tribute from his nephew.

It is because of men like John that many endangered species still exist on this planet. It is because of men like him that we know that childhood dreams are something you can follow.

This morning struck into the region of full goatees–sometimes accompanied by a mustache, but only occasionally. It was odd to come upon this thick crop of an obsolete and uncomely fashion: it was like running suddenly across a forgotten acquaintance whom you had supposed dead for a generation. The goatee extends over a wide extent of country, and is accompanied by an iron-clad belief in Adam, and the biblical history of creation, which has not suffered from the assaults of the scientists.

-Life on the Mississippi (1883)

A comparison of the birds killed annually by Danish windmills, Danish automobiles, and British cats. Taken from Sustainable Energy–without the hot air by David J.C. MacKay, who makes this book and all the graphics he prepared for it available free online.  (He notes that the number taken by cats is about the same as birds that die attempting to fly through plate glass.)

Happy New Year. Here’s a map of game in the United States from 1956.

Apologies for light posting recently. Hopefully back at it once the thesis (fingers crossed) is approved. (via Why Evolution is True)

Harvest time

The Guardian goes in search of the lost species of the decade and finds a bunch of “probably extincts” and “extincts in the wild.” Extinction is hard.

Here are photographs of young albatross, dead from too much plastic in their stomach. These really look like a conceptual art piece. (via The Edge of the American West)