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.)

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• Happy New Year, the UN has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.
• On Monday, a ban on red snapper fishing went into effect. Surprise, the fishermen are not happy. The decline is estimated to be about 97% in 60 years.
• The sea lions of Fisherman’s wharf, who showed up after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and whose disappearance was causing some consternation, have been found off Oregon, where there’s better fishing in an apparent El Niño year.
• SEED magazine interviews Paul Ehrlich. “I don’t think I’ve seen a single scientific review of something I’ve written that says, ‘this is wrong.’”
• Fantastic / superb essay on the great discrepancy between predicted and observed extinctions.
• How did Obama do environmentally? Good not great. From the Conservation Maven, reminding me once again how similar ‘conservation’ and ‘conservative’ look.

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

Thanks, Brian. Also pretty sure this was on TMZ. MARKET SATURATION.

Almost salamander season in CA.

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