Sustainable harvest, or intolerable cruelty?

I haven't posted about any controversial topics lately, but I just read an article about seal hunting (best headline ever: Cute, cuddly, edible) that got me interested. I've read posts from people on my friends list from people that were passionate about the topic, from pro and con perspectives. I'd love to hear discussion here, but let's keep it civil and above the belt, okay?

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An idea ripe for stealing

A hearty thanks to the pale and cranky staff down at the Texas Triffid Ranch for drawing my attention to the inner city snail project. (Seal-clubbing is apparently not controversial enough for this crowd, and anyone who hasn't already seen bonzai kittens should be spared the joke.) The snails pictured appear to be the brown garden snail Helix aspersa, and readers in the Bay area can decorate their own. Those of us in the Northeast can capture our resident English garden snails to make them into art. Of course, many of them are already quite beautiful, so painting them could be considered gilding the lily--or shall we say renovating the gastropod. We can check 'renovating the gastropod' on the urban dictionary later, to see if it means something dirty.

Noticing the year: 06/02/08, plus some random

Genuinely hot for a good chunk of the day. Apparently around 80 and humid is my idea of 'hot.' And I really like it. I'd like it better if I could wear shorts at work.

This weekend I heard toads singing at Leverett Pond. I was astonished, for a couple reasons. First, it isn't really a pond, just a wide slow part of the Muddy River. Second, I compiled a survey of all the terrestrial vertebrate life in the area a couple years ago, and I detected no toads. That just goes to show that you need year round attention to accurately count the species in an area. (but I knew that already)

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Unusual word combination of the day: Solka Floc
This one was especially unusual, as I was familiar with neither of the words in the combination. A little context, perhaps? I was slicing up a 5 pound packaged log of partially frozen processed horsemeat--the diet for some new animals in quarantine--I can tell you what in about two weeks--when I noticed that there was an ingredients list. It read: "Horsemeat (USDA Inspected and Passed), Solka Floc, dicalcium phosphate..." and so on. Just like that "Solka Floc," like everyone knows what that is, Oh of course, solka floc*! That reminds me, I need to go to the store and buy some more solka floc tonight, and maybe a package of oop spap and a box of gibyet morgs. (*Google it. It's just cellulose fiber.)

The Nebraska Brand website, by the way, assures us that, while it's hard to get human quality horsemeat for humans anymore, we can still get it for our Amur leopards, spectacled owls, and coyotes. They assure us, in all caps. NEBRASKA BRAND REMAINS COMMITTED TO USING ONLY USDA INSPECTED AND PASSED HORSEMEAT IN OUR CARNIVORE DIETS! RECENTLY THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL ERRONEOUS REPORTS REGARDING HORSE SLAUGHTER AND THE AVAILABILITY OF USDA INSPECTED AND PASSED, HUMAN QUALITY, HORSEMEAT. WE ASSURE ALL OUR CUSTOMERS THAT THERE WILL BE A VERY ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF USDA INSPECTED HORSEMEAT, WELL INTO THE FUTURE. WE AT NEBRASKA BRAND REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF USING ONLY THE HIGHEST QUALITY INGREDIENTS, THEREFORE WE WILL CONTINUE USING ONLY USDA INSPECTED AND PASSED HORSEMEAT, IN THE PRODUCTION OF NEBRASKA BRAND HORSEMEAT PRODUCTS.
okay, then.

I'm listening to Jimmy Cliff right now, largely as a result of seeing The Harder They Come two weekends ago. It's an interesting movie, and I can see why it's considered something of a landmark. The music turns out to be pretty timeless, but the low-budget filmmaking style is less so. The story is about a young man from the countryside who moves to the big city to become a singing star, but instead gets involved in organized crime. The message seems to be, in order to become a famous reggae star, you have to go on a killing spree. Maybe I missed some other point to it, but that's what I took home. That, and the soundtrack.

Also, I finally understand a lot of what the ska crowd that I hung around with 20 years ago were into, and even why a minor hit from the 80's begins: "Sit tight and listen keenly while I play for you a brand new musical biscuit!"

EDIT -- a final note: Now that wtf-nature is in the lj spotlight, I expect it'll be about 24 hours before irrelevant, redundant, and inane posts make me drop the community.