Longest month ever

This December has felt like it was two months long already.  I have a few little things I'm looking forward to in January, and they've been "just a few weeks away" for what seems like forever.  Not the least of these is getting the new Prez on the job.



From a Time magazine series.  Thanks to momomom for the link.

New Years Eve: No Thanks

i have three nice invitations to parties for New Years Eve.  I try not to go anywhere that night: for many people it is the only night of the year that they drink to excess.  Then they drive around the city.  One year a guy just plowed into a crowd of people on the sidewalk.  I'd rather go out some other night then celebrate the arbitrary flipping of a calendar page.

The weather forecast for Boston for Wednesday night is for up to seven inches of snow, high winds, and temps (not wind chills) near the single digit mark.  I just told Alexis that to go out on a night like that is to spit in the face of the inventors of shelter itself.

Second only to the Liberty Bell? Really?

Just now hearing a story on NPR about the Lineville Spillway, "Where the Ducks Walk on the Fish" a dam in Pennsylvania with thousands and thousands of carp that have come accustomed to being fed.  I believe I was brought here as a child (my brother will confirm or deny; also I seem to remember it referred to as "Where the ducks walk on the fishes' backs") and joined the crowds throwing stale slices of white bread down to the fish and mallards.  In my memory, whole slices of bread were gobbled up before they even got wet.  I thought it was awesome.  I figured it was just one of those weird things that my family was into. 

However it's apparently the second biggest tourist attraction to the state, after the Liberty Bell.  That's a hell of a thing, in a state that has two major cities, one of which used to be the U.S. capital.  There are pro sports teams, Civil War battlegrounds, and it seems to me Lincoln made a speech there somewhere.  The second biggest tourist attraction is a place to feed fish?  An invasive species yet?

I love the fact that one of Austin's big tourist attractions is a huge colony of bats that happens to roost under a bridge in the middle of the city.  No one feeds the bats, except for the farmers a few miles out, whose crops attract moths and beetles.  Somehow the carp tourism feels different from the bat tourism.  Carp tourism is almost the opposite of ecotourism.

There was some controversy there this year as the Parks Department wanted to ban feeding the fish bread and bread products, and begin selling fish feed.  There was a public outcry and the plan was put on the back burner.  Apparently the issue was the health of the fish.  Too much of one thing is bad for any animal (unless its a panda or something) but are people really worried about the health of carp?  These things are basically aquatic cockroaches with backbones--they thrive on garbage.  On the other hand, a public outcry?  Isn't there anything else to cry out about?  Imagine if somebody proposed hiring these guys.  Now there'd be some outcry.