Crowd spore-cing

Two interesting Kickstarter projects became known to me today:

This one (already funded) will result in a much-needed field guide to slime molds. It's a guide to Australian slime molds, but I'm hoping it will be useful in North America as well--many species are cosmopolitan and widespread.

"Bringing Zombie Ants to Life" is a winning title for a project to create a curriculum and open source gallery on the subject of Cordyceps, a group of parasitic fungi that change the behavior of animals. These fungi infect an animal host, invade its nervous system and control the animals' mind, making the animal into a vehicle for the reproduction of the fungus. You may be somewhat aware of Cordyceps from David Attenborough or a video game.

Two of my dad

My dad visited briefly last weekend, just long enough for some lunch at the Porter Cafe. This is not an ad, but YUM. Very short list of menu items and a little pricey, but very very tasty. AND they had both Clown Shoes and Slumbrew on tap.


He got to meet Albee, the new foster puppy. Update: Albee is still cute.