April 09, 2024

Morry Gash / AP

Both the Women’s and Men’s NCAA Basketball Championships concluded this week and the winners crowned.  South Carolina beat Iowa (87-75) on Sunday to win its third NCAA women’s championship.  Iowa beat South Carolina in last year’s semi-final game but the Gamecocks dominated this year (38-0), including the final with Iowa.  UConn took back-to-back tournament titles defeating Purdue (75-60) on Monday to give its men’s basketball program their sixth national championship, a feat accomplished by only two other schools (Kentucky and UCLA).  UConn’s win meant they were the first team since Florida (2006-07) to repeat as national champions.  The Huskies tournament run included six double-digit wins.  Two of the brightest stars played for the losing teams.  Purdue’s Zach Edey was the Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus National Player of the Year in 2023 before losing in the first round last year and repeated as Big Ten Player of the Year in 2024.  Edey’s 31 points Monday gave him 171 points in tournament play this year, for the third-best single tournament points of all time, behind Princeton’s Bill Bradley in 1965 (177 points) and Michigan’s Glen Rice in 1989 (184).   Iowa’s Caitlin Clark led the Hawkeyes to back-to-back finals (lost both), broke the Division I scoring record for both women and men, won all major national player of the year awards for 2024, and had 30 points in her final game.  Both are expected to be the No. 1 pick in their respective drafts and are in conversations around whether they are the G.O.A.T.

When I looked online, I found the term G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time), or GOAT, refers to someone at the top of their field.  The acronym is used to praise exceptional athletes but may refer to musicians and public figures.  The term is attributed the boxer Muhammad Ali who called himself “The Greatest”.  Ali’s wife, Lonnie Ali, incorporated a company called “G.O.A.T. Inc” in 1992 that held all assets related to her husband’s image.  This was the first notable instance of GOAT used to refer to “greatest of all time”.  The term gained wider popularity in 2000 with the release of the LL Cool J’s studio album “G.O.A.T.”, which went platinum and reached #1 in the US, solidifying the place of the term in pop culture.  Other examples of athletes referred to as the G.O.A.T. of their sports include Tom Brady (American Football), Serena Williams (Tennis), Michael Phelps (Swimming), and Tiger Woods (Golf).  The two features of any GOAT are to be at the top of and dominate their game and to win championships.

While Clark and Edey dominated their sport the last two years, neither won a Championship.  That can be said of other GREAT basketball players who have dominated the league with their skill and leadership but never won an NBA championship.  I cheered as John Stockton and Karl Malone went to the finals in 1996-97 and 1997-98, losing both series to Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.  Stockton started for the Jazz for 16 years until he retired at 41 years old and still holds career steals (3,265) and assist records (15,806).  Jason Kidd is second behind Stockton in assists with 3,705.  Malone is considered one of the Top 3 power forwards in NBA history.  During his 19-year career he averaged 25.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists, career marks that can only be equaled by two other players (Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain).  Malone’s 36,928 career points rank second all-time while his 14,968 career rebounds rank seventh.  Neither is in the conversation for the G.O.A.T.

THOUGHTS:  The problem when ranking the G.O.A.T. is that there can be only one (per field) so to be one is rare.  That is why most ranking lists prefer to speak in terms of Top 10 and may even hedge and dispute their own rankings.  The rest of us can still excel and strive to be the B.T.W.C. (Best That We Can).  Frankly, that is the same goal of those we now consider the G.O.A.T.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

April 08, 2024

I have got to jump on the hype for the eclipse that passed through Arkansas this afternoon.  Areas in totality have been preparing for this event for a year, and hype ramped up over the last weeks as several million people are predicted to visit the state over the weekend.  I beat the rush in preparing for today’s eclipse.  We were part of the partial eclipse in Kansas during 2017.  I purchased a pair of eclipse glasses for that event and saved them as a memento.  I kept these on my office desks as a memento.  Several weeks before today’s event I bought another pair of glasses (US$1) so Melissa and I could watch the eclipse together.  We purchased sandwiches and were ready to sit on the back patio and watch the sun go away.  Melissa called me outside about an hour before the scheduled time and I reached for my glasses.  They were not there.  My desk is always filled with piles of paper, so I thought they were just covered.  I moved everything on my desk and searched the surroundings several times.  They were not there.  I reluctantly went outside to watch without my pair of glasses.  Luckily, I had bought Melissa another pair.  They were the only ones we had.   

When I looked online, I found today’s total solar eclipse will be visible to 32 million people in its path of totality.  A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun and obscures the image of the Sun on Earth.  A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight and essentially turning the day into darkness.  Totality only occurs in a narrow path across Earth’s surface, while the partial solar eclipse is visible over thousands of miles (km).  Today’s eclipse occurs one day after the Moon’s nearest point (perigee) of orbit around the Earth (April 7, 2024), making the Moon’s diameter appear 5.5% larger than average.  The magnitude of an eclipse is a fraction of the angular diameter of a celestial body being eclipsed and applies to all celestial eclipses.  The magnitude of a total solar eclipse is always greater than or equal to 1.0 and has a theoretical maximum value of around 1.12.  With a magnitude of 1.0566, today’s eclipse’s longest duration of totality will be of 4 minutes and 28.13 seconds about 4 miles (6 km) north of Nazas, Durango, Mexico.  It will take 1 hour and 8 minutes for the Moon’s shadow to traverse the US from Texas to Maine, crossing parts of 15 states.

A lot of the hype surrounding the eclipse focused on what effect this would have on animals.  My birder sites suggested I observe bird behavior and report back.  The main effect seemed to be confusion about the time of day.  As the eclipse began swarms of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) took to the air and as totality approached roosted in the nearby trees.  A pair of Eurasian collared doves (Streptopelia decaocto) roosted in a nearby tree and proceeded to mate.  The Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) returned to their birdhouse nest on our deck.  The other passerine birds that had been at the feeders earlier had vanished, presumably roosting as well.  The only apparent effect on Zena and Loki was from the sandwiches that sparked their interest.  This seemed to be a bigger event for humans (and Melissa and me) than for any of the fauna we observed. 

THOUGHTS:  Tok Thompson, professor of anthropology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, says the impulse to treat the eclipse as a special occasion goes beyond its rarity and is grounded in the profound meaning humans ascribe to the sun and the moon.  The 2017 eclipse in the US was the first in 99 years and for some a herald of declining American power after 99 years of ascendancy.  The April 8 eclipse inspired civic predictions, conspiracy theories, and prophetic forecasts.  Thompson believes drawing meaning from an eclipse stem from our human desire to understand our place in the cosmos.  While this is a valid question, the eclipse’s answers may be closer to Zena wanting part of my sandwich.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

April 03, 2024

I mentioned how I had purchased 6 scoops of compost on Monday.  I loaded four scoops (2 yards³ or 1.5 m³) on the trailer and a mere 5 hours later had three of the four raised beds filled to about 7 inches (17-3/4 cm) and the fourth to about 1 foot (30.5 cm) from the top.  The big storm we were promised (threatened) never arrived but I had watered the compost down to try and help it settle.  I picked up the last two scoops (1 yard³ or .75 m³) on Tuesday and was able to finish most of the fourth bed.  By that time, I was exhausted and decided to call it a day.  I was revived today and determined to get the base for my three sisters (corn, beans, squash) beds on the ground.  That meant I had to clear the weeds out of the long patio bed and fill it with about 5 inches (12.7 cm) of compost.  The kids had a great time while I was weeding.  I was down on my knees and both dogs decided they needed to sniff my face to see what I was up to.  Loki was also interested in the weeds and roots I was removing and started a pile of the “best pieces” off to the side.  I put fencing around the bed to deter Loki from digging, but Loki was not deterred.  Instead decided to lick the wet compost.  All I could think of was the odor of the mixture.

When I looked online, I found an odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are found in low concentrations that humans and many animals can perceive via their sense of smell.  An odor is also called a “smell” or a “scent” and can refer to both a pleasant and unpleasant odor.  The compost odor was unpleasant, which makes sense as it is composed of plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure.  The perception of an odor, or sense of smell, is mediated by the olfactory nerve.  The olfactory receptor cells are neurons present in the olfactory epithelium, which is a small patch of tissue at the back of the nasal cavity.  There are millions of olfactory receptor neurons that act as sensory signaling cells and each neuron has cilia in direct contact with the air.  The odor is sensed by odorous molecules which bind to receptor proteins extending from cilia and act as a chemical stimulus, initiating electric signals that travel along the olfactory nerve’s axons to the brain.

After I finished building the base for the sister beds, I had enough compost to complete the last tall, raised bed.  After I finished, I fed the dogs and decided they could use some play time.  While I was petting Zena, Loki pushed in to get attention.  He jumped up on my chair (as usual) and tried to lick my face.  That was when I noticed the horrendous odor coming from his mouth.  Loki had been busy licking the compost and now his breath had the same smell.  I mentioned this to Melissa, and she let my know that while I may not have gotten sweaty working with the compost today, I had gotten remnants of the mixture all over my clothes and face.  That was a polite way of saying I also retained the manure smell of the compost.  I took a shower and changed clothes and when I came out, I mentioned that I now had a different odor, one of soap and deodorant.  Melissa preferred the new odor over the last one.  I need to get the container soil down to keep Loki from licking the compost.

THOUGHTS:  Humans are good at detecting odor considering they only have 350 olfactory receptor genes compared to 1,300 in mice.  The human sense of smell can distinguish around one trillion unique aromas.  Acceptable body odor is often dictated by cultural norms and can refer to personal hygiene or maintaining the body’s cleanliness.  Levels of acceptable odor can also vary given available cleansing resources and participation in active activities.  The World Health Organization recommends washing hands for 20 seconds (ABC’s x 2?) before or after using the toilet, changing diapers, feeding a child, eating, and or preparing food.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

April 01, 2024

I finished getting the bottom layers into my raised Hügelkultur beds on Saturday.  This took a lot more wood and limbs than I expected, but part of my madness came from knowing I needed to prune the two trees in my front yard regardless.  When I checked pruning techniques for the large Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana) and Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum), it was advised not to top the trees (as most do in my neighborhood) and instead to shape them and cut away the dead branches.  After pruning on the limbs and branches for two weeks I was able to fill the beds about half full, along with a large pile of smaller branches laid on the curb for city pickup.  I got compliments for how I shaped my trees so I must have done it right.  After the long days spent pruning and breaking the limbs and branches down to size I decided to take Easter Sunday as a day of rest.  That meant I got up early today and set about the task of getting the compost which fills the next layer of the four beds.  

When I looked online, I found compost is a mixture of ingredients used to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil.  This is often prepared by mixing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure.  The result is rich in plant nutrients and organisms that are beneficial, like bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and fungi.   Compost improves soil fertility and reduces dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers.  The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases.  At the simplest level, compost requires a mix of “greens” (green waste) and “browns” (brown waste).  Greens are rich in nitrogen (leaves, grass, and food scraps) and browns are rich in carbon (stalks, paper, and wood chips) which break down over a period of months.  Earthworms and other detritivores further help with decomposition.  Aerobic bacteria and fungi help the chemical process by converting the materials into heat, carbon dioxide, and ammonium ions.

Since I have four large, raised beds, I required a lot of compost.  The hardware store sold compost in 2 cubic foot bags (40 pounds/18 kg), but I opted for bulk compost from a local lumber yard by the “scoop” (1/2 yard³/.38 m³).  A friend lent me his trailer and I bought a large tarp to cover the bottom and sides.  I was careful as I pulled out of his yard since I was not used to towing a trailer.  I had not gone more than a 1/2 mile (800 m) when a student pulled out of the college at a red light and nearly rammed the front of my Jeep.  I slammed on the horn and brakes simultaneously and came to a stop.  They backed up and I was on my way to the lumberyard.  I bought 6 scoops of compost but could only get four safely on the trailer.  I got a raincheck on the other two, covered the load to keep it from blowing away on the highway, and then headed for home.  Now if I can get the compost down before the rain tonight it will settle and let me know how much more I need.

THOUGHTS:  I have tried making compost several times with past gardens and have once again purchased a bin for compost that will go into my large, raised bed this year.  I have never had much luck and could not seem to generate enough green waste.  This year Melissa and I are both conscious about what goes into the trash, what goes down the disposal, and what goes into the compost bin, and I have been surprised at how much green waste we generate.  I obviously was not paying attention in my previous attempts.  Managing waste and determining its disposal is critical to conserving our planet.  Trash, recycle, or reuse is a decision that needs to guide the disposition of everything we no longer want or need.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 28, 2024

One of the scrolling feeds on my Edge browser highlighted the return of a wild horse found only in Mongolia.  The horses are known to Mongolians as “takhi” and are the only equine breed to have never been domesticated.  The Guardian reports while they were hunted to extinction in the 1960’s, there are now 1,000 horses spread over three sites in Mongolia, with more in China and Kazakhstan.  The reintroduction started during the early 1970’s with gene-mapping of the last surviving animals in captivity to find the strongest and most genetically diverse individuals.  Dashpurev Tserendeleg, who runs Hustai National Park, said the successful reintroduction and the horse’s twice-downgraded risk status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature were a huge achievement.  “Horses are central to our culture.  Everyone is glad to have them back.”  Tserendeleg said. “Nobody believed we could save this species.”  Outside of Mongolia the horses are called Przewalski’s horse.

When I looked online, I found the Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii or Equus przewalskii), also called the takhi, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of Central Asia.  It is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky.  The Przewalski’s horse is stockily built, smaller, and shorter than domestic horses, with a height of 12–14 hands (48–56 inches, 122–142 cm), and weight around 660 pounds (300 kg).  They have a dun coat with pale hair around the eyes, muzzle, and underside of the body (pangaré features).  The breed was extinct in the wild but was reintroduced in the 1990’s to its native habitat in Mongolia, as well as several other locales in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.  Several genetic characteristics of Przewalski’s horse differ from what is seen in modern domestic horses indicating neither is an ancestor of the other.  The Przewalski has 33 pairs of chromosomes compared to 32 for the domestic horse.  Their lineages split from a common ancestor between 160,000 and 38,000 years ago, long before the domestication of the horse.  Przewalski’s horse was long considered the only remaining truly wild horse, as the American mustang and the Australian brumby are feral horses descended from domestic stock.  Some taxonomists treat Przewalski’s horse as a species (Equine przewalskii), others as a subspecies of wild horse (Equine ferus przewalskii), or a variety of the domesticated horse (Equine caballus). 

Hustai National Park has rebounding populations of marmots, deer, and gazelles, but this success contrasts with the rest of the country.  Hunting for survival, booming cattle populations overgrazing vital grasslands, and the Earth’s rising temperature all contribute to the crisis.  The Mongolian government launched initiatives to help with conservation and in 1998 pledged to protect 30% of its territory by 2030.  Last year the president launched a drive to plant 1 billion trees by the same date, although these are struggling with a lack of funding.  The principles of success rely on long-term international partnerships, decades of scientific research, and rangers who collect data and evict livestock.   Przewalski’s horse’s reintroduction is a worldwide example of how to save a large mammal.  Efforts are well underway globally to bring back other species like wild bison, the red wolf, and others.  Conservationists hope the park can serve as a model for other areas.

THOUGHTS:  One difficulty of reintroducing species into the wild is obtaining enough viable individuals.  Early attempts by individual zoos resulted in inbreeding and reduced fertility until several American zoos began a collaborative breeding-exchange program.  Advances in equine reproductive science have also been used to preserve and expand the gene pool, including a successful reversal of a vasectomy (2007), artificial insemination (2013), and cloning (2020), increasing the genetic variation of the species.  Sustaining the earth’s ecosystems requires tradeoffs.  We need to make the right ones.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 26, 2024

This was another tough year for the amateur (or even professional) prognosticators for NCAA Men’s Basketball.  Once more there was a record number of brackets filled out (22,114,630 brackets).  Once more all the perfect brackets have been busted after the first weekend.  The two largest predictions that failed were #6 BYU’s loss to #11 Duquesne (57–71) which broke 9,352,798 brackets and #8 Mississippi State’s loss to #9 Michigan State (51–69) which broke 9,298,147 brackets.  I my favor, I predicted both games correctly.  The two biggest upsets were #3 Kentucky losing to #14 Oakland (76–80) and #4 Auburn losing to #13 Yale (76–78).  I got both games wrong.  There were also two classic #5 to #12 losses, as Wisconsin lost to James Madison (61–72) and Saint Mary’s lost to Grand Canyon (66–75).  I failed to pick either of the upsets and the Cinderella teams both lost in the second round.  The other scare came in the second round as #9 Texas A&M took #1 Houston to overtime before bowing 95–100.  Most of the 48 games proved entertaining to watch.

When I looked online, I found the bigger news came out of the NCAA Women’s Basketball.  Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark became the NCAA’s Division-I all-time leading scorer in basketball passing Hall of Famer “Pistol” Pete Maravich in a win over the Ohio State Buckeyes on March 3rd.  Clark had already eclipsed the NCAA women’s record of 3,397 points set by Kelsey Plum at Washington (2013-17).  Former Kansas star Lynette Woodard held the women’s major college basketball record (i.e., prior to NCAA) with 3,649 points (1978-81).  Clark entered the final regular season game needing 18 points to pass Maravich for the all-time mark of 3,667 points. She set the record with a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the first half and finished the game with 35 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds as No. 6 Iowa beat No. 2 Ohio State 93-83.  That gave Clark a career total of 3,685 points.  Tickets for a Clark game is one of the hottest commodities in sports.

I guess you could say the prognosticators were better this year than they were in 2023.  Last year there were 20,056,273 brackets filled and all had fallen by the second night of the first round.  At least the extra 2 million brackets filled in 2024 kept the predictors in the mix until the second round.  On the women’s side the predictors did only slightly better.  Of the 3,250,647 brackets filled all but 11 had fallen going into the final day of round 2.  The second round saw the prognosticators continue to struggle and entering the Women’s Sweet 16 there are only three perfect brackets remaining.  No one has ever predicted a perfect bracket (men’s or women’s) , but Gregg Nigl from Columbus, Ohio, has the verified bracket closest to perfection in 2019.  Nigl correctly guessed the first 49 games of the men’s tournament until #3 ranked Purdue defeated #2 Tennessee in the Sweet 16.  The NCAA said the odds of a perfect 63-game bracket are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (approximately 1 in 9.2 quintillion).

THOUGHTS:  I have found the progression over the last years interesting on how ESPN handles both basketball tournament brackets.  Two years ago, the Women’s programs made a push to be included under the umbrella of March Madness and that happened last year.  After no perfect brackets again last year (or ever), this year ESPN introduced the 2nd Shot Bracket for both men and women that allows starts over beginning with the Sweet 16 tournament games (32 teams) with the possibility of a greatly reduced cash prize.  I filled out five more brackets but will probably not get any closer than I did with the 10 original brackets I completed.  I have learned that reality is not being pessimistic.  It is good to see the rise of women’s sports as we strive for parity.  Sports (amateur, college, pro) may be driven by money and advertising dollars, but it is the “love of the game” that still inspires young participants.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 25, 2024

Michigan Shipwreck Research Association

On the back of today’s local newspaper was a USA Today article on the number of shipwrecks found in Lake Michigan last year.  There are usually two or three shipwrecks found a year, and the record was four in 2016.  The Wisconsin Historical Society said 13 new shipwrecks were discovered in Lake Superior last year.  Tamara Thomsen, maritime archeologist, said the discoveries were a blend of sand movement and awareness of who to contact.  Water levels in the Great lakes fluctuate from year to year, and in lake Michigan the difference between record high and low water levels is more than 6 feet (1.8 m).  As water levels rise the sand bars drift towards land and when they fall, they move farther into the lake, covering and uncovering the shipwrecks.  There are 36 shipwrecks in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, which covers over 900 miles² (2,331 km²).  The title helps direct resources to facilitate scientific research, tourism, and education.    

When I looked online, I found the Great Lakes have provided transportation for the area’s inhabitants for 1000’s of years.  Vessels from canoes to car ferries and steamers to modern ore boats have sailed these “inland seas”, and unknown numbers remain settled in watery graves at the bottom of the lakes.    An estimated 6,000 vessels were lost on the Great Lakes with approximately 1,500 of these ships located in Michigan waters.  They range from shallow water to the deepest reaches of Michigan’s 38,000 square miles of the Great Lakes bottomlands.  Michigan’s history can be traced by the material records of its shipwrecks.  The shipwrecks are a wood and steel chronicle of the history of naval architecture on the lakes and pilings of thousands of abandoned docks tell of a time when transport by water was as important as by land.  The cold fresh water of the Great Lakes keeps wrecks exceptionally well preserved even after decades underwater.  Skin and scuba divers from across the US come to explore these preserved shipwrecks. 

Lake Michigan is home to countless shipwrecks, and most of them will never be seen by people up close, let alone explored.  There are a few that met their watery graves not too far from the shoreline, and that means you do not need fancy equipment to see some of the state’s water-bound history up close.  An online article in today’s Fox 17 News suggested the shores of Lake Michigan could be an alternative to those of the Florida Coast for Spring Break enthusiasts.  The article highlighted 6 easy to find and explore shipwrecks and provided a nautical map of dozens more.  Not all shipwrecks in Lake Michigan are easy to see, including the steam barge Milwaukee.  The shipwreck’s location was a mystery until The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) found it last summer over 300 feet (91 m) below the surface of Lake Michigan.  A robotic video of the dramatically intact ship is on Facebook – X (formerly Twitter) – Instagram – YouTube.  Enjoy!

THOUGHTS:  Special care must be taken to ensure the shipwrecks remain for generations to come. Protecting underwater cultural resources preserves them as an element of our history and for the enjoyment of generations to come.  Sport divers, dive clubs, and other dive related organizations requested the Michigan legislature to pass a law that preserves and protects these resources.  Part 761, Aboriginal Records and Antiquities, 1994 PA 451 as amended, is administered jointly by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Department of State.  This law “authorizes preserving abandoned property (shipwrecks, etc.) on the bottomlands of the Great Lakes, designating underwater preserves, issuing salvage permits when appropriate, and for fines and penalties for illegally removing, altering, or destroying artifacts.”  The law does not restrict searching for, diving on, or photographing shipwrecks.  To paraphrase on adage, “Take only photographs, leave only air bubbles.”  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 21, 2024

It is appropriate that on the first day of spring I managed to push ahead with the planting for my container garden.  When I first read the article on January planting, I was skeptical.  That meant I was 10 to 12 weeks prior to the last frost (April 15 for zone 7).  I started planning and managed to get in my 8 to 10 weeks inside seedlings.  Several weeks later I replanted both the red onions and artichokes because they never took, along with (mostly) tomatoes in for the 6 week seedlings.  I was under the weather when the 4 week seedlings needed to be planted, but as of today I am caught up.  That means I now have 20 seedling plants in three inch pots, 40 new seedling sets under my grow lights, and 10 to 15 others in stages between, all sharing space among Melissa’s succulents on the glass porch.  Sadly, most “others” are the red onion seedlings.  I can get them to sprout, but they do not seem to get far beyond that stage.  I planted five bunch onions as part of today’s forty (I still hope for onions).  The remainder of my seed should be planted directly into the ground after the last frost date.  I will probably plant more onions directly in the ground and try some onion sets as well.  I may not have a green thumb for onions, but I am persistent.

When I looked online, I found both green thumb and green fingers have been common expressions in England and the US for well over a century.  The Oxford English Dictionary cites the use of green fingers as early as 1906 in the novel The Misses Make-Believe by Mary Stuart Boyd.  Green thumb can be pinpointed to a 1937 Ironwood Daily Globe newspaper article, which described the phrase as “horticultural slang.”  Some believe the origin comes from the result of handling potted plants, which can often have green algae on the underside that coats hands.  Others point to a (likely apocryphal) story about King Edward I and his love of green peas.  The peas were shelled by his servant workers, and one would be honored for doing the most work and having the greenest thumb.  Plants contain chlorophyll, and the green pigment can discolor your hands.  However the phrase was cultivated, it caught on in the 1940’s when wartime Britain enjoyed a popular gardening radio show titled, In Your Garden, hosted by C.H. Middleton that made use of both green thumb and green fingers. 

Most of the online gardening sites tout their ability to transform you from a beginner into someone with a green thumb.  Most will also tell what products you need to buy (often from them) to ensure a bountiful crop.  I cannot fault these sites, because they are the ones I have been pouring over for the last two years to enhance my own container garden.  This has taken me from 5-gallon paint buckets purchased from the hardware store (or lying out back the shed), to grow bags designed to provide self-pruning roots systems, to the metal raised beds employing Hügelkultur that are being prepped in my yard this spring.  Each experience has given me insight into the complexities of gardening.  A green thumb now refers to someone who can seemingly effortlessly grow a wide variety of plants.  This also implies extensive knowledge and experience, and proof can be found in the beds and gardens produced.  I would say I have yet to reach green thumb status.    

THOUGHTS:  Melissa’s mom was known for her green thumb before she became too il to take care of her garden.  The house still shows signs of the hook and chains she used for the hanging baskets to grace the underside of the eaves and the self-watering system is still functional in several areas.  Loki is trying his best to remove it for us.  I asked Melissa what made her mom good at growing things, and she responded she spent 3 to 4 hours a day in the yard.  That implied I could have a green thumb if I was willing to put in the work.  That was not the easy answer I was looking for.  Gardening is like any skill, the more time and effort you spend the better you get.  You do not get to be an expert by merely claiming you know what to do.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 20, 2024

On the back page of the front section of my local newspaper last week I found a USA Today article on a tiny fish that roars.  While being one of the smallest fish, it can produce sounds as loud as a jet engine, a new study says.  The species was only discovered three years ago and live in shallow streams in Myanmar.  They are no more than 12 millimeters long and have a “unique sound-generating” organ that can make noises of more than 140 decibels, an international research team said in a news release Tuesday.  The researchers used high-speed video recordings, microcomputed tomography, and gene expression analysis to show that males of the species have a “special sound-generating apparatus” that includes a drumming cartilage, a specialized rib, and a fatigue-resistant muscle.  To make noise, the fish hits the drumming cartilage against its swim bladder (gas-filled cavity used to control buoyancy) to produce a rapid pulse in high and low frequencies.  The study’s author Ralf Britz, an ichthyologist at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden, Germany, said, “We assume that the competition between the males in this visually restrictive environment contributed to the development of the special mechanism for acoustic communication.”  According to the study, Danionella cerebrum is the only fish using repeated unilateral muscle contractions for sound production.

When I looked online, I found Danionella cerebrum is a cyprinid (carps and minnows) fish species first reported in 2021 from low altitude streams on the southern and eastern slopes of the Bago Yoma Mountain range in Myanmar.  It was erroneously identified as Danionella translucida due to the close resemblance and similar geographical distribution of the two species.  Adult fish of the species measure only 1/2 inch (10 to 13.5 mm) in size and have a brain volume of just 0.6 mm3, the smallest known adult vertebrate brain.  Because of its miniature size, wide behavioral repertoire, and optical translucency that persists into adulthood, the cerebrum holds great promise for non-invasive whole-brain imaging analyses with single cell resolution in an adult vertebrate.  This is beginning to emerge as a novel important model system in current neuroscience research.

Although large animals are generally more capable of making louder noises than small animals, certain small species can be unexpectedly noisy.  The three species of Elephant (African bush, Loxodonta Africana; African forest, Loxodonta cyclotis; and Asian, Elephas maximus), can produce noise of up to 125 decibels with their trunks, but the tiny snapping shrimp (family, Alpheidae) uses its claws to generate a popping sound of up to 250 decibels.  Other small animals capable of loud noises are the flightless kakapo (Strigops habroptila), whose mating calls can reach 130 decibels, and the male plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus), which can attract females with an “audible vibrato” of about 100 hertz and 130 decibels.  Fish are generally considered to be relatively quiet members of the animal kingdom.  Danionella cerebrum is the exception to the rule.

THOUGHTS:  Danionella cerebrum makes noise to help them find each other.  As a boy I was always told I had to be quiet when I was fishing, or I would scare the fish away.  I was skeptical but would move several yards down the shore from the adult I was fishing with if I wanted to make noise.  It turns out fish do hear sounds underwater, but depending on what those sounds are can be either attracted or scared off by the noise.  Case in point are the many poppers and rattlers that prove deadly attracting and enticing fish to bite.  While above surface conversation may seem to travel, especially at night, they do not disseminate well below the surface.  I still try and be quiet even as an adult.  Part of fishing is the solitude.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 18, 2024

Yesterday’s NY Times newsfeed ran an article about a pet named Albert that had been removed from his owner’s home.  The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) removed Albert on Wednesday after it determined that he was being kept there illegally.  The department said the pet owner had built an addition to his house where Albert lived in an in-ground swimming pool.  The agency said the owner had allowed people, including children, to be in the pool with Albert, who is blind in both eyes and has spinal injuries.  Albert was 11 feet (3.4 m) long, 750 pounds (340 kg) and 34 years old.  Until this week, Albert had lived in the pool house in Hamburg, NY, about 13 miles south of Buffalo.  According to the department, it is illegal to own an alligator in New York unless you have a license, and those licenses are for “scientific, educational, exhibition, zoological, or propagation purposes”.  The alligator’s name was Albert Edward.

When I looked online, I found an alligator, or a gator, is a large reptile in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae of the order Crocodilia.  The only two extant species are the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) and the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis), although several extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains.  Alligators first appeared during the Oligocene epoch about 37 million years ago.  The name “alligator” is likely an anglicized form of the Spanish term for “the lizard” (el lagarto) which early Spanish explorers in Florida called the alligator.  An average adult American alligator’s weight is 790 pounds (360 kg) and length is 13 feet (4 m), but they sometimes grow to 14 feet (4.4 m) and weigh over 990 pounds (450 kg).  The largest alligator ever recorded was found in Louisiana and measured 19.2 feet (5.84 m).  The Chinese alligator is smaller, rarely exceeding 7 feet (2.1 m) and males rarely weigh over 100 pounds (45 kg).  The average lifespan for an alligator has never been measured, but one of the oldest recorded alligators was Saturn, who was hatched in 1936 in Mississippi and spent a decade in Germany before being transferred to the Moscow Zoo.  Saturn died at the age of 84 on 22 May 2020. 

The DEC said Albert’s owner, Tony Cavallaro, had a license for the alligator that expired in 2021.  Cavallaro said that while visitors to his home did sometimes take pictures with Albert, they never swam with him or rode him.  “I did everything by the book the whole time,” Cavallaro said. “They changed the rules, and I should be grandfathered in.”  The DEC adopted new regulations for owning alligators and other dangerous animals in 2020 and informed Cavallaro of the changes and required updates to the alligator’s enclosure.  Cavallaro said that he would have had to spend $15,000 for a fence around his yard and even more for zoo insurance when Albert was already covered by his personal insurance.  Cavallaro sent paperwork to the department, but the agency said it was not sufficient.  The 750-pound alligator was taken to a licensed caretaker until he could be transported to a permanent facility.  Cavallaro filed a petition to bring Albert home which has drawn more than 100,000 signatures.  The petition claimed the DEC “brought at least 20 or more agents to my house in full body armor and guns treating me like a criminal.”  “He was scared,” Cavallaro said.

THOUGHTS:  Cavallaro is a reptile enthusiast and bought the newborn alligator at a reptile show in 1990.  At one point he owned over 100 reptiles, but caring for them became too much work and he gave up the last of his snakes 16 years ago.  Since then, it has just been him and Albert, until now.  I think it may not be Albert who is scared.  While Cavallaro’s love for an alligator may not be the norm, the DEC’s reaction of changing the rules and enforcing compliance is.  Acting different should not be treated as aberrant.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.