Pollenatrix

He speaks

I'm still on the road and internet access is a bit spotty, so here's a little something to amuse you until I get another chance to post:

"Einstein the Parrot"

It's amazing. Really.

Pesticide-free playthings

For those interested in a little botanical discipline, the Veg Sex Shop is now open for business online, offering "sexy vegan gear and organic adult products".

"VSS was schemed up alongside Veg Porn, the first and only adult site that features only vegan and vegetarian models."

And another first: A porn site that renounces flesh.

Heh.

Yes, please fret...

Today's Washington Post article, "The Greening of Evangelicals" (subscription required) opens an intriguing window on the world of American conservative Christians and their attitudes toward environmental issues.

"Evangelicals feel besieged by the culture at large," Ball said. "They don't know many environmentalists, but they have the idea they are pretty weird -- with strange liberal, pantheist views."

Without betraying a hint of irony, the author continues to describe some of the unusual belief systems at work behind this perspective:

"... the return of Jesus and the end of the world are near, so it is pointless to fret about environmental degradation.

James G. Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first interior secretary, famously made this argument before Congress in 1981, saying: "God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

Haggard, the leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, concedes that this thinking "is a problem that I do have to address regularly in talking to the common man on the street."

The application of common sense by people like Haggard seems to be unravelling the extremists and pushing this viewpoint more and more into the fringes of that community. The article suggests that despite their extreme wariness of "environmentalists", American conservative Christians are becoming more informed about environmental issues, and more concerned.

The signs of independant thinking among a community that has until now appeared easily manipulated by government and corporate spin is encouraging. It would be good news indeed if they were to shake off their passivity and fret a little.

Who you calling stoopid?

Feathered friends no bird brains:

"Many people have outdated notions of what bird brains are like - but there are lots of smart birds who do amazing things it would be difficult to get mammals such as rats or dogs to carry out."

Big bee problem

Tiny mites are giving beekeepers and farmers a BIG headache:

In their years in North America, the eight-legged pests have devastated wild bee colonies and radically altered beekeeping. The pinhead-sized mite — the Varroa destructor — feeds on honeybees and their larvae. In some areas, they've destroyed as many as 60 percent of the hives.

Reproducing quickly and in a closed environment, the mites have developed a resistance to pesticides — a trait they've been able to spread to their progeny faster than scientist have been able to develop new compounds to fight them off.

Happy Groundhog Day

Ever wonder how the crazy tradition came about of groundhogs and their shadows foretelling spring? Well, here's a neat backstory from the Pennsylvania Deutsch point of view.

Don't mess with da mushrooms

Get this -- plants can be downright violent:

"A number of different scenarios may unfold when two fungal mycelia meet. If the two fungi are of the same species, they might mate. If they have already mated, then they often reach a kind of compromise, and a stand-off ensues, with neither advancing into the other's territory. If fungi of different species meet - and in British woods there are hundreds of different species - battle commences with one eventually gaining the upper hand and advancing into the opponent's territory. Sometimes there will be stalemate if both are equally adept fighters."

We're talking about mushrooms here, people.

First Nations people protect their secrets

From The Tyee:

Who Owns the Healing Secrets of Plants?

As the Haida know, the rainforest can yield cures for sickness. But sharing such knowledge may create other ills.