anthropometaphors

More nature photography awards!

This time the competition is owned jointly by Bird Watching magazine and Warehouse Express.  Awards were given to photographs in the following  8 categories: Birds in Britain, Birds of the World, Birds in Flight, Bird Behaviour, Birds in the Landscape, Amateur & Amateur Digiscoping, 18s & Under (New), and Best Portfolio.

Below are my two favorites:

Whooper swan by Mart Smit, Netherlands (Overall Winner)

Black Woodpecker by Marcus Varesvuo, Finland (Winner of the Birds in Flight category)

I like a good challenge.  Or maybe I like the idea of liking a good challenge.  In any case, I saw  a challenge and was inspired — a couple swore off buying new products for a year (with some minor exceptions).  Their lessons learned are:

1. Buying is a habit; giving up the habit buys time.
2. I can live with what I have.
3. Buying used doesn’t necessarily mean saving money.

Here’s the full article, from The Dallas Morning News:

Consumer dropouts swear off new products for a year

Could you give up buying new products for a year? A couple shares lessons learned the first year that they tried it, why they took a break last year and the challenges that they have set for this year.

By Nancy Visser

The first time my husband and I pledged to buy nothing new for a whole year, in 2007, we were trying to be green and to reject consumer gluttony. We figured we could rough it if we had to.

Turns out, it was fairly painless.

When you have 30 sweaters, it doesn’t hurt to skip winter clearance sales. When you have five pairs of black sandals, you don’t really have to replace one if a strap breaks. If the lawn chair collapses, you can get another out of the garage. Chip a vase? Who doesn’t have a dozen more in a cabinet?

But I never expected it would go this far: I was all set to buy a new car, a Scion XD, and settled for a used Subaru Outback instead. I hated the Subaru at first, but a tuneup gave it a lot more pep. Now, it suits my needs: It’s roomy enough to haul my 5-year-old son, Drew, his friends and their Big Wheels.

The biggest challenge for my husband, Guy, was finding men’s pants after he lost 25 pounds. You can find nearly new men’s shirts at thrift shops, but the pants typically are not in good condition. He just cinched his belt tighter until I convinced him that he looked like a bum and needed to break the pledge. So he bought new work pants and a pair of jeans.

Now, two years later, Guy and I are renewing the no-new pledge with an added recession-inspired motive: We want to save money, and we plan to track our savings.

So, in 2009, we will buy nothing new except food, toiletries and home-improvement items.

Consumer Zen

While the results of the 2007 pledge weren’t dramatic, the pledge changed some of our habits and helped define our values. It certainly made us mindful of purchases.

We found we didn’t need much, and that what we did need could be bought from thrift shops, vintage stores, consignment shops and Craigslist. We bought beautiful furniture including an armoire and a dining room table with six chairs. We bought books from Half-Price Books for kids’ birthday gifts. And we made do with what we had, somehow getting by without granite countertops and flat-screen televisions.

This is what we learned:

1. Buying is a habit; giving up the habit buys time.

Guy was the first one to blow the 2007 pledge. In fact, he blew it the first morning. He went to Albertson’s to get groceries and bought clearance Christmas lights for a dollar or two. He was stunned when I pointed out the violation. It was an early lesson on how easy it is to buy without thinking.

I had to stop reading Target ads for a year, and it hurt. The ad was the first thing I turned to in the Sunday paper, and if it lured me to the store, I hunted for things I didn’t know I needed: a colander, picture frames, T-shirts, socks, storage bins, bird feeders, extra light bulbs, a paperback book and clearance items.

But when you swear off buying new stuff, you gain time. You can read the front page of the newspaper first, and you can go to the park instead of to the store. It may sound hokey, but I gained peace.

2. I can live with what I have.

Our first no-new pledge took place when the housing market was in good shape. It seemed that everyone was upgrading something in their houses to help boost resale values. I felt great pressure to get new kitchen countertops.

After the pledge kicked in, I didn’t give the countertops a second thought. I quit worrying about window treatments and new carpet and bathroom redos. And I discovered that I feel pretty comfortable most of the time in my worn, 25-year-old house.

3. Buying used doesn’t necessarily mean saving money.

You can buy estate jewelry and used Porsches. Antiques shops in the Design District offer pricey used furniture. And you can spend hundreds of dollars on consignment clothing.

On the bright side, you don’t have to break the pledge to make nice purchases.

Take the pledge

Taking a no-new pledge is a lot like going on a diet. It works best if you build in flexibility. Clarify objectives and establish a few exceptions to help it work.

Our exceptions:

Food.

Toiletries. We may have enough to last a year since I’ve been buying Walgreens rebate items for years and we have a stockpile of hair products, shaving cream, razors, lotion, etc. And now, CVS has an even better instant-rebate program. The other day, Guy complained about our large stash of deodorant. But, honestly, when does he expect to quit using that particular product?

Home-improvement and home-maintenance products. There’s probably a way to salvage air-conditioner filters, but I’m not going to do it. And I need new tile in the entry hall. (Used tile isn’t an option.)

Free stuff.

If I can get it free with a rebate, I’m going to buy it. Sorry, but I can’t help myself.

School uniforms. We have a kindergartner. I’m not sure I can find used kindergarten attire in good condition.

Special shopping sprees. This year, we’ll try not to do this, but in 2007 I gave myself one day during our summer vacation to shop for clothes at resort boutiques. It was a treat. I also went to Kohl’s on the Friday after Thanksgiving (my first time doing Black Friday shopping) to buy bedding. (No used bedding for us!) I was amazed at the prices.

And this time around, we’re going to experiment with other challenges, just to be a little more hard-core.

• We will spend no more than $100 on food in January by consuming what’s in the freezer and pantry. We’ll start out OK since Grandma Reynolds sent us a fabulous Christmas gift from Omaha Steaks, but we’ll probably be sick of Tuna Helper and Progresso soups by the end of the month.

• We’ll pick a month to see whether each of us can get by on one tank of gasoline.

• Spring festival season will be a good time for free entertainment.

• We’ll see how long we can go without using air conditioning.

• We can make up other challenges along the way. And why not? We’ll have plenty of time since we won’t be shopping.

My confession

We didn’t stick to the no-new pledge this past year because I didn’t want to, even though Guy did.

For a good bit of 2008, the frugal habits of 2007 stayed with us. In fact, Guy came home on Earth Day with a used dog (a too-intense pound puppy that he’d recycle if he could).

But toward the end of the year, I began to covet new stuff. Plus, the sales were supposed to be so good during the holidays that I had to shop.

I bought a purse, some sweaters and socks for everyone. And, just before the year was up, I used a gift card to order flip-flops from L.L. Bean for Drew. (No used flip-flops!)

And now, we’re into our 2009 no-new pledge.

May the recession end before we have to swear off used stuff, too.

Woo! Organic computing is still on the map!

Computer processors may soon have one fundamental aspect in common with their owners – a structure composed largely of carbon, rather than silicon.

Graphene, carbon arranged in atom-thick sheets, is already known to be an excellent conductor, but electronics requires the ability to insulate too, as well as electrical properties in between those two extremes.

Now research has shown that the material can be easily modified to act as an insulator, paving the way for efficient all-carbon electronics.

I hope to one day have a computer that is essentially a plant.  Or a lamp post that is also a tree.

The long and science-y version here.

A survey of alternatives to silicon-based computer components here.

If my mood over the past few days were an image, it would look like this guy:

To try to put it into words: What adjectives do you think of when you see this picture?

With all the talk of puppies lately, I’ve fallen behind in my tiger posts.  Thanks to the new Science blog, Origins, I have happy news for tigers and tiger conservation!

The regal Caspian tiger–thought to have gone extinct nearly 40 years ago–lives on in a closely related subspecies, a new genetic analysis reveals.

Conservationists say they can use these relatives to help reestablish the Caspian tiger in Central Asia, parts of which are no longer inhabited by people and have plenty of suitable prey.

Once among the most widespread animals in Asia, tigers are now gone from more than 90% of their habitat. Biologists broke the original population down into eight subspecies, based on looks and geography, from the relatively small and dark Indochinese tiger of southern continental Asia to the massive Siberian tiger of the Russian far east. In 2004, researchers for the first time applied DNA analysis to the tiger family tree and confirmed the existence of five extant subspecies.

Caspian tiger DNA was readily distinguishable from most other tigers’ DNA. But when the team compared the genome of the Caspian tiger with that of the Siberian, or Amur, tiger, only one letter of genetic code separated them. Thus, the two subspecies are really one, with the supposed Siberian tiger splitting off from the Caspian tiger in the past century.

The regal Caspian tiger (1960s above, 2009 below)

Ah, what a nice way to start the day :]

I lost my cell phone at the dog park over my winter stay-cation.  Too bad, so sad.  The phone was pretty crummy all around, except that it had my entire phone list inside.

As a replacement I got an iPhone.  I wonder how I ever survived without one!  It has a few flaws, sure.  But the functionality far outweighs any drawbacks, IMHO.  I have web access to my work email and calendar so I no longer have to lug around the work Treo.  I can browse Etsy while waiting in the pharmacy or find restaurants on Yelp while in the car (as a passenger, of course).

The most fun is with the camera!  The pictures are decent and can be emailed directly to flickr, which make taking snapshots loads of fun.  Gone are the days of transferring image files from camera to computer to flickr.  Here are a few live action shots (taken minutes ago) of Winslow hunting her cat stuffed animal:

Action shot: Winslow vs Linus

Linus, defeated

Laloo, a man with a conjoined twin attached at the thorax

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about the two-headed calf, I found a book recently published by Oxford University Press called Freaks of Nature. The book is purported to be a scientific review of physical anomalies and what they teach us about biological development and evolution. A selection of images taken from the book  — ike the one of Laloo shown above — can be found in the image gallery on the New Scientist website.

References can be found describing people born with physical abnormalities as monsters or — as in the title of the book — freaks. There is a difference between having an anomaly and being anomalous; despite one’s physical condition we are all human. Which reminds me of a poem from Shel Silverstein’s book, The Light in the Attic:

When You Turn Off The Light
Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We’re all the same size
When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We’re all worth the same
When we turn off the light.

Red, black or orange
Yellow or white,
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.

So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!

– Shel Silverstein

I’m sick with the rhinovirus, again.  My supervisor at work is ill with something similar;  by the sounds the two of us make our cubicle area could be mistaken for a tuberculosis ward.

The upside of being sick: staying home.

The downside of being sick: feeling crummy.

As misery loves company, I’m going to spread some non-viral (of the biological kind) crumminess:

Two-headed calf, euthanized by the SPCA

THE SPCA in King William’s Town had to put down a two-headed calf last week. The society said it was the first time such a case had been brought to them.

Dr Tony Garde said the day-old calf was taken to the State veterinarian’s office in Zwelitsha last week by Richard Niyabo, a stock farmer near Middledrift.

Garde then took the barely-conscious calf to the SPCA in King William’s Town to be put to sleep.

Spokesperson for the SPCA branch Annette Rademeyer said the calf was very weak on its arrival.

“When it got here it was still conscious and breathing from both noses, but it was very weak and might not have survived another day,” Rademeyer said.

Although both heads were conscious, the reaction from one of them was visibly slower than the other, she said. Both sets of eyes and tongues were moving.

Garde said that the two-headed feature was a rarely-seen abnormality.

“It is an interesting case which one doesn’t see often,” said Garde.

He said the calf should have been one of a set of twins, but as a result of incomplete splitting of the fertilised egg, Siamese twins developed and joined at the neck.

“These animals seldom survive.”

On that note, I’m off to cuddle my one-headed puppy.

Today was my first day back at work after a 12 day stay-cation. Between the generous company holiday schedule and a few days of personal leave, I was able to take a relatively lengthy hiatus from work.

The start of the new year also marked the first anniversary of The Shoe and I’s marriage. We counted down the seconds with friends in between karaoke renditions of Cyndi Lauper and GNR.

A more traditional celebration of our anniversary took place at Greens for brunch; Shoe had Yukon Gold Potato and Scallion Cakes (with St. George cheddar and Italian parsley; served with eggs over easy, pesto, roasted tomato and garlic sauce and arugula) and I had Pain de Mei French Toast (with poached huckleberries, cinnamon apples, spiced butter and warm maple syrup). If I recall correctly, we also shared a slice of coffee cake and toasted a couple rounds of Kir royale.

While I don’t participate in most holidays, I enjoyed exchanging the traditional, anniversary-specific gift to mark the occasion. The traditional gift for the first anniversary is paper:

The first year of marriage is often considered the year of adjustment. As you celebrate this special 1st wedding anniversary, reflect on the both the delicate and hardy aspects of your marriage and of your love for one another.

1st Anniversary Traditional Gift: Paper. It symbolizes the strength in paper that comes from the interlaced connection of the paper’s individual threads.

Book sculpture, by Lisa Occhipinti

The piece is comprised of materials from two Japanese books — pages from one book are folded into a fan shape and are mounted on a hardcover from another. It’s quite an appropriate first anniversary present for us! From two disparate sources, a new and unexpected union is created.