“Long before technology was developed to predict the weather, people had to rely on observation, patterns and folklore to avoid being caught off guard by the elements. If your plans, livelihood or even your survival depend on the weather, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to become familiar with some of these methods, especially since you never know when you might be out of touch with the local weather report. These methods aren’t foolproof, but they have their usefulness, and if you don’t have a forecast on hand, what do you have to lose by trying them?” Link@wikihow.com

“The Black Bear is a stocky, large animal, one of the largest mammals in North America. Adults reach a length of 5 to 6 feet, height at the shoulder of 2 to 3 feet, and weigh 200-300 pounds. Although called a “black” bear, colors can range from black to the occasional cinnamon brown. Although appealing and generally harmless, Black Bears can injure humans when provoked and should be treated with caution.The American Black Bear is found throughout North America in habitats ranging from swamps to desert scrub. Black Bears were once found through out North America, mostly in forests, but also in deserts and swamps.”

Ursus Americanus Eremicus@The Smithsonian Book Of Mammals
Bears in Texas and Northeastern Mexico@TPW.com

Este es un disco de b-sides & outtakes. Si no conocen a Lloyd Cole, es probable que sea mejor empezar con algo de su material anterior para familiarizarse con este genial singer-songwriter británico. Nevertheless, la marsopa dejó instrucciones de finalmente ponerles una canción de él, y se decidió por esta; pues evoca un par de buenos recuerdos veraniegos y trae al magnífico Robert Quine en la guitarra.

Lloyd Cole – Alright People (mp3)
Etc
Megaworld, 2001
Cómprenlo@waterloorecords.com

“Think of a nucleus as a party. The protons are like the type A, cliquish people at the party–constantly talking bad about one another when afar, but all lovey-dovey when up and close. The neutrons are the type-B’s, pretty nonpartisan about people from afar, but agreeable enough (if a bit dull) when up close. There is an optimum mix of these two kinds of people, the perfect party mixing the right number of type A’s and type B’s. Too small of a party? Boring! Too big? Unwieldy! Having too many type A’s, with too few type B’s to smooth things out? Disaster. Too many type B’s? Dull disaster. You’ve been at a bad party that suddenly got better, either by someone coming or going. The sense of relief, the release of nervous energy, is palpable.” Nuclear Power@dearscience.com

“As a young child (or perhaps even an adult) who hasn’t dreamed of living in a tree house? Some structures are built on trees or hung from trees, but some unusual tree houses are even grown from trees or built right into a tree. Some people live in trees as a luxury, some to help save the environment and others out of tradition or necessity. Here are ten incredible tree house designs that range from functional to fanciful, sustainable to strange and affordable to incredibly expensive.”

Amazing Tree Houses@weburbanist.com

“The Cold War has been over for two decades, and many of this article’s current readers have never lived under the shadow of nuclear annihilation. Nevertheless, a nuclear attack is still a very real threat. Global politics are certainly no more stable than they were in the Cold War, and human nature has changed none in the last two decades. “The most persistent sound which reverberates through man’s history”, as one wrote, “is the beating of war drums”. For as long as nuclear weapons exist in the armories of human beings, there will always be the danger that they will be used.” Link@wikihow.com

“In structure and scope, Sputnik Caledonia resembles Alasdair Gray’s Lanark, that classic of Scottish literature. The opening section is a warm and moving portrait of Scottish small-town life, as we meet Robbie Coyle, a schoolboy who dreams of becoming an astronaut. Robbie and his parents, Joe and Anne, are wonderfully drawn characters, and this section is full of a gentle, authentic family humour that smacks of authenticity. By the second section we have switched to an alternative Scotland, one that became communist after the Second World War, a familiar scenario in Crumey’s work. A fully grown Robert Coyle is training at a secret military base to become a cosmonaut, his mission to fly out to an approaching cosmic entity, thought to be a black hole.” Review@timesonline.co.uk

“As a word, vision and goal, modern urban nomadism has had the mixed blessing of a premature debut. In the 1960s and 70s Herbert Marshall McLuhan, the most influential media and communications theorist ever, pictured nomads zipping around at great speed, using facilities on the road and all but dispensing with their homes. In the 1980s Jacques Attali, a French economist who was advising president François Mitterrand at the time, used the term to predict an age when rich and uprooted elites would jet around the world in search of fun and opportunity, and poor but equally uprooted workers would migrate in search of a living.”

Technology and Nomadism@economist.com

“The vast majority of food lovers will, of course, find the idea of going completely veggie, whatever the motive, untenable, if not downright hilarious. Gordon Ramsay, a man who has never knowingly let an opportunity to insult a vegetarian pass, sums up the attitude of most urbane gourmets to our vegetable eating friends. However, perhaps Ramsay – and all of us who’ve laughed along at the jokes about joyless, pious vegetarians and their pasty complexions – are behind the curve on this.” Tony Taylor@guardian.co.uk

“The Great Debate was an influential debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis which concerned the nature of spiral nebulae and the size of the universe.

The basic issue under debate was whether distant nebulae were relatively small and lay within our own galaxy or whether they were large independent galaxies.

The debate took place on 26 April 1920 in the Baird auditorium of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.”

“My Grandma made fantastic scones, white on the sides, golden on the top, light in texture and not so sweet as to make the addition of huge spoonfuls of jam cloying. So my first memory of cooking is being given my own bowl of flour to make a batch of scones, during the shearing season. I can’t remember what these tasted like, but I can remember being annoyed that my grandmother’s scones were much taller then mine, three inches at least I am sure. I now realise that although the ingredient list is simple in making scones truely great scones is a great skill and my fumbling five year old fingers were simply not up to the task. I’m not sure what recipe my grandmother used, if she used one at all but it would have used a similar ingredient list to this modern recipe.” Scones Recipe

“I was a great solitary when I was young. I made it my pride to keep aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say that I had neither friends nor acquaintances until I met that friend who became my wife and the mother of my children. With one man only was I on private terms; this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of Graden Easter, in Scotland. We had met at college; and though there was not much liking between us, nor even much intimacy, we were so nearly of a humor that we could associate with ease to both. Misanthropes, we believed ourselves to be; but I have thought since that we were only sulky fellows. It was scarcely a companionship, but a coexistence in unsociability. Northmour’s exceptional violence of temper made it no easy affair for him to keep the peace with anyone but me; and as he respected my silent ways, and let me come and go as I pleased, I could tolerate his presence without concern. I think we called each other friends.”

Robert Louis Stevenson – The Pavillion On The Links(at)adelaide.edu.au

An Albaphile is a person who is fond of Scottish culture, Scottish language and Scotland in general. Its antonym is Albaphobe. The term is often used in particular for people all over the world (in America especially in areas where a large number of Scottish diaspora settled) who ostensibly base their business, political, or social practices on like of/or admiration for Scottish models. In some cases, Albaphilia represents an individual’s preference of Scottish culture to their own; or the belief that Scottish culture is superior, or appreciation of Scottish history. In some cases a Albaphile may also be a Plastic Scot, a person who appropriates stereotypical aspects of Scottish culture without understanding it. The term is often used as a pejorative in Scotland.