Friday, January 13, 2012

as the crow flies, January, Friday the 13th, 2012

Okay, this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It's a crow having fun sledding down a rooftop. I know crows are amazingly smart for survival purposes. The thing is that this genius of a crow made a tool of the plastic lid he/she is using as a sled, invented that use and not for survival but just for fun.

How the heck did that crow think up such a thing? Certainly it wouldn't have seen people doing this off a roof. It seems to be an act of amazing creativity, inventiveness and playfulness. At one point the crow pecks the lid, as if trying to make it go farther or faster down the roof, so it was definitely looking for speed and length. Anyway, it astounded me.
Crow roof tubing



I always wondered why there were so many pigeons in Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy and it turns out there are interesting, historic reasons for the birds being there. A 13th Century Venetian admiral, Reniero Dandolo, brought them.

The Pigeons of Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy

Pigeons Never Forget a Face

Wow. This is mind blowing and blissful. Common Cranes Fly Over Venice 


A view of Venice from the air


The crane video is part of a BBC series, called Earthflight.
Another example clip: Pelicans and Flying Rays


A Russian "cyber-folk" band, Atlantida, with a cool psychedelic video,
named "sarva mangalam", which means in Sanskrit something like "happiness to everyone" or "may everything be fortunate", using lots of Buddhist and Hindu visuals. Trippy!


Ha! The author of SOPA is a copyright violator (and wearer of a horrible toupee)
US Congressman and poor-toupee-color-chooser Lamar Smith is the guy who authored the Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA, as I'm sure you know, is the shady bill that will introduce way harsher penalties for companies and individuals caught violating copyright laws online (including making the unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime which you could actually go to jail for). If the bill passes, it will destroy the internet and, ultimately, turn the world into Mad Max (for more info, go here).


Scotland Yard Report Finds British Citizen Was Tortured in Secret CIA Site


Excellent article. Occupy America with sane, practical ideas.

Oooh, cool. This would be fun to have in a really big living room. 

A tremendously courageous woman, who has been bullied by others on account of her looks, related to the illness she has. This video really is inspiring. I feel proud of her as well as grateful for her speaking out feelingfully, sagely, wisely, constructively and hopefully, in spite of all that she has been through. It Gets Better: Lizzie Velasquez


Fascinating reading about tobacco, it's original, hallucinogenic uses and how shamans would bring themselves to near-death experiences, using tobacco, in order to better understand illness, suffering and the nature of life.

Fair and square, a bride's AND groom's cake. Yum!




Will O' the Wisp by Greg Couch

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