Abstruse Goose: Life Paths Integrated Over Time

Abstruse Goose sure has it in for athletes, doesn’t he.  Fine with me.  I’m less happy that he doesn’t arrange a life path for people who are born modestly, live modestly, work like dogs (actually not like any dog I’ve ever met, friendly mooches), have modest success and a gratifying life.  Boy, is that ever [...]

Save the Wild Tigers

It’s a little-known fact that many more tigers live in private captivity in the U.S. than in the wild. As I wrote in my article, Far From the Forests of the Night, published in the February 2008 issue of Natural History magazine, between 7,000 and 15,000 tigers are held in private roadside zoos, circuses, sanctuaries, [...]

AstroPorn: the Great Carina Nebula

I grant this is just straight-up astroporn but let’s try to make it legit.  It’s a picture taken in 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 3372, the great nebula in the constellation Carina, which is in the sky over the southern hemisphere.  “Nebula” is an old astronomical word that has referred to a [...]

A Poisonous Beauty Among the Samurai and Us

In 18th century Japan, samurai women modeled themselves after the great beauties of the day. Like courtesans and geishas, they turned their faces into artists’ canvases, concealing their skins beneath a thick white paste. Then they applied the paint–thin charcoal lines for eyebrows, delicate crimson for mouths, and a dark black tint for their teeth. [...]

Strawberries in Space

I admit it: I’m a worry wart. Among the myriad topics that can perturb me is the question: is it safe to eat a strawberry? Sure, strawberries are rich in Vitamin C: just eight of them contain more of the vitamin than a medium size orange, according to the California Strawberry Commission. But conventionally-grown strawberries [...]

Internet Astronomy

In 2007, the Galaxy Zooites — 100,000 housewives, high school students, helicopter pilots, physicians, school teachers, truck drivers, secretaries, and a mobile home park manager from all over the world – got together on the internet under the guidance of some astronomers and classified galaxies.  Galaxies tend to be either spirals or ellipticals, computers are [...]

Abstruse Goose & Some Urgent Questions

I’ve never understood how we go about ascribing character traits to animals. Every cat I’ve known fits Abstruse Goose’s checklist, but aren’t we both just making stuff up?  No dog I ever had could remotely be described as “faithful” or “devoted;” they’re in it for the free lunch, period.

The Salmon Forest

Something astonishing happened on Canada’s west coast in late August and early September, something that took my breath away. The sockeye salmon returned to the Fraser River in such vast numbers that fishery scientists could scarcely believe what was happening.  In July, they predicted a run of 11.4 million salmon. Four weeks later, when the [...]