tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28916119330982788132024-02-21T03:06:55.098-08:00Liz LangleyNatGeo blogger, essayist, pen-for-hireUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger532125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-42047361488993118112020-08-13T06:41:00.010-07:002020-08-13T07:50:01.306-07:00Buy my book: Crazy Little Thing: How Love and Sex Drive Us Mad<p> <span> </span>Carl von Cosel installed a phone in his dead wife's tomb so they could chat - he eventually just took her home. </p><p><span><span> Burt and Linda Pugach married after he did a prison sentence for sending thugs to 'scare' her and they blinded her with acid.</span></span></p><p><span> Love makes us all feel insane. If it hasn't knocked you on your ass you haven't been in it.</span><br /></p><p><span> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGN217THn79mkvPPsVF8FJZGeRU5-Gf5ZXvpcvquTkwDldydKT0VttqG5UPKBV_d3WdUdtXvEFfO-BoNgukt3VYZumiSh3NHMJapAv06g75BF_SbKsEyPVl8GfUrI_Ws1GP_bjC9q-UOA/s400/crazy-little-thing-9781936740031_lg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGN217THn79mkvPPsVF8FJZGeRU5-Gf5ZXvpcvquTkwDldydKT0VttqG5UPKBV_d3WdUdtXvEFfO-BoNgukt3VYZumiSh3NHMJapAv06g75BF_SbKsEyPVl8GfUrI_Ws1GP_bjC9q-UOA/w200-h320/crazy-little-thing-9781936740031_lg.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> I wrote Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad several years ago because I wanted to understand why romantic problems had such a stranglehold on me and how people's greatest happiness, the thing we all want, could lead to them killing each other. It was published by Viva Editions just before the explosion of true crime shows like Wives with Knives and Who the Bleep Did I Marry? <p></p><p> My hope for the book has always been that the interviews with everyone from psychologists to felons would help people understand themselves but also that it would be a good enough read to take them <i>out</i> of themselves, which is just as important. Who doesn't want to be relieved of reality, especially in 2020?<br /></p><p><span> Buy a copy directly from me <a href="#" id="https://offerup.com/item/932490970/discussions/" name="https://offerup.com/item/932490970/discussions/" target="_blank">here on OfferUp</a>, also below, help me pay a bill and feed a cat & I'll love you for it...but not too much.</span></p><p>(https://offerup.com/item/932490970/discussions/)</p><p><span>PS: I'm new to online selling so please contact me via Twitter @LizLangley if you have any problems. </span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-77781590624815213592020-06-08T18:13:00.000-07:002020-06-08T18:13:34.633-07:00Say Ahhhhh: Drive-Thru Pap Smears in the COVID era<div style="color: #222222;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Listening to my friends talk about the COVID-19 test I thought it was going to feel like getting a lobotomy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>“They stick a swab so far up your nose, I felt like it was going into the back of my eye,” one said, but when free drive-through testing was offered in my little Florida beach town I went. I can pinch a penny until Lincoln starts crying and if something is free, I’m going to get one, even if it means being skewered like a corn dog. <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>The test was mildly irritating. You tilt your head back and they do, indeed, poke a swab up your snoot farther than you’d expect it to go. It felt like I’d been bike riding and got ladybug stuck up my nose, a sensation which lasted about 45 minutes after the actual sticking. It wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, but I’d anticipated getting my eyeballs yoinked out through my nostrils. Anything else was emotional found money.<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>What left a more lasting impression than the test was the joy of drive-through medical service. Since I had pre-registered I sat in the comfort of my car with my friend, which was exponentially better than the doctor’s office waiting room with its throngs of people who are coughing, pissed or have insurance issues that would make MC Escher rub his eyes and leave the room. Getting ram-rodded like a rotisserie chicken was no biggie because I didn’t have to leave my bucket seat. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>How things will change in The Scared New World of COVID-19 is a hot topic and, along with mask-wearing and working at home, drive-through medicine should be on the “Let’s keep doing this” list. Let’s start with the Pap smear. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>The whole idea of such an intimate procedure happening in a car isn’t far fetched if you’ve ever had car sex. It’s remarkable how otherwise doughy, awkward adults can undress and get into yogic positions when the hormones move them. I drove a pint-sized Toyota Corolla throughout college and no one ever noticed full sets of footprints on the ceiling. If we can do that we can do this. It’s just going to be motivated by the opposite desire, that of far, far less togetherness. <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Aside from the hilarity of legs sticking out of car windows in the bright sunlight of a summer day, there’s a lot of pluses to the drive-thru gyno visit. Eliminating the office and its attendant costs of rent, furniture and exam room refrigeration should save doctors a ton of money and the cost of an office visit should drop like a pair of pants after all the wine. Your next Pap should cost about the same as an airport bagel, so $42 and change. Wave ciao to the humiliating paper gown and to shivering six pounds off in an exam room where they keep you at the same temperature as cream cheese until you toes turn blue and your phone battery icon turns red. You’re pre-registered, so questions like “Are you sexually active?” and any mournful math you have to do wondering “How long ago counts as ‘active’? can be done in the solitude of your own room. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>I envision a crime-scene type tent you can drive your car into for privacy. Of course it would be better to have a pick up truck, hatchback, motorcycle or any vehicle where you can get your crotch </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">close to open air more nimbly than you can in a sedan. I have a sedan. My hope is that the drive-thru OB-GYN will prompt a bit of innovation. There is now a surgical camera the size of the period on the end of this sentence. Surely they can make an improved speculum, possibly a swab-tipped camera the size of a pen cap that can be zipped in and out of your vagina like a biscotti into a latte. That would be an improvement on the current feeling that you’re having an exploratory surgery shot by a porn crew.<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>It is true that starting with Pap smears might be a leap, but all innovations seem crazy until they’re common. If you’d been able to go back to the 1940’s and tell someone that in 80 years people would watch movies on their phones while out at a cafe they’d have smiled, nodded and called the police. You might have ended up with that lobotomy. The drive-through gyno is going to happen and I'm getting a convertible. You know, just in case.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-76405093696648186952016-11-08T06:43:00.000-08:002016-11-08T07:32:22.192-08:00Drumpf Scare: Why I Worry About the Drumpf Signs I DON'T See<div style="line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q09zixp5s4I/WCFxWXZ9ybI/AAAAAAAAEHw/5BykAWapjDcpOreX_AiwMnIqD6cF475EwCLcB/s1600/shh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q09zixp5s4I/WCFxWXZ9ybI/AAAAAAAAEHw/5BykAWapjDcpOreX_AiwMnIqD6cF475EwCLcB/s320/shh.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I have nerves like a chihuahua and since my traditional election night </span>vodka-and-Pepto has become too strong a beverage for me I just want <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">to be with like-minded people supporting Hillary Clinton. I asked a friend if he wanted to </span>join<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> me at a watch party. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Can I wear my Trump undies?” he texted back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Can I burn them in effigy? Not while you’re wearing them, of course,” I replied. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was joking but the conversation gave me what I call Drumpf scare which is like a “jump scare,” the horror movie trope where a viewer jumps out of their seat in terror after being lulled into a false sense of calm. A Drumpf scares is when you realize someone you thought you knew might be a Drumpf supporter as I worried about my friend. It’s that same feeling as when you realize “The calls are coming from the inside of the house!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My guess is that there are a lot of dark Drumpfers out there, people who support someone I think of as the Hitlerian Cheeto, but who don’t want to be met with either shaming logic or the haunting groans of the conscience they must have thrown down a well in order to make this choice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know my worry about dark Drumpfers is valid because I’ve done exactly what they’re doing: concealed my feelings when my feelings were dangerously stupid.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For me it’s about men. My record of ‘bad romantic candidates rivals the American record for bad political ones. In the past when I was about to do something I <i>knew</i> would end in tears I didn’t tell my friends. I didn’t want to hear “He’s just using you,” “He doesn’t care about you,” or “He’s <i>such</i> a tool,” because I knew they’d be right, but if I was determined to be on the leash of baser instinct and sleep with a substandard human being, “right” was not going to stop me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The macabre biology of menopause has stopped this behavior like a windshield stops a bug. Well, that and I finally figured something out. I used to think “Well, I’m the only one it will matter to,” but that wasn’t true. When things <i>did</i> go wrong in these dark liaisons, the people closest to me were affected by my inattention, bad moods and a few tense doctor visits.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So I really worry that there are way too many people who have been keeping their Drumpf affinities dark because, like me, they can’t defend their man. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Takes one to know one.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you <i>are</i> a Drumpf supporter and aren’t telling your friends it’s probably because your friends are right: he’s using you, he doesn’t care about you and he’s <i>such</i> a tool. Do what I wish I’d done with those dumb, dark liasons: stay home. My choice to follow my baser instincts effected a few other people. Yours will effect the entire world. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And if you’re worried one of your friends isn’t talking politics because they might support the TP ticket, ask them. I’ve done that and found, to a large degree, I was wrong. See? Not all the guys I know are jerks. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Shhh! pic from <a href="http://hvngrymag.com/category/fashion-style/">Hungrymag</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Under the Rug pic from <a href="http://quoteaddicts.com/topic/sweeping-things-under-the-rug/">QuoteAddicts</a></i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-41640290445887190482016-06-20T09:42:00.006-07:002016-06-20T10:15:56.013-07:00National Seashell Day & the beach with my mom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1qrOGzpxbjKPeuLlT8ORz_eTQmJ4jB7tYcR0dbesvYLmUNptjkJRtmtODSwMxn7RhZiWN5pD_e6ckU-n5VDvAyDIQrc8Ao7KPyCv0lyEBbRz0DrtC3T67zn9NzQhOKJ7TAHrct0l_57k/s1600/IMG_2523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1qrOGzpxbjKPeuLlT8ORz_eTQmJ4jB7tYcR0dbesvYLmUNptjkJRtmtODSwMxn7RhZiWN5pD_e6ckU-n5VDvAyDIQrc8Ao7KPyCv0lyEBbRz0DrtC3T67zn9NzQhOKJ7TAHrct0l_57k/s320/IMG_2523.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"I love to watch the little waves wash over my big feet,” my mom once said as we stood on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_Beach,_Florida"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Cocoa Beach</span></a>. It was true: she had feet like a couple of skateboards, but those natural flippers probably made her the strong and graceful swimmer that she was. She took us to the beach every chance she got and when I get older I took her. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Naturally we collected seashells, sometimes a few, sometimes enough that we needed a discarded Coke cup to carry them in. The best were the ones we left behind, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG-cN6_2GaM"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">watching them dig themselves back into the sand</span></a> because an animal was still living inside them. (On a related note, wonderful science writer Jason Bittel recently wrote a great piece about the problems with harvesting 'aquarium fish,' "<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/how-about-we-just-leave-dory-alone">How About We Just Leave Dory Alone?</a>") </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9hP5zCWxBnk/V2gcccBojTI/AAAAAAAAEC0/Mv9njeX0ndUT9g60OM8VS5u-mpeXQ-oNgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9hP5zCWxBnk/V2gcccBojTI/AAAAAAAAEC0/Mv9njeX0ndUT9g60OM8VS5u-mpeXQ-oNgCLcB/s320/IMG_2524.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">These shells are from the gorgeous collection at <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="http://www.seewinter.com/">Clearwater Marine Aquarium</a> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">, which I got to visit recently when I was on a </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160514-animals-science-sea-turtles-oceans/" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">National Geographic story about sea turtles</span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">and which I’m putting up today for </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://allaboutthesunshinestate.com/events/national-seashell-day-2016/" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">National Seashell Day</span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> I wish my mom could have seen these. Her love nature was one of her most endearing qualities; and that she would have jokingly suggested smashing the glass case and pocketing some of the shells before we left to return to the ocean, the shells and the coveted cold beer at the end of the day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Of course I miss her - who wouldn’t miss someone like that? But she’s still with me and never more than when I’m at the beach, picking up shells, having a swim and letting the big waves knock me off my little feet. </span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Martha & me, Breezy Point, Brooklyn, 1965.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-18954445120118803022016-06-01T12:19:00.000-07:002016-06-01T13:30:13.416-07:00Save Them All: A trip to Best Friends Animal Society in Utah<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JwdTb7Wroaw/V08eo3Xr_zI/AAAAAAAAEAs/5gyNQqq2jU4pgTJWblgMxh2HDiDc0VClQCLcB/s1600/IMG_3076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JwdTb7Wroaw/V08eo3Xr_zI/AAAAAAAAEAs/5gyNQqq2jU4pgTJWblgMxh2HDiDc0VClQCLcB/s400/IMG_3076.jpg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"Would you like to go where you've always wanted to go and do one of your favorite things ever?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">That's not how the press trip to Best Friends Animal Society sanctuary in Angel Canyon, Utah was put to me, but that's how I heard it. I've long wanted to see Utah and Best Friends held the promise of playing with dogs. And cats. And seeing horses, goats and probably a few other things that were on your See-and-Say: The Farmer Says. Animals never lose their magic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This was one of the most magical trips I've ever been on (and I've been to the Playboy Mansion). I'm working on my story for <a href="http://www.alternet.org/">Alternet</a> right now; this is photo companion for pics of the things I talk about in that. I may post more on other aspects of the journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Wait. I just got it. That's what was different. This wasn't a trip. It was a journey, one I hope as many people get to go on as possible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: Pima learning about cameras from Melissa Miller in puppy socialization class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: The puppies love Glenn Pierce, behavioral consultant at Dogtown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: Doody, right, a poor little budgie so overbred he can't see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: This pig wants to go for a walk <i>now </i>and is blocking the manager from leaving until he gets his way. It doesn't work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: Anne Rollin getting kisses from clicker trained bunny. She had the sweetest bond with them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: Clicker trained cockatiels in Parrot Garden.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Because the manager said some of the dogs didn't like cameras I left my phone off in Dogtown. I wished I had <a href="http://bestfriends.org/adopt/adopt-our-sanctuary/9390464/lincoln">a picture of my personal favorite dog, Lincoln</a>, a 9 year-old lab who liked to talk but was also great at companionable silence. What a great dog. He's going to be someone's perfect buddy someday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: Prince, the little foal who doesn't have a mom but has a stepfather named Feather (StepFeather?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Above: Bubba, former fighting dog found in a Denver dumpster in terrible shape, a healthy, handsome guy, owned by Best Friends' Jacqueline Johnson. Here he is stoically accepting that everyone wants to meet him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-81830197134818381782016-02-20T21:41:00.003-08:002016-02-20T21:41:44.787-08:00Of the "10 Ways to Spot an American Abroad" I'm guilty on six counts. Supersize me. <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the thermometer in Florida begins to flirt with the 80-degree (26.6 c) mark in February the one thing making the impending sweat-lodge summer atmosphere bearable is that there are trips to northerly climes in my future. Knowing this I've been watching travel stories with greater interest and was horrified to realize that in <a href="http://travel.alot.com/themes/10-ways-to-spot-an-american-abroad--9775?s=10">alot's story on "10 Ways to Spot an American Abroad,"</a> story I've been undeniably guilty of six of them.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not that I mind being spotted as American (in most places) but the image of the American tourist is a vulgarian no one wants to be seen as. Traits of this character - the ones on the list I'm not guilty of - are loudness, not knowing the customs, trying to imitate accents or wearing a fanny pack, which I thought had been banned since 1993. And all the other things on the list I do at home, too, including drink too much, join in applause for any reason (a smooth landing, a good movie), talk to strangers (you are known as a non-New Yorker for doing that, too), having an accent ) and tipping (a surprisingly hard habit to break).</span></div>
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countries. Of course I try as much real regional food as I can but it's interesting to see what's on the menu at fast food restaurants elsewhere, from lobster rolls in Maine to beer in Berlin to veggie burgers in Britain. Had I not gone into a BK in the UK I'd never have known the inexplicable invention of "baked bean dippers," curious concoctions like french fries or mozzarella sticks, but with smushed baked bean innards, because, I guess, if you can put a food into deep-fried stick form you should. Everyone else must have thought the same thing of them I did because baked bean dippers are the only thing that's ever existed you can't find a picture of on the internet. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(McLobster Roll image from <a href="http://www.snaxtime.com/2015/07/mcdonalds-lobster-roll-new-england.html">SnaxTime</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admittedly going into an American fast food outlet in other countries is embarrassing because everyone takes you for a tourist wussing out and resorting to American fast food. Little do they know traveling is the <i>only</i> time I eat fast food. Whether I'm in Georgia or Quebec it's just another part of the adventure. If life goes as planned one day I'll try this depressing looking goth burger in a Japanese Burger King. See? You'll do things on the road you wouldn't do at home in a million years. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Black eggplant burger pic from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-burger-king-japan-is-dying-its-burgers-black-2015-7">Business Insider</a>)</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-35795268170772458022016-01-25T20:31:00.003-08:002016-01-26T21:17:23.085-08:00Super Starfish on NatGeo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">It doesn’t matter if you're watching your diet because of ego, habit or because your doctor has taken to showing you pictures of tombstones with your name photoshopped onto them like the Ghost of Christmas Future. When your darling nieces make specialized Christmas cookies and say “Which one do you want?” you are a bad person if you don’t eat one made by each child. Turning them down will make your heart heavier than your butt could ever be.</span></div>
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Not only did I eat these cookies, I photographed them and want you check out the star-shaped chocolate chip one artfully leaning against my coffee cup (left). I ate that. Then, the next day, I saw it at the bottom of a pet store aquarium (up top). </div>
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“Chocolate chip starfish,” read the placard and I was so spellbound by its stunning similarity to terrestrial baked goods that I ran right home and started looking up more of these animals in the interest of celebrating them in <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/weird-wild-qotw/">NatGeo’s Weird Animal Questions</a>. I didn’t worry that there wouldn’t be any as cool as the cookie one . When was have you ever looked to anything in nature for beauty and excitement came up snake eyes…including snake eyes? </div>
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Plus I knew just where to look and who to talk to - <a href="http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/">Christopher Mah of the National Museum of Natural History whose Echinoblog</a> is a great science read - conversational, informative and picture-heavy. Biology is a complicated business but this world expert makes you feel like you’re in on the joy of discovering things right along with him (plus <a href="http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/off-topic-deep-sea-octopus-street-art.html">Futurama references</a> are a tribal symbol of friendliness). </div>
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The result is <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160123-animals-starfish-sea-stars-oceans-science-colors/">Meet the Chocolate Chip Starfish and Its Unusual Relatives</a>, on NatGeo, in which Chris told me some of his favorites. Bob Scheibling, biologist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia offered some great information, too and both made points in their interviews that I hope to talk about in future pieces. One is that starfish are massively harvested as ornaments without our even knowing what effect they have on the ocean. Of course they're beautiful - but unless you found it dead on the beach yourself, wouldn't you rather have a ceramic one instead of a <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/263232451/valentines-day-gift-mens-gift-boyfriends?ref=market">humiliated corpse</a> as home decor? </div>
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Some people were bothered by my use of the term ‘starfish’ rather than ‘sea star’ in the piece. I chose starfish because because I think it’s prettier, friendlier and because Chris is the authority and he uses it on his own blog (here’s <a href="http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/starfish-or-sea-star-asteroid-5th.html">a nice post from him on the nomenclature quandary</a>). </div>
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Anyway, enjoy the piece, and please don’t reach into a fish tank if you’re hungry….I know we're all cookie-vores but wait until you can get to the bakery. </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>(above right: Starfish,I snapped at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on 11/30/15)</i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-25472126087231371092016-01-25T20:05:00.001-08:002016-01-26T07:50:54.301-08:00Funny Cry Happy: Remembering Peter O'Sullivan for the Orlando Weekly's 20th Anniversary<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;">
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And indeed, I was in my element: fresh off a plane on my first trip to Chicago to meet one of my favorite people, writer, editor and bon vivant Charles Martin. </div>
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I was also exhausted from weeks of work and had one more story to write that night, but it was okay. Since Chas also works online, too, we’re perfect traveling buddies. We can go to cities around the world, work silently side by side for hours in hotel rooms and no one impatiently says “Let’s go, dammit, let’s go!” Work first, Shedd Aquarium and Lou Malnati’s pizza later. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TLmQ3x7DLfE/VqbquTflU7I/AAAAAAAAD4A/0Dr75ure-30/s1600/peter2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TLmQ3x7DLfE/VqbquTflU7I/AAAAAAAAD4A/0Dr75ure-30/s320/peter2.jpg" width="140" /></a>The one thing I had write that night was a piece for the <a href="http://liz-langley.blogspot.com/2016/01/super-starfish-on-natgeo.html">Orlando Weekly</a>’s 20th anniversary issue about the paper’s founding editor, Peter O’Sullivan (right), my mentor and father figure (I had a father, but go figure), who gave me my first real break at that paper in 1991. It was an intensely personal piece and despite all the cotton candy and plane rides I had to sniffle on the quiet so as not to alarm Chas, with whom I'd been having so much fun. It was fun to write about Peter, too, but sad because he's so very missed. There's a gift store in NYC called "Funny Cry Happy." That about sums up the evening.</div>
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The result was a story that meant the world to me personally,<a href="http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/a-writer-remembers-the-weeklys-first-editor-as-her-champion-and-mentor/Content?oid=2455439"> Writer Liz Langley Remembers the Weekly’s First Editor as Her Champion and Mentor</a>. And I wouldn’t have written it had it not been for the advice of my friend, the editor who succeeded Peter, Jeff Truesdell, another friend and mentor without whom I’d be nothing. </div>
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Chas even went over the piece for me and OWeekly editor Erin Sullivan did a great job with it - for a writer to get along this well with editors may feel like a mouse whooping it up with the cats, but oh well. Perhaps we’ll all end up on <a href="http://www.apple.com/">NatGeo’s Unlikely Animal Friends</a> one day.</div>
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At any rate, this piece that I didn't think I could do turned out to be one of my favorite of all time, so I hope you'll take a look and enjoy it. It's funny-cry-happy. If that phrase doesn't deserve meme-hood I don't know what does.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-79194134704940542822015-10-30T06:55:00.003-07:002015-10-30T08:02:30.238-07:00"Phantasmagoria" and the importance of story<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 18px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aqEK-WCwuzvh39SJplo6eA-x7nrdQcl_DFkjaEdK_qetm9xlscG9RlGGBqC6QQEm4qczHyZgzSWvEviMWEYDbUpdO9RhFLxxAsUg3w77MtEgtmmyp64YDU8awhhcHDyJMD91UC_QHNZk/s1600/Phant_VI_img3-460x260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aqEK-WCwuzvh39SJplo6eA-x7nrdQcl_DFkjaEdK_qetm9xlscG9RlGGBqC6QQEm4qczHyZgzSWvEviMWEYDbUpdO9RhFLxxAsUg3w77MtEgtmmyp64YDU8awhhcHDyJMD91UC_QHNZk/s400/Phant_VI_img3-460x260.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads,” <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3008436/takeaway/why-data-god-jeffrey-hammerbacher-left-facebook-found-cloudera">said data scientist Jeffrey Hammerbacher.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I read this quote many years ago when I was spending more time trying to get "likes" for a website than I did writing for it. The media game has changed a lot and I think I only stay out of sheer bloody-mindedness, <a href="http://www.apple.com/">like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What hasn’t changed is the public love of stories. That’s why it’s so hard to walk away. To get to convey incredible information, to be a conduit of the amazing is too rich a pleasure to abandon. Stories connect us and just as importantly, allow us to disconnect, because if reality was that great we’d never have invented, and then hungered, for fiction. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKPR1FlxfbQ/VjNzxG-g6SI/AAAAAAAADyQ/JkOl5hqde6k/s1600/P2-Dancers-220x126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKPR1FlxfbQ/VjNzxG-g6SI/AAAAAAAADyQ/JkOl5hqde6k/s400/P2-Dancers-220x126.jpg" width="400" /></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve been thinking about the importance of story ever since I saw <i>Phantasmagoria VI: The Darkness Returns</i> it on its opening October weekend. <a href="http://www.phantasmagoriaorlando.com/wordpress/">Phantasmagoria Orlando</a> is a thoroughly unique theatrical experience: a Victorian/Steampunk theatre troupe, compelled to give their audience stories that call out to be told from a mysterious void. To tell them the performers combine theatre, dance, puppetry, aeriealism (ala Cirque du Soleil) and more. If you get the VIP Ticket - and you must get the VIP ticket - you get what amounts to bonus tracks, additional post-show performances that combine old world sophistication with old school side show. It’s masterful. (<a href="http://orlandoatplay.tix.com/Schedule.aspx?OrgNum=1126&ActCode=119999">Click to get tickets</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And it’s real. If you have CGI fatigue the effects created by live humans right in front of you will be exactly what you need.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MUzixxB1cGEIgCxu8XSMXkXeqhzMuEIUoCnnCTbw1CpqkUN0rWC14y7cG9EOKVQWbU-SvjEzVPNbS_WQxDDI5uLoBqQq7ogux52N3331h6Lm-Mnc_Kf0qfJfODWmAKVujZTukssIlLcz/s1600/DSC0959-680x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MUzixxB1cGEIgCxu8XSMXkXeqhzMuEIUoCnnCTbw1CpqkUN0rWC14y7cG9EOKVQWbU-SvjEzVPNbS_WQxDDI5uLoBqQq7ogux52N3331h6Lm-Mnc_Kf0qfJfODWmAKVujZTukssIlLcz/s400/DSC0959-680x1024.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As for the stories themselves. Phantasmagoria mixes horror, poetry and folklore, some fabulously familiar and others exotic surprises. They’re all dark and while they don’t all have a dark end they don’t all have a happy ending either, another refresher in an emoji-happy culture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No matter what your job is your world has probably changed dramatically in recent years and sometimes we all wonder why we still do it. Seeing Phantasmagoria and that veneration of story was a great reminder for me . As a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105378/quotes">movie magician</a> once said of our illusions we need them, “like we need the air.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">You'll want to click their "likes" button. But only </span>because<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> they've clicked your "Yikes!" button first. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">All pics from <a href="http://www.phantasmagoriaorlando.com/wordpress/">Phantasmagoria Orlando</a></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-43563592048699693532015-10-13T17:52:00.000-07:002015-10-13T18:10:28.795-07:00Why do we want to squeeze and squish cute things? My latest on NatGeo<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqnQ1fWekz5scivP-vNTXPv5hPxR6GbZc0ldA06wP_rTzC2eaJPf7mGkr1c_e357t_ljKruBvLbVj3zc7qNL8SSHw9LfMRmIZDE4kOd0JlvcxxSgNz2wsqhRgrCJCk_bszCN-Y3UJK9-t/s1600/5.16.15-Cutest-Sleeping-Puppies5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqnQ1fWekz5scivP-vNTXPv5hPxR6GbZc0ldA06wP_rTzC2eaJPf7mGkr1c_e357t_ljKruBvLbVj3zc7qNL8SSHw9LfMRmIZDE4kOd0JlvcxxSgNz2wsqhRgrCJCk_bszCN-Y3UJK9-t/s320/5.16.15-Cutest-Sleeping-Puppies5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">If you can't look anything cute - baby, animal or baby animal, without thinking “I just want to squish your face!” I have good news for you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For my latest NatGeo story Professors Hiroshi Nittono of Hiroshima University and Yale psychologist Oriana Aragon both answered questions about <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151010-science-psychology-babies-animals-culture-behavior/">Why We Want to Squeeze Cute Animals on Weird Animal Question of the Week.</a> If you’re a cheek pincher, an ear nibbler or a smotherer-with-kisses this is your chance to find out what’s wrong with you….which is nothing. The article explains why it’s actually a helpful emotion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Of course I watch cute animal videos like everyone else. It’s my <i>job</i> to watch baby monkeys riding on baby pigs (plus this video has one of the catchiest tunes ever). </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-CQsvx18qW8kn0pBaQ0Vj4grRyPxJyQ3DK2MusgFIHkdizs6mr028kWltVNcuZCg-l-ViJydMvjRAWxrUX0KdTWh2xczrN_O5EXubTgCSqM1MYmnvrEL4PXRfALHwKypY-j6LYdltyFXI/s1600/tumblr_nofhdhdZtJ1qfhyvwo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-CQsvx18qW8kn0pBaQ0Vj4grRyPxJyQ3DK2MusgFIHkdizs6mr028kWltVNcuZCg-l-ViJydMvjRAWxrUX0KdTWh2xczrN_O5EXubTgCSqM1MYmnvrEL4PXRfALHwKypY-j6LYdltyFXI/s320/tumblr_nofhdhdZtJ1qfhyvwo1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">As cute as animals are, though it doesn’t get any cuter than these babies (who are actually full-fledged kids now) the Song Triplets. I discovered these adorable brothers on the Korean reality show <i>The Return of Superman</i> which shows famous Korean dads taking care of their children. I haven't just grown accustomed to their faces...I've grown addicted to them and I've never even been much of a kid person. Daehan, Minguk and Manse always, always make me feel better about the world. Behold: The Power of Cute. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-CQsvx18qW8kn0pBaQ0Vj4grRyPxJyQ3DK2MusgFIHkdizs6mr028kWltVNcuZCg-l-ViJydMvjRAWxrUX0KdTWh2xczrN_O5EXubTgCSqM1MYmnvrEL4PXRfALHwKypY-j6LYdltyFXI/s1600/tumblr_nofhdhdZtJ1qfhyvwo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HLMgAyuUmfM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HLMgAyuUmfM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bonus: I chose this video of the Songs because at minute 1:14 their dad, actor Song Il-Kook, squeezes Minguk's cheeks and says “You're so cute!” in exactly the style we talk about in the NatGeo story. It shows, as Aragon's study on this behavior points out, that the need to squeeze cute things is international. Cute is the only real superpower.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Sleeping puppy from <a href="http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2015/05/the-cutest-sleeping-puppies-youll-ever-see/">The Cutest Sleeping Puppies You'll Ever See</a>; Song triplets pic from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpV650pIEQs">YouTube</a>)</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-4234033499322450282015-10-05T16:26:00.001-07:002015-10-05T16:27:28.940-07:00'Psycho' on an inflatable screen, with batmosphere<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Movies are usually a place to get away from the great outdoors, not as something to do there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Orlando is a good place for flicks al fresco, though and, hands-down, the best I've ever seen was <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/"><i>Psycho</i></a><i> </i>at <a href="http://www.leugardens.org/">Harry P. Leu Gardens</a> thanks to nature providing a little extra atmosphere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For their “<a href="http://www.leugardens.org/category/events/">Date Night Movies”</a> Leu Gardens puts up an enormous inflatable screen in front of the <a href="http://allan-hughes.photoshelter.com/image/I0000T1oNUTZCRWc">enormous working flower clock</a>, which is one of the garden's daytime highlights. On <i>Psycho </i>night nature went the extra mile: storm clouds loomed, providing the additional suspense of whether we'd get to see the film at all - or just get soaked during the shower scene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Neither happened. But...there were the bats. </span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b-urW3pFGQ0/Vg-BY2zGI_I/AAAAAAAADwQ/o-U8OnR-N3g/s1600/IMG_4865.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b-urW3pFGQ0/Vg-BY2zGI_I/AAAAAAAADwQ/o-U8OnR-N3g/s320/IMG_4865.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On a cool October night, live bats swooping and diving in the sky above you, close enough so you could see the bones in their wings….well, if there had been a full moon and baying hounds the set-up for a horror film could not have been more perfect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Leu Gardens must have those <i>Spinal Tap</i> speakers that go to 11, because when the ice cold strings of the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2000/10/30/1113215/bernard-herrmanns-score-to-psycho">Bernard Hermann’s score</a> started it was so loud I nearly went right through those rain clouds. But the enormity of sound and the screen engulf you in the movie. I’ve probably seen <i>Psycho</i> 20 times I’ve never been more engrossed and even noticed things I never had before. At the end, for example, I caught an uncredited role from someone who would become a beloved sitcom star, a side note I had never noticed in all these years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Of course I’m not going to tell you who. That would ruin the fun of finding out for yourself. I’m giving you an excuse to watch <i>Psycho</i> here, as though anyone needs one - a damn near perfect film.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Hopefully your <i>Psycho</i> experience will be as good as mine at Leu Gardens but I doubt it. I kind of wish I could watch all movies outdoors on a giant inflatable screen from now on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The bats would be optional. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">(Next month at Leu Gardens: <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/">Double Indemnity</a></i>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><i>(Psycho </i>pics are mine, taken off the giant inflatable screen- imagine Norman Bates 100 feet high - with bats flying over his giant head. Too good. )</span></h4>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-25883254149385311602015-09-24T15:40:00.000-07:002015-09-24T15:40:24.301-07:00Belly up: my latest post for NatGeo, on snake stomachs<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ytI0V_U8RMQ/VgR4JOLsLWI/AAAAAAAADvY/jzAOOolOijQ/s1600/corn-snake-bellly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ytI0V_U8RMQ/VgR4JOLsLWI/AAAAAAAADvY/jzAOOolOijQ/s320/corn-snake-bellly.jpg" width="320" /></a>Wow, talk about getting no respect: snakes are the Rodney Dangerfield of reptiles. They help us out by eating rats and bugs for us, they're so beautiful we copy their skin patterns for our clothing (and in some cases take the skins right off them) and what do they get in return? We use hurtful expressions like "snake in the grass," and "cold-hearted snake," and even even blame them in <a href="http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Sa-Sp/Serpents-and-Snakes.html">mythology for humanity's getting trespassed from paradise</a>. True, some of them are highly venomous...but I can think of a few people I could say that about as well. <br />
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I find snakes beautiful but never thought about how beautiful they can be underneath until Dave Partington asked me, via <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/weird-wild-qotw/">Weird Animal Question of the Week on NatGeo</a>, what is the purpose of some snakes having such beautiful underbellies.<br />
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And they do, don't they? Check out that checkerboard on the <a href="http://www.factzoo.com/reptiles/corn-snake-red-rat-nice-colors-not-dangerous.html">red rat snake</a> in the photo and click on the link in the graph above to see what our experts had to say about their belly colors. That one looks like piano keys to me, but even though he's harmless I wouldn't try tickling his ivories. Even the bite of a harmless snake is a bite, so when you see snakes keep a distance. Respectfully.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Beautiful <a href="http://www.factzoo.com/reptiles/corn-snake-red-rat-nice-colors-not-dangerous.html">photo from FactZoo</a></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-88613784543714849702015-09-10T23:22:00.001-07:002015-09-10T23:22:59.070-07:00Sweet find: Five Fx Ice Cream and Sweet Cake at Waterford Lakes, Orlando<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I cheated…and it was fabulous. I only wish the temptation was closer so I could do it more often.</div>
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The site of my straying was <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/five-fx-ice-cream-and-sweet-cake-orlando">Five Fx Ice Cream and Sweet Cake is a family run business out at Waterford Lakes, Orlando</a>, well worth the travel time dissolve into the cool, creamy goodness of their Asian-style ice cream. Mix-in ice cream was a 90’s trend but Five Fx puts a fresh, delightful spin on it, making the ice cream to order right in front of you (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgDDAioUiP4">check out how on YouTube</a>). </div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">(left: Lychee ice cream with white chocolate & </span>mochi with pumpkin taiyaki)</span><br />
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Foodies, vegetarians and dieters will love that you can get whole, almond, soy or nonfat milk ice cream with just about any mix-in you can imagine in traditional and non-traditional flavors.</div>
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We tried lychee ice cream with white chocolate chips and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Japan-Sampler-Chestnut-strawberry/dp/B0009XF8RI">mochi,</a> (a Japanese sweet rice </div>
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cake that looks like gum drops). It was so good - rich flavor but surprisingly light texture - that I completely forgot to get engrossed in the KPop that runs on TV there all the time (and which is what had lured me out here in the first place).<br />
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Then there was the taiyaki, a fish-shaped sweet cake with fillings like Nutella, Red Bean, Strawberries and cream or savory eggs, bacon and cheese. And pumpkin.</div>
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This is where the cheating comes in. </div>
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(Right: Bright colors and cool stuff painted on the wall like these wings)</div>
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It wasn’t dietary cheating. it was seasonal cheating. Normally I abstain from pumpkin, one of my favorite things in the world, until at least October 1st. Pumpkin, <a href="http://liz-langley.blogspot.com/2014/06/liz-in-alternet-why-wait-for-sex.html">as I’ve stated before,</a> is the welcome bellwether of autumn. Sometimes its appearance in products from coffee to air fresheners is the only indication we Floridians get that the season has changed. It’s worth waiting for.</div>
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But c’mon…a fish shaped waffle full of pumpkin? I’m not made of iron. What if something happened to me and I never had this opportunity again? </div>
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The pumpkin taiyaki turned out to be a little handful of heaven, especially having the warm, freshly made dessert with the delicious ice cream. Who says you can’t have it all?</div>
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(Right: I'm the lesser angel so Doug got the bigger wings)</div>
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So, I cheated and I’d do it again. I just wish Five fx was closer to my house (Mills-50 guys, in case you’re thinking of opening another place). Like Oscar Wilde said, the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. The closer it is, the better. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-36920120940172656962015-09-01T16:31:00.000-07:002015-09-01T16:31:02.343-07:00Head rush! Why bats and sloths don't get dizzy upside down<div>
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Why is it that an old bat like me can barely get out of her chair without a head rush while young bats - actual bats - can hang upside down all day long and not have the courtesy to get a little dizzy?</div>
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That's not the <i>exact</i> question a NatGeo editor asked this week (they're all too nice to call anyone an old bat) but it's the nub of it: how do animals literally hang out and not get a serious head rush after awhile? Here's the skinny: <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150829-animals-science-sloths-bats-health-biology/">Bats and Sloths Don't Get Dizzy Hanging Upside Down - Here's Why.</a></div>
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In the interest of science I tried doing a head stand in the pool for this piece. Downside: holding your breath makes you even dizzier when you're upside down. Upside: I'm not too old to do a handstand in the pool. Win. Win.<br /><br />
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Lovely antique bat anatomy drawings from <a href="http://neurologicalcorrelates.com/wordpress/2007/09/19/neurological-correlates-antique-scientific-illustration-bats/">Neurological Corelates</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-33751415358294444022015-08-25T15:04:00.002-07:002015-09-16T12:40:24.630-07:00Atticus Flinch: More Beloved Fictional Characters Ruined<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who’d have guessed Harper Lee would get George Lucas syndrome?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both Lee and Lucas wrote stories that became iconic and followed them up with something…else. I haven’t read <i>Go Set a Watchmen,</i> Lee’s sequel <i>To Kill A Mockingbird</i> follow-up yet, but have heard about <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/07/to-kill-a-mockingbird-fans-may-not-like-the-new-atticus-finch">the surprise and dismay over the racism of the character Atticus Finch</a>, whose defense of a black man in the depression-era South in <i>Mockingbird </i>made him a cultural hero.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, fictional people change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You think you know a person and boom, you're wrong. Just like in real life, people change on you. Most have <i>something</i> in their past they’d like to remain murky. Why should characters be any different?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if we're going to ding some halos, why stop with Atticus? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are a few beloved characters my co-writer Susan Moynihan and I decided to give questionable pasts of their own. Artists, feel free to make your own book covers and movie posters of these, just link to this and send them to me at langley.liz@gmail.com.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(For the record we love all these characters and this falls under the banner of ‘satire’).</span></div>
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<b>Snow White and the Seven DUIs </b></div>
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It’s not just her stepmother that has her in hiding, it’s the arrest warrants.</div>
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<b>Anne of Green Goebbels</b></div>
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An 11-year-old orphan girl is adopted by a politician in 1930s Germany.</div>
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<b>Jiminy Crackhead</b></div>
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A small-town cricket follows his friend to the big city and finds something more lasting than love: addiction.</div>
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<b>It's the Great Leader, Charlie Brown!</b></div>
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When The Peanuts visit North Korea they FILE NOT FOUND. THE GREAT LEADER IS GREAT.</div>
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<b>My Little Porny</b></div>
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Welcome to a Dream Valley, just over from The Valley in Los Angeles, where colorful ponies swap "cutie marks" and horse around with their middle-aged male admirers.</div>
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<b>Willie Wonka and the 200 Counts of Human Trafficking</b></div>
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The Oompa Loompas lawyer up.</div>
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<b>The Poppin' Fresh Killings</b></div>
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He got poked in the tummy one too many times…and the giggling ended.</div>
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<b>Jem and the Hallucinogens</b></div>
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A small-town girl starts a rock band and catapults to super-stardom — in her mind, thanks to a killer tab of acid.</div>
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<b>Harry Potter and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Doping Scandal</b></div>
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How did this skinny kid get so great at a really hard sport? “Magic.”</div>
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<b>George Bailey: It's a Wonderful Life Sentence</b></div>
Beleagured small town banker kills a local drunk named Clarence in a bar fight, and learns how life goes on without him while he’s in prison.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks for the photoshop job, Doug Rhodehamel!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">I wrote and posted this on<a href="http://stupidlittledreams.blogspot.com/"> another blog of mine</a> a couple of weeks ago but I'm condensing to a single blog and importing this. Cuz I love this)</span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-2271188771131257992015-08-09T23:02:00.000-07:002015-08-11T06:24:50.518-07:00Go Go Bonobo!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sYgkgNLhdBI/Vcgs1gZCdhI/AAAAAAAADrU/MDTQJYePO2g/s1600/jax%2Bzoo%2Bbonobos%2B170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sYgkgNLhdBI/Vcgs1gZCdhI/AAAAAAAADrU/MDTQJYePO2g/s640/jax%2Bzoo%2Bbonobos%2B170.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">First time mom, Jo-T, with her nine-month-old son Lukuru (Luke) by Paige Anderson</span><br />
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Everyone who knows me well knows I can't get enough of apes and monkeys. Long before I had the luck to write for NatGeo I tried to work ape and monkey stories into the pages of the Orlando Weekly and the Toronto Sun. If one of them was ever seen wearing a Kate Spade dress I'd have tried to write about them for Glamour. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Below, Akili, the older man by Paige Anderson)</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UUUz0sEYHc/VcgwHc85phI/AAAAAAAADrg/BGKk3cUsedw/s1600/jax%2Bzoo%2Bbonobos%2B166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UUUz0sEYHc/VcgwHc85phI/AAAAAAAADrg/BGKk3cUsedw/s640/jax%2Bzoo%2Bbonobos%2B166.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Of all the apes and monkeys bonobos have always had a special place in my heart. It's not just because they are the hyper-sexed apes you've heard about but because of their gentleness and their matriarchal society (though they can be tough customers, too). I was fascinated with the notion primatologists wrote about that, had we known about the sweeter nature of these apes, who share as much DNA with us as chimps do, we might not have had such an aggressive image of ourselves, going only by our chimp relatives.<br />
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Years later - this year in fact - when I found out there were bonobos at Jacksonville Zoo I couldn't wait to go see them.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--TzoZFzH9aM/Vcg4C35HykI/AAAAAAAADrw/_FJI5Ucr0KI/s1600/jax%2Bzoo%2Bbonobos%2B177.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--TzoZFzH9aM/Vcg4C35HykI/AAAAAAAADrw/_FJI5Ucr0KI/s640/jax%2Bzoo%2Bbonobos%2B177.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">( Neely Ann, Luke and Jo'T by Paige Anderson)</span></div>
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Lucky for me a reader wrote into NatGeo with a question about them and a study came out about them in tandem so I had a hook to go on. I grabbed <a href="https://www.facebook.com/paige.anderson.1291?fref=ts">Paige Anderson</a> who took these terrific photos of the Jacksonville bonobos. These are the ones I write about in <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150808-animals-bonobos-apes-evolution-speech/">Bonobo BabyTalk Reveals Roots of Human Language</a> on National Geographic's website.<br />
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Poor Paige - I dragged her around Jax for six hours in the 99 degree heat but I wanted to see everything and frankly I could have stared at the bonobos all day long. They're so much fun to watch, so like us and having supervisor of mammals Tracy Fenn there to tell us who was who and what their relationships were, it was like watching a snippet of a soap opera. Paige and I used to watch <i>All My Children</i> together; this was even better.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Luke getting tickled by his mama by Paige Anderson)</span></div>
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I hope to have more opportunities to get out and see these mesmerizing animals; hopefully you'll get to see them for yourself one day.<br />
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Nothing like a vacation to visit the relatives, especially the kind you don't actually have to talk to.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Above, Neely Ann snacking, by Paige Anderson)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(The beautiful and famous Kuni, by Paige Anderson)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Goofy Luke rolling around in the grass with Jo-T, by Paige Anderson)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-69924099843458037372015-08-06T23:40:00.001-07:002015-08-06T23:40:20.901-07:00Do Big Animals Sleep Standing Up?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wLWHEU3GU_Q/VcRLd8Z1JhI/AAAAAAAADqs/53hdQisGs_g/s1600/sleeping-giraffe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wLWHEU3GU_Q/VcRLd8Z1JhI/AAAAAAAADqs/53hdQisGs_g/s320/sleeping-giraffe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
When a reader asked how it is that big animals like cattle sleep standing up some people I spoke to about it were more baffled than the reader. Why, they wondered, would anyone think big animals sleep standing up?<br />
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The reader's question<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150711-animals-science-sleep-horses-bison-moose/"> is answered here on NatGeo</a> but the answer to why they think that is, simple, that we never see big animals in real life. The only animals many people have sustained contact with are our pets which don't typically include bison or elephants.<br />
< Most of us never see this.<br />
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<a href="http://fwallpapers.com/view/sleeping-giraffe"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sleepy giraffe from Wallpaper</span></a><br />
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Sweet, isn't it? But there's more to the answer in the story so give a click! Sweet dreams!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxqJJY1glM4/VcRPGk0rctI/AAAAAAAADq4/SiX-mEy2kS8/s1600/moose45cropped_400x211_8sec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxqJJY1glM4/VcRPGk0rctI/AAAAAAAADq4/SiX-mEy2kS8/s320/moose45cropped_400x211_8sec.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.nps.gov/whmi/learn/photosmultimedia/animal-sightings-2011.htm">Sleepy moose from Nature Sightings website</a></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-62613741121744444352015-07-21T22:35:00.003-07:002015-07-21T22:35:35.615-07:00My column on NatGeo: Why small birds have more musical songs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3BCantw_zInw1HZ8Jzrx2kWeUZAJOcNh4XDDMBie7pslKnRaGHqYM8-2a4GPVhGCqgb684bJjk4dN0yDQK9m7jxKLJMWfFU0sb27HmTpiizt5TSm4oVRj6MDJ0zKQb9ITS4nJlGLLe8x/s1600/300px-Flickr_-_Rainbirder_-_Wood_Warbler_%2528Phylloscopus_sibilatrix%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3BCantw_zInw1HZ8Jzrx2kWeUZAJOcNh4XDDMBie7pslKnRaGHqYM8-2a4GPVhGCqgb684bJjk4dN0yDQK9m7jxKLJMWfFU0sb27HmTpiizt5TSm4oVRj6MDJ0zKQb9ITS4nJlGLLe8x/s1600/300px-Flickr_-_Rainbirder_-_Wood_Warbler_%2528Phylloscopus_sibilatrix%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
When a reader wrote in to ask why smaller birds sing prettier songs I had to think around the word "prettier."Little birds like warblers (on the left) do sing more musical songs and it could be argued that they're prettier, but I happen to love the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWTABEOFYoY">mournful sound of peacocks</a> and even the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sICaV6VKI6I">kaw of crows</a> because they sound like Halloween.<br />
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I'd never have thought of the crow as a songbird but that is, indeed the category they fall into as I found out when I answered the reader's question on <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/weird-wild-qotw/">Weird Animal Questions of the Week</a>. Getting to listen to all this birdsong made me hear more of it in my neighborhood (including owls). Birdsong is said to be calming and honestly, I don't know how anyone could listen to mockingbird below sing his heart out and not feel a little better.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-87898627311101403352015-07-15T20:10:00.000-07:002015-07-15T20:10:29.509-07:00Voiceover: I Dream of Stampy<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/213822545&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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Our dreams are private and mysterious. One day, when we all have USB ports installed in our heads that may change, but for now our dreams are ours.<br />
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They're also often really stupid.<br />
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I've been told I laugh in my sleep and I figured out why when I recorded some of my dreams as soon as I was awake enough to work my iPhone. In this one someone wants to crush something (I don't say what) and, despite having a perfectly good elephant right there, they don't use it.<br />
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Audio editing is something Iv'e always wanted to learn, so for practice I edited my recording of the dream down to 15 seconds. It's always been one of my stupid little dreams to be a cartoon voiceover, so if anyone wants to animate this little recording about a perfectly good elephant who can't get a job, please feel free and please <a href="https://www.facebook.com/langley.liz">send it to me on Facebook</a>.<br />
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Now I'm going to look for more material. Good night!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-6431813215944268252015-06-28T21:28:00.000-07:002015-06-29T21:38:18.821-07:00Zoolander: Shabani the Handsome Gorilla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xnYPxLu2jkI/VY7bJuB2KOI/AAAAAAAADnE/wAzovLppN6k/s1600/http---prod.static9.net.au-_-media-Network-NL-Online-2015-06-JUNE-26-150626picklegorilla.ashx.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xnYPxLu2jkI/VY7bJuB2KOI/AAAAAAAADnE/wAzovLppN6k/s400/http---prod.static9.net.au-_-media-Network-NL-Online-2015-06-JUNE-26-150626picklegorilla.ashx.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ready for the weirdest game of 'Hot or Not' you've ever played?<br />
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Okay, does anyone else think <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/asia/handsome-gorilla-shabani/">this gorilla is quite attractive</a>?</div>
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Quite a lot of women in Japan do. In fact Shabani, who lives at the <a href="http://www.higashiyama.city.nagoya.jp/index_pc.php">Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens</a> has caused a flurry of stories because the ladies find him so handsome.<br />
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CNN says about 100 admirers at a time surround his enclosure and that they call out to him, like concert goers to a pop star.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(The image above came from <a href="http://pickle.ninemsn.com.au/2015/06/26/12/36/shabani-handsome-gorilla"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(4, 46, 238); color: #551a8b;">Australia's NineMSN Pickle page</span></a>, via @hapyyuka on Twitter). </span></div>
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Leave it to Japan,where the young population is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex">famously apathetic about sex and dating</a> to make a heart throb out of member of another species. Just throw it on the giant pile of reasons that Japan is fascinating and I want to go to there.</div>
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The BBC’s “<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33290043">Shabani: The Making of a Metrosexual Gorilla</a>.” let's us know that the model primate is in a May-December relationship - his “wife” is 24 years his senior (hooray for older ladies). It also has helpful tips on the slang Japanese women use to describe him, including “ikemen,” a good-looking guy and “ikuman,” a doting dad. Apparently Shabani is that, too.</div>
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All he needs is money and he's the Gomez Addams of gorillas. The guy has got it all.</div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Anyway, I can’t help being charmed by the handsome gorilla and the ladies who love him. Maybe he’ll use his celebrity to bring some </span><a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/great_apes/gorillas/save_solutions_gorillas/" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">attention to gorillas worldwide</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> who are endangered whose futures don’t look so great.</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: xx-small;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">above right, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gorillas_in_Uganda-1,_by_Fiver_L%C3%B6cker.jpg">gorilla in Uganda, photo from Wikimedia Commons</a>)</span></span></div>
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As for Shabari’s future certainly there will be a spread in GQ - Gorilla Quarterly. Maybe even a music video. In the meantime check out the one below.<br />
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Ladies...you're welcome.</div>
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UPDATE: And if they give him a music video one day, well, we gotcher song right here:<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-89558532300431744152015-06-27T07:47:00.002-07:002015-06-27T07:47:58.065-07:00WAQ: How elephants sneeze on NatGeo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iQiwG4L-LWEJez52MB26_CkjtrTAraDCwcyxvYsehV3Kd1rgJa6boPfhbaW1NC7kMKzxd3qm8iHkMETNAD47WMl1YdBu79oRfXHMVEC_CmgAlqqe0LHgHrIvRkQ0gZrccnQo1dEGZVJ6/s1600/Baby_Elephant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iQiwG4L-LWEJez52MB26_CkjtrTAraDCwcyxvYsehV3Kd1rgJa6boPfhbaW1NC7kMKzxd3qm8iHkMETNAD47WMl1YdBu79oRfXHMVEC_CmgAlqqe0LHgHrIvRkQ0gZrccnQo1dEGZVJ6/s320/Baby_Elephant.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Fun fact that I didn't get to add to my <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/weird-wild-qotw/">WAQ (aka Weird Animal Question of the Week) </a>on NatGeo.com this week....<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150627-animals-science-elephants-anatomy-sneezing/">a reader asked how elephants sneeze.</a> I talked in the story about how elephants and other animals sneeze but didn't get to add the fact that one type of elephant sneeze is especially beneficial to farmers. To keep elephants from raiding their crops s<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060918-elephants-chili.html">ome farmers plant chili peppers</a> or burn chili oil - a chemical in chilies is unpleasant to elephants and can make them sneeze.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Photo from <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Elephant.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-52465960868985692162015-06-21T23:02:00.001-07:002015-06-21T23:04:12.123-07:00WAQ on NatGeo: The truth about cats and dogs...and lemmings and ostriches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAjeM8fXBjE/VYeklf1Gw3I/AAAAAAAADkA/zauy_n2X6M4/s1600/keep-calm-and-bury-your-head-in-the-sand-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAjeM8fXBjE/VYeklf1Gw3I/AAAAAAAADkA/zauy_n2X6M4/s200/keep-calm-and-bury-your-head-in-the-sand-3.png" width="200" /></a></div>
It seems that people aren't content to make up rumors about other people. They've got to make them up about animals, too.<br />
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A few weeks ago we got a National Geographic Weird Animal Question of the Week about one such rumor and I had a very interesting time straightening out some myths about lemmings, ostriches, dogs and cats in <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150523-animals-myths-lemmings-science-cats-dogs/">Are Lemmings Really Suicidal? The Truth Behind Animal Myths.</a><br />
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As you can probably tell from the <a href="http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-bury-your-head-in-the-sand-3/">art work by the Keep-Calm-O-Matic,</a> one of them is that ostriches aren't as cowardly as they're made out to be.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-51206836810065031042015-06-01T13:08:00.002-07:002015-06-01T13:08:54.065-07:00NatGeo WAQ: Why doesn't my dog do Face Time?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRi5BBBj1AJUpavVCZMuoAPwGRFdp-PoVWTueVZRwjVJTfINx13TIIgnRT1hIK_QB48R51SuNNwQm6rMWZVN3PhT_7xGtSeNDEiNvRPPpZj-9goOO09hAsbXlS2z3OdFLVrBUrvtg5EEip/s1600/funny-cute-dog-looking-iPhone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRi5BBBj1AJUpavVCZMuoAPwGRFdp-PoVWTueVZRwjVJTfINx13TIIgnRT1hIK_QB48R51SuNNwQm6rMWZVN3PhT_7xGtSeNDEiNvRPPpZj-9goOO09hAsbXlS2z3OdFLVrBUrvtg5EEip/s320/funny-cute-dog-looking-iPhone.jpg" width="270" /></a>When you come home your dog is so happy to see you he jumps around like he just got picked for The Price is Right. But when you try to talk to him on the phone he’s so aloof you’d think he owed you money. </div>
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What gives?</div>
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In my latest <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150530-dogs-animals-psychology-technology-science/">Weird Animal Question of the Week</a> (let’s call it WAQ for short) on National Geographic It turns out that dogs have different abilities when it come to being able to hear or see their owners on phones, so depending on the device - and the dog - they may or may not be able to recognize the face or voice of an owner they would on a TV or other screen.</div>
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So, once again, dogs seem to mirror our behavior in that some of them don’t like to talk on the phone and some will talk all day if you let them. And how could you resist?)</div>
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(<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Adorable photo from <a href="http://themetapicture.com/that-sad-nervous-face/">The Meta Picture</a>)</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-58492038028743091942015-05-22T12:23:00.001-07:002015-05-22T12:23:14.201-07:00Do Bugs Sleep? on NatGeo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TejnPYRbDYg/VV-BqXTIbJI/AAAAAAAADhw/X3leHcSlZiE/s1600/bed-bug.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TejnPYRbDYg/VV-BqXTIbJI/AAAAAAAADhw/X3leHcSlZiE/s320/bed-bug.png" width="320" /></a></div>
A reader sent in the question "Do Bugs Sleep?" to NatGeo and I had a great time talking to scientists Katy Prudic and Barrett Klein about the intriguing answer (and yeah, you have to click for it). I'm also super excited about the fact that the piece was picked up by <a href="http://boingboing.net/2015/05/19/do-bugs-sleep.html">Boing Boing</a>, which I've been a fan of for a long time!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Graphic from <a href="http://www.mycutegraphics.com/graphics/bug/bed-bug.html">My Cute Graphics</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891611933098278813.post-71329325623417343262015-05-04T21:40:00.002-07:002015-05-05T09:40:59.128-07:00Birds of Prey, in my NatGeo column and in real life, in Maitland<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“How high can you fly with broken wings?”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Aerosmith asked that rhetorical question in one of their lyrics but in real-life the sad answer is “You can’t.” Especially not if you're an injured bird.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That’s why when two <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Hawk/id">Swainson’s hawks</a> came into a the <a href="http://www.tetonraptorcenter.org/">Teton Raptor Center</a> in Wyoming with flight feathers that had been forcefully removed by some lovely person, the rehab specialists at the TRC used an ancient technique called “imping” to give it new feathers. You can read all about it in my NatGeo Weird Animal Question of the Week column, <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150502-birds-hawks-animals-health-science-feathers/">How Injured Birds Get New Feathers - The Answer May Surprise You</a>.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_xPdZSgdMsNZ3PND5TSW8YxNnENPFVlODTnOPrkaGPoz05ZlVorOx5ThRbwvPP-W0DE_O6C7_ujctfgAny5QmbaLhkjXN5zmnce4rvDhrXvME3pZorLjuyG71wILk4JWoBA5oLiKukOd/s1600/bird3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_xPdZSgdMsNZ3PND5TSW8YxNnENPFVlODTnOPrkaGPoz05ZlVorOx5ThRbwvPP-W0DE_O6C7_ujctfgAny5QmbaLhkjXN5zmnce4rvDhrXvME3pZorLjuyG71wILk4JWoBA5oLiKukOd/s320/bird3.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sadly for me I don't always get to meet the animals I write about...well, "sadly" unless they're black widow spiders. This week, though i was lucky to get to the <a href="http://fl.audubon.org/audubon-center-birds-prey">Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, FL</a> and meet some raptors.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's a great day out: for a measly $5 suggested donation you get a beautiful afternoon of seeing these amazing birds up close. That can be eye-opening for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Floridians who see eagles, hawks, ospreys and vultures frequently, but nesting on a power pole, picking at road kill or otherwise not where you can get a good look. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">At the Birds of Prey Center you can get closer than arm’s length with a red-tailed hawk, like I did with tSpike, (above). She is short one eye but has quite a menacing beak, especially when you’re as close as I am here, where it looks as if he's just said "I cannot <i>believe</i> you haven't seen <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc_qpk2d-ao">Winged Migration</a>!"</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There's Spike again, right, with one of the center guides, Angela, looking a bit more chirpy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bald eagles, too, are enormous close up, and so handsome they were clearly the right choice for national symbol. Benjamin Franklin had suggested the turkey for that honor, which would have been a great choice if we wanted our image to be “Delicious,” but for regal presence the bald eagle was the best pick and you can see why when there is one a few feet away from you.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The center has a few tiny owls, including burrowing owls who, as their name suggests, live underground and not in trees like almost every other bird in the world (weirdos) but they also have a barred owl, one of my favorites. It's a haunted looking bird with a distinctive call you can hear in the video below.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Of course most of the owls were asleep since it was the middle of the day when we were there but hopefully they’ll all stay on May the 9th when the center has its Baby Owl Shower, which promises a deluge of cuteness, not something you normally associate with birds of prey but if you've ever seen a <a href="http://www.dailycute.net/Birds/Tiny-owl/398">tiny owl</a> you won't be able to resist. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I hope to get to see more of “my” animals in real life in upcoming stories, so keep your fingers crossed, check back in and click on the NatGeo piece and see how damaged birds get back up in the air with the help of rehab centers. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Humans…they’re not all bad. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0