1 Finish reading Tim Homan's adventure, Temporarily Misplaced Part 2.
2 I usually restrict these links to just nature-related items, but I'm making an exception today. In the midst of this pandemic I found a simple pleasure in the Netflix series Midnight Diner. Each episode is a half-hour. The series is set in Tokyo, in Japanese with English subtitles. The diner of the title is a simple one-counter, one cook operation that opens at midnight and closes at seven am. The menu offers only one item, but the mysterious proprietor, known only as "Master," will make any dish asked for, if he has the ingredients. There are over a dozen customers that drop in from time to time and each episode focuses on one or two of these regulars. The stories are simple and sentimental. Food plays a role in each small drama and most episodes end with a brief cooking tip. In the words of the Master: "If you don't clean the mussels, the soup will be sandy."
Watch two or three of the episodes to see if you like it. Watch this short video review to get a sense of what the show is like.
3
Cicada choruses are winding down now, but these are not the so-called
"periodical" cicadas. The choruses we hear in late summer are ordinary
cicadas that make an appearance every year. Periodical cicadas emerge in
enormous numbers every 13 or 17 years, depending on where you live. This website
has extensive information about periodical cicada life history,
including emergence maps and years. You can use that information to plan a
trip in late spring/early summer to personally experience an emergence.
Next
year (2021) the 17 year periodical cicada is scheduled to emerge in
North Georgia. The last emergence of this brood was in 2014 and people reported their presence in Union and White counties, so be ready in April or May to witness a rare natural event. Here is a great video
documenting the life cycle of the 17 year cicada. It captures the
feeling of the emergence better that any other I've seen. It's
almost like being there.
4 And now, for something completely different. Part 1:
A short documentary about the Victorian art of arranging diatoms.
5 And now, for something completely different. Part 2:
A short documentary about lichens and a lichenologist:
6
One trait thought to be possessed only by humans is learning from other
individuals. But it seems that homing pigeons can learn from more
experienced birds. Read this report of a UGA professor's research written by science writer Elizabeth Penissi.
7 With the human population increasing and the amount of suitable land for agriculture decreasing the need for a source of protein in the near future is a given. Some has suggested that we switch to insects as a source of protein, but this doesn't seem acceptable at the present time. Another source that has been promoted in recent years is aquaculture. Haikai magazine has a series of five articles on the possibility of aquaculture as the solution to this problem: "Big Fish The Aquacultural Revolution." (Please note that I am not advocating, pro or con, aquaculture; I'm just calling your attention to the variety of options that are possible.)
8 Wildfires are sweeping through the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the loss of lives, property and timber, these fires are burning down forests of mushrooms
9 Jan Coyne sent this link: Comedy Wildlife Photography awards 2020 finalists - in pictures
11 Has anyone seen an Overcup Oak? If so, let me know where it is.
That's it for this week.
