Happy Birthday John Steinbeck

Today is the 110th anniversary of John Steinbeck's birth. To mark this I was going to post a video of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. However, this two part video of Steinbeck's son, Thomas, discussing their dog Charley is much more entertaining. Charley is the dog Steinbeck wrote about in his book Travels with Charley.

Managing the Menhaden

Baltimore Oriole

Not quite the eagle cam, but an incredibly clear video of a Baltimore Oriole. In the middle of the video there is another bird, but I am not sure what that one is.

[Added 6/7/11 - The second bird is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.]

Baltimore Orioles with GoPro Hero HD from Rob Lavoie on Vimeo.

Milch und Musik

What could go together better than cows and classical music.

Sandhill Crane Migration

From The Christian Science Monitor, a selection of photographs documenting the sandhill crane migration.

Also don't miss out on the daily excitement over on the Eagle Cam—live eagle action. Right now they are looking a bit bedraggled from the rain.

Sandhill crane migration

Camouflage

A video of some amazing marine camouflage.

Who needs a Groundhog

Who needs a groundhog when you have an elephant?

Best Wildlife Photographs

Guardian.co.uk picture editor, Eric Hilaire, selects the best shots from this year's wildlife photography awards.

Review of 2010 wildlife photographic awards

The Birds of America

An original double elephant folio edition of John James Audobon's The Birds of America has sold at auction for $11.5, making it the most expensive print book ever sold. I bought a series of books that reproduce the original 4 volumes on ebay a couple years ago for much less, but it is probably not even baby elephant size. Here is an article with a video about the book.

Audubon's Birds of America: The world's most expensive book

The Great Gatsby

Roger Ebert's latest blog entry is about Bill Nack, author of the book that the movie Secretariat is based on. In the post, The storyteller and the stallion, Ebert discusses his long friendship with Nack, a fellow University of Illinois alumnus. The post contains a very interesting four part video of Nack discussing Secretariat. Also included is this video of Nack reciting the closing lines of The Great Gatsby.



See my previous post on Secretariat for more on the brawl between Ebert and Salon critic Andrew O'Hehir over the movie.

Sleep Inducing Milk

An article, from guardian.co.uk, about a German company that has patented "nocturnal milk". That is milk with super high levels of melatonin.

German night milk may aid insomniacs

Secretariat

I saw Secretatriat today, and while I wouldn't say it is a great film, it was entertaining. Highest marks go to the sound track for including both the Staple Singers singing "I'll Talk You Their" and the Edwin Hawkins Singers performing "Oh Happy Day". And the songs went really well with the scenes they accompanied. As expected, Diane Lane does a great job portraying Penny Chenery, Secretariat's owner. The Horse who portrays Secretariat does a great job also, but he does not seem to be credited.

[Added 10/12/10: I see from this Slate article that it was actually ten horses who played Secretariat.]

Almost more entertaining than the film though is the brawl that erupted last week over the film between Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com and Roger Ebert. O'Hehir wrote a review ripping the film and comparing it to Nazi propaganda. Then Ebert wrote a scathing retort implying that the original review was insane, and O'Hehir responded back. I have to say that I agree mostly with Ebert. Sometimes a movies about a horse is just a movie about a horse. I mean it is a Disney film after all, not exactly a major source of social criticism. Here are the articles.

O'Hehir's review

Ebert's response

O'Hehir's rebuttal

Here is video of the real Secretariat winning the Belmont stakes followed by the trailer for the movie.

British wildlife photography awards

A set of photographs on guardian.co.uk of the British Wildlife Photography Award winners.

British wildlife photography awards 2010

Flooding at the Fairmount Water Works

I was in Philadelphia last Friday and went to Fairmount Park on the Schuylkill River. This was just as a tropical rain—dropping over 10 inches of water upstream—was ending. The dam at the Fairmount Water Works usually has a fairly gentle water fall, but when I was there the water was gushing over the dam, flooding the water works and creating quite a mess. It is hard to capture in photographs how dramatic the scene was, particularly since the way the place is built you can stand right at the edge of the dam and look straight down into it. Here are some pictures of the flooding and some other scenes around the park.

Fairmount Park & Water Works - 10/1/10

Elephant Orphans

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a charity which rescues and rehabilitates orphaned African elephants, is holding an exhibition of pictures taken by three of the world's most celebrated wildlife photographers – Joachim Schmeisser, Michael Nichols and Robert Carr-Hartley. A selection of these photographs from The Guardian.

Protector of the Giants photographic exhibition

I Never

As you get older, there are fewer times when you see something that you have never imagined before. I am posting this video that a friend put on Facebook, because I certainly never imagined this. I always thought that the Bunny Hop was a dance.

Added 9/7/10: I have been sent this link to more information on Rabbit Show Jumping.

Picture ot the Day - 8/29/2010

Alpacas at the Maryland State Fair.  You can show alpacas at the fair now.

Pictures of the Day - 2010

Tai Shan Update

It has been a little over six months since Tai Shan the panda left the National Zoo and returned to China. According to this update his Chinese keepers have had to rid him of his slothful western ways.

Puny and Decadent American-Bred Panda Is Being Retrained to Chinese Standards

Picture ot the Day - 8/4/2010

Scratching an itch, between the Inner Harbor and Fells Point.

Pictures of the Day - 2010

Freaks of Nature

Two videos from the BBC. The first, video of the world's largest hailstone. The second, video of a baby zedonk—I never heard of these before.

Giant South Dakota hailstone breaks US record


Rare zedonk born at US wildlife reserve