Giant Squid

A large giant squid has been filmed and captured for the first time off the coast of Japan. Earlier this year a squid was captured in still photos underwater at a bait-trap, but this is the first known live video of these whale killers.

Tsunemi Kubodera, a scientist with Japan's National Science Museum, caught the 24-foot (7-meter) animal earlier this month near the island of Chichijima, some 600 miles (960 kilometers) southeast of Tokyo (see Japan map).

His team snared the animal using a line baited with small squid and shot video of the russet-colored giant as it was hauled to the surface.

The squid, a young female, "put up quite a fight" as the team attempted to bring it aboard, Kudobera told the Associated Press, and the animal died from injuries sustained during the capture.

Giant squid, the world's largest invertebrates, are thought to reach sizes up to 60 feet (18 meters), but because they live at such great ocean depths they have never been studied in the wild.

I haven't seen the video yet, but when it pops up I will link to it.

Global Warming Drowns an Island

Can we start to take global warming serious now?

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.

As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.

Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.

It is already too late for these people.

Photo credit: shunya.net

"Baby Jesus" Liazrds

Virgin birth baby lizards? Two Komodo dragons in England have laid self-fertilized eggs.

That's because the virgin in question is Flora the Komodo dragon, a giant lizard at Chester Zoo in England that has laid fertile eggs despite never having had a mate.

DNA tests confirmed Flora was the sole parent, says Chester Zoo curator of lower vertebrates Kevin Buley.

...

Flora, along with another female Komodo dragon from the London Zoo, represent the first known cases of virgin birth in the world's largest lizard, according to researchers.

The two reptiles are examples of a process called parthenogenesis, in which offspring are produced without fertilization by a male, according to a report in the current issue of the journal Nature.

Others have said that this may help explain how monitors populate islands. It is now believed that it only takes a lone female to reach and island and not a pair of monitors like previously thought. And due to lizard genetics all offspring will be males! I find this very bizzare considering monitor sex is thought to be temperature dependant.

A Komodo dragon at London Zoo gave birth earlier this year after being separated from males for more than two years.

Scientists thought she had been able to store sperm from her earlier encounter with a male, but after hearing about Flora's eggs researchers conducted tests which showed her eggs were also produced without male help.

"You have two institutions within a few short months of each other having a previously unheard of event. It is really quite unprecedented," said Buley.

The scientists, reporting the discovery in the science journal Nature, said it could help them understand how reptiles colonize new areas.

A female dragon could, for instance, swim to another island and establish a new colony on her own.

"The genetics of self-fertilization in lizards means that all her hatchlings would have to be male. These would grow up to mate with their own mother and therefore, within one generation, there would potentially be a population able to reproduce normally on the new island," Buley said.

If anyone can shed some light on why parthenogenesis always results in all male clutches please do share as I do not understand why this is neccessarily true. If parthenogenesis were to happen in humans, the offspring would have to be female. I know that varanids lack a X-chromosome like most mammals, but why all males? It makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, but the cell biology is confusing.

Here's hoping at least one of them gets named Jesus.

Word of the week

opisthoglyphous ... meaning rear-fanged colubrid

In the opisthoglyphous colubrids, with grooved teeth situated at the posterior extremity of the maxilla, a small posterior portion of the upper labial or salivary gland is converted into a venom-secreting organ, distinguished by a light yellow colour, provided with a duct larger than any of those of the labial gland, and proceeding inward and downward to the base of the grooved fang; the duct is not in direct connection with the groove, but the two communicate through the mediation of the cavity enclosed by the folds of mucous membrane surrounding the tooth, and united in front.

We have a few of these snakes but the coolest by far right now is the Paradise Flying Snake.

Back

It's been awhile since the last post. I have been trying to apply to graduate programs. Applications are almost done though. So more regular posting next week. Check back.

What a night!

Wow! Congratulations to the new Madam Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and apparent Senate Majority Leader Reid.

In our backyard Jerry McNerney, beat the corrupt, pro environment destroying Richard Pombo. Pombo regularly recieved some of the worst pro-environmental grades in Congress and was heavily tied to Jack Abramoff.

And here is to hoping Arnold stays centrist and doesn't immediatly move back to the right like he did after his first election.

Election Day

Please all go take advantage of your civil right and go vote today. Tell the country we want our democracy back.

There is a lot of voter intimidation going on around the country, as if those in power don't want us to vote. Tell your representative how you feel about their performance in Congress with your vote.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium and many other pro-science and pro-conservation groups urge you to vote yes on CA-84

Proposition 84 - the Clean Water, Parks and Coastal Protection Act makes the investments needed to ensure that all Californians will have:
Access to safe drinking water
Better protection from floods
Opportunities to enjoy parks, natural landscapes and our rivers, lakes, beaches, bays and coastline.

Update: And surprise there are major problems with the electronic voting machines. And this time both sides are complaining, so maybe something will finally be done about it.

Flag photo credit

6 more days until the Election

cartoon link here.

Via TPM

Bigfoot

Apparently there was a bigfoot sighting in El Dorado County in September caught on photo film ... well kinda. They claim that the Bigfoot is breaking into a car and you can see some "underwear" and "male organ" I can barely see a damn thing but there you go. I cannot tell if Bigfoot just doesn't know how to wear underwear so that his "organ" doesn't show or if the underwear is supposed to be hanging on a close line that just happens to be at bigfoot crotch level.

But breaking into a car. Hard times for Bigfoot.

Click the link for the grainy photos.

Happy Halloween

Enjoy the one time a year where it's okay to take candy from strangers in masks.

Friday Gecko Blogging Tuesday Addition

Rhacodactylus chahoua

Oedura castlenaui

Ancient Reptile Sea Monsters

The fossilized remains of a 33-foot sea reptile dubbed "The Monster" have been found on an Artic island.

The ancient graveyard once lay deep underwater during the Jurassic period, about 200 million to 145 million years ago (take a virtual swim with Jurassic sea monsters).he site now sits on the island of Spitsbergen, part of the Norwegian-owned Svalbard archipelago, which lies about 600 miles (966 kilometers) from the North Pole (map of Norway).

In total, 28 well-preserved skeletons of marine reptiles that lived some 150 million years ago have been identified at the site, reports a team from the University of Oslo Natural History Museum in Norway.

The fossil haul includes the Monster, an estimated 33-foot-long (10-meter-long) pliosaur that has not yet been fully excavated. (See images of the newly found sea monster.)

Pliosaurs were the top marine predators during a time when the oceans were teeming with large, meat-eating reptiles.

"It was the T. rex of the ocean," said Jørn Hurum, co-leader of the research team. "It would have eaten everything."

So far the team has found the Monster's skull, which measures 6.9 feet (2.1 meters) in length, along with dinner plate-size neck vertebrae and portions of the lower jaw containing teeth as thick as cucumbers.

Nobel Prize in Econ

As you can see by the Colbert Nobel Prize Excel photo from below an American was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics this week. Colombia University professor, Edmund S. Phelps won for his theories on the relationship between inflation and unemployment.

The 73-year-old Columbia University professor challenged prevailing views in the 1960s by developing a new economic model that has helped corporate and government leaders balance inflation and unemployment in decision-making.

He is the sixth US citizen to win a Nobel Prize this year, meaning every prize save for the literature and peace prizes, which have not yet been announced, have gone to Americans.

Phelps said in New York that he learned of the prize in a telephone call from Sweden shortly after 6 am.

...

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Phelps' work, done in the late 1960s, had "deepened our understanding of the relation between short-run and long-run effects of economic policy."

Colbert notices the US Nobel Dominance

For your Colbert Nobel Prize watch.

Plus a great video on last wednesday segment concerning the Nobel Prizes can be found at comedy central (as of now the second row of videos). No video yet on youtube.

Friday Gecko Blogging

Tortoise Addition

Geochelone radiata

And Another!

With the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Stanford University professor Roger Kornberg, the Americans have swept the Nobel science prizes for the first time since 1983 and just as importantly the Bay Area represented winners for all three prizes.

Stanford University professor Roger Kornberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry today for his research into how information stored in genes is copied and used to construct an organism.

Kornberg's Nobel Prize comes 47 years after his father received the coveted award for his work in medicine. Kornberg is the third Bay Area scientist to win a Nobel Prize this week, and will receive about $1.3 million for the honor.

Kornberg, 59, was honored for his work studying transcription, the process of copying information stored in genes and transferring them outside the cells, where proteins use the copy to actually create the organism. His work could help scientists understand fatal illnesses including cancer and heart disease and move stem cell research forward, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

It has been a great week to be a Bay Area science junkie.

Photo via Creative Commons Search, credit ereneta

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics was announced yesterday morning and once again some Bay Area scientists won.

George F. Smoot of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and John C. Mather of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for their research that found the first overwhelming evidence for the Big Bang as the origin of the universe.

Prof. Smoot is a physics professor at UC Berkeley. He actually teaches Physics 7B, the second semester of introductory physics class. Can you imagine being a freshman or sophmore, coming to class to find out that your professor just won a Nobel Prize? The Award ceremony in Sweeden is the day of the class final.

Dr. Mather was a UCB doctoral grad, studying under another Nobel prize winner, Charles H. Townes.

More seriously, Smoot explained how he, Mather and their teams of colleagues had successfully united the science of quantum mechanics, which deals with the smallest things in the universe, and the science of cosmology, which concerns itself with the largest.

Humble congrats to both and enjoy the parking spot.

Photo via Creative Commons Search, credit ereneta

College Radio

My friend Evan, a law student at UCLA, does a radio show on the UCLA college radio station on Mondays from 2-4 PM called Pocket Full of Rock. If college style radio is your thing, and if you consider yourself the least bit hip it should be, then check out http://uclaradio.com/

Its on now.

Nobel Prize time

So its that time of year, when the Nobel Prizes are announced. Although there is no Nobel for the field sciences, we will still post a bit about them, because well it is interesting. That simple.

First up is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine which went to two US scientists, Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for their work looking at how some genes are regulated in the body. They discovered RNA interference which is responsible for down-regulation of certain genes. It has also become a very important tool for scientists studying certain proteins. The technique pioneered by the Nobel laureates allows one to artificially "knock-down" a gene and study how the protein of interest effects the cell or animal model by making observations in its absence.

We use this very new technique in my lab and it is instrumental in understanding the effects of proteins in cell and tissue physiology.

DNA holds the information needed to build all the proteins that make life possible. The information in a gene is first copied into a molecule known as mRNA (messenger RNA), which is then used as a template for making a protein (get a genetics overview.)

But unlike DNA, which generally exists only as a double-stranded molecule with two matching sides, mRNA is single-stranded.

Fire and Mello found that injecting a cell with the matching strand for a certain mRNA silences all expression of the associated gene—the protein is simply not made. The scientists reported their discoveries in a 1998 issue of the journal Nature.

The matching strand binds to the target RNA to create a double-stranded RNA molecule, similar to DNA.

This double-stranded RNA, scientists later discovered, is destroyed by a set of proteins as a natural defense mechanism against viruses, as well as a tool to regulate the expression of certain genes.

Photo via Creative Commons Search, credit ereneta

Study Finds Tarantulas Spin Silk From Their Feet,

What does a tarantula do when it comes across a slippery surface in its travels ... It spins silk out of its feet to aid in locomotion. It is believed that tarantulas are the only animal to use silk in locomotion. The study was written by Stanislav Gorb, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany.

Gorb and colleagues found that zebra tarantulas secrete tiny bits of silk from nozzlelike structures in their feet. These tethers allow the arachnids to scale vertical surfaces.

The discovery supports a hypothesis that ancient spiders first evolved to produce silk from their feet before changing to the modern configuration of producing it in their abdomens.

"It makes sense actually," Gorb said. "We know that all the extremities of ancestor arachnids probably had this possibility to adhere during locomotion, for example, or during prey capture."

Alternatively, the foot secretions may have evolved independently in tarantulas to help the relatively large spiders move around safely, he adds.

The study can be found in the current issue of Nature, which if you don't have a university paying for it, costs a fortune.

Bush Administration Blocks Hurricane Report

The Bush Administration has blocked a report that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has compiled which suggests that Global Warming may be a cause of stronger and or more frequent hurricanes.

The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday.

The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

In the new case, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ? part of the Commerce Department in February set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report on the views of agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes.

According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may be having an effect.

In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report needed to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature reported.

Is anyone surprised that this administration blocks science that does not agree with their world paradigm.

Cactus Bloom Photo Blogging

Ariocarpus fissuratus

If you aren't checking in with the guys over at the Cactus Jungle blog a few times a week you are really missing out. They have been posting a ton of beautiful bloom pictures. If you see something you like head on over there because they tend to have cactus for sale that are a few weeks away from blooming, so you will get to enjoy the flower at home for the entire length of it's bloom. And as far as I know, unlike a lot of other nurseries, blooming or pre-bloom plants won't cost you a dime more.

More Andes Pics

The Andes Mountain range outside of Mendoza, Argentina. (See map below)

Friday Gecko Blogging

Rhachodactylus ciliatus

Photo from good friend of the store Ryan Garrett. Go tell him to update his photo blog, Observing the Process Will Change It, more than once a month.

Big Reptile Show Weekend

For the first time in recent memory we will be doing two reptile shows in the same weekend. The bigger show is the NARBC in Anaheim, Ca. Stop by the booth and say hello to Sean and John.

The second show is the North Bay Herpetological Society's Tenth Annual Reptile Bazaar in Petaluma, Ca on Saturday only. Myself and Carlos will be manning the booth.

Feel free to drop off beer at either show.

Electoral College

I read about this a few months ago, but had no idea that the bill was sitting on Ahnold's desk. A Stanford University professor has devised a way around the electoral college with out needing the 2/3 vote to ratify the constitution. Basically if enough states (an electoral college majority) create state laws that their electoral college votes will all be awarded to the winner of the popular vote in the presidential election, it will guarentee that the winner of the popular vote wins the election. It will take 11+ of the most populus states for this plan to work, but it behooves the larger states to pass laws like this in order to weild more power on the national landscape. Our last two presidential elections were basically decided by Floridians (with the aid of the Supreme Court) and Ohioans. the most populus states all tend to be blue, with the exceptions of Texas and Florida, so this idea will require bipartisan support. But it would transform our Republic (or is it a Federation) into a more of a true Representitive Democracy. Everyone's vote would actually be equal under a true Representitive Democracy.

The first fruit of his effort, a bill approved by the California legislature that would allocate the state’s 55 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, sits on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. The governor has to decide by Sept. 30 whether to sign it, a decision that may well determine whether Dr. Koza’s scheme takes flight or becomes another relic in the history of efforts to kill the Electoral College.

“It would be a major development if California enacts this thing,” said Tim Storey, an analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “It will definitely transform it from a smoldering thing into a fire.’’

There have been many efforts over the decades to kill the Electoral College, the little-known and widely misunderstood body that actually elects the president based on the individual states that a candidate wins. Most recently, former Representative John B. Anderson of Illinois and former Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana spearheaded a drive, Fair Vote, for a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College.

Concert Review

So a bunch of us went to a show at the Stork Club in Oakland last Saturday night.

The opening band, Harold Ray Live, was pretty good. Six guys or so in suits playing James Brown-esque toons. They were very high energy and the organ player hit the keys so hard the entire organ bounced around the stage.

Up second was Bob Log III who was amazing. From the Kansas City Star ...

"He keeps time with two busy feet, kicking a cymbal and a bass drum and tow-tapping two drum machines. The first thing you'll notice about him, though, is the bubble-mask motorcycle helmet he wears, which is wired with a microphone - a masquerade that hides his face and warps his voice.

And as for the swizzle stick - the frank truth is he'd rather his drink be stirred by a bare female breast, and these days Bob Log is so popular (or persuasive) he's been getting his way. He is a one man band playing a bass drum with one foot, a snare drum with the other and slide guitar."

If you are familiar with his Fat Possum label mates The Black Keys, the sound is similar. Throw in a little Squidbillies, and some Howard Stern humor and you have Bob Log III. He definitely stole the show.

The closer was BlowFly, the self-proclaimed "original dirty rapper." And uh yeah ... he was quite dirty. Imagine a ~70 year old man, with an abnormally long, boney middle finger aggressively pointing to and fro while some of the funniest, dirties lines you have ever heard come out of his mouth. It was quite interesting indeed. I won't reprint any of his lyrics as this blog may be read by 12-year olds looking for leopard gecko pictures, but don't let your mom read them over your shoulder. Blowfly is a very charismatic, very entertaining man.

During one of the set changes herp student walks up to us and says "figures I would see a bunch of herpers at BlowFly." We were all wearing our EBV shirts, but yes BlowFly definitley fits in with the herping crowd.

The above photo is called "The freakish, funky finger of Blowfly points out a Hole Man in the crowd" and was taken at the April 12th, 2006 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 by Michael Pilmer © 2006

Local Music

So I am going to expand the blog a bit to include some local music adventures since the fine employees of EBV tend to do the whole afterwork fieldtrip to a local music show about once a month or so. So if indie music is your thing look out for some concert and band reviews. Not all of it will be wimpy indie-rock; we'll have some indie-hip-hop and indie-punk and indie-fill in the blank, but a lot of it will be sensitive, ephemeral indie-rock.

Fish in the coal mine

A cnn.com story discusses municipalities using sunfish as a "canary in the coal mine" against terrorist attacks agianst drinking water. Glad to hear we are actually doing something besides "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism.

San Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegills -- also known as sunfish or bream -- as a sort of canary in a coal mine to safeguard their drinking water.

Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegills that occur in the presence of toxins.

Will Ferrell as Dubya on Global Warming

Andean Condor

All the tegus were still in their winter holes ... so an Andean Condor picture instead. I'll post a few more Argentina pics this week.

Great White Shark

Monterey Bay Aquarium has a new White Shark on display in their Outer Bay exhibit. These are the most amazing creatures to see in person. Jaw-dropping is not an exaggeration.

For only the second time, there's a healthy young white shark in our Outer Bay exhibit. 5 feet 8 inches long and 104 pounds, he arrived on August 31 and is making himself right at home in the million-gallon exhibit. Each day he's here, he'll teach us more about white sharks and how we can protect these thrilling—and threatened—animals in the wild.

A little more than it could handle

A reticulated python in Indonesia needed to be removed from a roadway after eating a pregnant sheep. Apparently it was so bloated it couldn't slither off of the road. That's gonna leave some stretch marks.

Sacramento Show Pictures

The Sacramento Show was a big success. It was very crowded, especially on Saturday. Here are a few pictures from Sunday.

Super heros like beaded lizards

Sean explains animal husbandry

Emo kids like snakes

All the way from Japan

Smiling for the camera

Tashara, our ZooMed Rep, hurting Sunday morning

Best of the East Bay

This is a few months old but I never managed to blog it. East Bay Vivarium was named the Best Specialty Store in the "The Deadly Sins: Best of the East Bay 2006" category by the East Bay Express, a great weekly newspaper.

Ophidiophobes, arachnophobes, herpetophobes, and general zoophobes should steer clear. But if you adore snakes, spiders, reptiles, and amphibians, you've hit pay dirt at this West Berkeley institution. The specialty pet store and de facto zoo peddles a menagerie of nature's most curious and/or intimidating creatures.

...

Vivarium co-owner John Emberton estimates that half of his visitors stop in just to look around. Store regulars bring their newbie friends, and parents come looking for free kiddie entertainment. The staff is cool with all that. "We have school groups and birthday parties coming through, Cub Scout and Girl Scout groups, and they don't buy a thing," Emberton says. "It's free advertising. It's trickle-down. They're not all gonna come back and buy something down the road, but if one in twenty does, then it's worth it." So after your Sunday brunch on yupscale Fourth Street, walk over and view some stuff that would give those soccer moms the creepy-crawlies.

Resturant Review

Our friends at Cafe Rouge on 4th Street got a brief write-up in the East Bay Express this week.

Fur Seals Return to the Farallons

The SF Chronicle reports that for the first time since 1834 Northern Fur Seals have returned to the Farallon Islands off of the San Francisco coast.

A few started returning in the early 1970s, but this year their numbers surged -- an indication of the islands' enduring vitality and proof that a sensitive species can revive under favorable circumstances.

"We're ecstatic to see any marine mammal recovery, but it's especially gratifying when you're talking about a sensitive species like northern fur seals," said Clyde Morris, manager of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. "Their comeback is probably due to the high protection from human intrusion the Farallones receive."

The Farallons are really a special place so its great to see it as a home to another species.

RIP Steve Irwin

RIP Croc Hunter

A DOCTOR and witnesses have told of the desperate efforts to save Australian icon Steve Irwin after the Crocodile Hunter was struck in the chest by a stingray barb today.

Irwin, 44, died this morning after being fatally injured while filming a nature documentary off Queensland.

The news has shocked the nation and prompted a rush of tributes from politicians and the public alike.

Irwin's wife Terri was in Tasmania at the time of the tragedy and had to be contacted by police with the terrible news.

Hiatus

I am going on a two week holiday to Argentina, so probably no blogging during that time. Hopefully pics of tegus when I return. Sacramento Show pictures too. I neglected to line up a guest blogger, so see you in a bit.

-JK

Friday Gecko Blogging

Oh so Late ... Rachodactylus auriculatus

Iraq for the last time this week

We have several friends and customers who have fought in Iraq or are currently fighting there. This quote from President Bush is quite depressing.

We're not leaving, so long as I'm the President. That would be a huge mistake.

More reptile posts for the rest of the week. I promise.

60 Books!

The White House claims that President Bush has entered a reading contest with Karl Rove and that W. has read 60 books so far this year. 60 books! Wow that is one of the worst lies they have come up with in his entire tenure, and there is a lot of competition.

I consider myself a fairly avid rader and have read maybe 12 books so far this year.

According to Dan Froomkin's math:

Of the twelve books listed, I come up with a total page count of 5,356 pages, including 1,585 pages not available until at least 4/2006 of this year. That is an average page count of 450 pages per book. Multiply by his 60 books so far this year for a total page count of 27,000. 27,000 pages means the President would have to average a little over 115 pages per day. Reading a quick pace of a little over a minute per page, that is two hours a day of reading, and let's be honest, longer if you want to retain information in these types of books. And this from a man who prides himself in not reading the paper. I don't buy it.

I find this too incredible to believe. And when the Carpetbagger puts Bush's summer days in context it becomes evn more incredible.

And those are just the 12 books Walsh listed. The White House press office gave C-SPAN a list of 25 books — which were just part of the president's summer reading list. For a guy who likes to get to bed early, who devotes a couple of hours a day to exercise, and who ostensibly oversees the executive branch of government during a war, let's just say this is more than a little "ambitious."

Even if we assume that this is all transparent White House spin, and that the president didn't read "The Stranger" or much else from his reading list, the question then becomes, why bother with this narrative anyway?

USNWR's Walsh wrote that "portraying Bush as a voracious reader is part of an ongoing White House campaign to restore what a senior adviser calls 'gravitas' to the Bush persona. He certainly needs something."

We started a book club the this month and are looking at averaging 100-150 a week. Modest, but a good ammount for busy people. And I hope that our president is busier than I am. If he really did take the time to read this much though, maybe it would explain why our foreign policy and economy is falling apart. It's hard to figure out a new game plan for our war in Iraq otherthan "stay the course" when you are nose deep in Hamlet and MacBeth everyday.

Snakes on a Plane!

The SF Chronicle interviews EBV about the movie "Snakes on a Plane."

"It seems like they had some real cobras, too," said Owen Maercks, co-owner of Berkeley's East Bay Vivarium, the most comprehensive reptile pet store in the country.

In Saturday's Datebook review of the movie, there appears to be a photo of a harmless king snake terrorizing actor Tygh Runyan. Dude, relax. King snakes are a gentle species, not prone to bite.

The fake snakes on this plane, hopped up on the biologically false premise that pheromones inspire their fang frenzy, fly out of cubby holes, hiss like felines and snap like bullwhips as they pursue a terrified captive audience of warm-blooded prey.

Part of the movie's perverse appeal lies where the fake snakes strike: an eyeball, a poor urinating fellow's genitals and, William Tell-like, smack dab on a naked nipple. In nature, snakes strike at whatever body part is closest to them, usually hands, fingers, arms and bare feet. The greatest marksman in the snake world is the spitting cobra, which has an uncanny ability to nail its victim in the eyes.

"On a reality meter, it's a total failure," Maercks said. "But you can't judge a movie like that on a reality meter. It was fun. It's every person's worst fear of snakes to their most basic level."

...

In a delightful bit of irony, Maercks' partner at the East Bay Vivarium, John Emberton, flew to Daytona Beach, Fla., over the weekend with real-life snakes on a plane. He attended a reptile show and brought with him a variety of snakes and lizards.

Rather than stoked with a blood lust for human flesh, Emberton's docile snakes were safely packaged in Tupperware-like containers with perforated lids and placed in Styrofoam packing boxes and then into cardboard boxes marked "Live Animals."

It is actually a very good entertainment piece. You should read the whole thing. And damn that Owen is sexy. He should have been a film star.

College Rankings

University of California, Berkeley (my alma mater) is once again the number one ranked public school in the nation and #21 overall according to US News and World Reports. We have many faculty and students as customers so a congratulations to all.

Stanfurd University was ranked #4 overall. Since many faculty and students at Stanfurd are also customers a begrudging congrats to you guys too.

And for a quick critique on why college ranking are bull and heavily favor private schools.

The Crazy Fringe

The newest CNN poll says:

Just 35 percent of 1,033 adults polled say they favor the war in Iraq; 61 percent say they oppose it -- the highest opposition noted in any CNN poll since the conflict began more than three years ago.

Intersting to see that 61% of Americans are now part of what Cheney et al. like to call the Crazy Fringe of America.

www.dictionary.com defines fringe as "4) Those members of a group or political party holding extreme views: the lunatic fringe."

Maybe the Neocons need a little vocabulary brush-up.

Friday Gecko Blogging

Real late but here it is. He's damn cute.

Diplodactylus williamsi

Conservation and Castro

It seems that Cuba has some of the most pristine environments left in the world. Western leaders want to deny the Cuban leader any credit in conservation and instead claim that Cuban waters and forests are relatively intact because of stagnant economic growth and a minimal tourism industry. Others wish to give Castro full credit for protecting his countries environmental jewels. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

More than half of Cuba's plants and animals, and more than 80 percent of its reptiles and amphibians, are unique to the island.

Endemic birds include the Cuban trogon, the Cuban tody, and the Cuban pygmy owl. The world's smallest bird, the bee hummingbird —which weighs less than a U.S. penny —is found there.

Whatever the reason it is encouraging to see environments protected. Maybe some day we can go experiance the wonder legally.

The Day We Have all Been Waiting For

"I am tired of these mother f*cking snakes on this motherf*cking plane"

UPDATE:

Some reviews

National Geographic does a snake round-up

Samuel L. Jackson on the Daily Show:

Bonus Animal Blogging

Friday Whippet Blogging

Friday Snow Leopard Blogging

Friday Dog Blogging

And if you are confused ... A NY Times article on the history of friday animal blogging

And damn you Atrios where are my cat pictures today?

Update: Atrios was just a bit late today with his Friday Cat Blogging

At the Bottom of the Evolutionary Ladder

Of the 34 countries in a recent study the United States is the 33 most accepting of the Theory of Evolution. The only country more hostile than the US is Turkey; a country with a large Islamic Tribal population (although with about 1000 Turkmen polled, who knows if the tribal villages were polled).

So much for being on the intellectual and scientific forefront.

Friday Gecko Blogging

Uromastyx Addition:

Uromastyx ornata

EBV Blog Readership

We have readers on four continents with a great showing in Europe. Australia and South America, you really need to get in on this action. You know you want to. All the cool continents are doing it.

UPDATE:
Australia and South America have gotten in on the action ... on to Antartica

Project Heloderma Fundraiser

At this years NRBE in Daytona, Florida (the largest North American Reptile Expo) a fundraising auction will be held for the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard. The International Reptile Conservation Foundation sends out the following:

We invite you to donate your art, products, services, and other items to be auctioned on behalf of the endangered Guatemalan Beaded Lizard on August 19, 2006. No more than 200 Guatemalan Beaded Lizards are left on earth and your help is desperately needed. Wayne Hill and the NRBE will be supporting the conservation effort on their behalf. All auction proceeds will go toward the "Project Heloderma" fund.

If you are going to Daytona consider throwing some cash their way and in return you could have a One Week Stay in North Carolina Beach House, Hand-made Quilt by Mae Hill (Wayne Hill's mother), Signed Plates from "The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere", a 1 Week Stay on Cocoa Beach FL, Ocean Front Condo or many other items. A worthy cause that works with locals on education and conservation in this beautiful lizards' habitat.

Crazy Cat Ladies

If you are really bored try kittenwar.com Beats the hell out of the previous war post. Someone needs to start a herpwar.com.

The Cost of War

In the midst of many catastrophies on both sides of the Isreal-Lebannon conflict is an environmental one. Three weeks ago Isreal bombed refineries on the Lebanon coast and created a toxic spill that will rival the Exxon-Valdez spill. Because of the constant fighting very little is known about the exact extend and the immediate toll on wildife. The American Prospect's Christopher Moraff writes the following.

For the past four weeks a mass of black sludge composed of between 15,000 and 35,000 tons of medium/heavy grade oil has been creeping unhampered up the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon. International environmental groups are calling the mid-July destruction of Beirut’s Jiyyeh Power Plant -- and the massive oil spill that resulted -- one of the worst environmental crises in the region’s history.

On July 13, Israeli bombs destroyed the plant -- 20 miles south of Beirut -- setting fire to five fuel tanks and sending thousands of gallons of oil into the Eastern Mediterranean. The Lebanese Ministry of Environment estimates the total spill could rival the Exxon Valdez catastrophe of 1989. In addition to the oil, the burning tanks sent black clouds of toxic smoke into the sky over Beirut that were visible from as far as 30 miles away.

By the start of August, the oil spill had already polluted more than 90 miles of the Lebanese coastline -- destroying Beirut’s once pristine beaches in the process. On August 2, satellite images revealed that the slick had reached the Syrian coastline and is spreading north. “We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon,” the country’s environment minister, Yacoub al-Sarraf, told Al-Jazeera.

Read the whole thing.

Something is Right in Kansas

It looks like the tide has finally turned in Kansas and the pro-creationist, anti-science School Board is turning towards actually teaching science in Kansas science classes.

For a much better run-down than I could give see DarkSyde's Diary over at dailykos or the Northern Virginia Reptile Rescue Blog.

Good for the voters in Kansas.

California Assembly Bill 2862

California Assembly Bill 2862 is a poorly written animal welfare bill. Although it's authors probably have good intentions and many of the provisions in the bill are worthy, there are numerous provisions that would be very harmful to reptile breeders and keepers.

Major areas of concern for reptile owners are the provisions relating to rodents (ie. banning sale of all non-weaned rodents). According to the PIJAC

"In fact, some of the anticipated amendments are worse than current language. For example, new language would require each hamster to be placed in its own cage. Another poorly crafted and ill- conceived change would effectively require “veterinary care” for such animals as brine shrimp. "

A recent response from the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council can be found here.

If you are feeling up to your democratic right to be properly represented by your state legislature contact your local representative. Others you might want to contact include members of the Business and Professions Committee who hear this bill in committee.

Contact info:

Senator Sam Aanestad– 916- 651- 4004
Senator Liz Figueroa- 916-651 -4010
Senator Bill Morrow - 916-651- 4038
Senator Joe Simitian- 916-651 -4011
Senator Dean Florez - 916- 651- 4016

And just so it is clear, we do not oppose much of this bill, and appreciate animal welfare. We do this because we love animals, not because we like to eat puppies. But California Assembly Bill 2862 is a mis-guided attempt to stop those who practice immoral animal husbandry.

Friday Gecko Blogging Bonus Addition

Oedura marmorata

Friday Gecko Blogging

Aeluroscalabotes felinus