In 1984, I published a book about the past, present and future of zoos. One chapter was about the idea, quite new at the time, of behavioural enrichment. That is, giving animals the opportunity to perform some aspect of their natural behaviour. High-tech versions, like a contraption that fired live locusts into the fennec foxes’ enclosure at Antwerp Zoo. No tech versions, like simply making sure that the sea otters in the Seattle Aquarium had a supply of stones with which to demolish a bucket of clams. And all sorts of in-between examples.
Doing a bit of research recently for a future podcast, I came across this astonishing little passage.
“The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated … The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the...
I don't know where John Naughton found his version of this quote from Hunter S. Thompson:
I do know that the version I photocopied more than 25 years ago and that sits above my desk to this day, is more Gonzo.
But that's also a secondary source. This is as close to truth as one can g...
People have written some interesting things following on from the pop-up IndieWebCamp that Chris Aldrich organised a couple of weeks ago. The Garden and the Stream set out to compare and contrast wikis and weblogs and how the two might be used. It was a terrific success, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be there. The topic interests me and is something I’ve thought about on and off for a long time. This morning, I treated myself to thinking about it some more.
Lovely morning for just sitting quietly in the sun waiting for the birds. And what a difference a bit of sun makes, because these were shot at 1/2000, which certainly helps.
There are absolutely, definitely nestlings present, but I have not heard a single chirp, nor do I want to spoil things b...
