A new bouncing (actually they like to remain quite motionless) crop of dwarf caimans is now available for adoption.



These adorable, ossified, heavily scaled, upturned curl snouted sweethearts enjoy lurking in the Fetid Lake of Doom (FLOD), which happens to be where you will never ever see one. Remember: if you don't see something, it must be everywhere. Don't see a lot of dwarf caimans in the FLOD? Be very afraid.

Or not. Adoption is the latest Oly fad, these babes are being snatched up as we speak. And the adoption process is stunningly simple. Just write up your request for a caiman of your own, stand on the very edge of the FLOD, and cast it into the fetid waters. Soon, you too, will be caimanized.

Enjoy.

Brought to you by C.A.R.T (Caiman Awareness Response Team), Agent #54, semi-retired pending further review of that thing that happened that wasn't my fault.

From Pirate Papa

The Carbon Footprint of a Cheeseburger

okay, so us alternative fathers need to take this site by storm

the mainstream slowly, slowly learns a thing or two

Youthful Tendency Disorder

tilting at windmills on saint crispin's day

Whiskey Tattoos

Two different chunks on place blogging from the site Blogging Places:

Place bloggers write, on one level, about the place where they live: its ecology, its beauty, the particular quality of nature in that place, and their relation to it. On another level, place bloggers are concerned with larger questions of ecology and land use, the future of the environment, and human beings' relation to (or alienation from) the world we inhabit and share. And on a still deeper level, many place bloggers are exploring the whole notion of "place" itself: where and what is this elusive idea of "place", in its broadest sense, and what does it mean to us as spiritual beings in perpetual search of something called "home"?

I think there are probably lots of ways we can describe blogging place. Here are a few that come to mind:

• logs of natural activity and cycles, including flora and fauna, geological and meteorological notes, sometimes with description, sometimes without.
• weblogs that are collections of stories of the writer's engagement with a place, including the land and culture of a place.
• notes on the particular character of a place, which may be purely sociological. For instance a blog that discusses the culture of an area would be a place blog, but it's a blog about the noosphere and not the biosphere.
• photoblogs that aim to capture the essence of place, like Hunkabutta and the plethora of Japan based blogs kept mostly by visiting westerners.

Bonus factoid: definition of noosphere

I guess what I like about OlyBlog and Olympia is the sense of community I derive.  I guess bickering and down right fighting is something that will be done even in the most successful of communities.  For crying out loud there are people within religions, philosophies, movements, cultures, and even political parties that can't agree on everything and often disagree on many things.   It is natural to try to make one's point.  It is even natural to be dogged about making one's point.  I'm not sure about the relentless pursuit of making a point.  A good point stands on it's own, regardless of whether someone agrees or not. 

I think that many times it is the point of making a point that becomes an issue here in OlyBlog.  Points are good, sometimes it takes a while for people to get a point.  Rarely does it do any good to beat someone over the head with a point.  I like the diversity here in OlyBlog.  I like opinions other than my own.  I know for a fact that I have learned even when I have not agreed.  I hope I've done the same for others that have not agreed with me.  No person should feel like they can not make a point on OlyBlog.  You may get dissed some, you might find disagreement, but you shouldn't feel alienated from the community.  If you are feeling alienated, we are for sure doing something wrong. 

A well structured point is like the toothpick cuisine at Costco.  Ever notice when you get a sample of something at Costco it is so tasty.  You go and buy 5 pounds of the stuff and take it home and you can’t bear to see it any more.  A good point makes you want more, be it discussion or information.  The best points rattle around in your mind and cause a bit of consternation.  You don’t agree, but you are troubled by your disagreement.  We are OlyBlog, not OnlyBlog.  All points are welcome, just don’t use them as weapons. 

I really don't even know what to say after reading this article.

Do I start with Mexican military personnel crossing into the United States more than 200 times since the late '90s?

That Mexican drug cartels are running the Mexican government, at times ordering the assassination of Border Patrol agents?

That "two Border Patrol agents who pursued a drug smuggler and shot him were tried and convicted by the U.S. government and are headed to prison next month?"

And how does our government respond to this increasing threat (and, in the words of Pat Buchanan, invasion)? "Officials say new technologies radiation portal monitors, hand-held radiation detectors and X-ray machines assist front-line agents in detecting dangerous materials that may be in trucks at ports of entry." A Band-Aid for a gunshot wound, that's how.

There are currently 150,000 combat-ready troops in Iraq, and I can think of a piece of real estate they should be occupying here in the United States: the stretch of land from California to Texas.

Of course, there's no way a government which "tipped the Mexican government to the whereabouts of Minutemen, the civilian border patrols" is going to do anything. Folks, our government is actively working against the American people.

One can only pray that the Minuteman Project is only the beginning of the fight.

Do we really need brochures instructing us on how to treat our fellow man? Seattle thinks so.

Under the city's panhandling ordinance, aggressive refers to panhandling done in a way that instills fear in a reasonable person to compel that person to give.

In the early 1990s, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington challenged the ordinance in court, with a judge upholding the law but removing some language.

Doug Honig, the group's communications director, said that as long as the brochure does not misstate the law, it does not seem to violate civil liberties.

People may find it distasteful or feel uncomfortable when they are approached by a beggar, Honig said, but those feelings alone do not make panhandling illegal.

This is comforting, feelings alone do not make for illegality. I am uncomfortable with the language used though, can I hand out a brochure on how to talk with each other?

What kind of brochures do we need in Olympia?