Road of Peas

Blogissatva Numero Uno.

Snail’s Tales is the best science blog I have found[1]. Aydin Örstan Effendi is a Research Associate in the Section of Mollusks at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.

I discovered Snail’s Tales by blog surfing via blogger’s Next Blog button.

Snail’s Tales displays true blogging nature, in that there regularly appear new and shiny tidbits, covering many aspects of what are clearly his natural inclinations as well as that of his profession: stories of field trips[2], descriptions of mullusk physiology and habitats, examinations of historical and current work, reflections on the culture of science, and more! And then there is an excellent seasoning consisting of reports on beer and food, pictures of grafitti on box cars and trees, articles about books, and, and more!

And all presented in an excellent voice: wise, humorous, and clearly exhibiting a love of the world and his work.

This is my idea of paradise. Why are there not more such science blogs? Snail’s Tales can be read pleasurably by ignoramuses such as myself, and judging by the comments, by knowledgable professionals as well. He posts regularly; this is very important. Many science blogs read like they are grudging distractions, a chore and a bore, and this shows up in sporadic posts written in clunky jargon, posts that show no real awareness of audience. (Or so it seems to me, my apologies to those who are merely trying to grump at their colleagues in front of this big picture window we call the web.)

I tried to pick out some favorite posts, but it’s impossible. It’s all good. Go check him out, and get back regularly.

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[1] I say this not because of his Blogasattva Nature - that gracious blessing appeared later - but due to the inherent superiority of its content and style.
[2] My favorites, by an edge. I love to wander around the landscape, and doing it remotely via proxy is wonderful.

Robin’s and Jonah at the Escher Tree

Friday Ark #67 mixes circular waterfalls and the difference of Gaussians to thrill like-minded, with aleph 1 ways to save a critter by Modulator.

I think eatstuff will find that there is only one kind of kitty. But I want to know, how to prepare geoduck? BS in geography at the University of Oregon? Anyway, Kitties Galore at Weekend Cat Blogging, coming soon, because isn’t Australia my Island of the Day After?

ELMS IN THE YARD (very cool name) will be hosting the 93rd edition of Carnival of the Cats, which is 31 times 3! Shining bright in every heart on Sunday.

UPDATE 4: The trusted authority has begun to say “odd, a Chinese site with Japanese titles” and “the links [at the top] are Chinese usage.” So… hmmm.

UPDATE 3: A trusted authority tells me this is Japanese text, and that many of the pictures are scenes of Japan. I added the Japanese to English, and have left the Chinese to English.

This hotlink is a bit intimidating. It’s on a Chinese language forum, it’s a long ways away, and it’s on a page just jammed full of images.

UPDATE: This could be Japanese, I don’t know. I thought the lack of kana indicated that it is Chinese, and below list some translations. I just ran the text through Babelfish Japanese to English, and the result makes about as much sense as that given below.

UPDATE 2: I’ve gotten one lukewarm assurance that this is Chinese. And, also, the domain name ‘hklion.com’ looks like Hong Kong, and sure enough, a whois search reveals it is registered in Hong Kong. That is hardly definitive, but it seems like a good clue.

Here’s the URL I see:

http://www.hklion.com/viewthread.php?tid=24783&fpage=1

This is the page. Careful with that link, my machine is stunned by my audacity at downloading the page, and everything else on the box stops in wonder.

I have been using AltaVista’s Babelfish frequently in the last few weeks. This page is in written in “Chinese-simp,” which, as I understand it, is the result of a simplification of the traditional character set. Here are some parts of the page translated:

At the top, in what appears to be a thread title:

標題: [風景] 十国度の旋律+番外篇[完全版 504p]

Japanese: Title: [ Scenery ] melody + extra volume of ten degrees of countries [ complete edition 504p

Chinese: □□: [ □scenery ] ten states の melodies + outside [ complete version 504p ]

At the top of the first post:

﹝發短消息﹞﹝編輯文章﹞

Japanese: U 發 it is short news &U compilation 輯 composition &

Chinese: □□short news □□□□article □

Then, this list:

目录： 1楼 花の国度
2楼 树の国度
3楼 天空の国度
4楼 春の国度
5楼 夏の国度
6楼 秋の国度
7楼 冬の国度
8楼 瀑布の国度
9楼 海の国度
10楼 城市与家の国度
11楼 番外篇–小鱼居住の国度–加拿大西部美景

Japanese: Eye? : Degree of national 2 towers of 1 tower flower? Degree of national 11 tower extra volumes of degree of national 10 tower Ziyouiti giving houses of degree of national 9 tower seas of degree of national 8 tower cataracts of degree of national 7 tower winter of degree of national 6 tower fall of degree of national 5 tower summer of degree of national 4 tower spring of degree of national 3 tower skies — small? Degree of country of residence — adding 拿large western beauty scene

Chinese: Table of contents: 1 Lou Hua? state 2 Lou Shu? state 3 buildings sky の state 4 Lou Chun? state 5 Lou Xia? state 6 Lou Qiu? state 7 Lou Dong? state 8 buildings waterfalls の state 9 Lou Hai? state 10 buildings cities and family の state 11 Lou Fanwai west — small fish housing の state — Canada beautiful scene

The post is fill of flowers, perhaps 20 or 30 some. I think the list above is a table of contenst for just the first post, but I’m not sure. The next post starts:

[实拍照片精品自然写真系列之二] 树の国度

Japanese: [? Beat illuminating one spirit item natural photograph series 之 two ]? Degree of country

Chinese: [ Solid racket picture high-quality goods naturally draw a portrait second series ] the tree の state
There follow many tree pictures. In the next entry there are pictures of clouds on sunny days, then a post with a random selection of trees, flowers, water and clouds.

The fifth post starts out with my picture. The post is entitled:

[实拍照片精品自然写真系列之五]夏の国度

Japanese: [? Beat illuminating one spirit item natural photograph series 之 five ] degree of country of summer

Chinese: [ Solid racket picture high-quality goods naturally draw a portrait fifth series ] the summer の state

Doesn’t look like summer to me, at least mine, and a few others. The rest could be summer pictures.

This is the poster identification associated with this entry:

訪客
LV:020-新　手

沒有頭像

積分：22
發表：73
狀態：Offline
注冊：2005-09-17

Japanese: The visiting customer LV:020- new hand 沒 possession head image Integral calculus: 22 發 charts: 73? Condition: Offline note volume: 2005-09-17

Chinese: □guest LV:020- novice □has □the picture □minute: 22 □tables: 73 □□: Offline note □: 2005-09-17

I should find someone who can read this site, and get help registering.

This picture is one of my oldest hotlinks. It is hotlinked from a few other spots as well.

Here is the original Middle-Fork post.
Here is the Middle-Fork Our Maple Tree archive.