Everglades, that is. There is a problem in Florida, and elsewhere, with non-native species. In the Florida Everglades there are thousands of pythons that are thought to be the descendants of pet snakes that were dumped by their owners when they got too big. There are also some who escape from shipments and pet stores. Regardless, they are there and they endanger the local environment because they are big, there are no natural predators that can handle a really big python – even alligators – and they eat the local wildlife including endangered species.
They also present a danger for pets, small children, adults – people and their families in general.
There are efforts to control the problem, but they mostly involve trapping them and work on limiting the prey. Why not try birth control?
If you can trap a snake, trap it and, male or female, neuter the snake. Then keep it in captivity until it is a nice big snake. Then release it back into the wild. There, the snake will compete with the other snakes for food and for mates. The big snakes may even kill smaller snakes. In other words, let the snakes take care of the problem.
It’s not a perfect solution and there are plenty of ways that it could fail, but in this case I don’t see failure causing more problems. Eventually, wouldn’t there be fewer snakes? It seems like a good plan to me.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Messenger
The Messenger spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury on Thursday. It’s the first craft from Earth to do that. I think that’s really cool.
I go on sometimes about manned space exploration, which I think we need to do more of, but I also like these unmanned missions. For one thing they are eminently practical when we are going someplace we don’t have much information about or where the environment is particularly nasty. They can be very useful and get us a lot of information.
But I think the real reason I like these missions is because they remind me of the missions that were done when I was a kid. I really enjoyed all that stuff and I get the same sort of feeling when I read about the ones today.
Cool.
I go on sometimes about manned space exploration, which I think we need to do more of, but I also like these unmanned missions. For one thing they are eminently practical when we are going someplace we don’t have much information about or where the environment is particularly nasty. They can be very useful and get us a lot of information.
But I think the real reason I like these missions is because they remind me of the missions that were done when I was a kid. I really enjoyed all that stuff and I get the same sort of feeling when I read about the ones today.
Cool.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Living in the past
I keep seeing commercials for The Feast dot com and they really confuse me. They make me feel like I’m watching something from the early 60s. The music is just not typical for a commercial these days. I keep expecting to see a grainy, black and white commercial selling me a washing machine or detergent or something.
Does anyone know what music they are using?
Does anyone know what music they are using?
Since I’m clarifying things
Did you know that the federal government doesn’t even directly fund NPR? They give money to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the people who bring you Big Bird. The latest bill just prohibits the CPB from giving any federal money it receives to NPR and local stations from buying NPR programming with federal money.
Oh, and it doesn’t save any money, either. This doesn’t change the funding for the CPB so it doesn’t cut the budget. However, there is a good chance that it will cost thousands of jobs at those local stations.
Oh, and it doesn’t save any money, either. This doesn’t change the funding for the CPB so it doesn’t cut the budget. However, there is a good chance that it will cost thousands of jobs at those local stations.
Shades of Caddyshack
I just read an article about people in Boulder, CO being upset by use of the Rodenator. The device pumps propane into prairie dog burrows and ignites it. The product is not sold as a way to kill the prairie dogs, though I don’t think they have a warning before the bang. Some people are upset about seeing flaming prairie dogs, others complain about the noise which apparently exceeds the city noise limit. The device is only legal outside of the city.
It reminded me of something interesting I learned about prairie dogs. From what I’ve heard, prairie dogs are considered a nuisance because they damage pasture land, but I’ve learned recently that they don’t necessarily. I saw a show about them that had some information I hadn’t heard before. One thing was that they have a language that the ones on guard duty use. Different calls mean different things, to the level of distinguishing between grazing animals, predators, people they recognize as not being a threat and someone who they don’t recognize who may be a threat.
Another interesting thing was that the prairie dogs improve grazing land. They eat plants that grazing animals don’t which lets the grasses grow better. They also aerate the soil with their burrows and other activity and help spread the fertilizer around. When they are left undisturbed, prairie dogs improve the pasture and make it better for grazing.
They do leave holes, but generally grazing animals don’t really care about those. I imagine they are dangerous for horses and people, though.
I originally thought that they were a nuisance animal in pasture land. Amazing what you can learn from good research. I thought it was interesting, anyway. The language thing is weird, though.
Now, if they were living in a backyard it might be another story.
It reminded me of something interesting I learned about prairie dogs. From what I’ve heard, prairie dogs are considered a nuisance because they damage pasture land, but I’ve learned recently that they don’t necessarily. I saw a show about them that had some information I hadn’t heard before. One thing was that they have a language that the ones on guard duty use. Different calls mean different things, to the level of distinguishing between grazing animals, predators, people they recognize as not being a threat and someone who they don’t recognize who may be a threat.
Another interesting thing was that the prairie dogs improve grazing land. They eat plants that grazing animals don’t which lets the grasses grow better. They also aerate the soil with their burrows and other activity and help spread the fertilizer around. When they are left undisturbed, prairie dogs improve the pasture and make it better for grazing.
They do leave holes, but generally grazing animals don’t really care about those. I imagine they are dangerous for horses and people, though.
I originally thought that they were a nuisance animal in pasture land. Amazing what you can learn from good research. I thought it was interesting, anyway. The language thing is weird, though.
Now, if they were living in a backyard it might be another story.
FYI
That info on teachers was actually an average minimum based on basic class time. The other stuff I mentioned – class prep, extracurricular time, personal time – makes it more like a 60 hour week.
I was a little confusing in how I put that together in the other posts and I didn’t want anyone to think one post related directly to the other.
I was a little confusing in how I put that together in the other posts and I didn’t want anyone to think one post related directly to the other.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)