Monday, October 31, 2011 at 10:10AM Carved pumpkins yesterday in preparation for this evening's trick-or-treaters. The green and yellow variegated pumpkin (0:11) was grown in a raised bed in the backyard. [NOTES: Amy cleaned the seeds, added some salt, and toasted them in the oven. We ate them all. In one sitting. Music by El Ten Eleven].
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 1:13PM The view out the front window yesterday at about 1:00 PM. Halloween pumpkins are sitting - uncarved, in several inches of snow. This storm apparently set an October snowfall record for New York. Thousands of houses lost power. Earthquakes and hurricanes and snowstorms in October? Definitely something going on with the weather around here (see Hard to Deny).
Friday, October 28, 2011 at 9:49AM 
An exquisite collection of chrysanthemum art is on display in the NYBG Conservatory as part of the Fall Flowers of Japan show. Many beautiful examples of ozukuri, or thousand bloom plants, a single individual containing hundreds of carefully positioned blossoms (like the white one shown in the background of the image). Show closes on October 30.
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 10:49AM 
As part of the Fall Flowers of Japan show currently at The New York Botanical Garden, there is a wonderful piece of art (shown above) floating in the Palm Dome pool in the Conservatory. The sculpture was created by Tetsunori Kawana, a Master Teacher of the Sogetsu school of Ikebana, or Japanese flower arrangement, using fallen branches, twigs, vines, stumps, and roots collected from the grounds of NYBG following tropical storm Irene. The installation is titled Tanjou, which means rebirth. [NOTE: I went into the Conservatory this morning before it opened to the public and the garderers were still cleaning and pruning. The broom and bucket, although a nice addition to my photograph, are not part of the sculpture].
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 7:21AM 
Naw Sein (see Naw Sein) casually holds the rope at the plot stake - and has a smoke - during the inventory of the Village Management Area outside of Shinlonga (see The Last Stake) in northern Kachin State, Myanmar. [NOTE: All of the palms in the background are spiny rattans, which suggests that this was probably a pretty horrible plot].
Kachin, Shinlonga, forest inventory in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 9:39AM 
A new study by the Berkeley Earth Project, compiled from more than a billion temperature records, confirms that global warming is a reality. The average global land temperature has risen about 1°C since the mid-1950's. The data agree with the findings from other major groups who have chronicled the world's climate, including NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Met Office's Hadley Center (curves shown above). Hard to be a sceptic (I hope) given the clarity of these data. Gulp.
Berkeley Earth Project, global warming in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Monday, October 24, 2011 at 8:36AM 
Another example of an elephant being used to collect plant specimens (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey). If I remember correctly, the mahouts were trying to get the orchid on the branch above for Dr. Saw Lwin (see Tea Break). [NOTE: The black Eagle Creek duffel bag on top of the white plastic jug on the elephant to the right has all of my stuff in it].
Hukaung Valley, Myanmar, elephants in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Friday, October 21, 2011 at 9:04AM 
This Calvin and Hobbes strip provides a pretty clear explanation of why people have been camped out in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district of New York since September 17 (thx, Bill Watterson). Go here and here for more wordy explanations of what is happening now in over 900 cities worldwide. Time to engage?
Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, Occupy Wall Street in Other | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 9:46AM 
Drivers checking the bridge at Mile 15 on the Ledo Road in the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. They straightened some boards, added a few more, pounded in some nails, and then drove their rattan trucks over it on the way Myitkyina. [NOTE: I just found a treasure trove of images from the 2005 Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey and Tea Break) on a CD in one of my filing cabinets. Stay tuned].
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 9:03AM 
If you have use rights to a tract of forest and get all of the necessary permits, you can log a specified number of shamu (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb) Hook.) trees to build a house. The Miao apparently debark the stems before transporting them to the village. [NOTE: Site is a household concession forest about an hour's walk outside of Xijiang].
