As we are once again out of country for Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to share the day with those of you who can’t join us.  Click here to view the webcam.

Nick, if you’re watching, Daniel is of the Buzatu clan that brought us placinta!

This tiny island just next to the Marianas Trench has had trouble with snakes for a long time.  When I was a Boy Scout there, my dad fitted a machette to my camping pack, half for clearing the jungle, half for tackling these little buggers.

Always look before you sit (particularly on toilets) and always zip up your tent.

Well, it looks like the latest effort to rid the island of this invasive species is to bomb the forests with frozen dead mice laced with acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol… are we trying to kill the snakes, or just help them get over their headache from the last power outage they instigated?

As for how they will actually “bomb” with mice, here’s this little jem from the article:

Initially mice were tested with a variety of ‘delivery systems’ until researchers with the National Wildlife Researcher Center in Fort Collins, Colorado settled on a streamer attached to cardboard on which the mouse is affixed via glue. This contraption is meant to catch in the tree tops: perfectly positioning itself for hungry brown tree snakes. Researchers want to make certain the mice don’t make it all the way to the ground where they could threaten local wildlife such as crabs and lizards [PDF].

Ah, the comic life of grad students.  I’d say it’s no longer true, but somehow the three-letter difference between “post-doc” and “pre-doc” isn’t as big as it was made out to be.  Wait, who made it out to be big?  Perhaps that was only, “in my mind.”*

And if you are a grad students and haven’t discovered PhD Comics yet, you are definitely missing out on the humour that comes from realising you are are in a weird situation. . . just like every other grad student.

* This is a reference to an Eddie Izzard sketch that I have failed to find on YouTube…

Alas, I’ll have to settle for the view behind the barrier, my memories, and comments from those of you on the inside about how the show is!

This seems to be the same old tactic of playing fear politics.  The politician’s role, apparently, is not to play to people’s better natures, leading the way in demonstrating how to live by the principles on which the country was founded.  Instead, his or her role is to fester divide in an already divided country, to play to the basest of human needs (security) and argue that those needs are being undermined by propagating a common misconception about a part of the population they don’t feel they need votes from.

Why is this considered good politics?  Why fester dissent and ignorance?  I understand that the easiest way to power is to construct an all-powerful and fearful “other” that you can rile the populace into a frenzy over, then convince them that you have the answer on how to defeat them.  But that’s the easiest way.  It doesn’t lead to an enlightened public, to a public that can engage in the process of government.  It leads to a military state, and has more in common with a dictatorship than a democracy.  Why would current-day politicians in what should be a leading (not fear-mongering) democracy want to walk down this line?  I welcome your thoughts.

What other shows have you found that provide useful insight into global affairs?

It was a wonderful time, mucking out stalls, being amused by the goats (Bert & Ernie), hiking in canyons, lounging the the pool, and even playing a little Wii.

I look forward to getting back there soon!  Thanks Aunt Anne and Uncle Jim for a great few days.

I am testing out facebook for hosting some photos.  There is limited resolution and it’s a bit harder to download them.  Let me know in the comments here if that will be a problem for you.

You can find the old Ponderingmind.org here.