A word cloud of common Lenten offerings

Monday was President's Day, but was also Shrove Monday, also known as Collops Monday, when traditionally, the last slices (collops) of meat were cooked and served before the Lenten fast. Bacon and eggs would have been a Collops Monday breakfast.

And yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, and Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), and Carnival (from carne levare, to take away meat). Pancakes are made from other ingredients often restricted during Lent: sugar, flour, eggs and oil.

And today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the forty-day Lenten season of fasting, leading up to Easter. Today's question of the day is:

If you observe the Lenten fast, what delicacies/luxuries/habits are you sacrificing this season?

We startled a flock of 7 American robins in the scrub along the roadside, and counted 4 black-capped chickadees on the other side of the road. Within a few minutes, my partner, Paul, spied a great horned owl sitting in a tree not far off our path. It resembled a big, scruffy cat and we were pleasantly surprised to see it in the middle of the afternoon. While we gawked, the owl watched and patiently swiveled its head, back and forth, between us and a small murder of crows. I’d forgotten my camera and binoculars. So, here’s the best image from my smart phone:

The courtship of the great horned owl usually begins in late January and into February, and I’d been hearing pre-dawn “hoots” the last couple of weeks. We also saw what we thought was another large owl in a tree off in the distance — a mate, perhaps? But we couldn’t include it in our count without a closer look.

So, the final tally: 1 great horned owl, 3 crows, 4 black-capped chickadees and 7 American robins — all within 15 minutes. Next time, I’ll remember the binoculars and a better camera. You can visit this link for more info about the 2012 Great Backyard Bird Count.

I don't know about you, but I despise advertisements for toilet paper almost as much as I despise advertisements for prescription drugs (worse than toilet paper ads only because of the endless lists of possible side effects…as far as I know, toilet paper does not have side effects).

Okay, you say, why on earth is Ellen writing about toilet paper? Well, it's a paper product that Americans have used with abandon, unlike most of the rest of the world. And, we use bleached products, by and large.

In a recent Utne piece, I learned that toilet paper producers actually may add brown coloring to toilet paper to signal the product's "greeness." Still, Americans are reluctant to use toilet paper made from recycled materials.

The now-defunct (1992-2000) Madison Museum of Bathroom Tissue.

With the cost of recycled paper products much lower now, I have taken the leap to "brown" recycled paper products. It's like the early days of household recycling–or seatbelt use: once adopted, these practices become habitual and I feel self-conscious or guilty or naked if I ignore them. Here's a link to a wiki article on recycling paper.

Is this more than you wanted to know about me–that my household uses toilet paper made from recycled materials?

Well, I'm gonna take this one step further–today's Question of the Day is:

What "green" practices have you adopted in recent years?

These practices don't have to be elaborate or difficult. It's easier to make change in small increments. What baby steps have you taken?

Journalist Anthony Shadid, 1968-2012

Anthony Shadid, the eloquent and insightful journalist who died last week, visited the north country not so long ago as a guest speaker on the St. Lawrence University campus. In Slate.com, this tribute to Shadid through a sampling of some of his most compelling foreign dispatches.

Now the US stamp design commission has opened the honors up to living Americans. Today's Question of the Day is:

Which living American should be the first to appear on a US postage stamp?

Exception to the rule department:
See Terri Gilchrist comments below. There has been a US postage stamp featuring living Americans–Navy sailors in a 1945 commemorative 3-cent stamp, including her father, Paul Franz. This is the stamp, inset in the US Navy archive photo from which it was taken:

In public radio, we work hard to be honest and fair, so do others in the news and information business. Not all, but most. Nonetheless, the fourth estate consistently registers pretty low in public opinion polls. Why? Can you think of an example of bad behavior on the part of a news organization? Be as specific as you can. Thanks.

Rubber stamp used by Weegee (born Arthur Felig) to sign his photograhs.

There's an exhibit of Weegee photographs up at the International Center for Photography through the first week of March. My son went to see it and was blown away. You may think you don't know who Weegee is, but if you have a mental image of gritty, black and white NYC in the '30s and '40s, you're probably remembering a Weegee photo. Here's the link to the wiki entry on him.

Okay, so what does this have to do with winter reading? Well, the genre of "escapist" literature I favor is of the gumshoe, Sam Spade or police detective variety…and, in my mind's eye, I see Weegee images when I read Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. Winter is a great time for this sort of reading. Who's your favorite detective or mystery writer? Not into this stuff–okay, tell me what you like to relax with: fantasy? scifi? epic historical novels?

Today's Question of the Day:

What teacher in your life did the most to light your light?

Name, school and subject(s), please.

I think the Christina Science Monitor has done a great job of shining the spotlight on the variety of opinions surrounding Black History Month and on some of the major contributions of African Americans. Plus, there's a list of five things held near and dear to the hearts of many black Americans (that may not be well-known to white and other non-black Americans), and a quiz about black history, well-worth taking.

Here's a clip of one of my musical heroes:

Which African Americans do you most admire?

This is not media nostalgia talking, but brain science. For example, it's very possible to skim text and get a fair level of reading comprehension. Or to read the intro then skip to the conclusions to get some sense. But you can't skim audio. It happens in real-time and in sequence. Take it out of order, or sample it–you've got not much.  It is not amenable to multi-tasking. For example, I can watch the TV and respond to email at the same time, and do a fair job at both. But I can't listen to the news on the radio, and carry on a conversation with my wife at the same time. I can either forget to stop at the store, or totally miss the science segment.

Also, the audio of the story carries much more information than, say, the transcript of the story. The text is 26 letters, 10 digits,  plus punctuation marks. The voices convey a sense of personality, emotions, flag the importance of statements, give clues to the veracity of the speaker. Text is informative in its content, audio is informative in both form and content.

Take a minute, take a breath, slow down, and listen. Everything will make a little more sense.

Today's Question of the Day is:

How connected is too connected?

Bonus question:

What gizmo in your possession is the most useful/useless?

Jeweler Cindy J. Cook at work

You can't take a walk around the North Country without tripping over someone making art. Painters, potters, jewelers, printmakers, sculptors, and people "doin' things that haven't got a name yet."

Many artists means many patrons. Today's Question of the Day is:

When did you last buy a work of art? What was it, and who made it?

Oxymoron of the Day: White Chocolate

Happy Valentine's Day! According to Wikipedia:

Saint Valentine's Day, often simply Valentine's Day, is a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentinus. It was first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, and was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is celebrated in countries around the world, mostly in the West, although it remains a working day in all of them.

The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards…

While white chocolate can be loosely described as a confectionery, today's Question of the Day is:

White chocolate–can you really call it chocolate?

The Question of the Day is:
What is the estimated price tag for the 2012 federal election campaigns?

One estimate.

Now this New York Times article takes a look:

The sturgeon, in decades long past, commonly exceeded 14 feet and 800 pounds. In the late 1800s, the fish were so abundant in the Hudson River that they were stacked like logs on sloop decks and the smoked flesh gained the nickname Albany beef. But they suffered two great population crashes, first toward the end of the 19th century and again in the last years of the 20th century.

Starting in 1996, all fishing of the New York sturgeon population was stopped under a moratorium that persists today.

The interns come to get theirs.

It's also been extra lively around the station this week, as we absorb a record number of interns and try to sort out who does what, when and where. One of their number, Esther, perhaps recognizing our less than stellar organizational skills, suggested that the interns form an operating group within the station–an insurgency, if you will. After all, unless they can strike out on their own, the natural course of things at a media company will leave the interns post-producing audio, rewriting transcripts, and pounding in calendar events until they are fully exsanguinated.

Today's Question of the Day is the one I put to our intern insurgency, by way of being agent provacateur:

What would you do with North Country Public Radio, if you could pry it from our cold, dead hands?

Submit your answers and other demands in a comment below, or just drop by with pitchforks and torches.

Dickens scratching, scratching, scratching at the page.

Yesterday was the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Dickens, author of nearly everything that wasn't written by Shakespeare, or one of the Brontes. Among his dozens of books, one can find hundreds of the most memorable characters in literature–and certainly the most memorable and quirky of character names. Here's a complete list.

Today's Question of the Day: Forget your Blues Name, your Pirate Name, or your Superhero Name–what is your Dickens Character Name?

Inquisitvely yours,
Wackford Squeers

Don Woodcock and friends played a variety of foxtrot, waltz and swing tunes.

I attended a rare event this past Saturday night in Heuvelton: a ballroom dance to live music. Dancing to live music isn’t rare, but as an amateur dance instructor, I’m often asked about ballroom dance venues in the North Country. Not rock or swing, but more traditional ballroom dances. Where are they?

Doing the foxtrot at Pickens Hall.

More than 50 folks filled the second floor of the historic Pickens Hall for the Heuvelton Historical Association’s Winter Ball.

I helped kick off the dancing Saturday night with basic foxtrot and waltz lessons for a very enthusiastic group of dancers. It was so cool to see people of all ages on the dance floor. Even better was the live music from the band made up of some “top shelf” local musicians. In an email after the dance, champion fiddler Don Woodcock (on keyboard and fiddle that night) told me, “I haven't seen people dance like that in years. It has become a lost art to do a foxtrot or a waltz especially here in the North Country. I grew up seeing dancing like that when I used to go as a kid with my father when he played at dances.”

The Heuvelton group has another event scheduled for Saturday, February 25 at Pickens Hall and is planning an Irish dance in March. Anyone know a traditional Irish jig? The Cosmopolitan Club of Watertown has been going strong for years – their next evening of dinner and dancing is February 25 at the Black River Valley Club. Bonnie and Doug (fabulous dancers!) will teach tango and samba at a ballroom dance party at the Clayton Opera House on Friday, February 17. And, don’t forget the 25th anniversary of Dance Flurry – three days of music and dancing, February 17, 18 and 19 in Saratoga Springs.

The question of the day is: "So, where do you go to dance?"

Tundra Swans. Source:wikipedia

What infrequent flyers and special company are you seeing this year in your neck of the woods?

Burmese python

Well, Burmese pythons (here's a recent NY Times article on Florida's problem snake) and zebra mussels are among the most aggressive invasive species–one in the southern US, the other further north. I had a press release today from the Vermont Law School about a new study in support of legislation to control invasive animal species.

Zebra mussels

The study,  by Vermont Law School alumnus Jane Graham, proposes a model federal law that calls for:

• A “clean” list of species that are allowed into the country instead of the current “dirty” list that prohibits specific species.
• A process that explains exactly how risk assessment decisions will be determined.
• Uniform restrictions on exotic—and potentially all—animal ownership.
• Increased public awareness of invasive animal laws.
• Higher and uniform fines and criminal penalties for violations.
• Methods to fund restoration of ecosystems damaged by invasive species
• Entrepreneurship and partnerships between government and private businesses.

Graham argues that "other laws—such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Animal Health Protection Act as well as state laws, public nuisance laws, free market solutions and exotic pet restrictions— are insufficient…and uncoordinated."

What do you think? More regulation? Or, should we just accept invasive species as a by-product of the global economy?