{"id":6438,"date":"2013-09-12T15:51:56","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T19:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=6438"},"modified":"2013-09-12T15:51:56","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T19:51:56","slug":"listening-post-all-eat-up-with-the-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/09\/12\/listening-post-all-eat-up-with-the-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening Post: All eat up with the ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6439\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/files\/2013\/09\/blobfish122way.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6439\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6439\" alt=\"The blobfish: world's ugliest animal? Photo: NOAA\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/files\/2013\/09\/blobfish122way-300x208.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/files\/2013\/09\/blobfish122way-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/files\/2013\/09\/blobfish122way.jpg 719w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6439\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The blobfish: world&#8217;s ugliest animal? Photo: NOAA<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mother Nature has clearly whacked some of her unfortunate children with &#8220;the ugly stick.&#8221; My morning browse of NPR brought this item to light: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.northcountrypublicradio.org\/news\/npr\/221678782\/you-may-not-want-to-look-blobfish-named-ugliest-animal\"><em>Blobfish Named &#8216;Ugliest Animal&#8217;<\/em><\/a>, which I thought was kind of cruel, right up until I saw the photo. Yup, that sucker is <em>uhhgleee<\/em>. The loathsome nomination was made by an online vote to choose the mascot for the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. Here&#8217;s how the BBC describes the group:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The society is a whimsical British organization that mixes comedy with science to raise awareness about &#8220;the threats facing &#8230; weird and wonderful creatures.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So they&#8217;re not just a bunch of meanies. Also in the running for the dubious distinction: the proboscis monkey, British bats, and the flightless dung beetle. Look them up, but not on a full stomach.<\/p>\n<p>I have my own candidates, including the lamentable <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inspirefusion.com\/featherless-chicken\/\">featherless chicken<\/a> (deliberately bred for crowded conditions in hot climates), the pathetic hairless <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sphynx_%28cat%29\">Sphynx cat<\/a> (now that must have just been mean), and the shovel-handed, worm-snouted <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Star-nosed_mole\"> star-nosed mole<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>None of these creatures are common sights in the North Country (thank God), but even these green and pleasant lands have their share of ugly. NCPR&#8217;s Photo of the Day feature has been a great showcase for nature&#8217;s beauties&#8211;blue heron in flight, graceful whitetails, gem-like butterflies&#8211;but what about the homely, the lop-sided and the freakish? Submit your best worst shots on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.northcountrypublicradio.org\/features\/todaysphoto\/photocontest.html\">Photo of the Day submission page<\/a> or submit via email to <a href=\"mailto:radio@ncpr.org\">radio@ncpr.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mother Nature has clearly whacked some of her unfortunate children with &#8220;the ugly stick.&#8221; My [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6441,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6438\/revisions\/6441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}