Baby Raccoons!

What's cuter than a baby panda? Why, a baby raccoon, of course. What's even cuter than that? Three albino baby raccoons, of course (pictured).

Notes From Heaven!

Greetings!

Well, the world ended yesterday and I guess I was one of the lucky ones taken to heaven!

Interestingly, heaven pretty much looks just like the place on earth where I lived. In fact, the entire house came to heaven with me -- so did Matt, our dog Aalto and our cat Eero (so I guess that answers the question of whether pets are allowed into heaven). Looking out the window I see that the entire street where I lived was transported to heaven, as well as a big chunk of our neighborhood.

What's really neat is we still get television reception from earth and the internet is working -- which is how I am able to make this blog entry. The news stations are not showing any of the suffering going on back down on earth. This is probably because heaven is supposed to be all nice and everything, so they are not allowing coverage of the carnage going on during the five months of "hell on earth" that is currently engulfing the planet I once called home.

Will I miss the earth? Probably; but it seems that heaven is filled with all the comforts of my old home so I probably won't miss it long.

Note to Self: End of World Tomorrow

We're down to the last 24 hours before the world ends. Matt suggested you might want to make sure you clean up the crap on the roof of your house. You don't want the raptured folks to see that old frisbee that's been up there since the kids were eight. That would be poor form.

Take a Bird to Lunch Today!

Today is international migratory bird day in which the whole world takes a moment to realize the importance to the planet of birds, migration routes and the need to protect the environment.

Celebrate by taking a migratory bird to lunch! Find out what kind of birds are likely in your area today and what kind of foods they like to eat and put some around your yard to say "Hey, migratory birds! Welcome to my neighborhood! Here, take a load off and have a snack."

You can read more about the day here.

Find out more about the birds you can see at the Petrified Forest National park in Arizona here.

You can read more about what bird-related events are going on in Dubai here.

The illustration is by famed naturalist Charles Harper.

Books I Am Reading

Am reading this.

Just finished reading this.

Good Manners Cost Nothing

I totally agree with this article about the importance of teaching good manners to children. And not only children: given the current state of affairs, I know a whole lotta people who would benefit from reading it.

At some point, people lost sight of the fact that manners are not some tortured stricture that forces us to act a certain way; manners are the way we show respect for ourselves and for other people. Without respect the world descends into anarchy and chaos. I know you are probably thinking "too late"; but it is never too late to understand the added value brought to our lives by good manners.

End of the World (again)

You might remember back in October 2006 when I posted this entry about how the world would be ending on 09 November. It appears they got it wrong that time.

However yesterday, while driving around, we saw a large billboard proclaiming that "judgement day" was coming on Saturday, 21 May 2011. It even included a special note in a big circle proclaiming "the bible guarantees it!" so I am thinking it is probably true this time.

We have (or, I guess, had) plans with some neighbor friends on 28 May, so we let them know we might not be there (if the world ends we will probably not be available for a picnic). They probably wouldn't be available either, but it would be rude of me to not at least give them a heads up, don't you think?

Anyway, we're down to less than two weeks before the end of the world, so I suggest you tidy up around the house. I'm sure you don't want the place looking a mess when the angels arrive at the door. Do you?

Wanna See a Great Movie?

We are great fans of foreign and independent films. I would say of the films we screen at our house, easily half are either foreign or independent. (The other 50 percent comprises something like 30 percent vintage films, and 20 percent new Hollywood offerings.)

Why do we like foreign and independent films so much? Well, aside from the fact they are more competently made, most also have substance and believable characters and plots and logic -- all things missing from most Hollywood films. In addition, foreign films offer a look at another world clearly ignored by Hollywood. I like seeing stories about other people and other lands.

I agree with almost all of the sentiments in this story recently on NPR. Most Americans are missing out on the very best in cinema because they either have no desire to see foreign films (Subtitles? You mean I gotta READ the movie?) or because Hollywood makes it hard for people to find these films.

Well, these movies are available if you expend just a little effort to find them. If they run at your local cinema, go see them. (If they don't, call and ask why not.) If they don't, well, all I can say, is thank the gods for Netflix.