Oh, fairest readers our story continueth The stormy clouds over the evil Ithaca Are rising anew and afar As if some new less evil Perhaps more guiless creature stirs
Stirs in the breast and heart of Southland Where unbeknownst to all Joy of discovery is about to befall Has befallen already, alas But how can this be good news, you say
For the slings and arrows Against the ramparts of Ithaca Castles Are turning to south To a new clueless beast Who seeks anew the secrets of swamps
Who would uncover the powers The powers of the Grail itself To elevate lesser mortals To the status of Ivies A worthy goal, forsooth, Of southern peoples everwhere
Pots of newts and salamanders Are stirring now as reminders That Ithaca’s reign doth decline at last The walls only slightly breeched But the Director left standing
But Auburn Castles are feeling the heat Tom’s catapults are pounding the beat Can our newest fairest heroes compete Or will they soon make hasty retreat At least Birdchick is back. What a treat!
Didn't know that Rachael Dickinson was Gallagher's wife, what a wonderful incestuous IBWO marketing world we have going on. Talk about insider's power play.
Secondly -
What would Freud and Jung make of all this.
Small select bands of people see an extinct bird that nobody else can see.
More small bands of people find extinct birds everywhere (3 locations and counting )yet nobody can take a damn picture of the bird. Amazingly, the extinct bird can be heard making numerous kent like calls, double knocky things, cavity holes, bark scalings, and visual sightings.
Small bands of people make tons of money promoting the fact that they found the extinct bird.
CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WRITE A DECENT BOOK ON THIS STORY!
Money, reputations, media. elite institutions, politics, any sex?
I'm not impressed by Tyler Hicks' field sketch from 27 May (p. 1 of their FieldNotes2006 pdf). It depicts the bird in full top view, whereas the diagram showing circumstances of the sighting shows the observer situated well below the bird. To achieve the full top view shown in the sketch he would have to be above the bird, perhaps in a canopy tree tower. The inaccurate angle obviously disqualifies this as a credible field sketch worthy of serious consideration.
I certainly appreciate all the time and energy that goes into the drivel that's posted here. At least I get paid for mine. Maybe someone would take all of you seriously if you could rise above the bad poetry and silly, sniping commentary.
Really? Gallagher's wife? Talk about bias. Talk about totally committed to the last breath. Talk about fooling oneself into believing they are of any use on this subject.
The sorry decline of the National Audubon Society continues.
It really does smell. It's amazing to me that anyone can't smell it.
It's like the hostess at a party where one of the guests has shat on the floor in the bedroom. She smells it but she simply can't believe that anyone would do that. So, for a moment, she is able to convince herself that it's the smell of the lilies she picked earlier that morning.
I love this aspect of the story so much that I have to repeat it:
[Hill] also added, “I can’t imagine how we could be wrong,” and asked, “What else could be making that noise? Nothing in nature we know of.
and then
Mennill, who is a specialist in avian sounds and has studied cousins of the ivory-bill in Central America says, “.... It reminds me of what I have heard in Central America.”
“Using sound-analysis software to scan the recordings from the swamp, for the first few weeks we only isolated sounds of branches breaking and gunshots firing,” says Mennill. “But by the middle of January we had a breakthrough. My students starting isolating double-knocks that sounded just like the double knocks I’ve heard from pale-billed woodpeckers in Costa Rica. We knew we were on to something big.”
Here's a fun experiment: record a little girl in a field yelling "Satan" from 50 yards away. Then give some students 12,000 hours of recordings from that Florida site and ask them to find the matches.
I think they'd be surprised at the evil which lurks there.
Maybe someone would take all of you seriously if you could rise above the bad poetry and silly, sniping commentary.
If any IBWO believer takes us skeptics seriously, they will have to admit that their "evidence" is really a pile of crap that supports the existence of woodpeckers in Florida -- just not ivory-billed woodpekers.
I don't see that happening any time soon, Rachel.
I do want to link back to this earlier thread, though,
because I spent a whole half hour last night crafting my critique of the Auburn website and it got buried under all of this morning's new threads. Tom must have upped his coffee intake.
From an article in the journal publishing the Hill et al. paper (link in thread below):
Discovering the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in the bottomland forests of southeastern Arkansas (Fitzpatrick et al. 2005), 60 years after the last confirmed sighting on the North American mainland, has evoked more widespread excitement in the United States than any other conservation story—indeed perhaps any other science story—in recent memory. Now that the furor has subsided, it is appropriate to consider the realities of the situation
If you hire me, I promise not to write any more drivel.
The poetry is supreme.
Hey, I admit it, maybe I'm a wee bit jealous for being on the outside and not part of the best and the brightest and elightened over in Ivy League land.
How about the safer bet with Amy that a third university will announce within a year that IBWO have been sighted.
I'd be a fool to take that bet.
It's been said a thousand times before, but why not repeat the basic fact: ANYBODY can say that they saw ANY bird.
That doesn't make the bird "alive."
All a university needs to claim a "sighting" of an IBWO is a graduate student willing to say that he saw one.
Knowing that Cornell and other universities have students who are "convinced" that the weight of scientific evidence shows that life on earth was "designed" by a mysterious race of alien beings, the odds of snaring a student who could convince himself that he saw a "rare" woodpecker are quite good.
I had to spell enlightened wrong just before my interview.
Edit, Edit, Edit, Edit ___________________________ Tom Wolfe - ain't he dead yet? ________________________________ Tom Nelson - please cut back on the caffeine, you're amazing.
"The Federal Aviation Administration approved a new $300-million airport on Friday 20 miles north of Panama City on land donated by the state's biggest developer, despite opposition from many local voters.
It would cover 4,000 acres, making it larger than Tampa International Airport.
When it would open is unclear because of uncertainties surrounding the project, including federal permits needed to destroy 2,000 acres of wetlands and the possibility of environmental lawsuits."
Well, maybe Auburns Ivory Bills can find a new home.
When it would open is unclear because of uncertainties surrounding the project, including federal permits needed to destroy 2,000 acres of wetlands and the possibility of environmental lawsuits
I wonder if there are any nice specimens of Sarracenia minor growing in that area? Carnivorous plants often take a big big beating when they develop swampland.
Methinks ya'll can use a lesson in manners here. Attacking the guy's wife is poor taste. Does the "golden rule" mean anything to ya'll? How 'bout some respect?
Ok, you're an idiot, Methinks II. Is that respect enough? She works for a once great and now useless enviro org. She inserted herself into the fiasco. And on the wrong side, may I add.
She will just have to suffer the slings and arrows of her outrageous fortune.
Gambling is an art as much as a science. Give yourself a chance, man."
True, and it should be clear that my wager wasn't based on science... which I understand to tell me the odds of IBWO in the panhandle are very low. Nonetheless, I like Hill's parting shot in the Gorman piece. He seems to know his place... a meager bit of artistry on his part that caught my attention.
30 comments:
Oh, fairest readers our story continueth
The stormy clouds over the evil Ithaca
Are rising anew and afar
As if some new less evil
Perhaps more guiless creature stirs
Stirs in the breast and heart of Southland
Where unbeknownst to all
Joy of discovery is about to befall
Has befallen already, alas
But how can this be good news, you say
For the slings and arrows
Against the ramparts of Ithaca Castles
Are turning to south
To a new clueless beast
Who seeks anew the secrets of swamps
Who would uncover the powers
The powers of the Grail itself
To elevate lesser mortals
To the status of Ivies
A worthy goal, forsooth,
Of southern peoples everwhere
Pots of newts and salamanders
Are stirring now as reminders
That Ithaca’s reign doth decline at last
The walls only slightly breeched
But the Director left standing
But Auburn Castles are feeling the heat
Tom’s catapults are pounding the beat
Can our newest fairest heroes compete
Or will they soon make hasty retreat
At least Birdchick is back. What a treat!
First off -
Didn't know that Rachael Dickinson was Gallagher's wife, what a wonderful incestuous IBWO marketing world we have going on. Talk about insider's power play.
Secondly -
What would Freud and Jung make of all this.
Small select bands of people see an extinct bird that nobody else can see.
More small bands of people find extinct birds everywhere (3 locations and counting )yet nobody can take a damn picture of the bird. Amazingly, the extinct bird can be heard making numerous kent like calls, double knocky things, cavity holes, bark scalings, and visual sightings.
Small bands of people make tons of money promoting the fact that they found the extinct bird.
CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WRITE A DECENT BOOK ON THIS STORY!
Money, reputations, media. elite institutions, politics, any sex?
"CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WRITE A DECENT BOOK ON THIS STORY!"
Tom Wolfe, all dressed in white, is your man.
I just love the smell of highly publicized skimpy evidence and decomposing academic institutions in the morning
And since the lack of a photo keeps the emphasis on audio evidence I am assuming that the next college to get involved will be Kent State.
I'm not impressed by Tyler Hicks' field sketch from 27 May (p. 1 of their FieldNotes2006 pdf). It depicts the bird in full top view, whereas the diagram showing circumstances of the sighting shows the observer situated well below the bird. To achieve the full top view shown in the sketch he would have to be above the bird, perhaps in a canopy tree tower. The inaccurate angle obviously disqualifies this as a credible field sketch worthy of serious consideration.
I am impressed by Shakespeare's poem.
I certainly appreciate all the time and energy that goes into the drivel that's posted here. At least I get paid for mine. Maybe someone would take all of you seriously if you could rise above the bad poetry and silly, sniping commentary.
Really? Gallagher's wife? Talk about bias. Talk about totally committed to the last breath. Talk about fooling oneself into believing they are of any use on this subject.
The sorry decline of the National Audubon Society continues.
This guy is not so impressed.
LOL! A man after my own heart.
It really does smell. It's amazing to me that anyone can't smell it.
It's like the hostess at a party where one of the guests has shat on the floor in the bedroom. She smells it but she simply can't believe that anyone would do that. So, for a moment, she is able to convince herself that it's the smell of the lilies she picked earlier that morning.
I've been to enough parties to know better.
Yes, Shakespeare, you rightly on. Dr. Fitzpatrick has a smile on his face today. Auburn has let him off the hook. Well, at least half the heat.
Never catch a falling knife? Never step in front of a speeding train?
Shoot, not Auburn! What dunderheads!
I love this aspect of the story so much that I have to repeat it:
[Hill] also added, “I can’t imagine how we could be wrong,” and asked, “What else could be making that noise? Nothing in nature we know of.
and then
Mennill, who is a specialist in avian sounds and has studied cousins of the ivory-bill in Central America says, “.... It reminds me of what I have heard in Central America.”
They need to work on their scripts some more.
“Using sound-analysis software to scan the recordings from the swamp, for the first few weeks we only isolated sounds of branches breaking and gunshots firing,” says Mennill. “But by the middle of January we had a breakthrough. My students starting isolating double-knocks that sounded just like the double knocks I’ve heard from pale-billed woodpeckers in Costa Rica. We knew we were on to something big.”
Here's a fun experiment: record a little girl in a field yelling "Satan" from 50 yards away. Then give some students 12,000 hours of recordings from that Florida site and ask them to find the matches.
I think they'd be surprised at the evil which lurks there.
"...if you could rise above the bad poetry.."
Damn, she badmouthed the bad poetry. Now THAT really hurts.
Maybe someone would take all of you seriously if you could rise above the bad poetry and silly, sniping commentary.
If any IBWO believer takes us skeptics seriously, they will have to admit that their "evidence" is really a pile of crap that supports the existence of woodpeckers in Florida -- just not ivory-billed woodpekers.
I don't see that happening any time soon, Rachel.
I do want to link back to this earlier thread, though,
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2006/09/mennills-ibwo-site-now-online.html
because I spent a whole half hour last night crafting my critique of the Auburn website and it got buried under all of this morning's new threads. Tom must have upped his coffee intake.
For a minute there I thought the title referred to Harrison, a "Brokeback Bayou" allusion, got to keep it simple.
Hmmm, being taken seriously or sniping? Serious or sniping? Sniping or serious? ... Yup, sniping it is.
Man, there is going to be one wild party down in Veracruz!!!
Pd,
Gambling is an art as much as a science. Give yourself a chance, man.
After a combined total of 20+ sightings by CLO and all they can glimpse is the white trailing edge? Never a perched bird? Much less a photo?
As I say, give yourself a chance. How about the safer bet with Amy that a third university will announce within a year that IBWO have been sighted.
Now that's a winning bet!
Gallagher's wife! Good addition to the character set.
hahahahahahahahahaha....
Kneep....kneep....
From an article in the journal publishing the Hill et al. paper (link in thread below):
Discovering the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in the bottomland forests of southeastern Arkansas (Fitzpatrick et al. 2005), 60 years after the last confirmed sighting on the North American mainland, has evoked more widespread excitement in the United States than any other conservation story—indeed perhaps any other science story—in recent memory. Now that the furor has subsided, it is appropriate to consider the realities of the situation
LOL!
Dear Rachel;
If you hire me, I promise not to write any more drivel.
The poetry is supreme.
Hey, I admit it, maybe I'm a wee bit jealous for being on the outside and not part of the best and the brightest and elightened over in Ivy League land.
How about the safer bet with Amy that a third university will announce within a year that IBWO have been sighted.
I'd be a fool to take that bet.
It's been said a thousand times before, but why not repeat the basic fact: ANYBODY can say that they saw ANY bird.
That doesn't make the bird "alive."
All a university needs to claim a "sighting" of an IBWO is a graduate student willing to say that he saw one.
Knowing that Cornell and other universities have students who are "convinced" that the weight of scientific evidence shows that life on earth was "designed" by a mysterious race of alien beings, the odds of snaring a student who could convince himself that he saw a "rare" woodpecker are quite good.
Damn,
I had to spell enlightened wrong just before my interview.
Edit, Edit, Edit, Edit
___________________________
Tom Wolfe - ain't he dead yet?
________________________________
Tom Nelson - please cut back on the caffeine, you're amazing.
Has anyone mentioned the new airport?
"The Federal Aviation Administration approved a new $300-million airport on Friday 20 miles north of Panama City on land donated by the state's biggest developer, despite opposition from many local voters.
It would cover 4,000 acres, making it larger than Tampa International Airport.
When it would open is unclear because of uncertainties surrounding the project, including federal permits needed to destroy 2,000 acres of wetlands and the possibility of environmental lawsuits."
Well, maybe Auburns Ivory Bills can find a new home.
I daresay that shakespeare has outdone himself. I'm no conneisseur but that bit up top is good reading.
When it would open is unclear because of uncertainties surrounding the project, including federal permits needed to destroy 2,000 acres of wetlands and the possibility of environmental lawsuits
I wonder if there are any nice specimens of Sarracenia minor growing in that area? Carnivorous plants often take a big big beating when they develop swampland.
"I wonder if there are any nice specimens of Sarracenia minor growing in that area? "
Do they make kent calls?
so nice to hear from Mrs. Dickinson. I wonder if she sees the irony in her post?
What irony? Her silly sniping is serious
Methinks ya'll can use a lesson in manners here. Attacking the guy's wife is poor taste. Does the "golden rule" mean anything to ya'll? How 'bout some respect?
METHINKS II
"How 'bout some respect?"
Ok, you're an idiot, Methinks II. Is that respect enough? She works for a once great and now useless enviro org. She inserted herself into the fiasco. And on the wrong side, may I add.
She will just have to suffer the slings and arrows of her outrageous fortune.
Hey, that's pretty good. I should copyright that.
"Pd,
Gambling is an art as much as a science. Give yourself a chance, man."
True, and it should be clear that my wager wasn't based on science... which I understand to tell me the odds of IBWO in the panhandle are very low. Nonetheless, I like Hill's parting shot in the Gorman piece. He seems to know his place... a meager bit of artistry on his part that caught my attention.
pd
"... a meager bit of artistry on his part that caught my attention."
Based on that you make a $1000 bet?
Man, you like to live dangerously.
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