Mike Kaspari

As much as I love to cook
Sometimes ya gotta go all grad school…

Ceiba tree study, Isla Barro Colorado. Pencil on paper.
2007 by Debby Cotter Kaspari.

Important work in climate change biology highlighting extreme rainfall as cause of bird mortality—an aspect of abiotic change hard to measure; Dr's Alice and Katy show the way.

There are a lot of glib explanations for avian declines floating around but these folks are sciencing the heck out of it.

A little in the weeds, but I'd ask if Lennon's gift for rhythm guitar (e.g., All my loving, Help!) opened opportunities for Paul and Ringo—the band's rhythm section—to become more melodic and inventive.
Or how John-Paul collab led to happy songs being a bit sad, and sad songs being a bit joyous.

Yes, that and others of its kind.
DebbyKaspari@gmail.com

Clearly you’re a fan. If you could ask Sir Paul any question, what would you ask?

Secretary Rubio's remarks indicate that Israel put U.S. forces in harm's way by insisting on attacking Iran. And the administration was complicit—joining their war instead of talking them down.

This is unacceptable of the President, and unacceptable of a country that calls itself our ally.

The American people want affordable health care and cheaper groceries, not another forever war in the Middle East.

US moving pregnant immigrant girls to Texas to avoid providing abortions, critics say

Ex-official calls transfer of unaccompanied girls as young as 13, many pregnant due to rape, a human rights violation

Anybody who has tried to take photos in the perpetual twilight of the tropical forest understory knows how frustrating it can be.
This is where you need an artist.
Debby Cotter Kaspari is a whiz with pen and ink. And this is one of her understory drawings from Isla Barro Colorado, Panama, 2001.

Really worth your time, this one.

Pishaw! You get actual *pictures* with your keys?
Not like the old days. 😉

Restaurant delivery self portrait.

It also resembles an Asilid (robberfly) a bit. Given that its bite is likely excruciating, and its vulnerable pronotum is already protected by spines, the mimicry seems a bit of overkill.

But the insects of the Amazon lowlands are nothing if not ostentatious! Thanks for the ID.

One consequence of having the good fortune of living the life of a tropical ecologist is the random photos you rediscover. This from 2008 Peruvian Amazon.
I wonder if anybody has studied Darth Vader here—a scarily defended critter that seems to be mimicking an even scarier, well-defended, wasp.

-Zero Congressional consultation or approval.
-Zero preparation of public for need/consequences of war.
-Zero evidence of thought about "OK, what might the other side do?" Next month. Next year.
-Zero mention of anti-nuke agreement Trump voided, or Trump claim last year that nukes "obliterated."

DEAN: “What’s the tariff on bananas?” #cdnpoli
NUTLICK: “10%.”
DEAN: “Walmart already raised banana prices by 8%.”
NUTLICK: “Well, if you build in America, there’s no tariff.”
DEAN: “You can’t build bananas in America.”

An artist that recreated himself across three decades.
May his memory be a blessing.

We have a whole bestiary of evil in the executive nowadays.

I’ve been thinking of Lincoln’s second inaugural lately. I wonder what “years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn” debt we are accruing.

Did I say three wishes?
Heck, I'll grant you four wishes!
Just put down that damn pooter.

~Daceton armigerum from a forest in Amazonian Peru

seems obvs to me that mamdani gets far because of his charm. why do "male self improvement" types always focus on things like looksmaxxing instead of personalitymaxxing or charmmaxxing?

While “Peanuts” captured the lives of children who moonlighted as tiny philosophers
“Nancy” just *nails* childhood.

What does it feel like trying to do something artful and bold, and then having AI tell you you’re a dirty old man?

Keep on keeping on, Jim.

The president of OU half a century ago said he wanted a university the football team could be proud of.

Ostensibly ironic, but increasingly prophetic.

Corn is the most widely planted crop in the US and accounts for three quarters of our nitrogen fertilizer.

About 80% of US corn goes in equal parts to ethanol and cattle feed.

Solution to the first is political; the second cultural.

Therein lies the road ahead if we want to make a dent in this.

Their motivations are a mystery to me.

They're the ones that own the farms. Bill Gates is the largest farmland owner in the US; <2% of owners run 1/3rd of the US's farmland.

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

“The American dream turns into the American nightmare as we start to look at what we’re doing to biodiversity and systems that we depend on as humans."

Upshot:
Biggest losses to date are hot regions getting hotter (e.g., Sonoran desert).
Biggest *acceleration* are where we dump nitrogen fertilizer, especially where its hot and getting hotter.

(My) takehome:
Earth's heat problem is baked in for decades, but smart ag reforms are still possible.

Time to start the betting line on “date the last billionaire survival compound is breached by ravening hordes”.