Editor’s note: This is the third and hopefully the last installment in an unexpectedly three-part series on animals and the myriad everyday uses we as humans can dream up for them.
Shortly after the publication of my last column, a thoughtful essay on the practicality of the Dawson’s bee of the Australian outback, I received this plaintive e-mail from my brother-in-law Bob in Maryland:
“I was getting excited reading your column, feeling the sense of anticipation and then … not one single reference to the Dawson bee’s penis, a stinging let down after all that buzz.” Read More »
I don’t know much about history. (I don’t know much biology either, but that’s not the point of this column.)
I suppose I know a little about American history, but it’s a woefully inadequate amount. Random phrases such as “Hawley-Smoot Tariff,” “Tammany Hall” and “Millard Fillmore” pop into my head from time to time, but, to be honest, I don’t know what any of them mean. I think the Fillmore guy owned a couple of concert venues in San Francisco and New York. Beyond that, however, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about him. Read More »
Some of you may have missed a tragically underreported, heartwarming sports story out of Melbourne, Australia, recently. So momentous was this particular soccer game that I feel it’s important for you to know about it.
With a symbolic 5-4 victory in the championship game Tuesday, war-ravaged Afghanistan slew mighty Russia to claim the title at the World Cup … for homeless people. The annual event, which raises awareness of the problem, is open only to players who live on the streets or are in drug or alcohol rehab. Read More »
Imagine if the people of Garfield County considered themselves an ethnic group — Garfielders, let’s say — that was somehow different from everyone else in Colorado. That would seem pretty silly, don’t you think?
Next, imagine that Garfielders were so insistent on their differentness that they would do battle for two decades with the rest of Colorado in an attempt to secede and establish Garfield County as its own sovereign nation. That would be downright laughable if people weren’t getting killed as a result. Read More »