Elsewhere

I was out shopping much of the day, so I’m afraid I don’t have any energy left for a proper blog post. Instead, let me briefly call your attention to two or three new and shiny things.

• Mike Libby’s insect sculptures at qarrtsiluni are stirring up an interesting discussion in the comments. The line between nature and artifice is extremely strong in our culture, and blurring it can feel like a violation of the most fundamental kind, it seems.
• Anthropological Notebook is rapidly turning into one of my favorite new blogs. There are a lot of anthropologist bloggers out there, but last time I checked, most of them seemed content to talk to each other, secure in their academic ghettoes. Lye Tuck-Po is an exception. She takes amazing pictures and has been very active on Flickr (much more so than me), so I was pleased when she decided to make the jump to blogging. And even though she hasn’t been at it for very long, her blogging already displays a wide range of interests and specialties: everything from environmental degradation to street photography to boats and bridges. Check it out.
• Finally, one of this week’s news stories at my dad’s Peaceful Societies site describes the Christmas Bird Counts among the Ohio Amish. They rack up huge numbers of birds because they do their birding on foot. And without the help of the internet, needless to say.