clusterflock » nature http://www.clusterflock.org a site about everything Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:00:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 DIY, Growing Food in Winter http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/02/diy-growing-food-in-winter.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/02/diy-growing-food-in-winter.html#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:41:24 +0000 Carole Corlew http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=82172

These are lettuce and pea seeds I put in last week. They are growing in my back yard, in a plastic container that held spinach. Yes, it is cold. And it freezes and sleets and ices up, still. But this is winter gardening and people do it even in colder climates than northern Virginia.

You just wash a plastic container that has a lid, punch some holes in the top and bottom, put in some soil (I use a seeding mix) and sprinkle in seeds. Water, close the container, label it with a permanent marker. Place it outside in a sunny area. Now you have a greenhouse environment for your seeds to grow. I may need to transplant these into a larger container before it gets warm enough to plant in the garden.

I also have some flowers and pampas grass sprouting.

Your seeds really want to grow, even in harsh conditions. Like us, they are animated by the life force.

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/02/diy-growing-food-in-winter.html/feed 6 Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/owlet-caterpillars-of-eastern-north-america.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/owlet-caterpillars-of-eastern-north-america.html#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:16:25 +0000 India http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=81401 My same friend Susan who brought us the critically acclaimed Omega Institute in Your Pants, 2010 edition today supplied the following list, from the book Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, Dale F. Schweitzer, J. Bolling Sullivan, and Richard C. Reardon:

Sordid Snout
The Herald
Feeble Grass Moth
Dead-wood Borer
The Betrothed
The Little Wife
Serene Underwing
The Consort
Dejected Underwing
Inconsolable Underwing
Tearful Underwing
Sad Underwing
The Penitent
Sappho Underwing
Youthful Underwing
Darling Underwing
The Sweetheart
Joined Underwing
Semirelict Underwing
Once-Married Underwing
Girlfriend Underwing
Connubial Underwing
Delilah Underwing
Steely Underwing
Wonderful Underwing
Sweet Underwing
Indomitable Melipotis
Merry Melipotis
False Heather Drasteria
Confused Zale
Once-charred Punkie
Blurry-patched Nola
Beautiful Looper
Sandstorm Tumbler
Tricolored Angel
The Laugher
Fingered Dagger
Fragile Dagger
Splendid Dagger
Afflicted Dagger
Hesitant Dagger
Night-Wandering Dagger
The Hebrew
Cadbury’s Mystique
Cherry Agate
Overlooked Paint
Asteroid Paint
Scribbled Sallow
Turbulent Phosphila
Boreal Sprawler
Shivering Pinion
Sloping Sallow
Roadside Sallow
Straw-eyed Tentmaker
Tawny Tentmaker
Smoky Tentmaker
Adorable Sallow
Subdued Quaker
Cunning Woodling
Stormy Arches
Explicit Groundcat
Disparaged Groundcat
Cynical Groundcat

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/owlet-caterpillars-of-eastern-north-america.html/feed 7 Yosemite HD Time-Lapse http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/yosemite-hd-time-lapse.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/yosemite-hd-time-lapse.html#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:29:37 +0000 Casey Cichowicz http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=81205

A gorgeous time-lapse video of Yosemite, by Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty. (via Bad Astronomy)

I need to go there.

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/yosemite-hd-time-lapse.html/feed 11 Riding a motorcycle across the top of the world http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/riding-a-motorcycle-across-the-top-of-the-world.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/riding-a-motorcycle-across-the-top-of-the-world.html#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:42:14 +0000 Deron Bauman http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=81139

Holy cow, I don’t know much about this video, or where this is, but some guy on a motocross dirt bike rides along the knife edge of a mountaintop.

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/riding-a-motorcycle-across-the-top-of-the-world.html/feed 4 recording a tree http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/recording-a-tree.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/recording-a-tree.html#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:12:06 +0000 Garrett Miller http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=81131

Via BoingBoing:

This music — which sounds like a moody piano soundtrack for a existentialist movie about a rainy day — is made by slicing a tree in cross-section, sticking it on a turntable, and dropping a tone-arm with a PlayStation Eye Camera in the head, and processing its output through Ableton Live. It’s called Years, and it was created by Bartholomäus Traubeck.

Absolutely beautiful.

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/recording-a-tree.html/feed 5 tweet of the day http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/tweet-of-the-day-145.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/tweet-of-the-day-145.html#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:34:04 +0000 Deron Bauman http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=80908

With this weather, I’d consider Uggs.

— Chris Glass (@glass) January 14, 2012

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/tweet-of-the-day-145.html/feed 5 Captain Beefheart’s Ten Commandments of Guitar Playing http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/captain-beefhearts-ten-commandments-of-guitar-playing.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/captain-beefhearts-ten-commandments-of-guitar-playing.html#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:09:58 +0000 Sheila Ryan http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=80651

4. Walk with the devil

Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

(From WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. Via Brian Beatty.)

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/captain-beefhearts-ten-commandments-of-guitar-playing.html/feed 4 Whalers, Activists & Drones http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/whalers-activists-drones.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/whalers-activists-drones.html#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:54:56 +0000 Josh Weichhand http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=80575

Anti-whaling activists intercepted Japan’s harpoon fleet far north of Antarctic waters on Sunday, they said, with the help of a military-style drone.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society spokesman Paul Watson said the unmanned long-range drone, launched from the anti-whaling ship the Steve Irwin, had located the Japanese fleet and relayed the coordinates back to the activists.

I know I should be shocked at what appears to be the ease of obtaining a long-range drone for non-military use, but really I’m just fascinated that the activists named their boat the Steve Irwin.

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2012/01/whalers-activists-drones.html/feed 2 dear clusterflock http://www.clusterflock.org/2011/12/dear-clusterflock-588.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2011/12/dear-clusterflock-588.html#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:02:03 +0000 Dave Vogt http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=79544 In what contexts, if any, are sanctity or the idea or possibility of sanctity valuable?

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2011/12/dear-clusterflock-588.html/feed 6 Damar, Mon Amour (out of context) http://www.clusterflock.org/2011/12/damar-mon-amour-out-of-context.html http://www.clusterflock.org/2011/12/damar-mon-amour-out-of-context.html#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:07:43 +0000 Sheila Ryan http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=79392

In context: Starlingo ii.

Damar torn from the flock.

What is Damar? Who is Damar? What is Damar?

]]> http://www.clusterflock.org/2011/12/damar-mon-amour-out-of-context.html/feed 8