All posts by Josh More

Burmese Star Tortoise

Burmese Star Tortoise_2

The Burmese star tortoise is critically endangered because the natives of Myanmar can feed their family for a year by capturing and selling one on the black market. Being caught risks seven years of jail … but it’s hard to get caught.

When I talk of economic inequality as a threat, this is the sort of thing I mean.

* formerly Burma**
** formerly Toungoo***
*** formerly Ava****, Hanthawaddy****,† and Shan****
**** formerly Pagan*****
***** formerly Pyu and Mon city-states******
****** formerly unnamed iron, bronze, and stone age societies*******
******* formerly******** molten rock incapable of supporting human life
******** extremely formerly

† Where do commas†† go in relation to superscript footnote indications?†††
†† Does it matter if they are Oxford†††† commas?
††† The online guides do not agree‡, suggesting conflicts between US and UK English as well as differences between style guides
†††† Do other schools have their own commas?

‡ Well, they do all agree that footnotes should be used sparingly and only when needed‡‡
‡‡ They are, of course, wrong about that

Ring Tailed Cat

Ring Tailed Cat

This is one of the harder critters to photograph. You have to use flash, but they’re active, so you have to track them in the dark and hope that everything works when you push the trigger.

This is one of the better photos I’ve gotten of them, but I’m a bit disappointed that you can’t see the tail.

(P.S. they’re not really cats, they’re just called that)

Azure Winged Magpie

Azure Winged Magpie_7

Having caught up on the last week’s worth of news, this magpie is mostly just disappointed to learn that the Russian secret agents aren’t anything like Marvel’s Black Widow.

You needn’t be brilliant, multi-lingual, extensively trained in physical combat, various weapons, psychological manipulation, etc. No. To take down the US government, you just have to be young, attractive, and target an older Republican man.

The magpie is not surprised to learn this, just disappointed.