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Today is 0.083333333333333333…….. or 12/12/12 (12 divided by 12 divided by 12). Not as interesting as the end of the Mayan calendar but it does amuse one. Will Barnes and Noble be selling new Mayan calendars when the old one ends? Can you get a Dilbert desk version? Does daylight saving time affect the Mayan calendar?
Not much going on birding wise. I think old man time has passed me by the past couple days. Shooting for Florida in ten days. That should bump the list up. I need 25 species and I think we will get 15 fairly easy but we will need to work for the others. Getting Lise to 350 will be challenging.
So I like to whine about living in this miserable place, all farm fields and subdivisions. It is stunningly mediocre. My list would be a lot larger if I lived somewhere with a better range of habitats or being near the coast. It has nothing to do with my birding abilities.
Then along comes Sean Williams. On December 8 he set a new Ingham County record with 266 species for the year. Just in Ingham County. I would have a hard time getting 266 species just in Michigan, let alone just in Ingham County. I was thinking of making 250 species in Michigan my goal for next year. It helps that he is an ornithology PhD student and has the time to get out on a regular basis. He hits Lake Lansing almost every evening and does regular forays around the county. He knows his stuff though, and he shares information. His regular posts on the local listserve helped us bag a number of rarities.
So not too much else to do this week except work and check out the big anti Right to Work legislation protest. Had to walk through the protest on the coffee run. An estimated 12,500 protestors. I’ve seen a lot of protests on the Capitol lawn but this one won the prize. Lots of police, lots of media people. Good for downtown businesses. The coffee shops were packed.
Police cars lining the mall.
Media field day.
I don’t think I would make these people mad.
There were a lot of people there. The Republicans stirred up a hornet’s nest this time.
Taking a break – probably union mandated.
There was one almost amusing incident. Americans for Prosperity, a right wing front group, knew there was going to be a large protest. So they rented this huge tent and put it on the capitol lawn right in the middle of where everyone would be. Then they had this guy antagonizing the protestors in front of media people. He was trying to stir something up so someone obliged him with a couple swings. And they pulled down the tent. FOX news made a big deal out of the “union violence”, like one guy taking a swing at another one is a riot. Pretty pathetic. It’s not like they de-pantsed the guy in public or anything. I’m not what you would call a union fan but even I could see this was a pretty lame attempt at union bashing. If FOX news calls this violence where are they on a good Friday night in Lansing where a much smaller crowd has shootings or knifings. If they really want violence I’m sure we could find some for them. And for a challenge they could still find some way to blame it on the unions or Obama.
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Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 