A taste of summer during a blast of winter

Penny Says: What would our beaches be like without seagulls?

Like them or not there are thousands of seagulls on Canadian beaches. These squabbling birds seem to spend all of their time befouling the sea, sand, docks, children and every possible surface you might try to eat on or sit upon. Most people tolerated them as pests much like rodent’s shooing them away and steering clear of their contaminated fecal matter. But when a seagull proudly displays a starfish as its catch of the day crowds of people will stand and watch in awe as this mighty hunter stuffs the ridged, calcified, five armed starfish into its narrow bird beak.

What is the trick the gull is using to get the starfish down its throat? Digestive juices! The gulls will put one arm of the star into the back of their throats and the digestive enzymes in the gut are brought up into contact with the starfish’s arm, theses acidic juices act to slowly but surely soften the hard exterior. Once soft the gull maneuvers the next arm to its throat to soften. The bad news for the starfish is that is not necessarily dead while all this digesting is taking place. Once all 5 arms are nice and limp the gull will fold the starfish in half exposing the centre of the star to its digestive juices!

Other than their clearly entertaining value it is not obvious what seagulls provide as far as helping to maintain balance in the ecosystem. After some digging I found a few reports that suggest the parasites are spread by the gulls act to control snail populations. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug06/ShoalsResearch.kr.html this group is spending hard earned research dollars to determine how gulls impact snails among other things. Eating the things that eat vegetation helps protect against loss of vegetation. But Gulls go one step further, by limiting the reproductive capacity of the critters they were too full to eat protecting the vegetation in their habitat.

These territorial birds are opportunistic eaters that will eat anything they get their beaks on - but once they find a reliable food source in their territory and establish a way to get it down they eat it almost exclusively. Apparently once they become a starfish eater they are always a starfish eater. They will of course still be open to an easy meal of unfinished fries or even a ketchup package!

Spring is just around the corner!

Curtis Joseph is still overrated

Pacey says:

After a decade-or-so of my personal campaign against the merits of Joseph as a goaltender, I am now faced with the fact that he is now on my team. It was much easier to highlight his talent for avoiding pucks when he was a member of the Oilers, Leafs, and Red Wings, but now I have to come to terms with actually cheering for him as a member of the Calgary Flames.

However, this kind of dilemma is not something I'm unfamiliar with. I cheered for Joseph when he lost Canada the World Cup in '96 to the Americans, and I cheered for him as he failed to stop a puck in his only game at the Salt Lake Olympics (sensibly, Martin Brodeur played the rest of the tournament to secure the gold).

Another thing to consider is that I also believe that Raymond Bourque is the most overrated defenseman to ever play hockey. After declaring that he would never win the Cup because he was an instinctive, habitual loser, Bourque did win a championship as a Colorado Avalanche. I still believe it took a superhuman effort by Sakic, Roy, Blake, Tanguay (current Flame), etc. to overcome Bourque's natural gift for failure, but the fact remains that even players such as Bourque can still win in the right situation.

Thus, I must suck it up and support this loser. History has shown that it is not fatal to your Cup aspirations to carry losers in your lineup, so I remain optimistic.

Joseph, just don't screw this one up, okay?

A Perfect Comic Stip

Pacey says:

Hands down, the best comic strip of all time is Calvin and Hobbes.

On December 31, 1995, comic writer Bill Watterson retired this fantastic comic strip. Of course, all good things come to an end, but this world is just a little less wonderful with the passing of Spaceman Spiff et al.

What I think truly separates Calvin and Hobbes from the pack is the seamless interweaving of high concepts of high academic/philosophic culture through the gleefully visceral imagination of Calvin in a manner that is not only hilarious, but also immediate, and with a good heart. It is also universal; boundless in time. Reading these comics over again, I am left in awe of the explosive imagination of Calvin, who not only sets the plot, but is also the very source of his superego, Hobbes.

The real source of this comic is the mind of Bill Watterson, who's satire attacks both sides of commercialism. Sometimes, I've found the comic to insightful to the mind of its creator on this subject. In one comic, Calvin states:

"The hard part for us avant-garde post-modern artists is deciding whether or not to embrace commercialism. Do we allow our work to be hyped and exploited by a market that's simply hungry for the next new thing? Do we participate in a system that turns high art into low art so it's better suited for mass consumption? Of course, when an artist goes commercial, he makes a mockery of his status as an outsider and free thinker. He buys into the crass and shallow values art should transcend. He trades the integrity of his art for riches and fame."

In real life, Watterson was staunch in his defense of the comic's integrity, and refused to allow his creations to be made part of the merchandising meat-grinder that would compromise the spirit of his creations. Watterson should be commended for not diluting the impact of Calvin and Hobbes in the face of, likely substantial, financial reward. Some things are great for merchandising, and merchandising has its place, but every time I see an sticker of Calvin urinating on a Ford symbol on the back of a truck, it turns my stomach (Watterson did not draw nor endorse the image). Watterson, to me, is the real deal when it comes to integrity.

There are great sources online to get your fill of Calvin and Hobbes, but allow me to indulge in a few of my favourite episodes (click to enlarge):