Crows have long been associated with creepiness. After all, a group of them is called a "murder." But maybe the birds have gotten a bad rap — maybe their most unsettling quality is really just how smart they are.
To get some insight into crows and perhaps set the record straight, Short Wave spoke with Kaeli Swift, a lecturer at the University of Washington who wrote her doctoral thesis on crow behavior. She cites three examples of crow smarts.
Power plants will have to emit lower levels of smog on hot days, under new guidelines from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The regulations are aimed at the state’s oldest power plants, which emit levels of harmful nitrogen oxides that are at least 30 times higher than emissions from newer turbines, according to Gov. Cuomo’s office.
"While the Trump Administration continues its assault on protections that keep communities safe from harmful emissions, New York is once again taking aggressive action to protect public health and combat climate change,” Cuomo said in a Monday statement.
“These restrictions on dirty and inefficient power plants will improve air quality in overburdened communities and spur investments in the clean energy economy,” he added.
On the surface, the ban seems like a step forward; removing the competitive nature of “sport hunting” (quotes intended), changing harvest reporting requirements for fox and coyote, and even featuring a wanton waste clause - because what ethical hunter is going to argue with a wanton waste rule, right?
I’m not so quick to give a tip of the hat. In fact, MassWildlife gets the slow clap for what seems like yet another politically-charged knee-jerk reaction to hollow virtue signaling.
But hold off on lighting those torches and burning me at the stake like some devilish fur-harvesting heathen. You may be asking, how can one promote conservation, regulated management, AND poo poo MassWildlife’s decision to give up their rook in today’s “conservation versus preservation” chess match with a hunting contest ban?
Good morning! Happy Boxing Day 🥊! Good day for burning all those boxes 🔥 that the Christmas presents 📦 came in. Although I guess the greenies say the rednecks of the world should recycle ♻ them. Apparently recycling cardboard is a good idea. Probably good for soaking up mud too. Christmas 🎄 is over, now they can go back to playing Freda Paine 💍 for the hundred 💯 millionth time on the radio 📻. Or whatever is trendy these days, although Band of Gold is pretty singable. Does anybody even listen 👂 to commercial radio anymore in the era of the MP3? I rarely do. Two weeks to Static Electric Shock Day 🧼🌩. I fully expect it to be cold and dry enough then to get a good shock. 😮 I know in the state office building I used to work in the air was purty dry.
This morning is partly cloudy ⛅ around freezing degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. Calm wind 🍃. Not a half bad morning for late December. Bus is running on time 🚍 Going to be another mild day, they’re is a trooper sitting at the Southern Boulevard Bridge. 🌉 45 mph section so probably not a lot of speeders but maybe he’s sitting up there looking for people yapping on their cellphones 📱. I know I can’t talk and drive, I find it hard to remember things when driving like what day of week it is. That said, I drive so little and when I’m on the road I often are in the sticks where there ain’t reception 📶. I really should hook the bluetooth back up with my phone on my truck, it got reset the last time I reset my phone. But I use it so rarely, it’s hardly needed.
Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 41 degrees at 2pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 3rd. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1895. 13.9 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄
The sun will set at 4:27 pm with dusk around 4:59 pm, which is 39 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 18 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a chance of rain showers, snow showers, freezing rain, and sleet before midnight, then a chance of rain showers between midnight and 3am, then a chance of freezing rain after 3am. Sounds, charming, eh? I actually thought about leaving work on Friday early and driving out to Madison County but I decided it against it based on the forecast. Cloudy☔ , with a low of 32 degrees at 9pm. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 16th. South wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Little or no snow and sleet accumulation expected. In 2018, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1914.
This weekend is going to very mild as especially out in the Finger Lakes but will end with a pretty good rain storm. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 43. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light in the afternoon. ☀ Sunday, a chance of rain after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 50%.☔ Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees. It looks like Sunday evening into the Monday morning will be a good soaker, but I will bring extra tarps and books to read in the tent if it’s cold and wet.🌧 The heater will get keep the tent real comfortable. ♨Good warm meals will be good even if it’s rainy, 👨🍳 and if I gather plenty of wood up on Saturday into Sunday, 🪓 I’ll have enough for a good fire on Monday and New Years Eve.🔥
Never got around to testing the propane lantern. 🏮 I think it’s working fine though, and I’m not sure what else I can do to repair it besides knock out that shit ton of carbon that I already knocked out of it. 🏮💨 I realized if I tested it at home, I’d end up with a ton of propane in the line, that I’d have to burn out, and with only the latern hooked up, the pressure is such that it can take 15-20 minutes for all the propane to burn out of the line. I’ll bring a wrench to camp in case I need further adjustments, but I think it will work well now. 🔧
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Static Electric Shock Day 🧼 🌩 when the sun will be setting at 4:40 pm with dusk at 5:11 pm. On that day in 2019, we had rain and temperatures between 40 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2008.
But fortunately it’s not. Only two more work days remaining until the weekend and my road trip. But the important thing is that I got milk, God’s beverage at the store.
While plastic and glass should probably be crushed and buried in a landfill, aluminum, tin, and paper – especially cardboard – should absolutely be recycled.
"The environmental costs to mine new alumina and bauxite to produce new aluminum from scratch are fairly substantial, so anything we can do to maximize our recycling of aluminum turns out to be a win-win. Bimetal tin cans – these are the soup cans, the vegetable cans that we buy some of our food with – those also have a very, very positive life cycle signature," Kinnaman told WBUR.
The present situation should also serve as a reminder that there are two options far preferable to recycling: reducing the trash we're producing, and re-using as many goods as possible.
I think that makes sense. I'd add that organics recycling - composting for fertilizer and more efforts to reduce food waste are important with continuing to phase out the most toxic plastics - things with chlorinated compounds like PVC and BPA. It's fascinating to read about the chemistry of materials and waste, learn about various chemicals and hazards.
And honestly when I own land, the bulk of my burnable trash will get burnt - but that will be small compared to many households - probably less than a partially filled empty feed bag every two or three weeks. Paper can also be used for bedding in the barnyard and fire starters, plastic bottles for feed scoops, buckets for hauling feed. Cans definitely will get recycled at the scrap yard and non reusable glass avoided. But first and foremost waste reduction has to be the priority.
