Raven Funeral

From the Fairbanks Daily News Miner:

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Ravens circle and soar overhead as what appeared to be hundreds of ravens flocked to the Minnie Street area near Noyes Slough Tuesday morning, November 17, 2009. The ravens seemed to be drawn to the area by two dead ravens that were apparently electrocuted while atop a power pole. Eric Engman/News-Miner
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FAIRBANKS — Ravens have feelings, too, at least judging from an eerie scene Tuesday morning on Minnie Street in east Fairbanks.

After two ravens roosting on top of a power transformer were electrocuted, hundreds of ravens showed up within a minute or two and started silently circling overhead and perching in nearby trees.

Ravens and crows are truly intelligent. I remember hearing about a crow that was able to make tools from wire.I also remember a story about crows who rejoined their parents after their companions were killed off by west nile virus - showing that social structure and companionship is needed by animals as well .

Read the rest of the news story here.

Back on the Rock

I have been traveling for the past week and a half in WA and OR. One of those whirlwind family trips. It was so great to see everyone we visited with! Now it is time to get down to business with school, work, and the holidays.

One quick gripe: Upon my return, I noticed they are progressing with the upgrades at the airport here in Kodiak. Whose GREAT idea was it to replace the (often malfunctional) luggage carousel with three large metal sliding doors that open directly to the outdoors? I and the other passengers crowded around each door as the single baggage handler put the bags through the opening and the harsh arctic winds blew all the heat out of the airport. It took a half hour to get all our bags, when before it took 10-15 minutes tops. At least before if there was only one handler nobody knew, since you couldn't see him. I hope this isn't permanent.

2009 Retrospective

Click here to view this photo book larger

Halloween Pumpkins

Emmy went to the store with Jeremy and picked out her own pumpkin. They also got a big one which she said was "Daddy's Pumpkin." When I asked her what she wanted on her pumpkin she said she wanted a happy kitty face. When I asked what she wanted to make on Daddy's pumpkin she said a "moose face." I have no idea where that came from, but what our little princess wants, she gets.

Great Healthcare reform video

Maybe it's because I have a little one, but this video really gets me.

Fall activities

Well, the buoy swing photos may be misleading. It has been raining so much lately that we've been doing very little outside. Except for Jeremy since he works outside. It hasn't snowed yet, and we only had frost once. It is a mild fall temperature wise, but very stormy.

update: call totals to congress

I just checked and it is over 303,000 calls that have been reported to members of congress about health insurance reform!

Health Reform Push

I got an email this morning from Organizing for America. They were calling it One Day, 100,000 Calls. They were providing the phone numbers of our Senators and Congresspeople, and asking us to call them and voice our support for health insurance reform. With the phone numbers right there, it was easy. Not long after, I got another email saying they had already reached heir goal and were now shooting for 200,000 calls to members of congress. I kept clicking reload on my browser and watched the numbers go up every time. I just checked back and they have had 215,845 calls reported in to members of congress around the country as of 3:17 pm. I wonder how much higher it will go before the end of the day. President Obama is also planning live webcast in about 45 minutes, which I'll probably miss. But if you want to see the count, try clicking here.

Blog Action Day: Climate Change

As a part of Blog Action Day 2009, I am doing a post about climate change. Over 9,000 other blogs in 150 other countries are posting about this same topic today. Why am I concerned about climate change? Because the changes that I have seen in Alaska's climate, just in my lifetime, will surely have big consequences for my child's future. The Elders I work with in the Alutiiq community always say the environment is changing, that they can no longer predict when the berries will be ripe, or if there will be good salmon runs or an easy winter.

It seems ridiculous for people to still be insisting that climate change is a myth, when 99% of the scientiic community agrees that climate change is occurring, and that it is caused by man. The scariest thing is that the best we can hope for is to slow down the rapidity of climate change long enough to give ourselves time to adapt. Even if we stop all greenhouse gas emissions today it will take hundreds of years for the atmosphere to recover.

I know that I am in part to blame for the greenhouse gasses that are contributing to climate change. I drive a car. I sometimes drink bottled water. I don't always recycle. I fly frequently by airplane. But I plan to do better. And I hope that on this day you will think about your own role and make one little change to help slow down climate change.

Analysis!

I am now working on my analysis for my dissertation. Taking all the interviews and other data and sorting, comparing, and making sense of it all. It is a lot of detail, but it is an exciting stage to be in, as once this chapter is written, all of the other sections will be easier to complete.