Bird of the Week: American Woodcock

by Doctor Science

In our Passover service last Monday night, we quoted from the Song of Songs 2:11-12:

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

One of the characteristic harbingers of spring in these parts is not quite so sweet-voiced:
 
Direct YouTube link.

That’s the melodious American Woodcock (formally known as Scopolax minor, very informally known as the Timberdoodle or even Mudbat).

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Reading “The Insurgents” by Fred Kaplan

Insurgents-coverI heard about The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War from James Fallows. I’m only up to page 107 (out of 368) so far, so these are just my first set of reading notes. Kaplan has brought the history of Petraeus’ career up to 2005 at this point, while also tracing general American military thinking from the Vietnam era forward.

I don’t know if Kaplan intends it to be a theme, but I am stunned by his descriptions of the cultivated incompetence of American military planning — my phrasing, I hasten to add, not his.

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and we’re back friday open thread

by liberal japonicus I think we have things sorted out, at least for the commenting. I was in Myanmar for a week, doing a teacher trainer seminar for a small NGO, but I've been back for a week trying to adjust. I relate the following factoid: if you change money in Myanmar, your bills have … Read more

dem blogging gods

it's liberal japonicus' fault I'm leaving for the airport in 2 hours, and it looks like all the comments are closed. Maybe it is just me, but this is just to let you know that we know. As I said in the previous post, I'm going to be gone for a week, probably without internet, … Read more

Christmas Rats

ObWi regular Laura Koerber mentioned that she had a story about rats in response to my last open thread and I asked her to send it so I could frontpage it. She then had second thoughts, but after reading it, I really twisted her arm. It's a lovely piece and I hope everyone enjoys it … Read more