So this year we've done Summer in the Catskills, and now we've done Autumn. The weather in New York is so frustrating- it seems like it's beautiful all week and then rains every weekend. Don and I headed up to see the colors before all the leaves dropped, but the nicest day we could get there was still 100% cloudy. Oh well, it was still really pretty!


( View from Artist's Rock and more )

(My response to "Anthropomorphism is not a Four-Letter Word" by Randall Lockwood)

Freud once said that he, Copernicus, and Darwin had dealt the three great blows to humanity. Copernicus revealed that Earth was an insignificant speck in the universe, and that the world did not in fact revolve around it. Freud, with his theories of the unconscious, let man know that he was not even master in his own house. And perhaps the most unpalatable news came from Darwin- Humans descended from mere brutes.

Richard Dawkins sums up the current problem well in Gaps in the Mind when he said “We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realize that we are apes”. It appears to me that behaviorism/ mechanomorphism is just as much an ego defense mechanism as it is a fear of “bad” science. I acknowledge that the past is littered with anecdotes and Clever Hans errors, and that it may be philosophically impossible to ever know what is going on in another’s mind- be it a conspecific or not, but when has science ever been so eager to throw up its hands in surrender and submit to such an unsatisfying ideology as solipsism. The study of human emotions was once thought an insurmountable task, but science found objective ways to measure and interpret affective states. The problem isn’t a lack of innovation.

I find the unyielding objection of attributing “human characteristics” to other animals to be rather unintuitive considering that the divisions of species are as arbitrary as the divisions of race. In each case human beings decided where the difference between generations was significant enough to warrant a new label. And further more, this distinction is all but ignored on a physiological plane where countless animals are vivisected in the name of human ailments. Invasive physiological tests are chalked up to degrees of similarity and probability, so why the dichotomy with cognitive faculties? Is it possible that this reluctance of anthropomorphism is partially a reluctance of discovery that would create cause for humanity to reassess its relationship with other animals?
We have fought other animals every step of the way- tool use and manufacturing, cultural transmission, self-recognition, deception and now we’re asked to concede consciousness? I think that instead of asking whether nonhuman animals are conscious, we should be asking whether humans are really conscious, that consciousness is anymore than a useful illusion. Maybe instead of fretting over whether animals are up to our level, we should be bringing humans down to their level.

I am not suggesting that there are no real differences between us and them, but it is in degree, not kind- and we don’t always come out on top. It’s no secret that nonhuman animals have us beat in many ways when it comes to exteroceptive senses, they even have ones that we don’t have like electroreception, but it usually comes as a surprise when nonhuman animals outperform humans on problem solving tasks and memory exercises.

I could go on, but I think that the case is pretty clear. And in regard to humane education, as it is the chosen topic of this assignment, I have a suggestion. Maybe instead of touting literature where animals are wearing clothes and drinking tea, we should go back to the old classics. The Emperor’s New Clothes readily comes to mind- a story where vanity overrides observation. When will humanity be ready to admit that it’s naked?

Recommended readings:
Conciousness: A Very Short Introduction by Susan Blackmore
The Great Ape Project by Collective (Includes Gaps in the Mind by Richard Dawkins)

Don and I decided to go camping for a week up to Cherry Springs State Park to watch the meteor shower (Perseids) and then go hiking in the Catskills. Cherry Springs has the darkest sky on the east coast, and is the second International Dark Sky Park- you can see the Milky Way during a new moon with just your eyes, no telescope needed.
I really wanted to take pictures for you, but I'm not ready to lug around an equatorial mount and spend an hour working on polar alignment- Maybe next year...

We saw a bunch of meteors, but agree that the skies in the Catskills seem just as dark (we saw meteors there too), so we could have saved a trip to PA. It's amazing how bad light pollution is now- it's screwing up ecosystems by interrupting wildlife migration and reproduction. If you haven't seen the stars in a while- I recommend you go gazing before it starts getting cold. It's mesmerizing.

( Here's some of my pics from the trip )

We're going back in the autumn when the trees start changing colors. Just day trips though- no more leaky tents for a while. I can't wait!

Everyone goes out of town for the Memorial Day weekend.
Instead of going to a crowded beach- I went to the...
Hartsdale Pet Cemetery.
Don't ask me why- I just thought it sounded interesting.
Some of the headstones were really amusing, I felt like I was reading the spoof graves at Disney's haunted mansion.
( Enter if you dare )

Here's my first attempt at underwater photography. They came out pretty well despite my lack of an external strobe. This is going to turn into an expensive hobby...

( first dive with a canon PS SD870 IS )

Selling my Roland MC-505 (if I can find anyone who wants it... besides that scam artist from Nigeria) so that I can buy a sewing machine. It's kinda a bitch to sequence on anyways. Xero will miss sleeping on it, but soon I'll be able to make him cute little outfits. Yay!
EDIT: Sold ;)

I normally say it's a bad idea to give zoos and aquariums your patronage because it's essentially a jail for innocent animals. Most don't do well in captivity, and the way many of these animals are obtained is far less than conscionable. Not to mention studies show education, conservation, and scientific research are all pretty bogus excuses for zoos- entertainment and prestige seem to be the historical and current reasons behind their existence. I can recommend some good books on the subject, but if you don't have time to read a whole book on the topic, Against Zoos by Dale Jamieson is a nice short summary of some of the problems. And if you think aquariums are any better, like seaworld keeping social orcas (Shamu) in solitary confinement in a shallow tank, take a look at
Marine Mammals in Captivity.
The preferable options would be to go out and snorkel or get your scuba certification, or go hiking or even on safari! Ecotourism provides great adventures while increasing the community's stake in protecting it's biological resources at the same time.
But if you really can't help yourself and want to go to the zoo/aquarium anyway- Wednesdays at the Bronx zoo are pay what you want.

Recommended Readings:
Thought to Exist in the Wild by Derrick Jensen
A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future by David Hancocks