Compassionate Curmudgeon

Tentatively Identified

I've been Googling bugs to try to figure out what my mystery bug is, and I think I've found it.

It looks like a brown stink bug.

At least, that's what I'm going to call it until I find out otherwise...

Name That Bug!

I'm trying to figure out what kind of bug this is.

Every fall, they seem to appear out of nowhere; they just pop out of the air, as if they're arriving from another dimension, and land on my shirt or some nearby object. They're about an inch long and once they've landed, they rarely take flight again. They just crawl slowly away.

By the time winter arrives, I seldom see them make their sudden appearances, but I keep finding them, usually already dead, in the strangest places.

So what are they?

The Cutest Animal

Is there anything cuter than squirrels?

Penguins. Penguins are cuter than squirrels.

OK, I'll concede the point. Penguins are cuter, but I'm really talking about mammals. Is there any mammal cuter than a squirrel?

Pandas. Have you forgotten pandas?

Oh, right. Pandas. Well, how about mammals likely to be found in your backyard?

There we have it. Squirrels-- the Third Cutest Animal In The WO-O-ORLD!!!!

Here's a black squirrel at my basement door, politely asking for peanuts.

Fox

Living next to the border to Fairmount Park, I see a lot of different critters in my backyard. But I don't think I ever expected to see a fox, which is what I saw this morning.

It was just outside the glass door of my basement. At first I thought it was a dog, but then I realized it had to be a fox with that long bushy tail. It was a fairly good size, too, about the size of a medium-sized dog, I'd say.

Alas, I didn't have my camera handy, and by the time I had retrieved it, the fox was gone.

Among the mammals that I've seen in my yard are groundhogs (Hobart, who lives on my property is hibernating right now), raccoons, squirrels (lots of squirrels), opossums, and chipmunks. In addition, while they haven't ventured into my yard (that I know of), nearby in the park I've seen rabbits and deer.

I hope Mr. Fox comes back so I can take his picture...

Bad CNN

I have news for Professor Myers. All current news media are this bad, at least some of the time.

Teller Talks

The current episode of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe is a fun listen. Among other things they discuss the recent Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris books, as well as the vile creature known as Sylvia Browne.

But my favorite part is their interview with Teller, the normally taciturn half of Penn and Teller. His voice does not sound anything like what I expected. He talks a bit about their Showtime program Bullshit! and the fact that he's amazed that it has lasted this long. Apparently it is one of Showtime's highest rated programs. He also admits that they were wrong in their episode about second-hand smoke, and that they were simply pushing their own Libertarian agenda.

Playing Tag with FedEx

I've long since learned that when expecting a delivery, it's best to keep track of the shipment via the company's website, or complications might ensue. That's why I've been refreshing a page at the FedEx site all day.

At about 2 o'clock this afternoon, when I checked the shipment's progress, I saw this:

1:47PM Delivered Left at front door. Signature Service not requested.

Why hadn't I heard the deliverer's knock, I wondered. I had been down in the basement reading, so I should have easily heard a knock on the front door. Oh, the package was probably left at the back door; the way my property is laid out, some folks have a hard time differentiating front from back. So I went to check the back door.

No package.

Hmmm, maybe the package really was left at the front door. So why hadn't I heard a knock?

Then it hit me. The delivery must have occurred while I was out back disciplining the squirrel.

You see, I've been putting out nuts for the squirrels for the past few months. The squirrels are getting to the point that they come up right to the glass door and stand on their hind legs to request a new supply. A little while earlier one of the black squirrels had made a request, so I had tossed out a handful. In addition to the black one, there were two gray squirrels feeding as well, and they were not getting along. In particular one of the grays was viciously keeping the black guy from getting his fair share.

So I had to go outside and explain to the gray guy that that was not acceptable behavior.

It must have been at that precise time that the FedEx package was delivered to the front door.

So I walked around to the front to retrieve the package. Alas, there was no package to be found. I circled my property twice to make sure it really wasn't there and did a quick scan of the neighboring houses. No FedEx package anywhere.

Back inside, I looked up the number of FedEx customer service and was just about to dial the number when...

There was a knock at the front door.

Looking out the window, I saw there was a FedEx truck out in the street. I didn't get to the door before the deliverer had jumped back into the truck and sped away, so I don't know just what happened.

This is one time I probably would have been better off not checking the shipment's progress...

I'm Awesome!

Actually, the quiz was pretty simple, and at times silly, but I wonder how well the average Bible thumper does on it...