Songs for Saturday: The Songs of Pando

2023-05-13 06:54 pm
mdlbear: portrait of me holding a guitar, by Kelly Freas (freas)

If you've been reading this blog for a while you may have noticed that Songs for Saturday, in addition to having a highly irregular schedule (only 102 entries since I started the tag in 2011), occasionally strays away from the usual run of music-with-vocals that most people consider "songs". But I don't think I've ever strayed quite this far, though that's only because I haven't tagged whale songs or the chirp and ringdown of colliding black holes. Let me fix that.

So with a tip of the hat to ysabetwordsmith, here is The Sweet Song Of The Pando, The Largest Tree On Earth. (Ysabet actually pointed to this NPR article: Eavesdropping on Pando, one of the largest trees in the world. Pando is an aspen clone, spreading over more than 100 acres (43 hectares), with 47,000 tree-like stems growing from a single root system.

I'll get to black holes and whales eventually.

  • Mood: enthralled
  • Music: see post
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Virgin birth expected this Christmas

2006-12-21 06:28 pm
mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)
Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas -- By Komodo Dragon
A virgin birth is expected this Christmas, though this particular nativity scene will be set in a zoo instead of a stable.

That's because the virgin in question is Flora the Komodo dragon, a giant lizard at Chester Zoo in England that has laid fertile eggs despite never having had a mate.
So, let me get this straight: the Messiah is arriving six years late, and He's a lizard. OK, I can deal with that.

(Edit: s/She/He/ -- sex determination in reptiles works differently from the way it does in mammals. Too bad; it made a better story the other way.)
  • Mood: mischievous
  • Location: Grand Central Starport
  • Music: Handel -- The Messiah
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