I miss Clinton

I didn't pay much attention to politics before I was in college. I vaguely remember a lot of amazingly good enivronmental stuff as Clinton was leaving office. Looking back at how he balanced the budget, decreased unemployment, maintained good relations with other countries, and inproved environmental regulations, I miss him. What was it about America in 1992 that allowed us to elect such a brilliant man?

This weekend Mr. Clinton went on Fox News Sunday for the first time ever to talk about how he raised $7billion for his Global Initiative, combat global warming and poverty. He got ambushed with a question about Osama bin Laden. This is great! Listen to how you can clearly understand what he is saying, unlike Bush.





And then this commentary on MSNBC.

Manakins are awesome.

Mississippi Wild

Yeah! They are thinking about letting the Mississippi run wild again. Well sort of, I guess they are only willing to let the bird foot delta portion of the Mississippi return to more like it's natural state. I'm sure it will be much more controlled than it's natural history of channal movement and wetland building. In reality the whole coast of Louisiana needs help but this is still significant news and a step in the right direction. It would save 120 million tons of soil from being wasted from agriculture run-off into the ocean every year (soil which would be better off staying in farmers fields if you want my opinion) as well decrease the size of the "death zone" which is and area of hypoxia off the Louisiana coast essentially a man made problem.

I took the cannoli

I have been enjoying my time in Boston. I've been traveling around the North End mostly and taking a lot of pictures. You may have seen some of them in my last two posts. There are more here. I hope my camera battery holds out until I return to Minnesota.

On Tuesday I purchased a book from Booksmart anticipating my trip. I was originally going to buy "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan but then saw "Collapse" by Jared Diamond and lost interest in Sagan. I had already started reading "Collapse" but also, I am a big fan of Diamond and I new I could stay interested in the book. I also considered Sarah Vowell briefly, I've already started some of her books as well. Collapse has been interesting but now as I'm wondering along the Freedom Trail I wish I had chosen Vowell.

Another book I should have bought, in retrospect, was an Italian phrase book. It didn’t occur to me that I would need one but this morning I wondered into a pastry shop looking for some breakfast and was unable to ascertain the contents of a certain lobstertail. My mind immediately started wondering how I it could be possible that I completely lack any understanding of basic Italian. Apparently, it was a poor decision anyway because I ended up leaving with something of seemingly similar consistency but half the size and shape of the lobstertail. I also got a chocolate filled cannoli which I guess I may have never had before.

I made great time at the Museum of Comparative Zoology yesterday and completed my work in one day. Having planned to work for two days I now have a free day in Boston and have been thinking about what to do. There are many museums and galleries and tours and boat trips to go on but with entrance fees of between $20 and $30 I’ve decided the cheapest thing for me to do is eat. And there is plenty of eating to do; pizza, calzones, gnocci, cannoli, gelati. I’m a little worried about gaining back some of the almost ten pounds that I lost on our journey from California to Minnesota, but with all the walking I’ve been doing here it’ll probably balance out. I think it's funny that so many restaurants advertise "Italian food" because, really, what else are they going to serve.

Presently, I'm sitting in the window of the Boston Beanstock Coffee Co. watching a traffic officer consider an illegally parked Chevy Avalanche. She points to the people sitting outside with her pen, eyebrows raised and a curious frown. The coffee drinkers shake their heads. She looks across the street to a large, gray haired barber. He shrugs, his palms out. She points at the barista. He doesn’t know and makes a half hearted attempt to alert his customers. After going next door, and asking everyone in sight on the street, she reluctantly prints a ticket and continues up the street.

Tomorrow, I’ll rent a car and see other parts of New England. My first stop is Walden Pond and then on to Portland, Maine. I’ll stop at a couple places on the coast and look for migrating seabirds, then camp in the mountains in Vermont.