TGIF

[altivo]

Maybe I can get more done this weekend than last, even though it's only two days. At least we aren't expecting any more weather catastrophes until Monday, when it's supposed to start raining, then turn to freezing rain, sleet, and finally snow.

The local classical music station, WNIU, has been anticipating the Academy Awards ceremony by playing all kinds of motion picture music for much of the day. There have been some unexpected gems in there, and I'm glad their play list is posted to the web, as I've added several CDs to my Amazon wish list from it. Unfortunately the exact recordings they played weren't always available, but usually there was something similar. I was particularly delighted with Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound Concerto, used as a movie soundtrack years ago, and featuring the Hollywood Bowl Symphony with piano soloist and... a theremin. Also some excellent music by Elmer Bernstein for the film The Buccaneer, along with the usual John Williams selections and of course various classical pieces that have been used (and sometimes abused) as background music.

Also much amusement over one of those stupid "passalong" e-mail messages that arrived at work today. This one was all enraged about the supposed fact that the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources has "imported and released" supposed "big cats" to control the deer population. It featured photos taken through a patio glass sliding door of what was clearly a cougar or puma. It didn't take me long to find a long and respectable article about these rumors, which have been circulating for several years. The cougar was once native to Illinois, but has been considered extinct here since 1870. There has been exactly one confirmed wild cougar found in Illinois since 1950, and it was a female that died after being struck by a freight train near Carbondale. The university there did a DNA study and found that it was indeed an American cougar, and not an escaped illegal pet, since the "pet" pumas or panthers in the US are all descended from South American stock. Apparently most of the reported sitings of "wildcats" and "cougars" in Illinois in the last 20 years have turned out to be.... ta-da! Coyotes. *snicker*

Then I checked Snopes.com and found out that these very photos have been circulated with similar claims against the government agencies in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, and several other states. The photos were not taken in any of those locations, but rather by a known individual in Wyoming, where cougars do indeed run wild today and are occasionally seen near human dwellings. People sure are stupid, gullible, and eager to believe conspiracy theories, aren't they?

Comments

[animist.livejournal.com]

Snopes is an excellent resource for debunking such BS. Good job!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Always worth looking though. Once or twice he's surprised me by saying something really is true.

[silver-kiden.livejournal.com]

i could probably get ahold of many of the soundtracks you want, provided you aren't too picky on legality.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks but no. I'll pay for the recordings. Classical orchestras and musicians generally need every penny they can get. None of these are big name stars and most of the CDs are $15 or less.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Good ol' Snopes... About a year ago, I got a forwarded e-mail from someone who had a habit of forwarding things. This one was about a missing child somewhere in America (not even in Michigan, mind you), probably abducted, and we all need to look for her... no date, of course. I went to Snopes, found that of course it was a hoax and there never was a missing girl like this. I wrote back saying "Here's the link, please check these things out!" Apparently my friend John did the same thing at the same time. She got rather pissed off, saying something to the effect of if our children go missing, she won't help us. And since then, I've gotten no more forwards from her. So it was worth it after all.

There are days I'm not sure everyone should really have or use e-mail. But I might be a jaded snob, I dunno.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've had that experience too. In fact, in once case, someone I went to college with forwarded me one of those trashy rumors. I corrected her as gently as I could and she has never spoken to me again. That was 15 years ago. Some people just really want to be outraged and amazed all the time. The sales of tabloid newspapers prove that.

As for the "missing" children, I do remember reading statistical studies that show that the majority of them are actually involved in custody battles and have been abducted by one or the other of the litigants. Actually, come to think of it, being eaten by a cougar could be a better fate.

[tinbender.livejournal.com]

There were a lot of cougar sightings around here, all being attributed by the authorities to large house cats and other animals. They pretty much had to backtrack on that thought when someone actually hit and killed a cougar with a car.

Of course I'm not saying that there necessarily are any in Illinois, but it's possible. And I've seen a variation of that email. It's amazing what gets sent around and how badly they distort or create facts.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not denying the possibility that there might be a cougar or two in Illinois, though more likely down in the Shawnee National Forest area than near Galena as this message claimed. It's the argument that the state agencies were deliberately trying to create a breeding population "to control deer" and doing so secretly that aggravates me. That's pure bunk. And the use of falsified data to "prove" the lie. These things are built on the same foundation as tabloid journalism. Create a rumor, blow it up, and then find a way to profit from it. No doubt the source of this stuff is people who just resent government in any form, or who have a bone to pick with the DNR because they don't like having to buy a hunting license.

Climatic change and increasing efforts to preserve and restore wild areas could well be encouraging cougars to reclaim their old range, slowly. But populated states like Illinois don't offer them a lot of territory when you come right down to it. The chances that they will become so numerous that more dogs are killed by pumas than by cars seem nil to me. Humans are living alongside large wildlife in the West and in Alaska to this day. We don't see constant stories of wolves stealing children to eat, and I don't expect to see any about cougars either. Though honestly, I might be inclined to cheer if I did. ;p Especially if whoever got eaten was one of the jerks responsible for perpetrating trash like this.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

A theremin? Interesting, can't say I've ever heard one of those being used in an *actual* song. :)

And yeah, people sure are stupid. Who could possibly mistake a coyote for a cougar? o.O

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Theremins have been used as solo instruments with classical orchestras before, and a few composers have even written specifically for them. They were actually used quite a lot in American popular music in the 1960s and 70s, most notably by The Beach Boys. You need to hear their song "Good Vibrations" where the theremin is unmistakable and not hidden under the guitars. The theremin as a classical instrument was tried back in the 1920s and 30s. A few performers developed skill and virtuosity equivalent to the violin.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* Yeah, I've watched a few videos of Clara Rockmore on Youtube last year - interesting, but I never thought of the theremin as any more than a novelty really. So this is definitely interesting. :)

Hmm, and "good vibrations" - I'll have to check that out some time.

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Whinnyhi, Rider.

My mother told me it is impossible to get three people to agree on anything so never believe in conspiracy theories. Works for me.

Imperator

[altivo.livejournal.com]

LOL. Good point, but a bit overstated. Remember Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma bombing. Sometimes conspiracies are real, but not on the scale required by this claim.

These complainers are the kind of people who are ready to march in the streets against all kinds of wildlife "because it will be a threat to our children." They crusade against wolves, bears, coyotes, bobcats, and just about any predator or any conservation effort to protect predators. They know nothing about wildlife at all, other than junk from fairy tales. It was particularly amusing that this long, drawn out and abusive diatribe against the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources never used the word "cougar" or "puma". They pretended not to know what the "big cat" was, just that it was horrible and would surely eat pets and children. In fact, they made it sound as if it had been imported from the African jungle or something. One look at just one of the photos (which are pretty good, actually, and not photoshopped) and I recognized the cougar for what it is. A handsome and well fed specimen, too, as you might expect in the Rocky Mountains.

[damnbear.livejournal.com]

If we didn't release the big cats that were never in captivity, how would we deal with the over population of humans?

Nature should not be interfered with by such conspiracy theorists ;o)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

One could wish that there were a way to specifically use big cats, or grizzlies, or polar bears to reduce and control the population of these nut cases, yes.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

I didn't do it. I was dead at the time. No, I was on the Moon... with Steve! Yeah, that's it!

Yeah, I have cougar leanings as well. So what? That's racial / species profiling! I won't stand for it! What? Sit? *plop* Fine. Now gimme a freakin' treat or I'll connive your left nut outta ya and trade it for a pair of loaded dice.

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Treat? How about a nice piece of salmon? Ought to suit either your inner coyote or the cougar.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Mmm... salmon. Steamed or broiled, please!

(I don't generally like smoked all that much except as a condiment, nor do I prefer salmon sushi. It's a good fish, though!)

Now I want fish! Darn you, Librarian of Temptation!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Fish is good. Of course you want it. ;p

I really like salmon broiled over charcoal. But I also like the old fashioned salmon patties. I bake mine in the oven rather than frying, though.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Ooh, salmon patties! That sounds really good. I don't think I've ever had it done that way.

I need to have dinner at your place :) I'll do a quick veg stir-fry or braise to go with the salmon... and I make really good scrambled eggs for the next day (or for dinner if you like them at night).

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The salmon patties are easy. One 15 oz. can, drained and bones picked out (unless you like them of course) and mash it up with an egg, some dill and lemon, and some minced up onion or scallion. Knead in about a half cup of fine cracker crumbs (Ritz crackers are good.) Form into four patties, roll in seasoned bread crumbs, lay them out on a baking dish and drizzle a half teaspoon or so of olive oil onto each. Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes, and serve with steamed veggies (like asparagus or broccoli) and either baked potato or macaroni and cheese. Num! Tartar sauce, teriyaki sauce, or, for the real plebes, ketchup, are optional.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

That sounds so good my stomach grumbled at me just from reading it!

And yes, ketchup is for plebes when it comes to salmon (though I do adore it on potatoes).

Oh look, it's lunch time! *Runs off to eat something*

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[saythename.livejournal.com]

You went through that whole post and didn't put up one
link like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhTW-hQfLE

^.~

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, no. Youtube is essentially unusable to me. I have only a dialup connection, and on top of that, the current version of flashplayer for Linux is a disaster. It crashes the browser constantly so I disabled it.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

*acks!*

All this time I assumed you had a dsl or cable
or something. I'm sorry! From now on I'll put
up just a link or the full *click on the nice
youtube playpic thingy* behind an lj cut.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No problem. I've had those embedded video things set to not display ever since they introduced the feature. I'm just not a video type of guy. ;p

The crashing problem is irritating though. It's apparently Adobe's fault, but of course their attitude is "Why aren't you using Windows?" My attitude is "Hey, if you're going to provide a version for Linux, get it right." The Acrobat reader works fine on Linux. But whoever does Flash (which I've always hated anyway, it's a sure way to make a website take five to ten times longer to load) doesn't get it at all.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Aww no big cats *sad face*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

These aren't exactly your kitty-kitty kind of cat, you know. Australia used to have an indigenous big cat, but I believe it has been extinct for quite a while now. The American cougar is similar in size and behavior to the former Tasmanian tiger. They are beautiful animals, but I prefer to see them from a good safe distance, thank you.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Must you dash all my naive illusions so? *hehe*