Seattle Council Bans Bodies

While I think the Seattle City Council often sticks their legislative noses into some silly areas, I am pleased to see that they've banned "Bodies"-type exhibits. I was disgusted when this so-called exhibit came through the area twice and was received by enthusiastic audiences. These are dead people, not wax figures.

"I'm proud of this City Council," said Patrick Burns, a Seattle resident and retired union carpenter who became concerned with the issue after "Bodies" came twice to Seattle.
He said crowds of people would line up as if they were at a movie theater, smiling and chatting as they waited. But they weren't going to see a film — they were going to see cadavers staged in poses, as if playing football or volleyball, for example.
"They had no sense that these bodies were precious human beings to some family," Burns said.

Exactly. And the council's legislation hit the necro-peep show in its ethically soft center: no permission, no show. The bodies in these exhibits are often acquired from Chinese prisons. Anyone out there have faith in the Chinese penal system having obtained these bodies with valid, uncoerced permission from rightly-convicted felons?

Me neither....

Saluting the Eastern Gray Squirrel

Yes, that Eastern Gray Squirrel. The ones I love to hate. The non-native, invasive pest that displaces our native Pacific Northwest squirrels in urban Puget Sound.

Much as they annoy me, they are successful because they are exceptionally flexible, adaptive and intelligent.

Squirrels can leap a span 10 times the length of their body, roughly double what the best human long jumper can manage. They can rotate their ankles 180 degrees, and so keep a grip while climbing no matter which way they’re facing.

The little blighters are also smart in ways that recall primate intelligence.

Squirrels can learn by watching others — cross-phyletically, if need be. In their book “Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide,” Richard W. Thorington Jr. and Katie Ferrell of the Smithsonian Institution described the safe-pedestrian approach of a gray squirrel eager to traverse a busy avenue near the White House. The squirrel waited on the grass near a crosswalk until people began to cross the street, said the authors, “and then it crossed the street behind them.” 

Eastern grays are prolific precisely because they are very, very good at inhabiting the urban and suburban ecologies we humans create. They haven't so much as displaced our native Douglas squirrels as replaced them; moved in after the Dougs could no longer afford the neighborhood. It's our clumsy tinkering with nature that's created the habitat niche the Eastern grays are so well-qualified to fill.

The Eastern gray is one of about 278 squirrelly species alive today, a lineage that split off from other rodents about 40 million years ago and that includes chipmunks, marmots, woodchucks — a k a groundhogs — and prairie dogs. Squirrels are found on all continents save Antarctica and Australia, and in some of the harshest settings: the Himalayan marmot, found at up to 18,000 feet above sea level, is among the highest-living mammals of the world.

The diversity of squirrel species aside, expect the Eastern gray squirrels to only grow their range as human cities grow.

Sounders Drop Another 3-goal loss in Los Angeles

Are we playing to secure the top draft pick or something? Halfway through the season and the Sounders have nearly eliminated themselves from any postseason activity other than the MLS draft, which of course, very important.

In one tepid performance, a 3-1 loss at LA, the Sounders nearly blot out all the excitement and joy of the last two weeks World Cup games. These guys aren't having fun playing soccer; they sure aren't creating any joy for the fans.

It only takes 20 minutes for the Galaxy to get on the scoreboard. The Sounders don't look like they're into this game at all. The body language is weak

Edson Buddle gets the opener as Jeff Parke's now-you-see-it-now-you-don't defense allows the big striker to get a free header from the middle of the box, which he buries under the upper far corner.. The second LA goal comes on a massive strike from little Juninho, his first MLS goal. The midfielder collects the ball on the left side of the pitch, about 35 yards out and blasts the ball on a burning rope to the upper far corner.

At this point, the game is done and dusted. Some dodgy LA defending allows Zakuani to get in for a goal, but that is all they're able to muster. A rash gamble by Marshall allows the LA attacker to get in to the area one-on-one with Keller. His pass forces Riley (who had a strong game and, to his credit, kept trying long after teammates had quit) to slide tackle the ball, pushing it into the Sounder net for LA's third goal.

The team is just a mess. Some players, like Riley, continue to work hard, while many of them have quit. On the field, they have no spark, off-the-ball movement is horrible, passing is often off-target, posession is squandered repeatedly. Whether they're trying to or not, the Sounders do appear to be playing for the draft, rather than the post-season. It's clear that a major rebuilding project is the next step in regaining quality form.