Bird

Birding apps for iPhone and Android

It's a bird…it's a plane…it's…wait, if you don't know what it is, you could probably use the help of these apps. From amateur to ornithologist, there are several apps on the iOS, Android and other markets that you can use to identify birds. Back in the day, I went on a few bird tracking outings in the field with a college professor and some other students and found it very interesting. I had a hard time identifying birds, and apps like these certainly would have made it much easier than flipping through a field guide.

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The tragic temptations of Clipperton Island

Hundreds of miles south of the tip of Baja lies a small island. Just outside the boundaries of Mexican waters, the shallow ring of land has been disputed through history. Originally it was discovered by Magellan in 1521 but the name comes from an English pirate who, rumor has it, hid treasure on the atoll after he led a mutiny against William Dampier in 1704.

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Getting your kids involved with the environment

The other day I, walked out of the kitchen without turning off the light. It’s something I usually do, but for some reason I was distracted and totally forgot about it. My oldest son immediately ran up to me and told me I should turn off the light because I was wasting electricity.

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The sad state of chicken in America

It's a joke to say that something "tastes like chicken." But these days, I don't know if you have noticed, but even chicken doesn't taste like chicken anymore. Either that, or it tastes way too much like chicken. At the same time, it's starting to seem like white meat and dark meat chicken both taste the same, and they both taste bland.

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Saturday Steals, Deals & Reviews: Curriculum of Love

Here are some fun freebies for the week, plus a bit of information about the latest homeschooling book I’m reading. Enjoy!

Money Saving Mom has a bunch of free curriculum resources this week, including Angry Birds learning resources, free book bundles and more.

Make yourself a free chandelier out of old glass bottles.

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We call this one a twofer

I've been meaning to write an article about this for a while. Though I definitely rely on the BBC for relevant news articles as well as great facts on events currently occurring, their “culture,” section lacks up-to-date information. In fact, it is just behind the times. It is kind of like talking to a middle-age person about what the kids are into these days. The lingo is off, the references are about six months to two years late, and it is sort of awkward to hear.

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Spiders ensnare and hunt bats: The stuff nightmares are made of

As if spiders weren't scary enough, I have just found out that some of them are large enough to ensnare and feed on bats. Folks, this is the stuff nightmares are made of – at least my nightmares. A scientific paper in PLOS ONE reports that more than 50 incidences of bat predation by spiders have been recorded on every continent except Antarctica. Sometimes the bats got tangled up in the webs and died of reasons like starvation and exhaustion.

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Tribe hunts shark species to local extinction

Indigenous tribes of the Gilbertese Islands in the Republic of Kiribati hunted two separate shark species into local extinction during the 19th Century.

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The South Dakota Air & Space Museum

As you roll in to Raid City from the east on I-90, you pass through the outer suburb named Box Elder. Right smack dab on the north side of Box Elder is the sprawling complex known as Ellsworth Air Force base. Unless you have business or family there, it is not a place for random visitors in this post 9/11 age. There is an attraction located just outside of it that is fit for the tourist, however. That attraction is the compact but comprehensive South Dakota Air & Space Museum.

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Why start a new hobby?

Here is a depressing statistic: The average American watches an average of almost 5 hours of television every day. Here is another depressing statistic: The most common thing Americans like to do on vacations is "shopping."

For most Americans, both men and women, shopping and watching television essentially ARE their hobbies. These are facts that I like to trot out whenever someone rolls their eyes at talk of hobbies.

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