Mule steak and dressed rat

The fall of Vicksburg was a turning point in the American civil warNOT a dog barked at us, not a cat shied round a corner. Poor things, they had all been eaten in the straitness of the siege. The eyewitness was a Yankee chaplain with the Federal Army when on Independence Day, July 4th 1863, it entered Vicksburg, the previously impregnable town that commanded the Mississippi River. The fall of the so-called Gibraltar of the West hastened the end of the American civil war by cleaving the Confederacy in two and cutting its supplies of grain, livestock, munitions and men. Civil-war buffs will be most interested in Winston Grooms contribution to the contentious debate on whether General Joseph Johnston, the Confederate commander in the West, could and should have done more to relieve the defender of Vicksburg, General John Pemberton. Others will be struck more by the archaic nature of the Vicksburg campaign. The tactics of the besiegers and the sufferings of the besieged bring to mind medieval, or even Roman, times rather than mid-19th-century America. ...

Weekend at Manny

Yes, Yes, Yes, that is Manny, as he sits on the floor, eating his breakfast of apple slices, peaches and cream oatmeal and orange juice (he will also get a Strawberry Go-Gart) and forces me to endure yet another showing of “Elephant”. For does of you who don’t know, Elephant is Ice Age, and although I love the Ice Age Movie and am looking forward to 3, coming out in 2009; enough is enough already!Quick background story on how I ended up with little bit for the week end. Well, it’s not actually quick, but I will try to make it as short as possible. Believe it our not it all stems from when I went to pick up Manny to see Madagascar 2, at Head Start. I went in uniform, because his teacher requested that I come out and speak with the children about stranger danger. Yeah, speak to three, four and five years olds about stranger danger. I know, I know, it is never to early to start teaching stranger, but did I really have to be in uniform to do it?So, I show up around 2:15 to pick him up and his class is taking a nap. Who takes a nap at two in the afternoon, besides me I mean. I figured that they’d be done taking their nap by two. Anyway, the instructor was at lunch and there was an assistant watching the napping ankle biters. I find Manny’s sleeping figure and pick him up off his mat. The first thing that comes out of his mind, as he is being lifted off the floor is; “I don’t want to.” Is that cool. I love my little nephews survival instinct. We grab his backpack (which turned out not to be his) and jacket and was headed out when we encounter his instructor. Apparently the word went out around the building that a police officer was in the house, and since she new I was coming she managed to put tow and two together.We spoke for about thirty minutes and then she suckered me by asking if I new any of my officers friends that would be interested in adopting one of the classes for Christmas. I didn’t want to tell her that I don’t have any officer friends, so I just volunteered to adopt Manny’s class.“What does adopting a class consist of?” I ask.“You just have to buy a toy for each of the kids.”“Oh, well how many kids are there in Manny’s class?”“Eighteen.”In my head I was like. what the fuck! But it there was not turning back, I had already committed myself. Note to self. Next time, before you commit yourself to buy toys for a class room full of kids, ask how many kids are in said class first.Which brings up to this weekend. My little and big sister were in my area of town, to do some Christmas shopping, and called me to see if I wanted to go with them. Since I’d taken, yet another day off, I said yes. Plus, I wanted them to see the toys I got for the little rug rats, which consisted of remote control cars, dolls, and animated robots. Very cool stuff, that I got a Walgreen, at a very reasonable price. Plus, the manager gave me his employee discount, when he found out the reason behind the purchase. How cool was that?Anyway, they come in the house and I take them to the bedroom closet, where I have the gifts stored. We try to keep Manny out, but that didn’t work, as I showed them the gifts. He didn’t get a good look at the toys, but he knew there were toys and that was enough. So, once we returned from the mall and they were dropping me back off he told his Mommy that he wanted to stay with Uncle One Man. I figured what the heck, I always say no, I needed to say yes.As soon as we get into the house that little bastard makes a bee line to the closet of toys and ask, “Can I play with your toys.” The little monster thought he was slick. But the answer was no, so I think the continuous viewing of Ice Age is his way of punishing me. LOL-One Man’s Opinion. Peace.

14 Million Empty Houses, Condos and Apartments -- Short Sales and Foreclosures Abound

Singita Resort ("Place of Miracles")Along the Western Corridor of the Serengeti, Africavia FreshomeRead Real Estate News updated daily.Visit our website @ www.flhotproperties.com On the left sidebar, find links to useful local and industry sites.Find out what's happening in real estate!In our current real estate market, buyers and their Realtors are hard put to avoid short sales and foreclosures in their housing search. From Sun-Sentinel's housing blog, House Keys:Judy Friedmar, a stat queen for Xima Real Data in Pembroke Pines, crunched the numbers and found that nine out of 10 for-sale listings in our part of the world are distressed properties.Ninety percent!1 in 9 homes in the US are vacant according to USAToday:From Maine to Hawaii, millions of new McMansions, post-World War II bungalows, modern downtown lofts, exurban town homes and inner-city row houses sit empty. This unprecedented glut of vacant homes — one in nine homes across the USA, according to the Census Bureau — will change the real estate landscape for years.Already, rock-bottom prices in the hardest-hit markets are attracting first-time home buyers who could not afford a home during boom times. Some areas may see real estate values stabilize by the end of this year, as buyers seeking bargains begin to reduce the backlog of homes for sale. At the same time, the availability of rental housing will widen, potentially pushing down the cost of renting."We overproduced by 1 million new units," says Edward Glaeser, economist at Harvard University. "Now we have to work our way through the stock."What happens to the 14 million empty houses, condominiums and apartments and the 9.4 million that are for sale? How long will it take to absorb this massive and unprecedented oversupply of housing?"Two more years," Glaeser says. His is one of the more optimistic estimates. Projections by housing analysts range from as early as this year in some areas to as late as 2014 in others. USA Today has posted a state-by-state housing recovery interactive predicting the year housing supplies will dwindle to the point that new construction will be necessary to meet demand. Prediction for FL is 2010.And those signs of life in that vacant home nearby? Don't be so sure it's the new owners or renters. NYTimes reports that many of these vacant homes have been taken over by squatters:Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said about a dozen advocacy groups around the country were actively moving homeless people into vacant homes — some working in secret, others, like Take Back the Land, operating openly.In addition to squatting, some advocacy groups have organized civil disobedience actions in which borrowers or renters refuse to leave homes after foreclosure.The groups say that they have sometimes received support from neighbors and that beleaguered police departments have not aggressively gone after squatters.

Found in Translation -- Jay

Last week, I got an e-mail from someone working on one of the foreign translations of Thirteen Reasons Why. He needed a few things clarified to help with his translation because his job isn’t simply to swap one word for another, but to interpret each word for another language. His job is to make my story make sense. And some of his questions fascinated me!Here are some examples:What does "Boy Scout" mean in this context: "my tongue twisted into knots even a Boy Scout would walk away from"? (p.17)I gave him a fairly detailed answer to that question. How he’s going to whittle my answer into a few simple words to convey context, I have no idea (which is why I never did well in my foreign language classes).On page 57, Ms. Antilly says "Or... not." Does this mean "Maybe it was not a good idea to introduce you two to become buddies"?One thing I am excessively conscious about is slang. Pop culture and slang will age a novel like nothing else. Unless a novel is meant to be timefull (which is my made-up opposite for timeless), most pop culture and slang can be deleted without being missed. “Or…not” was said with a little sarcasm in my book, making it a tad slangy...and making the translator earn his pay.On page 59...Then, on page 194...Ah, yes. Something was found in translation, as well. Because a translator can’t take any word for granted, they need to pay special attention to everything. And sometimes they can catch little inconsistencies no one else has caught. (Yes, I already contacted my editor and said, “How did we miss this???”)On page 283, it says "Class of '93". Just out of curiosity, is there some special meaning in the year 1993?It's extremely cool to know that the person working on the translation also enjoyed the book. Can you imagine if the translator hated the book? Yikes! So it meant a lot to me that there were details he wanted to know just out of curiosity. And in case any of you are suddenly curious, 1993 is when I graduated from high school.- JayP.S. Speaking of graduating from high school, the list of people taking the challenge of sharing their senior photos is still growing. Did you show us yours?

Life Thrived When Earth Was Far Warmer than Now

"An artist's rendering of the prehistoric snake Titanoboa cerrejonensis, which was 42 feet long and lived 60 million years ago." Source of caption and photo: online version of the NYT article quoted and cited below. (p. A7) Some 60 million years ago, well after the demise of the dinosaurs, a giant relative of today's boa constrictors, weighing more than a ton and measuring 42 feet long, hunted crocodiles in rain-washed tropical forests in northern South America, according to a new fossil discovery. . . . But the existence of such a large snake may also help clarify how hot the tropics became during an era when the planet, as a whole, was far warmer than it is now, and also how well moist tropical ecosystems can tolerate a much warmer global climate. That last question is important in assessments of how human-driven global warming might affect the tropics. . . . The team examined how warm it had to be for a snake species to be that large by considering conditions favoring the largest living similar tropical snake, the green anaconda, said Jason J. Head, the lead author of the paper and a paleontologist at the University of Toronto. They concluded that Titanoboa could have thrived only if temperatures ranged from 86 to 93 degrees. For the full story, see: ANDREW C. REVKIN. "Fossils of Largest Snake Give Hint of Hot Earth." The New York Times (Thurs., February 4, 2009): A7. (Note: ellipses added.)

Jennifer

saturday midnight updates

Jeffrey Siegel said...For fans of jazz guitarist Marc Ribot, currently celebrating his 55th birthday with a series of shows in Manhattan.http://straightnochaserjazz.blogspot.comScholar said...Massive post featuring soul, funk, and hip hop covers, mash-ups and remixes. Includes the following:PortisheadNew BirthNotorious B.I.G./2Pac vs. White StripesLaura LeeJimi Hendrix A jazz-funk version of "Thriller" by Speak LowLee MosesCold BloodEl Michels Affair covering Wu-Tang ClanBobby BryantThe Breeders (ft. Kim Deal of The Pixies)Kellee PattersonKing Curtis' supreme version of "Whiter Shade Of Pale"Also~link to a free album of hip hop remixes by one of the illest new producers in the business. Gracias, Fuzzyhttp://souledonmusic.blogspot.comRecord Fiend said...Blind Arvella Gray - The Singing Drifter (the only LP recorded by the legendary Maxwell Street Market performer from Chicago...a masterpiece)Naif Agby & his Orchestra - El Debke: Music of the Middle-East (belly dance classic featured in RE/Search's "Incredibly Strange Music" series)Guitar Wizards 1926-1935 (first-rate Yazoo comp of mostly East Coast prewar blues musicians)Invasion Funk Masters (badass collection of late 1960s and early 1970s funk instrumentals)Great Rarities from Various Artists - Original 50s Recordings (White Label anthology of obscure rockabillies)There y'are, Fuzzies.http://record-fiend.blogspot.comsnotty said...TOOSHORTALIFEJoy Division - Transmission/Novelty (1979) 12" Vinyl-Riphttp://tooshortalife.blogspot.comalonsii said...L'ARBRE DE LES 1000 MÚSIQUES, PROGRAMA 30-4-091-TIM STORY-After 4 O'Clock02-diana baroni- fafireña3-Jacinta - a morte saiu à rua4 -ACA SECA TRIO - Hurry5-Múm- We Have A Map Of The Piano6-Manuel Obregon & the Monteverde Animal Big Band-Conversacion con los Jilgueros7-Ramon C.Nakae & Peter Kater-Tohono8-Martyn Bennett- Tongues of Kali9-zakir hussain-Zakir10-The Flashbulb-Kirlian Voyager11-The Flashbulb-La Tristesse Durera Toujours12 -Paul Winter Consort-The Promise of a Fisherman13-Paul Winter Consort- Adoro Te Devote14- MARTA TOPFEROVA- Grano De Arena15-ACA SECA TRIO - Monte Maíz16-SETIMA LEGIAO-A Promessa17-SHANTEL- Disco Boy18-JOSELON- AudioTrack 12http://larbredeles1000musiques.blogspot.com

Google AppEngine uses Jetty!

Hot on the heels of Google Widget Toolkit(GWT) switching to Jetty, the little server that can has received some more Google luv'n! Google's new App Engine Java service is powered by Jetty! With App Engine, you can build web applications using standard Java technologies and run them on Google's scalable infrastructure.Initially it is a little difficult to see Jetty in use, but you can see the jetty classes in the SDK download and if your application throws an exception then investigation of the stack trace in the log reveals the Jetty servlet container is used. Not only that, the stack trace and other documentation show that Google have really exploited the embeddablility and extensibility of Jetty at a number of levels: They are using their own RPC style connector to receive requests from their front end web servers.They use the google account authentication as the only supported authentication mechanism.The HTTP sessions are clustered via the database or memcacheThere is an appengine-web.xml configuration fileJetty is embedded in their SDK and eclipse development plugin.Thus Google have plugged in many new and/or extended components in a way that validates our open, component based architecture. When it comes to application servers we do not believe that one size fits all and strongly encourage such customization for purpose.We are really pleased that the google App team picked Jetty for their hosting service and welcome them to the ever growing list of Jetty powered projects! The revealing exception:javax.servlet.ServletException: This is an exception at com.acme.HelloWorld.doGet(HelloWorld.java:48) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:689) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder$SingleThreadedWrapper.service(ServletHolder.java:617) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:487) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1093) at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.SaveSessionFilter.doFilter(SaveSessionFilter.java:35) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1084) at com.google.apphosting.utils.servlet.TransactionCleanupFilter.doFilter(TransactionCleanupFilter.java:43) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1084) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.handle(ServletHandler.java:360) at org.mortbay.jetty.security.SecurityHandler.handle(SecurityHandler.java:216) at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.SessionHandler.handle(SessionHandler.java:181) at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandler.handle(ContextHandler.java:712) at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.handle(WebAppContext.java:405) at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.handle(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:237) at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:139) at org.mortbay.jetty.Server.handle(Server.java:313) at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection.handleRequest(HttpConnection.java:506) at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection$RequestHandler.headerComplete(HttpConnection.java:830) at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.RpcRequestParser.parseAvailable(RpcRequestParser.java:63) at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection.handle(HttpConnection.java:381) at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.JettyServletEngineAdapter.serviceRequest(JettyServletEngineAdapter.java:125) at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime.handleRequest(JavaRuntime.java:235) at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:4547) at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:4545) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.BlockingApplicationHandler.handleRequest(BlockingApplicationHandler.java:24) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcUtil.runRpcInApplication(RpcUtil.java:359) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server$2.run(Server.java:792) at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanRunnable.run(LocalTraceSpanRunnable.java:56) at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanBuilder.internalContinueSpan(LocalTraceSpanBuilder.java:489) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.startRpc(Server.java:748) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.processRequest(Server.java:340) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.ServerConnection.messageReceived(ServerConnection.java:422) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.parseMessages(RpcConnection.java:319) at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.dataReceived(RpcConnection.java:290) at com.google.net.async.Connection.handleReadEvent(Connection.java:419) at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.processNetworkEvents(EventDispatcher.java:733) at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.internalLoop(EventDispatcher.java:207) at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.loop(EventDispatcher.java:101) at com.google.net.rpc.RpcService.runUntilServerShutdown(RpcService.java:249) at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime$RpcRunnable.run(JavaRuntime.java:373) at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)Edited 11 Apr 2009:In response to the questions about continuations, we found this discussion on the google app engine forums, which says:"We do not support continuations. All requests need to complete their work within the ~30 second deadline and then return control back to App Engine. There is not currently any support for chunked transfer encodings, hanging gets, or background processing, so continuations would not be very useful."This is interesting, but we'd like to feedback to google that there are plenty of interesting uses for continuations that do not need waits longer than 30 seconds, background processing or chunked responses:We encourage the use of long polling techniques that always send complete responses and thus don't need chunking etc.In many cases, background processing is not needed. Suspended requests can be resumed by other requests (eg chat, auctions, collaborative editing etc.) or even other responses completing (eg quality of service filter).For interactive web applications, having a long poll of 20s will still give great latency and throughput advantages over a more frequent polling solution.Now it maybe that Googles RPC connector cannot operate asynchronously, so they are forced to have a thread allocated. If that is the case, then they should talk to us and we'd be please to teach them how to better scale their infrastructure (we also specialize in teaching egg sucking :)

meaning or the story behind your children's name?

I have a two years old son and his name is Yeso Izech. When my husband and I are looking for a name to our baby, it happened that we passed by into a bookshop that sells used book. When I was searching for a book in their shelves i saw a large book with the title Babies Names so i scan the pages until i found the name that i was looking for, for my baby's name. Yeso - is a Hebrew word meaning saviour. Letter Y instead of letter J because in Hebrew they don't have letter J. The second name Izech is supposed to be Isaac but then my husband said that we should change the spelling based on the sound of the word Isaac. What about your child's name?

Long-billed Plover for Singapore

On 24th February 1990, Volker Konrad encountered and photographed a plover new to Singapore at Changi. He sent his observation, including a picture, to the Singapore Records Committee set up by the Bird Group of the Nature Society (Singapore). The committee identified the bird as a Long-billed Plover (Charadrius placidus). This was reported in the Singapore Avifauna 11(4) that appeared only seven years later.Subsequently Konrad published his finding, based on the identification provided, in the Oriental Bird Club’s scientific journal, Forktail (2005).In the December 2006 issue of the OBC’s bulletin, BirdingASIA, Paul J. Leader, a birder based in Hongkong, successfully challenged the identification of the bird. According to Leader, the bird seen in Singapore way back in 1990 was actually a Kentish Plover (C. alexandrnius), not a Long-billed. Konrad, the birder who sighted the bird at Changi, has so far retracted his published record and according to Birding ASIA, “…the Singapore Records Committee (Nature Society Singapore) now agrees that this record concerns the Kentish Plover.”Well and good. A mistake has been rectified. There were no ornithologists in the Singapore Records Committee then, only experienced recreational birders. Even if there were, the best of ornithologists do sometimes make mistakes in identification.It may therefore be a good idea if in future, to avoid mistakes as much as possible, the photographs of rarities reported are sent for their opinions to leading ornithologists overseas who have long experience of birds in Asia.According to our bird specialist, R. Subaraj, “To put everything in perspective, regardless of the status of local records, the only confirmed Malaysian record is of one at Tanjong Rhu, Pulau Langkawi, on 19th March 1968 (Wells, 1999).“This far south, many vagrants occur in heavily moulted, winter or juvenile plumages and this emphasises the value of exercising great caution when considering such records. One must always seek advise from those with greater experience and knowledge of such birds!”ReferencesKonrad, V. (2005). First record of Long-billed Plover Charadris placidus in Singapore. Forktail 21:181-182.Leader, P.J. (2006). Comments on the purported first record of Long-billed Plover for Singapore. BirdingASIA 6: 45-47.Wells, D.R. (1999). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London.

Sighting of Sooty-headed Bulbuls

At about 4.00 pm on 12th December 2006, K.C. Tsang sighted a small flock of the birds at the Punggol grasslands just before the rain. As can be seen in the above image, the birds were caught in the rain, and trying to dry themselves.Sooty-headed Bulbuls (Pycnonotus aurigasteris) is native to Myanmar, South China and discontinuously through Southeast Asia to Java. The first sighting of this exotic species was reported in the early 1920s. The bird was recorded on and off, albeit rarely, throughout the remaining part of the century. A small feral population appears to have established in Tampines since 2003. Obviously the bird is breeding successfully. According to our bird specialist R. Subaraj, “Sooty-headed Bulbuls (both gold-vented and red-vented forms) have occurred as escapees for many years now due to their popularity in the bird trade. “In the 1970s, a feral population established itself and the species was listed on the Singapore checklist but that population apparently died out and the bulbul was subsequently removed from the list. “There now appears to be a feral population in the Punggol-Serangoon area and a breeding record seems to have been obtained. As a result, it was been reinstated on to the Singapore checklist as a feral species in October.”Input and image by K.C. Tsang.

The Beginning of the End of the World

If you asked most people to identify the moment their childhood ended, they either would not be able to say or they would give some traditional rite of passage, such as getting their diploma, voting, starting or finishing college or becoming a parent. I was six-years-old when it happened to me & it took three simple words to end my childhood.I had lived with my mom & maternal grandparents since birth. Because of my mom's disabilities, she was more like a sister to me & her mom was more like a mother to me than a grandmother. I adored my grandma. She was a big lady, with big hugs & an even bigger laugh. She thought I was the best thing since sliced bread.Things were not perfect in our home. In first grade, I was already falling behind my peers academically. I had been tested for special education but my grandma refused to let me enter the special ed classroom. Beyond school, there were other problems. Mom changed boyfriends about as often as she changed clothes. She kept hoping that she would find me a daddy. Grandpa drank too much & frequently spent all evening in the bars downtown only to come home muttering or yelling unintelligibly. Grandma protected me from a lot of this ad kept Mom & Grandpa in line as much as she could.Then came that fateful December night when everything changed. My aunt & her family were over for dinner. The adults were eating around the kitchen table & the children were enjoying their supper in the living room. I remember emptying my plate & going to the kitchen to put it in the sink. I stopped at the table full of adults & gave my grandma a hug before being sent back to the living room with the other kids.I was playing with my three cousins when their was a sudden commotion in the kitchen. I looked up & it was clear that something was wrong. I could not tell what, but the adults all looked terrified. It soon became apparent that my grandmother could not breathe. I watched in horror as she started to turn colors & the adults lost their heads. Finally, one of the grownups called the paramedics. I was very confused when my preschool teacher, one of the paramedics, came in the ambulance.Someone eventually realized that the children were watching their grandmother choke to death & we were ushered to my bedroom & told not to come out. We sat on the floor & cried & prayed & asked God to keep Grandma safe.One of the adults came in & told us we would be going to stay with some family friends for the night, while Grandma went to the hospital. We all assumed that meant she would be okay & we packed up. I was unable to sleep all night because I wanted to see my grandma. I lay in a sleeping bag between my cousins & watched the Christmas lights outside the window blink off & on.The next morning, my uncle came to pick us all up. The family friend who had taken care of us all asked him when he entered what had happened. In the next moment, he said the three words that ended my childhood. He took a deep breath & said, "She passed away." He had intentionally used a term he thought the children would not understand. Unfortunately, it was a term my grandmother had often used to talk about death & I knew all too clearly what it meant.I remember shrieking & running. I fell to the floor in the living room & cried even after I had run out of tears. I felt like I would throw up & like I would die. I was certain the world would end without her. In some ways it did.Less than one month after that, my mom & I were in a homeless shelter to protect us from Grandpa, whose alcoholism spun out of control after Grandma died. Mom agreed to place me in kinship care with the aunt who had been there that night. This was the first step in my inevitable entry into the foster care system.

new Zune Originals designs

How much Zune can you handle? It's a question few have asked, and even fewer have answered. Microsoft seems to be unafraid of such conundrums, however, and it has now fearlessly introduced a new collection of Zune Originals designs in a day filled with Zune rumors. Each of the new designs, appropriately, feature a spring theme from artists APAK, Carolina Melis, and Linn Olofsdotter, and include options like a "tree-like design," a "tapestry-like design," and a giant Queen Bee for those that really want to stand out. Best of all, as with other similar Zune Originals collections, each of these are available at no extra charge, and are ready to be etched into your future Zune right now.[Thanks, Mitchell]

a male Asian Koel

On 21st July 2006 at 3.30 pm, as I was entering my garden to do some weeding, I surprised a male Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) together with a family of Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) (two adult and a juvenile) that were on the ground below my noni tree (Morinda citrifolia). There were noni fruits on the ground and I suspected that the koel was feasting on a fruit when it was surprised by my sudden appearance. The koel flew to a nearby tree across the road and loitered there, quietly moving about on the branches as well as the boundary wall of the house in front.Half an hour later the koel returned to the partially eaten noni fruit and continued it’s feasting. It was then that I was sure that it ate the fruit (above). A few minutes later after it had its full, it silently moved away.It was then that a pair of Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) came and continued with the feast (above). This was followed by the Javan Mynas after the bulbuls left the scene (below).Later, I found by my gate, a mess of Alexandra palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) seeds together with bits and pieces of the whitish flesh of the noni fruit (below). The whitish pieces still had the distinctive smell of the noni fruit. The palm seeds were clean of their flesh but traces of red skin were pesent. This mess must have been regurgitated by the koel, as it has been established earlier that this bird regularly regurgitates palm seeds. I did not witness the regurgitation but circumstantial evidence suggested that the koel did it. After all, the only other birds present there then were the bulbul and the myna, both birds have not been reported to regurgitate seeds.R. Subaraj has this to say: "Though koels do not normally go to ground, it is my believe that most birds do occasionally... especially when there is a good reason. In this case, the noni fruit must have been attractive. Many birds seldom come to ground as there are more dangers there."Koels regularly come to feed on the fruits of low roadside palms including Alexandra and MacArthur (Ptychosperma macarthurii)."