Shobster's blog attempt #3,281

Curse words abound. Viewer's discretion advised.

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Hey look at that.  I'm alive.  Survived the move.  Found a job, although not in my field (more on that in later posts).  Life is good.  :)

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Animal cannibalism used to be considered accidental or pathological, but scientists now realize that it can sometimes make good evolutionary sense.

[thebluthcompany]

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OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG.  Please tell me this is real.  They need to come out with this movie already; Michael Cera is getting almost too old for the role...

theclearlydope:

Clearly Dope News: I think the world had forgotten what good news felt like. Thanks cast and crew of AD for making this happen. 

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Saw this guy in my parents' front yard this morning. I had never seen this species before, but that's just because i've had virtually zero experience herping on Java. It's kinda interesting how Ecology Asia website says that in Singapore they outcompeted the green crested lizards Bronchocela cristatella, but on Sumatra it's the exact opposite: i never saw a single one of this species despite the hundreds of hours i spent herping on Sumatra, but the green crested lizards are very common. My dad says he's seen the green crested lizards around the yard, so apparently on Java they coexist..

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Never thought i'd live to see the day when Microsoft Word is beaten by my spelling.  No guys, it's not me; it's all the latin names and frontoparietals and sublamellae and whatnot.  I swear!!!!

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It's the Sambas Stream Toad, Ansonia latidisca, which had just been rediscovered after ~50 years of being "extinct".  It's pretty amazing when nature decides to get a little creative with colors, isn't it?!  What a trippy lookin' toad. 

Yay and congrats to Dr. Indraneil Das for this amazing discovery!!!

Full story here.

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And we call it field work.

Man, Chapter 1 and i have some serious love-hate relationship.  On one hand, the writing is mind-numbing.  You can only make so much prose out of a list of specimens.  But at the same time, it makes me dig through old field photos to confirm the species identification.  And then photos like these ones pop up and i'm reminded how awesome my field work was. 

This beach is on the island of South Pagai, just a few yards from a village called Bulasat.  It faces the Indian ocean and gets some good surf breaks, but it makes it difficult for dipping.  Every day we'd walk out to the beach and hike for about 45 min-1 hr to get to our field site, and walk home at dusk to sunsets like this.  If we timed it right, we get to catch a glimpse of thousands of giant flying foxes (they're fruit bats, really) darkening the skies as they fly out of their roosts and begin their nightly forage.  It was mind blowing and amazing.  Just one of the many reasons i love doing what i do... 

Photos by my advisor, Jim McGuire. 

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I'm working on my final chapter, an updated checklist of the herpetofauna of the island arc west of Sumatra.  Somehow it leads me back to this picture, an elegant bronzeback (Dendrelaphis formosus) from the Banyak Islands, Indonesia.  Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Chapter 1.

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I am all for assisted suicide.  I hope to go with dignity and on my own time, if i'm so lucky.  And i'll send out a farewell invitation and everyone can say their goodbyes properly.  Wouldn't that be nice?! 

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Somewhere behind the lighthouse is a giant 2PM sun.  I thank the fog for making it not so harsh.  Maybe it wasn't all that bad that we got a foggy day out there today, after all.  :-) That's Ben and Crystal down on the landing at the bottom of the steps.  I added the vignetting for effect. 

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Sometimes i come across a really awesome setting and think to myself what a beautiful photo it would make with a nude model right in the middle of it.  This is one of them.  I love the rustic floor and the beaten down chair.  I love how the fog outside the windows makes them act like two giant softboxes.  I love the diffuse shadows the chair cast on the wall(s) behind it.  If only... 

This was in the little maintenance house right before Point Reyes' lighthouse. 

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Crystal's in town from Vancouver and we've been spending the weekend in Windsor, CA.  Ha ha, i know.  It's like an hour away from Napa and not that much different.  But we did take her to the coast yesterday and today.  Too bad Pt. Reyes was so foggy!! 

On a side note:  Whoa.  I finally took my DSLR out of the bag and actually took pictures with it, after 8 months.  And check out the fill flash on those pics!!  I mean, seriously, i think this is the first time i'm truly happy with the use of on-board flash. 

And that one of Ben and me is my new favorite picture of us.  <3

And OMG, i looked so skinny in that pic i almost don't look like me.  Not sure if that's good or bad.

Production note on the pics:  All were taken at ISO 100, manual mode, f/11.  On-board flash was fired for both portrait shots.  For the photo of Ben and me, I had to tone down the blacks a little bit in Lightroom to bring out the details on my coat, but other than that and some cropping/straightening, they're pretty much straight out of the camera.  Oh yeah.

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Comment functionality is now on!!

Thank you, Disqus!!!

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Love well, seek the good in all things, harm no others, think for yourself, take responsibility, respect nature, do your utmost, be informed, be kind, be courageous: at least, sincerely try.

A.C. Grayling, "The Good Book."

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Chapter 3 is off of my hands. Fuck yeah.

Submitted my Chapter 3 to Jim today.  Back to the salt mine with Chapter 1.  I think it's doable.  I think. 

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Today's YouTube video of the day is brought to you by The Lonely Island.

Jack Sparrow [Lyrics] [HD 1080p] (by WeCopyLyrics)

"Keira Knightley!!!"  Lolololol.

[mikerickson]

Heisenberg and Schrodinger were in a car speeding down the highway when a cop pulls them over

He comes to the window and says, “do you have any idea how fast you were going?” Heisenberg replied, “no but I can tell you exactly where I was.” Hearing this strange reply the cop decides to conduct a search of the car. After opening the trunk of the car he immediately returns to the front window where he startlingly asks, “did you know there’s a dead cat in your trunk?!” Schrodinger then looks at him and says, “well thanks, now I do.”

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Geeky jokes rock my world!!!