Notes: 3/30/12
1. My lone back yard frog has now attracted several others to his choir. Every night, starting at twilight, they “sing” well into the night. This pattern raises questions for me. What – oh what – are these cloaks and chirrups communicating to other frogs? My guess is that they are saying – “We want some girl frogs to come join us here!” And maybe they are saying – “This is a good deep pond ideal for raising a family of tadpoles.” Since the females do not give a responding call, so I cant know if they have been successful in their attraction.
Frogs are very much a bellwether to the health of environments. World wide there has been a dramatic decline in the numbers of frogs within the last few decades… For some species this may be related to climate changes. More likely it is due to the increased concentrations of chemicals in the waters where most frogs are found. Studies show that an accumulation of scrap plastic in the water releases a chemical that mimics the natural reproductive hormones found in frogs – thus altering their normal reproductive cycle. Given the decline I have all the more reason to be joyful for this happy chorus in my back yard.
Pacific Tree Frog
Imagine that fertilized egg (when it is produced) carries within it an incredible sequence of information of how to become a tadpole, enzymes for digesting algae, forming legs, developing into an adult frog, and then totally changing the digestive system and enzymes to be able to digest insects (no more algae as an adult)… This wonderful collection of DNA comes with natural genes that turn on and turn off the production of hormones, enzymes, and structural proteins needed for each stage of life in sequence.
Capital Building - Washington DC
2. Once again we get an insight into how Washington is influenced by big money. One man, one vote democracy as we have known it is under the spell of super PACs that do not have to identify donors, and can contribute unlimited amounts to the candidate of their choice.
What is wrong with American voters that we are so susceptible to the powerful media campaigns to create our "opinions"? It is called “ social engineering”... skillful advertising folk who join forces with politicians to design “hit pieces” directed at a target audience – And who is this target audience? It is you and me being confronted over and over again with not only blatant advertisements, but planned appearances on shows, interviews by the candidates.
Social engineering link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(political_science)
Look at your self and your attitudes and opinions about each candidate. You don’t know these people, you probably have not done an in depth study of their legislative records... How then have we come to a conclusion about how we feel about each candidate? In this age, even the news we choose to listen to built around a predetermined bias – do you choose to be indoctrinated by Fox news or by MSNBC news? Have you noticed that the candidates repeat the same message lines and key words over and over again?
Those phrases have been carefully designed to drill and kill the image, the ideas, that they want to place in our heads. I despair for the American voting public at times – Romney is saying over and over that Obama has made the economy worse, that unemployment is languishing, that Obama is responsible for increased the national debt – any examination of the actual data shows that all three claims are utterly false… Many people simply choose to believe the ideas that support their positions – the facts interfere with reality and are not being considered. One politician that I admire said that voters tend to elect the candidates that they deserve. Is that scary of what!
