Category Archives: Environment

The United States, absent on climate

By Mark | August 27, 2019

It’s old news by this point, but, during the recent G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Donald Trump not only lobbied hard to get Russian dictator Vladimir Putin reinstated in the group, and made the case to have next year’s event at his failing, bedbug infested Doral golf club, but, like the coward that he is, […]

Also posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged cancer, Climate Change, Donald Trump, environmental impact study, France, G7, Global Warming, global warming denial, hurricanes, lies, renewable energy, Sharknado, Vladimir Putin, wind energy, windmills | 12 Comments

“Herp Talk” with local amphibian biologist Katy Greenwald

By Mark | June 23, 2019

Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted here about both tadpoles and frogs that my son and I had found in Riverside Park. Well, as a result of these posts, I’ve come into contact with Eastern Michigan University amphibian biologist Katy Greenwald, who, I guess, felt professionally obligated to write in and correct me, informing […]

Also posted in Mark's Life, Michigan, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged Ambystoma, amphibian biology, amphibian fungus, amphibian sex, amphibians, Ann Arbor Natural Area Preservation, Anura, Arlo, Arnold Lobel, Australia, biology, Bufonidae, bullfrog, Cane toad, cats, Central America, chickens, children's literature, chytrid, chytridiomycosis, critters, cryptozoology, cultural impact study, Diplocaulus, earth science, Eastern Michigan University, EMU, environmental impact study, evolution, evolutionary biology, evolutionary tactics, extinction, faking death, faking one's death, flying frogs, Frog and Toad, frog-eating, frogamander, frogs, frozen frogs, gay characters in children's literature, Georgia, Gerobatrachus, Goro Furuta, habitat management, habitat preservation, HCI, herpetology, Heterodon platyrhinos, historic archeology, Historic Conservation and Interpretation, hognose snakes, Huron River, hybrid salamanders, immigration interview, invasive species, Karen Warkentin, Katy Greenwald, Kelly's Island, landscape architecture, Lepospondyls, Loveland Frog, Madagascar, Mark's frog pond, mass extinction, metamorphosis, nontraditional sex, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD, Paleocene, pit viper, Population Viability Analysis, predators, Ranidae, relocating wetlands, reproduction, reptiles, restoring wetlands, Rick Shine, ringneck snake, Rutherford Pool, salamanders, Science Friday, sentinel species, Skyline high school, smeet, snakes, South America, sperm-stealing, tadpoles, Temnospondyls, the canary in the cole mine, toads, treefrogs, twofold cost of males, unisexual, University of Michigan natural history museum, vernal pool, warts, wetlands, Ypsi immigration interview, zoospores | 27 Comments

Fishing by drone in the Huron River

By Mark | June 18, 2019

I’m tempted to write about Trump’s big white power friendly rally of insanity in Florida tonight, but, instead, I think I’ll just share this footage I shot yesterday evening of someone fishing by drone in the Huron River. Watch, and be amazed. Yesterday, for the first time, I encountered someone fishing by drone in Ypsilanti’s […]

Also posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged 20 Pound Carp, bass, decathlon, deer, deer cull, Donald Trump, drone fishing, drone hunting, drones, fishing, fishing by drone, fishing license, hunting, hunting by drone, hunting by robot, hunting season, Huron River, Jason Tallant, MAGA, Michigan Open Carry, open carry, Orlando, political rally, Riverside Park, robots, slippery slope, The Future, white nationalism | 16 Comments

OK, so they were toads…

By Mark | June 11, 2019

When people ask me why I keep posting here after all of these years, I generally respond by saying that I keep at it because, every once in a while, when I least expect it, something really cool and wonderful happens as a result of something that I’ve shared… like the time someone wrote to […]

Also posted in Michigan, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged amphibians, Arlo, frogs, herpetology, Katy Greenwald, toads | 5 Comments

The tadpoles are now frogs

By Mark | June 9, 2019

About two weeks ago, as you may recall, Arlo and I collected a bunch of tadpoles from a vernal pool in Ypsilanti’s Riverside Park. Well, things seemed to be going pretty well for our amphibian friends up until yesterday… Two days ago, things were awesome. We had about eight tadpoles that had sprouted back legs, […]