Titan Sphinx, an insect worthy of its name

With a hovering deliberate flight, this moth from the Sphingidae family is often misidentified as a hummingbird. Talk about convergent evolution, the Sphinx Titan (Aellopus titan) is also known as the white-banded day sphinx and the white band immediately reminds me of Lophornis hummingbirds, the coquettes.

I wonder what that's all about?

More about this very amazing insect here:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Aellopos-titan

Birdsong Radio

I got a link from a friend today to Birdsong Radio that plays dawn chorus on your computer or mobile device. Here's a player to try it out:

This is also available on iTunes through: Radio stations tab and Ambient.

How many songs can you identify?

You'll need experience with British birds to identify these. OK, I can at least identify the cuckoo and Ring-necked Pheasant.

Can I get a little help here?








Lagniappe: spread the word

Lagniappe is about as Cajun french as dos gris (Lesser Scaup) in the camp gumbo pot right? Well sure it is... in the sense that Cajun french borrowed from many languages in the gumbo of cultures found in south Louisiana. What you may not know is that lagniappe was first picked up by the Spaniards in the high Andes of South America where the Quechua phrase to give or increase a little for good measure was a yapa. If you were negotiating in a market for a kilogram of papas in Peru, you might overhear the vendor say a yapa as they add a little more after the potatoes were weighed.

Here's the wikipedia entry for lagniappe. So the phrase made it to Louisiana with the Spaniards and has persisted in Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas.

Lagniappe is one of my favorite words and I'm on a mission to spread its use. A little something extra for good measure is a philosophy we could all use a little more of no?

Google's 411 Phone Service

This is pretty cool. Google has created a free service accessible from any phone. All you have to do is dial the number, tell them the city and state of interest and then the information you want.

Let's give it a try...

(dialing) ... 1.800 GOOG 411...

The voice asks for a business or listing and city and state. I say "Baton Rouge, LA", " Museum of Natural Science" . Then there is a hilarious data searching filler noise which sounds pretty good for Marsh Wren. It gives me the top result and asks to connect if correct. A total of about 30 seconds has passed and I'm connected to the Museum. I got the machine; I guess it's still a holiday.


Here's a nice demo from the Google posse:

Deezer Smartradio

Internet radio stations aren't new, I have my favorite iTunes radio stations that I frequent. Lately though, I find myself going to this website and setting up smartradio stations. If you aren't familiar with this, you might want to give it a shake. Let's say you are an Iron and Wine fan and want to find more music in the genre. It's plug and chug! You simply provide the artist name and then start the station. I chose a combo of Iron and Wine and Calexico. I didn't even know they had a collaboration.

Maybe you want to explore another era:

Sometimes Deezer will have all the music from a particular album and you can play the whole thing leaving you with this feeling that you've gotten away with something. As far as I can tell it's all legit' with advertisements and links to purchase music as the revenue stream.

Enjoy.