Five Acres with a View

On April 15, Expelled will have their complete response to the film which claims that educators and scientists are being persecuted for their belief that there is evidence of design in nature. (via my favorite science blog, Pharyngula.)

I rode Lily yesterday for the first time since the start of winter. When I went to call her out of the mare field, she craned her head and looked at me quizzically, instead of galloping down the hill with a sliding stop inches away from the gate. The sliding stop is impressive, but scary, since I am always afraid she will misjudge the distance. She walked down to meet me when I went out to catch her, so I decided she was just feeling exceptionally mellow.

I tacked her up with her western saddle, and then decided to ride her without longing her first. Why wake her up when she was in such a relaxed mood? Besides, watching Lily on the longe line has been intimidating me. She is no worse than Hap at that age, but I was a lot younger then, and in theory at least, bounced better.

We didn’t do much: a friend was working her young Arab/Percheron cross, and I wanted to stay our of her way. However, I was once again amazed at Lily’s sensitivity. I joke with my trainer that Lily’s philosophy is “we don’t need no stinkin’ aids.” She wants a very light, very consistent feel on the reins, and a very light, very consistent leg. Turning and transitions should all be done with minute shifts of the rider’s weight. I think she plans on teaching her riders to communicate with telepathy next.

For those who didn’t understand my Friday post Spring, Pleez? I used the fractured syntax from Lolcat graphics occasionally found on the Internet in my photo. The Wikipedia article on Lolcats has a history of the genre. The I Can Has Cheezburger? site has examples.

I’ve never quite understood why LOL cats use such fractured syntax. I’ve always felt that if cats would deign to speak to us lowly human beings they would use the snooty accents once common to BBC announcers, with impeccable grammar.

Taken on April 11, 2008. Edited with Picnic.

The Straight Dope: Are electric cars really more energy efficient? Do “green” vehicles have a worse impact on the environment than a Hummer?

I’ve made a change to ljxp to work with Wordpress 2.5 according to these instructions.

I am not sure why I am astonished to discover that there is a web log devote to building with Legs called The Brothers Brick - LEGO Blog.

April 04, 2008 - Click on image for higher resolution version.

April 04, 2008 - Click on image for higher resolution version.

We have a lot of deer here along the front range: some are so tame it is scary. The higher resolution shows you the expression of the driver, which is priceless.

In the default install of Firefox, new tab open at the end of the list of tabs.  The Tabs Open Relative :: Add-ons changes this behavior, so that the new tab opens after the current one.  I strongly prefer this behavior, and really miss it when I use a version of Firefox without it.