Commonplace


Blue skies and green leaves


Biopiracy

Henry Wickham was an “explorer” and braggart who, in 1876, smuggled rubber seeds out of Brazil to Kew Gardens in England, who in turn used them to grow rubber in Asia, collapsing the Brazilian economy: “The greatest act of biopiracy...maybe in history.”


Agnotology

agnotology (n) - the study of deliberate, culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, typically to sell a product or win favor, particularly through the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data.


Bird Drama


We Have to Laugh

We have to begin to laugh at everything, to the point of chaos if necessary, and create an environment in which the sanctimonious become worried, for a large part of their ills and ours come from their limitations

Sergio Pitol, paraphrasing a conversation with Carlos Monsiváis, in "The Art of Flight"