Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

Beautiful all times of year, but especially in spring, with the flowers blooming and the oaks leafing out. Photos in order: the elegant Pacific trillium (T. ovatum); the very spiny fuchsiaflower gooseberry (Ribes speciosum); the fetching red vetchling (Lathyrus cicera). And lastly, dog-vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica): Visually speaking it is aptly named, but olfactorily speaking it is actually neutral to pleasant in odor; it is known as caca de luna (moon poop!) in parts of Mexico, where some folks eat it. I have not tried it... yet...

William E. Connolly, RIP

Bill Connolly's political theory course at UMass was my very favorite class of all time. I was reminded of him with the recent news of Jürgen Habermas's death, and was saddened to learn of Connolly's own passing less than a month ago. Connolly was deeply influenced by Habermas, but he was his own thinker. Over the years my own intellectual trajectory moved away from abstract political philosophy into empirical economics, with all its reductionism and reification. Connolly would not have approved, but I am certain he left a mark on my politics and thought. 

He was an old-school professor, ad-lib lecturing with his take on the intricate arguments of Rousseau, Hegel, Althusser. Perhaps I was actually as lost as many of my fellow students said they were, but it felt like I was being let in on something profound, that ideas matter, and that with enough attention and concentration, I could participate in the discourse. Connolly lived long enough to witness the triumph of cruelty, selfishness, and irrationality over the pluralism and humanism that defined his worldview. If we overcome those trends, it is sad to think that he will not be here to witness. 

Another short appreciation can be found here.

The world's deadliest animals, part 2

Well, deadly if you are a checkerspot butterfly, anyway. There are birds and various other critters that will be eager to gobble you up, including crab spiders. Something about this webby dried up weed must have attracted the attention of the checkerspot... its last mistake, alas.

The world's deadliest animals...

... according to Our World in Data. Mosquitoes come in first, and humans second. Snakes are a distant third, followed by dogs. All of that is plausible to me. These guys do good work, and I trust their research, but I was surprised that neither fleas nor the rodents that carry them made the list. Surely the plague, tamed though it may be, still carries off more humans than the sharks that account for only six fatalities per year. And ticks? Nada? 

(Image: Wikipedia)