Sep 29 2011

Botanical Wednesday: It’s only September, but I need a vacation

Categories:

Organisms

by PZ Myers

(via National Geographic)

(Also on Sb)

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23 comments

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1

ichthyic

29 September 2011 at 1:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

well, if you were thinking Fiji…

you might want to wait a couple of years.

Currently, there is a massive autocratic dictatorship forming there; many people have been killed, the locals have had their rights severely curtailed; surrounding Pacific nations have either had their ambassadors told to vacate, their embassy charters revoked, or similar.

Highly recommend avoiding it until the current nutter in charge is deposed by his own people.

latest is that the current dictatorhip is also engaged in crushing all unions there too:

http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2011/09/fiji%E2%80%99s-dictatorship-moves-against-trade-unions/?ScoopSrc=scoop_pacific

this crap has been getting worse and worse for several years now.
2

Cuttlefish

29 September 2011 at 1:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Testing.
3

John Morales

29 September 2011 at 1:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Testy.
4

Loqi

29 September 2011 at 2:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

What do you mean you need a vacation? Summer just got over! And everyone knows summer is when professors go on expensive trips, eat government caviar in their taxpayer-funded yachts, and generally rest on their laurels in the lap of luxury. At least, that’s what Wisconsin Republicans tell me. And they’re the party of family values and Jesus and stuff, so they wouldn’t lie to me, right?
5

F

29 September 2011 at 2:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

As busy as you are all the time, you probably do need a vacation. A real one. No school, no books, no blog, no conferences, no cleaning out the inbox. You and Mary go do something. Relax.

Far be it from me to tell you exactly how to do that, but that’s the nub of my gist of the general idea.
6

M Groesbeck

29 September 2011 at 3:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The first photo I see when following the link was taken near Homer, Alaska. (It looks like it was taken facing south across Kachemak Bay, maybe from the end of the Homer Spit.) I wouldn’t recommend it for a vacation in the winter, though — brilliant winters, but it’s a bit hard to appreciate some of the wildlife (plant, animal, or otherwise) under the snow cover that starts to gather sometime around the end of October. In the summer, though, you have all the wonderful natural variety you’d expect for a place at the far northwest extreme of the Pacific Northwest, and all the brilliant oceanic and coastal life that comes with an extreme tidal range. (Oh, and of course, since Homer is in Alaska everything is [i]bigger[/i]. From the fish (hundreds-of-pounds halibut!) to the sea stars (2 feet across!) and crustaceans. Even the garden pests — like moose and bald eagles.)
7

Ron Sullivan

29 September 2011 at 3:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Damn, ichthyic, sorry to see that. Joe and I met a double handful of really cool Fijians a month or two ago; they were part of a fleet of six little bitty voyaging canoes that sailed here via NZ and Hawai’i. We were both quite quite taken with them and their craft.
8

Sam Salerno

29 September 2011 at 3:40 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t blame you bro. But thanks for coming to Cleveland Friday. I’ll see you there.
9

ichthyic

29 September 2011 at 3:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

oe and I met a double handful of really cool Fijians a month or two ago

Fijians ARE cool.

it’s their boss that’s fucked in da head.

the Fiji rugby team has been having a grand time over here in NZ during the World Cup.

…even though Fiji kicked out the NZ ambassador last year.

eventually, we figure they’ll finally tire of this idiot, and there will be a quick and violent bloodbath, then things will go back to normal.

but right now, nobody seems to want to get involved; Fiji is too small for the UN to be interested.
10

David

29 September 2011 at 5:28 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Dear Sir,

no convoluted attempts at smarty-pansededness.

You are cordially invited to spend some time in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Between April and October is the best period weather-wise. I’d say you have about three weeks left before it deteriorates.

I guarantee you many pleasures visually, locationally and in the fields of food and beverage.
11

Rorschach

29 September 2011 at 6:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Between April and October is the best period weather-wise.

Also, during that time you’re less likely to get killed by jellyfish. Of course the sharks can still get you.
12

David

29 September 2011 at 6:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Nah mate, bugger all sharks around here. It’s the crocs in the inland waterways you have to watch out for. Oh, and the ones that emerge from drains on the main roads.

Stingers don’t normally kill and every beach has a netted swimming zone and lifeguards on duty.
13

ichthyic

29 September 2011 at 7:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

and sharks can get ya anywhere…

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10749851
14

JohnnieCanuck

29 September 2011 at 7:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

We went to Fiji last Christmas for a couple of weeks. Spent most of our time on the Coral Coast with trips to Nadi and Suva. Can’t say there was any outward sign of unpleasantness to be seen anywhere.

Their politics has been difficult the last few decades with various coups and stuff. The tension is between the native Fijians who control much of the land and the Indo-Fijians who run most of the businesses.
15

ichthyic

29 September 2011 at 7:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Can’t say there was any outward sign of unpleasantness to be seen anywhere.

yeah, they try to keep it hidden, but people are FUCKING DYING there.
16

ichthyic

29 September 2011 at 8:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/fiji/8759123/Mystery-over-spate-of-tourist-deaths-on-military-controlled-Fiji.html

but, of course, your ability to lounge on the beach there and give them money is well protected….
17

Phillip Helbig

29 September 2011 at 9:25 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This post has an ad for a trip to the Holy Land to renew one’s faith.
18

Aliasalpha

29 September 2011 at 11:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Very liberal tropical paradise, even the trees are left leaning…
19

Dick the Damned

29 September 2011 at 1:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Talking of vacations, i’m typing this as i’m waiting for my wife to finish getting ready so that we can head for the airport to leave Nova Scotia. It might not be tropical, but the people are so NICE it makes up for it. Oh yeah, & beautiful scenery too.
20

Brownian

29 September 2011 at 3:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PZ, come back to Edmonton. It’s practically a tropical paradise this time of year!

(I mean it is compared to Edmonton in January/February, the last time you were here.)
21

Richard Austin

29 September 2011 at 4:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My last vacation was Maui (here’s a time-lapse sunset if you want to chill a bit), and my next will be a trip to a cabin in Guerneville, CA, for NYE: wet, gloomy, cold, perfect for relaxing by a fireplace or in a hot tub.

Sad news about Fiji. I still want to go on a South Pacific cruise some day, but I might have to wait a bit.
22

Robert

29 September 2011 at 5:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I could sure use a vacation to.
23

Die Anyway

29 September 2011 at 5:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Vacationing there or not… I’m impressed by the ability of palm trees of that height to lean out at about 40 degrees and not snap off.