Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
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Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
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Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
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Wednesday, November 5. 2008

Michael Crichton died today

Dead of cancer at 65. Obit here. An MD, a storyteller, a TV producer, and a scientist, he's been one of our favorite folks. I repost this well-known talk by Crichton on the complexity of nature from 2005 for the benefit of readers who might have missed it. Damn interesting, especially with respect to the effects of human intervention. (The text of his talk, with images, is here.)

Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation at 18:22 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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Great Video. Worth the time.
#1 Rufus on 2007-08-11 17:03 (Reply)
James Taranto once misspelled Crichton's last name in a column. I wrote him of the correction. He replied, "Oops!"

I told him, "Don't worry about it. When Michael refers to you, he calls you 'James Tarantino.'"

My own page on this marvelous author:

http://www.dr-mercury.com/tb/tbchal.htm
#2 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2008-02-24 08:05 (Reply)
Thanks for posting that! Your giving the internet a good name.
#3 lonetown on 2008-02-24 09:30 (Reply)
One of the great minds in my lifetime. And perhaps the most at ease in complex and murky territory. Able to work in many disciplines and forums.

He did seem to be a slow learner about marriage. Or his wives were.
#4 K on 2008-11-05 19:10 (Reply)
"And perhaps the most at ease in complex and murky territory."

What a perfect line. What I liked so much about him beyond being spellbound by his brilliance, is that he wrote and spoke without superfluity, and when you finished one of his books or finished listening to him speak, you felt so smart. You learned something without effort - all pleasure.
`
#5 Meta on 2008-11-05 19:46 (Reply)
He was nearly 7 feet tall.
#6 sean on 2008-11-06 20:41 (Reply)

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