I found a website called Kids-In-Mind.com that gives very precise details of movie points that might trigger your kids. I recognize that some people would protest about spoilers or bubble-wrapping your children, but wait to you have a kid with a very specific phobia and a movie/tv program completely EATS YOUR LIFE…

No, no. The local hobo is the FIRST person everyone suspected, until he turned up dead!

The final scene can be the surviving kids crowding around a green-screened computer in the basement of the first family in town to get a dial-up modem.

i used to do a lot of field work in the forest, and one of the most disconcerting things was finding traces of other people out there. I could spot the traces, but lacked the Aragorn-the-Ranger-like ability to figure out how fresh they were, so I never knew if someone was still nearby. It used to make me feel very…

For dainties are all Kates!

I think they did some of that work on the University of Washington campus.

And they will flash you with their fearsome neck feathers!

I wrecked on my bike trying not to hit a roadkill raccoon. Brought low by a DEAD animal. But then, I've wrecked for even stupider reasons, including no discernible reason whatsoever, so maybe I just suck.

Aw! Brewers blackbirds was my second guess! An ornithologist friend told me that when Brewers Blackbirds are ready to mate, the female parades around with her tail up at a 45 degree angle, which the males find highly arousing. He and his buddies would stick a pencil in the ground at 45 degrees and watched a bunch…

Swans are the femme fatales of the animal kingdom: they look like angels, but will probably end up murdering you without remorse.

I just watched a Nova on owls and they were talking about the surprising force an attacking owl creates on impact. Was your friend wearing a rabbit-shaped hat by any chance?

I am! Unless there are two of us… doubtful. Fungus are my emotional favorites, but I can and do nerd out over wildflowers, trees, birds, and rocks/minerals. I don't know why I hang out here, instead of the Natural History Club website, but I always have.

The trick with the cable car is to catch it BACK from Fisherman's Wharf. No one seems to ride it in that direction.

The hoity-toity tower is where the snobbiest of the tech-bros assemble.

I thought you guys named the Grey Jay as your national bird. I love the devious and brainy grey jay! There was a pair that showed up every day at 11:30 to eye us while we ate lunch while we worked all summer in the mountains.

As are most migratory birds, Canada geese are protected from random killin', even when they are SO asking for it.

Boy, he sure showed you! I'm not sure WHAT he showed you, but man, were you shown something.

That one on the sign looked a little like a brown-headed cowbird, though I didn't bother looking too hard. If so, then, indeed a dick. I was expecting it to be a starling, since they are the classic "supermarket parking lot" bird.

The Cliff House is nice.

Second on the Maritime Historical Park. You can wander all over the historic boats, and since she's older, she may have the awesome Golden Eagle Pass for National Parks, meaning you'll get in for free.
I'm partial to the Japanese Tea Garden, Botanic Gardens, and Conservatory (and surrounding areas) in Golden Gate Park.
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