Self-Righteousness Fail: We Bought a Car

...the reasons that led us to start burning dinosaur juice once again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U2mvoh8j4M Only a nobody walks in LA First let me dispel the myth that you have to have a car in Los Angeles. At least once a year some out of town journalist blows into LA to repeat the usual tired stereotypes about the place, about the celebrities, shallow intellectual culture and always, the notion that nobody walks or bikes in LA. This is becaus...

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Hornworm meets alien!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sjXf_kCZp50 So much better than that pointless Prometheus movie, is this glimpse into the kind of parasitism Hollywood just can’t match. In this Purdue Extension Entomology Service produced video, you’ll see a hornworm devour a tomato and then fall prey–Alien-style–to a species of parasitic wasp (Cotesia congregata). Not only do these parasitic wasps devour their host but in order to overcom...

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Video Sundays: Doberman Outsmarted by Chicken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8qypvHhpL0 Via Doug Harvey, a video that brings back memories. Except that our late Doberman was deathly afraid of chickens, for some reason. Addition from Mrs. Homestead: I wouldn’t characterize our dog as having been deathly afraid of chickens. Rather, I’d say he let the chickens push him around–very much like this video. Once I found him trapped, unable to get to the house because the mean chickens were blockin...

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Starting a Sourdough Starter Talk at Artisinal LA

...I’ll be doing a short talk at Artisinal LA this Sunday October 13th at 4pm on how to start a sourdough starter. Artisinal LA (yep, the “A” word) is a showcase of local small food vendors. In case you’re not in LA this is what I’ll be demonstrating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bGLF8B_pZ0 Mark Stambler, who co-founded the LA Bread Bakers with me and Teresa Sitz, will also be doing a talk on baking bread at 4pm on Saturday....

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