The Nature of Things

This is the second book in Adrian McKinty's trilogy featuring Belfast bad boy Michael Forsythe. In the first book, Michael almost single-handedly destroyed an Irish mob group, after which he had a price on his head and was forced to go into witness protection. In this book, we find him living with his new identity and on vacation in the Canary Islands. Unfortunately, he manages to get in the middle of a riot between football hooligans, even though he wasn't really involved, and he is arrested by Spanish police. Thrown into jail, he could be facing several years in a Spanish prison, or, even more worrying, he could be extradited back to Mexico to face charges there. He had escaped from a prison there in the first book. Facing these unpalatable possibilities, Michael is visited in prison by a couple of representatives from British Intelligence, MI6. The MI6 leader, a woman named Samantha, offers him a way out. He can work undercover for them and infiltrate a rogue IRA sect in the...

Here is a poem that was written to commemorate the signing of the Armistice after World War I. It's a day late but still apropos, I think. I am particularly struck by verse V: So, when old hopes that earth was bettering slowly Were dead and damned, there sounded 'War is done!' One morrow. Said the bereft, and meek, and lowly, 'Will men some day be given to grace? yea, wholly, And in good sooth, as our dreams used to run?' "Will men some day be given to grace?" We can only hope.  And There Was a Great Calm by Thomas Hardy (On the Signing of the Armistice, 11 Nov. 1918)                                          I There had been years of Passion—scorching, cold, And much Despair, and Anger heaving high, Care whitely watching, Sorrows manifold, Among the young, among the weak and old, And the pensive Spirit of Pity whispered, “Why?”               ...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Another winter bird has been heard from. The Eastern Phoebes are back. *~*~*~* Syria announced during United Nations climate talks on Tuesday that it would sign the Paris agreement on climate change. The move, which comes on the heels of  Nicaragua signing the accord  last month, will leave the United States as the only country in the world that has rejected the global pact. *~*~*~* The Republican majority in the Congress has been accused of deliberately obstructing research on global warming after it emerged that a critically important technique for investigating sea-ice cover at the poles has been blocked by them. A key polar satellite broke down a few days ago, leaving none to replace it because last year Congress ordered a backup sea-ice probe dismantled because they did not want to provide funds to store it.  Scientists say there is no chance a new one can now be launched until 2023 or later. None of the ...

The previous books in this series have all featured Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard after he returned from serving in the trenches of World War I. He returned shell-shocked and haunted by the spirit of Hamish MacLeod, a young Highlander under his command whom he had condemned to be shot for insubordination and failure to follow an order on the battlefield. He has struggled mightily with his demons in all of those books. A Fine Summer's Day , however, is a prequel to all those events. The time is the summer of 1914. Inspector Ian Rutledge is dedicated to his career as a policeman; he feels a calling to serve in that way.  His personal life, although not without challenges, is going well. He is in love with Jean Gordon, daughter of Major George Gordon and, on one fine summer's day, he asks her to marry him. The answer is "yes" and Jean and her mother start planning for a Christmastime wedding. Meanwhile, in the North, a young Scotsman named Hamish MacLeod has al...

Skippers are a family of butterflies named for their fast, erratic, darting flights. Most of them are small to medium-sized insects with stout, hairy bodies, and relatively small wings. The ones that frequent our temperate zones are mostly drab in appearance and easily overlooked, although in the more tropical zones, some skippers are quite flamboyant in appearance. Because of their small size, drab appearance, and erratic flights, they can be difficult to identify. That is, unless they have some outstanding characteristic that can not be overlooked. Meet the Long-tailed Skipper.     This butterfly is small, with a wingspan of no more than 1 1/2 to 2 inches, and it is quite drab when seen from the side, but if you can manage to get a dorsal view of the body and wing bases you will see a wonderful almost iridescent green.  But, of course, it is the eponymous long hindwing tails that make it instantly recognizable. 

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens  SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX—In the hours following a violent rampage in Texas in which a lone attacker killed 27 individuals and seriously injured several others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Sunday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place. “This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said Kansas resident Britt Mulvanos, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this individual from snapping and killing a lot of people if ...

Can it really be November already?  Apparently it can, but where did October go? For that matter, where did the last ten months go? November. Except for the "fool's gold" of falling leaves, you couldn't prove it by me; it's still mid 80s every day here.  The November that poet Maggie Dietz describes is that of a more northern clime. Our ideal November. November by Maggie Dietz Show's over, folks. And didn't October do A bang-up job? Crisp breezes, full-throated cries Of migrating geese, low-floating coral moon. Nothing left but fool's gold in the trees. Did I love it enough, the full-throttle foliage, While it lasted? Was I dazzled? The bees Have up and quit their last-ditch flights of forage And gone to shiver in their winter clusters. Field mice hit the barns, big squirrels gorge On busted chestnuts. A sky like hardened plaster Hovers. The pasty river, its next of kin, Coughs up reed grass fat as feather dusters. Even the swarms of kids have given in...