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 Items to fit into your overhead compartment |
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Carrion Luggage  Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem. This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it. It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans. It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier." I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination. |
| I wish other people would stop making up deranged portmanteaux. They all suck, except for the ones I come up with. Like this one from Kiplinger: Noctourism: The New Travel Trend For Your Next Trip  It's night owls' time to shine, because some of the best travel experiences happen at night. Also, it's not "new," and it's not a "trend" just because someone's desperately trying to make it one so that they can profit off of it. Curmudgeonly rantings aside, I wholeheartedly support nighttime activities. Typically when you plan a trip, you're packing your day with activities. No, I'm not. I don't want to return from the trip more exhausted than when I left. But what if instead of focusing on the a.m. hours, you centered your vacation around the p.m.? Ugh. It seems that in their hurry to be precious about this "new" "trend" (it's neither), they can't even get the hours of the day right. Night stretches from p.m. to a.m., for instance. Noctourism refers to travel experiences that occur at night — think stargazing or nighttime excursions. Not to minimize the awesomeness of skywatching—anyone who's been following along knows that I absolutely encourage going out and looking at the night sky—but I'm of the firm opinion that nothing good happens before sunset. If I had my way, as a night owl, I'd sleep most of the day and enjoy the benefits of the dark hours. But the hospitality and travel industries are stubbornly stuck on a lark's schedule. Check-in is at 4 pm. Check-out is at 11 am. Breakfast is from 6-9 am only, hours when I prefer to be asleep. It can be downright freeing to plan a vacation with an emphasis on the evening, rather than feel the pressure to get up-and-at-'em each morning. If you're feeling pressure, maybe you should see a doctor. Or get better traveling companions. You're on vacation, for fuck's sake. Relax. Then the article goes into specific post-sunset activities. It's a not-very-well-concealed ad for various travel services. While I tolerate book ads here, I don't like double-promoting other products. The article's there at the link if you're interested; some highdarks (they're not highlights) include the auroras and finding a place with dark skies for stargazing, but also other more Earthbound activities that are, like everything except sunbathing, better at night. I overcame my resistance to posting stealth ads here so I could rant about the name they use for nighttime tourism activities, which makes me gag every time I see it in the article. But like I said, the concept appeals to me. Now, where did I leave that bottle of Type-B? |
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