This week's Sunday Puzzle Blogging (going up at some point Sunday morning, 7/27, depending on when I wake up) is the longest puzzle blogging feature I've ever done.  There are, at this point, eight puzzles on the way.  By way of promoting the puzzle blogging, I'm doing a mid-week special preview of this week's Sudoku puzzle:

Fill in the rest of this grid using only nine letters so that there are no repeats in any row, column or outlined 9x9 box.  The colors are irrelevant and used only for visual clarity.

Lots more on Sunday.  Enjoy, and be sure to check out the puzzle diaries posted so far, and feel free to consider this an open thread.

Some backstory, for those of you not in Vermont: Brooke Bennett is a young girl in Vermont who disappeared a short while ago.  During the search for her, it was discovered that she'd had some cyber contact with a major creep.  For more details on that horrible story, a simple google search will yield you all sorts of stuff to fill in the gaps.

But this story isn't about Brooke Bennett.  It's about a tiny (literally: she's 4' 10") librarian who stood up to the Vermont state police when they tried to intimidate her into handing over the computers without the requisite warrant.

The story, after the jump.

You have got to be kidding me.

I just got wind of a report from noted birder Ken Kaufman about how John Bohner will lead a delegation of members of Congress to investigate ANWR:

Birders who hear about this trip are likely to respond with envy when we think about all the amazing species that the lawmakers will see, the abundance of nesting sandpipers, plovers, phalaropes, jaegers, Arctic Terns, Snowy Owls, Long-tailed Ducks, Steller's Eiders, Spectacled Eiders, and so many other beautiful birds.  We might quibble about the timing of the trip -- after all, many of the Arctic-breeding shorebirds have already started to migrate south, with Pectoral Sandpipers and others already appearing in my area of Ohio on their way to South America.  But still, most of us would jump at the chance to go along.  I've been to the North Slope about a dozen times as a leader of birding tours, and it was always an amazing experience.

Can we, however, expect that to happen?  

Not a chance.  More, below the jump.

I do not yet know how I will meet my demise.  I have my theories, and I have my hopes.  My theories involve diabetes, stoke or an accident caused by a combination involving highway driving, a seizure, and cruise control.  My hopes involve sky-diving or an incredible jam session, either one at 90 years of age.  

But that's not important right now.  What's important right now is that if you have anything to say about me once I am dead and gone, make it be something that is true.  It can be good or bad (or, knowing me, both).  It can be funny, sad or (again) both.  

Once again, I'm back to host our regular Sunday puzzle blogging series.  

For those of you participating, please remember the simple rules: don't post answers in subject lines.  Instead, post subjects such as "ACROSTIC 1,2,3" with the answers or suggestions included inside the subject.

I don't have much to say this week.  It's my first official week of being generally unemployed (not a surprise: I've known this was coming since mid-May) which is kind of surreal (not bad or good: just surreal).  This means more time to write puzzles, but also more time to figure out how I'm going to find a new source if income, so, good and bad :)

Puzzle #1 is an easy one, as shown in this photo:

I go through these days when I just can't think of anything particularly meaningful to post that hasn't been said already.  I'm into all the political stuff that's going on, and I'm reading, but my brain just can't think of anything relevant to add.  Sometimes, on days like this, I do photo diaries, usually of birds or of light drawings.

Today, I thought, maybe I should do something about butterflies.

I've just read two diaries up on the rec list right now that just, to me, seem absurd.

First, Angry Mouse extols Kos to do something to put an end to nasty comments about Russert:

These kinds of comments do not reflect the majority of Kossacks.  They are, instead, the crazed and ego-driven rantings of a few people who apparently derive sick satisfaction from the suffering, pain, and tragedy of others.  

While most Kossacks have been vigilant in hiding and condemning such comments, greater action seems appropriate at this point.  

It is time for Kos to put a stop to these people.  It is a poor reflection of this website; it is a poor reflection of this community; and it is a poor reflection of Kos.

In another diary, we've got Melody Townsel telling everyone to "Grow. The. F***. Up," which isn't as much of a problem for me, but I kind of feel like having two diaries up which complain about the behavior of Kossaks in the Russert threads is overkill.

I know I haven't been posting many puzzles lately; summer makes for different kind of brain space.  I have, however, found the time this week to come up with a new acrostic, along with a couple others.  

As usual, remember the simple rules: don't post answers in subject lines.  Instead, post subjects such as "*ACROSTIC 1,2,3*" with the answers or suggestions included inside the subject.

PUZZLE #1 is a simple trivia question, and I don't know the answer to it:

What kind of crab is this?  I spotted it in Wellfleet, MA, and don't know anything about crabs at all.  This may be incredibly easy or not so much so, but I think it's probably an easy one.

Below, I'll include the directions for the acrostics, as well as the other puzzles.

Note: the photos shown here are all clickable, and will bring you to larger versions

I wrote this in November of 2007.  It seems that given the way things are going, it's even more relevant now than it was then.  There's a lot I can add to the mix here: gas prices; the state budget cuts which are terminating my employment at the end of the month.  But really, it stands on its own and though the details may have changed a little, they're still the same basic idea.

Okay.

So.

Poverty.

Let me start by saying that, for a lot of people, it's going to get worse.

I don't mean it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I don't mean it's going to get worse unless we elect a Democratic president.

I mean it's going to get worse.

I'm not making a prediction here.

I'm just going with the odds.

What does this mean?

It's simple.

I've seen comments here and there about how so much of the party favors Clinton for the VP slot.  Some have even suggested that this is the first real test of Obama's leadership, such as illustrated here:

Early on in the debates, it was obvious that people wanted the Dream Ticket and that the two of them had a real chemistry.

Face it-- the Democratic Party is and always has been a house divided. Obama has a chance to show some real leadership here by bringing the party together.

I've seen similar arguments throughout the blogosphere and I think they're misguided.

crossposted to Birding New England

Located on Plum Island, MA, Parker River Wildlife Refuge is, by far, one of my favorite places to bird.  It's not just that there's a huge variety of birds, but that it's very uncommon to find nothing of interest during a visit and so many of the regulars who bird there are willing to share their information readily with other birders.

Take, for example, this american woodcock on her nest:



After the fold I'll be presenting a photojournal of various birds I've seen at Parker River, along with some of my favorite experiences there.

Please note: almost every photograph here is a clickable link to larger versions of the same photo, with details that often include type of camera, type of lens, settings, etc.

This isn't a confession.  I'm not ashamed of my choice and I'm not going to apologize for it.  But things have changed, and they've changed in ways that I don't know that I can fully articulate, though I think most of us know.  If I'd lived in a swing state, I probably would have voted for Gore, but in Vermont I had the luxury of making a protest vote.   The electoral college map wasn't going to change. Vermont was going to go for Gore no matter what I did.  If I'd lived in Florida, Ohio, New Mexico or New Hampshire, I would have voted for Gore.  I didn't have to make that choice.

After the fold, I'll talk a bit about the decision processes that go into this and why they're relevant to 2008.  For those of you in Vermont, the first few paragraphs will be familiar to you.  For those of you who don't, you'll learn some very strange things about the way we choose a governor.

Note: every photo on this page is a clickable link to a larger version of the photo

This week, we took a few days to do some birding in Maine, staying in Wells and visiting a few nearby areas.  Some of our best looks were at Warblers, like this Chestnut-sided warbler, but we also had great looks at some other birds, including two new life birds.  

After the fold, I'll include a trip report with lots of photo links.

I'm an Obama supporter (migrated from Edwards), but I can't help but have some real respect for Clinton in this race.  She's a fierce and powerful opponent and though she's by no means someone I wanted to be President, I understand why a lot of people were supporting her campaign and I have real respect for the intensity with which she ran her campaign, even if I didn't agree with the ethics of all her choices.

Indeed, Democrats can learn a lot from her willingness to fight, fight, fight and fight, without fear of the consequences.

I'd very much hoped, though, that Clinton would exit this race with some shred of dignity about her, some way to show that her supporters that their time and effort wasn't wasted, and something that gave them all a sense of closure.

That opportunity is now gone.

Clinic defense: it's getting up very early on Friday and Saturday mornings and driving to a clinic which performs abortions in order to help the women who are coming to them from medical care get into the clinic without having to deal with the harassment of anti-abortion protesters.

It's challenging work.  It requires you learn to focus on the clients and not react personally to anything the protesters say to you (gay-baiting, race-baiting, threats on your person, etc.).  

When you do clinic defense, you don't even refer to one another by name where it can be overheard because if they have your name, they make the attacks much more personal.

It was difficult work, but it was well worth it.  It taught me a lot about myself, about responding to personal attacks, and it taught me a bit about courage, too.

Chris Bowers reports that the new GOP slogan "The Change You Deserve" is a lot worse for them than you think it is:

Third, it was particularly brilliant to unveil a campaign slogan that is already copyrighted as an advertisement for an anti-depressant.

I don't feel a need to dwell on this.  It sort of speaks for itself on the pure irony level, plus it was discussed in a  front page diary yesterday.

Instead, let's focus on the other possible slogans the GOP could have picked.  ASD has a list of registered slogans that provide all sorts of alternate possibilities:

I like EMLA's "numbs the pain," because it accurately reflects the short-term effect of us all getting drunk and crying into our drinks should McCain win in November.

Back when I was supporting Edwards, one of my major concerns with Obama was in his support for "clean coal."  I wrote about it at the time, over at Green Mountain Daily.  Here's what I wrote:

There's a great diary over at MyDD which outlines some serious problems with an energy bill which is cosponsored by Obama.  The first is a bill to support liquid coal.  From the diary:

We don't know how to sequester mass quantities of carbon dioxide created during coal liquefaction yet. Even once we figure that process out--a solution that will no doubt reduce the net energy output of the coal to fuel process itself--we've still got a dirty fuel that increases greenhouse emissions compared to petroleum.

There's also a draft bill up for discussion that includes a provision which will screw us, as Vermonters, over, along with a lot of other states. 

If you study behavioral psychology, you'll learn about a concept called "the extinction burst."  

The specific example I use when I teach is this:

You've got a child who is throwing tantrums.  In the past, the tantrums have gotten the child attention, which is exactly what the child wants.  Therefore, you have been providing positive reinforcement to that child's behavior.  It's "positive" because you're adding something (attention), not because it's good.  It's "reinforcement" because it increases the behavior.

The much more effective approach to reducing tantrums is negative punishment.  "Negative" because you're removing something and "punishment" because it reduces the behavior.  When we talk about "punishment" in behavioral psychology we don't necessarily mean anything specific; it's just any act in a behavioral context which reduces the frequency of a given behavior.

But here's why many parents don't use negative punishment: the extinction burst.