Utah Trivia.

Well, in those days Mars was a dreary, uninhabitable wasteland, much like Utah. But unlike Utah, Mars was eventually made liveable when the university was founded in 2636.

I have a love/hate relationship with my state.

It's true.  There are things about Utah that I absolutely love and there are things that make me wish I could live on Mars, far far away from the crappola that happens in our little/not so little state.  The good things include some ridiculously good hospitals and research institutes, a thriving geek/art/music community.  A lot of very kind neighbors/ random folks.  The bad things are people who put their ideals of their religion ahead of the actual teaching of said religion, a general intolerance in some circles of "different" individuals.  Etc.  Every state has their problems but outside of New Jersey few have as many jokes made about them.

Presented here are some facts of my home state that are cool or frustrating... or both.

1.Utah's 65% or so comprised of Federal land.  IE we have a lot of really big national parks, forests, monuments and military facilities.  Quite simply you can get lost and die in a million acre forest just two hours outside of our major metropolitan areas.

2. We are home to Pando, The Trembling Giant. Quite possibly the largest organism (due to weight) on the planet.  It is a bloody great tree y'all.

3. Several land speed records were set at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  An area that is exactly what the name describes.  An absolutely massive bed of salt that in the summer is hard packed and really good for going very fast upon.  I've been out there after a great spring storm and the water stretched for miles all around, perfectly still and flat.  Wonderful.

I won't take up the time to grump about the things that upset me.  That only gives them power.  This weekend I am going to the Payson Scottish Festival and I am going to have a fine time. 

What a delightful new species.... NOMNOMNOM.

We are animals.

No matter what trapping we give ourselves, no matter how many gold baubles or techie gadgets or surgeries we perform.  No matter how fast we go, how high, no matter what we do, we are animals.  And sometimes it is delightful.

I mean that in the same sort of way as if you were watching a dog, growl at the TV because the doorbell rang on a show or how you laugh as a cat chases a laser pointer.  Its cute because it is kind of something the animal can't control.  It is just... part of them.  We are animals.  Moreover we are animals driven by our love of food.  People go gaga over vittles of all sorts.  It's fun to see because we all like to eat and given the chance there are a lot of us that would try just about anything put in front of us provided it was edible.

From Wikipedia:

US Navy captain David Porter declared that, "after once tasting the Galapagos tortoises, every other animal food fell off greatly in our estimation ... The meat of this animal is the easiest of digestion, and a quantity of it, exceeding that of any other food, can be eaten without experiencing the slightest of inconvenience."

This is not an uncommon thing.  It seems like history is littered with "oh, such a magnificent creature.  Who's hungry? *nomnomnom*"  In the past few years I've read about how new and exciting species of animals are found... in the meat markets.

From the WWF:

WWF released the report on World Environment Day, highlighting creatures both bizarre and beautiful. Among the 15 species highlighted is a new species of flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus laoensis), discovered based on a single animal collected from a bush meat market in Laos. With its distinctive red and white fur, the Laotian giant flying squirrel is also the first record of the genus from Southeast Asia. 

We love to eat and God help anything that gets in our way.
We are Galactus....