The Beast Gets His Bite Back

I was at my Rotary Club meeting last week and our speaker was Dr. Don Goodman, the director of Gainesville's Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. Several years ago he lost his right arm to MoJo, a massive American alligator that made its home there. As is the practice when an alligator attacks a human, MoJo was killed, not only as a protective measure but also to see if Dr. Goodman's arm was salvageable. Unfortunately it was not.

Now that several years have passed Dr. Goodman has come to the conclusion that MoJo's behavior is part of a trend that began when animals like the alligator fell under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Alligators had learned to fear humans because an encounter with a human meant a very real chance of death. After years of protection, alligators don't really have to fear humans for their survival. They know most of us are unarmed and more aggressive behavior seems one likely by-product of that, even as endangered status no longer applies.

A few days later I saw this post at Instapundit. Glen Reynolds highlighted some cases of coyotes acting more aggressive in L.A. suburbs and elsewhere. This seems to be supportive anecdotal evidence of what I learned last week.

Just something interesting to think about.

Don't Taze me Bro!

This happened right here in my hometown, Gainesville, FL. I think it is pretty darn funny.

During a town hall meeting with John Kerry an idiot student was tazed by police. I'm not sure that he deserved to be tazed. I am sure that he is an idiot, and that if he had calmly walked away he would have been fine. Here is some video of the incident:



For additional information here is more from The Gainesville Sun. I thought that John Kerry's statement on the incident was quite appropriate.

Some people have reacted to the incident by saying that this is evidence that we live in a police state. Those people fail to understand that the reaction of the UPD, the University, and the State Attorney's office are just what I would hope for under the circumstances.

The Big 2

Joseph turned 2 years old today. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed since he was born. His start was a tricky one, but as you can see he is doing great

Here he is with his namesake and Grandpa.

Looking handsome on his birthday.

The whole family on the beach.

We had a nice birthday party last Saturday with my parents and Ross, Lillie, & Sophia who were visiting us from California. They have some pictures of their visit on Lillie's blog.

Beards & Shoes

I'm back in Gainesville for the week. There are a few things I want to blog about but may not have much time. Thus, I blog about two fun but trivial things.

While at the beach I grew a beard. I still have it right now.


I bought these Nike Shox through Nike ID.



Nothing like running with the Lowdogg.

Vacation

I thought I'd post some pics from our vacation There's nothing like a sunset on the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is a photo of the family on a balmy 4th of July.

I don't remember having much interest in sand castles as a child, but I sure enjoy building them now. This is one I worked on the other day. I went for one with a gatehouse like Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

Millie is getting bigger and stronger all the time. She's a little beauty.

Here is Joseph with his uncle Chris, having a great time.

An image of the 4th of July fireworks from the view of our building.

All in all, not a bad place to be.

Good Times

I didn't blog much last week owing to the visit of our great friends Matt & Amber Nielsen. We had a great time with them.

Justin & I are not at all glad to see Matt.

They have a cute little boy named Carter, seen here getting cozy with Millie. Watch those hands boy!

We spent some time at the Springs. Joseph was having the time of his life.

We also took a little "mancation" to Universal Studios.

It was hot, but we had a good time, and although you can just barely see it in this photo, Justin managed to get some gum to travel from his tongue to the top of this dead-drop ride at Islands of Adventure.

Justin, Matt, and Jon made another go at the "Gallon Challenge." Perhaps there will be video to come.

We were sad to see them go but grateful for the time we had together. Almost felt like old times at BYU, except for the whole thing about being married and the kids, but that's a small thing, right? (Fall 2001 with Tom Proctor).