The Multiverse, the Nook, the Ovenbird and the Oak

Here's a nice article on why theoretical physicists are upset about the idea that their theories prove we live in a multiverse rather than a universe. The short take is that it messes up their dream of explaining our universe's rules as fundamental principles of everything. The kicker is that while our current theories point to a near infinite number of other universes we can never find experimental evidence of their existence or what rules they play by. Personally, I like multiverses. The permutations of our genetic code pretty much guarantee that you are unique in this universe where there are as many stars as there are grains of sand in all the beaches and deserts of the world. In a multiverse there is/was/will be a nearly infinite number of beings with your genetic code. The nature part of ourselves taken care of, the nurture would kick in to randomize our experience-somewhere in the multiverse Catherine Zeta Jones and me are shopping for Christmas presents for the grandkids. Maybe the physicists are just jealous.

I love my Nook Color as I have said a number of times, but recently I have been thinking about divorce. The sexy new Nook tablet is in town, and I considered dumping my dear little Nook for the new hotty. Luckily Barnes and Noble must have been hearing it from other Nook Color owners, and they issued a software update that allows Nook Color owners to play videos with apps from Nexflix and the Smithsonian Channel. I watched a documentary on Pompeii last night and it played flawlessly with good color and sound. Another app called TunedIn turns the Nook Color into a radio that can pick up stations from around the world in case you were looking for any of a  dozen stations in Bosnia. Amazing and I still haven't read a book on the darned thing! The first purchase I ever made with my own money was a shortwave radio-still have it by the way, but now I have that, a TV and a library in a package that weighs less than a loaf of bread.

I've written recently about the great acorn bust this season. Squirrels are getting increasingly desperate to find food. As they search the ground for seeds and insects, they are becoming easy prey for hawks. Reports of unappetizing bits of squirrels found at Sheep Pasture are increasing. Chipmunks store food in their dens for winter and then eat their way through that as they hibernate. The lack of acorns may mean that many of the poor little creatures will starve in their dens. This will have several consequences. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Living Bird magazine, a surprisingly large number of Ovenbird fledglings are eaten by chipmunks so this common but elusive native warbler will benefit from acorn bust. You've probably never seen the little bird, but it's call is often heard-"teacher, teacher, teacher."  Losing chipmunks may also starve out some of the deer ticks that infest our woods. Strangely, a lack of chipmunks may also hurt the trees that provide the acorns. Chipmunks like to eat mushrooms. Certain mushrooms attach themselves to the roots of oak trees and form a symbiotic relationship that provides nutrients to the tree. It turns out that some of these mushrooms have given up producing airborne spores. Instead they depend on chipmunks to store the fungi in their underground dens where some of the spores come in contact with tree roots or even the seeds of the trees. Scientists have known for a long time that chipmunk dens disperse tree seeds like acorns. Only recently have they discovered that the dens also inoculate the sprouts with a helpful fungus. I told you nature was complex.