Fowl Play: Bird Witches, Poisonous Parrots, and 30 Miles of Crap

Disney: America's Most Whimsical Polluter

Thalia and Eva interrogate the one aspect of Disney World that no one else could be bothered to look into: Their air permit. gascast@grimmtidings.us [gascast@grimmtidings.us] https://pmmusic.pro/ [https://pmmusic.pro/] https://www.openmusicarchive.org/ [https://www.openmusicarchive.org/] Additional notes: * Hello, Thalia here. There was one tiny little lie I forgot to correct myself on. In addition to the emergency generators, most coasters with magnetic breaks will also have batteries to ensure the ride comes to a safe stop in the event of power loss. * Florida’s air permits can be searched here [https://fldep.dep.state.fl.us/air/emission/apds/default.asp]. I recommend searching by site name. * More info on the Mickey Mouse Solar Farm [https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2016/04/13/mickey-mouse-shaped-solar-facility-unveiled-disney-world/15707118007/]. * More info on Kilimanjaro Safaris [https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Kilimanjaro_Safaris]. * Okay, technically Disney isn’t the second biggest purchaser of artillery in America… it’s the second largest purchaser of explosives on the planet [https://www.unilad.com/features/how-many-explosives-disney-buy-700308-20230207]. Semantics. See you next time, in the year 3026! Kinda! -Eva

Fowl Play: Bird Witches, Poisonous Parrots, and 30 Miles of Crap

Thalia educates Eva about how three bird species met their untimely extinction and how one man single-handedly saved a fourth by helping it get laid... by him?? gascast@grimmtidings.us [gascast@grimmtidings.us] https://pmmusic.pro/ [https://pmmusic.pro/] https://www.openmusicarchive.org/ [https://www.openmusicarchive.org/] Additional notes: * On Passenger Pigeons * A piece on what the flocks were like, the Lacey Act, and de-extinction advocates [https://www.audubon.org/magazine/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct] * On their extinction [https://www.burkemuseum.org/news/billions-none-passenger-pigeon] * On the Great Auk * Much of this research comes from The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910054-the-sixth-extinction] * An online article on their extinction [https://johnjames.audubon.org/extinction-great-auk] * A few corrections and clarifications: I cannot find any information on what, if anything, the first conservation law in 1500s England actually did. “Natural philosopher” was the correct term for a natural scientist in Cuvier’s time. The term “scientist” was coined a few years before the Great Auk’s extinction * On Bison * Fun fact: the scientific name of the plains bison is “Bison bison bison.” This pairs with the grammatically correct sentence “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” * Most of this section comes from here [https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/11/11/142211950/what-not-to-do-when-you-meet-the-last-great-wild-buffalo] * Carolina Parakeet * Unfortunately, there isn’t as much known about the Carolina parakeet. Here’s a good place to start [https://johnjames.audubon.org/last-carolina-parakeet] * On the fate of the last parakeet’s body, and the species as a whole [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-last-member-of-this-bird-species-died-in-captivity-on-this-day-in-1918-180986054/] * George Archibald and Whooping Cranes * His book “My Life With Cranes” [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32939286-my-life-with-cranes] is worth checking out. * Fun(?) fact: Tex was killed by raccoons shortly after her chick hatched. Listen, this was a podcast on extinction. It felt grim enough without bringing this up. * More on George and Tex [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsDYhdaJL98] * An article on the ICF headquarters in Wisconsin [https://www.avianresources.com/post/return-to-the-international-crane-foundation], which is well worth a visit if you’re in Madison or the Dells * Seriously, though, George Archibald is a living legend, and the people and birds of Earth would surely be worse off without him. See you next time, where I will be making magic extremely mundane. -Thalia