I’ve been trying to come up with some pithy remarks to preface this week’s distractions, but between the start of Daylight Savings Time and a whirlwind weekend trip to Las Vegas, my brain is pretty much mush right now.
But really, the essence of a distraction is that it doesn’t need to have any deeper meaning or connection to anything. It’s just something that captures your attention for a little while — a few minutes, a few hours, a few days or months or years — and then you move on, back to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.
So, here you go — your distractions!
A Battle for the Ages
“The biological research station in Otonga was a wonderful wooden building supported by eight thick posts about the height of a person. There were large rooms inside, including a dormitory where scientists and students could spend the night. At the time, there were five of us in the reserve. But I was alone as I waited for the ants to attack. I knew that the army ants are not interested in mammals and especially were not interested in me, an adult Homo sapiens. The ants are equipped with large cutting mouthparts shaped like shears. These do a great job of chopping hard-scaled insects into bite-sized pieces, but they are no good for cutting into the muscular flesh of mammals. The only things I was afraid for were our provisions and, most of all, the crickets I had so painstakingly collected as part of my thesis research. I therefore decided to confront the advancing army and defend the station against the ant invasion.
“I looked around the research station. Were there any weapons I could use to ward off the impending attack? I decided on a wide broom with a long handle and positioned myself where one of the eight posts was attached to the building’s floor. I chose the post closest to the advancing ant army. My fears were realized. The army ants climbed the post as though it were an ancient tree. A stream of hard, small bodies welled up through the cracks in the floorboards like water in a flood. I began to sweep as thoroughly and as quickly as I could.”
Read more: How a Lone Researcher Faced Down Millions of Army Ants on the March in Ecuador
Children of the Desert
“These subtle signs in the desert contain volumes of information to the properly trained eye. By the depth of the tracks, a tracker can tell whether a camel was carrying anything on its back. They can also tell whether the camel was being led by person or roaming freely. If the camel’s droppings contain corn, rye, or any man-made food, then the camel was not grazing. Also, a camel being led would not graze nearby bushes, and if it did, it would only be along a set route. A roaming camel, on the other hand, skips around from bush to bush with no clear pattern.
“Desert trackers such as Walidie apply this same knowledge to construct a story from a human footprint. This knowledge formed the basis for the cooperation between the Palmach (the Jewish underground army during the British Mandate for Palestine) and the tracker Sheikh Odeh Abu Muamar, before the foundation of Israel. Later the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) formed a Bedouin Tracker Unit in 1970, which is in charge of finding enemy combatants or drug and arms dealers who cross the into the country. This has blurred the line between the traditional Bedouin practices and modern desert law enforcement.”
Ream more: How a Bedouin Tracker Sees the Desert
It’s Just a Pretty Place, OK?
“Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia's largest national park covering almost 30,000 hectares, is situated in the lower elevations of the Dinarides in the central part of the country. Within a beautiful karst landscape dominated by a mix of forests and meadows, the magnificent Plitvice lake system stands out, fascinating scientists and visitors alike. Interconnected by many waterfalls and watercourses above and below ground, the lakes are grouped into the upper and lower lakes. The former are formed on dolomites, with mild relief, not so steep shores and enclosed by thick forests, whereas the latter, smaller and shallower, are situated in limestone canyon with partially steep shores. The lake system is the result of millennia of ongoing geological and biochemical processes creating natural dams known as tufa barriers. These are formed by the deposition of calcium carbonate from the waters flowing through the property. In the case of the Plitvice lake system, this geochemical process of tufa formation interacts with living organisms, most importantly mosses, algae and aquatic bacteria. The scale of the overall lake system and the natural barriers are an exceptional expression of the aesthetically stunning phenomenon, acknowledged since the late 19th century. Plitvice Lakes National Park area is mainly covered with very well preserved forests essential for the continuity of geochemical processes in water system (above and below ground), which include an area of 84 ha of old-growth forest of beech and fir. Besides the striking landscape beauty and the processes that continue to shape the lakes, the park is also home to noteworthy biodiversity. The tufa barriers themselves provide habitat for diverse and highly specialized communities of non-vascular plants. Brown Bear, Grey Wolf and Lynx along with many rare species roam the forests, while the meadows are known for their rich flora.”
Read more: Plitvice Lakes National Park