Do you get an error message while trying to publish a post to your blog directly from Ulysses? I did.
Continue reading “Getting Ulysses to publish to a custom WordPress blog”
“The Martian Chronicles” Read by Ray Bradbury
Nice finding in one of my old iTunes account I was about to delete: a bunch of audiobooks, including *The Martian Chronicles* read by Bradbury himself.
Random House produced it, and it’s from Audible.com. I could not find much else about it, besides [this webpage](https://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Literature/Contemporary-Literature/The-Martian-Chronicles/2292). If by any chance you have more info, [contact me](https://mobile.twitter.com/david_bosman).
What bugs me is that I can’t find any trace of this book, or the other that were waiting for me in this old iTunes account, anywhere in my Audible Library. That’s odd, because many of the audiobooks I’ve purchased along the years on Audible have since then been removed from the shop, but all are still available in my Library for download.
Is it possible I had purchased these directly through iTunes, hence them being backed up by Apple but not appearing in my Audible account? Whatever, I’m glad I found them, this one in particular, *and* I’m glad Apple is so much more reliable than me regarding backups.
Having been an Audible customer since around 2001, it means these books might be 17 years old? No way, I can’t be that old 😛
Maybe I should look for some way to strip the files from their DRM, even if it’s not planned anymore to close this account. And seeing how Apple has preserved them for me–despite my own carelessness–it’s not like there is any urgency in backing them up either.
So, if you’ll excuse me, I think Ray’s been waiting long enough to tell me his next Martian chronicle 😉
More informations on the Yellowstone Wolf Project
A quick follow-up to [yesterday’s post](http://davidbosman.fr/blog/2019/01/02/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem/), as I wanted to find out more info:
* [The official website](https://www.yellowstone.org/what-we-do/wolf-project/).
* “10 Years of Yellowstone Wolves (1995-2006)”, [PDF](https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/upload/YS\_13\_1\_sm.pdf).
* “Celebrating 20 Years of Wolves”, [PDF](https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/upload/YELLOWSTONE-SCIENCE-24-1-WOLVES.pdf).
* Annual Reports, [from 1995 to 2017](https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolfreports.htm).
* If one’d like to dig even further: more links to articles and books, at [The Wolf References](https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolfrefs.htm).
Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem?
A documentary (in French or German) showing the impact of the reintroduction of wolves on the entire ecosystem of the Yellowstone Park, since 1995:
[Les loups, sauveurs du parc de Yellowstone](https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/078147-000-A/les-loups-sauveurs-du-parc-de-yellowstone/)
As many documentaries, this one broadly sketches the situation and focus on a selected few aspects. But it was still interesting.
Seeing how the reintroduction of top predators (wolves being the focus of the documentary, even it concerns other predators too) helped reduce the elk population that were overgrazing. Which helped many plants to grow back, including willows. Willows, that are necessary for a healthy population of… beavers. Beavers, that are helping to reduce the erosion of streams… Streams, that willows need to grow. And so on.
One could say it’s what an ecosystem is all about: finding an equilibrium, no big deal. Sure, but I’d never had thought wolves would help willows grow, or other plants, that would help beavers, birds, and so many more different species to thrive.
Fascinating.
Some things I’d have liked to have more informations on:
* Is the aim to get back a “normal” earlier state for this ecosystem? And who defined this “normal”, based on what criteria/informations?
* Or are the changes too radical? After their >70-year leave, looking at the pictures shown in the documentary one can see how the landscape has drastically changed since we exterminated the wolves. Is there any real hope to get back to how it was, or is it going to be different? If so, how is this change studied?
* How and how many types of data do scientific and ecologists collect? It can’t just be the wolves’s geolocation. I mean, we’re not in a laboratory experiment, it’s a slice of nature they’re studying: the amount of data must be astronomical and incredibly varied.
* More critical voices on the project? If we were to do something similar in France, I can easily imagine *many* critical voices.