Silflay Hraka

Greylags are members of the family of “True Geese,” the Anserinae. The individuals LTC Bob spotted are likely members of the Eastern subspecies of Greylag, Anser anser rubrirostris. The western subspecies Anser anser anser, is the species most often seen wild in Europe.

For a while, LTC Bob thought the pair of Greylag Geese inhabiting the waters surrounding the Al-Faw Palace were a domestic species. Eventually a light clicked on, and he sent me the picture above.

I know exactly what he felt like. The first time I went to Epcot Center I ignored the Common Moorhens found on the shore of the lake there for days, assuming that their omniprescence meant that they were a stocked domestic, as if there’s some widespread demand in the world for domesticated waders.

LTC Bob was at least on somewhat more logical grounds than I, as the Greylag is the immediate ancestor of the domestic goose. There’s a reason we look at it and think “Need to find some mint jelly.”

The best way to tell the difference between the domestic and wild versions of Anser is to look at the underside of the goose. The bigger the ass, the bigger the belly, the more likely the bird–or the man, come to think of it–is to be domesticated.

In either case, mint jelly will come in handy.

Previous: The White Breasted Kingfisher

Next: The Red-Wattled Lapwing

Update: LTC Bob’s other pictures, including two of the Greylag, can be seen here.

I could never win a debate in South Korea, because I’m just not willing to do what it takes to make my point.

Two Koreans used weed clippers and a knife to lop off fingers on Monday outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul to protest at Tokyo’s claims on a group of desolate islands that South Korea insists is its territory.

You can always tell the master debaters in Korea. They’re the quadruple amputees. Hell, the reigning champion is probably just a head in a jar.

Saudi Arabia
Until three years ago, the Sunni-led government of Saudi Arabia barred its 2 million Shiites from publicly staging rituals like this February’s Ashoura march, driving them into illegal meeting halls and mosques under a long-held policy of stifling non-Sunni expression. But after decades of being sidelined by the state and denounced by powerful clerics, Saudi Shiites are savoring a glimmer of tolerance and, this month, a first-ever local election that is likely to be their greatest step yet into the political mainstream.

The story of how marginalized Saudi Shiites have found the chance to vote for local leaders–and the audacity to criticize the government–reflects a fragile drive for democratic change gathering strength across the Middle East two years after the U.S. toppled the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.

Egypt
An Egyptian opposition leader and presidential hopeful whose imprisonment angered Washington and called into question Egypt’s pledges of democratic reform led a parade Saturday through downtown Cairo, trailed by thousands after being freed on bail.

“I announce that I will run in the presidential elections for you,” Nour said, standing on a podium in a charitable organization he’d founded down the street from where he was freed.

Lebanon
Hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators chanted ?Freedom, sovereignty, independence? and unfurled a huge Lebanese flag in Beirut on Monday, the biggest protest yet in the opposition?s duel of street rallies with supporters of the Damascus-backed government.

?We are coming to liberate our country. We are coming to demand the truth,? said Fatma Trad, a veiled Sunni Muslim woman who traveled from the remote region of Dinniyeh in northern Lebanon to take part.

Jordan
His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday said private ownership of various media outlets should be encouraged.

“The press should carry out its monitoring job as the fourth estate in a context of responsible freedom and high professionalism,” the Monarch told the newspaper’s publisher

Spain
‘Middle East on the Move, Is Bush to Thank?”, a newspaper’s banner headline quite fairly asked Europeans last week. What a terrifying premise.

Adding France and Belgium, the group widens to include governments that hoped to leverage their stance on Bush and the war into a genesis myth for a Europe redefining itself as America’s counterweight.

I have a few minutes during my lunch break to type out a few words so I thought I’d let everyone know I am back from my whirl-wind tour of Hungary and Romania. I don’t have time or energy to go into the details so here are a few quick thoughts. Budapest was beautiful. Bucharest was a shithole.

Good to be home. Please God make reality go away so I can get some sleep.

Saltwater fishing license failed to pass in Maryland. No one (even the recs) really supported it. Main reason: All funds derived via SW license would have gone to the state’s general fund and not specifically to support and enhance the resource. None of the the rec fishing clubs would support it. I would also have rejected this version of a license. License funds MUST be directed specifically back to the resource. Interesting to read the additional reasons as you’ve recently heard them here in NC. Main one was impact it would have on tourism. One wonders what the impact on tourism would be if the fishing in Maryland showed great improvment. Click here for full story re: Maryland’s license.

Pop The Cap’s effort to rid North Carolina of its antiquated beer laws starts in earnest this week.

We’d like you to call or e-mail three key legislators this Tuesday to express your support for HB392. Our goal is for three senior Representatives to hear from hundreds of us Pop The Cap supporters! Visit the new ACTION ITEMS section of the PTC web site to get all the specifics.

p.s. please be sure to visit the Action Items section of the Web site. I have more information for you on how to write these three legislators, as well as a summary of all the letters we’ve asked you to write and some more information on the March 22 Legislative meet-and-greet. All the relevant info is on the web site”

There’s also a blog, which has become practically de-rigeur for political efforts nowadays.

A word to our inside connection: Talk to your mom.