Air quality affects our health in a number of ways. From eye irritation to lung disease, it’s important to take precautions to avoid unhealthy air. Air quality affects animals, including our pets, as well. When considering how to protect yourself from poor air quality, it’s important to plan for your pets too. [Read more…] about Cats & Dogs: The Pawful Effects of Poor Air Quality
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Beach Closures: Cyanobacteria and Phosphorus in New York’s Lakes
Cyanobacteria blooms have closed beaches regularly this summer across New York State. While it may feel like a nuisance to not be able to cool off at your local beach, these blooms force swimming areas to close because they can be dangerous. To protect yourself, your loved ones, and pets, it is important that you understand how to recognize them and what you should do if a bloom is present at a beach you visit. [Read more…] about Beach Closures: Cyanobacteria and Phosphorus in New York’s Lakes
William O. Stillman: Leader of Humane Societies, Friend of Animals & Children
William O. Stillman was born on September 9th, 1856 in Normansville, now known as Elsmere in the town of the Bethlehem, Albany County, NY. His parents were Rev. Stephen Lewis Stillman and Lucretia (Miller) Stillman.
Rev. Stephen Lewis Stillman was a Methodist minister at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Adamsville (now Delmar) and a descendant of a family that had emigrated from London, England. Lucretia (Miller) Stillman was of Dutch descent. Rev. Stephen suddenly died in 1869, when William was 12 years old. After his father’s death, William and his mother moved to Albany. [Read more…] about William O. Stillman: Leader of Humane Societies, Friend of Animals & Children
How Animals Stay Warm In Winter
To survive the cold of winter, some animals take advantage of protected habitats, such as wooded areas or under a blanket of insulating snow. Ruffed grouse, for example, fly into piles of loose snow and create roosting cavities to rest in when not foraging. Mice and other small mammals remain active in tunnels under the snow. [Read more…] about How Animals Stay Warm In Winter
There’s More To Animal Fur Than Meets The Eye
A flash of orange streaks across the meadow – a red fox, like a starburst in the snow. Its fur shimmers in the early morning light, and I, bundled in my winter layers and still shivering cold, envy the fox’s luxurious coat. [Read more…] about There’s More To Animal Fur Than Meets The Eye
A World War II Bomber Pilot’s Canine Companion
Season two of The Object of History podcast by the Massachusetts Historical Society continues with “A World War II Bomber Pilot’s Canine Companion,” the story of Thunderbolt, a dog who served as a companion to an American bomber pilot and POW Lt. Robert Payne during World War II. [Read more…] about A World War II Bomber Pilot’s Canine Companion
Woman & Two Dogs Rescued In The Adirondack High Peaks
New York State Forest Rangers rescued a woman and her two dogs who became lost while hiking Mount Marcy, New York State’s highest mountain, located in the Adirondack High Peaks.
On November 15th at 2:45 pm, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Ray Brook Dispatch requested Forest Ranger assistance with the search for a hiker on Mount Marcy. The 35-year-old from Toronto became lost while hiking with her two dogs and called for help from her cell phone. [Read more…] about Woman & Two Dogs Rescued In The Adirondack High Peaks
A Dog’s Tale: Dachshunds, Hot Dogs, Coney Island & Greenwood Cemetery
Exploding urban populations during the nineteenth century demanded new solutions towards burying the dead. Traditional congregational graveyards were either full or overcrowded. A combination of practical thinking and the wish to commune with nature (inspired by Romantic poetry) led to the development of serene burial grounds outside the city boundaries.
Founded as a “rural” or “garden” cemetery in 1838, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery is famous for its picturesque landscape features with evocative names such as Camellia Path, Halcyon Lake, Oaken Bluff, or Vista Hill. Elaborate monuments and mausoleums, designed in an array of architectural styles, honor the Lispenard dynasty (Norman), William Niblo (Gothic), the Steinway family (Classical), and others.
And then there is the Feltman mausoleum, the columns of which feature Corinthian capitals. On each side of the doorway stands a trio of mourning figures. Those on the left hold symbols of faith (cross and doves); those on the right show grief and sorrow. The pediment features two cherubs holding a wreath with the initial F in the center. On top of the temple is a cupola with the Archangel Michael standing guard, sword at the ready. The building serves to celebrate the memory of just one man. Who was this person? A Founding Father maybe? A respected politician (if that is not a contradiction in terms)? A celebrated artist? [Read more…] about A Dog’s Tale: Dachshunds, Hot Dogs, Coney Island & Greenwood Cemetery
Lethal Chambers: The Curse of Anglo-American Eugenics
The relationship between politics and science has always been complicated, and at times, disastrous.
The term eugenics was coined in 1883 by the British scientist Francis Galton who advocated that society should promote the marriage of the “fittest” individuals by providing monetary incentives.
Numerous intellectuals and political leaders (Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes in Britain; Woodrow Wilson and Alexander Graham Bell in the United States) came to accept the idea that society should strive for the improvement of the human race through governmental intervention. [Read more…] about Lethal Chambers: The Curse of Anglo-American Eugenics
Some Anecdotes From Political History
What Adirondack mammal did President Grover Cleveland chase while fishing with his outdoor guide, “Dave,” at Upper Saranac on June 4th, 1887?
A black bear. “The guide said it was a burned log, but the president thought otherwise, and keeping his eye on the object soon after saw it was a black bear,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on June 7th, 1887. “The two men followed the bear, which was a large one. The race was exciting, and ended by the bear shaking the water from his shaggy sides and disappearing in the depths of the forest.” [Read more…] about Some Anecdotes From Political History