Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

`"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my
tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle--will you come and join the
dance?

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the
dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the
dance?

"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to
sea!"
But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look
askance--
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the
dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join
the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join
the dance.

`"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.
"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France--
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the
dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the
dance?"'

AS I remember, they survived until quite recently 500-1000 years, something like that? I think Indians hunted them extinct.

I understand there was an even better elephantine (if that is appropriate here) pet species that lived in what is now the Nile Delta region and out into the Med, which was considerably lower then. The critters werer reportedly small enough that we could have picked them up and carried them around.

...in which Piglet meets a heffalump

ONE day, when Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet were all talking together, Christopher Robin finished the mouthful he was eating and said carelessly: "I saw a Heffalump to-day, Piglet."

"What was it doing?" asked Piglet.

"Just lumping along," said Christopher Robin. "I don't think it saw me."

"I saw one once," said Piglet. "At least, I think I did," he said. "Only perhaps it wasn't."

"So did I," said Pooh, wondering what a Heffalump was like.

"You don't often see them," said Christopher Robin carelessly.

"Not now," said Piglet.

"Not at this time of year," said Pooh.

Then they all talked about something else, until it was time for Pooh and Piglet to go home together. At first as they stumped along the path which edged the Hundred Acre Wood, they
didn't say much to each other; but when they came to the stream, and had helped each other across the stepping stones, and were able to walk side by side again over the heather, they
began to talk in a friendly way about this and that, and Piglet said, "If you see what I mean, Pooh," and Pooh said, "It's just what I think myself, Piglet," and Piglet said, "But, on the
other hand, Pooh, we must remember," and Pooh said, "Quite true, Piglet, although I had forgotten it for the moment." And then, just as they came to the Six Pine Trees, Pooh looked
round to see that nobody else was listening, and said in a very solemn voice: "Piglet, I have decided something.'

"What have you decided, Pooh?"

"I have decided to catch a Heffalump."

Pooh nodded his head several times as he said this, and waited for Piglet to say "How?" or "Pooh, you couldn't!" or something helpful of that sort, but Piglet said nothing. The fact was Piglet was wishing that he had thought about it first.

"I shall do it," said Pooh, after waiting a little longer, "by means of a trap. And it must be a Cunning Trap, so you will have to help me, Piglet."

"Pooh," said Piglet, feeling quite happy again now, "I will." And then he said, "How shall we do it?" and Pooh said, "That's just it. How?" And then they sat down together to think
it out.

Pooh's first idea was that they should dig a Very Deep Pit, and then the Heffalump would come along and fall into the Pit, and --

"Why?" said Piglet.

"Why what?" said Pooh.

"Why would he fall in?"

Pooh rubbed his nose with his paw, and said that the Heffalump might be walking along, humming a little song, and looking up at the sky, wondering if it would rain, and so he
wouldn't see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down, when it would be too late.

Piglet said that this was a very good Trap, but supposing it were raining already?

Brad - you are in California, FERRETS are banned as pets as "exotics". I would imagine miniature mammoths as well as rodents of unusual size would be classed as "exotics", too. Remember, California - where what is not explicitly allowed by law should be assumed illegal.

DeLong and Faux on Rubin juxtaposed

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2004/02/faux-j.html

Both of them miss one point. Both Clinton and Rubin recognized that they had economists working for them. Bush and Snow seem to forget that they have economists until one of them inserts foot in mouth and has to be disowned.

If Bush appoints a Fed Chair in 2006 who would it be? Larry Lindsey?

Brad DeLong as quoted by Salon.

"Statements by this administration," DeLong added, "are simply not credible, and cannot be naively taken at face value."

Brad DeLong as quoted by Salon.

"Statements by this administration," DeLong added, "are simply not credible, and cannot be naively taken at face value."

Here is a link to a picture of a pygmy mammoth fossil:
http://www.sbnature.org/exhibits/geopaleo/

Also...the Northern Channel Islands that were joined as Santarosae island, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruze and and Anacapa are a lot closer than 50 miles from the coast!

Even at current higher sea levels Anacapa is only 12 miles from the coast.

Pooh rubbed his nose again, and said that he hadn't thought of that. And then he brightened up, and said that, if it were raining already, the Heffalump would be looking at the sky wondering if it would clear up, and so he wouldn't see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down.... When it would be too late.

Piglet said that, now that this point had been explained, he thought it was a Cunning Trap.

Pooh was very proud when he heard this, and he felt that the Heffalump was as good as caught already, but there was just one other thing which had to be thought about, and it was
this. Where should they dig the Very Deep Pit?

Piglet said that the best place would be somewhere where a Heffalump was, just before he fell into it, only about a foot farther on.

"But then he would see us digging it," said Pooh.

"Not if he was looking at the sky."

"He would Suspect," said Pooh, "if he happened to look down." He thought for a long time and then added sadly, "It isn't as easy as I thought. I suppose that's why Heffalumps
hardly ever get caught."

"That must be it," said Piglet.

I haven't seen a picture of an elephant swimming. Do they use their trunks like a snorkel?

Just think how small the little baby miniphants would be.

Somebody oughta start breeding some minis -- unless that would be cruel somehow.

But would they be as clever as full-sized elephants are? Goats are enough trouble without prehensile appendages...

The term "the" Channel Islands has long been taken. Any other similar islands need a qualifier to distinguish which channel they are in, rather than the English Channel - which was precisely what I thought until I came to the part of the sentence that mentioned California.