Randuwa II: February 2021

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Maryland Zoo: Children's Farm

First Sunday in weeks without snow...so it rained! But unlike snow, the Maryland Zoo doesn't close when it rains. Volunteered today for a single shift at the Donkey Barn. With the rain and the temps in the upper 40'sF, it was a very quite place. And still, it was so good to spend time with some of my favorite animals.

THE ALPACAS

The Maryland Zoo is home to a trio of Alpacas. Here from Left to Right are Annabelle Lee, Aleluya, and Tagalong. Anabelle Lee is the youngest (8 yo) and the most curious. She will always approach to get a closer look, and maybe a smell; but she will not let you touch her! No way, Jose! Aleluya is the oldest (14 yo), the largest, and the least interactive. Alpaca rarely live beyond 10 years in the wild. In captivity, they do exponentially better with an average variability lifespan of 15 to 25 years. In 2020, we lost the 4th member of our little herd, Gypsy. At the time of her passing, she had reached the age of 22 years. The third member, Tagalong, is the most diminutive, and always seems to be coiffed with a mop that obstructs her view! She is a true Tag-along, too. At 11 yo, she follows the others like the proverbial little sister.

Of the four South American members of the family Camelidae (Llama, Alpaca, Vicuna and Guanaco), the Alpaca are my favorites. They are by far the most domesticatable. They have dreamy, sweet eyes, amazing coats of fur, legs with joints that defy logic and toes with hoof-claws that look like something straight out of a sci-fi bestiary.

KUNE KUNE PIGS

Welcome to the world of endangered domestic animals. Kune Kune pigs. which trace their origins back to New Zealand, were once down to a mere 9 animals! There extinction was blamed on a lack of interest. Other breeds arrived, and farmers simply didn't realize that this unique breed had dwindled away. From those nine animals in the mid 1970's, efforts have led to a world wide population in 2021 number in the mid-thousands. While there are many wonderful traits to Kune Kune pigs, size and bulk are not among them. It's a makin' bacon game when it comes to pig breeding.

Our boys are Orville (reddish coat) and Wilbur (white and black mottling). When I first learned their names, Wil (White) Bur (Black) was my mnemonic trick! These guys are brothers. They were born in 2018, and came to the zoo not that long after they were weened. Their live expectancy is 15 years, and they're mostly full grown.

PEAFOWL

Both our cock and hen were doing their best to stay out of the rain! Who could blame them?

TRUMPETER SWANS

We have an amazing pair of Trumpeter Swans. Scuttle and Buttercup were born at the Houston Zoo in 2004. In 2014, they came to us at the Maryland Zoo. In 2016, they hatched there first clutch of cygnets. Every year since then they have faithfully hatched and raised between 1 and 3 cygnets. From their birth/s in early spring, to their maturation in mid-autumn, watching the young grow and become adult is a thrill. Every autumn, the Maryland Zoo joins a coalition of other AZA zoos and transports out young swans to Iowa and the care of the Department of Natural Resources. The Iowa DNR oversees the rest of the maturation until the following spring when they are released into the wild. This project has reintroduced over 100 swan back into feral populations in the past 25 years.

MEDITERRANEAN DONKEYS

The name Mediterranean comes from their origins on the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily. The DNA goes even further back in time to animals domesticated in North Africa. Today, the original breed is rare on these iconic islands, but the hybridized variant is doing well in the United States. Once a beast of burden, now they are mostly a novelty pet.

Our pair are males. Lloyd is mottled, and Harry is brown. Well cared for, they can live to be 35+ and even as old as 50. These boys are both 15.

Harry is the more gregarious. But it is clear that they enjoy one another's company.

As today was a very quite day, I noticed when they both into the inner stall of their barn. I called to them, but they didn't respond. Then I held up my red camera to snap a picture and they both became very interested. Sorry, guys; it's a camera, not an apple!

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Biden's Cabinet Nominees: Jennifer Granholm Secretary of Energy - 25 FEB 21

Monday, February 22, 2021

2021 Judicial Review--the First Circuit

The Federal Courts are a three tiered system starting with the District courts, followed by the Appeals Courts and then finally, the court of last resolution, the Supreme Court. Geographically their our Eleven circuits and the DC Circuit (which is sort of a separate critter). All states, and territories are clustered into the Eleven Circuits. Using my graphics, I want to share the current state of the two lower tiers of the Federal Circuit Courts one Circuit at a time, beginning with the First Circuit. I divide each of the districts into wedges like a analog clock face with the longest serving justice started at noon and tracking around clockwise. In the First Circuit, each state is also it's own District. This is the only Circuit where this is true. The Colors indicate which Presidential Administration nominated the Justice.

QUICK FACTS

Districts cover for states and a territory
The Districts and their Courthouses are:

MAINE: Portland and Bangor
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Concord
MASSACHUSETTS: Boston, Springfield and Worcester
RHODE ISLAND: Providence
PUERTO RICO: San Juan,

Vacancies

There are currently two open seats in the District of Massachusetts. Both were open during the Trump Administration, and remained unfilled for the duration of his administration.

Active Longevity

Puerto Rico is still served by an active Judge, Justice Carmen Consuelo Cerezo, 80, who was appointed by president Jimmy Carter in 1980. Once appointed, judges have the option to serve for life.

GENDER PARITY

Of the 29 seats in the First Circuit District Courts, 10 are currently held by women. With 2 vacancies, this amounts to 37% Female to 63% Male. 70% of the female Justices were appointed by Democratic Administrations and 30% by Republican Administrations. It is worthy of noting that of the 4 judges that the Trump Administration appointed to this Circuit, 2 (or 50%) were women.

JUDICIAL LONGEVITY IN THE CIRCUIT

Besides the 29 seats reserved for Active status justices, when a Justice retires from Active status, they have the option to continue hearing cases in a Senior status. Senior Justices hear fewer cases and have more control of the number of cases that they chose to adjudicate. Their continued presence in a District can greatly help to ease the workload. Typically, they are assigned less complicated cases. Nearly all of the Districts have Justices serving in a Senior Status. I can only think of two that presently do not, and one is the District of Rhode Island in this Circuit. While there are still two Justices listed as being in the Senior status category, both are also currently "inactive". The additional status of "inactive" usually indicates that the justice is unable to perform their duties due to a medical condition, but hopes to return after its resolution. As I have been studying the courts for the past 20 years, it seems fair to say that those who do return to work are the exception.

LONGEVITY OF SENIOR STATUS JUSTICES: (excluding "inactive" Justices) Those who are still serving and hearing cases!

Justice Rya W. Zobel of the District of Massachusetts, 89; appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979
Justice Gene Carter of the District of Maine, 85; appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983
Justice Mark L. Wolf of the District of Massachusetts, 74; appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985

BEST NAMES!

A bit a silly levity that is totally subjective, but also rather interesting in that Judges do seem to have rather eclectic names. These three in chronological order are my trio of favorites from this circuit:

Justice Ashur Ware (1782-1873), appointed to the District of Maine by President James Monroe
Justice Peleg Sprague (1793-1880), appointed to the District of Massachusetts by President John Tyler
Justice Shane Devine (1926-1999), appointed to the District of New Hampshire by President Jimmy Carter

FIRST CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

A lot of the basics here are captured in the graphic. The chronology of the clock face wedge-design is the same, but instead of repeating over the individual districts, it encompasses all of them as the Appellate Court serves all the districts within the circuit.

With the First Circuit Appeals courts are just 6 seats. It's one of the smallest Appellate Courts in the Federal system. Justices to this court can be elevated from a District Court or chosen from another background altogether. When I depict a wedge with two colors, it represents the fact that the Justice started out in a District and was elevated to the Appellate. The two shades of the longest serving justice reveals that President Clinton elevated the Judge to the Appellate, and President Carter first appointed the Judge to the District. All the other Justices in the First Circuit Appeals court did not have prior experience at the Federal District level before being nominated and confirmed.

Back in November of 2020, Senator Mitch McConnell bragged that the Trump Administration had accomplished the unthinkable; with his guidance, they had completely filled all the vacant seats of the Federal Appellate Courts. I remember thinking at the time that he was just full of shit. 1) The reason that the system had so many openings in the first place is because he blocked dozens of nominees during the Obama administration, and 2) Justice Juan R. Torruella of the First Circuit Appeals Court had just died on October 20th.

The Appellate Court of the First Circuit maintains court houses in Concord, NH; Boston, MA; Portland, ME, and Providence, RI. The gender parity of the six justices are three men to 2 women. In the history of the Circuit that stretches all the way back to President George Washington, only two Justices have been elevated to serve on the Supreme Court. Both in the 1990's. Justice Stephen Breyer is still a Supreme Court Justice today.