Truth & Lies
Betteridge's law of headlines
The language itself has been weaponized
Art is the one medium in which one cannot lie successfully
Classic style
People can stand for what is true, for they are already enduring it
I went to the woods
Falsehood
Deceivers and deceptions
Truth
That delicate and complex instrument
The complexity and the gray
Beautiful Evidence
Why Most Published Research Findings Are False
Truisms
The Pleasure of Observing
Abbreviation
I generally do not like to abbreviate behavioral notes. An important detail may be ignored or considered irrelevant and discarded because it lacks a discrete category on the list. It is often an anecdotal event that offers special insight.
Beyond dry facts
If one has a personal knowledge of the individual animals being studied, observations in field notes cease to be impersonal, and an observer’s empathy can lead beyond dry facts to better intuition and insight.
A study should persist
Since we cannot interview the subject, we can only infer the past from the present. Ideally, a study should persist for at least the life span of an animal.
Precious intangible values
The “precious intangible values” of this wilderness.
Independent fragments of existence
You cannot divide me into independent fragments of existence.
— The Last Panda, 1993
Panda routes
A detailed route of a panda foraging on bamboo shoots, showing the number of shoots eaten and droppings deposited (black spots) on May 31, 1982.