http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html James Higgins: Blog / Raves Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:50:23 -0800 http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/snakes Is there something missing in the food chain? Or is the venom in a snake bite just a by-product. It's not actually designed to be poisonous it just happens to be seriously toxic. Is it a digestion aid?
And what happens if they bite their tongue?]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/snakes Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:06:20 -0800 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/untapped_energy Think on it.
Every day,there are thousands of people pumping like mad for nothing. We could harness all that kinetic energy and turn it into electricity. Who knows, maybe we could power a whole town for next to mothing.
If it worked, then we could apply the same technology to playgrounds' swings and roundabouts.

Have fun, get fit, save the environment and reduce your bills. Not a bad deal.

We would have become a hamster society. Which is ok in Bellingham as this town is full of hamsters already. Belling Hamsters.

What do you think?]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/untapped_energy Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:50:23 -0700 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/snow_ploughs_and_parallel_parking The Postal Service must have a fair sized fleet that would be driving those routes anyway.
I'm sure there are logistical reasons to do with weight of accumulated snow versus weight of postal trucks that make this idea impossible but it seems like a fairly reasonable idea. Even it they only ploughed shallow snow on a few streets, it would all help.
Just thinking out loud.

Also why hasn't anyone yet invented the car that can parallel park by simply driving sideways 90 degrees. Do away with all that backing and forwarding. A car should be able to drive up beside a kirb parking, turn the wheels to 90 digrees and then drive sideways crab style into the space.
Like I said, I'm just thinking out loud.]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/snow_ploughs_and_parallel_parking Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:51:30 -0700 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/rights http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/rights Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:24:52 -0800 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/click_here_if_your_even_remotely_interested_in_rescuing_this_filthy_dying_planet_from_self_destruction
I think this is more for my own sanity than anything.
Sometimes I see the carefree destruction going on around me and I think maybe I'm imagining it or I'm over reacting.

It's not getting better is it?
I mean they weren't strip mining mountains a hundred years ago. There weren't oil spills wiping out eco systems. There weren't 7 billion poops needing sorted every day. There weren't so many animals hanging on to existance by a claw.
They weren't testing nuclear weapons in the pacific back a century ago. Sprawl wasn't happening in the blink of an eye. I could go on all day.

Could you?
Or is it just me?]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/click_here_if_your_even_remotely_interested_in_rescuing_this_filthy_dying_planet_from_self_destruction Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:20:19 -0800 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/creating_a_minimum_wage_for_musicians
Individual contracts of larger sums could still be worked out but the minimum wage should still exist.
If bar owners were bound to pay 10 dollars an hour including the hour prior to the show and after the show, they would think twice about starting a music bar that pays all staff except the musician.

A few bars might end up doing away with music and for a while the scene would be bleak but eventually the music would creep back. It would be higher quality and be played by non frustrated musicians.
It wouldn't be big money but at least an average musician would be on par with the dishwasher.

So many gigs in this town pay their musicians with a free meal. I can get the same deal at the Salvation Army and wouldn't have to sing. I've seen the bar owner's dog lie around sleeping all evening. Even he gets a free meal. You can picture it. Me and the dog, Chewing in a corner. I feel a painting coming on.]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/creating_a_minimum_wage_for_musicians Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:29:07 -0800 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/best_day Is your life half over or half begun?]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/best_day Sat, 15 Jan 2011 10:11:21 -0800 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/dinosaurs Romasapiens?]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/dinosaurs Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:04:52 -0700 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/intelligence_whats_that__just_enough What's the standard?
Nature doesn't go to extremes without a process.
A cheetah is the fastest land animal but it's still just fast enough to catch its dinner. It hasn't this incredible athleticism so that it can catch tortoises.

Cheetahs live in a niche: preying on creatures that other predators often fail to catch.
How fast is it? Just fast enough.
And that appears to be natures way. There's a space for everything. A job skill for that one species. How much intelligence is needed and given out? Just enough.

In that respect, an ant has just enough brains to perform its job.
It is as alive as anything else. We are all just as alive.

The Irish Elk had huge antlers. They were obsolete. The Irish Elk died out. The antlers were more than "Just Enough." That line went out of production.

Scientists seem to love measuring intelligence in primates. Is that just a commercial thing? Is it easier to get a grant?
If I were to stick a chimp in a classroom, I'm almost sure it would cause havoc. Stick a dog in a classroom and I bet it would eventually find a quiet spot and observe. Who's smarter there? Most animals would search for an exit first. A bird would head straight for the window.
Perhaps we all share one great intellectual equality. We hate captivity.
In our natural habitats we are all equally just smart enough.]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/intelligence_whats_that__just_enough Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:49:57 -0700 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/heat_and_evolution_rate Can a species change to a subspecies and back as the environment dictates?
Did the Mega Fauna disappear or merely alter their state?
A domestic pig apparently reverts to a wild boar in a few generations if left unmeddled. Generally that would involve becoming, hairier, fiercer, better camouflaged, and developing a better sense of smell. All this by simply making life a little more uncertain and dependant on the elements.

Water, changes to ice and back. Who is to say which state is its natural state?

But life in water develops fins. Life on ice develops feet and fur. Could evolution have foresight and anticipate these weather changes and have inbuilt genetic on/off adaptation switches?
It seems evolution never stops but If the planet's temperature stablized would evolution slowly grind to a halt?

No idea.

Just raving.]]> http://jameshigginsmusician.com/blog.html/heat_and_evolution_rate Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:17:42 -0700 Scottish contemporary singer/songwriter - James Higgins - Blog / Raves