PicoBlog

Mycorrhiza are defined as symbiotic (generally mutualistic) associations between plant roots and certain fungi. Typically, the benefit to the plant is nutritional but can include other benefits as well, while the fungus receives carbon in some form from the host. Recognized mycorrhizal associations, such as ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza, have other things in common, such as a coevolutionary history between plant and fungus, having resulted in characteristic symbiotic structures. For example, the arbuscule, the jointly formed exchange structure diagnostic of the arbuscular mycorrhiza, an association that is over 400 million years old.

Are too many Americans holding out for a soulmate, decreasing their marriage prospects and advancing all the wrong lessons about lifelong partnership? Or are too many people — women in particular — being told to settle for less-than-stellar men, setting them up for greater devastation down the road, or a lifetime of dissatisfaction? These questions are on my mind as I both read the endless discourse and handwringing over the growing numbers of unmarried and childless adults, and as I enter my 40s surrounded by them.

Writer’s note on June 3, 2024: This post was written before I dogsat my mother’s Shih Tzu mix. I hadn’t experienced just how much gets stuck to a double-coated dog with long fur. Leaves stick to her like glue, and her white fur can look black if you don’t clean her eye area regularly. For that reason, I absolutely swore by Petkin Big N' Thick Natural Petwipes and linked them below.

Dave Matthews Band brought their 2023 summer tour to Darien Lake, NY last night for an energetic show on a cool Wednesday evening. Throughout the 19-song show, the septet delivered songs from across their catalogue, including a handful from their recently-released album Walk Around The Moon. It was my second time seeing DMB – the first being just over a decade ago on 5/28/13 in Toronto. Needless to say, I was excited to experience the group again as an adult AND with the new addition of keyboards that they lacked in 2013.

Sentences I never thought I’d ever say – I saw Travis Scott in concert last night. I am by no means a rap music fan, though at summer camp and university I was played Scott’s music frequently by friends who are huge fans. My little brother Andy loves it and wanted to go last night in Phoenix – so I figured it would be a good opportunity to see a very different kind of show.

As the five people who read this blog regularly know, I'm a huge LOST fan. It's a big part of my formative Internet experience, my first real "Internet fandom", as those started going mainstream in the early 2000s. I've reviewed its video game, a fanfic, and wrote a mini-review for the show itself. But I overlooked something else of interest. In 2010, LOST ended. Before that, the massive success of its first season had already pushed a bunch of, let's call light copycat shows into the forefront that would have probably never been greenlit otherwise.

A new survey conducted by 24/7 Wall St. reviewed population data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey one-year estimates. The publication listed all 43 metropolitan statistical areas with at least a 3% population decline from 2017 to 2022, from the smallest to the largest decline. Shreveport-Bossier City ranked #2 — just behind Kalamazoo-Portage, Michigan, which lost a fifth of its residents. Share BossierNow The report noted a 2017-2022 Shreveport-Bossier City population change of -12.

By late April, lakesides and ditches across much of England are ringing to the rhythms of reed warblers. Reed warblers make all kinds of noises, but they like to repeat a short phrase two or three times, change, repeat something else a few times, and change again. It’s like the approach taken by the song thrush, but reed warblers don’t pause between the changes. They can chug away continuously for minutes on end.

✈️ LET’S TAKE THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!  Have you ever wanted to travel with me — I mean, really travel with me? How does spending nine days and eight nights with me in one of my favorite places on earth sound? This October, you can join me on a trip to Sicily thanks to my friends at Modern Adventure. We’ll explore markets, dine at some amazing restaurants and cook together.