Post #18
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New chickens
26th September 2003, lunch time | Comments (6)
A few weeks ago, my parents went to a bird auction and came back with a bunch of new chickens. The best, and funniest looking, of the ones they bought are called Silkies. They look like little, fluffy chicken-llamas:
The main characteristic that makes it obvious the Silkie Bantam is unique is the texture of its plumage. Their feathers have a silky, almost fur-like texture. Silkies also have abundant plumage on their legs and an impressive crest on their heads. Another oddity associated with the Silkie Bantam is the fact that their feet have five toes instead of four. Silkies can either have beards or not, and they are the only known chicken with black skin.
The Silkie is believed to have come from China thousands of years ago. Ancient writers speak of a chicken with hair instead of feathers, and many experts believe they are referring to the Silkie. It is thought that Marco Polo first exported the Silkies from China sometime during the 13th century. The Silkie Bantams that are popular today have been modified through the centuries, with various other breeds introduced to produce such characteristics as the feathered legs.
While I was looking around for info on Silkies I found these resources: a Diagram of a Chicken, a Chicken Glossary, and a Chicken FAQ. Three things everyone should have in their bookmarks folder. Surely.
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Blogmarks
A collection of miscellaneous links that don't merit a main blog posting, but which are interesting none-the-less.
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.
— George W Bush (9)- What WordPress is doing to combat comment spam. (1)
- Mobile web tools, from Pukupi. (1)
- Pukupi’s top 10 hints for building interoperable mobile Web sites. (3)
- The photography of E.J. Peiker. (4)
Stuff from the intersection of design, culture and technology.
(3)- Some handy tips for advanced Google use. (35)
- Make your own church signs, or view some real ones. (8)
- Michael Heilemann is doing a great job with his new WordPress theme; Kubrick. (1)
- I’m late to the party, but Dan has a book out. (1)
- What a crazy concept for laying out housing estates. (3)
- In San Francisco, I live here. (Try the zoom feature.) (1)
- Spider-Man reviews crayons. [Via] (3)
- Some beautiful images from photographer Greg Downing. (2)
- Lots of links, from the Link Bunnies. (1)
- Nice “when I was a child” sort of post from Stuart. (1)
- How much does SafariSorter cost? (4)
- Some handy maintenance tips for Mac owners running Panther. (2)
- Alex King launches Use Tasks: a hosted service for Tasks and Tasks Pro™. (2)
- Min Jung, Anil Dash, and I get interviewed for HBO’s Real Sex. (10)
Blog-roll
A selection of blogs I read on a regular basis.
- Hmm, the blog-roll seems to be a little bit broken right now (it may be that the blo.gs service is having problems). I’ve sent myself an email about this problem, and will try to fix it ASAP.