Thursday, December 27, 2012

Thoughtful Thursday: Stochasticity

[American Black Ducks in a freezing downpour.]

"At times, the public has gotten the impression from the media that nature is free of risk or danger, when it may actually contain furtive or cantankerous animals, thick dust, freezing downpours, ravenous insects, disorienting topography, and overall stochasticity."
-Kristina Boyd, The Ethics of Wildlife Photography

[Definition of stochasticiy, by the way, is this: s--t happens.  This quote came across the Wildlife Society News at an interesting time for me, since my Christmas gift this week was -gasp- cable TV. I've lived without TV for many, many years, and yet am aware from many hotel room nights of just how ridiculous the TV portrayal of nature can be. I lucked into an episode of Bigfoot Hunters on Animal Planet at a hotel in Illinois a few weeks ago, and laughed my a-- off for 45 minutes. Oh the wonders of modern entertainment. But watch out for that overall stochasticity.]

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