A Blue Collar Slob’s Introduction to the Rare Oakland Manzanita [video] | Hacker News Reader

A Blue Collar Slob’s Introduction to the Rare Oakland Manzanita [video]

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191 pointsmontalbano39 comments

I never would have expected to see a Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't videos posted here. He has a whole series of videos. The language can be a little rough, but the videos are filled with interesting and accurate botanical information.

His love of botany (and edaphology) shines through. I've subscribed.

>Specifically, edaphology is the study in how soils influence and interact on/with living things, especially those of plants. It is the study of the ecological relationship soil has with land cultivation practices and plants. //

That's a new word for me.

Indeed, I wasn't sure whether to submit. But given Hacker News' purview of anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity I felt strongly that it fitted in.

Something kind of off the beaten path is way better than a lot of things. It's interesting and informative and isn't trying to make a point in some controversy.

This is the same guy that rescued the coyote pup a while back. I can't find the full video on his channel any more, but did find an 'archival copy':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02m_oByCJ8A

I'm always a fan of the bringing together of the sophisticated and the profane. Thanks for sharing.

This sounds like something I'm going to like. My uncle, who once taught ancient greek at johns hopkins, explained to me the ancient greek understanding of sacred and profane was that profane was the normal relationship with reality, and what was outside of that was sacred. The example he gave was that in order to be executed, prisoners first had to be made sacred, so that killing them wasn't a transgression.

You would love Eliade’s The Sacred and Profane.

This also is a good prerequisite to understand Girard’s work.

There was an astronomy prof at my college who collected Chaplin (and other silent) movies and would show them throughout the year, with his wonderful ragtime piano accompaniment.

https://www.swarthmore.edu/a-brief-history/1963-astronomer-p...

https://aas.org/obituaries/peter-van-de-kamp-1901-1995

I got some mad eloquent words for your ass.

I'm ashamed to admit I was put off at first by the heavy Chicago accent, but holy shit this was interesting and informative, and the fellow knows his botany.

I liked, subscribed, and "hit that bell" as the youtubers say these days.

out of curiosity, why do you think accents put you off?

I don't have a problem with accents at all.

I think, at first, I thought he was faking or exaggerating his accent for effect. Then I realized I wasn't familiar with the Chicago accent enough to know what was real or exaggerated. Then I decided to just listen to the guy and forget about the accent. All this happened within about 10-15 seconds.

In retrospect, I am super familiar with and rather fond of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Boston accents; maybe for me the Chicago accent falls into a kind of uncanny valley where it's close to those other accents to sound almost the same, but different enough to sound "weird" and "fake".

But, the more I watch these videos, the more his accent will be familiar to me.

For sorta-realistic Chicago accents, watch and enjoy the movie "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford. For big ol' jokey Chicago accent, the "Superfans" SNL sketches.

It was recalling those sketches that made me realize it was probably a Chicago accent. "Da Bearss"

> I'm ashamed to admit I was put off at first by the heavy Chicago accent,

As someone with a thick NYC accent it's gratifying to see someone else with a rough appearance and thick accent dish out some knowledge. I only watched the video for a few min and already I see tattoos and hear cursing. Most people would probably write this man off as unintelligent and of low class. I myself have had to mask my accent in some situations as I've been told it makes me sound "common". (fuck you) And although I don't have any tattoos, I know plenty of people who look down on them. I worked for a guy who forced employees with visible arm tattoos to wear long sleeve shirts. It's amazing how many so-called progressive people still espouse classist bigitroy.

Oh, hmmm, appears I'm being modded down in response to a perceived attack on the GP, rendall. Wasn't my intent. The fuck you was a kind of "people who think like that can get fucked" and so was the classist remark. Nothing was directed towards rendall.

Hey, man. That sucks you're getting modded down. I didn't see it as an attack. I liked what you said.

I'm not from the US so I don't have the ear for accents, but my first impression was that this YouTube channel is basically Tony Soprano's account of the afterlife. He finally got out and found himself doing botany in North California.

It made me enjoy the videos much more.

Seriously though, I actually find this much more engaging. You can see where the passion is and not being afraid of being yourself gives makes it so authentic. The guy just fuckin' loves his botany.

It made me enjoy the videos much more.

Seriously though, I actually find this much more engaging. You can see where the passion is and not being afraid of being yourself gives makes it so authentic. The guy just fuckin' loves his botany and shit.

Tony Soprano was Jersey Shore Italian. It hits the TH sound a bit softer, with the tongue a bit closer to the front towards the teeth. The Chicago accent hits that sound with a hard D, with the tongue pressing the palate further back from the teeth. Also, the S sound is harder, too, especially at the end of a word.

There's nothing wrong with his accent at all! I just wasn't used to it, and it sounded like a fake Bronx accent to me at first, until I parsed it and realized it was probably a Chicago accent.

I'm just on the "Alligator Lizards ..." video and he's asking "are you learning anything here [about "MFLs!] or are you just, like, hearing that silly fucking accent".

Honestly, this guy is great. So knowledgeable, such a lively delivery, so inspiring.

Tony Santoro's my dude! I like to think if I had a cranky botanist uncle from Chicago this would be him.

I remember, probably the first of his videos I stumbled across on YouTube. The botany knowledge and quips gave me chuckles, then for the end piece, a call for donations: "so if you wanna make a donation, my venmo is 'societyishell'".

damn near killed me. the subscribe button was clicked.

I love that vegetation and landscape - the oaks and madrones, and higher up, pines, with lots of grassy meadows. It starts in southern Oregon and extends south in fits and starts.

Been watching this dude since the beginning, he's like the Andrew Dice Clay of Botany. Knows his shit for sure.

turn on the generated subtitles. Impressive how well it picks up all these botany terms

Love this guy - I don't think most people realize how extraordinarily rich the natural life is in the Bay Area. I went on a tour of a restored part of the marshes and it was incredible - Ospreys and Seals in the South Bay!

Tangent: all you tree-loving readers should pick up Richard Powers's latest, "The Overstory: A Novel". It's beautifully written (deservedly won the 2019 Pulitzer), and is all about trees.

If you're into CA natives, a good resource of videos, albeit low quality and requiring Flash, can be found at http://naturebytesvideo.com/

Also, https://www.laspilitas.com/ is a great resource as well as a nursery providing CA native plants.

Seeing this here just clued me in to why I love this channel so much.

There has always been a "cultural" association that inteliect has to be complete. That to be educated is to be well spoken. The fact that there is the inherit counter point between knowledge and delivery makes it entrancing.

The accent is a bit of a shtick. In a short news piece from a Chicago TV station his accent is much more subdued. Not surprising as I've never heard someone with that thick of a Chicago accent outside an SNL skit.

Wouldn't you adapt your speaking tone and accent to the context? I did the one time I went on TV.

I like how he points out the texture of the bark. It's extremely smooth, and cool to the touch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctostaphylos

interesting. I have manzanitas all over my property up here in Anza, CA. Their bark isn't smooth though. It's rough and it peels off in thin papery strips everywhere.

I stumbled across a beautiful grove of these manzanitas once up by pinehurst where Alameda county meets Contra Costa. They are a beautiful species and do look rather alien compared to the rest of the flora around.

Love it. Thanks for posting!

Love the videos, I am now a subscriber.

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