Just noticed this morning that Pluvialis has returned from her trip to Central Asia. Helen links to her trip photos that she has loaded to Flickr. We look forward to reading about her journey when she’s over her jet lag.
Author: Reid Farmer
What Reid is Reading
I just checked, and we haven’t done this since May. Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade. Anyone interested in human evolution needs this book. Osman’s Dream:The History of the Ottoman Empire by Caroline Finkel. You must understand the Ottomans to understand today’s Balkans and Middle East. Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the …
More Random Beach Art
This is starting to turn into an occasional series. I saw this delightful “beach henge” on Tuesday evening. Do you think the dark glasses on top of one of the cairns is an essential part of the installation? I have no idea. As I finished taking this photo, two middle-aged blonde ladies in flowing faux-Hindu …
Kennewick Man and NAGPRA
The AP had this item a few days ago about a bill introduced in Congress to amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). You can read more about NAGPRA here at a National Park Service site. NAGPRA was enacted in 1990 to allow Native American tribes to reclaim and rebury the remains …
Why I Can’t Stop Starting Books
The title of Joe Queenan’s piece in the New York Times Book Review says it all. He says he is simultaneously reading about 25 books. Steve and I both feel the same way.
More Dogs at the Beach
Thought I would share some pictures taken Monday night. It’s been a while since I pictured Sadie and you can see how much she has grown. She was at 46 pounds at her last official weigh-in. As I have said before, there is just so much for dogs at the beach. Surf lines to chase …
Jacarandas
One of the signs of late Spring and Summer here in Southern California are the blue blooms of jacarandas, an exotic tree that is a commonly planted ornamental. The trees are native to southern Africa and South America and are apparently a common ornamental planting in Australia, just as they are here. The two pictures …
Scientists to Rebuild Neanderthal Genome
The New York Times has this interesting piece on plans to reconstruct the Neanderthal genome using DNA extracted from bones discovered in Croatia. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and 454 Life Sciences in the US will collaborate on the work. The study of Neanderthal DNA has been stalled by …
Sign of the Times
Garage sales are pretty common in our neighborhood. This is the first sign like this I’ve seen!
Terrierman and The Mammoth in the Hedge
I wanted to recommend this wonderful post by Terrierman that he put up last week while our blog was on its mysterious outage. The title alone is wonderful and it is a meditation on how humans need to take a long term view (10,000 years at least) of our species and our planet. In a …