Exuviæ
Cast skins, shells, or coverings of animals; any parts of animals which are shed or cast off, whether recent or fossil.
[Generally used only in the plural form, although according to the OED the singular form exuvium is sometimes used.]
Hic, Haec, Fruit Fly
Following up on my links from the other day which included the one on fungi farming animals I realised belatedly this was the fifth in a series of six Scientific American posts about civilisation, fungus and alcohol by Rob Dunn.
And being by Rob Dunn, author of The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Our Evolution, they are interesting, well written, highly readable and perfectly accessible for the non-scientist. They also offer an interesting window into the way in which mad biologists think of and undertake research projects.
The six posts are:
- A Sip for the Ancestors: The True Story of Civilization’s Stumbling Debt to Beer and Fungus
- Fruit Flies Use Alcohol to Self-Medicate, but Feel Bad about it Afterwards
- Strong Medicine: Drinking Wine and Beer Can Help Save You from Cholera, Montezuma’s Revenge, E. Coli and Ulcers
- By Looking Carefully, Japanese Scientist Discovers the Secrets of Termite Balls
- 5 Kinds of Fungus Discovered to Be Capable of Farming Animals!
- Exhausted Writer Discovers First Cave Painting of Yeast
Or you can find them all linked together here.
Friends
This week’s assignment over at The Gallery is Friends.
So I decided to dig one out of the archives which I’ve not uploaded before.
Click the image for a large version from Flickr
This is our friend Katy (left) with her three children and Noreen. It was taken close to the late Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage at Dungeness (with the hills of the Weald of Kent in the background) during our break in Rye in September 2010. We had a fun week sharing a cottage and doing a bit of exploring.
29 February
Today, 29 February, is a unique day. So unique it happens, to a first approximation, only every four years.
But that, of course, depends upon what value unique has in your philosophy.
Scientifically today is indeed unique, in the formally correct sense. There is no other like it, for it will never occur again, at least as far as we currently understand the laws of physics which govern our universe.
Why? Because time, that ethereal quantity we measure in todays and years, is unidirectional and ever progressing. This time, this very instant, can never occur again. Hence it must be that this, and every other, today must be unique.
Enjoy your once in a lifetime experience!
Not Even Wrong
Various newsfeeds (eg. here) this morning are reporting that the Archbishop of Canterbury has said he believes the law has no right to legalise same-sex marriage.
While the reverend Archbishop has every right to believe whatever the hell idiotic notions he likes — well he believes in God, Hell and the Resurrection, so why stop there — he is factually wrong about the law.
“The law” is a civil process, enacted by the government of the day on our behalf. It is not an adjunct of the Church. Therefore the government of the day has every right to legislate for whatever it likes — save only for the approval of parliament, international law and a major peoples’ revolution.
Who taught the reverend gentleman politics and constitutional history?
(By the way, look at the photo, he’s even already growing Devil’s horns from his eyebrows!)
In Case You Missed …
OK, so here are a few amusements I’ve come across recently which you may have missed.
First, one for all you book lovers: the 20 most beautiful bookshops in the world. And only two are in North America!
While on words, you can test your vocabulary online. It takes about 5 minutes and you’re on your honour not to cheat!
After that you’ll need your 8 hours sleep. Except that apparently needing 8 hours is a myth.
So guys, you lie awake at night. You’re not really worrying about the size of your dangly bits, are you?!
And as if that weren’t worrying enough it has now been found that there at least five kinds of fungus which farm animals — and we’re one of them!
Finally we return to books. Books with leather bindings are generally rather nice. But human leather? Yep! Here’s a short history behind anthropodermic bibliopegy. And there’s another here.
Sweet dreams!
Thought of the Day
Courtesy of Thoughts of Angel …
If heat makes things expand, then I’m not FAT … I’m just really HOT!
All Over the Garden
Oh God it’s going to be a day of giant rhubarb news stories.
Following on from Chancellor Osborne’s apparently sudden realisations, our beloved Metropolitan Police have issued a list of plants we should all have to deter burglars.
Yeah OK, so far.
The news report finishes with the Met’s advice that Hedges and shrubs in the front garden should be kept to a height of no more than three feet in order to avoid giving a burglar a screen behind which he can conceal himself.
Leaving aside, for a moment, the implication that female felons don’t try to hide, there’s a problem with this. The list of suggested plants includes Gunnera manicata (above; deciduous and grows to 2.5m), Golden Bamboo (grows to 3.5m) and several conifers, none of which are susceptible to being pruned or trimmed successfully to under 1 metre nor are really suitable for the average suburban garden.
Duh!
<Paging Alan Titchmarsh>
Perceptive
So UK Chancellor George Osborne has come to the dramatic conclusion that the UK has run out of money. I wonder where he’s been for the last several years that this has only just dawned on him? Worrying!
Reasons to be Grateful: 15
Experiment, week 15. This week’s five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful.
- Coleslaw. I’ve always liked coleslaw; good commercially made coleslaw. Home-made somehow just doesn’t work as well for me.
- Bacon & Avocado. They’re nice individually but also make a great combination in salad. I wonder why we’ve eaten this twice in the last week?
- Confit of Duck. On Tuesday we had lunch with our friend Patric (see below) at Café Rouge near St Paul’s Cathedral. The confit of duck was most excellent, although I wasn’t struck on the plum sauce that came with it which was sweet rather than sharp.
- Solving Family History Problems. I’ve had a couple of breakthroughs this week on my family history. One was courtesy of …
- Clarenceux King of Arms. I’m lucky to know Patric Dickinson who is Clarenceux King of Arms, England’s second most senior Herald (and not to be confused with the deceased poet of the same name). Now that sounds grand and as a title and position it is. Although he spends a significant part of his time involved with royalty (as a herald he has various ceremonial roles in the Royal Household), Patric isn’t at all grand. Like me he’s a grammar school boy and a normal human being. And as a professional genealogist he is fascinated by families. Consequently some while ago he wrested from me a copy of my family tree and quite unexpectedly and unbidden went about solving a conundrum about one set of my very ordinary, working class great-great-grandparents. He explained all this to me on Tuesday, prior to lunch together. It is a tale of non-marriages, second families and unexpected connections from the 1840s and 1850s. A fascinating piece of detective work which had defeated me. Many thanks, Patric!
[Both pictures culled from the internet. The top one is Patric being his normal self, albeit at a formal function. The lower is of Patric, enrobed, in procession at Windsor in his role as Secretary to the Order of the Garter. Sadly I don’t have a picture of him in his herald’s tabard.]