Video Killed the Radio Star?

Nope. Not by a long shot.

Do I watch TV? Nope. Do I give a pooh about videos? Nada. What do I love for entertainment? NPR and OPB on the radio. 91.5, I love you. Fridays from 12 to 1 are my favorite. I love Science Talk Friday on Talk of the Nation. Today we kicked off lunch with talk of geology and climate change; note to self: find book called "Revenge of Gaia" and read it slowly.

Lunch ended with a talk about mammoths and learning about them and evolution of species and how long it takes to evolve and what caused their extinction, etc. There are breakthroughs in how to find mitochondrial genomes and such and I loved it all. And I finally found out which epachiderm mammoths were most closely related to... Asian elephants. Ok, the study was actually done using mastadon DNA, but I guess it relates to mammoths as well. There was also talk of wooly rhinos, how very interesting. These findings are currently published in The Journal Science. I need a subscription ot that and National Geographic (my favorite).

Much talked about today was the situation in Myanmar again, of course. My heart still breaks for all of those there being brutalized, oppressed, and otherwised damaged because of bad people. all our advances and we still can't be civil. What are we worth?

Well Frig Why Am I SO Lame?

The folks in Myanmar are fighting for freedom and I sit here freaking about homework. I suck big time. If only I could win the lottery and travel around spreading good will or fighting for it. I feel so lame.



Something about monks... they are so peaceful and set on courses and headed right... when they protest it is for a reason. Goddamn, can't we all support them? How!!!???

Fug it, I'd shave my head if my honey wouldn't leave me over it. Time to hit the lines and find out what I can do from my pathetic stance. Maybe I will write to China to urge them to urge Burma (formerly) to let peace prevail and have tolerance. Maybe I will urge the UN to take more severe action. But f*ck I wish I could just stand in the middle of it all and be the peacekeeper. It'll be the death of me. Like the dude in Stand By Me. Always the peacekeeper who dies in vain.

Predating Lucy

Lucy of Ethiopia was (is?) the oldest human remains discovered (http://www.warmafrica.com/index/geo/9/cat/1/a/a/artid/244). Thanks, Lucy! Lucy is much older than the Kennewick Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man). But where was the gap between out ancestor (the primate ooh ooh ee ee monkey man) and ourselves bridged? Maybe here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2493535.ece) discovered recently.

"While the bones, found in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, in some ways resemble those of Homo erectus, a species from which modern human beings are descended, they have a peculiar mix of phsyical features that could fill a gap in human evolution.

The partial skeletons and skulls appear to be well adapted for walking upright, a key characteristic of more sophisticated hominins or human relatives. Their relatively small brains and upper limbs, however, have more in common with more primitive hominins called Australopithocenes than with Homo erectus, although they clearly belong to the genus Homo.

The results, reported in the journal Nature by a team led by David Lord-kipanidze, of the Georgian National Museum, raise the possibility that the Homo species that first left Africa was anatomically less advanced than species that had already evolved in humanity’s mother continent.

The new fossils are examples of some of the first ancient human beings to leave Africa." (Henderson, M. (2007). Fossils offer fresh clues to missing link in evolution. Retrieved September 22, 2007 from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2493535.ece).

Looks like next to Science I will have to subscribe to Nature.