Friday, December 21, 2007

Solstice Eve

Today, among other things, is the day before the winter solstice. I have been looking forward to this for some time. Hopefully I'll be able to get more accomplished once the days start getting longer.

In other news, I received an email from Eduardo yesterday. It was short, just "Como estas, Meli" and he said that Rob and I were "muy vonito" in the snow photos I had sent him. I was on cloud 9 all day though. Its the first I've heard from Eduardo in more than a month, and I am much relieved to be assured that he is still there.

Now, I'll address some recurring questions that people have been asking me.

Firehouse Spaghetti-- this was actually spaghetti consumed at the firehouse. Unkie John is a firefighter, and every December the fire station has a spaghetti supper fund-raiser.

The differences between apes and monkeys
Compared to monkeys, apes have:
  • NO TAIL
  • a very flexible shoulder (for suspensory locomotion)
  • larger body size
  • larger relative brain size
  • longer infant dependency
  • highly complex social pattern (though there are some exceptions)
  • 5 cusps on their molars (monkeys have only 4)
And finally, what is a cladogram?
A graph depicting evolutionary relationships among groups.

I'd put an example of one on here, but that would be waaaaay too educational. If you really want to see one, come to the class I'm teaching next semester.

Thanks for reading and happy solstice.

3 comments:

Melissa said...

A thought occurs...

No wonder I didn't have time to go running today. Its the shortest day.

Maybe I'll have time tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

THANKS FOR THE BRIEF BUT THOROUGH EDUCATIONAL INFO........ now if I would just be able to remember it!!!!!!! don't go runnin today, it is BRUTAL, with the WINDS!!!!!!!! C YA SOON, luv and hugs, be careful driving home.. merry , merry christmas..... Loved the card

amypfan said...

Can I really come to your class next semester?