The Humanity - Shellfish and Seaweed

A fascinating BoingBoing article talks about a genetic bottleneck in the development of the human race and the role of shelfish in keeping us going:

A couple hundred thousand years ago, the planet became a much colder and drier place. In Africa, deserts expanded, species were wiped out and the human race was in deep trouble.

See, humans today may look pretty different from one another but, genetically speaking, there's not much diversity at all within our species. In fact, chimpanzees, which look pretty much the same from one individual to the next, are much more genetically diverse than we are. To scientists, that suggests that humans have come through a genetic bottleneck--a point where our numbers shrunk dramatically, and a relatively small population had to rebuild the species. For about 20 years, genetic anthropologists have been comparing the genes of modern human populations. Over time, they've used bigger and bigger samples, and better and better analysis, to hone in on when our bottleneck likely happened, and how many humans managed to slip through it.

Turns out, somewhere between 130,000 to 190,000 years ago, the human species was reduced to less than 1000 breeding individuals--just a few thousand people in total. Ancient, naturally driven climate change pushed our species to the brink, said Curtis Marean, Ph.D., a professor with the Institute of Human Origins and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.

What saved us? According to Marean, the answer may be "shellfish".

...Marean used climate models to pinpoint locations in Africa where human hunter-gatherers could have hunkered down during a long glacial period that dried out the continent and expanded deserts. Of the four-to-six possible locations, he focused in on an area along the coast of South Africa.

...His team eventually found a site, dating to 164,000 years ago, that shows evidence of humans eating shellfish, working with natural pigments and creating technologically sophisticated tools. He thinks this could be the remnants of the humans of the bottleneck--ancestors of everyone alive today.

Very interesting, and let me toss in this hypothesis - if these people were eating shellfish they were almost surely also eating seaweed, so one might expect seaweed to have some weird combination of nutrients that is especially beneficial.  If anyone has some personal experience and delightful recipes, please share.  

Comments

[Janet]

To scientists, that suggests that humans have come through a genetic bottleneck--a point where our numbers shrunk dramatically, and a relatively small population had to rebuild the species.

I believe the account can be found in Genesis 6 thru 9.

[PD]

Oh, come now. What makes you think they were in a position to have access to shellfish?

[Clarice]

You know seaweed is good for you--But where did they find the soy sauce and wasabi?

***********\\Another chapter of the FBI in peace and war..the FBI blew the anthrax xase. Dr Ivins the man they blamed it on (and who subsequently died of an apparent "suicide" could NOT have been the person who spread the anthrax because he did not have the kind used in the attacks and had no means to process it in that fashion.
http://edjayepstein.blogspot.com/2009/12/anthrax-case-falls-apart.html
It mst likely was Iraq.lsomething the WH believed, Laurie Mylroie believed, I believed and Michael barone et al believed.

And the proof that it could not have been Ivins did not require Sherlock Holmes to winkle it out.

[narciso]

I've been following E J Epstein, since I came across that book on the origins of the Drug
War, "Agency of Fear" that I used for a college paper. He's been a major resource in following some of the more interesting questions about 9/11, the Czech connection to Atta, the Spanish ties hidden by KSM's interrogation. That story seemed to obvious

[Rick Ballard]

"What makes you think they were in a position to have access to shellfish?"

...that shows evidence of humans eating shellfish, working with natural pigments...

The natural pigments were found on the remnant of a sign - MARISCO..

QED

[Charlie (Colorado)]

PD, shellfish are very easy to get pretty much anywhere on the coast. I've made pretty decent meals off mussels picked on a pier in Maine. Add clamdigging, beach crabs, oysters, cockles, periwinkles, snails, sea anemones, namako (I don't know the word in English) and so on, and I'm getting hungry.

Obviously, wasabi, garlic butter, and cocktail sauce are indications of an advanced civilization.

Remember Desmond Morris' The Human Zoo? He supposed that humans, with our unusually upright posture, less-mobile feet and loss of an opposable big toe might have been due to an interval in which most humans were littoral. Add in a major die-off and genetic drift and you're cooking.

[Clarice]

EJ Epstein is one sharp cookie. In Sept 2001 people in the know knew that iraq had the capacity to weaponize anthrax and motive to spread it here--it was a message to the administration that if they attacked iraq, Iraq could do untold chemical and biological weapon induced damage here, and I know for a fact that is how it was read by them. But the FBI carp kept them from publicly saying that.

If there was a mole high up in the AFFBI could the agency do more damage than it has already done? I think not.

[Clarice]

And then there's a recent discovery in South Africa of humanoid skulls with a far larger brain capacity than ours coupled with small, infantile faces..rather like ET or those early clay figures found in Jordan.

(Contrast with humanoids with large faces and small cranial capacity like..um..John Kerry, i.e.)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Oh, and don't forget the Mitochondrial Eve — mitochondria are really nearly separate symbiotes, they probably started that way, with their own genes and genetic code. Since you get your mitochondria entirely from the egg cell from Mom, the genes are completely matrilinial. Gene sequencing shows that we're all descended from a single mitochondrial line that came from somewhere around the southeast african coast. Ur-Mom was about 50Kyr ago, but those women were the most recent women with those mitochondria.

Again, a small initial population would lead to narrowing the genetic diversity of the mitochondrial DNA too,.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

This all shows up in the Ayn Rand books, of course.

In particular, The Virtue Of Shellfishness.

[Clarice]

Here--Boskop Man

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/the-brain-2/28-what-happened-to-hominids-who-were-smarter-than-us>Smarter than we are but dead and gone

[narciso]

That makes sense, that was one of the more obvious conclusions of that affair. Roger Simon was one of the few who actually took
that as a reference in the book you can't find anywhere. Hanson was a mole for twenty years before he was nabbed, I'm not confident
they would find a successor mole anytime soon

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Boskops Man is a cool idea, but we don't really have much evidence that the larger brain actually did anything we'd count as useful intelligence. It's not exactly clear yet what this "intelligence" thing really is — it may well be a function of microanatomy instead of gross morphology.

[Clarice]

I don't know Charlie, I find some weird comfort in the thought that humans weren't always so stupid.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Clarice, do we really need to postulate a mole? Consider Mark Felt. Or J Edgar Hoover, for that matter.

Really, the FBI has been a "rogue agency" almost from the first.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I don't know Charlie, I find some weird comfort in the thought that humans weren't always so stupid.

Well, of course, they could really be the Grays, and we're descendants of second-class citizens they left behind.

Maybe the whole Rapture thing is race memory?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Here's the Epstein link.

[narciso]

Devolution seems to the story of the day, I think Hoover has been painted with such a
brush of villainy, that one has to check that portrait. The thing I detest about Felt was not what he did to gather evidence against
Ayers and the rest of the WeatherUnderground, but the naivete that feeding the press, would get him 'eaten last' in Churchill's phrase

[Clarice]

No, we needn't postulate a mole..We could postulate as I have that if there is one he couldn't do more damage than an idiotic and schlerotic bureaucracy .

And now--WHAT DID HE KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?

heh

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/01/01/exclusive-obama-got-pre-christmas-intelligence-briefing-about-terror-threats-to-homeland.aspx>Obama warned of possible Xmas attack before he left for Hawaii

[mitochondria]

All your energy are belong to us.

[narciso]

This makes, the LUned statement, below inoperative, WT!@#$@%, So Gompert, Kappes, one of my favorites since he tried to kneecap
Goss, all these knew 'something was in the air

[Frau Lagerapfel]

The Virtue Of Shellfishness- Excellent reminder, Chaco!
Loren Eisley's article about the Boskop folk also calls them the 'Strandlooper', which would put them in the right spot to eat shellfish. If they did indeed have larger brains, why were they limit their diet to shellfish? Even Euell Gibbons branched out to barnacles, geoducks and grunion. Come to think of it, Euell's head looked rather large in his photos.
BTW Boskoop apples are some really large, excellent, though homely, winter apples, clarice. That means they have to lie around out in the cold shed/cellar, soften and develop their flavors. Unfortunately, Americans have been led to believe that an apple should be crisp and crunchy.
Writes one Rainer Hoenicke:
"I fondly remember this apple variety from my childhood. We'd get a whole crate of Boskoop in October and store it in the cellar till Christmas. I loved the tartness of freshly picked apples and the sweetness of the slightly shriveled ones from the cellar. They would last throughout the winter. Every time I let a Gravenstein go too long and bite into mealiness, I long for a Boskoop. I particularly like the russet skin. My teeth are allergic to the glossy texture of most apples. Boskoop is heaven to me, and the only apple I can bite into whole."

[PD]

I'll try to be more obvious next time.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

barnacles, geoducks

These aren't shellfish?

[Clarice]

I never ate a boskop apple, frau, but once traveling thru Penn I bought a basket of magnificent Gravensteins from some Amish farmers and made them into the most delicious apple pies I have ever tasted.

[Melinda Romanoff]

The humble Boskop:

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1388323545915&id=ed4b71f8380ce434bc2b17f3cb080ee6&url=http%3a%2f%2fupload.wikimedia.org%2fwikipedia%2fde%2fthumb%2f0%2f02%2fApple_sunburn1.jpg%2f180px-Apple_sunburn1.jpg>

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Good NYT Op-Ed.

Honest.

[Clarice]

Hey--Bill Clinton's sharp ass security advisor Clarke was fixated on Y2K as I recall to the exclusion of the gathering strom in Afghanistan.

[Topsecretk9]

Clarice

I don't blame Obama for the 253 bomber I just think that he and many Dems ought to apologize to Bush -- it IS a war and a terror thread and negotiating it AIN'T easy

Having said that...

That Newsweek article says Janet Napolitano was present - would that she raised the threat level (which I believe to be the Sec of Homeland Security's job) and put all air travel on heighten alert the system may have worked.

For failing to do so she should resign.

[Clarice]

DoS ws there..why didn't they alert there embassies and consulates--why wasn't the panty bombers visitor's visa pulled? You don't need probable cause to do that for heaven's sake, it's utterly at the consular official's discretion.

[Clarice]

*their**

[Frau Lagerapfel]

Technically, you're right,of course, Chaco, but they are not as easy to gather as whelks or scallops, clams, and other bivalves, for example. I would think the smart 'Boskoppers' would not want to waste the energy it takes to *bag* a geoduck. When I harvested goose barnacles in Oregon, it wasn't all that easy, either. I smuggled them south into CA as far as Mount Shasta, where I made a chowder out of them. Anything with bacon and potatoes will taste OK but "poor man's lobster" is stretching the point.

clarice, my absolute favorite is the Cox's orange pippin. Hard to grow in CA as I found out, even in apple country.

[jimmyk]

an interval in which most humans were littoral

This somehow brings to mind the old aquatic ape theory.

[Stephen]

These folks have a lot of info about that sort of thing (sea vegetables) fwiw http://www.seaweed.net/

[Rick Ballard]

Tops,

Fire an AA hire? You jest - she's a twofer to boot (although I suppose any lesbian would be) and competence had nothing to do with her appointment in the first place. AFAICT competence didn't enter into the appointment process for any of the positions filled by the Unicorn Rider - he just hoped everyone would change enough so that bare minimum expectations might be met.

He was wrong. Again.

[Topsecretk9]

Apparently Obama's rookie moves are not endearing him to the intel community

LUN

[Melinda Romanoff]

Frau-

I have my sources for these.

http://www.orangepippin.com/imagesvarieties/small/cox.jpg>

LUN

Let me know.

Keep in mind, it takes seven years to get the first fruit, and it will taste differently due to your local soil.

[Frau Lagerapfel]

Wasn't Clarke's main interest, besides himself, his herb garden? I'm so glad his movie has not been made even though it's a sure bet he received $$$ for "consultation." He's another in a long list of those Clintonistas who chose protecting the Dems personal interests rather than the U.S. Pfui!

[Clarice]

We always scour the area at apple time for varietals unobtainable outside orchards and are rarely unhappy with our finds.

If I were Fenton instead of concentrating on pesticides and locavore foods, etc I'd move to outlaw the misnamed "delicious" apple..a tasteless potato with red or yellow skin IMO.

[narciso]

"This see no evil, here no evil, and speak no evil' mentality is getting ridiculous. Where were there any signs of scrutiny, that this meeting would have touched off, does this mean the Nigerian would have been included in the summary, it stands to reason.Napolitano needs to go like yesterday, this onion just gets more and more rancid, since we first heard about it. What was the level of chatter involved

[Melinda Romanoff]

Bag-O-Sawdust with juice in it, is what you're referring to, am I correct?

(The Yellow does do well in apple butter though...)

[Clarice]

My, my. TS--and no VIPS attacks on him, yet? How surprising.

[Clarice]

Yes,Mel.

Niters all..

[narciso]

The vilest aspects of Clarke, concerned a little dystopic interlude that he wrote for the Atlantic, in 2005 suggesting that Iraq was going to reap us this worldwind of terror, it turns out he's part of the Atlantic Council that Ann linked last night, that was receiving funds from the CTC (from a long ago Powerline link)and his strange neo con hating but Wahhabi friendly tract, 'The Scorpion's Gate' also optioned as a film.One suspects that when they were casting about for the villain, a cyber security obsessed excerpt they were thinking of him. Interestingly, although they have similar views in most regards, He
and Scheur hate each other 'with the force
of a thousand suns'

[Melinda Romanoff]

narciso-

They can't stand their reflection on the same side of the blade.

But that's enough of me.

G'night all.

[narciso]

We well know VIPS is not focused against those who would harm America, but against those who would protect it, (hence their leaking to Hersh, Packer, and the like)

[Frau Lagerapfel]

You're making me cry, Melinda; after clearing 10 acres of raw land in a high desert area, we planted 3000 dwarf apple trees in what was to be a hobby orchard. We had many different apples and were too early with so-called organic apples wave. Stores would not take our fruit because it was not waxed. We finally stored apples in controlled storage and sold in farmer's markets. The hobby became a headache. Among the different varied apples for market, we had Cox's orange and some russets (Boskoop) and late -- Arkansas blacks -- which were for us (apple wine, anyone?). Our Cox's oranges did not have the beautiful skin shown in your illustration. The apple is very finicky about soil and weather as you apparently know. Those who found out we had some would take any we would share, no matter how cracked and ugly.

Apple memories are sure strong in those who have had unwaxed fruit and picked when ripe. The smell alone is phantastic. We finally sold the orchard which four of us had created and it is no more. I live in an area where only "wimpy" apples grow. The orchard was 100 miles away at just about 5000 feet. I wouldn't want to subject a Cox's orange to Los Angeles County, Melinda. That's apple abuse.

[Frau Lagerapfel]

narciso, Too true about the VIPs gang.
Good night, all.

[Ralph L]

Holmes!, cried Watson
You've winkled on my trousers!

[Peter]

Those 'way back when folks with the big brains and childlike faces probably died out just from being libs. They sound just like those clowns running academia. Lots of them are very smart but have zero survival value.

We have raised a couple of generations of upper class kids who have never used an axe or a sledgehammer, never slept on the ground and never so much as taken a punch in the face and kept coming in aswingin'. This has much to do with Obama's utter failure internationally. He and his handlers may be smart but they aren't tough enough to survive without the people they'd like to lord over. Things get tough, take your choice, the Palins or the Obamas? Rahm Emmanual of sharp elbows fame or Joe the Plumber?

[PaulL]

The Boskop thing was fun reading but it's all a bunch of overly wild speculation. Just look at Wikipedia's entry on it and read some of the rebuttal.

[Clarice]

PaulL!! Wild speculation!! Really???

[PaulL]

I just don't want anyone to get too far out on Boskop.

[Melinda Romanoff]

PaulL-

Tell that to some friends in Bedford County, PA, whom have cold cellars with canned jars of everything and other "put up" fruits and vegetables.

[boris]

From The "amazing" Boskops

in fact, what happened is that a small set of large crania were taken from a much larger sample of varied crania, and given the name, "Boskopoid." This selection was initially done almost without any regard for archaeological or cultural associations -- any old, large skull was a "Boskop". Later, when a more systematic inventory of archaeological associations was entered into evidence, it became clear that the "Boskop race" was entirely a figment of anthropologists' imaginations

My speculation is the hypothesis comes from an era now considered to be tainted by racialist thinking. That any group of humans might be smarter than the rest is not the sort of idea "real" scientists can suggest anymore.

[Jane]

Good Morning kids! I'm here to report we are having another blizzard. Thanks Al Gore.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Frau-

Many apologies! I had no intention of creating a flashback moment.

My weakness is Un-pasteurized apple cider. And at night, cut that pucker power with a smooth bourbon.

[Clarice]

Thanks, Boris. I'm going out to find a bigger hat.

[boris]

In case my 1st correction never shows up (going on 10 min) ... here it is again: amazing Boskop link

[BR]

Did anyone see the full moon at 11pm ET? I saw the most amazing phenomenon: a dark, thin, black line just below the moon's equator, which then slowly moved down to the bottom, taking about ten seconds.

I've checked the NASA photos and there's mention of partial eclipse with earth's shadow, but this line I saw was not fuzzy at all.

[BR]

From TM's article: "...and a relatively small population had to rebuild the species." Hee, if I were a man, I'd think that's very sexy. Duty as an alibi for all kinds of fun :)

[Melinda Romanoff]

Thanks, boris.

7 1/8 must huge in my circles...

[Clarice]

BR, You don't suppose a clever ad agency..............

[BR]

My etymological New Year's Joke for JOMers:

Philately - stamp collecting
French philatelie, from:
Greek - Philos, loving
Greek - Ateleia, exemption from payment
(a- without) + (telos - charge)

Free love

Hee, probably a philanderer's alibi - when his wife asked
him where he'd been all night: "I was doing Philately!"

[BR]

Melinda, are you talking about apples or shoe size?

Clarice, er, ad agency? For thin black lines or population growth? It's so hilarious when we have more than one subject intertwining here.

[BR-the-Mermaid]

Thanks, TM, for that wonderful link to seaweed's beneficial nutritional qualities. I love sushi! And bunches of seaweed brought home from the ocean for the bath is also a great skin sensation!

[Syl]

Well here's my seaweed story.

Back in the '70's I worked at a music school in Manhattan. There was a wonderful teacher there who was very rich and didn't need to work but who dedicated her life to teaching music. The school also had several Japanese students and interns one of whom was such a lovely person and good teacher with children that we kept her around even after her 'sabbatical' was officially completed.

(I'm not naming names) This Japanese gal and I often were invited out to the rich teacher's mansion in the Hamptons for weekends. We all got along great and were good friends.

One time while visiting, a friend of our hostess invited us over for lunch. We decided to play a trick on her--with rhubarb and seaweed. There's a word in Japanese that means bumbling or joke or stupid mistake. It would be what you would shout out if Gerald Ford fell down the steps of Air Force 1 or accidentally hit a friend with his golf ball.

I don't know how to spell the word, but it sort of phonetically would be pronounced 'Oh-chuck-a-choy'. This is what we decided to name our concoction.

So we gathered some rhubarb from the garden and some seaweed from the big salt-water pond the mansion overlooked to make our joke to bring over for lunch.

Our Japanese friend took charge and of course had to make the presentation beautiful, carefully wrapping little pieces of rhubarb with seaweed and garnishing and arranging to perfection.

When we presented the dish of o-chuck-a-choy to our lunch hostess she ooo'd and awe'd and ate one. So we all, being polite, each ate one too. Kind of looking at each other and giggling a bit. But it was good so we ate almost the whole thing and never revealed that it was just a joke.

Never underestimate the power of a dish of food given a Japanese word as a name and prepared by a very artistic Japanese gal.

You may not enjoy the story but I sure enjoyed that day!

[Melinda Romanoff]

hat size.

[peter]

Today's date is 01 02 20 10; it reads the same backwards as forwards.

[BR]

Wow, Peter!

[Janet]

My experience of bathing with food...
In my teen years I took the advice of some magazine to put lemon juice in the bath water (followed by cucumbers on the eyes, mayo in the hair, and whipped egg whites on the face). Good Lord, it took half an hour of scrubbing to get the lemon pulp out of the bath tub. Definitely not worth it!

[BR]

A recent article by James Delingpole of Climategate fame predicts the CO2 scaremongers will choose acidification of the oceans as their next justification for continuing the man-made-CO2-must-be-curbed-so-they-can-get-rich hoax.

Forewarned is fore-armed.

[BR]

Hm hmmmmm, Janet, delicious! My mom used to rub olive oil all over us when we were babies. I found a product of olive oil for the hair in a spray can, which I spray all over my body. Next I'd like to try butter.

[centralcal]

Syl: great story. And, Happy New Year to you - great to see you here again.

[Clarice]

"thin black lines "

Ad agency.

Syl--HEH and Happy New Year!

[Janet]

Ha ha ha...let me guess BR, you'll be the one with flies circling overhead. Well, at least there isn't the "tub ring" problem.

[Ignatz]

--Today's date is 01 02 20 10; it reads the same backwards as forwards.--

So the entire day is a palindrome; pretty cool.

-Well here's my seaweed story.--

Here's my wife's.
As a teen she went swimming in the ocean at Santa Cruz. A few feet below the surface she got tangled up in some kelp and couldn't get free. Panicked and nearly drowned.
Forty years later we always have to find a relatively kelp free beach to stop at, even if we're just going to sit on the sand.
Gives every piece that has washed on shore a wide berth if we're beachcombing.

[Syl]

centralcal and Clarice

Happy New Year back at you! Now try washing your hair with a raw egg--then rinsing with hot water!

It may take you days to get the hardened white stuff out of the tangles.

:)

[Jane]

01 02 20 10

I actually noticed that too - all on my own. I was quite impressed with myself.

Of course I didn't put together that it was a palindrome so I'm back to normal now.

[Clarice]

Thnx for those useful beauty tips, Syl.

[Les Nessman]

" A couple hundred thousand years ago, the planet became a much colder and drier place. In Africa, deserts expanded, species were wiped out and the human race was in deep trouble. "

Uh-oh! You mean it wasn't AGW?

Somebody must be a Denier. Wonder if he'll get flak for this.

[boris]

A couple hundred thousand years ago, the planet became a much colder and drier place. In Africa, deserts expanded, species were wiped out and the human race was in deep trouble.

Possible explanation why the race is positively phobic about climate change.

[glasater]

This is the funny of the day from Twitter:

Big Guy calls Rush's ability to get private doctor and proper treatment a "catastrophic error in catastrophic care." #BOTeleprompter

[jimmyk]

So the entire day is a palindrome

Only in America.

[Ignatz]

--So the entire day is a palindrome--

Since the Palin's give their kids some pretty odd names anyway I'd have been pretty tempted to call one of them Nilap.
Talk about a palindrome.

[centralcal]

Okay, Ignatz you deserve this - ::eyeroll::

lol.

[Frau Äppelwoi]

No need to apologize, Melinda. I went from brainy Boskop folk to Boskop apples to days as an weekend apple farmer by myself. I have a copy of Cider Making by Annie Proulx (her early work as a writer before she made it big with fiction) which contains a great drawing of "An illegal still in a modern kitchen." If you would like the book, I would be glad to send it in a plain manila mailer. It is really great for a fan of cider and cider lore. Don't miss the Äppelwoi LUN.

jimmyk's "aquatic ape" reference brought back an unwanted memory of Ter-ray-za's cabana boy saluting and proclaiming "reporting for duty." Now that's a flashback!

clarice - two pans of Vollkornbrot are out resting before baking. The loaves are small but very good with soaked wheat berries and some sunflower seeds.

[Clarice]

US briefed in Oct about underwear bombers by Saudis who'd been subject to same attack by probably the same bomb maker in Yemen:

LUN

[clarice]

Frau, after my annual checkup I'm back on my low carb diet until I am where I want to be. I'm still making bread for my husband but the only way he'll eat whole grains is when i misx them in with a lot of white flour. Artisan had some great whole wheat pita bread recipe online right now..

[Rob Crawford]

Apple memories are sure strong in those who have had unwaxed fruit and picked when ripe.

I'd contend that nothing compares to right-off-the-tree pears, though. The family farm had a small "orchard" -- eight gigantic trees planted by previous owners -- that produced pears that were rock-hard. But they were PEARS. Great tasting, best I've ever had. Nothing from a store has ever compared, and I doubt I'd ever be able to find the like again.

We also had persimmon trees, a few miles of fence line grown over with blackberries, a half acre of front yard infiltrated by mint (think of running the lawn mower through that!), and about 20 square feet of asparagus patch. When I was a kid there was a cherry tree and lots of mulberry trees, and before I was born there was even a paw-paw patch.

I can't blame my parents for selling the place, but I wish I had it today.

[Rob Crawford]

Did anyone see the full moon at 11pm ET? I saw the most amazing phenomenon: a dark, thin, black line just below the moon's equator, which then slowly moved down to the bottom, taking about ten seconds.

What shape was it? Were its proportions 1:4:9?

I mean, it is 2010.

[clarice]

We had an apricot and a sour cherry tree in our first house in Wisonsin. My grandma used to make cherry brandy with the cherries.
It wasn't until many years later when I was in L'vov that I tasted those cherries again--topping th morning blintzes..MM

We also had a currant bush. Now you can someimes buy currants in the market, but for many years you could not.
I have a middle Europe love of tart fruits.

[Rob Crawford]

A recent article by James Delingpole of Climategate fame predicts the CO2 scaremongers will choose acidification of the oceans as their next justification for continuing the man-made-CO2-must-be-curbed-so-they-can-get-rich hoax.

Already spotted someone peddling that over at Tim Blair's site.

Rather pathetic... the ocean is mildly alkaline, very mineral-rich, and contains/contacts more buffering minerals than I'd care to measure.

Even worse for the theory is what reef aquarium keepers do -- they use CO2 in a "calcium reactor" to raise the alkalinity and mineral content of their tanks! The CO2 lowers the pH inside the "reactor", where it dissolves some calcium-rich mineral, but then agitation forces the CO2 out of solution, bringing the pH back up. Now, think of your average ocean beach, with churning waves and calcium-rich sand...

[Rob Crawford]

Possible explanation why the race is positively phobic about climate change.

Nah. Agricultural societies don't like finding out that the land they've spent generations developing doesn't grow the old crops anymore.

Although I don't recall much wailing and lamenting from Europe at the end of the Medieval Climate Optimum. In all likelihood, they just experienced it as a series of bad years, then adapted by changing crops.

[Frau Äppelwoi]

Some of ribesfamily of fruits are hosts to white pine rust and therefore prohibited in some areas and even states. Too darn bad.

[BR]

Rob C, wow, I didn't know they're also called "paw-paws" in America!

Interesting that you've also spotted Climategate Part II already. We should identify and keep track of who's spouting it.

Re the thin black line on the moon last night - I don't know how high on the moon it began, but when I first looked at the moon, I saw a horizontal black line straight across just below the moon's equator. I couldn't believe my eyes. Then it moved slowly downward, getting shorter and shorter on both sides following the shape of the moon. There were no clouds and no trees in my line of vision. If the moon is, say 10 inches, the line was a 1/4 inch thick. Wish I could draw it for you. The moon was completely bright, with no hazy earth shadow from the eclipse. That's why the black line was so amazing. I ran to get my binocs, but the line didn't reappear.

Clarice, I'm gonna read your Saudi link right now! (But I still don't get the ad agency joke :)

[clarice]

BR--I waa joking they were finding some way to advertise on the moon--Tey've used up every other available space.

[Katherine]

Clarice,
There is nothing better than sour cherries - which grow by the roadside in eastern Poland and Western Ukraine. I also love currents and gooseberries. These fruit are almost impossible to get in the US. I believe it is because they often carry a bug that is a treat to White Pines. Great pity.

[BR]

Ohhhhhh, that's really funny!
New crop circles on the moon. What next, a peace sign?

I just finished reading AT's underlying Newsweek article and I'm amazed at Isikoff. Did he temporarily regain his sanity during full moon.

Especially this paragraph:
"A main purpose of Nayef's [October] briefing for Brennan [White House counterterrorism adviser] was to alert U.S. officials to the use of the underwear technique."

Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counterterrorism official, who had survived an assassination attempt by the same technique out of Yemen, must be doing a good job if he was targeted!

And good for the intelligence sources bringing this to the public's awareness. We just have to get on with the show as if this country is leaderless.

[matt]

a little panko and egg, dip the seaweed in, and fry makes for a delicious and nutritional seaweed tempura.

I also wonder, late at night in my reveries, who was the first human to find and eat things like geoducks, lobsters, sea cucumbers, and for that matter, almost anything found in an Asian supermarket. Just as curious would be to know the reactions of their significant others. "Urg, you are out of your hunter-gatherer mind!" or "Sato-san, you is kitchigai!"

Saw some wonderful Arkansas Blacks at the farmer's market this morning, but already had enough fresh fruit and veggies for the week.

Kids are going to just love the seafood Thai curry tonite. Whole baby squid, monster littlenecks, and shrimp....well at least they'll eat the shrimp....