Lesson Of The Dodo: we are all connected (not a short read)

I just read these two pages last night and was blown away.  It's from an excellent book, The Panda's Thumb, More Reflections In Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould.  I highly recommend snagging a copy from any bookseller, you can find stores that sell it and even locate it in a local library at that link.

     "The dodo, a giant flightless pigeon, (twenty-five pounds or more in weight), lived in fair abundance on the island of Mauritius.  Within 200 years of its discovery in the fifteenth century, it had been wiped out-- by men who prized its tasty eggs and by the hogs that early sailors had transported to Mauritius.  No living dodos have been seen since 1681.
     In August, 1977, Stanley A. Temple, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Wisconsin, reported the following remarkable story (but see postscript for a subsequent challenge).  He, and others before him, had noted that a large tree, Calvaria major, seemed to be near the verge of extinction on Mauritius.  In 1973, he could find only thirteen "old, overmature, and dying trees" in the remnant native forests.  Experienced Mauritian foresters estimated the trees' ages at more than 300 years.  These trees produce well-formed, apparently fertile seeds each year, but none germinate and no young plants are known.  Attempts to induce germination in the controlled and favorable climate of a nursery have failed.  Yet Calvaria was once common on Mauritius; old forestry records indicate that it had been lumbered extensively.
     Calvaria's large fruits, about two inches in diameter, consist of a seed enclosed in a hard pit nearly half an inch thick.  This pit is surrounded by a layer of pulpy, succulent material covered by a thin outer skin.  Temple concluded that Calvaria seeds fail to germinate because the thick pit "mechanically resists the expansion of the embryo within."  How, then, did it germinate in previous centuries?
     Temple put two facts together.  Early explorers reported that the dodo fed on fruits and seeds of large forest trees; in fact, fossil Calvaria pits have been found among skeletal remains of the dodo.  The dodo had a strong gizzard filled with large stones that could crush tough bits of food.  Secondly, the age of surviving Calvaria trees matches the demise of the dodo.  None has sprouted since the dodo disappeared almost 300 years ago.
     Temple therefore argues that Calvaria evolved its unusually thick pit as an adaptation to resist destruction by crushing in a dodo's gizzard.  But, in so doing, they became dependent upon dodos for their own reproduction.  Tit for tat.  A pit thick enough to survive in a dodo's gizzard is a pit too thick for an embryo to burst by it's own resources.  Thus, the gizzard that once threatened the seed had become its necessary accomplice.  The thick pit must be abraded and scratched before it can germinate.
     Several small animals eat the fruit of Calvaria today, but they merely nibble away the succulent middle and leave the internal pit untouched.  The dodo was big enough to swallow the fruit whole.  After consuming the middle, dodos would have abraded the pit in their gizzards before regurgitating it or passing it in their feces.  Temple cites many analogous cases of greatly increased germination rates for seeds after passage through the digestive tracts of various animals.
     Temple then tried to estimate the crushing force of a dodo's gizzard by making a plot of body weight versus force generated by the gizzard in several modern birds.  Extrapolating the curve up to a dodo's size, he estimates that Calvaria pits were thick enough to resist crushing; in fact, the thickest pits could not be crushed until they had been reduced nearly 30% by abrasion.  Dodos might well have regurgitated the pits or passed them along before subjecting them to such an extended treatment.  Temple took turkeys-- the closest modern analogue to dodos-- and force-fed them Calvaria pits, one at a time.  Seven of seventeen pits were crushed in the turkey's gizzard, but the other ten were regurgitated or passed in feces after considerable abrasion.  Temple planted these seeds and three of them germinated.  He writes: "These may well have been the first Calvaria seeds to germinate in more than 300 years."  Calvaria can probably be saved from the brink of extinction by the propagation of artificially abraded seeds.  For once, an astute observation, combined with imaginative thought and experiment, may lead to preservation rather than destruction."

How cool is that?!?!  On the other hand, 3/17 = 17%.  I don't know about the schools you've attended, but 17% was and is a solid F- (which is considered a failing grade at all of the schools I've attended); maybe these trees need to go through Remedial Calvaria 101, or pick up a copy of Choosing Life: Guidelines to Avoiding Extinction.  Although, if you need to read a book to learn that extinction is bad, I'm thinking you should just go ahead and do the rest of us a favor and become extinct.  Or maybe it was that they only nominated one tree to do the forest's reading, but little did they know that he/she/it was both a pathological liar and really, really convincing and most importantly either dyslexic or a wicked procrastinator: "Yeah, yeah, okay, so y'all [it's a tree from Southern Mauritius] need my book report on the book I was supposed to have been reading this month, okay, I think that was supposed to have been "Germination for Dummies.  You want it now?  <gulp>  First off, I want to say that I had the devil of a time getting my hands on it since the Kindle bookstore doesn't have it scanned in yet.  I really have a moral issue with buying books at the Mauritius Southern Pines bookstore like y'all do, 'cuz last time I did that, I was glancing through and page 42 looked an awful lot like my neighbor Bob.  Bob was the chapter president of our book club.  Heh!  That's kinda funny, now that I think about it.  He did love him some books.  Come to think of it, I haven't seen Bob in a long time, hopefully he's having a Hawaiian vacation somewhere.  Oh, yeah, right, thanks Fred, that would be in Hawaii.  What's that Sally?  Well it would just take him a really, really long time to get there, wouldn't it?  Okay, right, right, book report, well, the deal is... um... um um... that after we all just go ahead and fail to germinate-- together, as a group, no stragglers-- then all of our wildest dreams will come true.  Yes, Sam, I know that I've had issues with germination my whole life, and I'm trying to tell y'all that you should try it sometime!  Not germinating, that is!  It should lead to better things for the members of the Southern Pines community!  Escobar, you might finally actually grow a branch!  Mabel, you may finally win the lotto after all these years.  W., you might finally get elected to some position.  I know you were waiting until Bob gets chopped for lumber, I meant bigger than the book club.  [the crowd gasps: "Bigger than the Southern Pines book club?"]  Think HUGE, W., like, I don't know, president of the United States or something, then you can show the whole world what it's like when a tree really puts on its thinking cap.  That'll be a win for all of us.  Now I have to catch a plane, I leave you in peace!  First one to germinate is a rotten egg!  Well, shoot, now I have to open up the floor for side bets.  Who do you think will be the first to break down and germinate?  That one loner who's too cool for our community meetings and calls himself Rambo?  We all know his real name is Sylvester.  Anyone got $5 on Rambo?"

If anyone actually makes it this far, shoot me a message please, so I'll know I'm not shouting into the void...

AWESOME! Dog does most of a road race!

Just a great news story: this little guy waited for a storm to take out the electricity powering his invisible fence, then joined a very close-by road race, the Maryland half-marathon for cancer research, ending up running about 9 miles of it!  GO, DOZER, GO!  :-)  :-)  :-)

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/dozers-big-day-14180812
   &
http://www.facebook.com/dozerthedogfanpage (has various pictures of him on the course)

DID YOU SEE HOW MUCH HE RAISED FOR CHARITY?  YEAH!  YOU THE MAN-- ER, DOG-- DOZER!

chuckle chuckle chuckle

     Ha, amusing.  The background is that my folks & I had a meeting about a month ago at my apartment with a lady from a group called Visiting Angels.  They provide in-home care, mostly to the elderly.  My folks' health is absolutely fine, but looking forward to the day when they may not be able to help me with all of my very minor-league mini-"emergencies" throughout the week-- just learning basic life skills all over again-- we figured something like Visiting Angels could be my safety net if/when my folks are incapacitated or gone.  So after the interview, she was on her way out the door and said "If, heaven forbid, your folks are in a car wreck or anything, and you need help, just give us a call."  I was like "Well hold on there, wait a minute, I'm assuming that if I just lost my parents and am trying to sort out all the things I need to do now, you're pretty much going to be the last item on my mind, if at all.  So instead of me calling you to tell you my parents just kicked it, why don't you call me, say once a month or so and ask "Hey, your parents kick it yet?  Call it the kick-it call."  We all had a good laugh, and she went on her way.
     This afternoon, my folks were visiting, and mom was in the middle of cutting my hair (I am no longer a mountain man), when her cell phone rings.  She puts down the scissors & picks up the phone.  I only hear one side of the conversation-- "Hello?  No Jan, thanks for checking, but Dave & I haven't kicked it yet."  HA!  She actually did it!  Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.  We'll see if this becomes a monthly habit...

     So I just visited the restaurant downstairs, Sticky Fingers, and ordered a barbecue sandwich, probably my favorite item there.  I asked my waitress to add cole slaw & onion rings on the sandwich for an extra dollar.  She brings my plate out later, and I quickly noticed there was no cole slaw or onion rings.  "Um, looks good, but do ya mind adding cole slaw and onion rings?"  "Oh right, you did order that, I'll be right back."  "Well it was an honest mistake, not a big deal, but I'm super excited that Sticky Fingers has recently adopted the policy that when y'all make an honest mistake like this, free food for me for life!  Awesome!  Make sure you tell your manager I said thanks for the mistake."  We both chuckled and I figured the joke was at the end of it's lifespan.  She brought a plate of onion rings & cole slaw to me-- as far as I'm concerned, issue resolved.  Easily fixed.  Then about a minute later, over the noise, in the background I hear "mumble mumble mumble Jeff mumble mumble Jeff."  (this waitress knows my name, as I introduce myself most places I go and ask for my server's name; and I've also been to this Sticky Fingers a few times before-- what, it's downstairs)  So I look around to see if someone's badmouthing me or if I misheard Jeff or what the deal is.  And there's my waitress actually talking to the manager!  When she comes back by, she says "Well, he didn't know about free food for life, but tonight's meal is on us!"  "Wait, what?  No no no, you brought onion rings & cole slaw, the deal is done."  "Hey, be quiet and take it.  You're a regular."  Okay, so I did.  (and their definition of "regular" is way looser than mine)  But that just goes to show that there's cases where a sense of humor literally does pay off!

and more news from the disability fringe

These short bits are amazing!  I got word of this since I set up a Google News alert for Josh Blue and he's in this.  Read what these disabled athletes are doing!

http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20110701/NEWS/110639993/1079&ParentProfile=1067

I have a new hero: Josh Blue

I forget where I heard about this guy, but there is a stand-up comic by the name of Josh Blue who is only three days older than I am and centers much of his high quality self-deprecating humor on the fact that he is afflicted with cerebral palsy.  CHECK HIM OUT!  Go, Josh, go!  If you don't find yourself funny, what can you laugh at that won't get you in a load of trouble?

breaking Casey Anthony news

Breaking news: Casey Anthony places a call to 911 in fear of her life... 
(dispatcher) "What is your emergency?"  
     "Please help me, I have a bunch of people trying to kill me."  
"Okay ma'am, calm down. What is your name?"  
     "Casey Anthony."  
"Okay Ms. Anthony try to stay calm, an officer will be there in 31 days..."

another quote from Stephen Jay Gould's 'The Panda's Thumb'

I just liked this paragraph so much, had to share:
     "Science contains few outright fools.  Errors usually have their good reasons once we penetrate their context properly and avoid judgement according to our current perception of "truth."  They are usually more enlightening than embarrassing, for they are signs of changing contexts.  The best thinkers have the imagination to create organizing visions, and they are sufficiently adventurous (or egotistical) to float them in a complex world that can never answer "yes" in all detail.  The study of inspired error should not engender a homily about the sin of pride; it should lead us to a recognition that the capacity for great insight and great error are opposite sides of the same coin-- and that the currency of both is brilliance."
     So now, that opens the door such that when I turn in my take-home test this week, I can remark to my prof Mrs. S. that "My wrong answers-- which I doubt you'll find any-- are merely subtle pointers to the fact that I'm a genius.  ;-)"  And then since I want an A, ;-) ;-) ;-) for good measure.  I might just stand there ;-)ing until she has to go home.  Fingers crossed...

THIS IS GONNA HURT. Just so you've heard it at least once...

   Here's a theory I don't think I ever heard in my high school science class.  Keep in mind, it's just a theory, much like gravity, or evolution.  So it's not proven satisfactorily for all.  Still doesn't help me sleep better.

   So I'm finishing up reading The Panda's Thumb, a collection of essays on natural history.  (things like "Doesn't George W. conclusively prove evolution?  His personal evolutionary chain was just missing a few links.")  (just kidding, that's not in the book-- it was edited out at the last minute before they went to press)  But then something entirely unrelated to the ages old did-humans-start-as-apes argument struck me very hard-- this quote:
   "Astrophysicist William A. Fowler argues that the sun will exhaust its central hydrogen fuel after ten to twelve billion years of life.  It will then explode and transform to a red giant so large that it will extend past the orbit of Jupiter, thus swallowing the earth."  Um, no, wait, hang on there, I missed that, sorry-- come again?  I must have had something in my ears, since I thought you just said the sun is going to explode and take the Earth out with it when it goes.  Let's see what the next sentence says: "It is an arresting thought to recognize that humans have appeared on earth at just about the halfway point of our planet's existence."  YIKES... so I did hear you right.  All I know is that from now on, I will always get my food TO GO!  There's no time for this "I'm waiting on my Big Mac" lollygagging.  And I guess I won't pull any more hair out over my decisions on how to manage my 401k.  I feel like throwing a temper-tantrum-- "But I like this planet!  It's not fair!"

   But, never one to trust the authority of a single source, I turn to my old pal Google, and ask that entity-- I'm actively avoiding calling Google a "him", discussion follows-- "Hey Google, will the sun explode one day?"  YIKES AGAIN!  So everyone but me knew this!  Well... hmmm... two isn't enough, I need at least three crazy people all saying the world's gonna end before I'll buy their sticks of incense, or sun's-collapsing insurance, or whatever else they're hocking.  Ooh, I know-- Wikipedia!  'Cause if it's not true there, the power of crowdsourcing will eventually correct it, at least as far as human knowledge currently goes.  UH OH, even Wikipedia has a tale of impending doom.  Well, not like a next-week kind of impending, not even like my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren's lifespans kind of impending, but still... there seems to be an argument that there may be an actual GAME OVER one day.  Huh.    Kinda makes me wanna donate my entire paycheck to NASA, along with a note: "DEAR NASA, PLEASE LOOK HARDER INTO HOW TO ESCAPE THIS MOUSETRAP WE CALL EARTH.  PLEASE HURRY, WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 5 BILLION YEARS LEFT-- LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO, MOVE IT!"

p.s. the whole avoidance of calling Google the colloquial "him" is because of this other line from The Panda's Thumb: Maria Montessori (a personal hero) "discussed Manouvrier's work at length and made much of his tentative claim that women, after proper correction of the data, have slightly larger brains than men."  Hey, I'll buy that easily-- and given that Google's obviously smart, might wanna think about referring to Google as a "her."  :-)  I also believe that "proper correction of the data" means a simple test: "does the subject have all of their decisions heavily influenced by testosterone?"  No?  Then they must have a larger brain.  I bet if you looked hard at it, really studied the data, all of the wars ever fought have been driven by testosterone somewhere back at the very beginning.  "I bet I can conquer more counties than you can."  "OH YEAH?"  And we get the Peloponessian war.  Or "You play ball like a girl!"   And we get the Trojan war.