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It should not be this hot in Southern California in mid March.  And we need much more rain. Was happy to learn that there is a lot of water in our Solar System. On Saturn’s moon, Enceladus there are hypothermal vents with water temperature around 190 F or 90C. This might result in life. I don’t think there will be a rush to move there. Just read that many of the people who live in the Altacama desert have evolved to process more arsenic than others. It seems there is naturally a higher rate of arsenic in the desert. I doubt this would be a tourist draw for the region. Good news for cat lovers, the rarest cat in the world, the Iberian Lynx is doing  a bit better.  Seeming to effortlessly float in the sky above my back yard were three Red Tailed Hawks. Their tranquil gliding was broken up when they were discoverd by the neighborhood watch Crows. Soon it looked like WWl fighters wheeling through the sky. Finally the hawks left and the crows returned to their trees. Without a thought about arsenic levels or water in our solar system these birds just went on with their lives.

Our dog is barking at all the people coming to the door asking for us to vote for their candidate for city council. On top of pondering for whom to vote, I just read an article that argues there was no big bang and the universe in infinite. Now there is more to think about. Will  these new ideas affect how I vote? There were long articles about the spread of the Indo European language group. Was it spread by warriors or farmers and when did it spread? Does it really matter? And some researchers found remains of wheat in England that are 8,000 years old. But wheat was only raised in England about 4,000 years ago. The article stated there may have been a land bridge and there was trade with Europe way back then. It’s amazing how much has changed and how much has not. Another study of the development of cities finds that cities in pre Spanish Mexico grew in similiar patterns to modern cities. Now I have to get back considering the candidates for my city council person. What about Florida and the ice age? 100 years ago a scientist discoverd human bones among ice age animal bones in Florida and was sure they lived at the same time. But very soon the idea was reject. Fast forward to the present and new studies seem to indicate humans were in Florida during ths time. Somehow it is hard to think of Florida and ice.

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I would not like to be bitten by a limpet. They have been tested and their teeth are the strongest organic material. Can you imagine falling into the Amazon River in you pirana proof suit and being ripped apart by a band of Limpets? Of course they move slowly and scrape stuff off of rocks. Still what if you were stuck on a rock for a long long time and tasted like what limpets eat? And bedbugs have evolved . I read that bedbug were originally on bats and that when people moved into caves some of the bug moved on to humans. Bat bedbugs are not immuned to many pesticides but human ones are. That great for the human bedbugs but not for humans. Good news, dogs can read human faces and like happy faces better than other ones. I don’t think bedbugs or limpets can or really care.

Other exciting news, a dwarf star was in our solar system about 70,000 years ago. It was much closer than any other star and was in the Oort Cloud which is way out there. It was a red dwarf. Many years later or around 40,000 years ago modern humans interbred with neanderthals. The passing star did not cause this , probably. Anyway all humans except those from Africa have about 2% neanderthal DNA. Asians have about 20% more and scientists think there was a second period of interbreeding with Asians. I was really suprised to learn that Penguins have lost ther ability to taste fish. They can taste sour and salty but not sweet, bitter and uname.  Uname apparently is what allows us to taste fish. of course the penguins swallow the fish whole so it does not really matter.

Have been reading about a 2.2 pound rat caught in a house in Sweden and the fossil of a really big rodent found in South America about the size of a buffalo. Several articles mentioned the latter. It lived about 2 million years ago and had powerful teeth that could be used for fighting and digging. While I would not like to have a group of these animals in my attic they could be useful in digging tunnels and canals. And they have found that there was a variety of mammals in the Jurassic period. Some lived in or near water, some lived in he trees and some burrowed inthe ground. If there had been humans at that time they would have been very small. The article said mammals only grew large after the Great Extinction. Speaking of extinction, one of the founders of the internet is worried that so much of the material stored on hard drives and the cloud may be lost as technology changes and we are unable to read that data. On top of that Bill Gates is also worried about the impact of AI. But there is good news. Male black widow spiders are only eaten by their mates 2% of the time. With certain other spiders it’s more frequent.

A planet much larger than Saturn has a ring system that is 200 times as large. It would reach from the Sun to the Earth. That is more amazing than the finish to the Super Bowl. And if that was not exciting enough a solar system that is twice as old as ours was discovered. It has five earth like planets but they are too close to have life. And maybe just as interesting in a smaller setting, a study found that baby chickens somehow place smaller numbers to the left and larger ones to the right. Will this discovery somehow help bring tranquility to a troubled world? Probably not. I continue to study Spanish while learning a slow pace but that’s okay because I have been inspired by the chickens. What if we find chickens on Mars?

Am sitting here waiting for rain and at the same time hoping the East Coast blizzard is not so severe. There was an interesting report about pumpkins. The record holder was 2328 pounds which is not related to the blizzard or the rash of candidates for the 2016 elections. At least I do not think so. Just for the record I will not run for any office which is a good thing. Speaking of politicians, have started reading about President Roosevelt’s journey down the River Doubt. Theodore would probably be willing to travel to Mars if he were alive today. Would he be concerned about global warming, the many wars and deflated footballs?
Lake Williams is 2500 feet below the ice in the Antarctic. It is very cold and of course there is no sunlight. But there is life and even fish. The life seems to thrive on carbon rich sedements. But it would be no place for either giant pumpkins or political candidates. Also a really strange looking shark was caught near Australia. It’s Frilled Shark. Now what about the robot drone designed by the Swiss? It is fast in the air and when it lands can move forward on land on it’s legs like a vampire bat. It does not eat bood or give anyone rabies.

Just read that the Earth was a giant iceball somewhere around 750 million years ago. There was not much that was not frozen. The small areas of geothermal nonfrozen water somehow allowed more oxygen that gave rise to the development of more complex life. Glad that happened. And that somehow has led to the Indonesian frog that gives birth to live tadpoles. Of course it took quite a while. And there was the discovery of a California Condor chick that was raised the Ventana Wilderness out of the observation of the wildlife people. I do not think the iceball era would gain many visitors if we had a time machine travel agency. Neither would the exact time of the giant meteor strike.
Also read that there was much old water about 25km down. The article said that it was about 250,0000,000 years old. How much would some people pay for such water. I can see the ads now. If you drink it will it increase your life span? And certainly the ads will imply that. Not only is it old it is low caloried and gluetin free. And in newer water a rare pnoto of a shark delivering a baby shark. And it all started on the snowball earth. Unless next week we hear a new theory. Now what about the leap second? I somehow feel more balance in the world around me after a second was added.

Have read that there have been bursts of methane found on Mars. Could this mean that there are herds of cows under the surface? Probably not but think of what it means if there are. And there is a purposal for NASA to send a manned expedition that would employ a lighter than air device to allow a close study of Venus. When I was young the science fiction books pictured Venus as much more Earth like than Mars. Sort of a warm jungle type envronment. I really doubt that there would be many volunteers to go on a one wat trip to that planet. There is a possibilty that it might rain this afternoon here in Southern California. Almond growers may loose their source of water. Could a lose of these tasty snanks be a portent of the fall of our civilization? One article states that drought was the cause of the decline of the Mayan Empire. I will fill much better if it rains this afternoon.

Europe has many more wolves, brown bears, lynxes, and maybe wolverines that the lower 48 states. Finally a young gorilla that was raised by humans who wore hairy vests is being released back into the zoo’s gorilla community. If gorillas raise a infant human would they need to have worn a hairless vest so the child could be released back into human society? Just a thought on this last blog of 2014.

Just saw a video in which Stephen Hawkins thinks humanity is doomed because of artifical intelligence. What if our iPhones and iPads start upgrading on their own? They would no longer need us. Does this effect sea turtles? A large number of stranded sea turtles have been found at Cape Cod. Are computers messing with their guidance system? Also learned that massive sand dunes on Saturn’s Titian are caused by rouge winds that blow in opposite direction from the prevailing winds. Some kind of rouge wind blew over one of the new tress planted in my low water need front yard. Speaking of water, it seems that all the rain in California is nice but much much more is needed to break the drought. Something like forty days and forty nights. There are several articles about Mars and water. And many people have sign up to take a one way trip to that planet. I will wait until trees are growing around a massive lake.

Scientists now believe that the great extinction on the Earth was caused by both a meteor strike and volcanic activity. That would be too early for it to be artificial intelligence attack. What if they find a fossilized smart phone from that era? Also a crow sized horned dinosaur has been discoved. Not a live one. Would they make good pets if we could clone one? I think it’s best to keep our present pets. Finally, we have sent a probe that will go near the space object, Pluto, that used to be a planet. It apparently has several moons. I miss Pluto being a real planet. I wish for all a most wonderful holiday season.

For the first time in a century there is thought to be a brown bear in the area around Chernobyl. I sure hope that the bear is in good health and stays that way. I can imagine a mystery novel that features a glow in the dark brown bear. Now that is a bit more rare than rain in Southern California and it rained last night and is supposed to be heavier in a couple of days but our bears are black bears and probably will not glow in the dark. Other exciting news was the discovery of a wolf in the Grand Canyon. Now it would be really exciting if there was a brown bear and a wolf. As a hiker I would not want to meet them in the canyon.

Another discovery was a 5000 year od stone ax with its wooden handle still attached. It was probably used for cutting down trees and perhaps to defend against wolves and glow in the dark brown bears. Who knows? There was a study of what dogs understand and how it is processed and some article about how wolves and wild cats have bigger brains than domesticated ones. Maybe that is the cost of living around humans. I am not sure how intelligent any of my animals were but none of them ever graduated from college. May you have a happy and healthy December.