Word: birding
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...exchanging old-time religion for Harvard intellectualism isn't a fair trade at all. One made me feel viscerally certain of my role in the world. The other can't even explain for certain what started the Civil War, or why Lyndon B. Johnson's wife was named "Lady Bird." Here among academia's best and brightest, there are still some things I feel, and don't rationally know, about the world. I trust that life has a purpose higher than procreation and accumulation, for instance. I'm certain of the importance of honor. I believe that kozmo.com can deliver...
...didn't know it yet, but the fates were against her. By January, before we had even visited kidscamps.com many early bird discounts had expired, and an informal survey of about 100 New England camps showed that 90% were already half booked. Unaware of the gathering storm, we wasted weeks debating woodsy arts camp versus a more educational experience. (Our puny portfolio has managed to snooze through the stock boom, so we needed to get our money's worth.) In March, we were dismayed to learn that February was Sign Your Kids Up for Camp Month...
...throw your mind forward a few decades, and try out the following screenplay. A bunch of bioinformatics nerds in Silicon Valley, looking for an eye-catching project to showcase the latest IPO, decide to try to re-create the genome of a dinosaur. They bring together a few complete bird genomes--complete DNA texts from the cells of different birds--and start mapping the shared features. The result is a sort of prototype genome for a basic bird...
They might not have to fix that many genes--just a few hundred mainly developmental ones. The genes for the immune system, for memory mechanisms and the like would all be standard for a vertebrate. To fine-tune the creature, they could go fishing in other bird genomes, or perhaps import a few ideas from lizards and turtles...
...that just because Benjamin Franklin decided to publish a whimsical essay in 1784 entitled, "Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle." In the essay, Mr. Franklin argues why the turkey--and not the eagle--should be the national bird. I can see his point, but why must he also involve himself with the fourth dimension to give farmers an additional hour of work each night? Couldn't he have published a more serious piece about the merits of getting up earlier? That way, he might have already achieved something in his own century and wouldn't have had to wait...