How to spend a long saturday evening?

Go to London, England.

What’s that? How to get there?

Use directions given by Google Maps, silly.

But can one drive across the Atlantic Ocean?

Of course not, you swim! That’s step # 19 in the directions.

Google Maps tells you the directions to the best wharf on the east coast to jump off from.

Google also tells you it will take you 30 days and 4 hours to make the trip. So pack some extra sandwiches. As of now, its not known if you have to pay toll to cross the Atlantic or how the traffic is like in the shipping lanes, but you do have to carry your passport.

Who’re you calling chicken?

Its all about finding new relatives, as the most derided category of the avian family gets hunky new grandpas- the T-rex, as revealed in this story here.

The BBC report has the following delightful quote below the following picture:

“The resemblance may not be immediately obvious”

Our own species didn’t do quite as well in the ‘relatives sweepstake’, picking up Gorillas as closely related ancestors, serving as “prototypes for modern chimps and humans“, and whose bequeaths to human-kind are hardly of the admirable type.

Which brings one to an interesting point, in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong?”, didn’t our ancestor kick chicken ancestors’s rears? Was it merely a dumb action movie or a portrayal of epic geneological struggle played across millions of years?

The Journey

The only journey that matters, of course, is that how you and me descended over hundreds of thousands of years from a certain Mr. Adam, living in Southwest Africa.

Here’s an excellent learning site, which tracks genotypic markers (like mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosome traits etc) to delineate human migration and present it in an absorbing manner, with interactive charts, photographs and myth-busters. A favorite myth of mine that was busted, was that Neanderthals were NOT human ancestors but an evolutionary dead-end, akin to a branch of evolution that didnt quite make it.

There are recent evidences that may challenge the above theory of Africa being the ‘cradle’ (pardon the cliche) of modern humans. Exciting debate lies ahead.

In another note, scientists have concluded global warming is indeed real, since the Rockies have warmed up sooner this year. Its a relief that they didnt fly through Minnesota, or they might have missed their flight due to a very non-contemporary winter storm. Maybe noone read the current world news to Minnesota weather, which is frankly behaving like a snub all season long.

The Road Goes Ever on

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

(J R R Tolkien; From the Lord of the Rings.)

For more great poems, categorized in every imaginable manner, visit the Wondering Minstrels

How to

How to’s that amuse, entertain, shock and remind you that life cannot be, after all, the wild temptress if you can’t open a champagne bottle with a sword.

A few gems that can be found at www.wikihow.com:

Life in the wild (How to survive avalanches, alligators, winters, volcanoes, freestyle rap battles, piranhas, making sweat baths)

Lifestyle choices (growing pineapples, caring for donkeys, playing with large parrots, being Gothic Lolitas, raising kids to be rich, acting insane)

The bleeding obvious (saving money on Auto Insurance, love and lust issues, blogging habits, eating breakfast, getting out of cars)

Geek tips (impressing people by ripping phonebooks and slashing bottles, getting girlfriends to play videogames, writing and sharing online obituaries)

The really serious (how to save a life)

The last one of course, is an attempt at humour.