It is expected to be a bumper year for pollen hereabouts; we had some more rain day be fore yesterday--thunder and hail, even. Cleaned the smooshed bugs off the windshield of my car quite nicely.
I am thinking seriously about purchasing a bottle of primo absinthe (in all likelihood the only one I will ever purchase). Made in Washington, but I have to order it from New York!
http://www.pacificdistillery.com/#3
BTW, I discovered there is a manufacturer of absinthe glasses in Vermont:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFwKu-RPmrM
I gather that the double bubble style is custom made for one customer--most forms have either one bubble or some other indication of how much absinthe to put into the glass. I have a couple of brandy glasses that will work just fine, I think.
And thus to bed.
Well, not just yet. Can't see for the life of me why folks couldn't have various skin colors and patterns. I recall an article in Scientific American many years ago that made the case that animals' color patterns depended on their sizes at a particular stage of embryonation.
listener, the lilacs look to be a real going concern! My favorite bouquet, bar none, is purple lilacs with red roses. Right behind that is white lilacs with pink roses. And the smell is to die for, too!!
A while back listener asked what folks' favorite Spring flower might be. I think my favorite, not just in Spring but ever, is lilac. Freesias have a lovely scent, but aren't much to look at IIRC, and gardenias are lovely, but, really, I don't think anything beats lilac. Unfortunately, ours are stuck way at the back of the yard, so you really can't see or smell them properly from the house.
Fruther comments about possible skin colors and patterns of humanoid aliens:
In humans, it's all about melanin. Both the amount that is constitutively present and the amount that appears after sun exposure. No other pigment is involved. And in other mammals, skin color doesn't matter. It's all about coat color and patterning.
But some amphibians and reptiles do have specialized skin cells that produce other pigments. Some can even make those cells bigger or smaller to change color. There's no inherent reason similar cells couldn't be present in the skins of human-shaped aliens. But if they are, that implies that both the aliens and their evolutionary ancestors are very much more different from the comparable Terran life forms than they might superficially appear to be.
But that would be reasonable, wouldn't it? If for some reason the aliens superficially looked like bears or mice, or whatever, that wouldn't mean their ancestors or their evolutionary path was anything like bears or mice. In another of my stories the aliens, or rather indigenous intelligent lifeforms, resemble nothing so much as large, fuzzy teddy bears with antennae on their foreheads. I don't suppose for a moment that their evolution was identical or even parallel to that of taran bears. *frown* The aliens have to look like something. Certainly, I have no problem with the proposition that aliens probably don't resemble humans in rubber suits. At the same time, there probably isn't intelligent slime mold anywhere... Although, nuts, I do have something not unlike intelligent slime mold in one of my own stories. I haven't really been able to get my mind around the concept, which may be one reason that project stalled. But, you know, that's sort of the point. I can't relate to intelligent slime mold. I can relate to fuzzy teddy bears with antennae or to, so to speak, humanaform lifeforms. At the moment, we have, quite literally, a deus ex machina who has made them that way. At some point I may develop a more plausible explanation, but for now let's just accept as given that the Native Nova Britannians now externally, superficially resemble H Sap. That doesn't mean their metabolism or body chemistry has to resemble those of H. Sap.
I'm sorry to clutter up the blog with these questions and speculations. Maybe that's why Donna and Susan don't post very often any more.
☆ HOWARD ☆ DEAN ☆ is FIRST! ☆
ReplyDeleteYes, more good news about Ally--thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt is expected to be a bumper year for pollen hereabouts; we had some more rain day be fore yesterday--thunder and hail, even. Cleaned the smooshed bugs off the windshield of my car quite nicely.
I am thinking seriously about purchasing a bottle of primo absinthe (in all likelihood the only one I will ever purchase). Made in Washington, but I have to order it from New York!
http://www.pacificdistillery.com/#3
BTW, I discovered there is a manufacturer of absinthe glasses in Vermont:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFwKu-RPmrM
I gather that the double bubble style is custom made for one customer--most forms have either one bubble or some other indication of how much absinthe to put into the glass. I have a couple of brandy glasses that will work just fine, I think.
And thus to bed.
Well, not just yet. Can't see for the life of me why folks couldn't have various skin colors and patterns. I recall an article in Scientific American many years ago that made the case that animals' color patterns depended on their sizes at a particular stage of embryonation.
This is kinda interesting, Alan:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.salon.com/life/food/eat_drink/2007/12/21/absinthe/
It was a to be longed after drink if you were a poet in college in the late fifties/early sixties, lol!! And dat's da troot!
listener, the lilacs look to be a real going concern! My favorite bouquet, bar none, is purple lilacs with red roses. Right behind that is white lilacs with pink roses. And the smell is to die for, too!!
ReplyDeleteA while back listener asked what folks' favorite Spring flower might be. I think my favorite, not just in Spring but ever, is lilac. Freesias have a lovely scent, but aren't much to look at IIRC, and gardenias are lovely, but, really, I don't think anything beats lilac. Unfortunately, ours are stuck way at the back of the yard, so you really can't see or smell them properly from the house.
ReplyDeletelistener, I very much hope you're recovering♥
So, Donna, when are the closings?
That's an interesting idear... No patterns though. That's a bit weird even for me.
ReplyDeleteFruther comments about possible skin colors and patterns of humanoid aliens:
ReplyDeleteIn humans, it's all about melanin. Both the amount that is constitutively present and the amount that appears after sun exposure. No other pigment is involved. And in other mammals, skin color doesn't matter. It's all about coat color and patterning.
But some amphibians and reptiles do have specialized skin cells that produce other pigments. Some can even make those cells bigger or smaller to change color. There's no inherent reason similar cells couldn't be present in the skins of human-shaped aliens. But if they are, that implies that both the aliens and their evolutionary ancestors are very much more different from the comparable Terran life forms than they might superficially appear to be.
But that would be reasonable, wouldn't it? If for some reason the aliens superficially looked like bears or mice, or whatever, that wouldn't mean their ancestors or their evolutionary path was anything like bears or mice. In another of my stories the aliens, or rather indigenous intelligent lifeforms, resemble nothing so much as large, fuzzy teddy bears with antennae on their foreheads. I don't suppose for a moment that their evolution was identical or even parallel to that of taran bears. *frown* The aliens have to look like something. Certainly, I have no problem with the proposition that aliens probably don't resemble humans in rubber suits. At the same time, there probably isn't intelligent slime mold anywhere... Although, nuts, I do have something not unlike intelligent slime mold in one of my own stories. I haven't really been able to get my mind around the concept, which may be one reason that project stalled. But, you know, that's sort of the point. I can't relate to intelligent slime mold. I can relate to fuzzy teddy bears with antennae or to, so to speak, humanaform lifeforms. At the moment, we have, quite literally, a deus ex machina who has made them that way. At some point I may develop a more plausible explanation, but for now let's just accept as given that the Native Nova Britannians now externally, superficially resemble H Sap. That doesn't mean their metabolism or body chemistry has to resemble those of H. Sap.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to clutter up the blog with these questions and speculations. Maybe that's why Donna and Susan don't post very often any more.