Ever wished you were Santa Claus? Good news, now you can be his avatar here on Earth! Through the magic of the internet and the USPS (my favorite national mail system), people everywhere have a chance to adopt kids’ letters and donate presents. If that sounds like something that might interest you, check it out:
Yes, the history of this holiday is… deeply complicated, but I love that for me here and now, it’s about friends and family and food.
Here’s hoping you have a wonderful day, and if you need something fun and uplifting to read while digesting Grandma’s special stuffing, check this out:
A lot of people would like to make the world better, but they don’t know how. This is a great tragedy.
…
I don’t know all the ways to get our good intentions unblocked. That’s why, whenever I spot someone changing the world via a righteous road less taken, I write it down on a little list. I glance at that list from time to time as a way of expanding my imagination, and now I’m sharing it in the hopes that it’ll do the same for you.
“From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other – above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”
The Canadian Museum of Nature is situated in Ottawa’s Victoria Memorial Museum Building, a giant stone edifice built over a hundred years ago. Its mosaic tile floors, carved wooden bannisters and stained glass windows provide a lovely backdrop for exhibits old and new.
Can’t go in person? Here’s a brief video tour:
We started at the top, in a temporary exhibit on insects. Some icky, yes, but the longevity, creativity and adaptability of that class of creatures is fascinating.
Next stop wolves, then the Arctic, then Earth, Mammals, Water, Birds and finally, Dinosaurs.
The fossils throughout were impressive. Giant whale? Check. A complete Daspletosaurus torosus (a cousin of T. rex) skeleton? Check!
A bit of fun from a Museum palaeobiologist:
I also picked up a box of Canadian rocks to remember the beauty and complexity of the geology beneath our feet.
Example rocks include rose quartz, quartz crystal, bornite, amazonite, sodalite, pyrite, amethyst, hematite, copper, labradorite, jade, rhodonite and fluorite. Lovely.
And in the floor of the Fossil Gallery, an embedded spiral* shows the extent of geological history as we know it, complete with a tiny section at the end for the Cenozoic era, age of mammals, with an even smaller epoch at the end featuring the rise of humanity.
* I should have taken a picture of this but did not, and can’t find a picture of it online. Here’s a different version to give you an idea.
This is why I love history in general, and museums in particular. On the one hand, a long-term perspective is very good at making one feel small, but on the other hand, there is real joy in knowing that you are a part of something so very big.
The experience was both humbling and delightful.
* * *
The aforementioned spiral is at the feet of this fine fellow. D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A quick programming note: Mr Man and I have a little time off and we’re hoping to have some fun and be a bit spontaneous with our scheduling. In service of that goal, it’s time for a short series of posts featuring quotes! And pretty pictures!
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”
― Ralph Ellison
No matter where you are or what you do, I hope you can take a moment to enjoy these last days of summer.
Wait, today is the summer solstice already? Not quite sure how that happened but here we are, almost halfway through the year. That’s a little scary (time, it flies!) and a lot reassuring: the world keeps turning, no matter what.
The summer solstice is Thursday, June 20. It’s the longest day and shortest night in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s also the first official day of summer.
“We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years and Mandy [his wife] twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680.” (In today’s dollars, that’s about $175,000.)
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