_____________________________________________________________________________
Capsule (Full commentary found immediately below Lead Picture):
Sunday, September 1, 2019
While I am a piss-poor sleeper, I am a world-class napper.
______________________________________________________________________________
Lead Picture (Story below in Thumbnail section)
Sunday, September 1, 2019
The ring-tailed lemur was one of the first lemurs to be classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
George Edwards - From a German reproduction of Edwards's work.
Read more on the blog www.existentialautotrip.com
The blog? A daily three to four-minute excursion into photos and short texts to regale the curious with an ever-chat Swartanging and diverting view of a world rich in gastronomy, visual art, ideas, chuckles, stories, people, diversions, science, homespun, and enlightenment.
Observing with wit and wisdom, Dom Capossela, an experienced leader, guides his team of contributors and followers through that world, an amusing and edifying conversation to join.
Note that the blog also publishes the "Hey, Dom!" and the "Hey, Dom! How're doin?" series of videos.
___________________________________________________________
Commentary
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Spent the day helping Kat move into her room.
On her part, a prodigious output of energy, carrying all the heavy boxes up a flight of stairs, unpacking, putting everything away, listing the forty-eight items she needed to complete the apartment, (get them now at Target with dad) and organizing all into a terrific space.
Here’s a picture.
I had exited the room at noon, rented room only for a single day, finish my feeble attempts to help Kat, shop at Target, and then the pair of us to drive to Philly to meet with our friends Howard and Melissa. Unfortunately, Melissa wasn’t up to a visit. We did send her home some bread that she particularly likes.
The growing up issue.
Plans were that I would drive Kat back to Swarthmore after dinner (35 minutes) and then back to Philly en route to driving to the Boston side of NYC, renting a room for the very short night, and complete the seven-hour road trip when I rose on Saturday morning at 5.;00am.
A good plan.
Shortening the Saturday car trip by two and a half hours.
But as I thought about it, there’s a train station a ten-minute walk from the restaurant, the trqin providing a comfortable ride back to the Swarthmore campus.
Saves me an hour plus driving.
When I first posited that idea, Kat was resistant.
Okay, I let it go.
But several moments later Kat reassessed and stepped adultily forward, agreeing to take the train.
After our main course, Kat left for her train like the big girl she is becoming, and Howard and I shared a dessert, after which it was time for me to go: about 7.30pm.
I pushed off from Philly not knowing how long I would last: foreshortened sleep for the last two nights, night-time driving which I studiously avoid, not once during my near four-week existentialautotrip last year did I drive at night, immediately following a big meal, although I limited my alcohol intake to a glass of champagne.
My immediate goal: just pass New York City.
Two and a half hours later, with two rest area stops, I was approaching the Merritt Parkway, familiar with its length (67 miles) and the plethora of rest stops adjacent to the highway, no time lost on exit ramps.
A thought.
While I am a piss-poor sleeper, I am a world-class napper.
In a chair, on the T, as a passenger in a car, I can close my eyes for 5 to 15 minutes, enjoy the forcible, involuntary closure of my eyelids, feel the muscles contracting shut. A live-doze, sleeping awake. Aware of conversations and other ambient sounds.
When my eyelid muscles release, I am seriously refreshed.
Do I dare?
Leave the $150.00 cost of an economy motel in my wallet?
To relieve some of the pain of the Target hundreds still fresh in mind?
Certainly give it a try.
And look at this.
Three hours of driving to go.
If I make it past the Merritt, leaves two.
And one of them is on the Mass Turnpike, my neighborhood.
Leaves just the one sandwiched between the Merritt and the Pike, unfamiliar to me as having rest areas, and we’re talking after midnight, that might do me in.
I plunged.
Of course.
Would I be writing this to say I played it safe and got a room?
In the event, my naps, six of them from the start of the Merritt to my apartment, kept me perfectly refreshed.
Arrived at apartment at 2.15am on Saturday.
Bed at 3.00am.
Up at 5.30am and able to immediately get back to my routine.
Like gaining a day.
____________________________________________________________________________
Today’s Thumbnails
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Lemurs were first classified in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, and the taxonomy remains controversial today, with approximately 70 to 100 species and subspecies recognized, depending on how the term "species" is defined.
Having undergone their own independent evolution on Madagascar, lemurs have diversified to fill many ecological niches normally filled by other types of mammals.
They include the smallest primates in the world, and once included some of the largest.
Since the arrival of humans approximately 2,000 years ago, lemurs have become restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi), and many face extinction.
Concerns over lemur conservation have affected lemur taxonomy, since distinct species receive increased conservation attention compared to subspecies.
The relationship between the aye-aye and the rest of the lemurs has had the greatest impact on lemur taxonomy at the family rank and above.
Genetic analysis of this relationship has also clarified lemur phylogeny and supports the hypothesis that lemurs rafted to Madagascar.
Despite general agreement on phylogeny, the taxonomy is still under debate.
At the genus level, the taxonomy has been relatively stable since 1931, but a number of additional genera have been recognized since then.
Since the 1990s, there has been a steep increase in the number of recognized lemur species and subspecies through the discovery of new species, the elevation of existing subspecies to full species status, and the recognition of new species among previously known populations that were not even distinct subspecies.
Currently living lemur species are divided into five families and 15 genera. If the extinct subfossil lemurs are included, three families, eight genera, and 17 species would be added to the count.
The recent rise in species numbers is due to both improved genetic analysis and a push in conservation to encourage the protection of isolated and distinct lemur populations.
Not everyone in the scientific community supports these taxonomic changes, with some preferring instead an estimate of 50 living species.
The ring-tailed lemur was one of the first lemurs to be classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
George Edwards
From a German reproduction of Edwards's work.
___________________________________________
Chuckle of the day:
Sunday, September 1, 2019
A mom visits her newly-graduated son in a distant city where he has up his own apartment to be close to his new job.
She meets his new roommate, also a recent grad, also starting a new job.
The pair are very affectionate but when asked a second and a third time whether they were lovers, they both denied it, showing mom separate bedrooms.
Mom’s visit ends and she returns home.
The couple are missing a solid silver tea service.
The mom is suspect, she the only inconstant in their routine.
After a week of disagreement, the son agrees to email his mom and ask her if, perhaps in her cleaning up and putting away, she mislaid the service in a place they never look.
“Well , I thought I’d put it where you would find it as soon as I left. It’s in Sonsie’s bedroom under her pillow.”
_______________________________________________________
Good Morning on this Sunday, the first day of September, 2019
A shorter post but time an issue.
Closing up, now.
Have fun!