Notebook Entry, July 2002

Notebook entry, July 30, 2002.

Well, you can tell its summer because Time magazine is running another story concerning the remains of another long dead relative. Time magazine, July 22, 2002, "Father of us All?", p. 40, by Michael Lemonick and Andrea Dorfman. Two things that are very important about this find. 1). Its age: 7 million years ago. This places it as the farthest back evidence of human characteristics; it occurs at very much the same time as the split from the chimpanzees, Gorillas, and Bonobos. 2). It is 1,550 miles farther west in Africa from the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Ethiopia, where most of the fossil remains to date have been found. Our newest relative has been named Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Notebook entry, July 29, 2002

I arrive home after a sad, and busy week. I am still at a loss to explain the emptiness that one feels when one loses a parent; fertile ground for future studies by graduate students perhaps to explore the emotions and dynamics. We do not touch upon death that often in our American culture despite the fact that it really is a part of living. In my book, Man in the Mist, I suggested that in order to offset the cost of elder care, we should incorporate them into our high school system so that students can see the slow exiting of our elders. This would give them greater respect for our elders, share costs of housing and feeding both the students and the elders, and most importantly, provide the elders with the opportunity to teach to the students the vast knowledge that they hold. Think of it as modern day version of our ancient camp-fire hunter-gatherers. That vast resource should not be wasted.

Notebook entry, July 22, 2002

Diana and I were out walking a voting district for Moe Keller, State Senate candidate for district 20. We started about 11am and ended around 1pm. When I returned, there was a voice message from one of my two sisters informing me that my mother had died a few hours before. I made the necessary arrangements and began to pack my bags for a flight to New Jersey the next day.

Notebook entry, July 12, 2002

I'm a bit behind on this article, but the online version of Scientific America has an 15 point argument against creationism. Pretty heavy stuff for a prestigious magazine. The Article title is: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense, by John Rennie. June 18, 2000 issue. Online, it can be found at: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D4FEC-7D5B-1D07-8E49809EC588EEDF&pageNumber=6&catID=2 Enjoy.

Notebook entry, July 5, 2002

In a newswire story reported by The Associated Press and reported in The Denver Post, p. 5A., tells us the story of three distinct groups of early humans may have migrated from Africa and perhaps lived together in Eurasia about 1.7 million years ago. A new skull found recently is smaller and more primitive than two previous skulls found at the same southern Georgia site two years ago. The findings suggest that humanlike species of various kinds may have traveled or lived together after leaving Africa as history's first migrants.

Two years ago, the same researchers announced the discovery of two skulls that were age dated at 1.7 million years old, making them the oldest human ancestral fossils ever found outside of Africa, which is thought to be where humans first evolved. It was thought that a more advanced human species first left Africa about a million year ago.

Notebook entry, July 4, 2002

Happy fourth of July. Everyone in this country was relieved that no terrorist action took place. On Friday, July 5th, the stock market took a giant leap. To echo the Vice-President, its only a matter of when, not if.