Peeking into the rock

This is very. very cool.

The world is so wonderful.

And I never felt very comfortable with the conventional explanation of taste and smell, so this is really good news to me: a potential explanation that sits better in my head.

Just go read it.

By way of the Bad Astronomer:

The GLOBE Project is gathering data on light pollution in the easiest way possible. All you have to do to help is to go out an hour after sunset, wherever you happen to be, and look at Orion. Compare what you see to the magnitude charts on the website. Tell them, and they compile the data, which if enough people participate, gives a sense of the prevalence and trends in light pollution all over the world.

Oddly, it looks like Coastal California has not been participating until now.

There is, of course, an invasive species weblog.

Local people, and I do mean you, Emma and Kathleen: my favorite archaeologist, Tom Schreiner, wants to rehearse the talk he's giving at the deYoung museum on Sunday. He's doing it at our house, 8:00 Friday night. I'll be busy taking care of his mother, but I'll get in when I can.