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The Sincerest Form of Flattery
1425 AD, Constantinople -- Two young men walk along a dirt path bounded on both sides by golden grain fields. A light rain mists around them, filling the air with the fragrant smell of fresh dirt. To their right, over the city walls the Sea of Marmara disappears into the mist. Graitzas Palaiologos, has recently arrived from the provinces for an ( Read more... ) -
The Pinnacle of Evolution
Once upon a time, the only fashion choices were whether to use flagella or cilia to move your one cell about. Then some enterprising microbe, probably a slime mould in primordial Paris, decided to up the ante by consisting of multiple cells. The next 610 million years would be haunted with difficult fashion choices and concern about getting ( Read more... ) -
Marching Orders
Dorothy walks along a suburban sidewalk in a neighborhood full of lush overhanging trees on a nice sunny day. She carefully avoids tripping over the uneven rises in the concrete caused by roots, while talking on the phone. Her call comes to an end in the shade under a tree. Readjusting her aviator sunglasses she lets out a deep breath as she ( Read more... ) -
The Strange World of Shore
Once upon a time a 112 foot brig --a square rigged vessel with two masts-- emerged from the stormy December seas of the " Graveyard of the Pacific" and coasted into the shelter of Grey's Harbour, Washington. It quietly wound up up the Chehalis river to the point where the Wishkah ("stinking water") river joins the Chehalis and moored up to a ( Read more... ) -
LJ Idol - Afterthought - Making Fire
193,000 BC, Africa - From above, under the thick clouds and through the heavy rain, it is hard to distinguish anything on the rolling hills below. The frequent flashes of lightning, however, bring out a rugged landscape of trees and shrubs and rock outcroppings in sharp relief for several seconds before disappearing into the murk again ( Read more... ) -
The Last Mammoth in the Room
February, 13,000 BC, somewhere in the northwest of North America -- Wrapped in warm furs, Oxtusk surveyed the wintery landscape and leaned on his spear. In several places in the valley he could see smoke rising from villages, but what he didn't see was any large wildlife, or even tracks of such. It had been weeks since a caribou had been seen ( Read more... )
