spotted!

A smart car in Kern County!!!
(I like the setting of this photo: credit cops...)

reading for rock nerds

I just got back from a lengthy drive to see Bird Nerd graduate and show off the fruits of two years of hard creative labour. If you have the time, you should definitely check out his work. If you have the money, you should definitely help an artist out!!!

Anyway, in the 11 hours that I spent driving this weekend (ugh) I made some serious headway in my most recent audio-book purchase: A Crack in the Edge of the World (Simon Winchester). While I'm only somewhere like halfway through (needed music breaks to rest my weary brain) I was amazed by all the connections between the book, the weekend, and all the other science works of non-fiction non-textbook that I've read over the recent years. I also realized that I MUST MUST MUST read a freaking novel for crying out loud.

I thought I'd drum up a list of "must-reads" for the geologically inquiring mind based on what I've read and loved:

• The Map that Changed the World (Simon Winchester)
• Cadillac Desert (Marc Reisner)
• Water Follies (Robert Glennon)
• A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
• Annals of the Former World (John McPhee) - this is really 5 books in one...
• The Man who Found Time (Jack Repcheck)
• The Control of Nature (John McPhee)
• The Dragon Seekers (Christopher McGowan)

I'm sure there are more - this is just what I could think of off the top of my head coming down the freeway.

Meanwhile, the really weird thing is this: At Bird Nerd's graduation 2 honourary degrees were awarded, one of which was to artist Ed Ruscha - who was discussed in A Crack at the Edge of the World for some reason, in conjunction with UC Davis geologist Eldridge Moores, the star of Assembling California (part of Annals of the Former World), which is the book that I used to teach Geology of California this past semester. Oh, and there was a quake of magnitude large enough to care in So Cal today. Freaky.

Kiki's new friend

I accidentally adopted a kitten last weekend. He purrs constantly. I mean constantly. I mean, Kiki purrs constantly and seems quiet by comparison to the kitten. They are friends already - routines involve the kitten following Kiki everywhere he goes, or circling Kiki at close enough range that Kiki licks him on his way around.

In a shoebox lid... the sound effect that goes here is: purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Name is not confirmed yet - due to the X shaped mark on his head, I was thinking X-men (Logan) - but... not great. Other not great names that have been considered are: Agamemnon, Goliath, White Kitty, X Head, Kumi...

But considering that he gets in everything (trash - at least this is the sewing machine trash - but he's been in others, believe me) - the name Loki (Norse God of trouble making) is gaining a lead in the name race (although I mainly call him White Kitty or Kitten)

Caught on my computer's "photo booth" proof that they're hanging out and snuggling...