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Carrion Luggage  Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem. This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it. It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans. It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier." I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination. |
| Old Christmas joke: Why were the Three Wise Men covered in ashes? Because they came from afar. This article also comes from Afar: 11 Lost Cities You Can Actually Visit  Rediscover these abandoned cities by traveling to see their ruins, where you can readily imagine their lost-to-time structures and civilizations. But if you can visit them, they're not lost. Calling them "lost" is like you're wandering the market with your kid, and the kid wanders off, and later you find them at the popsicle stand, and you keep calling them "lost." When the lost city of Kweneng, South Africa, was discovered last year, it wasnât because someone found a fossil there or excavated it with a shovel. So, Kweneng was lost until 2018, and now it's found. (The article is dated 2019.) Instead, archaeologist Karim Sadr relied on LiDAR technology, which uses lasers to measure distance, to create detailed images of the surrounding Suikerbosrand hills, where Tswana-speaking people first built stone settlements in the 15th century. Okay, jokes aside, that's a damn cool use of technology. While Kwenengâs visitor infrastructure isnât quite as developed yet, there are plenty of other rediscovered cities to visit. I didn't bother to look it up, but maybe it's been more developed by now. In any case, the rest of the article focuses on other cities in the world that once were lost but now are found, were blind but now can see. Persepolis, Iran Achaemenid Empire kings fortified a natural stone terrace into an imposing platform when they founded Persepolis in the 6th century B.C.E., leveraging the landscape to awe-inspiring effect and military advantage. Which is cool and all, but I'm not sure I want to visit Iran right now. In theory, yes, certainly; lots of history there, and great food (though I'm guessing there's a severe lack of beer). In practice, maybe not. Petra, Jordan The entrance to Petra is designed for maximum impact, leading visitors from a shadowy gorge to views of soaring, tangerine-colored rock. By contrast, I actually visited this one, but it was so long ago I think it had just been built. Ciudad Perdida, Colombia Founded in the 9th century, this forest city developed a unique architectural plan of stone pathways, plazas, and houses over centuries, but dense jungle swallowed them shortly after the arrival of Europeans. One of my sources claims that "perdida" is Spanish slang for "loose woman," so it might be worth the visit. Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy Billowing ash from Mount Vesuvius dimmed the sky above Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 C.E., then buried the cities for nearly 17 centuries. Really? Wow! I've never heard of that! Kidding. It's probably the first ancient disaster I ever heard about. Caracol, Belize Trees curl around Caracolâs stone pyramids, which the Belize jungle overtook after residents abandoned the site in the 11th century. While I didn't visit Caracol while I was in Belize lo these many years ago, there were plenty of other Mayan ruins in the jungle that I did visit, including some of the famed calendar sites. Troy, Turkey A dramatic setting for the ancient worldâs most consequential love triangle, Troy has a 4,000-year history that merges with myth near Turkeyâs Aegean coast. This one's especially cool not just because of its significance to ancient literature, but also because of its significance to modern archaeology. One of the first "adult" nonfiction books I remember reading detailed Schliemann's groundbreaking (you're goddamn right that pun was intended) work in finding and excavating the ancient city. But, no, I haven't been there. Xanadu, China Kublai Khan ruled his empire from the city of Xanadu, surrounded by a grassland steppe that stretched to the horizon in every direction. Also the purported subject of Coleridge's arguably second-most-famous poem. There are a few more at the link, but those are the ones which I felt like commenting on. While none of them (to the best of my knowledge) have a McDonald's or a five-star hotel, they might be worth a brief visit. |
| What with, you know, everything, I think we could use some funny right now. Here's Gizmodo, keeping us abreast of scientific developments. Great Tits Sometimes Break Up, Bird Researchers Find New research finds that âtit divorceâ is less arbitrary than biologists thought, revealing a complex social side to these common European songbirds. You'll have to click on the link to see a picture of a beautiful pair of great tits. Weâre talking about the birds. Way to ruin the mood. Great tits are small, yellowish songbirds common to the woodlands of Europe. By way of contrast, boobies are larger seabirds, mostly tropical, with some species limited in range to the Americas. Tit pairs are known to be monogamous during breeding season, splitting up after fully raising their offspring. Yes, you're damn right I'm going to milk this one for all it's worth. But new research suggests that this âtit divorceâ may be the product of complex social relationships formed during and after the breeding season. So, not due to age and gravity? Published July 30 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the paper reports that not all tit pairs separate in late summer when breeding season ends. A sizeable portion of tit couples remain together throughout the winter, hitting it off again when spring comes. I think the article's author is trying very, very hard to avoid doing what I'm doing right now. That, or their editor (do those still exist?) got their hands on it. In other words, tit dating status is complicated, and for reasons that arenât yet entirely clear. Well, they are usually hidden from our sight. For the study, Abraham and her colleagues tracked individual great tits found in the woods near Oxford. I used to find them in the woods near a university, too. Okay, okay, a moment of seriousness: this is actually pretty cool, especially if you read the sciencey bits of the article at the link. I saved this one a while back, but with the passing of Jane Goodall almost dominating the news cycle today, it came up randomly at an appropriate time—because we're still learning stuff about other species. That doesn't stop my inner 12-year-old from giggling like a loon, though. |
| Here's another opinion about tipping in the US, this one from Art of Manliness and focused around the practices of the second-best musician to come out of New Jersey. Frank Sinatra had a word for tipping: duking. Funny, that's what I call disappearing into the men's room for an extended period of time while everyone else argues about the check. Besides frequently tipping, Sinatra handed out gratuities in Midas-like amounts. He almost always duked in C-notes â $100 bills. As the article points out, this was when $100 meant something. Duking was his way of saying: I see you. I value what you do. And I want you to know it. That's one interpretation, sure. But there's a darker one. None of my other sources list "tip" as a synonym for "duke." The latter word is most commonly used as a royal title, but can also be applied (especially around the time Sinatra would have been rolling around the mean streets of Hoboken) to battle-ready fists. Now, it's entirely possible it's regional slang, or something innocent he made up based on the sound. Still, I can't help but note that American tipping culture has racist and classist origins, which, according to our ideals at least, should be as anathema as calling anyone other than John Wayne a "duke." Tipping used to be simple. You tipped the waiter. The bartender. The shoeshine guy. The bellhop who lugged your Samsonite to your room. The guy who took care of your horse. The person who wiped down your carriage. The hunter who brought you mammoth meat. Now, the touchscreen spins around at the fast-food counter and youâre asked to choose between 18%, 22%, and 25% . . . for someone who just handed you a value meal. If you're lucky, anyway. I've seen the options go much higher than that. When youâre asked to tip for transactions that donât involve personal service, the whole thing starts to feel less like hospitality and more like a shakedown. That's because it kinda is. The Emily Post Institute and other etiquette experts draw a line here: you donât need to tip for counter service or pre-packaged goods. Save it for situations where someone is personally attending to you; where their level of care or craft contributes to the overall quality of the experience. Much as I hate to agree with the linked article, I do, in this case. With the disclaimer that tipping is a cultural thing, and this article is about the US. Sinatraâs tipping neednât be imitated dollar for dollar. I would hope not. Even now, 75 years later, most of us aren't going to tip $100 on a $30 meal. And in terms of real value, as the article points out, that would be more like $1000 today. 1. Tip big where it counts. Especially if you're a regular. 2. Donât nickel and dime people. If you can afford the service, you can afford the tip. Okay, here's where I break. I really despise the construction "If you can afford x, you can afford y." If I've budgeted for x, I don't want to be surprised by suddenly also owing y. It's like saying "If you can afford $200 for concert tickets, you can afford the extra $200 Ticketbastard convenience fee." "If you can afford a Porsche, you can afford the insurance on it." Bullshit. And taken to its logical conclusion, "If you can afford a night out, you can afford a mansion." 3. Skip the tip when it doesnât make sense. No one expects you to tip the cashier at the gas station. I wouldn't say "no one." There's a bakery in my town that I really like. They make excellent bread and pastries, and the products are priced accordingly. 95% of the time, the service is simple: pick up bread, put in bag, ring it up. While the product quality is much higher, the service is no different from that of McDonald's, where no tips are requested or expected. That's how I developed my McDonald's Rule: if the service is equivalent to a fast-food joint, no tip. The other 5% of the time, they might do something special for me like decorate a cake or search in the kitchen for a fresh batch of something they're out of at the counter. That's personalized service, so a tip is warranted. The difficulty is that their credit card machines are set up with tipping options, and they like to stare at you while you're going through the tip screen. It's awkward. Most places like that, I just never patronize again, but, dammit, they make the best baguettes I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. Yes, even better than ones I had in France. 4. Keep it discreet. Flashing cash for attention turns generosity into performance. Sinatra never tipped to be seen. Right, a guy known for being a performer. 5. Only duke on the way out. Sinatra never greased palms to jump the line or get premium service. And this one, I also agree with—mostly. If you give them extra before a service, it's not a tip; it's a bribe. As I've noted before, the story that "tips" began as an acronym for something like "to insure prompt service" is a fauxtymology, which should be obvious to anyone who knows that the tip follows the service. Again, though, there are exceptions. Like, most delivery drivers won't waste their time with your order if you don't bribe them. So if you don't fill out the "tip" part of the order form, you won't even get the opportunity to tip them later because they're serving customers who have already bribed them. One solution, of course, is to avoid ordering delivery, but dammit, it's convenient. Which is why it's worth tipping on. After all, if you can afford food, you can afford the delivery fees. Right? |
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