A whale's tail....

...used to be feet! 

via LiveScience:
The first whales once swam the seas by wiggling large hind feet, research now suggests.

These new findings shed light on the mysterious shift these leviathans made away from land.

There is also a link at the bottom to an article about gay whales. I bet Sarah Palin hates whales, just like she hates polar bears. Charlie Gibson should ask her if she does tonight. The American people want to know! Or at least I do...

I (heart) NY

9/11 anniversaries are always strange days for me, as they should be, I suppose. Last year, it seemed like just another day, maybe with a little more to think about. This year, complex emotions started bubbling up a few days ago and manifesting as a big, sore lump in the back of my throat. In an interview with the BBC from two years ago, my old photojournalism teacher, David Handschuh, one of the first photographers on the scene who ended up crushed by falling debris and fortunately quickly rescued by firefighters, summed up those feelings pretty well:

"I think anybody who is in New York, or who lost somebody or who paid witness that day, has a bunch of little gremlins under their bed, and every once in a while those gremlins leap out and they taunt you and they bite you and they want to play with you.

"So you play with them and then you put them back under your bed and maybe it's five minutes, maybe it's five days, maybe it's five months till they come back out and play, but you've got to confront your gremlins and then say 'You know what, folks, it's time to move on, I'll see you in six months'."

For some reason, that description really works for me, as it was an experience and a psychological, emotional response that I really can’t define in realistic terms. So today, as I struggle to remember every second of that day for no real good reason (such as, What did the people look like that I talked to at the river’s edge as we watched lower Manhattan go up in smoke? Why do I remember walking there, but not walking home?), I’m going to drive those gremlins away with positive thoughts about the city that was, and always will be, my first love. After 9/11, I thought I would never leave. Seven years later, sitting in Los Angeles where I’ve lived for the past five years, I wonder if I will ever return. Here are just a few memories that will forever have my heart:

• The first day of warm weather in the spring or late winter when it seems like the entire city is out to enjoy it.
• The thrill that riding in a car used to bring when it only happened every so often.
• Bagels the size of your face with appropriate servings of cream cheese.
• Roller skating in central park.
• Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge just for pizza.
• The summer of 2002.
• 3 a.m. and still dancing hard with the locals at Black Betty or Stinger Club on a Saturday night.
• The energy of the city. Whether you like it or not, you feel it buzzing around you all. the. time.
• The deli at Greenpoint & Manhattan Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Coffee from carts: light & sweet.
• Running through open fire hydrants.
• Yankee baseball.
• Decibel/Reservoir/Mugg’s/Yabby’s/etc./etc.
• The way I crane my neck and lean upon strangers inappropriately for the first glorious glimpse of the sparkling, still proud, skyline every time I fly home.

A Newspaper Love Affair

I have a giant crush on the NY/Region section of The New York Times. Perhaps because it reports mainly on New York (duh), which already takes up substantial real estate in my heart. Or maybe because it often seeks out all the fascinating and neglected corners and people of the city that everyone should wonder about, but very few do. Either way, here are a few examples of the good stuff that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Make sure you check out all the related pictures. 

Have Camera, Will Trespass, on Brooklyn’s Waterfront

The Domino sugar refinery has been on the East River for more than a century. Part of the plant is now a landmark, but the windows in this view will be demolished. (Photo: Nathan Kensinger)

The Curious World of the Last Stop

(Excerpt from article, by Andy Newman) Beyond the station gates, a priest dreams of a vineyard. A car bursts into flame. An ancient sign in a boarded-up window opposite the platform reads “Wrestling Weight.” A stuffed bear mans a betting window in a struggling OTB parlor. The dead lie in rows uncounted, and the living mourn and wait and work and love and strum guitars on the front stoop, annoying the neighbors.

There are 24 stops on the New York City subway system past which you can ride no farther. For those who get off somewhere else — almost everyone — the end is just a sign on the train. New Lots: wonder what that’s like. Dyre Avenue? Sounds kind of grim. Middle Village — what is that, a jousting park? As it turns out, the end of the line, like most ends, is a place of abiding mystery.

Heaven's Angels

A companion in the hands of Rescue Ink member Desi Calderon. Photo by Librado Romero/The New York Times

These are a few of my favorite things

Whiskers on four-earred, extremely photogenic kittens.


And skateboarding turtles seeking love.

You're not so special

But this little guy is!

From Reuters: It had been thought only chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror.

But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies -- a species with a brain structure very different from mammals -- could also identify themselves.

"It shows that the line leading to humans is not as special as many thought," lead researcher Helmut Prior of the Institute of Psychology atGoethe University in Frankfurt told Reuters.

He is probably also smart enough to not eat lunch at his desk, reducing the risk of getting lentils all up in his keyboard. Like I just did. Dammit. 

Holy Egyptol-awesome!

Tiny mummy DNA testing to find out if fetuses in King Tut's tomb are his kids. This is part of a wider mummy DNA testing project, which leads me to the question - If we can extract DNA from mummies, does that mean we can clone them?? If so, can they please come back with the knowledge of how they built those damn pyramids? I really need to know. 

P.S. King Tut, if your cloned self is reading this, I'm still angry about the 2005 LACMA exhibit with the false title: "King Tut Returns." Neither you, nor your flashy sarcophagus, was there! Returns my ass. Email me if you want to make good on that promise. We'll get coffee - you'll love it. 

Bonafied Lovin'

It was Halloween weekend, 2005, when I was first introduced to Chromeo at their show at Little Pedro’s, the “oldest bar in Los Angeles,” which is sadly, no longer Little Pedro’s. LP and I had quite a night that evening, including being forced to watch a short film about a mail-order girlfriend who only had a head and yearned to have a complete body, as well what I’m convinced was a real zombie sighting. Nonetheless, what I remember most is our instant obsession with Chromeo, mostly due to the song “Rage.” We were pretty angry back then.

Three years later and the sassypants dance pop duo still has me hooked and screaming like a 12-year-old girl in their presence. Which I did pretty consistently at their show last night at the Fonda. If you aren’t already in love with them, here are 8 outstanding character traits that may sway you to wanna be their Tenderoni.



Pride in their appearance: See manicured facial hair in the pic above. Also of note – Pee’s correct preference in baseball teams.

Bromantical: Best friends since high school, they still high-five each other during songs like it’s their first time on stage together.

Quality Musical Preferences: They cite “Cool It Now” by New Edition as a major influence. Also Hall and Oates.

Play Well With Monsters: They’ve been on Yo! Gabba Gabba. Which I’ve also, unabashedly, seen live.

Well Educated: Dave 1 is pursuing a Ph.D. in French literature at Columbia University. How do you say “Do me” in French?

Use cutting-edge technology: Talk. Box. Yes!

Shamelessly Nerdy: “I’m a big-time Paul Simon fan. Big Phil Collins fan. I’m a big Jodeci fan, too. The Show, The After Party, The Hotel album? I wish Paul Simon would call me up and say he wants to do a joint with me.” - Pee Thug, in an interview for Tastes Like Chicken

Magical: They have the ability to make every single person dance at a show in Los Angeles. This is simply unheard of. And therefore can only be explained through magic. Or strobe-light induced seizures.