Hi,
Yesterday was the anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death (1987). Tomorrow is the birth anniversary of Pittsburgh’s own Honus Wagner (1874), it’s Estonia’s Independence Day, and the anniversary of the start of the Gregorian Calendar (1582 when Pope Gregory adjusted the Julian calendar with leap year) and the anniversary of the start of the impeachment proceedings of President Johnson in 1867.
Derronda and myself had a behind the scenes tour of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It was sponsored by Judy and Deven with the Office of Corporate Relations. There was about twenty of us and they split guests that worked at the same place. So D went with the group that saw snakes and birds and I was with the bug people. Utterly amazing. They have something like 8 million bugs categorized and organized. They have another 8 million waiting on categorizing. The diversity of “bugs” is incredible. One of the things I saw was a bug on one of the pins they store the “bugs” on. It was just this little black speck and they had it’s cousin under a microscope for us to see. OMG, what a incredible specimen. The colors and patterns were totally amazing. The scientists are busy categorizing the huge inventory they have of “bugs”, but they also are out collecting more, even though they probably have a century of work with what they already have. They reason that with the way mankind is destroying endangered species, they need to get as many specimens as they can while they can. They also are HUGE in studying these creatures. They have traveling scientists that work there and they lend samples of their “bugs” to scientists all over the world that also are studying “bugs”. One of the storage rooms we were in is next to a common hallway. All the “bugs” are meticulously labeled with what the “bug” is, where and when it was collected, etc. The drawers these specimens are stored are also meticulously labeled. While the one scientist was talking, my mind wandered a bit and I noticed some of the drawers about four feet of the floor were labeled “Wow”. He explained the Wow drawers are specifically filled with specimens that would wow school children when they come in for private tours. How cool, scientists with a sense of humor and awe. And this was just the section on “bugs”.
The largest group of life on earth are “bugs” and these people at the Carnegie are so dedicated and knowledgeable it made me feel totally dumb and useless. As an aside, they showed us the stacks where that segment of Silence of the Lambs was filmed.
I came back from Florida on Friday, and once again I swear I’m never taking a trip again. I always push my luck and came back to bedlam. I only had three reservations for Friday when I left and picked up another three. Of course one of the couples arrived at noon (my flight didn’t land until 2). And there’s all the paperwork I had to get caught up on, supplies for breakfasts, etc. But Jeff, from the Inn on the Mexican War Streets was the perfect host. I did have a fabulous time in Florida and am very happy for my break.
We’ll talk again soon,
ed
