Author: Steve

I think it would be cool to buy an electric car, but they’re still such a new technology.  Maybe if we wait a few years, there will be more to choose from, and with more competition, maybe they’ll be a little cheaper too.  My little Mazda 3 is still in great shape, but the technology is getting old.  It doesn’t have a back-up camera or adaptive cruise control.  It’s really fuel efficient and doesn’t cost very much, so maybe I should just replace it with a newer gasoline powered car and wait until the next round to buy electric.

But then again, I tend to keep cars for ten or fifteen years.  If I buy another car now, I’ll be looking to upgrade it again when I’m 90 or 95.  Oops.  Isn’t that about the time the kids will be chasing me down to take away the car keys?  Maybe the next car I buy will be my only shot at buying an electric car.

They lived from 400,000 years ago to 40,000 years ago, plus or minus, in an area from Western Europe to Western Asia.  They evolved from a common ancestor of both Neanderthals and modern humans.

A few hundred thousand years later, Homo Sapiens, modern humans, spread north out of Africa.  There is evidence that modern humans arrived in Neanderthal territory 54,000 years ago.  That’s a late arrival to that area by modern humans; they were spreading out north and east out of Africa long before that.  Maybe they were dissuaded from advancing further into what is now southern Europe by the well-established population of Neanderthals that was already there.  When homo sapiens finally did move into Neanderthal territory, there was no immediate replacement.  They lived side by side for at least 14,000 years.  That’s not very long in geologic time, but that’s a very long time to be next door neighbors.

Ultimately, Neanderthals dwindled while Homo Sapiens increased.  The population of Neanderthals was never very high.  In all that time, 350,000 years, it’s thought that their population never exceeded 100,000.  Neanderthals are gone now, but as a result of being neighbors for so long with Homo Sapiens, there was some breeding between species.  We know this because the entire human genome has been sequenced, and Neanderthal DNA has been recovered from artifacts and sequenced as well.  Genetic studies comparing the two show that a small bit of Neanderthal DNA, in the range of 1% or 2%, survives in most Homo Sapiens today.  Ironically, add up that tiny bit of Neanderthal DNA in the billions of modern humans alive today, and it calculates to way more Neanderthal DNA in circulation now than there ever was while they were still around as a separate species.

It’s going to be a stress-free playoff season in this house.  We’re not going to have to agonize about the Broncos winning anything.

We cheer for the Cowboys, but we’re not quite so invested in how they do.

It was fun seeing that many new birds in England.

This wasn’t primarily a birding trip, but anytime we were out and about, we could watch for whatever was around us.  When we were out walking, we got to make several trips to wildlife parks, not just city parks, and record what we saw there.  Lots of easy birds like crows, blackbirds, coots, herons, and moorhens.  Easy to recognize, but slightly different from North American species, so all new birds to us.  Those parakeets in the city parks.

Couldn’t count this ruddy shelduck because it didn’t really belong here, but it was fun to see it.

This black swan didn’t count because it was more like a pet.

Got to count the ring-necked pheasant, but it’s the same as what we see at home, when we get lucky enough to spot one.

We saw a great spotted woodpecker.

From a great distance.

Loved that little European robin.

Barnacle geese.

Eurasian magpies.

And a common kingfisher.

Striking coloring.

We added thirty-five species to our life experience.

It’s a Twizy.  A two-seat electric microcar from Renault.

https://www.renaultgroup.com/en/news-on-air/news/twizy-2/

A range of 100 kilometers and a speed of 80 kph.  It plugs into a household wall socket and recharges in 3 hours.