Checking In.

It has been the normal crazy set up. I went across the street to say hello to Domenick, the man that owns the italian delicatessen across the street yesterday. Domenick is a guy that I have actually known for about thirty years but have only really got to know well recently. He used to play ultimate frisbee with a guy I knew named John. Dom still plays frisbee, one of my old passions, and has an 18 hole disc golf course at his house. His deli has both good food and pretty girls behind the counter. A winning combination!

Anyway I get over there yesterday and Dom signals me to sit down. Giussepe is there, the italian wine importer from Palermo by way of Chicago. He refused to take no for an answer and I had to start the day with about eight plastic cups of his wine, starting with a rosé and making our way through the chiantis to the super tuscans.  From the boot to the top of the leg. Nice man with a thick sicilian accent. Wines not bad, especially a reserve full bodied red called intensa.

My productivity was pretty well shot for the afternoon but it was a sacrifice someone had to make and why not me? Always ready for the tough jobs.

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Interesting but complex study on the evolution of language at Wired Science. Culture apparently has a greater impact than genetics and neurology in the way global languages have evolved.

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I was talking to a woman, Brenda that I have known for years but not had a whole lot of interaction with, and I asked her if she had ever read my blog, one of my favorite conversation starters. (What a pain in the ass I am.) I could have sworn that she said no but maybe I misunderstood. Anyway I pressed and she sort of gave me last week's blog verbatim. I have uncovered another lurker, another of the 320 people who check in with regularity to give me my 10 thousand views a month. She loves the music, has identical politics and occasionally reads the blast to her boss. I love you lurkers and I love people that read me from out of the blue. Thank you one and all. One day we will have a big blast party somewhere.

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I think that there are flash problems with the blast and the safari browser. Some mac-heads are getting the spinning wheel and the blog is hanging up. Doesn't seem to be happening in Chrome or Firefox. Don't know what the hell is going on but I may delete all of my links and see if it helps. Please let me know if you are having problems.

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Tomorrow is DNA day and Family Tree DNA, my genetic tester, is having a discount day. I am going to get a Family Finder test which analyzes hundreds of thousands of points on my autosomal DNA to check family connections with the general database to 6 generations. I have previously found only one identical genetic match to my ancestral state E1b1b1c1*-D1 Y DNA. Dr. G. in Seattle - same to 37 markers. My tribe left Somalia for points north about 22,400 years ago. My mitochondrial maternal K group DNA is different, have almost 1500 email addresses from close genetic relatives in the database. I just got this note from FTDNA, guess I don't have to do another cheek scrape:

Due to the large amount of DNA required for this product, we must extract DNA from a previously unused vial. We have an extra vial on hand from your kit and will begin processing your order using this vial.


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A link here to the service.

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For the third time in as many months, an air traffic controller has fallen asleep on the job. This time it happened at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. An incoming plane landed itself the other day while the controller snoozed for 16 minutes.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has long warned that it was dangerous to have controllers alone on shifts and working such grueling hours. They have to leave their post unattended to even go to the bathroom.

Perhaps we should listen to them before a real tragedy occurs.