I have noticed the more I read, the more connections and odd coincidences I seem to notice in my normal day to day life. (Either that or I am becoming paranoid like the character Belbo in Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.) For example I read a novel (not a very good one, but it was ok) a couple of weeks ago where they mention this guy named Giordano Bruno, who was a 16th century monk. Then I when I was reading Discover Magazine yesterday they referenced him in an article about SETI.
Or take today. I was on line reading random news articles and I came across one about how the global warming is threatening reindeer herds across northern Europe (by partially melting the snow and creating hard ice over the lichens that they graze upon in winter). It seems that some scientist think the best solution is to castrate many of the males (thus causing them to retain antlers that would normally be shed in the winter) so they can use them to break through the ice and get at their food source. (As a side note, this is completely illogical. What point is there of the males surviving if they are unable to reproduce? Duh...)Then just a while ago I was reading Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by C. Sagan and A. Druayn, and right there in a chapter called 'The Rape of Caenis' they mention reindeer again and how Sami women (previously called Lapp people) of northern Europe used to castrate reindeer with their teeth! Isn't that a very...odd coincidence? Two stories about reindeer castration in one day!
Note: After I am done reading the above mentioned book, I am going to post a blog with some of the highlights/insights I picked up. As a prologue: The book started out slow, but it's been better since I got past a couple billion years of asexual reproduction. Sex makes everything more interesting. Especially biological history.
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