A Story Reminiscent of Lonely George

How would it feel to be the last human on Earth? Well this story isn't quite that devastating, but it has the same feeling. A lonesome wolverine found in the Sierra Nevada mountain range is though to be the last in the area, but not a local. Indeed, the last known wolverine from the Sierra Nevada's was killed in 1922. As the last known wolverine in the area, debate has begun over whether specimens from other populations should be brought in to reintroduce wolverines to part of their natural habitat.
This particular wolverine has been tracked for over three years now. What's odd about this finding is that this is not a native wolverine. In fact, based off genetic testing, this animal is from the population in the Rockies. However it has been spotted numerous times during these three years and seems to have a huge range over the area, 216 square miles!

This was just a recent article in the Sac Bee, but it was reminiscent of Lonely George, (what was) the last known Pinta Galapagos Tortoise (Geochelone nigra abingdoni). Recently though, as a 90 year old, George may finally become a father. A few attempts have been made at breeding Lonesome George with other females of different subspecies, but so far none have been viable.
The reason I say "was" the last known is because recently a second Pinta tortoise has been found, Tony, another male. However others have suggested that other possible Pinta Tortoises may be on the island of Isabela after scientists have found a tortoise that shares half its genes with George's subspecies. The race is now afoot to search through the 2,000 tortoises on the island to see if there is another Pinta Tortoise among them.
Beyond those possible tortoises though, scientists believe that George may be able to successfully breed with Hood Island Giant Tortoises, his closest living relatives (other than Tony).

Wolverine Story - http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/20/3416527/lone-wolverine-continues-to-roam.html
Lonesome George on Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geochelone_nigra_abingdoni#cite_note-13

Catch Up Time

Well it has been a long time, I am ashamed. So what has happened in the past few weeks? I'll see how much I can remember for this post.

Happy Birthday Darwin!!

First of all, two days ago was Charles Darwin's Birthday. We had a grand celebration in the Laben 4 Ballroom (lounge) in celebration of Darwin's 202nd birthday. Charlie, Tyler, and I took the day to go walking around downtown to inform the citizens of Davis of this special occasion.. they were less than knowledgeable of the times. Charlie was walking around in a Darwin costume, full beard and coat, it was uncanny. We got many guesses as to who he was (Papa Smurf and Father Time among others). During our expedition we went to Border's to look at some good biology books, and of course we found at least one creationist book. So now there is a picture of Charlie in costume with disappointment on his face while holding the book. That night we watched the movie Creation in celebration. T'was a bit dramatized. Darwin did not hallucinate, however he was very ill during his life.Good times were had by all. Perhaps next time we can get a Wallace costume and Huxley costume, have the full gang.

Classes have been going well, I now hate archaeology though. The class is so so very dull.... Our professor only ever reads from his premade powerpoint presentation, and the TA's are so boring that it's now more fun to do math in that class, just as an example. Further the midterm was horrid; I dislike memorization with great intensity. Math has been doing much better than last quarter, mostly because now we have quizzes and homework to boost our grades, and I've been getting near perfect quiz scores so that definitely boosts the ego. ECS is also being really good at that as well (other than this last homework set). So ECS 30 was more of a tester class, to see if I liked the field. Needless to say, yes, yes I do. 66/68 on my midterm, that made me damn proud. Even more so when I find that every ECS major in that class got lower. As far as homework, each week we get a few projects to do and they are typically fairly simple, due to the last assignment I have now officially missed 17 points in total from that class, out of maybe 250 ish, and midterm was a good percentage of the final grade, so yes indeed very happy. Final class is the Dinosaurs class... there isn't much to say for this class... easy yes, got friends in it, and did well on midterm, all else is fairly self explanatory from the title.

Speaking of classes I am to sign up for next quarter classes soon, so much fun right? Well already got the four planned out. First up is Chemistry 2B, because I have to. Luckily I will have the choice between Enderle or a different professor Toby Allen who has a 4.3 on ratemyprofessor.com, so both good choices. The start of the bio series will also come next quarter, and I shall be starting with Charlie so we shall definitely be study partners. Then two GE classes; EVE 12 which is about life in the oceans, and Humanities 15. I know, I know, why humanities? Well part of it is due to the GE's for which it counts towards everything, and the topic is about the f-word. So really how could you go wrong? EVE 12 I shall also, hopefully, be taking with Charlie, Tyler, and Drew, THE EBBer's UNITE!! Some may have noticed that I am not taking any ECS courses, well the reason being that it is only a minor, major takes priority as do GE's and prereqs. Next quarter should be much fun though, even without ECS.

How amazing would it be to say I worked here?

Now onto Summer. Have I ever mentioned that Sherri Mann, my major advisor is AMAZING! So far she has sent out at least a dozen summer internship possibilities, (mostly for upper classmen, but still t'is a fair cop). One that I am eagerly awaiting a replay form is for an internship at Yosemite where I would be helping in a herpetological survey. Can you say HELLS YES? Instead of the 2 requested references, I gave 5, one of whom is one of the top herpetology scientists in the country. Chances are still low that I'll get it, but had to try for a position like that. Numerous positions were open in Alaska, but as I found out earlier today I had to be an upper classman to apply. But numerous other possibilities I still need to examine, and really even if not, it wouldn't be bad to take the summer off or get a local job, that way I can beef-up on programming and herpetology knowledge.

Oh yes, and now for something that just occurred today. My laptop my soon be fried. When I plugged in the power chord, there was some cracklinggg... and some sparrrks.... soon followed by a bit of smoke... These are not good signs, and you don't need to be a computer engineer to figure that one out. So hey mom, I know you read this, you know have one birthday gift idea... that's it, you don't need any more than that.

Guys from L to R, Trevor, Charlie, Matt, and Raymond.  The rest are amazing as well.

What more is there to catch everyone up on? ... Ah yes next year living conditions. Well that has all been figured out now. So next year I shall be living with my good friend Charlie of whom I have spoken much about in this here blog. Along with him there are three others: Raymond the Just, Trevor the Brave, and Matthew the Fair. The five of us shall be sharing an apartment in South Davis in Allegre. A quiet area right near downtown and with shopping a plenty. Drew and I have decided to separate. I think it was a mutual decision so that way we would stop annoying each other so much. The picture to the right is of Laben 4, I guess one may say they are a foster home. The four guys are the future roomies, as for the girls, around half of them will be living right near by as well. All good people who I am fortunate enough to be friends with.

I shall conclude this by saying simply that I am loving college life.