Author: photog

Guest Contributor – Tregonsee – 12NOV2025 – Selective Breeding

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Nature seems far more experimental at some level than we are used to. Consider for example Felis Catus (nee Felis Domesticus). They have only been hanging out with humans for ~10K years when they apparently self domesticated from Felis Libyca/Felis Sylvestris (it’s all about the mousies). There are SOME early traditional breeds of Asian cat e.g. Siamese cats (first mentioned 14th Century) and Japanese Bobtail (6th century prints) that have been around long times. Specific breeding other than perhaps for mousing ability, really only starts with cat shows the first in England being 1871. So 150 years of specific cat breeding. Currently TICA (one of several Cat fancy organizations) lists 73 breeds ( https://tica.org/ticas-breeds/browse-all-breeds/ ). The variance is not as great as say canines (that we’ve been hanging out with for 50K years and breeding selectively for over 15K years), but its starting to get some of the oddball shapes (e.g. Pixies or Munchkins) that resemble some of the dog breeds (Corgi/Dachshund) we are familiar with in their particulars. I suspect the evolutionary forces on our ancestors and their “kissing” (well this is a family blog so we’ll leave it at that 🙂 ) cousins were far greater than what we impose on show cats. I suspect that another factor that has significantly changed Anthropology (and the study of any set of animal clades) is the ability to map and recognize genes. This let us realize that H. Neanderthalis was the likely source of the M1CR gene that defines human redheads. Not sure if there is any trait that we directly trace to H. denisoviensis but maybe those genes are not quite so showy

Eloi to Silicon-Morlocks

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I find archaic human paleoanthropology fascinating.  The impact of better radioactive dating methods and now, DNA analysis has had a remarkable effect on the state of our knowledge.  Previously poorly-dated specimens were used to justify very late dates for when Homo sapiens, his predecessor H. heidelbergensis and the even earlier H. errectus left Africa.  More accurate information leaves it an open question whether sapiens evolved in Africa or Eurasia.  And the presence of H. neanderthalensis and H. denisoviensis and possibly other sister species of H. sapiens scattered around in Eurasia makes the point even more acute that our species radiated and developed and then remixed inside of Eurasia.  And the fact that all traces of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA are lacking completely in Africa only highlights the fact that Africa became a sort of isolated group of populations separate from the evolution that was taking place to the north.

What strikes me as very interesting is just how quickly humans change in reaction to their environment.  Just look around at the appearance of modern humans the world round.  Various types of Africans, Northern Europeans, Southern Europeans, Middle Easterners, South Asians, East Asians, the Australian aborigines and the New Guineans, the Native Americans, the South Sea Islanders and many other groups have differentiated from each other over the course of not millions of years but thousands.  Our hair, eyes, skin, the shapes of our faces and many other traits have changed in order to adapt to our environments.  Even something as fundamental as blood types are affected.  We are an adaptable species.  And I think that because of human squeamishness we have been less than logical with our designation of what is a species, subspecies or race when it comes to man.

After all, we’ve managed to crowd all of the “races” of man into one species without the thought of sub-specifying ourselves.  But the Neanderthals and Denisovans (whom we know bred with humans) we kick into separate species altogether.  That seems a bit much.  I remember in old books we sometimes saw Homo sapiens neanderthalensis as a subspecies of ours.  Surely our “kissing cousins” deserve at least that small a consideration for providing us with a few percentages of our genetic material (not to mention red hair!).

In general, I’m not willing to toss any of our closest relatives under the bus.  H. heidelbergensis and H. errectus were present in Eurasia for a very long time along with these later editions and what seems reasonable is that the same kind of interbreeding and intergradations occurred at earlier times spawning other “species” of Homo that we either can’t distinguish or haven’t found yet.  And whether these archaic humans met in the Mediterranean or the more northern regions the same kind of mixing and changing was going on.

So, man is ever-changing and since our brain is our defining facet it makes sense that changes in our brains is where we’ll see evolution hard at work.  The only question is whether this evolution will be untrammeled or will it be directed.  Artificial intelligence is the prize that technologists and industrialists tout as the future.  Will our brains be replaced with silicon?  Will we be turned into zoo animals that eventually will be euthanized when we’ve been rendered powerless?

I tend to think not.  I’m betting on the hominins.  For all our bad habits and shortcomings (and there are many) I think there is a greatness in our line.  I think we can still find our purpose on this planet.  And I don’t want to disown any of our kin here on Earth.  We fight each other and hate each other for our differences and just because we want each other’s stuff.  But that is part of being human.  We still have time to figure out a way to get along regardless of all our differences.  And as our brains get stronger so we will.  We have some important fate ahead of us.  And I doubt that it involves becoming Eloi to Silicon-Morlocks.

What’s the Deal with Book Editing?

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Tuesday morning, I have a telecom with a book editor. My marketer provided me with the name and I’m going into this with absolutely no expectations and only slightly more understanding of the services.
As is now my habit I went to Grok and asked it. “What are the various types of editing that a fiction author might contract for his book.”
And the LLM responded in part:

“Below is a breakdown of the main types of professional editing that fiction authors typically contract for, listed in the usual order they occur during the publishing process. Each level assumes the previous one(s) have been completed.

Now, this is a lot of stuff. And if you add it all up for even a short 65,000-word novel (like mine), it’s at least, several thousand dollars.”

That’s a lotta dough.
So, my intent is to listen and take notes and see just how much in the way of editing I want and/or can afford. I intend to be open about my lack of a trust fund and my unwavering faith in my literary muse. So that should eliminate the developmental editing and line editing functions from the discussion. And honestly, even if I had endless cash to spend, I think I want the words and ideas to be my own and in the voices that I’ve invented.
As far as copyediting and proofreading, I guess I’ll decide whether the benefits justify the costs. After all, I can spell pretty well and for the most part spellcheck does tell me what bothers it. And I did do a pass through the manuscript myself already so I think it would have to be a reasonable fee to win me over.
But regardless of all my reservations I find it stimulating to go through these processes in publishing a book. After all, I’ve been reading professionally published books all my life and I’ve never seriously considered what value was added by the editor. I mean, if the author had terrible spelling and didn’t pay attention to normal grammar and orthography maybe that would have bothered me as a reader. But I’m guessing that the golden age sf writers were all pretty reasonably literate and capable of providing a clean manuscript.
But now I’ll speak to someone who does this for a living and maybe I’ll get a perspective I didn’t consider. Well, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll decide to buy some editing.
And I’m still waiting for the cover artist to get back to me to discuss that piece of the puzzle. Well, one thing at a time.

The First Fruits of Mamdani

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Less than a week after New York City elected Zohran Mamdani mayor, his first reality check surfaces.  New York State Governess Kathy Hochul declared that she has no intention of funding free busses in New York City.

https://x.com/libbyemmons/status/1987532950284451991?s=20

While herself running for reelection and under pressure to avoid any new taxes the laundry list of freebies that Mamdani has promised represents a death sentence for her chances to win the election.

So, let’s think of how all of this will play out.  Well, one thing, I’m pretty sure of is that Zohran will be a one term mayor.  When Albany refuses to pay for all of his gimmees and the middle class flees his sabotage of the public schools and destruction of the police and emptying of the prisons I can see some really bad things going down in the “Big Apple.”

What I’m not sure of is what will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  If I were to guess I think it’ll be the city-owned grocery stores.  I think however he gets involved in that ridiculous idea it’s going to create actual chaos.  And that includes the scenario where he does nothing at all.  Just claiming that he’s working on it will cause enormous anger in the indigent population when it never occurs.  Probably he’ll open up a couple of storefronts where homeless people will be handed free food and riots will break out when the supply of food runs out.  After that the cold hard truth will become clear even to an idealistic moron such as himself.

I’ve heard that a substantial portion of the New York Police Department is planning to retire once Zohran is sworn in.  I think this will accelerate the breakdown in law and order and that will increase the white flight from the city.  How quickly all of this will spiral out of control is hard to say.  But I’m pretty confident that four years is not the amount of time it will take.  I’m guessing next summer is going to be a hot one in New York and bad things will begin to happen then.

But then again maybe I’m just indulging in some early schadenfreude at Zohran’s expense.  Maybe when it becomes apparent that all the things he promised are ridiculous impossibilities he’ll snap out of his adolescent fantasy and turn into a brilliant realistic urban leader ushering New York City into a new golden age with rich and poor coming together into a united coalition that provides inclusion, equity and diversity for all New Yorkers and without any necessity for jails, SAT exams, police or ICE agents.  And this will catapult Zohran Mamdani into the spotlight in a way that will galvanize the American people into amending the Constitution to allow a foreign-born president and this will allow him to win the Democratic nomination for president of the United States and bring him to the White House as our first Muslim, immigrant, communist president.

Yeah right.  If you believe all that then I have a bridge that goes to Brooklyn that I’d like to you to take a look at.