Book Look: The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery

This informative narrative of a naturalist's "dive" into the world of octopuses - their physiology, behaviour, and intelligence - was a diverting read. As a life science teacher, I was coming to this with a fair amount of background knowledge, so didn't necessarily acquire any new insights or understandings. But the book works as a well-rounded summary of what we knew about the genus at the time it was written (2016 - I mention this because so much new info has emerged since then), and Montgomery knows how to tell a good story, weaving references to extant research with personal anecdotes (her interactions with various octopuses, her quixotic attempts to master the art of scuba diving) and the larger goings-on at the New England Aquarium, a complex establishment supported by a passionate supporting cast of scientists, naturalists, and volunteers.

I appreciated the balance the author (mostly) maintains between drawing attention to the apparent human-like behaviours and intelligence of octopuses while simultaneously acknowledging the limits of judging their intelligence using the same measures that we apply to mammals. As she rightly notes, mammals and cephalopods represent entirely different branches of the tree of life, having diverged so long ago that almost everything that we would appear to have in common - eyes, brains, endocrine systems - emerged via separate, potentially dissimilar processes. Measuring octopus intelligence using the same scales we employ for mammals (tool use, empathy) would be like trying to understand seashells using the same criteria (hardness, luster, fracture patterns) we've developed to characterize rocks.

As this book emphasizes, we are only just beginning to realize how ill-equipped we are to understand non-human intelligence. Montgomery's most useful contribution here, I believe, is making the case that we need to set aside preconceived biases and start considering the reality that evolution has not been a single, unidirectional march from primitive --> human, but a series of parallel processes, leading off in any number of as yet unsuspected and unimagined directions.

Reality Check: 10 Things Your Parents Should Have Taught You About the Real World

File this under "flash rant," but getting tired of interacting with folks who seem not to have been taught these few foundational principles of life by the people - parents, guardians - who should have done so. 

Perhaps if we posted these 10 "reality checks" in every classroom, instead of the 10 Commandments, we might actually start churning out students prepared to function as responsible, respectful adults.

1. Life isn't fair; sometimes good guys get hurt, and sometimes bad guys prevail.
2. People aren't thinking about you nearly as much as you think you are.
3. You don't know half of what you think you know.
4. You are free to make your own choices, but you are not free of the consequences.
5. You don't get to dictate what other people think or do.
6. Only you can fix you.
7. Basic respect is a right; enduring respect is earned.
8. If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you always get.
9. Other people's lived experience is just as valid as yours.
10. People will judge you based on your actions, not your intentions.

150+ Things From My Childhood That Have Become Obsolete (Generation Jones version)

Like many other folks my age, I spend a lot of time remarking on how much the world has changed since I was a child back in the 60s/70s. Last night (just as I was trying to turn my mind off, naturally) I started making a mental list, which I've decided to capture here. 

Note that I've limited my list to things that have actually become obsolescent - replaced by faster/better/more efficient alternatives. If I let myself include things that change over time due merely to changing tastes -  fashion, furniture/home decor, retail stores, food, toys/games, entertainment - this list could go on forever! 

(Items in italics are things that aren't quite gone, but are well on their way to obsolescence.) 

TECHNOLOGY

1. Landline rotary telephones
2. Pay telephones
3. Answering machines, answering services
4. Pagers, beepers, Blackberries
5. Personal digital assists (ex: Palm Pilot)
6. Telephone-based services for time and weather
7. Telephone-based movie listings
8. Telephone books, telephone operators
9. Film cameras, film cartridges, flashbulbs, negatives, disposable cameras
10. Film developing kiosks in parking lots
11. Slides, slide projectors, slide carousels, portable screens
12. Videocams, camcorders
13. CRT TVs
14. TV antennas, TV guides, TV signoff patterns
15. VHS tapes, Betamax tapes, Laserdiscs
16. Record players, vinyl records, record inserts
17. Portable music players (transistor radios, walkmen, iPods)
18. Cassette tapes, 8-track tapes
19. Tape recorders (reel to reel, cassette), cassette tapes
20. CB radios
21. Telex machines, fax machines
22. Computer punch cards, floppy disks, 3.5" hard disks, zip drives
23. CDs, CD storage boxes & totes
24. Dot matrix printers
25. Catalog-based internet search engines
26. Desktop computers
27. Wired internet, charging cords, wired earphones
28. DVDs, DVD players
29. Calculators

CIGARETTES

1. Cigarette vending machines
2. Restaurant ashtrays
3. Cigarette lighters in cars
4. Matchbooks
5. Metal cigarette lighters, lighter fluid, flints

SHOPPING & BANKING

1. Manual cash registers
2. Credit card imprint machines
3. Pneumatic tubes at banks
4. Bank passport books
5. Bank Christmas savings accounts
6. Green stamps
7. Paper airplane tickets & boarding passes
8. Paper theater/event tickets
9. Print newspapers & magazines, newspaper vending boxes
10. Shopping malls
11. Walk-in banks, bank tellers, checkbooks
12. Traveller's checks
13. Price stickers
14. Print catalogs
15. Paper receipts
16. Mailed billing statements
17. Cash

JOBS/PROFESSIONS

1. Paper delivery boys/girls
2. Shoe repair shops
3. Projectionists
4. Human tollbooth operators
5. Travel agents
6. Telemarketers
7. Non-AI customer service
8. Cashiers

CARS

1. Vent windows
2. Hand-cranked windows
3. Backward-facing seating in station wagons
4. Gas station attendants
5. Free gas station giveaways
6. Paper maps
7. AAA Triptiks & paper guide books
8. Cassette/CD players
9. Manual transmissions
10. Metal car keys
11. Coin operated parking meters

SCHOOL & OFFICE

1. Typewriters
2. Carbon paper, typewriter erasers, white-out
3. Rolodexes
4. Portable dictation devices
5. Shorthand
6. Working 9-5 in an offsite location
7. Paper stamps
8. Pencil boxes, paste, slide rules, report covers
9. Lunchboxes with matching thermoses
10. Mimeograph machines
11. Overhead projectors, transparency film
12. Filmstrip projectors
13. Encyclopedias
14. Card catalogs
15. Date stamps in library books
16. Jungle gyms
17. Hard copy textbooks
18. Paper reference books (dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases, etc.)
19. Cursive handwriting
20. Annual school photos
21. Dewey decimal system
22. Wall calendars

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

1. Tiki-themed restaurants
2. Cafeteria-style restaurants 
3. Glass straw holders
4. TV meals served on TV trays
5. Home milk delivery, milk boxes, milkmen
6. Ice trays
7. Amphetamine-based diet pills
8. Hot air popcorn poppers
9. Electric can openers
10. Wax sandwich bags
11. Manual egg beaters
12. Coffee percolators
13. Hardcopy restaurant menus
14. Tea kettles
15. Ice buckets
16. Restaurant buzzers

AROUND THE HOUSE

1. Fine china & silverware, china cabinets
2. Incandescent light bulbs
3. Photo albums
4. Family address books
5. Shag toilet covers
6. Colored/patterned toilet paper
7. Shower caps
8. Metal toothbrush holders affixed to the wall
9. Macrame everything
10. Crocheted granny square afghans
11. Curtains on hooks
12. Chenille bedspreads
13. Manual lawnmowers
14. Snow chains on tires
15. Pet turtles
16. Goldfish in bowls
17. Fabric wall calendars
18. Metal trash cans
19. Webbed lawn chairs
20. Bug zappers
21. Terrariums
22. Cap-style hair dryers
23. Mercury thermometers
24. Bomb shelters
25. Wristwatches, alarm clocks, analog clocks
26. Metal house keys
27. Home sewing machines
28. Analog thermostats
29. Lawn jockies
30. Bar soap

SOCIALIZING

1. Letters written in long-hand
2. Postcards
3. Air mail envelopes
4. Paper party invitations
5. Honeycomb crepe paper party decorations
6. Tupperware parties
7. Avon cosmetics
8. Date books
9. Autograph books
10. Printed programs for theater and sporting events
11. Fee-free social media

HOLIDAYS

1. Mass-produced Halloween costumes with plastic masks
2. Elaborate Christmas decorations in town squares and malls
3. Satin Christmas balls with sequins
4. Aluminum trees with color wheels
5. Christmas tree tinsel
6. Flocked windows
7. May Day celebrations
8. Columbus Day celebrations
9. Dark tanning oil for sunbathing
10. Home birthday parties for kids
11. Cone-shaped party hats & noisemakers
12. Easter Seals

OTHER

1. Hotel room keys (not keycards)
2. Polio vaccination scars
3. Cough medicine with codeine
4. Calisthenics
5. Elliptical towel machines in public bathrooms
6. Bubblegum machines
7. Public water fountains