Happiness is a new plant

Nothing makes a botanist happier than a new plant particularly if it is something a bit unusual, a bit out of the ordinary, a bit rare.  Well, looky, looky what TPP has gotten as a gift from a colleague, a dwarf, African water lily, Nymphaea thermarum.  Here's a link to the Kew Gardens web page about this plant. It's pretty new to science so it's great fun to have such a plant, but it's extinct in the wild.  This is such a great plant, the world's smallest waterlily, and the only one to grow on the surface of hot mud rather than in water. TPP likes examining how unusual plants grow, and to see if they have any particular adaptations for their particular way of life. You only find out about such things by watching them grow and reproduce very carefully. 

Standard shift hold-outs

The Phactors have standard transmission cars, one brand new (a Subaru Forester) and one an aging, Toyota sport sedan (cranberry red). You may decide whose is whose. Part of this is familiarity; TPP has always had stick shift vehicles. Part of this is longevity; our cars are driven for many years (a VW vanagon still looked like new after 18 years) so you get used to things as they are. Part is history; stick shifts are great in the wintery weather of our youth. But the signs are clearly there, stick shifts are going to be a thing of the past. But if the Forester lasts long enough, it may not matter, and Mrs. Phactor is talking of an all electric run-around. Of course TPP can still parallel park, on both the passenger and driver's side of the car! Even when taking one of the cars in for service, the younger garage employees cannot drive a standard shift, and they shouldn't be taught on mine! Like parallel parking, TPP thinks of shifting as a skill and therefore considers modern drivers to be unskilled. The F1 carries on the family tradition because learning to drive on our cars provided the skill and experience, and, oh yeah, who has our previous Forester? Unavailability will simply force her to change in a few years, sadly.  Even if automatic transmissions have improved greatly,  they don't use engine breaking near as well as a standard, and they do not seem, based primarily on experience with rental cars, to downshift conveniently when a lower gear would be beneficial, but all electric cars may put an end to those problems as well (especially if they recover power from braking).  Ah well, TPP doesn't have a typewriter any more, and although it doesn't get used often, his turntable still works, and it just came to mind yesterday because of the death Corey Wells (lead singer of Three Dog Night: Joy to the World, Mama told me not to come, Eli's coming, On the road to Shambala) reminded me of some of my vinyl.

Rare plant theft at Kew

Now this really pisses TPP off.  Plant theft in general is annoying, but when the plant is rare to the point of being extinct in the wild, and it's hard to grow to boot, and it may occupy a critical place in flowering plant evolution, then it's worth drinking a few pints while deciding if any imaginable punishment is sufficient.  And then to add insult to injury, you have the "so what" attitude of a member of Parliment who could intellectually qualify as a member of our GnOPe.  It happens everywhere whether it's cycads (Fairchild Gardens) or Wollemia pines that must be grown "jailed" in cages to prevent theft (Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney) or just coffee trees in a university glasshouse (stolen in frigid weather and just as quickly frozen to death). In this case the plant is a waterlily that only grows at the margins of hot springs.  This demonstrates one of the critical roles of botanical gardens around the world.  And this waterlily is so cute, at least to plant people!  But as we all know fuzzy, furry, feathery cute animals get all the conservation attention.  HT to AoB Blog.