From the Past, Strangely

One really never knows what goes through either the heart or the mind of another.

Post-inscription
Originally Presented
to The Honourable
Geoffrey Dow
In January 2006
(inscribed July 9th 2006)
Merry "X-Mas" G-Fry.
Love always,
Laura

I pulled Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale off the shelf a little while ago, a volume I had not perused since, well, some time prior to the inscription quoted above.

"Love always." Two days after she penned those words, I tossed her out of my life forever. I wonder what other surprises may lurk among my shelves or files.

An Evolutionary Anectdote

"D.K. Belyaev and his colleagues took captive silver foxes, Vulpes vulpes, and set out systematically to breed for tameness. They succeeded, dramatically. By mating together the tamest individuals of each generation, Belyaev had, within 20 years, produced foxes that behaved like border collies, actively seeking human company and wagging their tails when approached. That is not very surprising, although the speed with which it happened may be. Less expected were the by-products of selection for tameness. These genetically tamed foxes not only behaved like collies, they looked like collies. They grew black-and-white coats, with the white face patches and muzzles. Instead of the characteristic pricked ears of a wild fox, they developed 'lovable' floppy ears. Their reproductive hormone balance changed, and they assumed the habit of breeding all the year round instead of in a breeding season. Probably associated with the lowered aggression, they were found to contain higher levels of the neurally active chemical serotonin. It took only 20 years to turn foxes into 'dogs' by artificial selection."

- Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale