The Mind's I



Perspective...

Women and the act of urination
I'm not sure if this really works. I don't know any woman who can do this personally. Then again, how does one ask someone else if they have the ability?

My cynical nature makes me dubious that any amount of practice in the shower will allow me to do this.


Surfing...

Dead soldier with 26 stab wounds declared 'suicide' by Army investigators
I can't believe that someone would stab themselves in the chest and neck that many times in an act of suicide.


Genera Plantarum

Pansies...

Viola in Violaceae has a fascinating feature. A flower called a cleistogamous flower. Granted, there are other families that have this feature, but I learned about this special flower first in this family.

A cleistogamous flower doesn't open like other flowers. It remains closed. Typically the petal structures are underdeveloped. The flower inseminates itself, the stamens sometimes growing right into the pistil structure. The purpose of this behavior is for the plant to create offspring genetically identical to itself. Why?

Sometimes, sexual reproduction produce offspring less suited for the environment than the parent plant. So, to ensure that atleast some of its offspring survive, certain plant species develop cleistogamous flowers as a way of cloning their successful parental genes. The sexually reproduced seeds would not survive as well as the "clones".



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May 21, 1999
A Day Out

Yes, Constant Reader, I saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace today.

No, I won't tell you about it. Perhaps tomorrow.

Instead, an experiment. I tried to take a photograph to map the stops I made around the city. Some of the photographs turned out pretty good on their own...

Get on the bus...
Here I am on the bus, happy and eager for this day off to geek out.

On the bus
The dark recesses of the bus made an interesting photograph. I had the entire back seat to myself.

New York City
The view from New Jersey.

The A Train
I took the A train down to 14th street.

Hallway
I needed to take a train cross-town. Union Square is on the east side and the A train runs down the west side of Manhattan...

The L Train
...so I took the L train...

Union 14
And arrived at the theater at a good time.
I got on a short line to pick up my ticket.
Then went to a longer line of ticket holders.
Other movies at the theater:
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (3 theaters)
The Mummy (3 theaters)
The Matrix (3 theaters)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Life
The Winslow Boy
A Walk on the Moon
A forgotten movie

The 6 Train
After the movie, I went to Virgin Records (next to the Union 14) and bought several Star Wars related books. Then I took the 6 train up to...

33rd Street Station
...33rd street.

Brew's
Silly me actually forgot my 1pm ticket at home. So, I bought a 2:30 ticket and went to get something to eat. I ate at Brews. It was wonderful.

Murray Hill Cinema
The theater is smaller than Union 14. The screen is smaller. But the sound is just as good. Plus they showed the Blair Witch Project trailer! Yippie!

The Line
Wow. Check out that line for the 5:30 show (it was around 4:45 when I took the photo). It wrapped around the block.

Then for some odd reason, I forgot to continue taking pictures. I put my nose in the Making of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace book. I took the M34 to 8th Avenue. It turned and took me up to 42nd and Port Authory.

I took a bus home. I beat the rush hour crowd, which made me very happy.

© Copyright 1999, Eileene Coscolluela
[woolgathering]