Thirst for Knowledge

Today I walked to work (the few blocks from my car to work; unfortunately I do not live close enough to actually walk to work) and noticed many pine cones on the ground. I have always thought pine cones were very attractive. But today I started wondering a little bit more about them. What purpose do they serve, what is their life cycle, do all pine trees have them, etc? This may seem obvious to some, but don't forget, I am a city girl.

This is why I am grateful to Wikipedia - and contribute money to them every so often. When I got to work I was a few minutes early (a rare occurrence) and decided to look it up. It is almost always very informative. For example, who knew: "The members of the pine family (pines, spruces, firs, cedars, larches, etc.) have cones that are imbricate (that is, with scales overlapping each other like fish scales). These are the "archetypal" cones. The scales are spirally arranged in fibonacci number ratios". Or this: The condition of fallen pine cones is a crude indication of the forest floor's moisture content, which is an important indication of wildfire risk. Closed cones indicate damp conditions while open cones indicate the forest floor is dry.

My brain often works this way. One thing leads to another and I often find myself looking things up. This is why I am so happy to be alive during the internet era. I recall in the old days, it would require a trip to the library, and by then, my original curiosity was usually long forgotten.

It's not like this quest for knowledge does me any good. Half the time, if I try and tell someone about it later, I can't even recall enough detail to relate a cogent story. If it comes up on Jeopardy, there's still a good chance I will get the answer wrong. But despite this, it gives me pleasure.

(And distracts me from other work I SHOULD be doing.)

Quite possibly it is also a sign of ADHD. And definitely contributes to my procrastination tendencies. Though since I am able to apply myself without being distracted, when needed, I have not worried too much about it. I feel this trait enhances my life, because I rarely, if ever, feel bored.

I think I inherited this trait from my father. In our family, he was famous (and sometimes teased for it by my brother and I) for looking up at the clouds or down at the ants and wondering what made them tick.

So today it didn't stop at the pine cone. Google-imaging pine cones led me to this unique and fascinating Elephant a Day blog, where every day, an elephant made by the author - in any form - is highlighted. She also includes beautiful graphic images of related items and historical notes. I will definitely be going back to this.

And here I found something called a cone cow, which I had never heard of before. A sweet toy from a gentler, simpler era. When children had to figure out how to entertain themselves without the help of a screen.

A pair of traditional cone cows.
Photo: Timo Viitanen
Source: http://www.cartinafinland.fi/en/picture/78143/Cone+cow.html

And another interesting fact that I was not previously aware of - in Germany, at the zoos, elephants and other animals are given Christmas trees to eat. Whole! Apparently, they love this special after the holidays treat! Funny, because I had just been reading about the health benefits of pine oil.  Perhaps the elephants know something we don't know.

Elephant calf Thabo-Umasai at the Dresden Zoo.
Photo: Matthias Rietschel/AP
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070104-christmas.html

Then under the References at the bottom of the Wikipedia page (yes I read the footnotes too!) I saw a link to the Swedish Postmuseum site and although I could not make out the Swedish I still managed to find an interesting video on there about mail art, which I watched.

So for those who may have wondered why I am so slow to respond to emails...now you know!