Apropos of pines...

The BBC reports that "the Wollemi Pine, a plant from Jurassic times which survived in a single isolated Australian grove" will go on sale to the public in 2005, as patio plants (of all things).

The pines were found by accident in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

Truly, "the peerless pine was the first to come," and doubtless "will be last to go."

Just think, you can start your own "Jurassic Park." I wonder what they'll sell for?

Cheers...

P.S. The BBC link is likely far more ephemeral than the following site devoted to the Wollemi Pine.

Two of three down...

The two Word files are (preliminarily) done, and the VAIO has just finished importing the Excel file into DVX. Initially, I thought the process was hanging, as nothing would happen for what seemed to be nearly 10 minutes, but the fact that the disk activity light kept flashing eventually convinced me to leave the machine alone for, say, a half hour, and when I returned, the file had been processed.

Ye gods.

Feht called earlier and we talked. He told me of the fairly strong earthquake in the Altai region of Siberia, about 200 clicks away from Barnaul and my mother-in-law. I called Alla in Moscow, and she reported that although the quake shook up Barnaul somewhat (the 7.6 Richter epicenter value was felt like a 3-4 Richter in Barnaul) and spilled the contents of some dish shelves, everyone is okay.

In any event, Galina and I are going to Feht's a little later, and then tomorrow, we're invited to Karen and Mike's house for dinner.

In fact, I should probably go get ready.

Cheers...