Wise words from LA

In my attempt at multi-disciplinary studies here I am learning a lot from all sorts of sources.  Today, I learnt two fascinating things from two very different people.  Firstly, the authors of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment wrote that 2/3 of the world's languages are spoken by forest-dwelling people.  What I didn't check was whether this includes people (like us in the UK) living in areas that were formerly forested, or only applies to areas such as tropical rain forests.  This map shows a visual picture of the distribution of languages in the world - each black dot refers to one language.  Looking at the map the highest concentrations of languages are definitely in tropical, forested areas.

Terralingua map of linguistic diversity

Secondly, Adrienne one of the stars of 'Real housewives: Beverley Hills' (that noted scholarly TV programme to which I have become sadly addicted) when introducing her fashion show starring her own shoes, came out with this extremely perspicacious philosophical exhortation to her audience ... 'May you find inspiration in the bigger picture, and love in the detail'.  Maybe I will have that translated into all the languages marked by the black dots in the above map as my contribution to international peace and harmony...

Why stone decay matters

Lest any of you think that what I work on is a minority sport, I should like to point you to yesterday's Observer which had the following story about Oscar Wilde's grave...

Apparently generations of fans kissing his grave and drawing on it with lipstick have caused enough damage for the monument to need intensive cleaning.  If you look carefully you'll also see the beautiful green algal colonisation towards the upper edge of the gravestone...but the Observer story doesn't seem to make any mention of that!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/nov/27/oscar-wilde-grave-paris-cemetery

Over 20,000 words...

At last I can say with more confidence that I will complete the task I set out to achieve at the Getty.  I have managed to churn out more than 20,000 words now - with at least something written for all five chapters of the short book (booklet?!)/ long article that I am trying to produce.  The last few days have seen me being quite productive, despite wonderful weather (80 deg F today and yesterday) and lots of counter-attractions.  I've been thinking about ruins so much that I fear I have turned into one...  I even read some human geography things today which is VERY worrying.  I didn't understand much of them, however, so that was reassuring. My aim is to have 30,000 words done by the time I leave.  So, I shall have to work hard over the next 3 weeks.

Thanksgiving, Viles-style...

Thanksgiving is a major holiday in the USA, to be shared with family and friends and involving a turkey.  As I am without any of those at the moment, I had to improvise.  I managed to phone my Mum and Dad on their home phone in England via Skype and had a lovely chat for 10 minutes for 18p.  How does Skype do it?!  Or are my parents really just round the corner having a sneaky holiday in Hollywood without telling me.  It wouldn't surprise me...

I've just enjoyed a home-cooked 'turkey and all the trimmings' meal, but without the turkey and jolly nice it was too.  Roasted vegetables, including a selection of 'heritage potatoes' and a few things that had been lurking in the fridge for a long time.  Lovely.  Fresh Californian strawberries to finish.  And then the moonlight swim in the pool and hot tub.  Not bad for the end of November!

View from the hot tub

Tahiti calls (but not loudly enough)

Some days are just plain weird.  I checked my emails this morning to find a last minute invitation to present a paper at a meeting in Tahiti (all expenses paid).  Sadly, the dates they wanted me (or, really to be honest, I was about their 31st choice, so the dates they wanted anyone who knows the vaguest thing about islands!!) were impossible - 2 days before I am due to leave here to return to the UK.  I must confess I did look at flights from LAX to Papeete just to see if it was vaguely possible.  At lunch I visited the 'Images of the artist' exhibition at the Getty Museum (bear with me, this honestly is relevant...) and found the most beautiful drawing below by Paul Gauguin called 'Head of a Tahitian woman'. How likely is one to be drawn to thinking about Tahiti twice in one day?  If anyone wants to go to Tahiti and deliver a paper on the geomorphology of atolls let me know and I'll put them in touch with the organisers!

Head of a Tahitian woman, Paul Gauguin, 1892, charcoal.