It’s really odd, the parts of our life-little memories-that stay with us after we leave a country.

My time in Central Asia was filled with intriguing diplomacy and interesting conversations, of which I usually remember almost nothing.

What rises in my memory is the exact recipe for a rich yogurt cake, recited to me in the cramped yellow kitchen of a former KGB secretary, and the way a sandstorm begins-a slow white mist swirling into a dervish.

The storms leave sand in the most improbable places, and a feeling a bit like spring-rising and dusting yourself off after having huddled tightly in the invasive dark.

The cake leaves you surprisingly full.

And the pistachios, sold in markets, ground into an oddly colored flour, made into cookies, serve as an underground currency. This is what women pay each other with, for a favor or a kindness, or for the sake of a mutual friend. They chose their husband’s jobs, their son’s wives, their mother’s new dress through a sort of sisterhood, a network invisible to men and coarse westerners. At first I thought I was simply being invited to tea, but soon I noticed a nuance; after an especially agreeable tea I would soon find the wishes hidden in my most casual comments fulfilled. My usually surly bodyguard offered to take me to the private rug market, a frothy bottle of rare fresh whole milk arrived at my doorstep(by way of the friend of a friend of the mother of one of my hostesses), I was suddenly granted access to a previously restricted school. I learned to speak carefully. Eventually, I learned the economy of the pistachio; my gratitude for a favor granted did not come with cookies, but by extending my own tea invitations to houses of influence.

By cracking the shell of that metaphoric nut I entered a world entirely new to me; where women’s relationships with each other were supported by a community, and shaped every aspect of their lives. In a way, it was a greater freedom than I had ever known, by not working through men to conduct business, there was no competition with them. This meant that male standards for decorum and behavior didn’t exist, an odd change for a woman only used to working in men’s proffessions. I loved it. I left with a new kind of permission to be myself, whomever I am with. I also took a new need for female companionship home with me; a trust in pistachios and the similarity of women.

As I was making lemon curd last night, a digestive substitute for the Jewish style blintzes I normally make my Catholic Grandmother, it occurred to me that Israeli policy is influencing US strategy. I know, duh. But I’m not referring to the typical relationship of Israeli threats being backed by US bills and brawn. This time, Israel has taught US a strategy.

Remember the so called “war on Hezbolah”? A conflict supposedly between a state and a military force; officially ignoring the civilian implications. A brilliant ploy, really, “We’re not targeting the civilians of a non-aggressive state, we’re attacking the camouflaged positions of a rogue militia”.

Israel got away with astounding violence by selling it in a novel package.

This week, a rumor has been circulating. The US plans to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Sound familiar?
Except that this is, in effect, like Russia listing the Navy Seals as a terrorist group. First, they are paid by, run by, and selected by the Iranian government. Like our Seals, they don’t do anything without explicit government direction.
Second, they are an internationally recognized branch of the Iranian military. Like all military, a state-blessed terrorist organization. If they are named terrorists worthy of having their assets frozen and their connections hunted, how can that definition remain credible?

The US may hope to take advantage of a recently exposed exception to international law, but they risk giving the game away.

The definitions of war may seem to be changing, with terrorist groups and insurgent factions comprising most of the enemies of todays states of the UN. What is interesting though, is how the states are changing, allegedly in response. Has human nature, or the basic structure of social groups changed too? What an amazing jump in evolution that would pose.

Making lemon curd is an odd experiment in a variation on Ockham’s Razor; after stirring the mixture over low heat for what seems like hours, you only know that’ it’s done when, well, it looks like lemon curd.

And internationally outlawed state to state aggression is recognized in much the same way.

Recently, it reoccurred to me that the myth of dragons may be related to dinosaurs. After all, it cannot be said that we are a terribly inventive species. We often can’t see what’s in front of us. So could several civilizations, scattered across the globe, with no mutual contact, independently invent nearly identical myths about giant lizards without having seen any?

This is, after all, a planet now known to have been inhabited by large lizards.
Hmm.

A collective memory maybe?
Or a collective mental block towards the obvious?
(The world is flat! I swear!)

Ok, now my argument…

Read this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6276948.stm
And then look at this: http://www.strangescience.net/stdino2.htm

The first outlines how Chinese villagers had been eating “Dragon Bones”, actually dinosaur fossils, as a nutritional supplement.
The second is a collection of historic books on dinosaurs and dragons, a few of which are on both.

So is it possible that remnant dinosaurs coexisted with early humans?

Well, let’s first prove that we don’t know what we don’t know.

Dinosaurs, early relatives coexisted

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/20/MNGKSR3NGB1.DTL&type=science

So, there was no mass extinction before the dinosaurs? Wow. Mr. Aldrich will be pissed to hear that. 18+ years of teaching down the drain.

There is some evidence, unfortunately embraced by creationists, that humans and large lizards coexisted in Peru. Drawings on caves and burial stones show dinosaur like creatures interacting with humans.

See: http://www.omniology.com/IcaPeruDinoArt.html

And in Australia:

Australia’s Megafauna Coexisted With Humans

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050531215140.htm

And in Mexico:

http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.viewzone.com/dinoclay.html

http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/ancient/ancient.htm

Unfortunately, these findings don’t support a neat, clean, mass extinction theory. So they’ve been adopted by the usual paranormal geeky/freeky types, and ignored by archeologists wishing to attain tenure.

Hmm….Let’s look at that mass extinction theory more closely.

Mass extinctions were first theorized by Georges Cuvier, who, notably, didn’t believe in evolution. An extinction is typically defined when 60% of a known species, or species group, dies off.

After Cuvier, the theory of extinction was supplanted by theories of uniformitarianism. Do species die off suddenly? Or morph through evolutionary processes into creatures we no longer recognize as related?

Sadly, the church supported catastrophies. So today we have Floods, and astroids and volcanos to thank for our place on the food chain.

Interestingly, there is no formal division between dinosaurian reptiles and well, reptiles. In fact alligators are considered “dinosauria” by most classifications.
(See: http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/faq/s-class/whatis/index.html)

But I diverge. Extinctions, yes, extinctions.

See:http://webspinners.com/dlblanc/paleo/dino-colo/extinction/other.php

I especially like the part about the “border periods” between epochs. What, you mean the species don’t all keel over on the second tuesday after their eviction notice? (Shhh! don’t tell those fundies waiting for Judgement Day, they’ve based their whole world view on these notions of a punctuated universe.)

Allright, so now we know that we:
1. Don’t know what a dinosaur is.

2. Don’t know if there is such a thing as a mass extinction.

3. Don’t know when the majority of dinosaurs died.

4. Know that there is evidence that humans and large lizards coexisted.

5. Know that dinosaur fossiles are refered to as dragon bones in China.

Hmm.

Well, it seems someone else had this thought, and has written a lovely reference page on the subject:
http://www.nwcreation.net/dinosdragons.html

Unfortunately yet another creationist(Are they really the only voice of scientific dissent these days?) but still a lovely page. Happy reading!

So, what’s a dragon?

And what’s with the whole fire breathing thing?

“I have no brief other than to make sure we don’t go into another war or that we go crazy into killing each other. You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say ‘let’s go and bomb Iran’,”
ElBaradei told the BBC

I’m smitten. Ever since ElBaradei owned the US of Bullies in 2005, I’ve been in awe. After months of behind the scenes negotiation, the US of B not only couldn’t find a willing replacement for his position, they couldn’t even buy Poland’s support. Now that’s a cold day in Krakow.
What a hunk! He’s polished, he’s diplomatic, he’s irreplaceable. His every move seems to say “I ain’t yo bitch”. He openly contradicted Bush and the poodle on Iraq, inferring that in Niger, you can’t even find yellow cake at a birthday party. He made Kim Jong-il cry uncle. He has conducted recent Iranian inspections with irreproachable quiet dignity.

“You remember that book called ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?’ Well that’s very much true. I find a lot in common in the way I manage things and the way she [his wife, Aida Elkachef] manages three-year olds. We humans are the same when we are three years old and when we are 50!”

In 2005, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in conjunction with the IAEA. ElBaradei donated all his winnings to building orphanages in his home city of Cairo.

Wow. Mr. ElBaradei, can I be the assistant to your toilet scrubber? Please?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_ElBaradei

I would. That guy has got to go. If the only way to get someone up for impeachment these days requires taking one for the team, bring it on.
I’ve been watching the French election with disinterested amusement. Who knew that when Chirac said “Today we are all Americans” that French would take this proposal so seriously. And not know when to stop being American.

So now they’ve got their own Bush. It’s either a charming coincidence that Sarkozy rhymes with Nazi, or an attempt by the forces that be to tell us something. Somehow, I don’t think they’ll be able to get rid of him when the time comes with anything so simple as a BJ. Poor Segolene.

I suppose our countries aren’t really so different. Both known for arrogance, and a failing economy. Both unable to cope with Germany, Asia, or an intelligent woman. Both holding onto language and a myth of ethnicity like a drowning man holds to an oar.

It’s a shame really. Such wasted potential for the advancement of human quality of life. France is tripping over herself to alienate all who could help her, while the US did that years ago.

I’m betting on our similarities, actually. I’m starting a wine import business from Argentina to the States. I see Americans becoming more French in the coming years, and appreciating a lovely bottle with nightly supper.

I truly hope our similarities don’t equal to a defeat of Hilary against Guilianni though. That would simply be going too far.
And asking too much.