OK. I've always claimed to be uninterested in amassing readers. That is true, but I sometimes do glance at the statistics that automatically display on my blog's dashboard. For a reason that escapes me at this moment, I did so just now. Down the rabbit hole I went. Follow along with me.
One statistic said that a posting from 8/18/2018 had been accessed: She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer. It was such a fascinating read that I reproduce the whole posting, below.
You get no static from me if you do not care to see/read old postings, again. Go, in peace, and continue your life without this detour.
It has been a few years since I last posted a book review. There's a reason for that: It is time-consuming, hard work - even when one has read a worthy book. She Has Her Mother's Laugh (SHHML) popped out at me from the shelves of books newly added to my local public library's shelves. Surely, I'm the first to have checked it out. It was added to the shelves in July and, even though it is difficult to lay down once one starts it, it is not a quick read.

Wikipedia starts the author's entry with:
"Carl Zimmer (born 1966) is a popular science writer and blogger who has specialized in the topics of evolution and parasites. He has authored many books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times, Discover, and National Geographic. He is a fellow at Yale University's Morse College." Mr Zimmer's blog may be found at this link.
SHHML comprises 19 chapters (divided among five parts), a short glossary, 22 pages of notes wherein citations are made, 44 pages of bibliography, a few pages of acknowledgments, and 12 pages of densely printed index. You can surely understand why I say it isn't a quick read.
In wondering if my Mitochondria are up to the task of writing a review, I decided that there was no need for me to write a review: others, more talented in reviewing books, have done that for me. [From the book's glossary, "Mitochondria: Fuel-generating organelles inside the cell containing a small amount of DNA. Mitochondria are inherited only through the maternal line." But you knew that!]
Following, below, is one paragraph lifted from a review by Jennifer Raff for The New York Times. After that paragraph, I merely ramble on about some of the things I learned or noted along the way.
In an Age of Gene Editing and Surrogacy, What Does Heredity Mean? by Jennifer Raff, May 31, 2018
“She Has Her Mother’s Laugh” challenges our conventional wisdom about heredity, especially as we enter the new realms of surrogate pregnancy and gene editing. One of the most astonishing insights is that mothers don’t just pass traits to their children — they receive them as well. I read Zimmer’s book (occasionally out loud) while feeding my baby son. Like Zimmer, I had genetic counseling and my partner and I experienced the same anxieties as he did. But unlike Zimmer, I was able to assuage our fears using a drop of my own blood. That’s because my baby’s DNA, floating freely in my bloodstream, could be tested for hundreds of genetic disorders at an early point in my pregnancy. We took great comfort in the test, without realizing all of its implications. The baby wasn’t just sharing his genetic secrets during the pregnancy. Fetal cells can persist for years after birth; as I sit and write these sentences, I may very well be a chimera: a mixture of some of my son’s cells and my own. This microchimerism may even have eventual effects on my health, although it isn’t fully understood. And he may carry some of my immune cells, too.
SHHML is a story book, telling a history (of sorts) of human understanding and attempted manipulation of genetic heredity. The story is so winningly told that, as Hunky Husband could tell you, I've had a hard time putting down the book during the past week. Starting with the Middle Ages tale of the House of Habsburg (which I've always spelled "Hapsburg"), the family's famous/infamous jaws, and the then-current thinking on inheritance, Zimmer introduces the nonsensical identification and labeling of human "races". He explores the Habsburgs' industrious avoidance of tainting their blood with that of lesser beings. Zimmer writes:
"To protect the family's power, Philip II married Maria Manuela, his first cousin. Genetically speaking, though, she was even more closely related than that. Philip's parents, Charles and Isabella, were also first cousins, while Maria Manuela's own parents were Charles and Isabella's siblings."
Talk about a double whammy of inbreeding!
Lactose Tolerance/Intolerance:
Zimmer writes:
"If you've recently enjoyed a cone of ice cream or a slice of Brie...you are experiencing one of the more bizarre results of the Agricultural Revolution. As a rule, mammals don't consume milk in any form once they stop nursing. After weaning, they stop producing lactase, the enzyme required to break down lactose sugar. The same is true for about two-thirds of people worldwide. For them, consuming milk can be an uncomfortable experience....But the remaining two billion or so people can continue to drink milk and eat dairy foods....They have inherited mutations that lead them to persist in making lactase."
HH is intolerant to lactose while I thrive on it. That said, I recall actually drinking very little milk in my life. Cheese and ice cream are more my speed with milk on the occasional bowl of hot or cold cereal.
Why I have Quirks:
It has always been difficult for me to come up with good excuses for my being, as Stu put it in a recent comment, "pretty odd". (He was kind enough to include himself in the labeling.) After reading SHHML, I came up with a great excuse. It seems that pieces of DNA are much more mobile than many of us had ever considered.
I had known for some time that a woman might take on DNA from her fetus(es). What I had failed to consider is that the DNA so transported might be re-infused into later fetus(es) carried by the woman. So...I'm thinking...my mother was pregnant with and delivered two male children before she had me; thus, I may carry DNA for one or both of those children. My pretty oddness, I lay at the doorstep of Elder Brother. It is all his fault! It is too late to blame the other brother for he survived birth by only minutes.
Any of my pretty goodness I lay at the doorstep of our daughters. Surely, I carry some of each of their complements of DNA. Yay!
This also explains my Younger Brother. He was a bright (PhD in GeoPhysics), but sometimes, tortured guy who, at age 70, took his own life - with a long gun, of all things. He might have carried DNA from his two brothers and two sisters. That should be enough to warp anyone, may he rest in peace!
Over-Population:
I find it appalling that, according to Zimmer, "By the early 2000s, over a million children had been born with donated sperm in the United States, alone." He brought out that some sperm donors fathered dozens of children. It's not as if we had a shortage of people in this world, is it? (At this point I hear, in my head, HH asking me to "tell us how you really feel". Well...my blog, my opinions.)
Comments
Oh, this interests me very much. I didn’t realize the mother fetus DNA situation.
Posted by: Joared | August 20, 2018 at 06:02 PM
That one old posting was not enough. Further down the rabbit hole I found: Giggles from Zapper Z
For some years I've enjoyed reading Zapper Z's blog, Physics and Physicists. Recently, he posted a couple of images that gave me the giggles. I hope you enjoy them (below), too. Unfortunately, as is usually the case, I no longer remember how I first stumbled across/was directed to the website.
First, a tee shirt with good advice:

Then, an advertisement that could have benefited from a bit of checking:

The advertisement reminds me of the ad that was placed in aviation magazines and strategic city newspapers across the nation when I was preparing for my promised transfer from Tyndall AFB to Albuquerque NM. I had already hired and trained an Air Force retiree to take over as on-site manager and trained a capable young engineer to take over as technical task manager; but, the gurus in Washington DC (well, McLean VA) decided they needed to advertise for someone else to manage the technical task. They failed to find anyone better than Mike (who did a great job for the next few years) - possibly because no one wanted to take a job in a company whose personnel department had no one capable of spelling "dynamicist".

I had to throw in that second posting. I am bound to confess what I failed to note in the comments. Even had the advertisement spelled dynamicist correctly (in passing I note that TypePad doesn't have the word in its dictionary - spelled correctly or incorrectly), I should not have qualified for doing that part (about 20%) of my own job. I had but two years' prior experience in structural dynamics plus two years' experience (at 20%) in my job at Tyndall AFB.
I now return you to real-time reading.
Fun stuff. How did you like Panama City? My oldest daughter did a year at Pensacola NAS and I enjoyed the area when I visited. Of course we were there in between hurricanes. The only scary weather I experienced was “Clear Air Lightening”. I believe that is what it was called. Came out of nowhere and hit a tree about 150 feet from where I was standing.
Posted by: Ingineer66 | August 07, 2018 at 09:04 PM
Ingineer--I would sell Florida back to Spain - lol. The reason I transferred from Tyndall AFB to Albuquerque was that it was the only way I would take the job in Florida - with a 2-year limit. I don't do well with heat and/or humidity. As to NAS Pensacola: better than Panama City, but not by much. I did most of my Naval Reserve drills at NAS Pensacola or one of the auxiliary fields. During my 2-week ACDUTRA, I worked (mostly) in the hangar next to that of the Blue Angels. How did your daughter like her duty there?
Egads! Better you be that close to any kind of lightning than should I. Scary!
P.S. I liked the museum.
Posted by: Cop Car | August 07, 2018 at 09:28 PM
Oops! Really seem like inexcusable errors, but oh so funny. Let’s try that out to the third power! Physics, psychics — what’s the difference??? Nothing quite like some masacists in the organization, whether they’re of the dyna variety or not.
I never cared much for Florida either, but was where most retired in the part of country where I was living. I did buy a lot when Port Charlotte first developed, but soon sold when I decided I’d not want to live there. Had been up and down both coasts, across the middle coming through Pensacola from the west. Never expected to end up living in Calif., but here I am. Colo. had been a preferred choice, but employment opportunities for my husband were otherwise.
Posted by: Joared | August 07, 2018 at 10:42 PM
I wonder what percentage of the population would notice that ALL the T-shirt equations are wrong?
Posted by: Ole Phat Stu | August 08, 2018 at 04:39 AM
I loved watching the Blue Angels practice and the museum. I haven’t been to the Smithsonian Air & Space museum, but it is on my list for someday. My daughter enjoyed her time there but liked her long term station at Cherry Point North Carolina much better and so did I. She did a stint at Lemoore NAS in between that was miserable with lots of fog.
Stu, I didn’t even notice on my small screen, but after you mentioned it, they are totally obviously wrong.
Posted by: Ingineer66 | August 08, 2018 at 10:25 PM
Joared--I saw what you did there - lol.
Stu--Gee, golly, I figured it would be insulting to the intelligence of my blog friends to point that out.
Ingineer--I don't think I had heard of NAS Lemoore. Possibly, I did while working in silicon valley; but, long forgotten if so. It has a huge responsibility, I see: "NAS Lemoore was established in 1961 to support the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. Today, as the West Coast Master Jet Base for the U.S. Navy, NAS Lemoore provides the infrastructure, support and services that enable Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacifc [sic] squadrons to coduct [sic] operations in support of national tasking." Until I looked at the NAS Lemoore website (from which the above quote is lifted), I had forgotten that Miramar had been turned over to the Jarheads.
I've been to Smithsonian A&S twice: 1970 & 1980. Dudette & Bogie made those visits, too.
Posted by: Cop Car | August 09, 2018 at 04:02 PM
Stu, not me - although that was my assumption. I did know the E-mc3 was incorrect without even reading the top part of the shirt - do I get 1/2 point for that?
Posted by: bogie | August 11, 2018 at 04:43 PM
Bogie--You and Joared, as real people rather than technical pukes, get extra credit for knowing the correct version of any of the equations. I guess I should count you as semi-techie. You surely know more about the virtual world than do I, and your professional career hasn't been what I would term "non-technical" even if your majors were business & business management, as I recall. I'm not sure to how much so-called "hard sciences" health care professionals (as in, Joared) are exposed.
BTW: Had Stu not noticed that all equations were wrong, I would have sent an email to SWMBO to see if his mind is failing him. He probably would have done the same for me - emailing you for the lowdown. As for Ingineer, I'll give him a pass since he had a good excuse - lol. He saved me from having to look up his wife, the next time she's in Salina KS, to say, "Wha'sup?"
Joared--I noted that you wrote on Ronni's blog that your brows have become lighter in recent years. I'm jealous! Mine were always light. Your hair must have been much deeper red than mine (nearly a strawberry blonde).
Posted by: Cop Car | August 12, 2018 at 09:37 AM