Just another average day as the furry felines claim my desk chair.  I ended up kneeling to work on the computer, spun the chair around enough to get Alex holding on for dear life, and then sat on them to make my presence known.  It worked…sort of.

From Wired magazine:

Every day professional calligraphers known as katibs handwrite The Musalman newspaper in Chennai, India, which was established in 1927. Each page is written in Urdu, a language spoken by a small minority of the city’s population….

"For centuries, handwriting was the definitive mark of social status, education and liberal values in India. Calligraphers mastered the swooping Urdu script in ivory-tower institutions and penned copies of the Koran for wealthy patrons. The pinnacle of a katib’s achievement meant a seat at court and a chance to earn the sultan’s ear.

Similar to spoken Hindi, Urdu is a mixture of Arabic, Persian and local Indian languages. It originated in the army camps of Muslim rulers in Delhi and has been the language of poets and artists because its rich roots draw on so many traditions across various cultures."

The Musalman may be one of the last known papers to be handwritten before going to press.  Sons of the owner discuss in a related article whether they will go digital or not. 

Read more at Wired… 

Research Study to Understand Why Man Learned to Walk

Michael Sockol of the University of California, Davis and David Raichlen of the University of Arizona trained five chimpanzees to walk on treadmills in a study they say shows that early humans began walking upright (i.e. bipedalism) because it saves energy.

The issue of how, when, and why early man began to walk upright has intrigued scientists since the age of Darwin.  By pinpointing when man’s ancestors became bipedal, scientists will be closer to determining the human lineage.

Read more at Archaeology Magazine…

The Cousins Meet Again for their Second Birthday!

Log into flickr to see more! 

Months of rumors ended a few weeks ago when it was confirmed that the Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group purchased the school divisions and Trade division of Harcourt for $4 billion.  Harcourt Education includes the pre-K–grade 6 publisher Harcourt School Publishers; Holt, Rinehart and Winston, publisher for grades 6–12; the supplementary publisher Harcourt Achieve; and the library reference publisher Greenwood-Heinemann.
 

Read the full article…