In article <imorris-1109992201180001@i48-34-21.pdx.du.teleport.com>, Iain Morris <imorris@teleport.com> wrote: >In article <37D97665.C799FCB1@mail.cor.epa.gov>, "Dirt First!" ><NoSpamFromYou@mail.cor.epa.gov> wrote: > >> Actually, I botanize on my runs. I see something like a grass or neat >> lichen, and then mentally describe it to an imaginary running partner >> "Agrostis has a single nerve along the glumes, which subtend a single >> floret...". > >I do a similar thing here in Portland's Forest Park and Hoyt Arboreteum. >I try to id the tree or bush (scientific and common names) as soon as >possible, then check the sign on the tree to correct myself. You can set >up conifer/spruce/pine runs, along with a variety of deciduous ones too. >In the main forest park, however, it gets a little repetitive (doug-fir, >doug-fir, hemlock, doug-fir). > Early in today's run the sight of a passing butterfly turned my thoughts to Biology and I completed mapping the human genome over the next mile or so. The sight of the sun setting over the lake prompted, after half a mile's rumination, a solution to the missing neutrinos problem. Perhaps it was the accumulation of lactic acid, or the natural tendency to wax philosophical in the latter stages of a run, but somewhere around mile 7 the solution to the mind-body problem became painfully obvious. (A passer-by might have wondered at the jogger suddenly slapping his forehead in mock disgust.) The last mile saw the completion of the symphony I had begun the day before, and some final editorial corrections to my latest volume of poetry. As the house came into view I had just sufficient time to complete the details of my elementary (and elegant) proof of the four color theorem. Ahhh, the shower always feels good after a satisfying day's work. One of these days I should write some of this stuff down. -- ************************************************************************ Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/304B Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150 trmcconn@syr.edu http://barnyard.syr.edu/~tmc ************************************************************************