Blog Bits – Page 12 – "To see a world in a grain of sand / And a Heaven in a wild flower"

December 13, 2017December 28, 2017

The !Nara Shrub, Namib Desert

The exterior of the !Nara melon is so unappealing that its scientific name includes an editorial comment: acanthosicyos horridus.

Five green and one ripe, open !nara melons on the shrub and resting on the sand of the desert. — !Nara melons. Photo courtesy of travelnewsnamibia.com

But the !Nara shrub – the ! indicates a clicking sound in the Nama language – and the melon it produces are essential to the Namib Desert. It’s called a keystone species, one whose influence on the ecosystem is so important that its absence might cause collapse.

Fossils suggest that the plant is more than 1000 years old, enough time to adapt to desert conditions. It has thorns but no leaves, protecting it from the desert sun. Its branches may grow 15 feet tall to adjust to the desert’s shifting sands, and it provides food for many desert inhabitants: beetles, gemsbok, ostriches, and the Nama people. Ostrich grass and Bushman grass, sheltered by the shrub, sometimes grow on the same mound. Botanically it’s related to the cucumber, and reports suggest that it tastes like an avocado or like a cross between a cucumber and a pineapple. The seeds are edible, and the fruit can be dried and stored for several years.

!Nara melons and shrub in the desert. — !Nara shrub and melons. Photo courtesy of TravelNewsNamibia.com

Ironically, the !Nara shrub is not considered a true desert plant. It can survive years without rain because it grows only where its very long tap roots – as long as 150 feet – can find a water channel underground.

Our guides showed us two true desert plants. The first, the dollar bush, is a succulent with a delicate white bloom. When the wind shifts, the dollar bush is quickly covered over by sand.

A dollar plant grows in the desert. — The dollar plant is a succulent with delicate white flowers.

The tips of the dollar plant are visible above desert sand. — This dollar plant is being covered over by desert sand.

The second is the pencil bush. It, too, has a white flower. It’s sturdier than the dollar bush and provides food and shelter for desert animals like the horned adder or namaqua chameleon. Shifting sand will kill it, though.

If the !Nara shrub is covered with sand, its branches will grow longer, keeping the plant alive, providing more food and shelter to other species. Because its roots run deep, it can survive the challenge.

In the foreground on the left, a pencil shrub. On the right, a !nara shrub. Other shrubs and a dune are in the background. — In the foreground on the left, a pencil shrub. On the right, a !nara shrub.

People of faith may see a metaphor in this. God provides what we need as we try to bear fruit in the wilderness. It’s up to us to develop roots that stay connected, though.

!Nara shrub and dune, photo courtesy of media.ellerstrand.se

December 8, 2017December 10, 2017

Homes

Our homes reflect our needs and customs, what’s available and what we want. The same is true for animals.

Weaver bird nest opening from the bottom, hanging in a tree — Botswana: weaver bird nest

In Botswana the weaver bird builds a nest that hangs suspended from a tree limb and opens from the bottom. This protects against the sun, helps conserve heat on cold nights, and shields the young from predatory birds.

Botswana: a giraffe stands in tall grass in front of an acacia tree that holds 2 large sociable weaver nest structures. — Botswana: sociable weaver birds construct group nests.

Its cousin the sociable weaver bird collaborates on a nest over generations, establishing a site that can hold as many as 100 chambers. Each chamber can hold 3 or 4 birds, which helps hold in heat on bitter winter nights. Other birds use the chambers when they’re empty. The complex nests are huge and heavy. Eventually they will break the branch, potentially killing the tree. The birds fly away and start a new site.

Earth from space, light cloud cover over Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and southern Asia — Earth from space, photo courtesy of NASA

If a weaver bird loses its nest, it can build a new home. But if we destroy our nest, we can’t build another planet. We need to make sure this one doesn’t break under the weight of our use.

November 24, 2017November 25, 2017

It’s vs. its

A relative who doesn’t own a computer asked to see photos from my trip to Africa. I’ve been pasting my blog posts into Word, printing, and mailing them. When I did that today, though, something unexpected happened.

In this screenshot, a correct use of "it's" is flagged. — In this screenshot, a correct use of “it’s” is flagged.

In this screenshot, Word has flagged my (very correct!) use of “it’s” and has suggested, “Check the meaning of the marked word to be sure you are using the word correctly. Words that sound alike are often confused with one another.” Word included this example:

• Instead of: The cat drank it’s milk.
• Consider: The cat drank its milk.

I’m not going to touch Microsoft’s inventive use of punctuation and sentence structure there. And I understand that Word isn’t saying my writing is wrong – Word is encouraging me to double check my writing. Ordinarily I would be in favor of that. But there are a couple of problems.

First, there’s only one example for “it’s” and “its,” which means uncertain writers never see how to use “it’s” correctly.

Second, I have worked with classrooms full of students who don’t consider that their very expensive applications could mislead them. If Word flags something in their writing, the students assume it’s incorrect, change it, and move on. The implications for that kind of thinking (“the device is always right”) are frightening.

So I hope that teachers and parents are encouraging students to question the authority of the device.

And I return to my original plaint: why can’t Word tell the difference between “it’s” and “its” with greater accuracy?