Economist, Nov 24, 2018

choi

There is no need to read the rest.

(1) Cat grooming | Groovy; How the microscopic structure if a cat's tongue helps its fur clean.
("The two researchers found that the filiform papillae were shaped not, as had previously been thought, like solid cones. Rather they resemble tiny scoops. Each has a small groove * ** at its tip.  This structure permits surface tension to wick saliva from a cats's mouth and release it into the farthest recess of the animal's fur. During each lick, about half of the saliva on the tongue is so transferred. Saliva serves as a multipurpose cleaning agent and the * * * papillae also assist the absorption, for the return journey [of the tongue], of any dirt or blood that needs removing")

Note:
(a) Domestic cats sleep 14 hours a day. Cats spend a quarter of the 10-hour awake time licking fur -- grooming and removing flea, people think. Like all other mammals, cats have filiform papillae whose function is unknown (even in humans). A filiform papilla is (slender) cone shaped.

Latin-English dictionary (from www.wiktionary.com):
* filum (noun neuter ): "thread"   *(he Latin word gave rise to English noun filament.)
* papilla (noun feminine; [;ural papillae): "nipple"
(b) Alexis C Noel and David L Hu, Cats use hollow papillae to wick saliva into fur. Proc Nat Acad Sci (PNAS), _: _ (online publication Nov 19, 2018).
www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/11/14/1809544115
(abstract: "The cat tongue is covered in sharp, rear-facing spines called [filiform] papillae [there are two other kinds of papillae in all mammals], the precise function of which is a mystery. * * * We examine the tongues of six species of cats from domestic cat [and bobcats, to snow leopards] to lion, spanning 30-fold in body weight. The papillae of these cats each feature a hollow cavity at the tip that spontaneously wicks saliva from the mouth and then releases it onto hairs. The unique shape of the cat's papillae may inspire ways to clean complex hairy surfaces")
(i) Both authors are with Department of Mechanical Engineering, George Institute of Technology. A woman, Alexis Noel was a PhD student in associate professor David Hu's lab; having just graduated, she remains in his lab as "Research Engineer II." They describe themselves as biomechanists.
(ii) The PNAS article is locked behind paywall. So I do not know if humans and dogs have similar hollow cavity at the tip of their filiform papillae.
(iii) For an illustration of the groove at the tip of filiform papilla, see aliaenor.art. Instagram, undated
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqxK ... igshid=mtayt7j5808w

choi

(2) Cartography and destiny | How the west was srawn/ Maps are record of a country's development. They also help to shape it.
(book review on Susan Schulten, A History of America in 100 Maps. University of Chicago Press, 2018)

Quote:

"16th-century European explorers sought a route from America to China, so they invented waters spanning the [Americas] continent to convince monarchs to pay their way. John Smith, a founder of colony of Virginia  in 1607, blatantly rewrote reality a decade later by naming a vat swathe of the eastern seaboard 'New England,' replacing native villages with fictitious English towns.

"Yet there was 'nothing inevitable about the eventual English domination of North America,' Ms Schulten writes. Santa Fe (Spanish) [in New Mexico; founded 1610], Jamestown (English) and Québec (French) [1608] were all founded at roughly the same time. Until mid-19th century the continent was a stewpot of conflicting imperial aims, from Russian and British fur traders to French explorers to the Spanish who once dominated the south-west.

"History, it [book] shows, is as malleable and fluid as the meanders of the Mississippi river, the varying courses of which are pictured over thousands of years (see previous page) * * *

"The United was fortunate to capture California from Mexico just months before gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill.


Note:
(a) John Smith (explorer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smith_(explorer)
1580 – 1631; Jamestown in 1607; "After spending two-and-a-half years [in Jamestown] trying to do his best for Jamestown, John Smith was severely injured by an accidental gunpowder explosion in his canoe * * * He sailed to England for treatment in mid-October 1609. He never returned to Virginia" / section 3 New England)
(b)
(i) California campaign of Mexican-American War ended on Jan 12, 1847 when mexican troops THERE signed Articles of Capitulation.
(ii)
(A) "It [the sawmill] was located on the bank of the South Fork American River in Coloma, California * * * On January 24, 1848, James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, found flakes of gold in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma, California. At the time, Marshall was working to build a water-powered sawmill owned by John Sutter. On February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in Mexico City which transferred the American Southwest to the United States. When the news got out about the gold, people from all over the world headed for California, speeding statehood and permanently transforming the territory. During the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California (half by land and half by sea) to seek their fortunes from either mining for gold or selling supplies like food, clothing, burros, lumber, picks, and shovels to the prospectors."  en.wikipedia.org for Sutter's Mill (footnote omitted).  That Wiki page does ot carry a map.
(B) American River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_River
(map only)