Fossil Fuels

The other day I had a conversation with a retired schoolteacher who said that she didn't understand how oil and coal were fossil fuels because "there weren't that many dinosaurs." I tried to explain that any organic matter (plants, etc.) was part of the fossil fuel equation. She countered with the taxonomy of "animal, vegetable, mineral", so if coal is a mineral, it can't have been a vegetable. It's Lent, so I decided to give up.

Kay Caddy

Sadly, the subtle colouring of this car doesn't come across well in this photograph, but this is a genuine Mary Kay pink Cadillac, which was parked across the street from my house today. I got to meet the driver, who was heavily ornamented.

Albuquerque

I know I haven't written anything for a while, but I've had a lousy cold, so didn't have much to say beyond "Ate soup today."

But now I'm the picture of health and I'm in glorious New Mexico for a conference. The conference is not particularly well populated because the great Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse of the East has made it impossible for people to get here, but that means that you can eat more at the receptions (which are surprisingly fancy), so I don't mind. At tomorrow's keynote address they're going to serve tea and crumpets - no joke. I'll be first in line.

I have wanted to visit New Mexico for years, and it is not disappointing. I've never been in a landscape of burgundy soil and blue-grey grasses - it seems hyperreal. More exploring to come.