Sight, Starbucks, and Sunset

Let me tell you about the book I am reading.

The author is owner of a huge animal conservation reserve in Africa and today I read how a mishap obliged him to walk home through this reserve in the dark without a flashlight. He was terrified. Leopards. monkeys, baboons, pythons, nearly all animals, have superb night vision. He knew he was being watched but he himself could see nothing but black. He wrote this:

     "I know plenty of scientists and not one of them has ever been
     able to explain satisfactorily to me how puny, tasty, night-blind
     Homo sapiens endured so spectacularly when everything around
     us had to have excellent night vision if they were to make it through
     a summer, never mind evolve."

He appears to be on the right track.

It is a very interesting book despite it's groaner title, "The Elephant Whisperer." Back in the mid-90's a book entitled "The Horse Whisperer" became an outstanding best seller. So what followed?

The Dog Whisperer
The Cat Whisperer
The Chicken Whisperer
The Worm Whisperer
The Butterfly Whisperer
The Swan Whisperer
The Tarantula Whisperer
The Cow Whisperer
The Whale Whisperer
The Fish Whisperer
The Husband Whisperer
The Teen Whisperer
The Nerd Whisperer

I'm not making this up. I think the author was probably pressured by the publishers to use this title because in the preface he specifically says he did no whispering. The book has been described as "The Indiana Jones of Conservation," and you may be aware Indiana Jones is not known for whispering. Anyway, very interesting book notwithstanding. Elephants are truly remarkable animals.

In other news, there is a brand new Starbucks in town here and we visited today. It is manned by the fellow seen in the group photo in the posting, "Edwin's Big Mistake." Here he is making our order ...


Here is a view of the sidewalk we take home ...

And of course the day ends with another masterpiece of sunset artwork on the beach. Someone suggested I look for The Green Flash that appears for a brief moment before the sun sets. I successfully caught a photo. He sure does flash by quickly.

Today's sunset.

The Green Flash

... and a video


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