I’m back at the fairgrounds. One of my daughter’s roosters won first place. Her picture is hanging on his pen, braces reflecting the camera’s flash. As I sit here in the barn, I just watched her other rooster, the obnoxious and butt ugly turken, nail a guy who put his finger through the chicken wire (live and learn buddy). They are the largest chickens at the fair, which also makes them the loudest (WAV file, turn it all the way up). I’ll wager that the decibel level is outside OSHA limits. People turn their heads when one lets loose with a crow, and some toddlers even go running to mom. I can imagine what it would feel like to look eye-to-eye with a rooster your own size. Bumblebee is gorgeous in his black and reds. JD is as ugly as Bumblebee is beautiful and the two of them contrast starkly in their shared pen. Bumblebee is also photogenic, walking up to anyone with a cell phone camera for close ups. My daughter looks like a celebrity on the red carpet when she gets him out for petting time. Ever see a runner duck? I am guessing that the selective pressures that caused them to develop an upright posture also made them better at walking long distances. If so, then maybe that same pressure gave us our upright posture, making us the hairless runner ducks of the primate world. Restored antique tractors are fascinating. The turn-of-the-century steam engine tractor is gigantic and primitive looking, using chains on a rotating shaft to steer. The contrast between new and old technology is stunning. Humanity’s future and that of the world’s biodiversity depends in large part on new technology. The technology curve is presently lagging behind consumption but that may change in my lifetime as population growth continues to fall off and technology growth continues to explode. It is a hopeful trend, as are the trends toward urbanization, lower fertility, and poverty reduction.