3 Things in July 2025

This month: 1) A biology lesson, 2) my musical chronology advances by another decade, and 3) a cute story.

Also: no footnotes.

The Nature of Things

You might not know (or believe) this, but it is nonetheless true: I earned an undergraduate degree in agriculture, majoring in microbiology. Weird, eh?

One of the toughest courses we were required to take was “Systematic Bacteriology”, which covered the ways that bacteria could be classified based on their observable characteristics. The “bible” for the course was Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology.

I recently discovered that Bergey’s Manual, as we knew it, doesn’t exist anymore: It has been completely restructured because much of what we learned back in the 70s was wrong.

Nowadays, the bible is known as Bergey’s Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria, which may not sound that different, but actually reflects fundamental advances in our understanding of microbes. Thanks to DNA sequencing, which was in its infancy when I was an undergrad, we can now differentiate a whole new type of microorganism, the Archaea, which were previously wrongly grouped with bacteria as Prokaryotes because both are single cell organisms lacking a nucleus.

Around the same time as I was struggling with the course in Systematics, DNA research was showing that Archaea were different from both Bacteria, and the Eurkaryotes (single cell organisms with a nucleus). This table, taken from the Archaea page in Wikipedia, hints at the complexity:

Current research is now showing that the Archaea-Bacteria-Eukaryota classification scheme may also be incorrect, because it seems that Eurkaryotes evolved from a fusion of Archaea and Bacteria. So the latest thinking eliminates the Eukaryote category entirely, and groups all single cell organisms as either Archaea or Bacteria.

It is a great example of how our understanding of things is shaped by the tools that are available at the time. Without DNA sequencing, we could only understand the biological world based on physical characteristics. As genetic tools were developed, the structure of the microbial world was (and continues to be) completely revised. As our tools and knowledge advance, it may be revised again and again.

All I can say is thank god I got my degree before things got really complicated.

Music Recommendation from the 1990s

This is hard, because the 1990s were a bit of a lost decade for me musically.  HVW and I had just moved to Oakville, and were busy with the boys, our new house, and with work. Music wasn’t a huge priority.

I remember listening to a fair amount of “world music”, but sitting in Oakville it wasn’t easy to know where to start.  EMI put out some excellent samplers under the “Hemispheres” moniker.  Michael Brook’s collaborations with Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, especially “Night Song” were terrific.  As was Kronos Quartet’s “Pieces of Africa”.

Then, right at the end of the decade, I stumbled on a jewel.  “Sao Paula Confessions” by Suba.  This blend of Brazilian and techno rhythms mixed with heavy electronica hit many buttons for me.  It is still a favourite.

PS: It was hard not to mention Lucinda Williams’ “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”.  Also from the late 1990s, and also excellent. 

Nursery Rhyme Time

In October 1987 a huge storm unexpectedly hit the east coast of England and the west of France. Winds gusting to 190 km/h tore through West Sussex, leveling trees and knocking out power along its path, which included two windmills historically used to grind flour. They are known locally as Jack and Jill.

Jill had only just been returned to active use, after decades of neglect. As the storm approached, the windmill crew applied brakes to stop the blades from turning. However the gusts were so strong that the brakes couldn’t hold, and the friction caused by the wheel pushing against the brakes started a fire. Jill seemed doomed as there was no running water supply at the windmill, and the single fire-extinguisher was quickly emptied.

Fortunately the quick thinking crew responsible for Jack and Jill went to fetch some pails of water. They managed to ferry them back up the hill, doused the fire, and saved Jill.

So neither Jack nor Jill fell down, or broke their crowns.

This is a true story.

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PS: the header image this month is the lobby area of Toronto’s new city hall (new in the 1960s, that is). I was there to make a delegation regarding the types of development that have been proposed to boost Toronto’s housing stock and restore affordability. But that is a story for another time. Perhaps.