This week I'll be talking about all the things I learned this week.
It was Spring Break at the university where I work, so I took Monday and Tuesday off. I mostly did a whole lot of adulting chores, but my husband and I went to the Milwaukee Public Museum (a natural history museum) on Monday afternoon. (Did anyone see how I did two quarterly goals with one outing? A new-to-me museum AND a date?)
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| Can we talk about how much makeup it takes for me to look like this completely average looking person?! |
1) There's a big dinosaur skeleton at the museum called a torosaurus. It's from a place called Hell Creek in Montana (doesn't it make you want to visit there?) and the skull is one of the largest non-whale skulls in the world. I was very impressed with the whole thing.
2) There's a theory that Earth once had a ring around it. A big old asteroid or something hit the Earth's moon and the debris formed a ring around the Earth. This ring caused a change in climate (an icehouse event!) and that is what led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. I had never heard of this theory before. I had only heard the one about either a massive volcano/series of volcanoes on Earth itself or an asteroid hitting the planet or the whole thing about the salt level in the oceans changing. Interesting to think that something hitting the moon could have such a huge impact on Earth. (But there is evidence on this very blog that I don't truly understand the relationship between the moon and Earth.) On the other hand, it seems like if the Earth had a ring around it at one point, wouldn't there be some evidence? Or is the dinosaur extinction the evidence? SO MYSTERIOUS!!
3) The second floor of the museum is mostly about the natural environment of the United States (they say "North America," but it's really focused on the US) and indigenous people and cultures. It's also half empty and filled with signs about that Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). I know a tiny bit about NAGPRA (mostly from reading The Firekeeper's Daughter) and had knots in my stomach a lot while going through this floor.
The MPM is an old museum and a lot of its original collection dates from the Victorian era. There are taxidermized ivory-billed woodpeckers and passenger pigeons. It's not surprising that a lot of the relics that they used for these exhibits were stolen and/or inappropriately displayed, but this didn't reassure me very much as we walked through case after case with missing items.
It was a busy day at the museum, but I don't think we saw more than a dozen people on this floor. I think a lot of people felt the same way I did.
4) On Tuesday, I went to a lecture on plant-based nutrition at the local hospital (do I know how to party on my day off?!) and she put the word kwashiorkor on the board. Do you know this word?
It's basically malnutrition of protein. We don't see it in the US as often - although occasionally you'll see it in nursing homes - as we see things like a lack of fiber (constipation) and even a lack of Vitamin C (scurvy). The woman talking made some argument about not needing to supplement protein if you eat a vegan diet and I'd really like to see how she accomplishes this because it seems impossible to me.
Anyway, we're mostly eating vegetarian, but I do not think I'll ever embrace the vegan lifestyle. It was super interesting to hear about the health benefits, though.
5) Speaking of very much not plant-based food, let's talk about kringle. Kringle is a pastry that I'd never heard of until I moved to Wisconsin. It's based on a Danish pastry and is a type of pretzel, but I'm pretty sure the American version bears little resemblance to the original, although I've never been to Denmark, so if there are any Danes who would like to weigh in, I'm happy to hear about it.
ANYWAY.
Most of the time, the kringle that I see is this oily disgusting stuff (it's out of Racine) and I am a hard pass. But my co-worker brought in this kringle from someplace out of Green Bay/Appleton called Uncle Mike's and this is the absolute best thing I have ever eaten. If you ever find yourself near an Uncle Mike's, do yourself a favor and get a slice of salted caramel. #notallkringleisgross
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Do you get excited when you see dinosaur skeletons? Have you ever had kringle?
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