It’s become challengingly chilly here in Astana and my days of running outdoors are fading into memories redshifting into oblivion, so last weekend I went ice skating instead. Pulling off certifiably Scott Hamiltonian moves, I espy my silhouette and what hominid face is staring back?

That’s, right, Australopithecus boisei (right). Of course they’re not identical, but then they don’t really have to be when you see Osteology Everywhere.

But then again, when you’ve been doing this too long, you start to see Paleontology Everywhere, too. The shadow also reminded me of a time a few years ago, when we were picking through bags of backdirt at Dmanisi, foraging for micromammals, passing pachmelia and time with trivia. Someone posed the riddle, “What did one muffin say to the other muffin?” To which I responded: