In 1996, when I was a sophomore at Stanford, I got myself three little cacti, which I named Marx–Engels, Rng–Rsyasrnga , and Tathagata Bishmagargutaniprarudita. I later ended up abandoning Rng and giving Tathagata to a friend, but Marx-Engels is still with me and has since grown to be almost my height. When I went to Brazil for 6 months, I took Marx-Engles to my department and left it there in the care of some of my fellow Ph.D. students there.

Today Joe sent me a photo of Marx-Engles, showing that it is not only doing quite well, but is also now properly labeled. Thanks, Joe.

(Photo by Joseph Hall.)

It’s too bad this photo doesn’t show M.E.’s full height.