Gee, That Guy Looks Familiar

A number of readers were happy to find similarities between our early ancestor Homo erectus ((March 14)) and the Homo sapiens of today. Margaret Segal of Bolingbrook, Illinois, thought our cover subject might have changed his name. She notes, "He looks alarmingly like a blind date I once had." Seymour Mandel of Chicago is positive: "This is the same guy who hit me up for some spare change downtown last week." Roberta Jaeger of St. Simons Island, Georgia, comments, "He's the spitting image of a fine man who once worked as my cook in Indonesia." Roberto Llamas of Miami thinks the nicked face bears witness to a certain ageless klutziness: "Homo erectus may have been the first creature to use shaving tools unsuccessfully. Homo sapiens, as we find out every morning, is still struggling with shaving paraphernalia 2 million years later." And Scott Hunter McCleary of Arlington, Virginia, wonders why our forefather doesn't look happier: "Even Homo erectus must have had a good day once in a while."