Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Here’s a 54-minute conversation, one on one, with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins. The title is “Combatting Anti-Science with Richard Dawkins,” but the conversation goes further than this. There’s no need for me to summarize the discussion between these two well known science writers, so I’ll just highlight a few points.
Tyson first blurbs Richard’s new book, called BooksDo Furnish a Life: An Electrifying Celebration of Science Writing (link to Amazon site), a collection of Richard’s book reviews and other miscellaneous pieces. I must read it, and I’m told one of the chapters is a review of my book Why Evolution is True (this is my blurb). Richard also reveals that he has two more books on the way, one about flight called Flights of Fancy; he doesn’t reveal the other one. Tyson, who, curiously, says that he’s read only three of Richard’s 30-odd books (he names them) asks which of them was the best selling volume. I bet you can guess.
They discuss how their writing has changed, and what tips they’d give other sciences writers (Tyson’s revelation is “most people don’t read”, which conditions how he writes). Tyson also tells us why he follows his own social media, despite it often being toxic.
They then change to the topic of reason, with Tyson asking Dawkins about how he persuades people whose views aren’t based on reason. They discuss their differing views about how to deal with religion. Tyson has always been more of an accommodationist, while Richard, who’s an explicit anti-theist, is peeved because he thinks that even if people don’t inflict their religious views on others, they are depriving themselves of missing out on the true wonders of the world, including the Big Bang and evolution.
Other questions that come up:
Can you be religious and a secular humanist at the same time?
Can you base ethics on secular humanism?
Why are people religious?
Is religiosity really decreasing, or is it being replaced by stuff like woo?
Things slow down a bit after 40 minutes, but at 52 minutes Tyson asks Richard to reprise his epitaph, which is apparently the last section of Books Do Furnish a Life. You won’t be surprised, and I won’t reveal it, but it’s a take on Dawkins’s view about how lucky we are to be alive, which you may have seen in his books.
It’s Sunday, and that means we have our weekly bird-themed post from John Avise. The theme, as it was last week, is Official State Birds. John’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
State Birds, Part 2
Here are several more photos of official State Birds (see last Sunday’s post for Part 1 of this series). The states are listed in parentheses.
We’re nearly at month’s end: it’s Sunday, May 30, 2021: National Mint Julep Day. Wouldn’t one of these taste good right now—or at leastlater in the day? (Especially when made with one of my favorite bourbons, shown in the background.)
It’s also Indianapolis 500 Day, though the race will actually be run tomorrow), World MS Day, Water a Flower Day, and Neighbor Day (won’t you be my neighbor?) By the way, the 2018 documentary about Rogers, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is an excellent movie and well worth seeing. Check out the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s the trailer:
News of the Day:
I can’t believe that the biggest item on the NBC News last evening was the death of Gavin MacLeod at 90. MacLeod played Captain Merrill Stubing of “The Love Boat”—of television’s ghastlier shows, God’s waiting room for D-list stars. He also played part of the news team in a much better show, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. Still. . . . slow news day.
As a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, I thought that CO status (formally I-O) no longer applied these days, since one sought that status when there was government conscription. And the draft is gone. But one can still become a conscientious objector if you’re contracted for military service, as the New York Times reports with respect to a Marine pilot who decided he was a CO. And the difficulty of getting that status is about the same as it was in my day. If you are granted I-O status because you have a sincere objection to killing, you’re allowed to leave the military.
Can employers require that their employees be vaccinated against COVID? My gut reaction is “yes, they should be able to, as a means of ensuring that the workplace stay healthy.” After all, public school children must be vaccinated against several diseases to go into the classroom (there are exceptions for children with, get this, “religious objections”). Yet 117 employees of a Houston hospital have sued their employer, objecting to its mandatory-vaccination requirement. However, the grounds for the suit sound wonky:
The complaint, filed in state court, says Houston Methodist’s vaccine mandate violates a set of medical ethics standards known as the Nuremberg Code, which was designed to prevent experimentation on human subjects without consent. The code was created after World War II in response to the medical atrocities Nazis committed against prisoners in concentration camps.
“Methodist Hospital is forcing its employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment,” the complaint states. It adds that the mandate “requires the employee to subject themselves to medical experimentation as a prerequisite to feeding their families.” Elsewhere, it falsely characterizes the coronavirus vaccines as an “experimental COVID-19 mRNA gene modification injection.”
AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres.
1431 – Hundred Years’ War: In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. The Roman Catholic Church remembers this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc.
Here’s Harroun’s Marmon Wasp, which won the race with an average speed of about 75 miles per hour. It’s preserved in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
1922 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
After the war, Mengele lived in Brazil, successfully hiding until 1979, when he died of a stroke. Here’s a selection of HungarianJews at Auschwitz/Birkenau in 1944, selections that he supervised. The losers, of course, were immediately gassed. The survivors died more slowly
1958 – Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
1972 – In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
2012 – Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Taylor (below) was convicted of 11 war crimes, including rape and sexual slavery. He’s serving a life sentence in Durham, England:
2020 – The Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first crewed orbital spacecraft to launch from the United States since 2011.
Notables born on this day include:
1909 – Benny Goodman, American clarinet player, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1986)
Here’s Goodman doing his famous “Sing, Sing, Sing” with his band in 1937 (from the film “Hollywood Hotel”. Gene Krupa’s on the drums. (This is only a small part of the song.):
1912 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1964 – Wynonna Judd, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
Those who donned their halos on May 30 include:
1431 – Joan of Arc, French martyr and saint (b. 1412)
1911 – Milton Bradley, American businessman, founded the Milton Bradley Company (b. 1836)
1960 – Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
2000 – Tex Beneke, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1914)
Beneke, who played sax in Glenn Miller’s band, performs his most famous song, “Chattanooga Choo Choo” in the movie “Sun Valley Seranade” (1941). Look at that geeky outfit! There’s a cameo here by Milton Berle.
2015 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (b. 1969)
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili hustles to her victuals (she’s fed by both Paulina and Malgorzata, which accounts for her widening girth):
Paulina: The meal is served.
Hili: I’m running.
(Photo: Paulina R.)
In Polish:
Paulina: Podano do stołu.
Hili: Już biegnę.
From Facebook, an oldie but a goodie:
From Meanwhile in Canada, via Reese:
From Facebook; you’ll have to be of a certain age to get it:
A reader sent me this chart from reddit that surprised me, though I’m not quite sure why. It compares the salaries of elementary school teachers and cops in various U.S. states.
Time to revisit My Stealthy Freedom to see real misogyny in action—in Iran, where women are forbidden to sing. This is what happened to one who did:
We call on media to be the voice of this 18-year-old female rapper. Her name is Sara. This young woman was arrested in #Iran simply for being a rapper/singer. Her friends are so worried about her situation and they call on media to be her voice. @ https://t.co/4tPNmXy3T6
— My Stealthy Freedom (@mystealthyorg) May 27, 2021
x
Tweets from Matthew: This is a spider (count the legs) that imitates an ant. Note the fake “eyes” and the white patch that makes the spider look as if it had a separate head and thorax (spiders don’t: they have a fused “cephalothorax”).
This might be the most unusual type of music you hear anywhere. NASA Blueshift translated the light captured in this gorgeous Hubble image of a galaxy cluster into sound pic.twitter.com/qJSIo0MZWi
Someone should have probably checked the focal length of the glass sphere before putting this lamp on the market. This is why physics matters people!! #iteachphysicspic.twitter.com/XN3aauY9WS
— Matthew Blackman (@UniverseAndMore) May 28, 2021
A comic from 115 years ago, and one of my favorite strips of all time (and one of Matthew’s): Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McKay.
Here’s another great song in our Duke Ellington series, again recorded by the “Blanton/Webster” version of the band that was going from 1939-1942. That name came from members Jimmie Blanton on bass and Ben Webster on tenor sax.
This song, “Jack the Bear”, recorded on March 6, 1940, begins with a display of Blanton’s proficiency and swing on the bass—involving solos like the two below and complex plucking—a form of playing previously absent from jazz. It’s hard to overestimate how influential Blanton was on subsequent jazz bassists, and it’s sad to think that he died just two years later of tuberculosis. He was only 23. Before Blanton, the bass was used like a tuba in earlier jazz—to provide a consistent beat and deep supporting tone.
The other solos are by Ellington on piano, Barney Bigard on clarinet (though I still consider Benny Goodman the best jazz clarinetist ever), Cootie Williams on trumpet, Harry Carney on baritone sax and Tricky Sam Nanton on trombone (with mute). This is truly an all-star lineup, with the sidemen being artists in themselves. The Blanton-Webster period of Ellington’s group produced the most artistic jazz ever.
The first intimation that Ellington and his orchestra were on the threshold of greatness came from their second session for RCA Victor in Chicago in March 1940. ‘Jack The Bear’ contains a rare moment of jazz history actually being made – Jimmy Blanton shattering the traditional concept of jazz bass playing with his virtuoso pizzicato technique. On it he shows how the bass could contribute exciting solo lines and interact with the ensemble without surrendering its basic timekeeping role. Then there was ‘Ko Ko’, which has been described as “one of the monumental events in jazz music”. It is an orchestral tour-de-force with the minimum of solo space (24 bars from ‘Tricky Sam’ Nanton and 12 bars from Ellington) that succeeds as a piece of absolute or ‘pure’ music in that its minor 12-bar blues form (repeated seven times) has no obvious ‘melody’ in the conventional sense. Its tonal ambiguity and use of dissonance, particularly in the fourth chorus, instantly separates Ellington from the conventional dance bands of the period. Here is a glimpse of the future more profound, even, than Charlie Parker’s ‘Ko Ko’ from 26 November 1945 (not the same tune). Here Ellington looks both ways, to freedom (bi-tonality and his amazing piano splashes of colour that anticipate Cecil Taylor) and form.
If you want to hear the quintessence of Ellington (and, to my mind, jazz in general), get this CD set (66 songs from the Blanton-Webster band) from Amazon; click on the screenshot:
John McWhorter has two qualifications that make him able to judge whether it’s okay for white people to use black argot: he’s black and he’s a linguist. In his latest column on his Substack site (click on screenshot), Mcwhorter argues that it’s not only fine, but a form of flattery for members of one race to use the language of another, so long as it’s not used disparagingly. Click on the screenshot to read:
The “Elvis” simile comes from the claim, which may be justified, that Elvis used a black style of singing in his early music, but never gave credit to his influences. (McWhorter believes, as I do, that the black originators actually produced better music.) But he also argues that the comparison doesn’t hold water.
First, some of the language that white people are said to “steal” from blacks:
A little while ago, a Saturday Night Live skit depicted a multiracial group of teens communicating in what was depicted as “Gen Z slang,” with the doctor they were talking with having to “translate” his thoughts into it to communicate with them.
A lot of people didn’t like it, because the slang in question was mostly of Black English origin. The complaint is that the skit was denying the black roots of these terms, and instead ascribing them to Americans in general – i.e. (shudder) white persons. As in, yes – the problem was cultural appropriation.
. . . The SNL skit included, among others, yo, bestie, vibes, feels for feelings, salty for irritated, bro / bruh and no cap for “I’m not kidding” (as in, these are actual whole gold teeth, not golden caps on teeth).
McWhorter considers two arguments, and numerous sub-arguments, that terms like that should not be restricted to blacks.
1) Is there a historical precedent where people interact richly but keep their speech varieties completely separate?
He knows of no such cases.
2) Is there a case that even if this is the way it has been, that it would be a moral advancement if we tried to put a stop to it now?
McWhorter considers several arguments for the “moral cessation”, including the parallel with “music theft”, and says that the counterarguments are stronger, including the enrichment of art and language of every group by this kind of appropriation:
But overall, who among us wishes white people had never taken up ragtime, jazz, rhythm and blues, or rock and roll? I assume there are some who could really wish there had never been Benny Goodman, Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, or Eminem and I mean that. But this would be a radical proposition held ever by only a sliver.
Black jazz, is, to my mind, still the best by far, but it was taken and changed into different forms by others, and some of those white artists, like Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman and Stan Getz, brought something new to the genre. As far as I know, they did no harm to blacks or black culture. Goodman, in fact, was the first major white bandleader to integrate his groups, taking on people like Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton. “White” jazz is the most common form of cultural appropriation—a form of borrowing that does nobody any harm, but enriches everyone but the Pecksniffs.
McWhorter also points out that whites have been taking language from African Americans forever, even in the antebellum South, and, of course, this form of linguistic borrowing is good for everyone: it enriches our communication.
Take another oppressed group (well, at least they were once considered oppressed): the Jews. I know of no Jewish person who is insulted, including me, when we hear a non-Jewish person use Yiddish argot like “chutzpah”, “oy vey”, “schlemiel”, and “kvetch.” Indeed, I’m pleased and flattered to hear it! It means that those words were useful, and are considered not insulting but a tribute to the colorful language that is Yiddish. I can’t really see any difference between that kind of “cultural appropriation” and words like “bestie and “vibes” (in truth, I thought these were Millennial words!).
McWhorter thinks we should give up trying to police the racial borders of language for two reasons. First, it never works. Second, and most important, appropriating words and phrases from another culture is a form of flattery, and we all know this. Trying to keep the borders distinct is a futile exercise in tribalism. To quote the expert here:
In light of the above, I suggest we return to intuition here. Yes, even on race, sometimes intuition makes sense, and not just the intuition that white people are racist.
Namely, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Whites talk increasingly more like black people in America as a sign that whites and blacks are more comfortable together socially than they once were.
Yes, racism still exists. But getting past it will happen in increments. What is the progress in insisting that the increments, when they reveal themselves, don’t matter?
And whatever your other discomforts are with “Gen Z” using some black slang, your question must be whether it should be socially proscribed in light of what I have noted above as issues that cannot be waved away. Is the discomfort something you could honestly back with a confident pox on linguistic sharing amidst the broader context of what we are actually seeing?
I’m running out of cat-related items, too, many of which are contributed by readers. If you see something interesting that’s cat-related and would intrigue the readers here, by all means send it to me.
This week’s Caturday Trifecta features a cat mascot from Japan who’s promulgating mask usage (remember, only 2% of Japanese have been inoculated, and hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID patients. Japan loves both cats and mascots, and it’s only natural that a cat mascot would appear to help fight the virus. Click on the screenshot from Atlas Obscura below:
The cat’s name is Koronon, and here’s an excerpt:
A masked superhero patrols two of Tokyo’s busiest districts, on a mission to help Japanese citizens defeat the coronavirus. Its name is Koronon, and it’s a bulbous, bubblegum-pink cat.
The crusader is a mascot—a person in a plush costume—with a big X slashing through the phrase “COVID-19” on its belly. Throughout the day, it prowls busy Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, handing out masks. Koronon also serves as a visible reminder to practice social distancing and hand hygiene, the pandemic equivalent of Smokey Bear’s forest fire prevention efforts as a spokescritter in America’s woods. COVID-era central Tokyo isn’t quite as bustling as usual—bars and restaurants close early, and most events are canceled—but there are still plenty of people out and about, engaging with Koronon and its many peers.
Why are Koronon’s slogans in English, though?
IKEBUKURO, TOKYO, JAPAN – 2020/09/30: Koronon, a Japanese anti-coronavirus cat mascot raises awareness about the Corona virus (Covid-19) in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. K(Photo by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
While Koronon (whose name loosely translates to “no corona”), appears to be the only mascot created in response to the coronavirus in Japan, it isn’t alone in its fight against the pandemic. Throughout the country, mascots have been repurposed to educate the public on issues surrounding the virus.
Some mascots that typically do other things have been enlisted to pass out face masks. Others, including Nazo No Sakana, the mascot for the Chiba Lotte Marines’ baseball team, have starred in social media campaigns about proper hand-washing technique. Scores of them have been featured on signs reminding residents to practice social distancing, and illustrations of mascots appear behind human speakers at many press conferences; Carlier says their presence helps add levity to somber discussions.
IKEBUKURO, TOKYO, JAPAN – 2020/09/30: Koronon, a Japanese anti-coronavirus cat mascot poses for a photo with a group of schoolgirls wearing facemasks in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. (Photo by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The big goal, Hayashi says, is for Koronon to join the ranks of Olympic mascots. Two others, Miraitowa and Someity, are already slated to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic games, and various other ambassadors, including Sailor Moon and Astro Boy, have helped promote the events.
However, it’s not certain that the Olympics will really proceed in Japan this summer. Japanese health authorities consider it unwise, the U.S. has discouraged tourists from going to Japan, and several medical journals have called for a postponement of the Olympics. Now if only Koronon would have a coterie with him who would vaccinate his fans!
***************
This happened in my town, but I heard about the news from the Guardian. Click on the screenshot to read about a brave kitty, who survived a leap, and to see a video of the jump:
The story:
A Chicago cat has survived after jumping out of a fifth-floor window to escape an apartment fire.
Chicago Fire Department personnel were taking a video of the exterior of the building as firefighters were extinguishing the blaze when a black cat appeared through billowing smoke at a broken window. The feline briefly tested the side of the building with its front paws, and then jumped.
Onlookers gasped as the cat fell. But it missed a wall and instead landed on all four paws on a patch of grass, bounced once and ran away.
“It went under my car and hid until she felt better after a couple of minutes and came out and tried to scale the wall to get back in,” said fire department spokesman Larry Langford.
The cat was not injured, Langford said, adding he was trying to track down its owner.
No injuries were reported after the fire, which was confined to one apartment. The cause of the fire hasn’t been reported by officials, nor how much damage resulted.
Cats can fall considerable distances without injury, as recounted by an entire Wikipedia article on “high rise syndrome.” Decades ago I heard the rumor that cats falling from higher stories have a relatively smaller chance of being injured, but Wikipedia says there’s a controversy about that:
In a study performed in 1987 it was reported that cats who fall from less than six stories, and are still alive, have greater injuries than cats who fall from higher than six stories. It has been proposed that this might happen because cats reach terminal velocity after righting themselves (see below) at about five stories, and after this point they are no longer accelerating, which causes them to relax, leading to less severe injuries than in cats who have fallen from less than six stories. Another possible explanation for this phenomenon is survivorship bias, that cats who die in falls are less likely to be brought to a veterinarian than injured cats, and thus many of the cats killed in falls from higher buildings are not reported in studies of the subject.
In a more recent study, it was observed that cats falling from higher places suffered more severe injuries than those experiencing shorter drops.
***************
WANE in Fort Wayne, Indiana, reports on a “Thick Camp” for moggies who need to lose a few pounds (click on screen shot). To qualify, the cat has to weigh over 14 pounds, and the goal is more to get them used to timed feedings than to lose weight (there’s a short video):
An excerpt:
A room at Humane Fort Wayne has been temporarily turned into a weight loss boot camp for cats called “Thick Camp.”
The camp offers a low fat diet and activities such as bird watching, high jumps and string play for cats 14 pounds or heavier. In a Facebook post, Humane Fort Wayne said the goal is not to get the cats skinny but to have the cats get used to timed feedings, moving around their environment and adding more activity to their routine.
“When free fed, or when provided a full bowl of food 24 hours a day, we see cats start to carry about 5-8 extra pounds of weight on their joints and organs. It can cause long-term and expensive health issues and most of this is avoidable by measuring portions and adding play to your cats’ day,” the post said.
Humane Fort Wayne currently has a livestream of the thick cats which can be viewed on its YouTube page.
Sadly, that livestream no longer exists, perhaps because it was engaged in “fat shaming” cats. Here’s a shot of the exercise room:
***************
Lagniappe: Cat likes to play fetch, but his game is severely impeded by SHOES. But notice that the same size is only 1!
Send in your wildlife photos, please. I’ve been getting some, and thanks to those who have replied, but I can always use more.
Today we have Big Cat photos from Richard Bond, whose captions are indented. Click on the photos to enlarge them:
I am somewhat intimidated by the outstanding quality of many of your wildlife photo contributions, but there have been no big wild cats for a while, so these might interest you. They were taken in one afternoon and early evening in the Masai Mara.
First, though, on our way there we flew over the southern end of Lake Magadi, the southernmost alkaline lake of the Kenyan Rift Valley. We were about 3000 metres above the lake, which is about two kilometres wide at this point. The surface of large parts of the lake is formed by precipitated sodium sesquicarbonate, within which the “wildlife” comprises vast numbers of several species of archaea. Some of these cause the pink colour. The sectors of clear water are centered on two of the hot springs that feed the lake along its margins.
In the first photo of the lions [Panthera leo], the markings on the back of their ears show that the cubs on the right do not belong to the lioness on the left. The next photo shows the same markings on their actual mother. Apparently these markings are very variable between families and are inherited, so that they are useful to people studying lions.
The next two photos were taken as the sun was setting. The excellent camouflage that this light provides makes it a little difficult to see that the lioness with her legs in the air is suckling three very small cubs.
The two cheetah [Acinonyx jubatus] cubs (probably male and female from their relative sizes) have been left while their mother goes hunting. They are lightly screened by knee-high grass and continually looking around as a precaution against lions, which would regard cheetah cubs as tasty snackettes.
My distant shot of the leopard [Panthera pardus] is barely worth submitting. Unfortunately I entrusted the zoomed-in followup to an insistent and excited 11-year specimen of Homo sapiens, but did not realise until I saw it on a big screen that it was slightly blurred.
Given your interest a few years ago in flying in the copilot’s seat of a light aircraft, I have included a photo of the aforementioned H. sapiens specimen as he helped take us back to the coast.
