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.
Though I didn’t bring my wildlife-photo folder to California, John Avise kept his record going by seemailingnding me another batch of bird photos from South Africa. And so we shall have a wildlife post today (though I count the warthog post yesterday as wildlife).
This if the fourth in John’s series of South African birds. His narrative and captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
South Africa Birds, Part 4
My seminar trip to South Africa in 2007 took me to many parts of the country: Cape Town, Durban, Grahamstown, Pretoria, Potchefstrom, Johannesberg, Kruger National Park, and elsewhere. This week’s post is Part 4 of a mini-series on birds that I photographed during that trip. It shows another dozen or so species from that marvelous avian-rich part of the world.
Welcome to Sunday, the sabbath for goyishe cats, January 21, 2024, and National New England Clam Chowder Day. I am SO glad it’s not just “Clam Chowder Day,” for that would include an imposter, the odious tomato-based “Manhattan Clam Chowder.”
a Canadian lawyer and politician who became the first Black Canadian to be a member of Parliament in the House of Commons, a federal Cabinet Minister (as federal Minister of Labour), a Chair of the Worker’s Compensation Board of Ontario, and the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991. Alexander was also a governor of the Canadian Unity Council.
Here’s Gal Gadot with a message in Hebrew to families of hostages still in captivity (there are English subtitles):
Da Nooz:
*The war widens as there were two separate airstrikes yesterday, one of which, coming from Iran-backed militia injured American troops in Western Iraq. The other, probably from Israel, killed five Iranian military advisors from the Revolutionary Guard in Syria.
At least two U.S. service members stationed in western Iraq were injured on Saturday when their air base came under heavy rocket and missile fire from Iran-backed militias, as the ripple effects of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip continued to roil the Middle East.
Ever since Hamas, also an ally of Iran, charged into Israel and carried out terror attacks on Oct. 7, Israel has retaliated with an overwhelming and ferocious offensive, and groups sympathetic to Hamas’s cause have attacked Israeli and American targets.
A U.S. official cautioned that initial information was sketchy and that the number of injured could grow as damage reports from officers in Iraq are passed up the chain of command. A number of American military personnel were being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries. One Iraqi soldier was injured as well, said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, the military spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al Sudani.
And the attack in Syria:
The attack [in Iraq] occurred hours after a strike on a residential building in Damascus, according to the Syrian news agency SANA. The strike, which both Iran and Syria blamed on Israel, is one of many directed in recent weeks at increasingly aggressive Iranian-backed groups that Tehran has used to project power in the Middle East.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the strike.
Iranian President Ebraham Raisi condemned the airstrike and promised retaliation against Israel.
Iran identified five of the victims as Hojattollah Omidvar, Ali Aghazadeh, Hossein Mohammadi, Mohammad-Amin Samadi and Saeed Karimi, all members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. If confirmed, the incident would be one of Israel’s highest-profile strikes on Iranian assets abroad since the start of the Gaza war.
Omidvar was believed to be in charge of Iran’s program of ferrying of weapons between Syria and Iraq, said Firas Maksad, senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute think tank.
“We’re seeing that the battle fronts are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases volatility in the region,” he said. “So the strikes could be related.”
*The WaPo reports that Nikki Haley, so far the third-running Republican candidate for the Presidential nomination, has decided to play hardball, hoping desperately, I suspect, to secure the nomination. This won’t work, but it’s a game try:
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley on Saturday aggressively questioned former president Donald Trump’s mental fitness, seizing on a flub at a rally in which Trump repeatedly called Nancy Pelosi by Haley’s name when attacking the former House speaker.
Trump’s mix-up Friday night came as he repeated unsubstantiated claims that he made a “recommendation for troops” to be brought in to quell the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol while Pelosi was derelict in her duties as speaker when it came to keeping the complex safe.
Instead of targeting Pelosi by name, as he has in the past, Trump repeatedly referred to “Nikki Haley” during his remarks in Concord, N.H., ahead of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
“Do we really want to go into an election with two fellas that are going to be president in their 80s?” Haley said at a stop Saturday in Keene, N.H., referring to Trump and President Biden.
, . .Haley echoed those sentiments during an event here in Peterborough and again when speaking to reporters afterward, suggesting that there were other signs of Trump’s decline.
“You know, my parents are up in age, and I love them dearly,” she said when asked directly if Trump, 77, is mentally fit to be president. “But when you see them hit a certain age, there is a decline. That’s a fact, ask any doctor, there is a decline. And this is a situation where our country is very vulnerable right now.”
Here’s a short video in which Haley shows concern about Trump’s age:
Nope, I don’t want a President over 80, even Biden. Not only is there the chance of further mental decline, but if Biden dies, we’ll have Kamala Harris as President, and she’s not up to the job. Trump, of course, is already suffering from mental illness (in my view, narcissism and borderline personality disorder), and that, along with a gazillion other things, rules him out right now.
Haley is throwing a Haley Mary pass by calling attention to Trump’s, well, we’ll call it “inadequate mental acuity”, and she’s close to the mark, but Republicans don’t care. I’m not sure whether they want Trump blowing an artery or drooling in a wheelchair, but they’re not worried about it. They should be. So should Democrats for their own candidate, but I’m far less worried about Biden.
*Here we see an Israeli lawyer argue against the ridiculous claim by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The YouTube notes are below, and Raguan’s list of questions at the end of this 12-minute presentation is dispositive.
Israeli Attorney Galit Raguan told the International Court of Justice on Friday that in its presentation, South Africa barely mentioned Hamas outside of its initial attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which started the ongoing hostilities. She said South Africa has also ignored Israel’s attempts to mitigate civilian harm in its ground offensive in Gaza by warning of attacks in advance, working with hospitals to provide assistance and urging evacuations in advance of operations. She accused Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to launch military operations and shelter fighters, and suggested the militant group sought civilian casualties to help sway opinion against Israel.
. . . There are many ways to stifle a culture of openness; in recent years, both the far left and the far right have shown a willingness to win arguments by silencing the other side. But the threat that Americans should be most concerned about is any attempt by government to limit the freedom of individuals to express their views or to dictate what they say.
That is what happened when Nathan Thrall, a writer on Israeli-Palestinian issues, was invited by the University of Arkansas to speak on the subject last year, and an ideological barrier imposed by the state government prevented him from joining that debate. Mr. Thrall, like everyone else who enters a business relationship to an arm of the Arkansas government, was required by state law, as stipulated by the contract for his speaking fee, to sign a pledge that he would not boycott Israel. He refused to do so, calling the requirement “McCarthyist” and an affront to his free-speech rights.
This meant that he was unable to share his perspective, informed by years of experience writing about the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians, at a time when students have a desperate need to understand the causes and effects of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The campus has lost many other speakers for the same reason, and students say they are missing out on the chance to hear a variety of voices.
“As the conflict rages in the Middle East and we attempt to make sense of it, we find our ability to listen to and learn from multiple perspectives and foster an informed conversation radically curtailed by the university’s interpretation of the statute,” one group of students and teachers wrote in a petition to remove the pledge.
The Arkansas regulation is part of a disturbing trend by state governments to silence speakers on subjects including race, gender, slavery and American history. The measures they have imposed restrict both academic freedom — the freedom to explore ideas and pursue research independently, without interference by the state — and freedom of expression more broadly.
Americans may disagree about boycotts as a matter of policy. (This editorial board doesn’t support boycotting Israel.) But as an act of protest, support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement falls clearly within the realm of free expression protected by the First Amendment. Arkansas and more than two dozen other states have enacted laws that prohibit state contractors from engaging in a boycott. These laws are abridging the speech of those individuals, groups and companies, and so represent a violation of their constitutional rights. In 1982, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that nonviolent political boycotts were protected speech and could not be prohibited by government officials.
Forcing somebody to agree with a stipulation like this is an arrant violation of the First Amendment, constituting compelled speech. Arkansas has no business doing this, and I hope someone takes it and similar states to federal courts to ditch this stupid provision.
*The AP’s ever-absorbing “oddities” section reports that some miscreant filled Chicago’s famous “rat hole” (a rat-shaped indentation in the street that probably represented where a rat or squirrel t was squashed), with a plaster-like substance. Fortunately, Chicagoans repaired the damage. FIrst, a photo of the rat hole as it was for years:
— Gatorade Should Be Thicker. (@WinslowDumaine) January 6, 2024
Fortunately, Chicagoans united to rectify a crime like this:
In a city infamous for its gangster past, some culprit filled in a Northside Chicago neighborhood landmark affectionately called by residents the “rat hole.”
The indentation in the pavement on West Roscoe Street resembles the outline of a rat, claws tail and all. It was reported Friday on social media that the “rat hole” had been filled with a substance resembling white plaster.
Transportation and Streets and Sanitation officials told the Chicago Tribune that the city was not behind the fill-in — which one day may find itself part of Windy City tongue-in-cheek lore like Al Capone’s vault and a coil of bronze faux feces on a fountain intended to remind people to pick up their dog poop.
Neighbors gathered Friday afternoon using a brush and water to scrub the shallow hole in the sidewalk clean, restoring it to its “ratfull” place among the city’s iconic — if not strange — attractions.
Tributes, including plastic flowers, a prayer candle, small toys, a pack of cigarettes and coins adorn what may have been the final resting place of “Lil Stucky” or “Chimley,” names given by some in the neighborhood to the creature that once lay there spreadeagled.
“Overall, people just appreciate that our wonderful block is getting attention — even if it’s to look at a rat hole,” Jeff VanDam told the Chicago Sun-Times for a story Friday. “It’s a small, quirky feature of a neighborhood where we get used to it, we care about it, and we want to protect it.”
. . . People living nearby said the imprint had been there for nearly two decades and was made by a squirrel, according to Dumaine.
It’s now been bedecked as a memorial to the poor creature:
(From the AP): Some of the offerings are left out for Chicago’s iconic Rat Hole in the 1900 block of West Roscoe Street in the Roscoe Village neighborhood, Friday, Jan. 19, 2024 in Chicago. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Andrzej are planning a cozy evening:
From Jon, who explains (be sure to enlarge the photo, and I’ve attached one more):
There is a pretty cool photo of a crescent Earth taken from the Astrobotic “Peregrine” lunar lander spacecraft, which was successfully launched ten days ago on a brand new “Vulcan” rocket made by United Launch Alliance (ULA).
See attached photo and 3 screenshots of postings by Astrobotic. (The “dot” near the crescent Earth is unexplained, but it’s probably a dust mote on the spacecraft’s camera lens, or possibly some floating detritus or a frozen bit of fuel near the spacecraft.)
This is me and and my guest on my show both feeling suffocated for covering our hair and face only for a short time. WHY? Try it yourself to understand how it feels to be FORCED to wear hijab and burqa for decades.
This from the country where crying “Gas the Jews” is perfectly legal!
NSW Police arrest a Sydney man for waving an Israel flag near a pro-Palestine rally and charge him with breach of the peace. Extraordinarily unfair censorship considering hundreds of Israeli civilians were just murdered in a brutal terror attack. He can’t protest? pic.twitter.com/oRQgNRpG2X
Big Brother in Canada: DEI (or “EDI,” as they call it) is embedded in every faculty meeting, whether they like it or not.
The tyranny of DEI: A dean at the University of Alberta explains that they “embedded” DEI into “every faculty meeting” because most people didn’t want to attend DEI trainings. pic.twitter.com/rjugY1hezG
From Matthew: The Roadrunner Roolz. #7 andf #8 are the most important:
‘The 9 Rules For All Roadrunner And Wile E. Coyote Interactions’ – a fascinating & fantastic guide by animation director and creator Chuck Jones for all the animators working on the Cartoon. pic.twitter.com/jJZgDdkqWK
Here’s an eight-minute clip from Bill Maher in which he touts a new rule: 2024 is supposed to be “The Year of Sanity”.
Maher gives several examples of pervasive insanity, the most prominent being the likely reelection of Trump as President. He also mentions tolerance of shoplifting, pro-Palestinian activists, admiration for the Houthis, frantic rumors that Taylor Swift is gay, claims that men can get pregnant, recent laws preventing abortion of fetuses that won’t live, and sundry other insane things.
After hearing all this, I decided that Maher is right: we need a Year of Sanity. Will we get one? I’m not holding my breath.
Last night we went to an unusual restaurant: Stand Up Kebab, located in South Davis. It’s open only on Friday and Saturday nights, and the rest of the time the owner runs a car-repair garage (attached to the restaurant) as well as a used-car lot.
It’s an unprepossessing place. You order outside and they bring you your food inside.
The long table below had three people who were either tired, drunk, or dead. They may have been workers at the garage, but they eventually returned to life and left.
But the food was good, and here’s what we ate. Beers first, of course:Persian (Iranian) ones:
We started with an unusual Persian soup called Ash e Reshteh. I discovered the ingredients from Wikipedia:
Ash reshteh or ash-e-reshteh (Persian: آش رشته) is a type of āsh (Iranian thick soup) featuring reshteh (thin noodles) and kashk (a sour dairy product, made from cooked or dried yogurt) commonly made in Iran.
It was absolutely delicious:
This was followed by a typical Iranian meal: kebabs. We had both chicken kebabs and lamb/beef kebabs, served with sauce, pickle, and plenty of rice. I’m not sure why there was a pat of butter on my plate
Lamb and beef kebabs:
And for a postprandial treat, we repaired to a store in downtown Davis that sells boba tea and mochi donuts. We had green-tea donuts; specimen below:
Welcome to CaturSaturday, January 20, 2024, Jewish cat shabbos, during which the rest and read the Torah, and National Cheese Lover’s Day. Note that “Lover” here is singular, so they’re really celebrating only a single cheese lover. Who is that person? More important, why can’t that site learn the proper use of apostrophes? It should be “Cheese Lovers Day” or “Cheese Lovers’ Day.”
Humor of the Day: Click to read from the Babylon Bee:
These overpriced water bottles, which can cost north of $50, are apparently the latest fad. Only people with too much dosh would buy them! But people are constantly overhydrating, sucking down far more water than they need, especially with their Stanley baby bottle. Even the Mayo clinic says this:
Your fluid intake is probably adequate if:
You rarely feel thirsty
Your urine is colorless or light yellow
And that is me. Apparently you should drink when you’re thirsty and that will take care of your “hydration.”
While few people can hurt themselves by drinking too much water, it seems to be a fetish among many, and this is why people want to pay so much for those Stanley water bottles: they turn their fetish into a status symbol. Get off my lawn!
And remember, you can get fluids from any number of places, including fruits.
The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies released the results of a survey of the Arab world last week, and it shows that the overwhelming majority of Arabs consider the 10/7 pogrom to be “legitimate.”
A total of 88% considered the attack legitimate, while only 5% considered it illegitimate. 67% considered it entirely legitimate, 19% say it was legitimate but Hamas made some mistakes, and 2% admitted that it included heinous or criminal acts – but was still legitimate.
Among Palestinians surveyed in the West Bank, 0% – yes, statistically nobody – considered 10/7 illegitimate. 11% said some mistakes were made and 4% admitted it included heinous acts, but was legitimate anyway.
Libya and Jordan supported the attack even more than Palestinians in the West Bank d0, although a tiny percentage considered it criminal.
Citizens of Arab countries across the board considered the terror attack to be legitimate. But the UAE and Bahrain were not included in this survey.
Here’s one figure: the dark blue plus light blue lines show the proportion of people who think the butchery of October 7 was pretty okay:
Even though this survey showing near unanimous support for the October 7 terror attack among Arabs was released a week ago, major media ignored the survey. Because telling the world how supportive the Arab world is of attacking civilian is not something the media wants the world to know.
51% of Arabs say that the United States is the biggest threat to the security of the Middle East – far higher than Israel, for which 26% considered the most dangerous. Iran got only 7%.
Depressing, eh? See if you can find this in the NYT or Washington Post. I’m betting not.
And one more figure, a pie chart showing overall Arab Ssentiment
69% of Arabs support Gazans and Hamas, while 23% say they support the people of Gaza but oppose Hamas.
Again, the huge support for Hamas by the Arab world at large contradicts the conventional wisdom that the media and Western politicians have been carefully cultivating of a moderate and peace-loving Arab majority. Killing and raping Jews is very, very popular in the Arab world.
This puts paid to the idea that there are two nonoverlapping classes of Palestinians (much less Arabs): a small group which supports Hamas and a larger group that is peaceful and hates Hamas. It looks like a large proportion of Arabs in the Middle East support Hamas. That’s been known for a while, but is not part of the MSM “narrative,” and so isn’t reported.
*As always on Saturdays, I steal three items from Nellie Bowles’s snarky and weekly news summary at the Free Press, called this week “TGIF: TimHouthis Chalamet“. That name comes from a Houthi pirate who’s adopted that monicker and is considered “dreamy” by many, despite his terrorism and Jew hatred (the story’s in the news). Here he is—the handsome terrorist.
(From the Free Press): The hot Yemeni teen pirate, also known as TimHouthi Chalamet, has taken the internet by storm. (via TikTok)
But on to Nellie’s news items:
→ Down with the. . . cancer ward? Anti-Israel protesters gathered on Monday to scream and yell outside the widely recognized IDF command center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The Good Guys screamed “shame” at the hospital, which apparently is a “complicit institution” (not only in eradicating tumors from early-stage rectal cancer, but also in genocide). “Make sure they hear you. They’re in the windows,” the leader instructed. You see, this evil cancer hospital accepted $400 million in donations from Ken Griffin, noted Jewish Zionist philanthropist. As the organizer Nerdeen Kiswani helpfully put it, “Our medical institutions are not innocent bystanders.” And neither are our medical patients. If you’re serious about helping Gazans, you better get in there and start cutting some cords!
→ DEI departments just coming out with it: You’d be forgiven for not being able to figure out the actual job description from this posting for an assistant professor at the University of Victoria. But sandwiched between a written and video land acknowledgment and some words about equitable salaries is what you really need to know, which is that you can only get this job if you’re black. “In accordance with the University’s Equity Plan and pursuant to Section 42 of the BC Human Rights code, the selection will be limited to members of the following designated group: Black people.” Not only do they only want black teachers to apply, but actually, it’s the law in British Columbia! Luckily, you can self-identify as black, so case closed, I guess. Really, anyone can apply as long as they don’t have any shame.
→ Trudeau’s Jamaican vacay no-no: Our favorite liberal nepo baby is in trouble. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau spent Christmas in a private compound at a luxury beach resort in Jamaica. The place costs $9,300 a night and the Trudeaus posted up in the villa for ten days. Not a cheap trip! We didn’t even know Canada had enough rich people to make something like that sustainable. But don’t worry, Trudeau didn’t have to pay for it: his dad’s old buddy owns the resort and let him stay for free. Frankly, we don’t see anything wrong with this. As Trudeau himself put it: “Like many Canadian families, we stayed with friends for the Christmas vacation.” Still angry? That’s on you for not having richer friends.
*Nature lovers will be excited about this report that two broods of periodical cicadas will emerge simultaneously this spring—an event that hasn’t taken place since 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president. Cicadas come in two forms: one emerging every 13 years, the other every 17 years. And every 221 years the broods in one area emerge simultaneously. If you’ve ever seen a brood emergence, it’s a fantastic sight, with millions of the beautiful insects emerging from the ground, making deafening calls, and then, after only a few weeks, they all die. Emergences are stunning sights, and this one will occur where I live! From the NYT (h/t Miriam):
The cicadas are coming — and if you’re in the Midwest or the Southeast, they will be more plentiful than ever. Or at least since the Louisiana Purchase.
This spring, for the first time since 1803, two cicada groups known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, are set to appear at the same time, in what is known as a dual emergence.
The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period, Thomas Jefferson was president. After this spring, it’ll be another 221 years before the broods, which are geographically adjacent, appear together again.
“Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” said Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “That’s really rather humbling.”
These insects will begin to appear in late April. They’ll use their forelegs to tunnel out from the earth, their beady red eyes looking for a spot where they can peacefully finish maturing. A few days after they emerge and molt, the males will start buzzing in an effort to find a mate, a slow-building crescendo of noise that in a chorus can be louder than a plane.
Dr. Shockley said the dual emergence would most likely result in more than one trillion cicadas appearing in the roughly 16-state area where the two broods are generally seen. Forested areas, including urban green spaces, will have higher numbers than will agricultural regions. To put that into perspective, one trillion cicadas, each of which are just over an inch long, would cover 15,782,828 miles if they were laid end-to-end.
“That cicada train would reach to the moon and back 33 times,” he said.
These are gorgeous insects with cherry-red eyes. Here’s a photo and caption from the NYT story:
A cicada from Brood X in 2021 next to the shed exoskeleton from which it emerged. Credit: Jim Wood, Smithsonian Institution
This brings up the question, which the article mentions, about whether the two forms (one might call them “species”, but see my discussion in my book Speciation with Allen Orr) might hybridize in the small area where both forms emerge together. If that were the case, yet a new brood might form. And if so, what would be its periodicity? The biology of this group, with two periodicities but different broods that emerge in different years, is very complex, and nobody really understands how it happened evolutionarily, much less why an insect would have such long periodicities, staying underground for many years, only to emerge and die in a few weeks. (There are theories involving prime number cycles throwing off predators, but they’re dubious.) There was a time when I knew all this stuff, but that was when Orr and I wrote our book (2009), and I’ve forgotten most of it. Surely there have been advances in our understanding since then, but I haven’t kept up.
*What to do with Gaza after the war? Here’s a decent suggestion from the Elder of Ziyon, and it’s not at all farcical, it has promise for really improving the country, and leaves Israel out of the picture. The only problem is whether the UAE would accept it.
There are lots of articles about “the day after” in Gaza.
Most of them envision some sort of Palestinian self-rule. The US, Saudi Arabia and others are pushing a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority.
This is a recipe for disaster. Palestinians overwhelmingly support Hamas and destroying Israel, in survey after survey. If there are elections, the terror supporters will win handily, just as they did in the last elections.
No one has come up with a better plan than my suggestion two months ago to turn Gaza into an emirate of the UAE.
As I wrote then (this is slightly modified):
There is one country that could turn Gaza into a wonderful place: the UAE. Gaza should become the fifth United Arab Emirate.
The UAE is at peace with Israel. it could pour massive amounts of money into rebuilding Gaza into a paradise. It wouldn’t allow Islamists to gain a toehold.
Gazans would suddenly live in a place that has a future. The UAE and Israel could work on joint business ventures and economic zones to help employment and bring Gaza up to modern standards. One could imagine luxury hotels and high tech skyscrapers being built on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Gazans would become citizens of an Arab country and could still call themselves Palestinians. The emirate itself could be called “the Emirate of Palestine.” Why not? And Gaza citizens of the UAE could move to the other emirates to seek other opportunities if they prefer, with Emirati entrepreneurs moving to Gaza to take advantage of a blank slate. Which is not dissimilar to how they built the UAE to begin with.
Why would the UAE be interested? Well, a port on the Mediterranean is a pretty big carrot. Shipping lanes from and to Europe would be a huge economic boost. Working with Israel, the proposed train line from the Gulf to Israel could be extended a bit to Gaza to tie the Gulf countries closer to the sea as well.
It this just a fantasy? Hamas, of course, wouldn’t stand for it were they still in power, and I doubt that the Palestinian Authority would either, as they want to control their people. Plus it’s not really the “two-state solution” that everyone’s calling for, as Palestine (or Gaza) would join the already-existing seven states that constitute the UAE.
*Finally, the NYT reports that the tunnels under Gaza, which aren’t limited to Gaza City, are far more sophisticated and extensive than suspected.
One tunnel in Gaza was wide enough for a top Hamas official to drive a car inside. Another stretched nearly three football fields long and was hidden beneath a hospital. Under the house of a senior Hamas commander, the Israeli military found a spiral staircase leading to a tunnel approximately seven stories deep.
These details and new information about the tunnels, some made public by the Israeli military and documented by video and photographs, underscore why the tunnels were considered a major threat to the Israeli military in Gaza even before the war started.
But Israeli officials and soldiers who have since been in the tunnels — as well as current and former American officials with experience in the region — say the scope, depth and quality of the tunnels built by Hamas have astonished them. Even some of the machinery that Hamas used to build the tunnels, observed in captured videos, has surprised the Israeli military.
The Israeli military now believes there are far more tunnels under Gaza.
In December, the network was assessed to be an estimated 250 miles. Senior Israeli defense officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, are currently estimating the network is between 350 and 450 miles — extraordinary figures for a territory that at its longest point is only 25 miles. Two of the officials also assessed there are close to 5,700 separate shafts leading down to the tunnels.
This is just an estimate, but can you imagine what these tunnels cost? There are photos in the article too, and these are no cheap jobs! The money, of course, came largely from donations by the world, including YOU, the American taxpayer—money intended for humanitarian purposes. At any rate, the tunnels are now one of the main objects of the IDF’s efforts:
. . . For the Israeli military, the tunnels are a subterranean nightmare and the core of Hamas’s ability to survive. Every strategic goal of Israel in Gaza is now linked to wiping out the tunnels.
“If you want to destroy the leadership and arsenal of Hamas, you have to destroy the tunnels,” said Daphné Richemond-Barak, a tunnel warfare expert at Reichman University in Israel. “It’s become connected to every part of the military missions.”
How the Israeli military finds these things, and then destroys them given that nearly all are booby-trapped, is a fascinating story, and one that you can find archived here.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is threatening to go into hibernation:
Hili: I’m going into the wardrobe.
A: Shall I wake you up in an hour?
Hili: No, I will wake up by myself before spring.
In Polish:
Hili: Idę do szafy.
Ja: Obudzić cię za godzinę?
Hili: Nie, sama się do wiosny obudzę.
And here are Kulka and Szaron (who get along) resting comfortably on the windowsill and warm inside. (Note the blankets for the kitties.)
Two from somewhere on the Internet I’ve forgotten. First, parking-lot revenge:
And have a bite of this peach ice cream cone:
A number of videos sent by hijab-less Iranian women to Masih, who’s their conduit to the West. Please pay attention to the oppression that women face not just in Iran, but in many Muslim countries. The neglect of this oppression by Western feminists is shameful/
If the world is seeking for stability in the region and global security, these unarmed women are fighting against the terrorists regime in Iran for the same cause. While autocrats are united against democracy, the world must be united with brave women.pic.twitter.com/fc0h15zmpC
Below: this is why the UN should be abolished: it’s full of liars. Here’s a spokesman for Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, denying any knowledge of Hamas’s tunnels. Of course he’s lying through his teeth: everyone knew about them, and look at the tweet at the top showing that yes, the Secretary-General had been informed. (Hillel Neuer is head of UN Watch.)
Watch the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson say the UN didn’t know about Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza‼️
From the Auschwitz Memorial: a btother and sister gassed upon arrival:
19 January 1940 | A Hungarian Jewish girl, Sarolta Grünwald (pictured left), was born in Csongrad.
In June 1944 she was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber. She was 4 years old. Her two years older brother Sandor was killed with her. pic.twitter.com/GJufjwUHFb
Matthew’s word for this is “amazing,” and he’s dead right. It’s a fly that lives on—PETROLEUM! I had no idea. Part of the Wikipedia entry (note that it gives the older genus name, but it’s the same fly:
The petroleum fly, Helaeomyia petrolei, is a species of fly from California, USA. The larvae feed on dead insects and other arthropods that become trapped in naturally occurring petroleum pools, making this the only known insect species that develops in crude oil, a substance which is normally highly toxic to insects.
. . . The larvae ingest large quantities of oil and asphalt, and their guts can be seen to be filled with petroleum. However, nutritional experiments showed that they subsist on animal matter present in the oil, which they quickly devour. Although the oil can reach temperatures of up to 38 °C (100 °F), the larvae suffer no ill effects from it, even when additionally exposed to 50% turpentine or 50% xylene in laboratory experiments.
The larvae of Diasemocera petrolei snake across the viscous surface consuming as they go. How they cope – who knows? The adults were spotted too, running over the surface – yep, they weren’t getting stuck in this sticky substance
That this editorial appears in the premier journal Science, and is one of a growing number of pieces urging us to respect “indigenous ways of knowing”, suggests that the woke movement has sprouted a new branch. It’s one I’ve discussed many times with respect to Māori “ways of knowing” (Mātauranga Māori, or MM) in New Zealand.
The problem with MM is that it’s not just empirical knowledge (i.e., “practical knowledge”, like when to collect eels or berries), but also includes nonscientific things like morality, religion, spirituality, guides for living, and “life forces” (an important element, mauri) that turns the whole enterprise into an exercise in vitalism. It is this infection of indigenous knowledge with supernaturalism or religion that should make us wary of saying, “Let’s merge indigenous ways of knowing with modern science!”
Now the spirit of MM has made its way across the Pacific to Canada and the U.S. as an offshoot of the “oppressor vs. oppressed” narrative. In this case, indigenous people, regarded as oppressed—and they largely were—are supposed to be given scientific credibility as a form of reparations. As Luana and I wrote in our paper, “The ideological subversion of biology,”
The promotion of these other ways of knowing comes from a desire to valorize oppressed groups by holding up much of their culture as having the same epistemic authority as science, a view that philosopher Molly McGrath called “the authority of the sacred victim.” In its secular form, this authority derives from postmodern views that science is just one of many “ways of knowing” and that the hegemony of science reflects power rather than accomplishment. This is encapsulated by the motto, espoused by some on both the Right and the Left for decades, that “science is always political.”
Like biblical creationism, much indigenous knowledge has a substantial spiritual or theological component that comes not from evidence but from authority or revelation. To add any of this knowledge to modern science, you must first separate the empirical wheat from the spiritual chaff. This is what the nondenominational Pastor Mike Aus meant when, after giving up his faith, he described “religious knowledge” this way: “There are not different ways of knowing. There is knowing and not knowing, and those are the only two options in this world.”
And so we have a new editorial in Science that’s an expression of this mentality. Granted, it’s not as dogmatic or misguided as articles promoting MM in New Zealand, but give North America some time. . .
Click to read:
Before we start supporting “indigenous science,” we need to know what the “science” is. If Native Americans have better ways of conserving the environment than does modern science, then yes, we should learn from them. But do they? I can’t think of any, and in fact some of their practices, like overkilling buffalo or burning the prairie to provide grass for their horses, may well be the opposite of what conservationists recommend today. As far as knowing the temporal habits and schedules of native plants and animals, yes, we should learn from Native Americans.
But this is all practical knowledge, and to truly verify it as scientific knowledge, you need to verify assertions about what’s empirically true using the methods of modern science: experiments, hypotheses, replicability, the use of controls and so on.
In contrast to modern science, indigenous science is rarely hypothesis-driven, and so is limited to the much narrower sphere of practical knowledge: what can be detected by observation alone. Again, that doesn’t mean that indigenous knowledge should be ignored, but perhaps we should be wary of indigenous ways of knowing. These often involve a spiritual element that simply gets in the way of modern scientific understanding, preventing the building of telescopes, the study of ancient remains, and so on. Further, by neglecting modern scientific tools, indigenous “ways of knowing” aren’t really ways of knowing. Does eating plant X really cure you of arthritis? How do you know that without controls? Simple attestations of the afflicted is not sufficient. If they were, then homeopathy, chiropractic, and aura therapy would also be “ways of knowing.”
This doesn’t mean that we can’t incorporate empirical observations of indigenous people into science. But it does mean that indigenous “ways of knowing” are almost never really ways of knowing. They only become so when the tools of modern science are used to actually produce “knowledge’: understanding of something in the universe that is widely accepted after repeated and rigorous testing.
And so, like many of these articles, this one is long on equity and oppression but short on science. Where are the examples of how we can fruitfully merge indigenous “science’ with modern science? There are none:
Here, for example, we have empathic and sweet-sounding words, but a worrying lack of specificity:
Faced with the profound challenges of a rapidly changing environment, society needs other ways of knowing to illuminate a different way forward. Thanks to the leadership of Indigenous scholars and allied collaborators, Indigenous knowledge is receiving long overdue recognition for its potential to provide solutions for the mutual thriving of lands and cultures. An urgent question is how institutions can appropriately support (and not hinder) Indigenous science’s key role in creating a sustainable future.
After years of marginalization by Western science, regard for Indigenous knowledge is reaching high places. For example, in 2022, the White House called for elevating such knowledge in research, policy, and land management. This is extraordinary given the United States’ track record of attempted erasure of Indigenous thought through policies of removal and forced assimilation.
There is a global groundswell of Indigenous-led research on stewardship of lands and waters, providing opportunities for Indigenous and Western knowledges to flourish together.
Is any new “knowledge” described in the paragraphs above? I don’t see any.
The text below describes an expensive U.S. government program that is designed to support indigenous science. But what it’s really doing is supporting indigenous people. There’s nothing wrong with that, but let’s not pretend that this is a true melding of indigenous “science” and modern science.
A major step in this direction was announced last September by the US National Science Foundation, in its establishment of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS). Led by a team of 54 predominantly Indigenous scholars and headquartered at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, CBIKS aims to focus on complex issues at the nexus of nature and culture. The research teams, which span the globe, will address climate disruption, food insecurity, and cultural survival through learning from Indigenous community-based approaches. The goal is to identify and advance models of ethical and effective integration of Indigenous and Western sciences by creating mutually respectful and reciprocal relationships between them. CBIKS will develop generalizable approaches for a diversity of scientific communities.
Yes, one has to understand local cultures to implement these programs, and of course you have to be “respectful”, but you can bet your bippy that. the tools that will be used here will wind up being the tools of modern science.
In the end, all these programs are extensions of DEI initiatives. They are ways not to enrich modern science, but to help people regarded as oppressed. I emphasize again that this is not necessarily bad, or a simple manifestation of performative wokeness, but we have to realize that neither is this a way to enrich modern science. It is social engineering motivated by concern for the oppressed. And it is a way for marginalized people to gain power, whether or not they can use that power effectively:
CBIKS is a prime example of a model that supports research guided by the worldview and priorities of Indigenous peoples around the world. Similar initiatives in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and elsewhere are also leading the way. For too long, Indigenous peoples have been fighting for a voice in decisions regarding their lands, waters, and lives. Indigenous-led research efforts will point to different paths forward—those in which Indigenous peoples do not merely have a seat at Western science’s table but are setting research agendas that reflect their priorities and protocols.
You get a seat at modern (I hate “Western”) science’s table by earning a seat at the table. You’re not just given one because of your ethnicity. If bigotry or oppression has held back native people from studying or practicing science, then we must correct that by giving them the same opportunities as everyone else. Nor should we exploit their lands, their knowledge, or their resources without their full participation and collaboration. But we shouldn’t pretend that we’re doing all this as a way to enrich science. These programs are, pure and simple, DEI initiatives—ways to overcome obstacles erected by bigotry and oppression. (Conceived in this way, DEI isn’t always bad!)
Finally, the article tosses more word salad that promises to create a climate “that values pluralism while protecting sovereignty of diverse knowledges. In this way, solutions can emerge from the symbiosis between Western and Indigenous knowledges that benefit everyone.”
But what are “diverse knowledges”?
And when the authors say this:
For centuries, Indigenous scientists have had to adapt to, and develop fluency in, Western modes of knowledge making. It’s now Western scientists’ turn to learn from, and respect, Indigenous science.
. . . . . who were the Indigenous scientists from centuries ago? Centuries ago? And please, if you think that “Indigenous science” can enrich modern science to everyone’s advantage, just give us a few non-trivial examples.
In terms of extemporaneous eloquence, I suppose Sam Harris is the closest living “Horseman” to Christopher Hitchens. (How many of you have wondered, over the last 13 years, “What would Hitch have written about this?”) But it’s a close race given that the other two living members of the quartet are Steve Pinker and Richard Dawkins, no wallflowers on the platform.
What strikes me is that Sam always speaks, as he does here, in perfectly constructed sentences and paragraphs, and has it all in his head the moment he starts speaking. He’s respond to questions with answers that began “Well, there are two separate points you bring up.” I couldn’t even come close: but the time I mentioned the first point, I would have forgotten the second.
This video of Piers Moragn interviewing sam is short (13 minutes) but covers a fair amount of ground. Here’s the YouTube summary.
Piers Morgan Uncensored is joined by philosopher, author and YouTuber Sam Harris for an open debate on the ideals and limitations of free speech, as well as the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Palestine as the IDF is slowly losing its country’s support in their conquest against Hamas due to their methods of attack.
Sam also discusses with Piers Morgan how religion and God have played a part in this conflict and could be partly to blame for the escalation.
The conversation begins with Sam explaining why social-media platforms do not and should not adhere to a First-Amendment construal of free speech. If sites like Twitter (X) weren’t cleaned up, they’d become toxic cesspools. Elon Musk, says Sam, isn’t really the “free-speech absolutist” he pretends to be. Sam and Piers go off on Alex Jones and his Sandy-Hook denialism—one example of how unregulated speech on social media can cause damage.
The discussion of the Hamas/Israel war begins about 3:33, with Sam emphasizing that the war is really based largely on Muslim religious beliefs (and to a much lesser extent on Jewish religious beliefs), and we can understand it much better when we realize that the jihadis really believe what they say they believe: their actions will land them in heaven. He also notes the special standards that Muslims claim for themselves, sometimes because of “the tendency of the Muslim community to erupt with psychopathic rage in response to what it perceives to be the desecration of religious symbols.”
A much longer discussion of the pernicious effects of religion on terrorism is found in Sam’s “bright line” monlogue linked below.
Finally, at 9:34 Morgan asks Sam his thoughts about whether the massive damage inflicted on Gaza by the IDF would actually increase the radicalization of Hamas. Sam then addresses the “disproportional” ratio of of Gazan civilian deaths to Israeli deaths as a purported reason to end the war. You can see his answers by listen to the video.
If this leaves you wanting more, do go hear Sam’s hourlong monologue, inspired by the war, called “The bright line between good and evil” from his Making Sense podcast. It’s absolutely brilliant, and much more an analysis of morality and religion than of the politics of the war.
