Friday: Hili dialogue

April 25, 2025 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Friday, April 25, 2025, the last Friday in April, and National DNA Day, for it was this day in 1953, that the papers on the structure of the molecule were published in Nature.  Here’s the most famous one:

Here’s an image of the DNA double helix taken with an electron microscope. Amazing stuff goes on there.

Electron microscope photograph of DNA’s double-helix structure. Credit: Enzo di Fabrizio

It’s also ANZAC Day, National Crayola Day (remember “burnt umber”?), National Plumber’s Day (which plumber is being celebrated?), Holocaust Remembrance Day, National Hairball Awareness Day, National Steak Day (in the UK), National Zucchini Bread Day (gag), and, best of all, World Penguin Day.  Here’s a photo of a colony I took in 2019:

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 25 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz: Once again the nooz may be truncated, this time due to duck issues (stay tuned; they are okay, I think).

*Well, Trump’s peacemaking efforts in the Ukraine (“The war will be over on Day One when I take office”, Trump said) isn’t coming to much. Russia launched a big-time attack on Kyiv, and Trump rebuked Putin. That, of course, won’t stop Putin, who badly wants Ukraine. (Article archived here.)

Russia killed at least 12 people and injured 90 others in a huge attack on the Ukrainian capital early Thursday, prompting President Trump to issue a rare public critique of Moscow just hours after he lashed out at President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.

The assault was the deadliest on the capital, Kyiv, since last summer. Explosions shook buildings and sent more than 16,000 people into the subway system to take shelter; clouds of smoke rose over the city as the sun came up.

One missile hit a two-story building with 12 apartments where emergency workers hunted for survivors. A five-story building next door lost all its windows. People stood outside, staring at the damage and talking on their phones, telling loved ones that they were alive. No military target was visible nearby.

Mr. Zelensky said nearly 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, and about 150 attack drones had targeted cities across the country — although Kyiv was hit the hardest.

Before cutting short a trip to South Africa, Mr. Zelensky said at a news conference there that he saw no indication Russia was being pressured to agree to a cease-fire. He said that with more pressure brought on Moscow, “we will be able to get closer to a complete, unconditional cease-fire.” To him, Mr. Zelensky added, the attack on Kyiv instead appeared intended to pressure the United States.

Lord knows what Trump is doing here, nor do I quite get why

*From the WSJ: “Tipping is everywhere and consumers are fed up. Here’s how some are coping.” (Article archived here.)

The issue:

Tipping quandaries are causing discomfort at checkout counters, sparking fights between spouses and sullying the enjoyment of eating out.

More than 1,000 readers responded to a recent Wall Street Journal article showing that Americans are tipping less than they have in years. Some vented over being asked to tip for transactions as basic as fetching bottled water from a cooler. Others balked at service charges creeping into the fine print of their restaurant checks. Several wished America would follow other countries and include service in meal prices.

Many shared their own tipping strategies: pushing back on proliferating prompts for tips, keeping gratuities cash-only and raising their standards for tip-worthy service. Eating out less or ordering fewer items are other solutions.

Some solutions:

During a recent fishing and hunting trip to South Texas, David Savage surveyed his friends on tipping. Their consensus: Service has declined—and so has their generosity.

Savage, a 64-year-old retired energy executive, too frequently finds his restaurant orders arrive with errors, or take forever. His server forgets to fill his iced tea glass, while his wife’s salad drowns in dressing.

“These servers seem to resent being there or are clearly overworked with too many tables,” said Savage, who eats out multiple times a week. Poor service knocks Savage’s tip to 10% from his standard 18% to 20%, and he won’t return.

Industry data shows that consumer views of full-service restaurants have improved since the pandemic, but Journal readers aired plenty of gripes. Many respondents said they are less patient with bad service or irked about ordering via QR codes, and aren’t afraid to tip less in response.

I haven’t noticed an increase in bad service, and my lowest tip is 15%, but my usual tip at restaruants is 20%.  I do resent being asked by a machine to tip when I am, say, buying a $2.00 baguette in a bakery.  If people think that servers deserve more, no matter how bad they are or how little they do, I think we should go to the European system of raising prices and giving servers a living wage. Some places already do that, but how do you know?  I’d be glad to pay more for food than have to deal with figuring out tips.

Janet Fannin tips restaurant servers, maids and the hairdresser. But the 60-year-old retired occupational therapist draws the line at other businesses, like minimarts or her local soap store.

“I pay the bill and that’s where it ends,” said Fannin, of Cathlamet, Wash. She still tips generously when eating out, recalling when she earned $2 an hour as a waitress in the 1980s.

Many say they’re wearied by digital tipping prompts spun around on screens at coffee shops and concession-stand counters. A survey of around 1,500 adults by market-research firm Intouch Insight found that 46% of consumers dislike the specific tip percentages suggested by digital screens. Only 13% found them helpful.

I hate those digital tipping prompts, so I join the majority about that.  Fortunately, I tip mostly when I get a haircut (20%) or when eating out (usually 20%), but neither of those involve those %^&&%)(^?,%-^@+> screens!

*I have to say that although I think RFK Jr. was Trump’s worst appointment, I am in favor of getting rid of petroleum-based food dyes, many of which, I hear, are banned in Europe. There are plenty of plant-based dyes that have been tested and can add color to food. The science on the dyes we use now, says the WaPo, seems equivocal in some cases:

The Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that it plans to phase out petroleum-based food dyes from the nation’s food supply. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, has called the dyes “poison” and long blamed artificial additives for chronic disease and illness in the United States.

Companies add dyes to food, such as candy, cereals, drinks and snacks, for brighter, attractive colors. The dyes are either natural, such as red beet juice, or synthetic.

“The ingredients used in America’s food supply have been rigorously studied following an objective science and risk-based evaluation process and have been demonstrated to be safe,” Melissa Hockstad, the chief executive of Consumer Brands Association, a food industry trade group, said in a statement. “Removing these safe ingredients does not change the consumer packaged goods industry’s commitment to providing safe, affordable and convenient product choices to consumers.”

But consumer advocacy groups said there is sufficient evidence that the dyes may cause some harm to some children. They argue that artificial dyes are not worth the potential risk given their lack of nutritional value.

“From the vantage point of consumers, it boils down to why do we want to take a chance on these things when it comes to the health of our children?” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports. “Even if it doesn’t technically point to causing cancer, there is risk involved in terms of how it impacts neurobehavior in children.”\

Note that the speaker here is with Consumer Reports, a reputable organization.

The Washington Post spoke with food scientists and nutrition experts to answer questions about the synthetic dyes in food.

Here’s one case:

In January, under the Biden administration, the Food and Drug Administration banned red dye No. 3 in food. The dye, which gives food a cherry-red color, has been linked to cancer in animals.

In 1990, the agency banned the use of the red dye in cosmetics because preliminary animal research suggested a link to thyroid cancer. The FDA has said there’s no evidence that ingesting the coloring causes cancer in humans. The agency said its decision was based on a federal law prohibiting additives found to cause cancer in humans or animals at any dose.

. . . In some studies, synthetic food dyes used in the United States have been associated with hyperactivity and behavioral effects in children.

In 2021, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in California published a review of seven food dyes such as red dye No. 3, red dye No. 40 and yellow dye No. 5. The review concluded that the consumption of food with added dyes is associated with hyperactivity, restlessness and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, though sensitivity can vary.

“They’re not needed,” said Alyson Mitchell, a professor and food chemist at the University of California at Davis and a co-author of the California review. “They don’t present the consumer with any benefit. Only a potential risk.”

I’d have to see the studies, especially in humans, but all in all I would prefer my food to have either no dyes or safe vegetable dyes.  The NYT article on this (archived here) says that change will be slow, if it even happens. Go see the NYT article to compare Canadian Froot Loops with American ones.

*Trump’s orders have been overturned in court again, but it’s a lower federal court.

 A judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form.

President Donald Trump had called for that and other sweeping changes to U.S. elections in an executive order signed in March, arguing the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” that exist in other countries.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington sided with voting rights groups and Democrats to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while the lawsuit plays out.

She also blocked part of the Republican president’s executive order requiring public assistance enrollees to have their citizenship assessed before getting access to the federal voter registration form.

But she denied other requests from a group of Democratic plaintiffs, including refusing to block Trump’s order to tighten mail ballot deadlines. Also denied in the order was the Democrats’ request to stop Trump from directing the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Government Efficiency to review state voter lists alongside immigration databases.

The judge’s order halts the Trump administration’s efforts to push through a proof-of-citizenship mandate that Republicans have said is needed to restore public confidence in elections. Voting in federal elections by noncitizens is already illegal and can result in felony charges and deportation.

Almost all of this is going to go up to the Supremes, and I have to say that I have some confidence in Roberts, at least, even though he’s a conservative. He’s made statements about the judiciary having to maintain its power and reputation, and they’re not going to do that by ruling against the Constitution. About the Constitutionality of these election laws, I don’t know.

*At the WaPo, columnist Perry Bacon has a clickbaity piece called, “Democrats need to win moderates. This is how”  (article archived here). I can’t resist a piece like that because I want the Democrats to win and not blow it.  He lists five different kinds of “moderation”, and I’ll give just two examples, which come with suggested candidates for each strategy:

A lot of political commentary implies there is a moderate or centrist playbook that aspiring Democrats can easily follow and win.

The reality is more complicated. Democratic candidates are winning in red and purple areas across the country. Not all is lost. But they are using a variety of tactics and strategies. The real question for Democratic candidates and the party overall isn’t whether to appeal to moderate voters (of course they should) but how.

There are at least five kinds of Democratic moderation.’

Bipartisanship/not being too anti-Republican

Examples: former president Joe Biden, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, Slotkin

Potential 2028 candidate: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Upside: appeals to anti-Trump Republicans

Downside: may annoy progressive base; minimizes threat of the right

These politicians are stalwart Democrats but take pride in maintaining relationships with some Republican politicians and being able to reach agreements with them. This approach sometimes helps them attract independents and swing voters, including some Trump-skeptical Republicans.

But not always. Biden’s poll numbers dropped dramatically in his first two years in office, even though he repeatedly signed bipartisan bills into law. The endorsements of former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney and other prominent anti-Trump conservatives didn’t help Harris much last year.

This strategy comes with a substantive cost. To court Republican voters and lawmakers, these Democrats at times downplay the extremism of today’s GOP.

. . . . .Centrism on cultural-social issues

Examples: Clinton, Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, New York Rep. Tom Suozzi

Potential 2028 candidates: former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Upside: could appeal to culturally conservative swing voters

Downside: bad on policy; may depress progressive vote

In his 1992 campaign, Clinton defended the use of the death penalty, distanced himself from Jesse Jackson and took other steps to address the perception that the Democratic Party was too liberal on values issues. Many centrist Democrats believe the party needs a similar repositioning now, to connect with voters who are more conservative on immigration, policing and transgender rights in particular.

In his Senate campaign last year, Gallego criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to stop illegal immigration. His approach seemed to pay off, with Gallego winning in Arizona while Harris lost there by six percentage points.

The potential upside of this strategy is obvious. There are more White Americans than people of color; more native-born than naturalized citizens; more who are heterosexual and cisgender than LGBTQ+. Being the party that defends minorities almost certainly turns off majority groups.

There are three more forms of appealing to moderates, each with candidates and upsides and downsides. This is a column worth reading and thinking about.  One of them is my erstwhile favorite Democrat, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, who falls in the “bipartisanship/not being too anti-Republican” class.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is curious:

Hili: What secrets are hidden in this box?
A: Old papers which somebody may ask about sometime.
In Polish:
Hili: Jakie tajemnice ukrywa ta skrzynia?
Ja: Stare papiery, o które ktoś kiedyś może zapytać.

And a photo of Baby Kulka about to pounce:

 

*******************

From The Dodo Pet:

From Cats and Coffee, cartoon by Scott Metzger:

From Jesus of the Day, a new ice cream flavor:

Masih is still quiet, so we get JKR, always good for some amusement as well as defense of women’s rights. Here she takes up the quesiton of whether sex is “bimodal” (answer: not really). Do watch the video:

From Luana: two more tweets:

From Malcolm.   I  think I’ve been to this place, which looks like Torres del Paine National Park–one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

From my feed: sexual dimorphism (but the lioness does all the heavy lifting!):

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I reposted:

This Polish Jew lived but one week in Auschwitz.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-04-25T09:51:01.654Z

Two posts from Dr. Cobb. I’ll see if I can post on the first paper:

New genomic & genetic insights into Mendel’s pea genes, including previously uncharacterised alleles159 years after Mendel published his work, this is a real delight (especially for a geneticist)🧪@nature.com http://www.nature.com/articles/s41…

— Magdalena Skipper (@magdalenaskipper.bsky.social) 2025-04-24T05:37:58.954Z

Vicious comb jellies (ctenophores). There’s a thread.

Watching animals eat is like my biology crack. I don’t need it, I don’t have to do it, I don’t even always like it, but there’s just something about critters noshing on one another that leaves me gobsmacked. And nothing does it like the comb jelly Beroe [Thread 🧵]📽️ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xkN…

— Rebecca R Helm (@rebeccarhelm.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T20:55:33.379Z

Here’s a full YouTube video of ctenophores nomming other ones:

32 thoughts on “Friday: Hili dialogue”

  1. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
    No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices. -Edward R. Murrow, journalist (25 Apr 1908-1965)

  2. Years ago, I frequented an old barber who owned a single-chair shop. When I tried to tip him, he returned my money: “I own my shop; the beauty parlor next door rents their space from me; I set what I believe is a fair price, and that’s what I charge. Keep your money for next time.”

    Get the dyes out!!! Amazing it took the supposed Fruit Loop to get this done. Shame on all the “competent” people who preceded him.

    1. RE: Fruit Loop – he and his boss will stumble across some badly needed reforms. Just as I, likely the world’s worst darts player, with 1000 tosses will put a few into the bullseye which is one per cent of the scoring area. The issue at the end of the day will be whether on the whole the bullseye goods outweigh the bads including some shots that miss the board all together. Anti science, anti vax are horrible messages that will actually kill people. I will be happy to continue to eat these maybe unhealthy foods if I can be assured of availability of vaccines to everyone when needed and an understanding of science that promotes vaccine use to achieve herd immunity.

  3. “This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest” – I love the understatement often found in writings of the time. There was a similar bit in a NACA/NASA research note of the late fifties regarding braking on wet runways that went something like: it was also noted that judicious application and release of the brakes prevented skidding and decreased stopping distance. This, of course, when instantiated by a suite of sensors, actuators, and the newly invented electronic computer led to today’s common ABS anti-skid devices that are standard equipment on almost all vehicles.

    1. I also love their statement in one of the closing paragraphs: “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” 🙂

      1. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Douglas. Now that you have mentioned it, I do recall that line from when I first read the paper 7 or 8 years ago. I thought it an amazing statement given how things developed.

        1. You are welcome, and agree that it was amazingly insightful and understated, considering the authors 😄

  4. Fun fact about April 25: it’s the latest that Easter Day can fall in the Gregorian calendar. It happens very rarely: the last time was 1943, the next will be 2038, and then a 152-year gap until the Easter Day once again falls on April 25 in 2190.

    The Gregorian formula for Easter Day theoretically allows it to fall on April 26, but that date was impossible in the old Easter formula, which was in use for a thousand years before the calendar reform of 1582. Accordingly, the creators of the Gregorian formula added a special rule (what software developers would call a “kludge”) which says that if the formula gives April 26 as the date of Easter, then Easter will be observed on April 19 instead. This is what happened in 1981, and it will happen again in 2076.

  5. Meanwhile in the UK, trans activists posted and then deleted a list of demands in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling. They make for interesting reading and raise the question of why those who wrote them lacked the courage of their convictions.

    https://archive.is/tY76b

    1. The open letter is an embarrassment beyond compare. No wonder it was deleted.

      Even better for critical people (like the readers of this blog), however, is that the Internet forgets nothing and the activists can’t get out of the affair.

    2. Thanks for that Deodand.
      The letter.. is some amazing chutzpah right there. Wild.
      And… such lack of self awareness. Almost like there are other factors at play psychologically with these trans rights activists.

      D.A.
      NYC

  6. Maybe if RFK Jr. expends his capital on getting rid of artificial dyes, he’ll leave the rest of HHS alone.

    My late father always loved the worst—and most colorful—cereals: Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, and…. wait for it…. Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries!

  7. Bacon suggests being moderate, but clearly means “pretend to be moderate,” because the negative is that it “minimizes the threat of the right,” which is hardly moderate. I think that the Dems consign themselves to the minority unless they honestly admit that the GOP are not slavering fascists, but actually represent commonly held views of many Americans. (The cartoon showing liberals being left behind as the left moves ever further left seems to represent a reality.) Pretending to be moderate is bound to fail, and suggests that the guise of moderation would be dropped upon a successful election (as it was under Biden). The Dems need to decide what they stand for other than identity politics and being against anything Donald Trump suggests.

    1. For a party that represents commonly held views of many Americans, they sure have spent a lot of time working hard to prevent a large number of Americans from voting. I mean, once they realized they could not continue to segregate themselves.

      1. Australia doesn’t do many things better than the US IMHO, but I think compulsory voting (or at least turning up to the polls) is one of them. It has been in place for over a century and in the last few decades some other countries have introduced it.

        The advantage is to the middle ground people, who in the US often don’t care enough to vote. Or at least enough of them to lessen the extreme crazies on both sides. At poling stations they give out free hotdogs as a reward for turning up.
        It leads to less polarized elections I think (I’m no expert, just an observer).

        It is enforced by a (from memory) $20 fine (except for citizens not in the country).

        D.A.
        NYC

        1. And don’t forget the US’s primary elections, which actively promote nut-jobs from both sides. Does any other OECD country have such a system?

  8. Is the size disparity between the lion and lioness really that remarkable when you think of a six foot man and five foot three inch woman?

  9. The short (5 min) Zach Elliott video on whether sex is bimodal or binary is excellent! I highly recommend it to all readers. Thank you!

  10. “Savage . . . too frequently finds his restaurant orders arrive with errors, or take forever. His server forgets to fill his iced tea glass, while his wife’s salad drowns in dressing.”

    I’m not sure what “too” frequently and “forever” mean. It seems to be a function of how busy the restaurant is, how competent and efficient front (and back) of the house staff are, and how many impatient (and entitled?) patrons seek to monopolize the attention of (and egregiously berate) the server.

    (During college I remember a self-absorbed member of my group, interrupting our waiter who (having just reasonably attended to us) was in the thick of trying to take an adjacent table’s order. Anyone reasonably patient with two neurons to rub together could see that. It was so blatant that even I, the soul of forbearance, mentioned it to him, and of course he took umbrage at my daring to call on him about it.)

    If the gentleman means filling his tea glass when it’s empty, that’s totally reasonable. If it’s, say, half empty, and he (like not a few patrons) has established a mixture of lemon and/or sweetener at a concentration his excruciatingly exacting palate finds maximally pleasing, does he want that concentration diluted prior to emptying the glass? Some people will take already sweetened tea and should generally and reasonably accept it as is, though no doubt there are those who will claim it is too sweet. (Solution, drink a bit, then add water? Though that could too much delete the tea concentration, which is OK of a given palate perceives it to be too strong.) If some claim it is not sweet enough, they can add sweetener hopefully not complaining that it is too great an inconvenience to do so).

    Regarding a salad “drowned” with dressing, the solution (which has been around “forever”) to that “problem” is “dressing on the side.” (Why require a server to make their best guess about how many molecules of dressing any given patron wants on her/his salad, it varying according to the patron?) If the ramakin of dressing is insufficient (and what is a sufficient ramakin volume?), the server can bring another.

      1. Yours is certainly a reasonable statement. I wonder if the owner and/or the manager tells the kitchen how much dressing to put on the salad. If it’s a chain I wonder if the CEO and/or the board of directors, motivated by economies of scale, makes that decision. That’s why they get paid “the big bucks.”

  11. Unpopular opinion: I think NEARLY ALL diet “studies” of the “this causes that” variety – like the food dye moral panic – are garbage. My argument is mathematical.
    And they don’t scale from animal studies properly. And most problems we have about food (the moral panic about Ultra Processed Foods) is more aesthetic and political than medical/scientific.

    More popular opinion:
    The “save Palestine” idiot American woman who was surprised that her black helpers were treated with contempt in Pal society shouldn’t be surprised. What a fool.
    The Arab word for black people is “ab’d” and means slave. In Gaza there is (was?) a small neighborhood of black people and their lives are not fun at all. The Arab and Persian world is … most unkind… to Africans.

    D.A.
    NYC

    1. I appreciate your comment on food dyes. Not sure why the source of a chemical (plant vs petroleum) should be a safety criterion and there are plenty of genuinely toxic compounds from plants.
      Additionally, that’s quite the tidbit on language and the meaning of a word…

  12. I can’t see Whitmer’s chances surviving after the incident of her hiding behind the folder in the WH. She could have looked presidential in that setting but instead it went in the opposite direction. I know quite a few anti-Trump republicans, and she appeals to none of them. Mayor Pete does, somewhat, but not Whitmer.

    I’ve voted D, R, and L in past elections. I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal (except for TWAW BS), and the one thing that I really really hate about the D party is the constant drumbeat of “Republicans are nazis”. No, cutting funding for the Dept of Ed is not equivalent to gassing 6 million Jews to death. Hitler’s big crime was not saying that he’d grab women by the *. The leftist campus kids shouting “global intifada! From the river to the sea!” in support of actual Jew-killers are far closer to Hitler and nazis in terms of goals than any Republican, including Trump. Stop with the “Der Fuhrer” stuff. And I’m tired of still hearing the “fine people” hoax.
    I could give some items off the top of my head that annoy me about the Republicans too. And don’t get me started on the Libertarians!

    1. I give the Libertarians, like their doctrinaire-left mirror twins, some small amount of credit for at least wanting to appear to be principled. IMO they’re largely lying or deluded about that, but it seems they do value it (at least in the abstract). FWIW, I wouldn’t vote for them with a barge pole, so to speak.

Comments are closed.