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 new book by Randall Fuller, a professor of English at the University of Tulsa who has written on American literature and on the Civil War. He’s combined those two topics in his newest book (it came out January 14), whose thesis is that Darwin’s ideas on common ancestry helped fuel the abolitionist movement in the U.S., ultimately contributing to the Civil War. The book is shown below; click on the screenshot to go to its Amazon site:
I reviewed this book for The Washington Post, and my essay appeared yesterday under the title, “Did Darwin’s theory of evolution encourage abolition of slavery?” I won’t summarize my verdict here, as you can see it at the WaPo site. Just let me note that Darwin’s book did change America, but not in the way Fuller claims.
First, I’d like to call attention to a new website produced by one of our readers, classical scholar Laurie Sidoni from London. Her new site is called A Classicist Writes. . . , and deals both with classical life and literature as well as more quotidian matters (like groundhogs). If you’re a reader and have a website as well, please give a link in the comments.
Second, I would like to repeat my request that any given reader send me no more than one email per day, as I’m having trouble keeping up with the volume of email. If you want to send me some links to look at (and I much appreciate this), please combine them into one email. The one exception to this request is that if you find an error, a misspelling, or other howler in one of my posts, feel free to contact me at any time.
Here’s today’s right-wing LOL. Steve Bannon, formerly the head of Breitbart News, is now the Assistant and Chief Strategist to Donald Trump, and sits on the National Security Council. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is, of course, the leader of ISIS. As The Raw Story reports, Fox News was angered at a USA Today editorial arguing that both Bannon and al-Baghdadi “share similar world views,” harboring “apocalyptic visions of a clash between Islam and the West.” (To paraphrase Lyndon Johnson, when you’ve lost USA Today, you’ve lost America.) The editorial wasn’t that bad, as the shared vision of a religious clash is indeed a fact, though USA Today osculates Islam a bit too much for my taste. But Fox couldn’t stand it.
To retaliate, Fox News host Tucker Carlson invited David Mastio, editorial-page editor of USA today, onto his show to defend the editorial. The clip is below, which includes this hilarious checklist from Carlson’s game, “Who did it?” It proves definitively that Bannon and Baghdadi aren’t identical!
I thought that Mastio acquitted himself well, though I’m not sure I would have agreed to go on Fox News!
Nature isn’t always pretty, particularly when natural selection is acting, as it might be here. These photos come from reader Robert Lang, who called the sequence, “Brown water, green death.” His captions are indented:
These are some photos from a trip last year to Kenya. One of the highlights of the trip was watching a crossing of the Mara river in the Masai Mara National Park. Twice a year, vast herds of wildebeest (these are blue wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus), plains zebra (Equus quagga), and others cross the river to get to new pastures. The river is swift and rocky, and there are only a few places where they can easily get down to the water, and the animals congregate in the thousands at these spots. They mill around for hours (“you go.” “No, YOU go.” “I’ll go if you go.” “OK, but YOU go first,” etc), until one brave soul jumps in, and then the rest follow.
Many don’t make it; they get swept downstream, are tumbled on the rocks, or trampled by their mates, and provide a smorgasbord of carrion for the scavengers. (Also, a bounty for more active predators, as we will see.) This little fellow got swept down from the main crossing area, but an adult (presumably mama) positioned herself downstream of the youngster to provide a little assistance.
And they both made it to the other side, a bit bedraggled, but safe and whole. Someone else didn’t, as you can see off to the left.
Current and rocks are not the only hazards, however, and ungulates are not the only creatures who know the crossing spots. The casualties provide a banquet for the resident Nile Crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus). Some of them, though, like this one, seem to prefer their food fresh.
That was a big croc: maybe 12- or 15-footer, but that was also a big gnu, who gave the croc the stink-eye:
And croc backed off, perhaps knowing that there would be easier pickings coming along.
Like this one. Croc showed no hesitation.
Boom.
There were about 30 vehicles on both sides of the river at the crossing, each stuffed with photographers. When this croc hit, one heard the thunder of a thousand motorized shutters.
A few seconds later, he opened his mouth to get a better grip…
And he chomped down again.
And then he swam away with his dinner.
Seeing this engendered some pretty mixed feelings. I think I was probably not alone in thinking simultaneously “the poor little thing!” and “wow, I’m glad I got to see that”. But that’s Nature for you. (And human nature.)
We’ve reached the weekend: for most of us one day closer to leisure, for all of us one day closer to death. It’s February 10, 2017, and a double brownie holiday: National Cream Cheese Brownie Day and National “Have a Brownie” Day. I did in fact ingest a brownie just two days ago, though it didn’t have cream cheese on it.
On this day in 1840, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, a love match that, sadly, was ended by his early death. In 1942, Glenn Miller was awarded the very first “gold record” for selling 1.2 million copies of a popular song. Do you know the song that won it for him? Hint: it contains the words “ham and eggs.” ANSWER AT BOTTOM. On February 10, 1962, Gary Powers, the pilot of a captured American U2 spy plane, was exchanged for the captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. In 1967, the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, relating to Presidential succession, was ratified. Finally, on this day in 1996 , chess champion Garry Kasparov was beaten by the IBM supercomputer “Deep Blue”: a first.
Notables born on this day include Boris Pasternak (1890), Bill Tilden and Jimmy Durante (both 1893), Bertolt Brecht (1898), Leontyne Price (1927), the mountaineering twins Jim and Lou Whitaker (1929, both still alive), Mark Spitz (1950), and Laura Dern (1967). Those who died on this day include Joseph Lister (1912), Laura Ingalls Wilder (1957), Alex Haley (1992), Arthur Miller (2005), and Shirley Temple (2014). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the poor Princess is mired in the snow:
Hili: And how will I get out of here?
A: Jump or take one step after the other.
In Polish:
Hili: Jak ja teraz stąd wyjdę?
Ja: Albo wyskocz, albo krok za krokiem.
Reader Randy Schenck sent a picture of his “laptop cat” with the caption: “What becomes of old laptops? Just bring in the lap cat. Even comes with her own mouse.”
And here, to answer the question above, is the first song to earn a gold record in the U.S.: “Chatanooga Choo Choo“, written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren and performed by Glenn Miller’s Orchestra with Tex Beneke and the Modernaires on vocals. The song debuted in the 1941 movie “Sun Valley Serenade”: the version shown below. It became the #1 song in the US on December 7, 1941: a day that, for other reasons, will live in infamy.
I love this song, which exemplifies the white swing bands of the 1940s. Glenn Miller is on the trombone. He died in 1944, when, flying over the English Channel to entertain Allied troops, his plane disappeared. (I realize that the previous sentence contains a grammatical error, as planes don’t entertain troops; but I can’t be arsed to fix it.) Can you spot Milton Berle and Sonja Henie?
And while we’re at it, how about another Glenn Miller/Tex Beneke collaboration: “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” from the movie “Orchestra Wives” (1942). This is notable for its classic big-band singing, the monicker “piperoo” for that Gal, and especially for the spectacular dance routine of the Nicholas Brothers that starts at 4:18. Don’t miss it! If you don’t know these guys, you should.
As I predicted (and this time correctly), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled—unanimously—that the ban on implementing part of Trump’s immigration order will stand. (Remember that one of those judges was appointed by George W. Bush.)
The ruling, as I hear on the news, is very strong, calling part of those orders unconstitutional. This is a strong rebuke to Trump and his program, and stands as a monument to the power of the judiciary in curbing the executive branch of government. This is what we’ll have to count on, and why when Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court things will become more dire.
But right now, an appeal to the Supreme Court will probably be fruitless: if the Court divides on the usual lines, it will be a 4-4 tie, which will allow the lower court’s stay to stand. (The Trump administration can always ask for a temporary “emergency” overruling of the appeals court decision.)
And Gorsuch won’t be able to break that tie since he can’t adjudicate this case: he’s not even on the bench.
Our benighted President has already issued a tw**t:
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!
I was thinking it was Friday, and we always end the week (or at least I try to) with a heartwarmer. Here’s one, and since I’ve already starting posting it, I’ll continue. It shows a kindly gardener digging up worms in the presence of a juvenile robin, who scarfs them up. What struck me about this video were two things: the amazing vision that the robin has, able to spot worms that the gardener can’t see, and the speed with which it ingests them. Rarely do we get to see these skills in action.
For every Trump misstep or lie, there’s an example of ludicrous posturing on PuffHo. I sometimes visit the food section, for of course I’m a foodie, and when I visited today I found part of a series on “food of the Trump Ban Countries.” It’s just like PuffHo to co-opt its food section to denigrate The Donald. Have a look at this (click on screenshot to go to article):
And. . . surprise! The unique way they eat bananas is that they cook them into dishes or put them on the side! Well, that’s not unique, for there must be at least two dozen countries that have dishes with bananas in them or with bananas served on the side, including Thailand, other African countries, Caribbean countries, South and Central American countries, and India. And I’m not even counting plantains.
