Wednesday: Hili dialogue

July 11, 2018 • 6:45 am

I’m back, and many thanks to the diligent Grania who filled in for me for five or six days. Today happens to be Wednesday, July 11, and it’s National Blueberry Muffin Day. If you’re in the U.S., it’s “Free Slurpee Day“: as Wikipedia notes, “Small-size Slurpees are free on “7-Eleven Day”, on July 11.” If you’re near a 7-11, try your luck.

On this day in 1576, Martin Frobisher, during an attempt to force the Northwest Passage over North America, sighted the southeast tip of Greenland, but did not land there. On July 11, 1735, according to Wikipedia,  “Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.”  Note that PLUTO IS A PLANET!  On July 11, 1804, in a duel between Vice President of the U.S. Aaron Burr and former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton was fatally wounded: the end of a great mind.  On this day in 1893, Kokichi Mikimoto obtained the first cultured pearl. Or so Wikipedia says, but if you look up Mikimoto’s bio, you’ll see that another man had not only obtained a cultured pearl, but also a patent for making them, four years earlier. Wikipedia, get your act straight! On July 11, 1914, Babe Ruth made his debut in Major League Baseball, pitching for the Boston Red Sox. On this day in 1924, Eric Liddell, the “muscular Christian” in the movie Chariots of Fire, won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics in the 400 m run, but didn’t run in the heats for the 100 m dash as those were on Sunday. Here’s Liddell, an underdog, winning the 400; the film also shows his rival, the Jewish athlete Harold Abrahams:

On this day in 1960, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was first published in the United States. It now faces countrywide banning for the use of the “n word”, a travesty of Pecksniffism. Finally, exactly 12 years later, the epic chess match for the World Championship of 1972 began, pitting challenger Bobby Fischer against defender Boris Spassky. Fischer won.

Notables born on this day include John Quincy Adams (1767), E. B. White (1899), Yul Brynner (1920), Harold Bloom (1930), and Sela Ward (1956). Those who died on July 11 include George Gershwin (1937), Pär Lagerkvist (1974), Laurence Olivier (1989) and Lady Bird Johnson (2007).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili disses the neighbors (I hope they don’t read Listy!):

Cyrus: Does stupidity have limits?
Hili: Ours does but our neighbour’s stupidity doesn’t.
In Polish:
Cyrus: Czy głupota ma granice?
Hili: Nasza tak, ale u sąsiadów, żadnych.

Tweets from Matthew. This is a harmless moth that’s a Batesian mimic of a wasp. I bet you wouldn’t touch it!

This wonderful raccoon mother is the mammalian equivalent of Honey. Sound on, and don’t miss this one:

Nature red in tooth and fin!:

This is the larva of a crab. Look at those eyes!

Matthew et famille are vacationing in Norway, and are astounded at how long it stays light. Here’s 11 p.m.:

The ability of some cephalopods to not only change colors, but put on a light show, is amazing. Sound on:

The Thai boys trapped in a cave were saved, but let’s not forget that one man lost his life diving in to save them:

There are several tweets in this thread about how awful this trillion-dollar plane is; I’ve put two below the first one, but go to the whole discussion to see what a disaster American taxpayers are financing.

https://twitter.com/MikeRoach3/status/1015212921071329281

https://twitter.com/MikeRoach3/status/1015212930919485440

Here was a tweet showing an awesome pass with a heel tap in the France vs. Belgium game, but stupid FIFA made them take down even the tweet. Readers are welcome to direct us to that marvelous pass.

From Heather Hastie, a snowy egret.

. . . and a thirsty kitty:

https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/1016625365735833600

Millions and millions of stars. Can you spot them all?

https://twitter.com/WorldAndScience/status/1016847066033778689

And a leaping little puffball:

https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1016850073811128320

 

Reader writes in favoring animal torture, even for pleasure

July 10, 2018 • 2:40 pm

One of the few downsides of writing this website is that you encounter people who seem almost inhuman in their sentiments, nastiness, or morality. Here’s a comment that just came in, and to which I responded briefly.

Jan commented on Matthew Cobb and others on BBC: “Do insects feel pain?”

My opinion of this whole subject can be summarized as follows: “Humans have a right to kill, torture, and otherwise exploit any living being that isn’t human for whatever purposes they deem necessary”. And i’m yet to see any argument as to why it shouldn’t be so, that wouldn’t amount to just self-righteous posturing or vacuous moralizing.

Now it could be that this person is just a troll, but I will assume he/she is serious. And if that’s the case, then “Jan” thinks it’s okay to torture animals simply for pleasure. To say that that is wrong because it causes unnecessary suffering, is not “self-righteous posturing” or “vacuous moralizing”.

I have yet to fathom what makes people say things like this on the Internet, when they wouldn’t in person. It could be anonymity, or it could be any number of factors caused by the remove of using the Internet. All I know is that “Jan” would be loath to say this to colleagues or friends. And yet the person seems intelligent enough—at least to use phrases like “vacuous moralizing.”

I’d like to ask “Jan” why it’s okay to torture primates like chimps for pleasure. What is special about being human? A newborn infant is no more sentient than an adult chimp (indeed, far less so), so why is it okay to torture chimps but not infants.

But enough. I will console myself by feeding my ducks.

Duck report: Tuesday

July 10, 2018 • 11:30 am

Professor Ceiling Cat here: I’ll be back in action tomorrow after a refreshing and well-deserved break. In the meantime, the ducklings (and I have trouble using that word) are so big that I can barely tell them apart from Honey. Her tail is whiter and head lighter, but I can mainly spot her by her position: behind the ducks standing guard. In the meantime, she’s observing them using their new dabbling skills. Here’s a video by Anna called “the Super Dabbler”. Note that at one point Anna tosses duckling pellets to them.

And a few photos. First, feeding time yesterday, when they ran off the grass and jumped into the water, swimming across the pond to me to be fed:

Honey standing guard at postprandial bathtime. How can you not love a duck mom who is this attentive?

When I feed ducklings corn in the water, I try to throw it on lily pads so they can get it before it sinks. Here’s four of them foraging for corn. Note that although their heads are greenish, that does not mean these will become males. The sexes can’t be easily told apart before they fledge.

A full view of a “duckling”. I think their wings are so large that they’ll soon be able to fly. But perhaps ornithologists can tell me if their primary flight feathers are sufficiently large.

And a honking big turtle barely managing to support itself on a lily pad, where they love to get sun.

 

Tuesday: Hili dialogue

July 10, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

It’s Monkey Trial Day: in 1925 the trial of John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act, began. In 1966 the Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., held a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago. In 1553 the extremely unfortunate Lady Jane Grey became Queen for nine days. In 1991 Boris Yeltsin became the first elected President of Russia and in 1992 Panamanian drugs lord Manuel Noriega was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his sordid career in drug trafficking, bribery, corruption and racketeering.

It’s the birthday of Nikola Tesla (1856), Ron Glass (1945) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (1977) – both Serenity alumni – and Jessica Simpson (1980).

Philosophy and comestibles are the subject of conversation today in Poland.

Hili: I’m thinking and digesting.
Cyrus: I’m just digesting.

In Polish:

Hili: Myślę i trawię.
Cyrus: Ja tylko trawię

A few miles away Leon is patrolling the shop floor.

Leon: Insects are not working too hard today.

 

Finally, some bits and pieces from Twitter.

Fair point

 

Dining in

Dining out

Nothing has ever made rolling in the mud so enticing

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1016346153925787648

And an adorable conversation overheard.

The aftermath of the UK’s Conservative party having two key members resign.

Cat on a mission

https://twitter.com/holycutenesss/status/1015372877359730688

A disagreement in the bird kingdom

Just one of those days when you get knocked down by a dolphin.

Vampire cat awaiting supper.

https://twitter.com/somebadideas/status/1016274946375503872

Reader Harry has been doing some investigating about a wall, click through for the conclusion.

Some science-oriented Twitter

When crabs attack,

Eerie and beautiful, turn the sould up for this one

Matthew’s comment on this: “Gorgeous fossils from round 290 myr ago. This thing is part of our lineage, and is neither a lizard nor a dinosaur.”

The mullet

Right, back to work for you!

https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/1016252289043124224

 

Hat-tip: Heather, Matthew, Harry S.

You think Honey has a big job!

July 9, 2018 • 9:45 am

Have a look at this tweet sent by reader Michael, which he calls “duck adoption agency”:

This of course raises many questions. Why do the mothers do this? (It is of course maladaptive to take care of ducklings who don’t carry your genes.) Is it just that they can’t avoid it when an orphan duckling joins their own brood? Can they distinguish between their own chicks and unrelated ones? Does their inability to do this make them prey to having such large broods?

I’ve written a bird expert about this bizarre phenomenon, so stay tuned.  Perhaps birders have already studied this, but I don’t know from mergansers!

UPDATE: Here is a “Supermom” goldeneye studied by reader Bruce Lyon, whose brood included offspring from six different moms. I’ll let him describe it in the comments. This is only a small part of her brood!

Note to readers

July 9, 2018 • 8:30 am

Professor Ceiling Cat here. I am still enjoying a well-deserved break from writing here (though I do enjoy it), and am entertaining visitors and having lots of extra-academic fun. I’ll be back on Wednesday. In the meantime, please hold off emailing me any news items or other things until then, as they tend to get lost in the welter of emails.

Here are the ducks (still doing splendidly) after two big unleashed dogs (whose owner was, of course a law-flouting miscreant) ran by the pond yesterday). They swam to the corner on Honey’s signal and remained absolutely still for about 20 minutes. There must be an instinctive fear of large mammals in ducks.

They are all looking at the spot where the dogs were (15 minutes before) and Honey is third from the rear. You can see she’s barely distinguishable from her brood now.

To paraphrase Andrew Sullivan, “See you on Wednesday.”

And remember: