My Darwin Day talk for the British Humanists

March 6, 2016 • 9:15 am

On February 12, I presented the Darwin Day Lecture, an annual event of the estimable British Humanist Association (BHA). The venue was The Institute of Education, part of University College London, and my title was “Evolution and Atheism: Best friends forever?” I originally didn’t have the question mark, but they asked me to put it in, perhaps to hedge my original declarative title.

The theme was how and why both the facts of evolution and the implications of evolution discomfit religious people, and, at the end, how we can promote the acceptance of evolution, the decline of religion, and the flourishing of humanism. Much of the material in the talk is new, and my self-appointed task was to connect the resistance to accepting evolution with the topic of humanism. That nexus is drawn at the end.

You can judge how well I succeeded: I won’t, because, as usual, I can’t bear to watch myself speak. I did watch the introduction so I could remember the order of speakers. Robert Ashby, chair of the Trustees of the BHA, spoke first, and announced that Richard Dawkins, who was supposed to introduce me as “chair”, was ill. But I had a great substitute: Steve Jones, an old friend and a collaborator in field work on fly migration. Steve is a natural comedian, and his introduction, discussing how he’d been repeatedly mistaken for Richard, was hilarious. Steve is a hard act to follow!

The moderator for the post-talk questions was Alice Roberts, an anatomist, Professor of Public Engagement at the University of Birmingham, and a very popular television presenter of science shows in the UK. She’s a devout secularist (excuse the oxymoron), and, as I hadn’t met her before, we had a nice chat after my talk.

Well, here it is. If it’s slow and disjointed, I was talking on very little sleep. There were also some problems with advancing the slides, but, since I’m not gonna watch this, I’m not sure whether they edited them out. I’lll add that the audience (1000+) was the largest audience I’ve had whose first language was English, exceeded only by a talk on evolution a few years back at the Middle East Technical University (1200 or so). The BHA audience size can’t be attributed to me: the Darwin Day lectures are always sold out, for the British Humanists are a science-friendly bunch.

Before the talk: Steve Jones and Robert Ashby.

Spot the squirrel!

March 6, 2016 • 8:15 am

Anne-Marie Cournoyer specializes, apparently, in squirrel photography, and so, in Québec’s Parc National du Mont-St-Bruno, snapped a cryptic sciurid. Can you spot it? (Click to enlarge.)

Answer at 1 p.m. Chicago time.

Readers’ wildlife photographs

March 6, 2016 • 7:45 am

It’s the Day of Rest decreed by Constantine (see tomorrow’s Hili), and so we shall have a smorgasbord of photos:

From Stephen Barnard in Idaho:

“Buzz off, moocher!”

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia):

Reader David Molloy from Australia sent me a science article (more on that later), and then a follow-up apologizing for the lack of cat photos (would that all readers were so polite!). But he also included photos of yellow-tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus), a bird I didn’t even know existed. I wonder why only the white ones are kept as pets.

P.S. I was very rude and didn’t include a cat photo. So here is one of George, my girlfriend’s 2 yr old rescue cat, in a box being watched by Jet. And then some ‘wildlife’ pics of yellow-tailed black cockatoos I took last year at my golf club in Sydney, about 7 km from the CBD. They love getting into those pine cones. [JAC: Gratuitous cat photo is below.]

And, by pure chance, within the same hour another Australian reader sent a photo of another Australian bird from another Australian golf course:

This picture is of a Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia) displaying its nuchal (the crest of long feathers), which indicates rhat it is an adult male. Spoonbills are a fairly common wading species in eastern Australian wetlands. This one lives in inner Sydney, making a little extra money recovering balls lost from the neighbouring golf course, a practice for which it is clearly well-adapted.

Finally, although John Harshman is a birdy kind of guy, he sent our very first photos of the wild relative (and putative ancestor) of the domestic cat:

On a recent trip to Botswana I was lucky to see an African wildcat (Felis lybica or F. sylvestris, depending on your taste). He was either finding a good place for a nap or a good place to hide until the lapwings forgot he was there. This is of course said to be the ancestral species of domestic cats.

And John saw bigger cats there, too:

Still in Botswana, here’s a leopard (Panthera pardus). First, an afternoon nap. Then, snacking on yesterday’s impala (Aepyceros melampus). And finally, off to find another meal.

Sunday: Hili dialogue

March 6, 2016 • 6:00 am

Another sleepless night for no apparent reason. I do believe this insomnia will kill me if it persists! At least the weather is gonna warm up: a high of 48°F (9°C) is predicted today. On March 6, 1836, the battle of the Alamo ended in Texas with the deaths of, among others, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. In 1902, the football club Real Madrid was founded, and, in 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as a television news anchor. March 6 births include Michelangelo (1475), Lefty Grove (1900), Gabriel García Márquez (1927), Kiri Te Kanawa (1944), and Carolyn Porco (1953). Those who died on this day include Louisa May Alcott (1832), John Philip Sousa (1932), Pearl Buck (1973), Ayn Rand (1982), Georgia O’Keefe (1986), and Hans Bethe (2005). Does anybody really care, though, what happened on this day, or any day?

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is dissing the staff—and unfairly, because I know that Andrzej and Malgorzata get ready for walkies quite quickly.

Cyrus: I think it’s time for a walk.

Hili: Take it easy, you know how slow they are to get ready.

(Photo: Sarah Lawson)

In Polish:

Cyrus: Mam wrażenie, że zbliża się pora spaceru.
Hili: Spokojnie, wiesz jak oni powoli się zbierają.

(Zdjęcie: Sarah Lawson)

And look what Gus has done to his box—it’s starting to lean precariously. He’ll soon be needing a new one, and that means a new lamp from Ikea for his staff:

Finally, to see an unlikely but heartening friendship, click on the screenshot below).

h/t: Barry

Russian faces prison for denying God’s existence during a webchat

March 5, 2016 • 2:00 pm

In 2012, the Russian feminist group Pussy Riot created a “performance” in a Moscow cathedral protesting Putin’s support for the Orthodox Church. Three of the women were arrested, charged with religiously-motivated hooliganism, and sentenced to two years in a “penal colony” (the modern-day gulag). One was freed on appeal, and two of them were given amnesty in December, 2013. But that wasn’t the end of it.

After this performance, the Russian government decided to get tough on such protests, and so passed a law in 2013 (see also here), whose title tells the tale: “Law Amending the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Some Legal Acts of the Russian Federation Aimed at Countering Insult of Religious Beliefs and Feelings of Citizens, Desecration of Religious Objects and Subjects of Worship (Pilgrimage) and Sites of Religious Ceremonies.”

It is under this new anti-“blasphemy” law—signed by Putin—that, according to the Guardian, Viktor Krasnov, 38, was arrested this year for a simple expression of atheism.

The charges – which carry a maximum one-year jail sentence – centre on an internet exchange that Krasnov was involved in in 2014 on a humorous local website in his hometown of Stavropol.

“If I say that the collection of Jewish fairytales entitled the Bible is complete bullshit, that is that. At least for me,” Krasnov wrote, adding later “there is no God!”

One of the young people involved in the dispute with Krasnov then lodged a complaint against him accusing him of “offending the sentiments of Orthodox believers”.

Krasnov, whose case began last month, spent one month in a psychiatric ward last year undergoing psychiatric examinations before he was finally deemed to be sane.

This is what the Russians used to do with dissidents like Roy Medvedev: “examine” them and put them in psychiatric institutions, branding them as mentally ill for simply opposing the State. Such a neat trick! But it’s hard to believe that this old Khrushchev-era technique is still being used.

Just consider yourself lucky to be in a country (if you are in such a country!) where you can declare scripture “bullshit” without going to jail. This just goes to show that Russia, after years of nonreligious communism, has done a 180° turn, and is now defending faith as vigorously as it once defended its ideology.

And no kudos to Thug Putin, who could have put a stop to all this.

h/t: Grania

Big kerfuffle on Amazon over the Book of Mormon

March 5, 2016 • 12:45 pm

Talk about bimodality of opinion! I thought I had it for Faith versus Fact, but if you go over to Amazon and look at the reviews for the Book of Mormon edition published in 1981, you see this:

That’s right: 631 reviews, with 96% being either five-star or 1-star—the lowest possible ranking. Clearly something strange is going on here. An article in Thursday’s Guardian explains it, pointing out that more than 300 of these reviews were produced within the last week.

What’s happening is a culture war, or rather a war between Mormons and everyone else:

The face-off on Amazon over the book follows an article from Salt Lake City’s KUTV, which claimed that students at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints University Brigham Young had been asked to praise the book online. The news source quoted a Facebook post, which told students that “many people against the Church have, sadly, written negative comments about the Book”, urging them to write a review in response, because it would be “a great opportunity to share your testimony to the world and do online missionary work”.

“Please accomplish this challenge by the end of the week,” said the post. “Thank you for serving the Lord!”

While KUTV pointed out that not all of those asked agreed with the request, reviews started to flood in. “Inspired! Jesus Christ on every page!” said one user on 1 March. “An absolute masterpiece of divine origin!” said another.

But the positivity was soon rebutted by non-believers – and by those who disagreed with the request – and deluged the Amazon page with one-star write-ups. “I was instructed to come here and leave a positive review. That was the last straw … I’m done with this cult, thus the one-star review,” wrote one. “Waste of a good tree,” said another, adding: “Besides the issue of ethics with the Mormon church urging members to post positive reviews, The Book of Mormon has about as much to do with religion as the demented writings of L Ron Hubbard. I actually give it zero stars… It DOES come in handy when you run out of TP.”

Well, it’s hardly a fair fight, or rather an objective one. The five-star reviewers are responding to a call to praise their holy scripture, i.e., proselytizing; and I strongly suspect that hardly any of the one-star reviewers have read the book. But I’ve read quite a bit of it, though not the whole, for the damn thing is the most soporific scripture I’ve ever read—and I’ve read the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Bhagavad Gita.

In fact, the Bhagavad Gita is well worth reading; it’s a real piece of literature, and quite absorbing.

The Bible is overrated: I’ve always taken issue with Dawkins’s claim that it’s “a great work of literature“. Yes, we should read it, at least in the West, because it’s so heavily influenced our culture, but don’t expect unadulterated beauty. There are lovely bits, of course, but I claim that if only a single copy of the Bible existed, and if that it had not been adopted as Holy Writ, and if it were found in a dusty bin in a Bloomsbury bookshop, someone reading it would find it tedious and uninspiring. And of course much of the beauty that is there was due to King James’s translators.

The Qur’an is far worse: it’s not only tedious but contains a lot more acrimony, violence, and hatred. I can’t remember any parts of it that were beautiful.

And the Book of Mormon is not only a ripoff of the Bible (Joseph Smith clearly cribbed its language), but is boring and repetitive: I can’t even begin to tell you how many times it contains the phrase “And so it came to pass. . . ”

You can amuse yourself by reading the reviews. I’ll put up just four: two positive and two negative. The negative ones are much funnier, but note that some of the five-star reviews were actually written by critical nonbelievers making fun of the book.

The Good News first:

Devine mission!

And the critics:

Knock yourself out. Although website comments are often tedious, I find these dueling Amazon reviews clever and inventive.

h/t: Ginger K.

Caturday felid trifecta: Robotic cats for the aged, Ninja cats, post-office cats

March 5, 2016 • 9:30 am

In January the BBC announced the arrival of Hasbro’s Robotic Cat ($99 US), designed for seniors who aren’t allowed to have real cats, or can’t take care of them. It comes in orange tabby, silver, and white:

The BBC reports:

It’s the first product in the Joy For All range, an initiative that Hasbro says is about going beyond play and into areas that combat bigger problems. In this case, it’s loneliness.

The robocat is designed to mimic a real animal. It miaows, semi-convincingly, and it purrs, very convincingly. It’s fluffy and nice to stroke, although the rigidness of Alan’s electronic innards spoils any illusion that he is real.

It meows, purrs, nuzzles, goes to sleep, and even rolls over for a clawing-free belly rub. However, I think the novelty would wear off, and were I lonely I doubt that this animated teddy-bear-like animal would dispel my emotions.

Here’s a video, but I find it creepy:

AdWeek had several people inspect robocat, and it didn’t go over well (click on screenshot to see their video). Several people also used the word “creepy,” one said, “it doesn’t even have claws,” and one person said, “But if I were 90 and if I had no idea where I was, well, sure. . . .”

*********

Trendingly has thirty photos of ninja cats; here are my favorites:

11119 — http://www.boredpanda.com/author/szyszkotka/

11110 — http://catasters.tumblr.com/post/4551728445/ball-8

11100 — http://imgur.com/gallery/kfEuyou

*******

Finally, the February 9 issue of The Smithsonian has A Brief History of Post Office Cats. This is about British post office cats, which were authorized by an official government decree (click screenshot for source):

Ceiling Cat bless the Brits for their customs! I’ll let you read it for yourself, but it does mention “Tibs the Great” who has his own Wikipedia article:

Tibs worked at Post Office Headquarters in London for 14 years, and was officially employed and paid 2s 6d per week. He worked in the basement and his job was to catch rats. He was cared for by Alf Talbut, cleaner at St Martin’s-le-Grand throughout his life. During his 14 years, Tibs kept the Post Office headquarters completely mouse-free.

In 1952 there was “public outrage” that the cats had not had a pay rise since 1873, and the next year there was a question in the House of Commons, asking the Assistant Postmaster-General, David Gammans, “when the allowance payable for the maintenance of cats in his department was last raised?”

Gammans replied,

“There is, I am afraid, a certain amount of industrial chaos in The Post Office cat world. Allowances vary in different places, possibly according to the alleged efficiency of the animals and other factors. It has proved impossible to organise any scheme for payment by results or output bonus … there has been a general wage freeze since July 1918, but there have been no complaints!”

. . . Tibs died in December 1964. He had been suffering from cancer of the mouth. He received obituaries in several newspapers. By the time of his death he had grown to 23lb in weight, probably due to living in one of the staff dining rooms, rather than from eating rats.

The last cat employed at Post Office headquarters was Blackie, who died in 1984, which coincided with cloth sacks being replaced with rodent-resistant plastic sacks.

Here’s Tibs and one obituary. Read it!

h/t: jsp, Mike, Barry, Theo

Readers’ wildlife photographs

March 5, 2016 • 7:30 am

Reader Colin Franks sent a passel of bird photos that I’ll dole out in bits, for they’re too rich to imbibe in one draught. Here are the first five pictures. To see more of his work, go to his Facebook page or his his personal photography site, and his Instagram site.

Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani):

7D__13556
Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata):

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis):

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca):

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps):

JAC: I love this cute species. Here’s what the Cornell bird site says about it:

Part bird, part submarine, the Pied-billed Grebe is common across much of North America. These small brown birds have unusually thick bills that turn silver and black in summer. These expert divers inhabit sluggish rivers, freshwater marshes, lakes, and estuaries. They use their chunky bills to kill and eat large crustaceans along with a great variety of fish, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates. Rarely seen in flight and often hidden amid vegetation, Pied-billed Grebes announce their presence with loud, far-reaching calls.

. . . Pied-billed Grebes have an extremely variable vocal repertoire. Among the most commonly heard sounds are a long, loud, rhythmic series of bleating whoops, coos, and gulping kuk-kuk-kuk notes; also a rippling, chuckling chatter.

You can hear some calls here, and here’s a video of one making several calls:

Anne-Marie Cournoyer from frozen Montreal sent two “birds of least concern” (as classified by the IUCN). Both are pretty, but too often ignored because they’re common.

European starling (Sturnus vulgaris):

DSCN1198

This House sparrow (Passer domesticus) is tinted blue by light reflected off the snow:

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