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.
BBC3 released a niqab-normalising video last week, trying to convince that the deeply misogynistic garment is actually quite cute and radical. The young women featured seem nice. We can only hope they grow out of it eventually, in the same way as goths usually do.
Here’s the video, “Things not to say to someone who wears a burqa”. The interesting bit about whether niqabis are feminists begins at 2:45. I have to say that some of things people asked these women are unspeakably rude. As for the feminism part, one woman says, “Yes, there are some cultural practices that maybe oppress women, but it’s never been Islamic.” The other woman responds, “No, it’s not.” But later they say they wear the garment because of their religion.
The claim that these women “choose” to wear the burqa or niqab seems to me problematic. What kind of social and religious pressure are they under?
And the strip, which is pretty good (and pretty accurate):
Okay, the photo tank is a bit lower than I’d like, so all you temporizing readers with good photos, please send them along.
Today we feature the photos of Tony Eales from Australia, who took these photos on holiday in Tasmania. His notes are indented:
Just came back from a holiday in the Island state of Tasmania. Apart from the great culinary and cultural highlights, there’s much in Tasmania to see wildlife-wise. Unfortunately, I did not see a Devil and the only live wombat (Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis) that I saw was a rescued orphan found in the pouch of his mother who had been hit by a truck.
Common in all environments were the Bennett’s Wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus) but they looked especially good in the snow fields of Ben Lomond. While it was too early for heavy snow, the landscape was interesting with all of the dense low shrubs and lichens growing on the rocks.
We also went to Russell Falls in Mt Field National Park: a good example of the tree-fern dominated rainforests of western Tasmania. I photographed lots of fungi and lichens, a couple of which I got identified by the good people on the Fungi of Tasmania Facebook page.
Being in the depths of winter, finding insects to photograph was pretty difficult, but hunting through some rotting logs in a pine plantation, I came across some cool invertebrates including this Darkling Beetle and this plump spider, a member of the genus Tasmarubrius from a little-known Gondwanan family called the Forest Hunters:
As this was really my wife’s holiday to see the terrific Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) gallery, I didn’t get as much bird watching in as I’d have liked, but I did see the flightless Tasmanian Native Hen (Tribonyx mortierii) and the Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Nesoptilotis flavicollis). Perhaps surprisingly for a flightless island endemic, the Native Hen population appeared to be booming and they were common in most grassy parks near water. Other Tasmanian endemic birds that I saw but failed to photograph (or photographed poorly) were the Black Currawong, the Green Rosella, Yellow Wattlebird and Tasmanian Scrubwren.
The countdown is on to 50,000 subscribers, and now I think it will happen—perhaps even within a month. Then I will be a happy complacent man. Here’s the count from this morning:
It’s Tuesday, August 9, 2017, and that means this morning I have both finger and shoulder therapy (back to back, so to speak). I wish I could celebrate today’s food holiday, for it honors one of my favorite desserts: National Rice Pudding Day. I’ll save you the trouble right now and tell you where to get the world’s best version: at L’Ami Jean, a fantastic Basque bistro in Paris. Reserve two weeks in advance, and don’t forget the riz au lait, which comes in a huge bowl from which you can take as much as you want, repeatedly. Bowls of candied fruit, plain fruit, conserves, and praline are on the side to add to this:
Stéphane Jégo, the chef at L’Ami Jean, had a black eye that day—the prize of a rugby fight—but his food was wonderful: varied and intelligent, and full of southwestern folk charm: slow-cooked veal shin, tender without being mushy and comforting without being dull; the usual foie gras, but here more buttery than bland; and the best rice-pudding dessert I have ever had, complete with black-cherry confit.
Adam, if you’re reading this, don’t do that again! Since this review appeared, it’s necessary to reserve well in advance, and the restaurant is fully of bloody Americans (like me).
On this day in 1854, Henry David Thoreau published Walden. And in 1930, Betty Boop, the cartoon flapper, first appeared in Dizzy Dishes, though she wasn’t yet fully human. As Wikipedia notes (I love their staid descriptions of cartoon plots):
The cartoon begins with four anthropomorphic flapper cats singing “Crazy Town”. Chef Bimbo waits on a hungry gorilla and then goes to the kitchen to prepare the order, roast duck. When he is about to bring it to the gorilla’s table, he sees Betty Boop performing on stage and falls in love at first sight. He forgets about the hungry gorilla and dances on stage with the duck. The gorilla, furious, goes after Bimbo, who escapes on a wooden train. . . The as-yet-unevolved Betty Boop is drawn as an anthropomorphic female dog.
The dancing cats appear at the beginning, and the roast duck appears soon thereafter. Betty (note the dog ears) appears at 2:40. These early cartoons seem to me vaguely menacing:
On August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb Fat Man, on Nagasaki, instantly killing about 50,000 people. Here’s a short BBC video of the bombing:
On August 9, 1969, the acolytes of Charles Manson murdered the pregnant actress Sharon Tate (married to Roman Polanski), Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring and Steven Parent in Los Angeles. Manson, now 82, lives in the Protective Housing Unit at California State Prison, Corcoran, where he is protected from the other prisoners. And on this day in 1974, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. President to resign from office, making Gerald Ford the president (later, Ford pardoned Nixon).
Few notables were born on this day; these include John Dryden (1631) and Gillian Anderson (1968). Those who died on this day include the painters Hieronymus Bosch (1516) and Chaim Soutine (1943), as well as Hermann Hesse (1962), Sharon Tate (1969, see above), Dmitri Shostakovich (1975) and Jerry Garcia (1995).
Here’s part of Bosch’s most famous painting (see caption), which I’ve seen in the Prado:
“In Hieronymous Bosch’s (1450-1516) The Garden of Earthly Delights, a cat carries off a rat in its mouth at the bottom of the triptych’s left panel, which depicts heaven.” Source.
And a Soutine, avec chaton:
Soutine, “Portrait d’une jeune fille”
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s emigmatic words were explained to me by Malgorzata, “Hili seems to be generally grumpy. She doesn’t like life for the moment and nothing is to her taste—not even her favorite place by the river. She never said specifically what she was grumpy about.”
Hili: I’m not sure.
A: What aren’t you sure about?
Hili: Whether I like all of it.
In Polish:
Hili: Nie jestem pewna.
Ja: Czego nie jesteś pewna?
Hili: Czy mnie się to wszystko podoba.
And, honoring Leon’s Adoption Day, we have his very first monologue, posted exactly three years ago when he had just been rescued:
Leon: Well, I don’t know. Maybe I will move in with you.
That picture was posted on Facebook, and I’m told that Andrzej commented (in Polish, see below): “After He created a cat the Lord said that it was good and decided to create servants to worship it, feed and not cease petting it.” Elzbieta, Leon’s new staff, responded: “Servants are working busily and tirelessly.”:
Andrzej Koraszewski: A stworzywszy kota powiedział Pan, że dobry jest i postanowił mu stworzyć służbę, która miała go czcić, karmić i w pieszczotach nie ustawać.
Elżbieta Wierzbicka:Słuzba uwija sie niestrudzenie.
Glenn Campbell, 81, just died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease (is “battle” the right word for something like this?). But even though the outcome was inevitable, he accepted it bravely. As CNN reports:
During the “Ghost” tour, there were times he would forget lyrics or find himself suddenly unfamiliar with a chord change. The audience urged him on, singing the song and guiding him back into the groove.
He told CNN he had no regrets.
“I am content with it. Don’t cry over spilt milk,” he said. “Get up and be a man and do what you have got to do.”
UPDATE: And the predictable response from North Korea (click on screenshot to go to CNN story):
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I swear, Trump is starting to sound like Kim Jong-un. Have a gander at this CNN bulletin about Trump’s threatening the DPRK now that intelligence shows that they may have a small nuclear warhead (my emphasis below):
President Trump has issued an extraordinary ultimatum to North Korea, warning Kim Jong Un not to make any more threats against the United States or they will “face fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
The harsh words followed reports that US intelligence analysts have assessed that North Korea has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, according to multiple sources familiar with the analysis of North Korea’s program. It is not believed that the capability has been tested, according to the sources.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen… he has been very threatening beyond a normal state. They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before,” the President said, delivering the comments during a photo op at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Doesn’t that sound like a North Korean threat? It’s unwise, I think, because it’s only going to make Kim Jon-un more resolute, since he seems to be militantly unhinged, and of course any “fire and fury” on the part of the U.S. will result in millions of civilians killed in both North and South Korea.
The sanctions were a decent idea, I thought, and the “yes” votes of China and Russia sent a real message to the North Korean dictator. Even he has to realize that those sanctions mean trouble. I suspect they won’t work, but at least they aren’t a form of “fire and fury” that will immediately result in the annihilation of entire countries.
When I was walking outside this morning, sans duck food, I saw Honey in the pond! It was her, too, because she had those distinctive bill markings. I excitedly emailed Grania to put up a quick post that the duck was back, which she did.
I’ve very happy that I’ve got her back for at least a while, for now I can feed her some good protein as well as vegetables. My half pound of mealworms (approximately 8000) arrived yesterday, and a kind reader sent me a packet of “tasty grubs”, or Black Soldier Fly larvae (left below). So we’re set for a while, and I can get her fed up and ready to leave.
I had frozen the grubs, so while they’re defrosting on account of the happy return, I gave Honey the mealworms. Here she is scarfing them up this afternoon:
And a formal portrait. She’s a looker!
Now I know what it’s like to bore people with picture of your kids.
