Thursday: Hili dialogue

January 12, 2017 • 6:30 am

Good morning! It’s Thursday, January 12, 2017. Tomorrow I’m leaving for the LogiCal 2017 meetings in LA (LAX) till Monday. Catch me there if you’re in the area, and if you want a book signed, best to bring one as I’m not sure how many they’ll have on sale. (Say “Meow” for a cat drawing!). In Russia it’s Prosecutor General’s Day (День работника прокуратуры Российской Федерации), and in India it’s National Youth Day.

There are three–count them, three–food holidays today: National Marzipan Day, National Curried Chicken Day, and National Glazed Doughnut Day.

On this day in 1915, The United States House of representatives rejected a bill giving women the right to vote; they finally got that right only in 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. (Switzerland took until 1971 for women to gain that right.) In 2004, the RMS Queen Mary II, the world’s largest ocean liner, made its maiden voyage. I’ve lectured on that ship twice during transatlantic crossings, and it was one of the great lecture experiences of my life (the audience was engrossed, perhaps sated from gambling and lousy movies, and the food was terrific).

Notables born on this day include John Winthrop (1588), Edmund Burke (1729), Jack London (1876), the odious Hermann Göring (1893, committed suicide while in captivity during the Nuremberg Trials). On that very same day Afred Rosenberg was born, a fellow Nazi executed after those trials.  Also born on January 12 was hockey player and Doughnut King Tim Horton (1930; is Tim’s giving free doughnuts today?) and Rush Limbaugh (1951).  Those who died on this day include Maurice Gibb (2003). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is refusing noms from Malgorzata!

Hili: What are you eating?
M: A cheese sandwich.
Hili: I think I will just have coffee.
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In Polish:
Hili: Co jesz?
Małgorzata: Kanapkę z serem.
Hili: To ja się tylko kawy napiję.

From frigid Winnipeg, reader Taskin sent this photo of Gus occupying the blanket his staff was given to Taskin for Xmas but hasn’t had a chance to use at all. Title: “Gus therapy =^..^=”

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And, for those who still remember typing, Matthew Cobb sent a tw**t:

Glasgow theology students given trigger warning about images of the crucifixion

January 11, 2017 • 2:15 pm

Seriously, is there anybody studying theology—indeed, anybody alive—who hasn’t seen an image of Jesus on the cross? It’s so common that one would think that you needn’t be warned about exposure to it.

Well, that doesn’t take into account the new campus climate of giving warnings about things that don’t seem triggering at all. And Glasgow has fallen prey to that trend. As the Torygraph reported six days ago:

The University of Glasgow, part of the elite Russell Group, has introduced the warnings to its theology students studying Creation to Apocalypse: Introduction to the Bible (Level 1).

In one lecture about Jesus, it warned students it “contains graphic scenes of the crucifixion” adding that it would be flagged up to students beforehand.

The same centre has issued warnings to its veterinary students who work with dead animals and those studying Contemporary Society who will be discussing illness and violence.

But it’s worse: forensic students are warned about blood, and archeology students warned that they may see “well-preserved archaeological bodies” (presumably mostly skeletons), and vet students cautioned that they might see dead animals.

. . . Others include veterinary students being warned they will be working with dead mice, archaeology students that they will see a skeleton and forensic science pupils that they will be studying blood.

A spokesman for Glasgow University said: “We have an absolute duty of care to all of our students and where it is felt course material may cause potential upset or concern warnings may be given.”

Forensic science students at Strathclyde University have been given a “verbal warning… at the beginning of some lectures where sensitive images, involving blood patterns, crime scenes and bodies are in the presentation”.

At Stirling University archaeology students were given advanced warning that they would be shown an image of a well-preserved archaeological body in case they found it “a bit gruesome”.

It has also told its gender studies students: “We cannot anticipate or exclude the possibility that you may encounter material which is triggering [ie, which can trigger a negative reaction] and we urge that you take all necessary precautions to look after yourself in and around the programme.”

In some case students are allowed to absent themselves from the class and lecturers are advised to check on them later in the day.

My view is that you have no business studying theology if you can’t look at an image of the Crucifixion, veterinary medicine if you can’t stomach dead animals, nor forensics if you can’t take bodies and blood. As I’ve said before, there are cases in which students can be properly warned about images that they may find upsetting, but in no case should students be allowed to avoid the material. As for “lecturers checking in on those traumatized students,” that just perpetuates the culture of in loco parentis, which colleges shouldn’t be promulgating. It gives those students an unwarranted sense of specialness and entitlement.

TRIGGER WARNING: DYING JESUS!

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h/t: jjh

More Trumpish anti-science: The Donald reportedly asked anti-vaxxer to head panel on vaccine safety

January 11, 2017 • 1:20 pm

I’m not quite sure what these articles from the Washington Post and Scientific American mean, but they augur yet more anti-scientific attitudes from the incoming Trump administration, which will take over in (horrors!) only nine days. (The words “President Trump” still stick in my craw.) From Sci Am we hear about a position reportedly offered to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of Bobby Kennedy and thus the nephew of JFK. RFK Jr. is an environmental activist but has some wonky ideas about vaccines:

WASHINGTON—Outspoken vaccine critic Robert Kennedy Jr. has accepted a position within Donald Trump’s administration as chair of a panel on vaccine safety and scientific integrity—the clearest sign yet of the president-elect’s suspicions about vaccines.

The offer, which came in a Wednesday meeting between Trump and the scion of America’s most prominent Democratic family, is likely to concern scientists and public health experts who fear the incoming administration could give legitimacy to skeptics of childhood immunizations, despite a huge body of scientific research demonstrating that vaccines are safe.

“President-elect Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policies and he has questions about it,” Kennedy told reporters after the meeting. “His opinion doesn’t matter but the science does matter and we ought to be reading the science and we ought to be debating the science. And that everybody ought to be able to be assured that the vaccines that we have—he’s very pro-vaccine, as am I—but they’re as safe as they possibly can be.”

Kennedy has repeatedly questioned the safety of vaccines and advanced arguments that there is a link between the immunizations and autism. He has suggested that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines, can be harmful to children, a notion that has been widely debunked.

Public health agencies did suggest manufacturers eliminate or reduce the amount of thimerosal in vaccines and many have done so. But a number of studies have also discredited the idea of thimerosal is a cause of autism.

Kennedy’s work on autism has created controversy over the years. In 2005 he wrote an expose, co-published by Salon and Rolling Stone, contending that scientists were hiding the link between thimerosal and autism. Years later, Salon retracted the story, noting its basic thesis was inaccurate. Rolling Stone deleted it.

But Kennedy was not finished with the subject. He edited a 2014 book called “Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury—a Known Neurotoxin—from Vaccines.” The volume makes the case that thimerosal is still causing autism and other neurological problems, and should be eliminated worldwide.

There’s no credible evidence that thimerosal causes autism, although it could cause minor side effects like redness and swelling around an injection site. It’s time to put the thimerosal canard to rest.

Both of the sources above, while noting that RFK, Jr. was asked to head that commission, also add, as did CNN, that Trump hasn’t really decided whether to set up a commission on autism.

But the Trump transition says no decision has been made on setting up a commission on autism, despite Robert Kennedy Jr. telling reporters he was asked by Trump to chair a committee on vaccination safety.
“The President-elect enjoyed his discussion with Robert Kennedy Jr. on a range of issues and appreciates his thoughts and ideas. The President-elect is exploring the possibility of forming a commission on Autism, which affects so many families; however no decisions have been made at this time. The President-elect looks forward to continuing the discussion about all aspects of Autism with many groups and individuals,” said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks in statement.

My question is whether the commission on autism is the same as the commission on “vaccine safety and scientific integrity” for which RFK, Jr. was vetted. If they are, then this report is dubious. It still shows, however, that Trump has no fricking idea how to appoint good people, something we already know from the Cabinet nominations. Let’s hope that this commission doesn’t materialize, or else gets a scientifically-minded chair.

But we ain’t seen nothing yet. What scares me the most (besides Trump) is his upcoming Supreme Court nominee to replace Antonin Scalia.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Readers’ wildlife photos

January 11, 2017 • 7:30 am

Please keep your photos coming in; I have a decent backlog, but you know how I worry. . .

Today we have some photos of fossilized wildlife, all taken by reader Mark Sturtevant. His notes are indented.

As a change from the usual stuff that I have been submitting, I thought to share pictures of some specimens that I keep in what I call my Cabinet of Mystery. Most objects are fossils or bones that I have either found or purchased over a lifetime.

I expect that a good percentage of humanity has at one time possessed a fossil fish known as Knightia from the Eocene Green River formation. But this Lagerstätten is also rich with other fossils. The first two pictures are of aquatic insect larvae from that location. Although it was labeled as tsetse fly larvae from the gem and mineral show where I picked this up, these are more likely horsefly larvae. The second picture is a close-up view showing the paired posterior spiracles that fly larvae often have, which in this case would have been used for breathing air while under water.

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The second picture is a close-up view showing the paired posterior spiracles that fly larvae often have, which in this case would have been used for breathing air while under water.

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I lived in San Diego for many years, and exposed areas of Quaternary sandstone are common over much of the area. While hiking in a park, I found this large fossil clam in a cliff about a mile inland from the ocean. I do not know the age, but it does strongly resemble a modern clam known as Tresus.

What is interesting about this specimen is that it appears that the clam had survived a serious injury which had healed.

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The large fossil that follows was purchased, and it is a portion of a Cretaceous mollusk known as a Baculite. The total specimen would have been several feet long. I am a little mystified of their technical classification and anatomy (and so I would like to be corrected by any reader), but as I understand it these were a kind of shelled cephalopod, related to the modern chambered nautilus, only Baculite shells were straight instead of coiled. What is actually seen here is not really a preserved shell, which I think was paper thin and had dissolved away long ago. What remains is really a mold formed by sediments that infiltrated the interior of the shell after the animal died. One can still see that the shell was segmented into a series of chambers, and articulated together by intricate sutures. Some of the segments of rock actually wiggle a little, but are still locked together.

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The Cabinet of Mystery also contains various skeletal remains. Here is a skull of an American opossum that I had since I was maybe 14. Through that time I would sometimes pick up road kill and learn what there was to learn of it by dissection in my bedroom/laboratory. With this one I eventually cut off the head, and waited for my parents to leave the house for the day so that I could boil the head in a pot on the stove, thereby making it a lot easier to remove the soft tissue. I am sure that I am not the only one who does not tell my parents everything! I do not know of many skeletal characters that identify a marsupial, although some obvious ones here are the small brain case and the numerous premolar and molar teeth. The spatters of paint were from a painting that I did of something many years later.

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Wednesday: Hili dialogue

January 11, 2017 • 6:30 am

Good morning: it’s Wednesday, January 11, 2017. It’s also National Hot Toddy Day, but it’s a bit late here since the temperature will rise above freezing today: up to 44°F (a tropical 7° C). But there will be rain, too. It’s also German Apples Day, or Tag den Deutschen Apfels, and perhaps a German reader can explain that one.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather, and posting will likely be light today. On this day in 1908, the Grand Canyon National Monument was created, and, in 1922, insulin was first used to treat a human patient. In 1946, the Republic of Albania was declared, with Enver Hoxha naming himself president. (Other infamous Albanians include Mother Teresa.) Finally, in 1949 the first regular television broadcasting began with station KDKA in Pittsburgh.

Notables born on this day include Nicolas Steno (1638; see WEIT), William James (1842), Calvin Bridges (1889; a fly geneticist and one of my heroes, see below) and Carroll Shelby (1929, this is for Stephen Barnard, who owns a replica Shelby Cobra). Here’s a picture of Stephen in his souped up car, in which I got a ride in 2015 (see photos and info here and here):

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Here’s Calvin Bridges, a crack Drosophila geneticist in the T. H. Morgan lab (Morgan was the mentor of my Ph.D. advisor’s advisor, Th. Dobzhansky). His work was important in showing that chromosomes were the carriers of genes. He was also renowned for his strikingly good looks and his womanizing, and died at 49 from syphillis. I’m not sure what is going on in this photo with the tilted microscope:

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Notables who died on this day include Francis Scot Key (1849), Thomas Hardy (1928), Alberto Giacometti (1966), Sir Edmund Hillary (2008), and David Nelson (2011). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is worried about the welfare of mice in winter, but not because she’s a humanitarian (mousitarian)?:

Hili: Are they going to survive this cataclysm?
A: Who?
Hili: What do you mean “who”? My mice.
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In Polish:
Hili: Czy one przetrwają ten kataklizm?
Ja: Kto?
Hili: Jak to kto? Moje myszki.

Monica Crowley’s book pulled by HarperCollins

January 10, 2017 • 12:16 pm

UPDATE: Readers have noted in the comments that Crowley also stands accused of plagiarizing parts of her Ph.D. dissertation in international relations at Columbia University. Politico reports (and gives examples in their piece:

Crowley submitted her dissertation, titled “Clearer Than Truth: Determining and Preserving Grand Strategy: The Evolution of American Policy Toward the People’s Republic of China Under Truman and Nixon,” in 2000 in partial completion of her Ph.D. in international relations at New York’s Columbia University. Today, the thesis is kept on microfilm at the University of Michigan and accessible via ProQuest, an academic database.

By checking passages in the document against the sources Crowley cites, focusing on paragraphs that come before and after footnotes of key sources in her bibliography, we found numerous structural and syntactic similarities. She lifted passages from her footnoted texts, occasionally making slight wording changes but rarely using quotation marks. Sometimes she didn’t footnote at all.

Parts of Crowley’s dissertation appear to violate Columbia’s definition of “Unintentional Plagiarism” for “failure to ‘quote’ or block quote author’s exact words, even if documented” or “failure to paraphrase in your own words, even if documented.” In other cases, her writing appears to violate types I and II of Columbia’s definition of “Intentional Plagiarism,” which are, respectively, “direct copy and paste” and “small modification by word switch,” “without quotation or reference to the source.”

It’s not clear whether this could lead to the revocation of her Ph.D., but it seems more serious than plagiarizing in a trade book. Again, this may be small-time malfeasance to the Trumpites, but if her degree is revoked it could have serious impications for her appointment on the National Security Council.

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Two days ago I reported accusations by CNN about Monica Crowley, former political columnist and Fox News commentator and now poised to become Donald Trump’s senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council. The accusations involved plagiarism in Crowley’s 2012 book What The (Bleep) Just Happened; the charges were Crowley had lifted without attribution at least 50 passages from sources as diverse as Wikipedia and the Wall Street Journal (see my earlier post for examples.)

Apparently the publisher, agrees that there was misconduct: as CNN just reported, HarperCollins is ditching the book:

“The book, which has reached the end of its natural sales cycle, will no longer be offered for purchase until such time as the author has the opportunity to source and revise the material,” HarperCollins said in a statement to CNN’s KFile.

That’s a polite way of saying that “we’re not publishing this until the plagiarism is gone.”  The “natural sales cycle” stuff is politely disingenuous, as if it’s reached the end of that cycle, why would they publish a revision? CNN goes on:

Publisher HarperCollins said Tuesday that it will stop selling a book by Monica Crowley that a CNN KFile investigation found to have more than 50 instances of plagiarism.

A request for comment from the Trump transition team was not immediately returned. A spokesperson for the Trump transition team told CNN’s KFile Saturday when the initial report was published that they were standing by Crowley.

“HarperCollins—one of the largest and most respected publishers in the world—published her book which has become a national best-seller. Any attempt to discredit Monica is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country,” the spokesperson said.

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The book at issue