JAC: Matthew’s been quite the contributor lately, and found this lovely gif which I take as the ascension of HappyCat to the Ceiling.
by Matthew Cobb
Spooky smoke cat
June 19, 2014 • 2:18 pm
Spoiler: England vs. Uruguay, in progress
June 19, 2014 • 1:12 pm
I’ve decided to blow off an hour of work to watch the second half (I won’t give the score above the fold). What a pleasure to watch such lively game, and, after all, England is fighting for its life.
A funny interview with Stephen Hawking
June 19, 2014 • 12:26 pm
Everybody who interviews Stephen Hawking treats him as a god, and there’s no doubt the man is smart, but this interview, by John Oliver, shows that Hawking has a good sense of humor. Oliver treats Hawking as Stephen Colbert would, with irreverence and a bit of faux solipsism.
This is from Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” show, and is first of a series of interviews: “People who think good.” It’s well worth watching the whole 7.5-minute interview, especially for the bit about Charlize Theron.
Regrets, I’ve had a few…
June 19, 2014 • 10:01 am
by Matthew Cobb
My PhD (Sheffield, 1984), was a study of fruitflies f***ing. Put less crudely, I observed the courtship and mating behaviour of seven closely-related species of Drosophila (technically, they aren’t in fact fruitflies – ‘vinegar fly’ is a much better and accurate term; two other species in this group have since been discovered). This is the group of flies that Jerry also studies.
My PhD research was all done in the lab, but in my literature reviews I tried to emphasise the different ecologies of these species (they were all from Africa, even if two of them, melanogaster and simulans, are now found around the world, thanks to humans – they live in our bins and have travelled around with us).
Sadly I did no field work, not even collecting flies (a few years later I went to Ivory Coast to collect some flies from the rain forest). At the beginning of my thesis, I added a quote from the marvellous 18th century book ‘The Natural History of Selbourne’ by Gilbert White, which was contained in a letter from White to the naturalist Daines Barrington, written on 1 August 1771:
Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descriptions, and a few synonyms; the reason is plain; because all that may be done at home in a man’s study, but the investigation of the life and conversation of animals, is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active and the inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country.
And there’s my regret in a nutshell. I never did get round to residing ‘much in the country’, and despite a couple of field collection trips (the Ivory Coast trip to find flies, and a trip to India to collect ants), I have never done any real field work. I used to run a field trip for students in the foothills of the Alps, which was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about the area (that’s where I encountered the nightjar), but it’s not the same as doing consistent research.
That regret has encouraged my interest in natural history, even down to encouraging the development of a pond in the quad of one of my university’s modern buildings, the Michael Smith Building at the University of Manchester. The pond has been there for about three years, and has already led to the production of several frogs, which now live in the quad (we put in the frogspawn the first year – it’s now ‘natural’). Around the edges of the quad are large wild-flower areas which caused some dissent initially (people objected to ‘the weeds’) but everyone loves it now.
Here’s a picture of the pond (it was emptied and deepened a couple of months ago, so its still not fully established):
And while I was peering into the water, this lovely blue-tailed damselfly came zipping by. One of my favourite insects, taken with an iPhone 5:
Looking at examples of wildlife out of the lab is about as close as I get to responding to Gilbert White’s injunction, which I still think is absolutely right. Note to self: if you really want to know about the life and conversation of animals (which is basically what I have spent my academic life doing), you need to get out more!
So, readers, what are your regrets? What road did you not take, that you now wish you had? Is it too late, and if so, why?
[JAC: I’ll answer first: I regret not petting a baby tiger, and not going to Australia, New Zealand, Bali, or Antarctica. I hope to rectify all of those before I croak. If I had my life to live over again, and also had the requisite talent, I’d be a rock star—one like Stephen Stills or Eric Clapton (without the drug habit). But otherwise, science has worked out beautifully.]
Loretta Breuning retracts her characterization of atheists as “fundamentalists”
June 19, 2014 • 7:49 am
Over at Psychology Today, Dr. Loretta Breuning, who recently published explaining why atheists are like fundamentalists, has been roundly trounced in the comments. Some of the commenters are regulars here, while others are new to me. But nearly all of the critics have been remarkably savvy and literate. Look at this one, for instance:
Breuning finally responded, apologizing for using the word “fundamentalist.” But it’s a notapology that just rambles on, finally claiming that the whole issue is “semantic”:
Once again Breuning seems clueless about the issue. She ran down atheists because, she said, they behaved like religious fundamentalists. When shown repeatedly how that was wrong, she just fobs off the issue as “semantic.” But it’s not, for she’s criticized atheists in a public forum for reasons that she now appears to disavow.
Instead of dealing honestly with the criticism, she simply avers her acceptance of evolution (duh!), and then says that she doesn’t feel the need to disabuse an old lady on a zoo tour for mentioning her belief in creationism. (Why, by the way, does it matter whether it was an “old lady” or somebody else? It is okay to coddle the beliefs of an old person but not a young one?). The fact is that Breuning didn’t have to attack the old lady (who is not going to be converted anyway); she could have simply said, “Well, scientists have lots of evidence that animals and plants weren’t created but evolved. I’d be glad to recommend a book on that.” (MINE!!!).
Breuning’s answer to pervasive creationism is apparently to let creationists retain their beliefs. Well, fine, but she should realize that OTHERS ARE WATCHING, as they were on the zoo tour. Silence in that case was complicity with the “old lady’s” creationism. How on Earth are we going to engage creationists without criticizing and dissecting their claims? What would Breuning have us do: pat all creationists on the head and say, “Yes, that’s fine. You’re welcome to your belief. I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”
What we see here, besides Breuning’s deliberate refusal to answer her critics about atheism, is fulsome accommodationism: the unsubstantiated view that if we simply coddle the religious, and don’t attack their views, they’ll eventually come around to accepting evolution. I hear this repeatedly, but those who hold that view never produce any evidence. They simply feel that it must be true.
As for Breuning’s advice to “cool down,” it’s simply condescending. My advice to her is to think about what she said in her original piece, and how critics responded to it.
But that’s useless advice. The woman has shown that she can’t be reached by reason.
Do not enter World Cup contest!
June 19, 2014 • 5:32 am
The contest deadline for guessing the participants in (and score of) the final World Cup match ended on Monday at 5 pm, yet I continue to receive entries. These bespeak an ignorance of the Roolz and are are also unfair, since we now have new information about the finals (e.g., Spain won’t be in them). Please DO not send any more entries.
kthxbai
Orthodox Church patriarch blesses a t.v. studio with a paint roller
June 19, 2014 • 5:24 am
This is funny, but also, I think, a good sign. According to the BBC, Patriarch Daniel of Romania’s Orthodox church has used a paint roller dipped in holy oil to bless a new broadcasting studio. The church, however, calls the roller a “sanctification rod”:
The ceremony did not go unnoticed by Romania’s press and internet humorists, with altered versions of the photos being widely circulated, Adevarul news website reports. One popular blogger posted an image showing the Patriarch apparently endorsing a brand of paint.
As reader “lantog” posted in the comments below, ‘Does that make the guy a holy roller?”
The good news is that a lot of people made fun of this ludicrous demonstration, even in Romania:
The ceremony did not go unnoticed by Romania’s press and internet humorists, with altered versions of the photos being widely circulated, Adevarul news website reports. One popular blogger posted an image showing the Patriarch apparently endorsing a brand of paint.
Since Romania is pretty religious, with 81% of its people self-identifying as members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and only 0.2% as atheists, that’s a good sign.
Here’s the breakdown from Wikipedia:
Sanctification rod, indeed!
The blessing of modern scientific technology by religious figures and ceremonies always amuses me. I learned yesterday, from my friends who are visiting from India, that their space agency always seeks Hindu blessings before launching a satellite. And, sure enough, that seems to be true. This is from the Times of India on Feb. 24 of last year (my emphasis):
TIRUPATI: Ahead of the launch of the Indo-French satellite ‘SARAL’ onboard Isro’s workhorse rocket PSLV from Sriharikota, Isrochairman K Radhakrishnan on Sunday offered prayers at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswaranear here.
Radhakrishnan offered prayers on Sunday morning for the successful launch of PSLV-C20 on Monday, temple sources said.
An ardent devotee, Radhakrishnan visits the shrine to seek divine blessings ahead of every satellite launch and makes another trip after its success, the sources said.
Radhakrishnan was accompanied by his wife Padmini. Since the last two decades, heads of the space agency have made it a practice to visit the the over 2000 year-old Tirumala hill temple to seek divine blessings before every satellite launch, the sources said.
Today’s footie, and a report on Spain’s demise
June 19, 2014 • 4:58 am
Oh dear, Spain, the world champion, is out after only two games. It was my favorite, too, but I guess it makes things interesting. I’m sure there’s deep gloom and incomprehension in Iberia today. Sadly, didn’t see the game as I had visitors.
Which team shall I favor now? Netherlands, who are playing well (3-2 over Australia yesterday)?
Here’s today’s schedule. I’d like to watch England vs. Uruguay, but my duties preclude me from watching all but the 5 p.m. game, but that one is Japan vs. Greece.
Here are all the highlights and goals of the Spain-Chile game. Chile’s first drive starts about 2:00 (a beautiful goal), the second, a tap into the net after a failed free-kick, is at 3:40. Claudio Bravo, Chile’s goalkeeper, was great.
As Sid Lowe noted at The Guardian:
Spain’s era came to an end at the Maracanã, graveyard of great expectations. This was not 1950 and Iker Casillas is not Moacir Barbosa, nor is Charles Aránguiz Acides Ghiggia, but it was historic. The world and double European champions became the first team to leave the 2014 World Cup, knocked out of a major tournament for the first time in eight years.
As the second half slipped away, so did Spain’s vital signs. Casillas, the captain who lifted the trophy four years ago, wore a haunted look. Diego Costa, the man Spain had ‘signed’, had departed to insults, unable to score. And Xavi, the ideologue of a philosophy this team espoused, never even took to the field. There was symbolism in his absence. He will probably not be back; Casillas may not be either. Between them they have 289 caps and every medal there is.
There was a certain sadness in seeing a golden generation end it this way, broken and beaten, but there was joy in being caught up in the dynamism of a Chile team that may yet make an even greater impact on this tournament. There was joy in their fans too.
And the Google Doodle continues to be both animated and about the World Cup. Click on the screenshot below to see it:
