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.
Earlier today, to mark May the Fourth, the European Space Agency released this photo of comet 67P taken by the Rosetta probe with, somewhere on its surface, the tiny Philae lander (you’ll never spot it). The answer is already out there, so no cheating! Genuine spots only in the comments, please. Click to embiggen comme d’hab. We’ll post the answer later. Note that in a few months, Rosetta will be no more, for it will make a final, catastrophic approach to the comet and the mission will be over.
Courtesy of Pink News, we have this appalling cartoon produced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. A mother teaches her daughter why same-sex marriage is wrong, and why you can’t get to Heaven if you’re in such a marriage. Truefact: the loving Jehovah won’t let you in if you don’t follow His rules, and one of those rules is no gay marriage!!!
The Disney-esque production belies a message of pure bigotry:
Note the mother’s claim, “People can change!” That is, being gay is a choice, and you could have chosen otherwise. That’s only one invidious result of religion’s insistence that people have libertarian free will.
The two met while playing separate shows in Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-1990s and Prince asked Graham [Prince’s bass player], who was a Jehovah’s Witness, to come on tour with him. Graham said Prince was deeply interested in the Bible and they would talk about it for hours.
“He asked me questions every day, every week — sometimes we would bring up the sun talking about the Bible,” he said.
Later, Prince asked Graham if he would move to Minnesota to continue teaching him about God and his faith. He accepted, and Graham and his family relocated from Jamaica, where they had been teaching Bible school.
Prince’s interest in the Bible grew and eventually he came to the conclusion that he, too, wanted to become a Jehovah’s Witness, Graham said. Later, Prince began worshipping at a Kingdom Hall just outside Minneapolis. Graham said he considered Prince to be his “spiritual brother.”
It was important to Prince, like many artists, to give his fans joy with his music, Graham said. But the most important thing to him was not just giving people a “temporary feeling” from a record or album but being able to share scripture, he said.
“His joy — his biggest joy — was sharing the hope of everlasting life,” Graham said.
I wonder if Prince thought that everlasting life was barred to those in a gay marriage.
Reader John Harshman sent two batches: birds and mammals (labeled “not bird pictures”); his notes are indented.
Here are some photos of hornbills from Botswana.
First, a red-billed hornbill (Tockus rufirostris) gathering mud, presumably for the purpose of sealing his mate into the nest hole, leaving a small opening through which he can pass food. All species of hornbills do this.
Second, a somewhat larger species in the same genus, a yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) just sitting there being handsome.
Third, one of my favorite birds, a much bigger ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri). Oddly enough, while the other hornbills are on the ground, the ground hornbill is in a tree. But check out the much longer legs. This is a terrestrial predator.
Finally, not a hornbill at all but an African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer), cousin of the bald eagle, appropriately with a fish (unidentified).
Here are yet more photos from Botswana. The African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are staring across the Khwai river at another, rival pack, trying to figure out whether there was about to be a territorial challenge. There was not.
The mongooses are, in order, banded (Mungos mungo), yellow (Cynictis penicillate), and dwarf (Helogale parvula). Banded mongooses are known to have a mutualistic relationship with warthogs, which they groom for parasites. Tell me you aren’t thinking about Timon and Pumbaa right now. All three of these species live in large family groups, and all of them adopt that cute standing-up scouting posture.
Today’s Jesus and Mo, called “gaze,” is especially appropriate in light of last Saturday’s debate between Asra Nomani and Hoda Katebi on the significance of the hijab. Here are the three reasons why, as fashion-blogger Katebi wrote on her blog, she wears the hijab (the niqab, remember, covers part of the face rather than the hair, but the principle is the same). The first reason is the one releveant to the cartoon, but in interests of completion I’ll give all three.
1. It’s Sexually Liberating
Haha I bet you had to read that one twice. Yes, the Hijab–contrary to popular belief–is actually worn by millions of women around the world in order to become liberated from the rampant objectification of women within society. Through wearing the Hijab, people (namely, men) are forced to look beyond superficial appearances when forming judgments about you, and must rely on this crazy thing called character.
[JAC: I think she means liberation from sexuality rather than “sexually liberating”. And it’s especially ironic that she blogs about fashion—about those “superficial appearances.” See here, and also this: “So, I’m using this [blog] to present an inspirational alternative guide to dressing in the West that’s more modest and covered, but still very very beautiful. You can wear long clothing and you can wear loose clothing and you can still look hella fabulous.”]
2. It keeps your ears warm
Teehee okay okay this one is more of a perk than a basis for wearing it but when you’re trying not to get frostbite on your way to classes in sub-zero degree weather in Chicago you are pretty thankful that your ears are warm & cozy. c;
3. For Modesty
Pretty self-explanatory here? As part of Hijab, Muslims also cover their arms, legs, body, and wear loose clothing. The Hijab also extends beyond physical clothing and into the realm of character–to wear the figurative Hijab is to act modestly as well.
Often the Google Doodles honor someone I don’t know, but that’s all good because those form Teaching Moments. Today’s Doodle, honoring the 100th birthday of Jane Jacobs (she died in 2006), is one of these (click on the screenshot to go where the Doodle goes):
I’ll let reader Barn Owl, who sent me the link, sum up the honoree:
Today’s Google doodle features Jane Jacobs, a journalist and community activist who wrote an excellent book entitled The Death and Life of Great American Cities (among many other articles and books). It’s so full of insight and wisdom about urban planning and city life, that it’s difficult to believe (with the arrogance of 21st century hindsight) that the book was published in 1961.
But I also found a piece in today’s Slate, right at the top of the Google search, called “Bulldoze Jane Jacobs.” (Subtitle: “The celebrated urban thinker wrote the blueprint for how we revitalize cities. It’s time to stop glorifying her theories.”). It claims that the communities she advocated: diverse, small-scale, and containing local businesses, eventually become gentrified, like Greenwich Village. This is above my pay grade, I don’t know what to think, and so throw it to interested.
It’s Hump Day: May 4, and I’m proud of myself for having done both laundry and (the worst task of all) ironing yesterday. On this day in 1904, the U.S. began building the Panama Canal (I’ve been through it–a real trip!), and, in 1970, the Kent State shootings occurred, with four unarmed students, protesting the war, killed by the National Guard. That set off a round of demonstrations and of course inspired Neil Young’s song “Ohio.” In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became England’s first woman Prime Minister.
Notable births on this day include Alice Liddell (1852), the model for Alice in Wonderland, Audrey Hepburn (1929), and Randy Travis (1959). Those who died on May 4 include all four students at Kent State (1970) and Moe Howard of the Three Stooges (1975, nyuk nyuk). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is looking forward to the juicy birds of spring:
Hili: I can’t see any starlings.
A: They will come when the cherries are ripe.
Hili: Let’s hope Cyrus is not going to scare them away.
In Polish:
Hili: Nie widzę szpaków.
Ja: Pojawią się jak wiśnie dojrzeją.
Hili: Żeby ich tylko Cyrus nie straszył.
And in nearby Wroclawek, Leon, on a car trip, is also concerned with his noms:
Leon: Did you pack my snacks?
Extra lagniappe: I passed this restaurant sign yesterday and immediately noticed the superfluous apostrophes. At first I thought that “Monday’s $3 beers” referred to only those beers on sale for three dollars on Monday, but then I read on. And yes, this is indeed someone mistaking the possessive for the plural.
Finally, in other news, a hijab-clad doll, rescued from the sea and taken to an Indonesian village where it was revered as an “angel,” was found to be a sex toy.
The Trump victory, which is certain even at 7:30 this evening, means he gets the Republican nomination, especially since Cruz dropped out of the race today. What surprises me is that Bernie Sanders has a 5-point lead over Hillary Clinton; I thought she’d win handily. But what do I know?
All I know is that America looks really bad with a Presidential candidate who’s a loose cannon (although Cruz would have been almost as embarrassing), and that Americans don’t really trust Hillary Clinton.
Here’s the latest Indiana update from the New York Times:
