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.
And if you click on it, you will go to a Google search for Audrey Hepburn. For, had she lived, Hepburn would have been 85 today (see the story at The Independent). She died in 1993 at age 63; the cause was cancer of the appendix, a very rare disease.
To be honest, she wasn’t one of my favorite actresses, but I know that many loved her, especially as Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I wasn’t moved by that performance, but more so by her Oscar-winning role in “Roman Holiday.”
Soon after her death, Gregory Peck, one of her best friends, did a tribute, as noted on her Wikipedia page:
After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, “Unending Love” by Rabindranath Tagore.
Here is that tribute:
Her picture should be in the dictionary next to the word “gamine”:
Hili is at last grappling with the problem of free will. (The answer to her question is, of course, “no”, unless she’s been reading those misguided compatibilists!)
Hili: I have a serious problem. Malgorzata: What problem?
Hili: Do I have free will to choose whether to disturb you or Andrzej?
In Polish:
Hili: Mam poważny problem. Małgorzata: Jaki? Hili: Czy mam wolną wolę przeszkadzania tobie, czy Andrzejowi?
I cannot brain today because my neurons are bent toward my book. So you will have persiflage.
Diana MacPherson has called my attention to what might be the archetypal Canadian news story. Here, from the CBC News, is the headline and photo (it’s a great pity that there’s no video)
And the entire story, which is hilarious (emphasis is mine). But I hope it found its way back to water:
An angry beaver was roaming around Miramichi on Tuesday, creating traffic delays and chasing onlookers.
Jim O’Neill was driving his taxi when he noticed a man being chased by a beaver off King George Highway on Tuesday.
“You look out the corner of your eye and see a beaver backing somebody up the driveway,” he said.
So, O’Neill stopped the cab and took out his camera.
Snapping a few pictures, O’Neill got about 2.5 metres away from the beaver before it turned on him.
“Slapped his tail on the driveway, slapped his front feet on the ground. He came on,” he said.
“So I backed up to try it again and jeez he got quite aggressive. He was camera shy.”
The rodent, possibly displaced from its home due to recent flooding, spent most of Tuesday afternoon roaming through town causing delays in traffic.
Miramichi Police Force were also called about the beaver as it was roaming around the northern city.
Sgt. Ed Arbeau said the Miramichi police deal with animals on a daily basis but this was a first.
“The damn thing was lost, it was going down the street. We didn’t do anything, we showed up and seen what it was,” Arbeau said.
“The guys left it alone, told the citizens to leave it alone and it went on its way to where it was going.”
Although quite rare, beavers have been known to attack people.
Arbeau said it’s possible the large rodent had been provoked during its time in the city.
At least they correctly identified it as a rodent.
If you want to read more about beaver attacks on humans (some have been fatal), go here.
And here are two videos of beaver attacks. These beasts are nasty pieces of work. The first one shows live-trapping of beavers (I think in the U.S.), and the difficulty of trying to capture it and set it free. The second shows a very short but vicious rush by a beaver on a human.
If you see a beaver coming at you slowly like this one, head for the hills!
You’ve read the story, now see the movie:
Yes, it’s a real movie, and here’s the (slightly salacious) trailer:
I have to confess that I sometimes read HuffPo, but just for the articles—not the pictures! Seriously, folks, I do peruse two sections, “Food” (a perennial topic of interest to me) and “Travel” (ditto). And in the food section I found this weird headline and the article below it:
What? Science tells us we have a moral obligation to drink coffee? Even Mormons? What’s that about? Well, of course, science doesn’t give us any moral obligations, but merely tells us the consequences of our actions. The judgement call on what to do then must come from somewhere else. And here are the “immoral” consequences of not drinking coffee:
While the health benefits of caffeine are under constant debate and scrutiny, professors at the University of Washington, the University of Arizona and the University of North Carolina have found a new argument in favor of consuming more of the stimulant. According to their research, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, caffeine can help employees resist pressure from higher-ups do unethical things at work.
Unfortunately for most of us, sleep deprivation is becoming more and more common as workers work more and more hours, the professors acknowledged. And according to earlier research, sleep deprivation increases unethical behavior.
“When you’re sleep deprived at work, it’s much easier to simply go along with unethical suggestions from your boss because resistance takes effort and you’re already worn down,” David Welsh, an organizational behavior professor at the University of Washington, explained in a release. “However, we found that caffeine can give sleep-deprived individuals the extra energy needed to resist unethical behavior.”
In a world where unethical behavior could mean a $6 billion trading loss or even jail time, ensuring ethical behavior should be a priority for workers and employers alike.
Fine. People who aren’t awake are susceptible to making bad judgements and can more readily be persuaded to do unethical stuff. (Of course, this all comes from a psychology experiment I haven’t read, probably based on undergraduates.) Regardless of what the original research says, though, the “moral obligation” stuff is crap. What about the moral obligation to get enough sleep so you don’t need that coffee? What about the moral obligation to avoid filling your body with too much caffeine that could hurt you? Those are alternative strategies.
But while PuffHo is pondering moral obligations, how about the moral obligation to pay your writers? As we know, PuffHo uses a slave-labor type of contributor, one who is willing to write for free to get whatever exposure PuffHo provides, while Ariana Huffington and her minions reap the profits (AOL owns the site, and Ariana is Editor-in-Chief). I know because they asked me to write for them, and when I found the stipend was $0 I told them to stuff it.
Coopting writers in this way is unethical behavior. AOL, Huffington, and the few wage earners of PuffHo profit from writers who desperately want attention and are willing to take nothing for it. What that does is drive down the stipends for other writers who depend on their skills to make a living. If Slate and Salon can pay (and they don’t pay much), so can PuffHo; and writers should simply say “bucks or nothing.” In fact, I’d go so far as to say that anyone who writes for PuffHo for free is being taken advantage of (that’s polite verbiage for “a sap.”)
And I suppose I’m unethical to read the site, too, which gives the place traffic that line the pockets of the owners.
First, from Stephen Barnard, who’s documenting a pair of bald eagles raising a brood near his home in Idaho. Here are “two eaglets having breakfast”. So we know that, for this brood, n > 2.
Reader Edward Kroc sent several photos taken in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Here’s one he calls “River otter with dinner.” The otter is Lontra canadensis, but can anyone identify the dinner?
“. . . one of the stranger looking waterfowl in the Vancouver area: the American Coot (Fulica americana). This species has a hard time getting airborne, often running on the water’s surface to build up some momentum.”
”
“A pair of Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola), male on the left, female on the right. These small diving ducks always look to me like they’re hiding a smile. Buffleheads rarely walk on dry land; I’ve still yet to see one out of the water or the air.
Finally some squee, labeled by Edward “First gosling of the season.” I don’t know from geese, but it must be a Canada goose (Branta canadensis). Don’t you just want to nuzzle it?
“The legend is if you don’t let him into your home and feed him you will have bad luck,” says Flora Selwyn, editor of the St. Andrews in Focus magazine.
Hamish was born in 1999 and initially owned by Marianne Baird, a retired BBC producer. In the first year of his life he resided at Ms Baird’s home.During this time he became increasingly nomadic, often spending days away from home, being fed and watered at various homes in the town. He is known to spend most of his time in and around the houses and businesses on South Street, St Andrews, ironically close to his original home.
Ms Baird still cares for Hamish’s well-being by ensuring he attends a veterinarian every year for a health check up and vaccinations.
You can see what good condition he’s in! Although I once spent a lot of time in St. Andrews, I regret that I never saw, or even heard about, Hamish. Here he is enjoying his fame with the usual cat insouciance:
On April 5, a £5000 bronze statue to Hamish, funded by the local residents, was unveiled in the town square:
Lovingly referred to as the “collective pet” of St. Andrews, Scotland, Hamish has been bringing joy to the people of his small town for more than a decade.
According to The Scotsman, the beloved stray has been spending his time in various shops, houses and buildings around town since he ran away from home at the age of one (his former owner still ensures that Hamish gets annual veterinary check-ups, don’t fret.)
“Our statue is a way of saying thank you to Hamish for being so ‘purrfectly’ adorable and to celebrate him and the joy he brings us,” said campaign founder and local resident Flora Selwyn to The Scotsman. “Hamish is a wonderful animal.”
On the day of the big reveal, the guest of honour arrived in a black convertible to greet his fans:
He expressed gratitude for his statue in a typical catlike way:
Finally, a narrow squeak for Hamish (from Wikipedia again):
In January 2014 Hamish was chased by two dogs and escaped by climbing a tree. He was later helped to safety by students of the university and staff from a local business. This incident encouraged Jim Leishman, Provost of Fife and ex-manager of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club to ask dog owners to ensure their pets were kept on a lead while near Hamish.
And if you click on it, you will go to a Google search for Audrey Hepburn. For, had she lived, Hepburn would have been 85 today (see the story at The Independent). She died in 1993 at age 63; the cause was cancer of the appendix, a very rare disease.
