Richard Wiseman posted this wonderful photograph over on his blog .
Can any reader tell us how was it done?
H/t to Adrian
Invasion of the Giant Squirrel!
April 13, 2014 • 1:23 pm
Humpback whale, entangled in net, saved with a pocket knife
April 13, 2014 • 12:52 pm
This amazing video shows the rescue of a humpback whale, entangled in a gill net, freed by snorkelers and sailors armed only pocket knives. It took place in the Sea of Cortez in 2011.
This is human empathy at its finest. After it was freed, the whale, as you’ll see, breached 40 times, accompanying the spectacle with fin and tail slaps. The narrator wonders, as do I, if this is some display of joy—or even of gratitude.
The caption:
Michael Fishbach narrates his encounter with a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net. Gershon Cohen and he have founded The Great Whale Conservancy to protect whales.http://www.greatwhaleconservancy.org is their website, or go to gwc’s facebook page, and join them in helping to save these magnificent beings.
h/t: Su
~
Bill introduced in California to prohibit using killer whales for entertainment
April 13, 2014 • 11:39 am
Another young girl is trying to introduce legislation to outlaw using animals as lucrative entertainment. Like the girl who promoted the state fossil in South Carolina, she is acting far more maturely than her elders, including the lawmakers.
According to yesterday’s Malibu Times, a fifth grader (i.e., about 11 years old) is trying to stop the use of killer whales as entertainment:
Assembly member Richard Bloom, with the help of Malibu fifth-grader Kirra Kotler, introduced an act into the California State Assembly this week that would end Orca whale captivity for performance or entertainment in California.
Kotler, who came to the public spotlight in December when she and her parents led the protest against Point Dume Elementary’s annual SeaWorld field trip after watching the controversial “Blackfish” documentary, travelled to Sacramento this week with Bloom and her family to present a petition in support of the act on Monday, April 8.
The Orca Welfare and Safety Act, presented to Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, Chair of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, contained 1.2 million signatures from supporters all over California.
Here’s a photo of Bloom and Kirra Kotler in Sacramento (the state capital):
It’s inspiring that someone so young tries so hard to make a difference—and may succeed! Olivia McConnell, who got the mammoth approved as South Carolina’s official state fossil (granted, with a rider that it was created on the sixth day!), was only eight. You don’t have to be of voting age to change your state’s laws.
And I would suggest avoiding any place like SeaWorld that rakes in dough by using large marine mammals as entertainment. In a just universe, the owners of SeaWorld would be kidnapped by Martians and put on display, being forced to balance balls on their noses in order to get food.
h/t: Douglas
My Storer Lectures are online
April 13, 2014 • 10:23 am
They don’t mess around here at Davis: the morning after my second Storer lecture, the videos of both had been put online. And they did a good job; the lecturer (i.e., me) is on a split screen alongside the slides, so you can watch both at once.
The whole archive of past Storer lectures is here, and you can watch them by clicking on their names either at that site or, to see mine, below. (As usual, I haven’t watched mine because I can’t abide seeing myself on video.)
The first listed below, from April 10, is a straight research talk—probably my last ever in this genre. The second, given the day before, is on science vs. religion. The fulsome introductions to both talks were tendered by my old pal Michael Turelli, who greatly exaggerated!
I thank the Storer family, who endowed these talks, and to Luke Mahler and Michael Turelli, my hosts in Davis.
I do love returning to Davis, as I have many friends here and the weather has been gorgeous every day: sunny with highs about 80° F high (cooler at night). I took a lot of photos that, with luck and time, I’ll post next week when I’m back in Chicago.
April 10, 2014
TWO FLIES ON AN ISLAND; SPECIATION IN DROSOPHILA ON SAO TOME
April 9, 2014
FAITH IS NOT A VIRTUE: THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION
This science/religion lecture ends at 1:05 in, and then there’s a Q&A, which was way too short. I would have preferred an hour of discussion, but there were drinks and dinner waiting. At dinner, though, I got a fair amount of criticism from nonbelieving faculty who, while claiming to share my atheism, argued that religion is still beneficial to some or that science is afflicted with some of religion’s flaws.
One philosopher of science, for instance, argued that when we trust physicists like Steve Weinberg or Brian Greene about new findings in physics, that’s the same kind of “faith” that religionists use when trusting their own priests or religious authorities. My response was that our confidence (not “faith”) in these people is based on their track record of being right, or telling verifiable truths or at least accurate descriptions of the field, whereas, for instance, the Pope has no more expertise than any ordinary Catholic in the supposed nature of the divine.
It was clear to me that many scientists here have a reflexive sympathy for religion that they haven’t thought through very clearly. But I love such challenges, for they it enable me to rethink as well as hone my arguments.
Iowa governor signs proclamation putting state’s trust in God
April 13, 2014 • 9:04 am
From PoliticusUSA, we hear of more insanity in the U.S. as politicians, against all reason—and the Constitution—try to mix religion and politics.
On April 8, Terry Branstad, the governor of Iowa (and, of course, a Republican), signed an executive proclamation inviting Iowans to celebrate a verse from the Old Testament. First the video of Branstad signing the damn thing:
And here’s the offending document:
The relevant part below: the Governor invites “all Iowans who choose to join in thoughtful prayer and humble repentance according to II Chronicles 7:14 in favor of our state and nation to come together on July 14, 2014. Of course that date can be written in U.S. style as 7/14/14:
What is that Bible verse? Here it is from the King James version, following a verse in which God says he could inflict locusts and rain on the sinners, but won’t:
. . . if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
The PoliticusUSA piece points out that this proclamation comes straight from a religious group:
Jeremy Hooper at Good as You, points out that this proclamation of Branstad’s derives from a group calling itself “Prayer 7-14-14.” As evidence, he presents their spin on what is needed on July 14, 2014:
“HISTORY & PURPOSE of 7-14-14
WE ARE A NATION, WHO HAS FALLEN FROM HER INTENDED PURPOSE, AND WE HAVE A GOD WHO IS PURSUING US BACK INTO OUR DESTINY… JUST AS HOSEA PURSUED GOMER, GOD IS PURSUING US
This is not about a single day of prayer, fasting and true repentance, but it is about a lifestyle journey of letting our hearts awaken and allowing God’s very breath to fill us. It is understanding we have strayed from God, our first Love, and realizing the only way back is through true heart-felt repentance. Repentance that brings change and realizing that repentance has many depths to it. It’s about forgiving one another and not allowing the enemy to rule us through offenses. Realizing there is diversity in unity. It is about knowing who we are in Christ! That He first loved us and He still loves us and is pursuing us to come back to Him. . . . “
h/t: Thaddeus (enabler of Mayhem)
The Roolz reiterated
April 13, 2014 • 8:01 am
On the sidebar you will see a document called “Da Roolz!,” which gives guidelines for posting at this site (you can also access it here). I guess I have to call attention to it from time to time, as people may not see it.
I want to mention the two Roolz that continue to be violated most frequently:
7. Try not to dominate threads, particularly in a one-on-one argument. I’ve found that those are rarely informative, and the participants never reach agreement. A good guideline is that if your comments constitute over 10% of the comments on a thread, you’re posting too much.
12. I am glad to receive items from readers, though at times their number is a bit overwhelming! But many of my posts come from those contributions, and I try to remember to h/t readers if I use their contributions. (Sometimes I forget this acknowledgment—in which case my apologies.) If you send me a link and I don’t write about it, please do not feel bad. I get many more tips, photos, and other stuff than I can possibly use, and have to choose. But please do not send me items asking me to post them, or saying, “I think this would make a great post for your site.” That feels a bit presumptuous and coercive, and, as readership grows, I’m starting to get these requests more frequently. Also, please do not ask me to publicize your or your friend’s book, business, or any other endeavor. If you want to call something interesting to my attention—and of course it must be of potential interest not just to me, but to readers—that is great, but don’t ask me to post things.
I continue to receive requests from people to publicize their books or posts on their websites. Likewise, I get items which readers say (or imply) that I should post about because they’re of general interest. Please let me make that determination; I don’t like to be pressured, even slightly.
I will work on Da Roolz as things develop, but I’d like to add one more thing—not a binding rule, but a request. If you want to criticize my views on my site, or link to a post on your own site in which you do the same, please have the guts to use your own name. So often these comments or websites are pseudonymous, and I consider that cowardice. Stand behind words. It simply cannot be true that every one of these critics have really good reasons to hide their real names. Some of them may, but I suspect that people, freed from the responsibility of having their words associated with their names, simply hide behind a pseudonym. If I can espouse strong and unpopular views under my real name, so can many of you.
It’s squirrel week
April 13, 2014 • 6:19 am
. . . at least, according to reader Melissa, it is at the Washington Post, which is running a number of articles on squirrels that are really interesting and funny. I think Squirrel Week ends today, but it may already be over. Happily, the articles remain. It appears to be the creation of reporter John Kelly, who is clearly obsessed with these adorable rodents.
You particularly want to click on the “Ask a Squirrel Expert” link, where, for a next week, you could ask squirreley questions of Kelly and Dr. Etienne Benson of the University of Pennsylvania. (Benson, curiously, is not a biologist, but an assistant professor of the history and sociology of science. He has a really nice article in the Journal of American History [free online] on “The urbanization of the eastern gray squirrel in the United States“, and you’ll want to read it if, like me, you love these wily little rodents.)
Here’s a sample of the Q&A:
The link to the Canadian origin of black squirrels is here.
Another:
The link to the piece of squirrel/birdseed wars is here.
Finally:
There’s also a Squirrel Photo Contest. Here’s the winner and a description:
The winner was Ian Richardson, a retired aeronautical engineer and church administrator who lives with his wife at Leisure World in Lansdowne, Va. Ian is an avid amateur photographer. He was out taking a walk on the grounds of Leisure World when he spied a squirrel going in and out of a hole in the trunk of a dead tree. He set his Nikon D600 — fitted with a Sigma 300-800mm telephoto lens — on a tripod and, he said, “happened to be lucky enough to catch two of them trying to do it at the same time.”
Ian professed no special affection for squirrels. “They’re kind of cute, but a nuisance,” he said.
A few other entries:
Sunday: Hili dialogue
April 13, 2014 • 5:46 am
This afternoon I head back to Chicago, but first will visit the local colony of burrowing owls.
Meanwhile, life goes on in Dobrzyn, and here Hili reads an article on Listy by Leo Igwe about witchcraft in Ghana.
Hili: Are there really people who believe in witchcraft?
A: Millions.
Hili: How does the human mind work?
In Polish:
Hili: Czy naprawdę są ludzie, który wierzą w czary?
Ja: Miliony.
Hili: Jak działa ludzki umysł?