Monday bird: Marsh wren

January 6, 2014 • 3:07 am

This hard-to-photograph bird (Cistothorus palustris) was sent by Stephen Barnard (of course), who added these notes from Idaho:

These are secretive and elusive birds. I had to show this photo to my Idaho birder friends to ID it. Then I listened to its songs on my iPad and realized that I hear it a lot in the spring, and it must be common, but I never see it. It was one of those aha! moments.

It was eating midges from the water surface.

Marsh Wren

Here is its range map from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, where it is described like this: “A common and noisy inhabitant of cattail marshes, the Marsh Wren sings all day and throughout the night.”

Its diet: mostly insects.

cist_palu_AllAm_map

The CLO also recordings of its lovely twittering song.

Monday: Hili dialogue

January 6, 2014 • 12:56 am
Today Hili encountered a psalter while doing her editing:
Hili: The greatest people in the world have been extolling cats.
A: What do you mean by that?
Hili: Nothing, except that in this book they seem to have it backwards: they want cats to purr psalms extolling god.
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In Polish:
Hili: Wielcy ludzie wychwalają koty…
Ja: Co chciałaś przez to powiedzieć?
Hili: Nic, oni w tej książce chcą, żeby nawet koty mruczały psalmy chwalące boga.
Polish lesson: Yesterday we learned that “kot” is “cat” in Polish. Today’s “koty” is the plural: “cats.”

An even quieter Sunday in Dobrzyn

January 5, 2014 • 1:41 pm

The weather is amazing for Poland: while Chicago is suffering under subzero temperatures and a blanket of snow (they cancelled classes tomorrow at the U of C), it was 10°C here (that’s 50F!) and sunny. So there are walkies and noms and work, as well as a nice pair of visitors with their baby.

Hili meeets a six-month-old child. The cat looked a bit flummoxed.

Hili meets baby

The visitors also brought a toy for Hili (she is, after all, Poland’s most famous cat) and this delicious cream-filled cake. We are faced with a surfeit of cakes now: a true First World problem!

Cake

The main amusement on such lazy days (besides listening to my commenters tell me that my views on free will are incoherent) is observing the antics of Hili.  In the early afternoon, meowing was heard from the veranda: Hili clearly wanted to come in. But she was nowhere to be found—until she was observed lying on a hanging shelf six feet off the ground.

Hili on sconce 0

Cats love to be high up where they can observe the world but be safe.  I do not know how she got up there.

Hili on sconce 1

Because the weather was so mild, Hili went out several times. On this occasion she made her presence known by jumping on the windowsill, demanding to be let in. As I’ve mentioned before, she often refuses to come in on her own: she wants someone to go outside, fetch her from the windowsill, and carry her in! And, indeed, that’s what happened:

Retrieved from windowsill

Such is the life of Poland’s most famous (and most spoiled) cat. Wouldn’t it be lovely to be Hili, with attendants to pet you, feed you and keep you warm at night; to have the run of a whole orchard teeming with fat mice; and to know nothing of your own mortality?

Teller reviews Martin Gardner’s autobiography

January 5, 2014 • 12:13 pm

As a stripling I was an avid reader of Martin Gardner‘s “Mathematical Games” column in Scientific American, though I was often too young (or too dumb) to follow them. Gardner died in 2010 at age 95, but near the end he wrote his autobiography, Undiluted Hocus-Pocus, which is reviewed by the magician Teller in today’s New York Times. Two bits of the review are striking, including this one in which Gardner uses decidedly outdated methods of writing:

Gardner, who died in 2010, wrote “Undiluted Hocus-Pocus” at the age of 95 in a one-room assisted-living apartment in Norman, Okla. He worked on an old electric typewriter and edited with scissors and rubber cement as he stood at the lectern from which he had long addressed the world in print. “I am given five pills every morning after breakfast,” he writes. “My blood pressure is low, my cholesterol is so-so, and my vision is perfect.” But, he adds, “at 95 I still have enough wits to keep writing.”

But this is really surprising to me, and I suspect was to Teller as well:

The final part of this book may make ­science buffs uneasy. Gardner, like a human Möbius strip combining the faith and skepticism of his parents, explains that he believes in God, even though he is aware that “atheists have all the best arguments. There are no proofs of God or of an afterlife. Indeed, all experience suggests there is no God.” Carl Sagan once asked Gardner if he believed simply because it made him happier. Gardner said yes. “My faith rests entirely on desire. However, the happiness it brings is not like the momentary glow that follows a second martini. It’s a lasting escape from the despair that follows a stabbing realization that you and everyone else are soon to vanish utterly from the universe.”

This seems to be a case of a man who forced himself to believe despite all evidence to the contrary, simply because it made him happy. That’s a mindset that I simply can’t fathom, especially in a guy like Gardner. Nevertheless, Teller gives the book a thumbs-up: His radiant self lives on in his massive and luminous literary output and shines at its sweetest, wittiest and most personal in “Undiluted Hocus-­Pocus.”

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Martin Gardner

The amazing flexible Ross Sisters perform Solid Potato Salad

January 5, 2014 • 9:21 am

by Matthew Cobb

Here’s an amazing example of flexibility from The Ross Sisters, singing Solid Potato Salad, from the 1944 film Broadway Rhythm. Their body strength is quite astonishing.

Jerry was sure he’d posted this, but I could find no trace of it. If it has been posted here, well what the heck – watch it again!

The Ross Sisters WERE sisters. Wikipedia sez:

The Ross Sisters were a trio of singers and dancers consisting of the sisters Aggie Ross, Elmira Ross, and Maggie Ross (whose real names were Veda Victoria Ross, Dixie Jewel Ross and Betsy Ann Ross). (…)

The Ross Sisters were born in West Texas to Charles Adolphus and Veda Cordelia Ross. Shortly after they made “Broadway Rhythm,” they moved to Europe where they appeared in “Piccadilly Hayride,” a post-war London stage revue that ran from 1946 to 1948.They also recorded “Five Minutes More,” a song later covered by Frank Sinatra.

Betsy Ann Ross (Aggie) was born on June 26, 1926, in Colorado City, Texas. She married Robert “Bunny” Hightower, an American dancer, on January 11, 1947. It has been claimed that he was an alcoholic suffering schizophrenia who on one occasion beat Betsy so badly that she almost died. They appeared together many times on The Ed Sullivan Show and had a son together. Hightower was previously married to dancer Vera-Ellen, best known as Rosemary Clooney’s sister in the film White Christmas.

Veda Victoria (Vickie) Ross (Maggie) was born on November 8, 1927, in Roscoe, Texas. She married Robert Lamouret on April March 10, 1950, in Paris. She was later married to Bob Hender.

Dixie Jewel Ross (Elmira) was born on August 9, 1929, in Loraine, Texas. On July 10, 1948, she married Richard (Dickie) Henderson, OBE, (1922–1985). They had a son Matthew and a daughter Linda. Dixie died at age 33 on July 10, 1963 [7][8] and was buried in England.

There’s an amusing 14 year-old discussion on Snopes.com as to whether this is real (the OP, “Jenn”, says it’s fake “because #1, even the military didn’t film in color in 1944, and what these gals do is physically impossible.”) Sorry, Jenn, it’s real. And technicolor had been around for some time.

Ark Park near collapse; will Bill Nye help finance it?

January 5, 2014 • 7:57 am

Reader Jerry (no, not this one) pointed me to an article at Kentucky.com about the planned “Ark Park,” another venture of Ken Ham. Formally called “The Ark Encounter,” it is supposed to feature a full-sized Ark (300 cubits, or 510 feet), designed to delude children about the history of life. And it’s been having financial troubles, which have now become severe:

A Northern Kentucky theme park to be built around a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark might sink unless investors buy about $29 million in unrated municipal bonds by Feb. 6.

In December, the city of Williamstown issued taxable debt for affiliates of the Christian non-profit Answers in Genesis, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Even though $26.5 million of securities have been sold, the project needs to sell at least $55 million to avoid triggering a redemption of all the bonds, Ken Ham, the non-profit’s president, wrote in an email message Thursday to supporters.

Without the money, construction funding will fall short, he said.

“We still need those Ark supporters who weren’t able to purchase the Ark bonds at closing to prayerfully consider participating in a secondary bond delivery at the level they had indicated to us,” Ham said. “Will you please step out in faith with us?”

The article added that The Ark Encounter “comes with the added risk of legal challenges because its religious theme might violate the U.S. Constitution.” I wasn’t aware of this, but it implies that the state of Kentucky has given special benefits to the park that don’t accrue to more secular enterprises.  For those of you with a nose for business, here are the details about the bonds, which apparently come with no promise of repayment (I presume God will take care of that).  And Ham blames the pesky atheists for his troubles, which I doubt is true:

Industrial-development bonds are considered the riskiest municipal debt because they account for the largest proportion of defaults in the $3.7 trillion municipal market. Williamstown issued the bonds without a rating, making the prospect of repayment even less clear.

The first phase is estimated to cost $73 million, offering documents show. About $14 million had been raised before the bond sale, which was supposed to make up the difference.

Instead, Ark Encounter has had no institutional investors buy its bonds, Ham said.

“The associated complications and struggles have been beyond our control,” said Ham, who cited impediments such as atheists registering for the offering and disrupting it. “I urge you to please prayerfully consider the options and help us get this bond offering completed.”

The documents cite at least 39 risks to buyers, including that Answers in Genesis has no obligation to back the debt. Bondholders’ sole revenue would come from money spent by visitors. 

This all bears on Bill “The Science Guy” Nye’s upcoming debate about evolution with Ken Ham at Ham’s other project, the Creation Museum. I have previously suggested that for several reasons Nye is making a mistake by debating Ham. First, Nye is giving unwarranted credibility to Ham. More important, Nye is also helping raise money for the Creation Museum. I have no idea how much, if any, Nye is getting paid for this gig, but the Christian Science Monitor reported that Nye was willing to debate Ham if they simply paid his expenses.  If that’s true, then nearly all of the $25 admission they’re charging to see the debate will go to Ham or, more likely, his Museum or the Ark Park.

It’s been reported on some blogs that the debate is indeed a fundraiser for the Creation Museum, but I can’t verify that. If that’s the case, then Nye is making a very serious mistake, no matter how well he debates.  Various readers have, however, weighed in saying that my fears are unfounded: that Nye will do a great job and that this is a wonderful opportunity to promote science.

I doubt it. I have no great confidence in Nye’s debating skills. He’s certainly an engaging speaker, but it’s one thing to speak on your own, another entirely to engage in debate. Remember how Christopher Hitchens, atheism’s most formidable speaker, was mopped up by William Lane Craig? The skill in debate is not just rhetoric, but fanatical preparation. Craig had that, Hitchens didn’t, and lost because he relied on his usually reliable acumen.

And even if Nye does a good job, I suspect it won’t be put on video, for Ham won’t allow himself to be seen as a loser.

What outweighs everything, though, is the possibility that Nye will lose by simply showing up, and thereby raising big bucks for the Creation Museum or the troubled Ark Park. And no matter what he says, or how good he is, if he is raising money that helps promulgate lies to the children he loves, Nye is making a very serious mistake.

Bill O’Reilly and Chris Stedman ally against The War on Christmas

January 5, 2014 • 5:34 am

Chris Stedman is the assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard University, and author of the accommodationist book Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious (perhaps its title was stolen from this website!). Here’s a discussion he had with the odious Bill O’Reilly on December 6:

According to Stedman, the #1 problem of atheists is that “we are widely distrusted in the United States”, and he doesn’t see the anti-Christmas billboards as “contributing to the de-stigmatization of atheists in the United States.” O’Reilly decries the anti-Christmas fervor of atheists as a manifestation of their anger, and Stedman agrees that it’s counterproductive.

Now Stedman makes some good points about the separation of church and state, but I wish he’d stop telling us how to behave: that we’re supposed to be amiable, friendly toward faith, and so on—and in that way we’ll repatriate our tarnished image.

Although I’m not asking Stedman to become more militant, I think his stance on “moar amiability” is unproductive.  Which books deconverted more of the faithful, Faitheist or the in-your-face books The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The God Delusion, and God is Not Great? I think you know the answer.

I find it demeaning to try to make ourselves seem REALLY NICE to the American public. In point of fact, we are reasonably nice: at least as nice as believers.  So why must we tout ourselves as “The Friendly Atheist” or “The Happy Atheist”? Not all atheists are friendly or happy, nor are all believers. We’re just normal Americans who don’t happen to believe in nonexistent gods.

Making people think we’re friendly and happy will not, I think, do the trick.  Atheists are the most reviled group in America, far less likely to be elected to office than are gays, women, or blacks. We’re not going to change that by showing people that we’re “normal”. Does anybody really think that Christians will either accept us or, more important, abandon their faith if they perceive us as real people? No, they’ll just try all the harder to convert us to their delusions. To my mind, we need less schmoozing and more Socratism—especially asking believers why they’re so sure about their beliefs.

You didn’t see Martin Luther King touting himself as “The Happy Negro” or Harvey Milk as “The Friendly Homosexual,” trying to make common cause with Anita Bryant. No, they called out their countrymen for misguided and harmful thinking. And eventually Americans realized that they were right.