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.
Reader Cate sent me a link that’s very useful if you are following the protests that are spreading all over the U.S. It’s a big and absorbing collection of Atlantic articles, posts, and readers’ notes appearing under the title, “Debating the campus protests at Yale, Mizzou, and elsewhere.”
The behavior of demonstrators at Dartmouth (first bit in the collection), and the cowardice of the college administration, is particularly disturbing, regardless of the justice of their cause. The article in The Dartmouth (the college paper) has 494 comments, an astounding number for a student newspaper.
At the same time, I remember the lunch-counter sit-ins in the Sixties, in which young black people, many of them college students, performed equally in-your-face acts as a way to highlight racial injustice. Why do I admire their courage so much (many were beaten and hauled to jail) and yet feel queasy about the current campus protests by minority students? I’m not quite sure, except that the more recent protests seem to be more about personal offense, psychological “safety”, and the suppression of “offensive” speech than the greater cause of racial discrimination. They seem too personal, too vindictive towards those who are actually on their side. At the same time, I am not able to put myself into the shoes of a minority student on an elite and largely white campus.
Nobody can claim that the U.S. is free of racism, and I suspect that at least some of those outraged by the Dartmouth demonstrators and their calls to “fuck your white privilege!”, and “fuck you, you filthy white fuckers!”, are not deeply concerned by racial injustice in the other direction. I, for one, am certainly thinking hard about my own reactions. But I still conclude that, were Martin Luther King Jr. alive today, he wouldn’t approve of these ways to address injustice.
Reader Susan called my attention to this incredibly moving tribute by a Parisian, Antoine Leiris, to his wife Helene, killed by terrorists in the Bataclan theater. Antoine is left with a 17-month-old son, Melvil, and addresses a few well-chosen words to those who murdered his wife.
Even as we try to figure out how to stop this from occurring again, or even if we can make a dent on this terrorism (and remember the attack on Mali on Friday, the downing of the Russian airliner, and the 43 killed in two suicide attacks in Beirut a bit over a week ago), let’s pause in our analyses and recriminations and remember that almost 400 people died in these attacks. Every one of those people leave behind people who are bereft, devastated, and asking, “Why him?” or “Why her?” Leiris is just one of those left behind, so multiply his pain by 400 and more.
Would that those Americans trying to bar the oppressed and fearful from finding refuge in our country had the courage and compassion of this man!
From NextShark we see a new breed of “wolf cat” called the “Lykoi cat,” (“lykoi” is from the Greek for “wolf”), which, according to Wikipedia, was developed in Tennessee.
The Lykoi is a partially or almost entirely hairless cat that is genetically distinct from the Canadian Sphynx. The hair coat is unique in appearance in that it resembles the coat of an opossum when mostly coated. Standards call for a solid black roan coat, a wedge-shaped head, and a lithe body of solid weight without excessive bulk. Lykoi are said to be friendly and unchallenging in their behavior. They display a high level of affection for their owners.
Althought NextShark calls them “terrifying,” I don’t find them scary at all:
This is clearly based on a genetic mutation or mutations, since it’s inherited stably across generations, but what is the mutation and how does it affect the coat? We apparently don’t yet know, at least according to Wikipedia;
At the University of Tennessee, dermatologists examined them for any skin abnormalities. Along with biopsy samples of the skin, the dermatologists could find no reason for the coat pattern. What they did find is that some hair follicles lacked all the necessary components required to create hair (which is why Lykoi lack an undercoat). They also found that the follicles that were able to produce hair, lacked the proper balance of these components to maintain the hair (which is why Lykoi do molt and can become almost completely bald from time to time). It was determined, with test breeding to be true natural mutation.
They do resemble possums, don’t they?
An adult:
*******
The Japanese love their cats, and one of the country’s most beloved moggies is Stationmaster Tama, a calico who has the official title of Super Station Master because, as I reported in 2011 (see also Guardian article here), she hangs around the train station of Kishi in western Japan, where she’s attracted a huge following. As the Guardian reported, the train line made the canny decision of promoting the train using Tama (putting a hat on her didn’t hurt, either):
The former stray is attracting cat lovers from all over the country, as well as creating a much-needed injection of cash for the heavily-indebted line. The nine-mile-long line was losing 500m yen a year and at one point only 5,000 passengers a day were using it. When the station’s last human employee packed his bags as part of a cost-cutting drive in 2006, Tama stayed on. Her loyalty paid off: since her appointment as stationmaster last year she has seen passenger numbers rise 10% to 2.1 million a year.
Wakayama Dentetsu, the city where the station is located, loves the furry professional, and even decorated a train in her honour. Called the Tama Train, it was specially painted with cartoons of her likeness. The themed train has recently gotten an upgrade and now features giant cat ears, whiskers, and a stationmaster hat. The inside is air-conditioned and has some pretty funky furniture: The chairs are shaped like cats and the couches have fun feline patterns. There is even an elaborate cage for when the stationmaster wishes to ride the train (when she’s not there, a cardboard drawing of her fills her space).
The train, which is fricking adorable:
The stationmaster’s personal cage on the train, with her cardboard surrogate:
Kawaii!
*******
Finally, the Acro Cats, a troupe of “performing” cats, performed—or rather, failed to perform—on Stephen Colbert’s new late night show. This shows what happens why you try to train cats. I don’t think a single one did its trick properly! The audience goes wild when a cat does even part of a trick.
Apparently the Acro Cat troupe tours the U.S. promoting cat adoption, so you might want to head to their Kickstarter page to see if you want to support them. They apparently need a new tour bus (shades of the Tami train!):
*******
As lagniappe, I got a nice note from Luis Peña, creator of the Lego Beagle Project, thanking me for helping him reach the 10,000-supporter mark. Although I really didn’t do much, I was gratified to see a new “render” that he’d made especially for me:
Darwin and a cat—you can’t beat that!
h/t: Steven Q. Muth, Gravelinspector, Julian, Chris Bonds
Today we have a collection of bird photos (and one mammal shot) by Stephen Barnard that have accumulated over the past two weeks, and it’s time to put them on display.
Two species of chickadees. The first is a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), that is far more common here than the second, a Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli).
[JAC: The black-capped has to rank among the Cutest Birds]:
Not wildlife, but a photo of a Nature Conservancy project. We’re planting about 20 acres on my ranch to support pollinators.
A pair of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) landing, and a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) feeding on insects (I assume) in my roof shingles:
As I look out my window early this morning, I don’t see any snow: it fell a bit last night but the temperature was too warm, and it didn’t accumulate. Now it appears to be drizzling nastily, and here’s our weather for today:
It’s the right weather to drive people away from the Chicago Book Expo, where I’m having a conversation at noon about Faith Verus Fact. I blame God. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, the weather is better but Hili is still fighting Andrzej for the ham in his sandwiches:
A: Apage Satanas!*
Hili: I can’t. I’m an invasive species.
In Polish:
Ja: Apage Satanas!
Hili: Nie mogę, jestem gatunkiem inwazyjnym.
*Malgorzata’s note-
Now, in case “Apage Satanas!” is not as popular among English-speaking people as it is among Poles: It means “Begone, Satan!” and it is a latinized version of Greek “hypage Satana”. It is used in exorcisms.
We’ll finish off the week with a topic beloved of Matthew Cobb: optical illusions.
A German artist named Stefan Pabst specializes in doing drawings that look amazingly three-dimensional, as well as speed drawings (his YouTube site is here; be sure to check out the 3D Eiffel Tower, just put up to honor the victims of Paris). And check out his tarantula, too: stunning!
Here’s Pabst’s amazing drawing of a glass of water. I have a vague feeling that I may have posted this before; sue me if I have:
On February 8 I asked readers to support Luis Peña’s Lego HMS Beagle Project, in which he designed a Beagle-building kit, complete with Darwin, Fitzroy, and animals, using more than 2000 Lego pieces. At that time there were only about a thousand supporters, but I’m happy to report that as of today, Luis’s idea has broken the 10,000-supporter mark, which means that Lego has to consider marketing it. (They’ll review it, but I’m hopeful). Although Peña thanks this site for its support, it’s really the many readers who took the time to register their approval who should be thanked.
Congrats to Luis and let’s hope that his project, which is a great way of teaching kids about science, will actually be picked up by Lego.
And to remind you, here’s what it looks like (go here for more information).
And. . . a secret compartment containing Fitzroy! How cool is that?
