Saturday: Hili Dialogue

October 26, 2013 • 2:59 am
Hili: Have you read Jerry’s piece about ants?*
Malgorzata: Of course, after all, I did translate it.
Hili: I wonder if he had any common ancestor with the anteater?

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In Polish:

Hili: Czytałaś ten artykuł Jerrego o mrówkach?
Małgorzata: Oczywiście, przecież to ja go tłumaczyłam.
Hili: Zastanawiam się, czy on miał jakiegoś wspólnego przodka z mrówkojadem?

____________

My piece on the evolution of ants is here; Malgorzata’s Polish translation for Racjonalista is here. Hili doesn’t seem to know yet that all species are related and had a common ancestor at some point in time. If she checked the wonderful Timetree site, she’d learn that humans and anteaters had a common ancestor about 104 million years ago.

Use that site, by the way, to find the divergence time (with scientific references) for any pair of species, entering them in the two boxes in the upper left at the site.

n.b.: I am “Jerrego”!

Friday squirrel report

October 25, 2013 • 12:41 pm

I have discovered that the last litter of squirrels includes three offspring, whose genders remain indeterminate. But they’re all feeding voraciously: I can hardly put out enough seeds to keep them from eating more. And they’ve learned how to open the seeds more quickly, as well as to appreciate peanuts and corn (which they previously eschewed).

They also interact in strange ways when they’re together. This video, taken yesterday, shows both nomming and interacting. I can’t figure out whether they’re playing, being affectionate, or even feeling the first stirrings of amour.

This one is now fond of both acorns and dried corn (they eat only the inside of the corn).

Acorn

It’s especially cute when they drink from their bowl, almost like little cats:

Water

Another catlike behavior they’re evincing is getting my attention by running up and down the screen in my office, which makes a horrible racket.  Two of them will do this at once when I’m trying to work, and I see no other reason for it than to get my attention—much like a cat knocking stuff off the bedside table when it wants its early morning noms.

Here’s what they do:

On screen

After a while I have to go feed them in the lab, and, of course, they’re waiting for me on the windowsill.

They have faith in me, just as religious people have faith that God will provide.  Professor Ceiling cat is their deity!

Bertrand Russell on why the term “agnostic” is for show

October 25, 2013 • 11:36 am

Reader Dom sent me a Bertrand Russell quote from what appears to be a very short essay, “Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic?” (1947)

As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.

None of us would seriously consider the possibility that all the gods of Homer really exist, and yet if you were to set to work to give a logical demonstration that Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and the rest of them did not exist you would find it an awful job. You could not get such proof.

Therefore, in regard to the Olympic gods, speaking to a purely philosophical audience, I would say that I am an Agnostic. But speaking popularly, I think that all of us would say in regard to those gods that we were Atheists. In regard to the Christian God, I should, I think, take exactly the same line.

One problem here is that yes, you cannot give a logical demonstration that the Greek gods don’t exist. (That’s the “you can’t prove a negative” line.)  But you can give a practical demonstration that their existence is improbable, for if they interact with the world you should find some evidence of that interaction; and you find none.

One concludes from this piece that philosophers, at least in Russell’s time, respected logic more than evidence, and were more concerned with logical possibilities than with probabilities.

The answer, of course, is that if you have no belief in gods, you should call yourself an “atheist.”  The term “agnostic” is for wimps.

Another person ignorant about evolution tries to dismiss it

October 25, 2013 • 8:51 am

A commenter named “Asyncritus” tried to leave an anti-evolution comment on a post I wrote about how some orchids in China have evolved a scent resembling the alarm pheromone of the honeybees that are the wasps’ prey.

The flower’s scent apparently attracts the wasps looking for prey, and those wasps pollinate the orchids. This clever adaptation, a form of “olfactory mimicry” to help the flowers reproduce, was published in Current Biology. The orchid does not show morphological mimicry like some other “bee orchids, whose flowers have evolved to resemble bees, luring male bees who, in trying to copulate with the mimetic flowers, pollinate them

Here’s a picture of that orchid, Dendrobium sinese, in the Daily Fail (it has not escaped my notice that perhaps the colors of the flower, which look vaguely beelike, might help attract the wasp):

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But on to the creationist. Sadly, Asyncritus, apparently knowing very little about evolution, tried to weigh in with this comment:

If this lot doesn’t persuade any unbiassed observer that evolution is a complete nonsense, then I don’t know what will.

How can a plant possibly figure out that this compound is an alarm pheromone secreted by wasps?

And that if it does so figure that out, how does it know that there are such things as wasps?

And that they will come, pick up the pollen and take it to another flower to pollinate it?

Isn’t it obvious that this didn’t evolve ‘by small steps’ and that it is perfectly designed to do the job it does so well?

Get smart, guys.

Asyncritus is the one who should get smart.  Plants—or anything else—don’t figure out how to evolve.  (Plants, for one thing, can’t figure anything out!) If the ancestral orchid had genetic variation that made its scent resemble in some degree the bee pheromone, then it would get pollinated by wasps more often. Such variants would leave more of their genes, and the adaptation would spread. The plant doesn’t need to know that there are pollinating wasps around, either. All that has to happen is that there be mutations in flower odor that attract the wasps. No evolving species has to consciously “know” what it has to do to adapt to the environment.

This misconception—that plants and animals have to figure out how to evolve by sussing out the environment—is surprisingly common, and Asyncritus’s rancor is poorly aimed. He or she is the one who needs to bone up on evolution.

As for the step-by-step evolution of the plant “pheromone,” that remains to be studied. We know what the compound is, for it’s been extracted, structurally identified, and shown to have not only be chemically identical to the alarm pheromone of bees, but also to attract the pollinating wasps. (The compound, by the way, is (Z)-11-eicosen-1-ol.) If this compound evolved from an ancestral compound (presumably via the modification of enzymes that change the structure of organic molecules), then we should be able to find precursor compounds that have other functions in this species or its relatives, and be able to identify the pathway that synthesizes the new attractant.  This need not have happened via a gradual, many step-process, for sometimes single mutations alone can have this effect. (One “big” mutation, for instance, is known to have radically altered flower color in the species Mimulus guttatus versus M. cardinalis.)

I wrote the senior author of the Current Biology paper asking if we know how the “plant pheromone” is made, or what likely precursors there were, but he said that nobody has studied that question. So there’s an evolutionary prediction that can be tested. In the meantime, perhaps Asyncritus can use this “teachable moment” (I hate that term) to bone up on the theory he/she doesn’t understand.

Lots of Irish people admire Hitler

October 25, 2013 • 5:46 am

According to The Journal in Ireland, a man from Kilkenny, Larry Brennan, celebrated his 79th birthday with a cake featuring a picture of Adolf Hitler. Here’s Brennan, his daughter, and his Nazi cake as shown on the  KCLR 96fm website, a radio station on which he was later interviewed.

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Brennan was then dumb enough to go on the radio (KCLR) to talk about his Hitler cake and his feelings about der Führer; you can hear the interview here. It’s summaried on the Journal website as well:

The interview starts with chat about Brennan’s local connections but when asked by Nunn why he had a picture of Hitler on his birthday cake, he replied:

“Well, I have great admiration for Hitler’s army, the way he dressed, his immaculate uniforms and his equipment.”

He said that equipment and clothing belonging to the German army during Hitler’s reign were highly sought after by many collectors. “It commands a very high price, unfortunately, today,” he said, pointing out that even English collectors were very interested in these items.

Presenter Nunn suggested that the strongest association most people would have with Hitler was one of “absolute mayhem, the torture and death of millions of people”. Brennan insisted that he himself was “not political”.

This is a transcript of what came next:

Brennan: “With politicians, it’s like a race; there’s always somebody trying to get out there, the jockey trying to get out in front to win. To me, politicians are like that, they say, ‘Forget about the truth, make it interesting, that sort of thing. That doesn’t tie with me, honestly, … and I’m afraid I part company with politics in that respect.”
Nunn: “But are you saying you admire Hitler, Lar?”
Brennan: “I admire Hitler because his army was so disciplined and he had great command over the people, and he fought for the people of his country. He was behind them, like, and they were behind him. It took three nations to beat him, like, and you know, he must have had some power.”
Nunn: “And all the people that he burned and…?”
Brennan: “Yes, well, that was the sinister thing about him. Behind that as well – and I don’t want to go into politics – but apparently there are two sides to every story and I heard that the other side of the story, the people that he, am, ah, put to death were spoiling the economy of his country by devaluing the deutschmark.”
Nunn: “Oh holy God. I can’t even let you say that, Larry, because I think that is just so offensive to people, you know. I mean…”
Brennan: “That’s what I heard.”
Nunn: “It’s been proven again and again and again and again … And why did the kids get, why did your daughter get the cake for you then, Larry? Was it a surprise?”
Brennan: “It was a surprise because she knew I collected all sorts of stuff like that. I collect motorbikes – well, I’m not saying I have masses of motorbikes, I have an interest and have a few motorbikes – and guns, swords, anything that’s old and antique-ish. I’ve a great interest in history, like, you know.”
Nunn: “And do you have Hitler memorabilia?”
Brennan: “I do, yeah. I have some of the Luftwaffe helmets which is very, very rare. It was the ground force of the Luftwaffe. As you know, the Luftwaffe was the air force, the German air force. They also had a ground command as well and I have one of them in mint condition which is rare to have and I have a very early Nazi dagger, which I treasure. And ah, Hitler didn’t have a lot of memorabilia because it is very, very expensive and very hard to get.”Nunn: “And are you part of a kind of a group of people, are you an enthusiast with others then for Hitler and Hitler memorabilia.”

Brennan: “Well, I have an interest in all kinds of people, an interest not only in Hitler but Irish – Irish are very hard to get hold of, early Irish swords make a lot of money when they come to auction and sometimes it would go beyond my means to bargain. I would like to have them but they are very scarce. I do have a 1798 sword from the Battle of Vinegar Hill and I have contacts of people who collect all sorts of things and if they have something I like, I’ll probably swop.”

Nunn: “And what kind of people are into the Hitler memorabilia.”

Brennan: “Well, like me, they’re into quality, the quality is amazing and ah, they last much longer. They tried to make reproductions but they are nothing like the real thing.”

Well, that’s pretty distressing: “two sides to every story”. Yes, ten million innocent people killed, including six million Jews, and that’s balanced by the devaluation of the Deutschmark!  Yes, he collects Nazi memorabilia, too: a gruesome hobby, but not nearly as bad as saying there’s a good side of Nazism that balances its bad. You can read more about Brennan’s statements on the Journal site.

To their credit, many listeners called in and expressed disgust with his sentiments; you can hear their comments here.  But what distresses me is a pretty big selection of pro-Hitler comments on the Journal website; reader Grania provided a selection (and these links) below; you can see more written comments here.

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In response to this, I’ll post just two pictures—photos I took when I visited Auschwitz. They’re from a room full of suitcases confiscated from Jews who were transported to the camp. They were told to put their names on the suitcases so they could reclaim them after they had their “showers.”  They were never reclaimed.

The showers, of course, were fake: the “shower” nozzles were props, and, once everyone was locked in the chambers, vents expelled cyanide gas, killing hundreds of men, women, and children within 20 minutes.  While the bodies were burned in crematoria next door, the suitcases were plundered by Sonderkommando inmates who put the good stuff in warehouses to be sent to Germany. There are also rooms full of eyeglasses, children’s toys, shaving brushes, pots, and hair shaved from the women (the hair is the one thing you’re not allowed to photograph).

Every owner of these suitcases was gassed. The names and addresses are poignant, and you can’t help being deeply moved when you read the names. These were people.

And this is what, according to Brennan (and apparently some Irish people), was balanced by Hitler’s devaluation of the Deutschmark.

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Fancy boots

October 25, 2013 • 3:48 am

I’d forgotten I have these (just call me the Ymelda Marcos of boots), but they’re an awesome pair, and I came across them rummaging around for footwear yesterday morning.

They’re custom made by Terry Stanley of El Paso, Texas, for some guy whose name started with “A”. (There’s a silver leather “A” inlaid on each shaft, but it doesn’t show when I’m wearing them.) They have very fancy hand stitching, “foxing” (onlaid leather) on the heel, and wingtips in two types of ostrich (belly and half-quill).  Pulls are ostrich as well. The blue leather is calf.

Boot 1

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How to get rich

October 24, 2013 • 12:00 pm

“Build your own bestseller: three idiot-proof formulas” by Noreen Malone at The New Republic‘s site.

But there’s a better way, actually. Just have a near-death experience, pretend you went to heaven and saw Jesus, leaven the narrative with some juicy details about what heaven is like (How tall is Jesus? Are there cats up there? What do they eat?), and you’re golden.  There’s nothing the public likes better than Proof of Heaven.

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