Made You Think

Locusts crossed the Atlantic?

And this National Geographic article reports on a study suggesting that an "Ancient Locust Swarm Crossed the Atlantic." Is this April Fool's Day? The genetic evidence is actually persuasive, but it seems there must be some other explanation than that they crossed the Atlantic Ocean...in a swarm....???

It seems preposterous, but the article says that a swarm did cross from Africa to the Carribean in 1988. How awful.

"Ancient weapons factory"?

National Geographic reports that this Connecticut archeological find, of a site with thousands of stone artifacts suggesting that hunters gathered there to fashion stone points for spears, is an ancient "weapons factory." The phrase seems imprecise; is it a factory any time people gather together to work? We're talking about people bashing rocks together into sharp pieces.

I also wondered why we should assume that "The find also hints that dozens or hundreds of similar sites probably lie inaccessible under parking lots and buildings across the Northeast United States." Maybe they just didn't explain that point well, but it didn't seem so likely to me.

Young women surpass men in internet usage.

I didn't read the full story yet, but the tech blogger at the Journal Sentinel says that the study shows more women than men are online, in the under-65 age group.

Man beaten by mob in Milwaukee.

Almost as upsetting as the horrific beating of this guy driving on a Milwaukee street is the fact that this story made the national press. Someone should investigate how many times Milwaukee stories have made the national press in the last five years, and the image those stories present. Also, someone should study why so many of these beatings seem to happen here, and how we can stop them. The article suggests that no good statistics are collected about mob beatings, here or anywhere else.

Supreme Court asked to approve Padilla transfer.

The controversial transfer request, rejected by the Fourth Circuit in a stinging opinion written by Judge Luttig, is headed to SCOTUS.

A draw in the battle of the online word-a-day services

Yesterday, dictionary.com sent "cynosure," which means "a center of attention. And wordsmith.org sent "couloir," which means "a deep mountain gorge or gully." I couldn't have given an accurate definition of either word before, so I'm calling it a draw. Actually, the edge is to dictionary.com, because I find that word "cynosure" more useful. I don't often need to describe mountain geography these days.

Historical perspective: the Puritan war on Christmas

National Geographic news offered this interesting article about Texas A&M anthropologist Vaughn Bryant's theory that "we are reverting back to the days when Christians were trying to abolish Christmas."

The Puritans opposed celebration of Christmas, which they considered a Christianized pagan festival. Of course, the Puritans didn't really favor celebrations, in general, so it's not that surprising that they found reasons to oppose Christmas celebrations.

But there's pretty good reason to think the Puritans were basically correct about Christmas, that the celebration originated as a way to carry over old winter solstice celebrations into the Christian empire. At least, that's what Wikipedia seems to say. (See also the History Channel on Christmas, and World Book.)

The divisiveness of the "War on Christmas" debate seems out of place at Christmastime. My brother, who is a devout atheist, says he celebrates Christmas because it's a day to be nice to each other. I have trouble understanding what's wrong with that.

Green Bay alderman goes on air to make racist comments and then lies about it.

This is just awful, but also sort of funny. On November 2, Green Bay city council member Earl Van Den Heuvel called in to a radio station talk show to offer opinions such as the following: "Being a racist may be a smart thing to protect your property in this city. Until the people start changing, until the people start doing the things they need to do to bring around their people, you're not stupid for being a racist, you're smart and you're looking out for your property." He pretended he was some guy named "Don" during his racist rantings, but one of the hosts recognized his voice. Earl refused to admit he was the caller until the radio station proved it with forensic voice analysis.

He hasn't resigned yet. The article that I've linked to, from ABC's news center in Green Bay, focuses on the lying, more than the racism, which is troubling but maybe just bad reportage.

Battle of the word-a-day services

Before unsubscribing from dictionary.com's word-a-day service, I'm going to compare here, now and then, the words I receive from dictionary.com and from wordsmith.org each day.

I called this a "battle" in the title, but I actually expect it to be more like a humiliating documentation that dictionary.com is...well, just not as good.

Today, my word from dictionary.com is "querulous," which means "habitually complaining." Not the most common word, but really, not that rare or interesting. Wordsmith on the other hand sent "epos," which means either "epic" or "a number of poems, not formally united or transmitted orally, that treat an epic theme."

Wordsmith.org is the clear winner today, because I had never heard of "epos," while I think "querulous" is common.

Dictionary.com's defeat may not seem humiliating today, but keep in mind that earlier this week, dictionary.com sent "melange." On the same day when wordsmith.org sent "sprachgefuhl."

"Japanese whalers and Greenpeace in remote ocean battle"

For me, this headline created unrealistic expectations regarding the nature of this "battle." As the article explains, basically, Greenpeace is getting in the way of Japanese whaler boats, and the whalers tried to push the Greenpeace boats away. Somewhat disappointingly, neither side had a giant monster, laser guns, or actually, weapons of any sort.

I think it was the combination of the word "Japanese" and the phrase "remote ocean battle" that created the tantalizing prospect of a real-life Japanese monster movie in my mind. I should have known that with Greenpeace there, it would be much more sensible.

Why American Girls dolls aren't wholesome enough

I have been really puzzled about the recent American Girls dolls controversy. The dolls always struck me as presenting a very traditional and wholesome image of girlhood. Yet, recently they've come under fire from groups who claim to promote conservative family values. Here's why: the American Girls company gives money to Girls, Inc. an organization that helps underprivileged girls, but that also supports Roe v. Wade and "acceptance of homosexuality," according to this news report from CBSNews.

I can't find much on Girls, Inc.'s website about those hot-button issues, though, and frankly, I wonder if the real problem with Girls, Inc. is bigger. The group's motto seems to be "inspiring strong, smart, and bold girls," and I wonder if "bold" is the troublesome part.

In a more general sense, events in recent weeks -- this protest, the whole "Happy Holidays" controversy this season (if you don't know about that, here's one example, and you really should read newspapers or watch TV more often), and the "intelligent design" crusades -- demonstrate that complaints about "political correctness" are specious. People who really believe in a position will defend that position and put pressure on others to accept that position. That's not political correctness, it's political action.

When the political actions seem like petty, busybody efforts to control others' thoughts and language, people start using that label "political correctness," but the label says more about the politics underlying the efforts than about the efforts themselves. To me, the American Girls protest seems like a petty, busybody effort. But then, I strongly disagree with the politics underlying it. Go strong, smart, bold girls!!

Judge Luttig, writing for the Fourth Circuit, has questioned the government's credibility in requesting Padilla transfer

SCOTUSblog discusses the Fourth Circuit's opinion denying the government's motion to transfer Jose Padilla to civilian custody and to vacate the Fourth Circuit's September opinion, in which the court held that the President to detain enemy combatants within the borders of the U.S. I haven't read the entire opinion, but based on the bit I read, I have to agree with SCOTUS blogger Lyle Denniston that the opinion constitutes a "rebuke" to the government:

The government's actions, the opinion said, "have left not only the impression that Padilla may have been held for these years, even if justifiably, by mistake -- an impression we would have thought the government could ill afford to leave extant."

. . . . [paragraph omitted]

"These impressions have been left, we fear, at what may ultimately prove to be substantial cost to the government's credibility before the courts, to whom it will one day need to argue again in support of a principle of assertedly like importance and necessity to the one that it seems to abandon today. While there could be an objective that could command such a price as all of this, it is difficult to imagine what that objective would be."

I should read the entire opinion and the underlying pleadings. They seem like good material for a discussion ethical issues in persuasive legal writing in my legal writing class this semester. In particular, the fact that the government's latest shift in position seems difficult to explain except as an effort to prevent the US Supreme Court from deciding an issue of great importance. As Denniston describes,

In explaining the refusal to vacate that opinion, Luttig's opinion suggested that the administration for four years had made "a centerpiece" in the war on terrorism a claim of presidential power to detain militarily persons believed to be terrorists. The Circuit Court itself, Luttig noted, had recognized the "exceeding importance" of that question.

On an issue of that magnitude, the opinion said, "we believe that the rule of law is best served by maintaining on appeal the status quo in all respects and allowing Supreme Court consideration of the case in the ordinary course, rather by an eleventh-hour transfer and vacatur on grounds and under circumstances that would further a perception that dismissal may have been sought for the purpose of avoiding consideration by the Supreme Court."

Insect wallpaper

Reuters reports about how "Canadian artist Jennifer Angus took [an "eight-inch jungle nymph insect"], and 15,000 other insects, and pinned them to the walls of Toronto's textile museum for an exhibit that looks, from afar, like elaborate wallpaper and aims to parody bizarre Victorian tastes." There's a cool picture with the article.

How illegal gun trade works

At least, how illegal guns get into New York City. The Morning News links to this interesting piece from the New Yorker, describing the way guns are brought in from out of state. The information comes from an interview with a private investigator, Jim Mintz, who is helping the city investigate the gun trade for its anti-gun lawsuit:

Mintz got up and walked over to a giant chalkboard. “Here’s what happens,” he said, and began to draw a flowchart. “You have the manufacturer, who trucks the boxes over to the distributor, who delivers the guns to the dealer, a store, or a pawnshop. In walks the straw man.” He explained that a straw man is a person to whom a criminal pays twenty-five or fifty dollars to buy a gun on his behalf—a more sinister version of the underage drinker’s “Hey, Mister” procurement scheme. The straw man is often a woman. “It could be an attractive woman, or a woman on welfare who needs the money badly,” Proshansky said. “Often, the trafficker is standing right next to her, doing all the shopping, handling the guns, asking the prices,” Mintz said. “The dealer can see the trafficker counting out the money right there.”

I fancy myself to have sprachgefuhl.

Who knew there was a word for that? This proves that Wordsmith is definitely superior to dictionary.com.

And on the subject of spachgefuhl, did you ever read the Life in Hell cartoon where the last panel is something like, "You have a way with words"? One cannot live by sprachgefuhl alone.

Mass-market solar panels by 2007?

According to Honda. I would like some for my house.

Melange does not merit "word of the day" status

I don't know about these words of the day from dictionary.com sometimes. Isn't melange a pretty well-known word? It does not seem at all unusual to me.

The Master and Margarita on TV?

In Russia. Not here. Sad for me. Maybe they'll release it on DVD.

I had to reread the sentence that mentions "Begemot," thinking to myself, they're talking about Behemoth. It's pathetic that I'd forgotten how "h" sounds become "g" sounds in Russian (or maybe it's how "g" sounds become "h" sounds in English?) Anyway, my favorite example is "guligan," which is just such a funny way to say hooligan, already a funny word.

Another creepy, and yet cool, online database

Looking for info about Scott Horton (author of the Balkin torture/honor post I was blogging about), I ran across this site, the "nndb," which bills itself as "tracking the entire world." Thankfully, they don't seem to be tracking me.

Torture policy development

Some sort of agreement was reached today between McCain and the administration regarding a ban on the use of torture. The question is what they mean when they use that word "torture."

"Mother rats nearly always beat virgins in competitions that involve multitasking."

I just received my issue of SciAm in the mail, and there's a really interesting article about a study showing that, at least in some ways, becoming a mother (maybe even a parent, in general) increases intelligence. The latest issue's content doesn't seem to be on the web yet, but this paragraph from the article is a nice teaser:

Experiments . . . have demonstrated that mother rats nearly always beat virgins in competitions that involve simultaneously monitoring sights, sounds, odors, and othe ranimals. In a race to find a preferred food (Froot Loops), rats who had experienced two or more pregnancies were the first to attain the treat 60 percent of the time. Rats who had given birth just once won the prize 33 percent of the time, compared with only 7 percent for the virgin rats.

I hope the same is true, to at least some extent, in humans. It will be some solace for the feeling that I've lost the ability to completely concentrate on one thing....

More on torture and honor

Horton's post about "honor" and "torture" on Balkinization drew the following comment from a reader titling himself "A Christian Prophet":

Have I missed something? I haven't seen any evidence that the U.S. has tortured anyone. I've seen strong assurances that the U.S. absolutely does not use torture. And I've seen stories that a few guards abused prisoners and were prosecuted for it. I've also seen stories that the liberal left and left-leaning news media make things up to suit their purposes. So I need concrete evidence.
# posted by A Christian Prophet : 5:57 PM

This comment shows how the torture debate remains out of stasis. Posts like Horton's appeal to me and seem so true and damning of the other side only because Horton and I agree, roughly, about the meanings of the words "honor" and "torture," and agree that the evidence already established - the pictures and testimonies from Abu Ghraib and other places - show that our government has condoned torture.

But A Christian Prophet does not agree. And that's where the real debate lies and should continue. Unfortunately, because these matters are horrible to discuss, we need a lot more discussion, and a lot more specific discussion, of exactly what constitutes "torture" and why that's so. The same debate is necessary to clarify the meaning of the Secretary of State's recent statements of our government's rejection of "torture."

People trade their time for money

Someone wrote a paper documenting the fact that on average, people who spend less time shopping pay higher prices. (Thanks to Christine at the Conglomerate for linking to Tyler Cowen's discussion of the study.) In brief, the study finds that

For identical goods, prices paid are highest for middleaged, rich, and large households, consistent with the hypothesis that shopping intensity is low when the cost of time is high. The data suggest that a doubling of shopping frequency lowers the price paid for a given good by approximately 10 percent. From this elasticity and observed shopping intensity, we impute the shopper’s opportunity cost of time, which peaks in middle age at a level roughly 40 percent higher than that of retirees.

My dad will be pleased but not surprised to see this proof that shopping lowers price. Though I will continue to press my argument with him that sometimes the money saved is not worth the time. Especially since it's time spent shopping.

Torture and dishonor

This piece by Scott Horton at Balkinization really touched me, summed up why I find the whole torture debate so hard to take. He explains that the recent decision of the British House of Lords holding that evidence obtained through the use of torture would be inadmissible was based on precedents decided before 1729. It's based on law that was part of the common law before America was founded.

He also discusses the despair that Col. Ted Westhusing expressed about our decision to use torture, before his recent death in Iraq, apparently by suicide. I guess he was a leading military ethicist. The recent LA Times piece discussing his death reports that he was particularly depressed about corruption and human rights violations by contractors in Iraz.

The note found near his body, apparently in his own handwriting read in part, "I cannot support a msn [mission] that leads to corruption, human rights abuse and liars. I am sullied," it says. "I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored."

"Death before being dishonored any more."

You mean to say, the United States has been moving detainees around without permission?

I don't mean to say that I approve of it, or that it's no big deal. But Europe's apparent outrage over the evidence that our government has moved detainees around in Europe outside of normal legal channels rings a little hollow to me. For one thing, I find it hard to believe that most of these governments were unaware of what was going on, at some level.

Another encouraging development for bees

I guess that they like living under power lines when the scrub's left to grow. Let's let it grow! Encourage bees, save money on cutting down scrub.

The Great Lakes

This international pact to preserve the Great Lakes seems like a positive development. Particularly because the Great Lakes are on the verge of "ecological breakdown," according to scientists who study such the lakes The scientists urged that collective effort was essential:

"There's widespread agreement that the Great Lakes are under tremendous stress," said Alfred Beeton of the University of Michigan. "Toxic substances ... overfishing, invasive species, changes in hydrology affecting rivers -- now we can add the effects of global climate change.

"These have been dealt with individually. What we need to do is look at the ecosystem -- the combination of stresses," Beeton said. "Historical sources of stress have combined with new ones and we have arrived at a tipping point. What we mean is that ecosystem changes will occur rapidly and unexpectedly."

The report emphasized the need for large-scale ecosystem restoration and not piecemeal efforts, coauthor Don Scavia said. Particularly important was preserving or restoring shoreline "buffer zones," such as wetlands and lake tributaries to help the lakes heal themselves.

"These are the key areas for filtering the contaminants that enter the lakes. It's also where most of the wildlife habitat is," Scavia said.

Shoreline pollution that fouls Great Lakes beaches is extending into the middle of some of the five Great Lakes, sudden drops in oxygen levels in the water threaten native species, and native fish have been crowded out by invasive species that have changed the character of the lakes, the scientists added.

So, the new pact, which was signed by the governors of all states and provinces that border the lake, is a step in the right direction - at least there's an effort to act collectively. Probably what will be most controversial about the pact is that it "introduced strict standards for water usage, sinking tentative proposals to ship water to thirsty regions such as the U.S. Southwest or Middle East." But I like the sound of this: "The agreement, announced in Milwaukee, includes strict rules that will make it difficult for additional communities on the edges of the Great Lakes watershed to use its water. Previously, governors could arbitrarily decide to include or exclude communities seeking water from the lakes."

Especially, the "announced in Milwaukee" part!

The pact has to be approved by the legislatures of the signing states and provinces to take effect.
I didn't remember until I looked it up on wikipedia that the Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth. (I still trust wikipedia on most matters, despite recent controversies. There's even a wikipedia entry on the controversy.)

Bias in the workplace reportedly extremely common

Did you hear that one out of six Americans reports having been the victim of bias in the workplace? Although the Gallup pollsters concluded that much of this bias is unprotected favoritism, rather than legally prohibited discrimination, they still estimate illegal discrimination rates of between 9 and 15 percent. They also noted that "employees who worked in companies rating high in [promotion of diversity] reported the greatest overall satisfaction and loyalty. " I've heard that before, in the Economist earlier this year. It seems that the companies that do the most to promote diversity have the most satisfied employees.

Also, this article reminded me that "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. currently is fighting the nation's largest employment lawsuit, which alleges that 1.6 million current and former women employees earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions."

Breakfast reviews

What a good idea. I love going out for breakfast. I wish there was something like this for Milwaukee. Thanks Morning News.

Dryasdust is a word?

According to Wordsmith, "dryasdust" is a word meaning "extremely dull, dry, or boring."

Help for finding a needle in a haystack

A new statistical method helps researchers separate out random occurrences from significant, but very rare, ones. At least, that's what they say it does.

Easy-to-access, detailed stats on cities all over the nation

I think I picked this link up from the Morning News at some point, but I can't remember when. It's fun to snoop around for statistics about various cities, villages, and towns across the country and in your own neighborhood.

Intuitive dieting

This idea of intuitive eating as a diet definitely has intuitive appeal. It's similar to Margaret Cho's f***-it diet from a couple of year's ago. The basic concept is to eat what you want, but only enough to satisfy.

Of or related to snow.

I've had a really nival couple of days. My husband, even more so.

When they say "put a cow in your tank," they really mean it.

This really puts the "bio" in "biodiesel":

A C$14 million factory near Montreal started producing "biodiesel" fuel two weeks ago from the bones, innards and other parts of farm animals such as cattle, pigs or chickens that Canadians do not eat.the animal and fat waste arrives from a rendering plant as a thick brown liquid -- with a gut-wrenchingly rancid smell. It leaves as an almost odorless clear yellow fuel.

Although this sounds really creepy and gross to me, I guess it's really just cutting out the millenia it takes to create petroleum. And anyway,

"When you drive, some people say it smells of popcorn or french fries," said Claude Bourgault, general manager of Rothsay in the Quebec area.