Word for the day: "Lunch-shaming"

Excerpts from an editorial in the Minnesota Star Tribune:

Imagine being a hungry child at school, only to have your hot lunch tray taken away and replaced with a cold sandwich in front of your classmates. This is the reality for thousands of children across the U.S. — all because their parents couldn’t afford lunch fees. Debt collectors are literally chasing down families over school meal debt. For children unable to pay for meals, not only have school districts served them separate food from their peers, but some students are forced to wear wristbands or stamps.

A few years ago, Valerie Castile put this issue at the top of mind for legislators. She is the mother of Philando Castile, the 32-year-old cafeteria worker who was fatally shot during a police traffic stop in 2016. In his honor, Valerie used her son’s foundation to pay off student lunch debts, ensuring no child would be denied the chance to graduate because of existing debt. Philando’s compassion sparked a movement — and helped shift the conversation in Minnesota and across the country around school meal debt and universal school meals.

Back in 2019, more than 40 students at Richfield High who had lunch account debts of $15 or more had their hot lunches removed from their trays, thrown in the trash and replaced with a cold lunch. This was an unacceptable form of humiliation that generated outrage and helped pave the way for real action in our state. Examples like this have been all too common in schools across the country...

In Minnesota, I am grateful that the universal school meals bill was signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz. Because of this crucial legislation, not only are children receiving free meals at school, but this legislation has effectively canceled all future school meal debt. It has transformed the lives of so many children across our state. If you can’t feed the bellies, you can’t feed the brains...

More at the link, written by Representative Ilhan Omar.

Fascinating artifacts found in the nests of vultures

A professor of prehistory at the University of Cantabria in Santander, Spain conducted a proper archaeological "dig" in the nest of a bearded vulture, excavating methodically downwards through ever-older strata.  The image embedded above shows some of the material that one might expect in a large raptor's nest - mammal and bird bones and teeth, hooves, horns, eggshells, and droppings.  

But there's more (click to embiggen):

The second image shows a collage of items handcrafted by humans, to wit -

A collection of handcrafted materials found in ancient Bearded Vulture nests. (A) Part of an esparto grass slingshot. (B) A detail of a crossbow bolt and its wooden lance. (C) Agobía (Sierra Nevada, Granada), a rough footwear made of several species of grass and twigs, C-14 dated at 674 ± 22 years Before Present (ETH-138982). Agobías typically lasted for a few days of wear and were continuously repaired and replaced by hand by the wearer. (D) A basketry fragment C-14 dated at 151 ± 22 years Before Present (ETH-138980). (E) A piece of sheep leather C-14 dated at 651 ± 22 years Before Present (ETH-138981) with red lines drawn, and (F) a piece of fabric. Scale bars are in centimeters. Photographs: Sergio Couto (A, B, D, and F) and Lucía Agudo Pérez (C and E).

That's why the nest was being excavated by an archaeologist, not a biologist.  "...the most exciting one was a shoe, because the shape is totally identical to ones found in an archaeological site called the Cave of the Bat, which is also in the region where these nest have been found. And those are dating 12,000 years ago. 

The scientific findings are reported in the journal Ecology (not behind a paywall), where it is noted that some raptor nests have been located at the same sites for thousands of years.  And the location of these nests, in caves sheltered from the weather affords optimal conditions for preservation of organic material.

"The study of the material preserved in caves housing ancient Bearded Vulture nests can therefore provide interesting information not only about the feeding ecology of the species but also about historical ethnographic and biocultural conditions."

Note the human footwear they found in the nest was carbon dated to the 13th century. This investigation has only sampled the upper layers so far.  More to come.  Fascinating, and kudos to the investigators for coming up with the investigation.

I first heard about this from my favorite podcast - the CBC's As It Happens (transcript).

Found on the "What Is It ?" subreddit

There are lots of fascinating subreddits including What Is It? where people post images of items and ask for identification.  Today someone posted the image above [cropped for size] with this comment:

"Found this in a cabinet with plates in my AirBnb. Looks like it attaches to some larger machine, but it’s nowhere to be found."

No need to post guesses here; you can find the answer at this link.

Res ipsa loquitur

"No Kings" day tomorrow

"Saturday’s national “No Kings” protests seem likely to be huge, and the Trump administration appears especially concerned and worried about the public backlash it’s facing this weekend. House Speaker Mike Johnson is railing against as them as a “hate America rally,” while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent bloviated this week, “No kings equals no paychecks,” a message so dumb, out-of-touch, and wrong that it almost sounds like a tweet from Chuck Schumer’s social media team. Even Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy got into the complaining-in-advance act, which for me only underscored that the inner circle of would-be King Donald’s administration is legitimately concerned about a real on-the-ground resistance movement. “The GOP’s desperation meter is at DEFCON 1,” Jill Lawrence wrote."

Text from a virally-circulating newletter written by Garrett M. Graff.  I'll be wearing yellow tomorrow.

Trump offers medications at 654% discount

Ponder for a moment the widespread extent of abysmal ignorance that went into this public presentation.  Someone assembled those data, then calculated multiple discounts over 100%.  Then someone with graphic design skills created the poster.  Someone sets the poster on the easel.  Camera crews gather around.  And then this "very stable genius" says (and believes) he is offering a 654% discount FFS.  Isn't there anybody in the chain of command with the brains (or the balls) to say "this isn't possible."*  It's embarassing.  Makes me ashamed to be an American.

The TrumpRx website is of course a Potemkin village, giving no details and promising results in 2026.

Images from The Guardian.

*addendum - what I should asked was whether there was anyone willing to tell the emperor the truth about his new (or absent) clothes.  I'll blog that fairy tale separately, after this weekend's football games.

"Best restroom in the United States"

The winner of the annual award goes to a state park bathroom in Minnesota.

Bear Head Lake State Park (Ely, Minnesota): Nestled within one of Minnesota’s most beloved parks, the restroom and shower building at Bear Head Lake State Park provides more than just function—it offers thoughtful design in a stunning setting. With a fully accessible layout that meets all ADA guidelines, this facility ensures comfort for all visitors. The exterior dishwashing sinks are a camper-friendly touch, providing a convenient space to clean up without trekking back to a waterless site. Surrounded by the serene beauty that earned Bear Head Lake the title of America’s Favorite State Park in 2010, this restroom is proof that practicality and natural beauty can go hand in hand.

"Minnesota bathrooms have won twice before: Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s in 2016 and Varsity Theater’s in Minneapolis in 2013."

The key elements considered for the award are cleanliness, visual appeal, innovation, functionality and unique design elements.  The other 8 finalists (from Texas, California, New Hampshire, New York, Florida, Kansas, Utah, and Colorado) are listed at the Cintas website.

"Butterfly" hemivertebrae

I've probably viewed 100,000+ chest xrays and CT scans in my life, but I've never before encountered this anomaly.  You learn something every day.  

Embedded images from the New England Journal of Medicine.  A concise summary of the radiographic features, associated clinical syndromes, and ddx is available at Radiopaedia.

Jeffrey Sachs' extensive and detailed discussion of the Israel - U.S. relationship. Please listen.

In this interview, Tucker Carlson is interviewing Jeffrey Sachs.

Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and public policy analyst who is a professor at Columbia University, where he was formerly director of The Earth Institute. He worked on sustainable development and economic development...

Sachs is co-founder and chief strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger. From 2002 to 2006, he was director of the United Nations Millennium Project's work on the MDGs. In 2010, he became a commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, whose stated aim is to boost the importance of broadband internet in international policy.[12] Sachs has written several books and received several awards. His views on economics, on the origin of COVID-19, and on the Russian invasion of Ukraine have garnered attention and criticism.

I don't personally like or follow Tucker Carlson, but in this case he is interviewing someone whose views on the Israel/U.S. relationship parallel my own.  Jeffrey Sachs knows the issues, speaks well, and doesn't pull any punches.  Please give this a listen.

The final two minutes are a commercial presentation by the host.  I've closed comments for this post, because I don't have time to curate a firestorm of comments.

Magic tricks are fun to watch

Minnesotans volunteer to rescue loons

Nobody has to do this.  Nobody is paid to do this.  People do this because they are basically nice.

This notice was posted on Facebook by the Longville Campground Residents group.  I am sure there are similar volunteer organizations around the country. 

Jane Goodall was an expert on alpha males

In a lifetime studying the behavior of chimpanzees, Jane Goodall became something of an authority on the aggressiveness of alpha male adults. Now, in an interview released just days after her death, the famed primatologist reveals what she would do with Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other human beings she saw as showing similar traits: launch them on a one-way trip into space...

“There are people I don’t like, and I would like to put them on one of Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover,” Goodall tells interviewer Brad Falchuk during the revelatory 55-minute special discussing her life, work and legacy...

[Musk would] be the host. You can imagine who I’d put on that spaceship. Along with Musk would be Trump and some of Trump’s real supporters,” she said.  “And then I would put [Russian president Vladimir] Putin in there, and I would put [China’s] President Xi. I’d certainly put [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu in there and his far-right government. Put them all on that spaceship and send them off.”...

In a 2022 interview with MSNBC she said [Trump] exhibited “the same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee will show when he’s competing for dominance with another. They’re upright, they swagger, they project themselves as really more large and aggressive than they may actually be in order to intimidate their rivals.”...

“We get, interestingly, two types of alpha. One does it all by aggression, and because they’re strong and they fight, they don’t last very long. Others do it by using their brains, like a young male will only challenge a higher-ranking one if his friend, often his brother, is with him. And you know, they last much, much longer,” she said.

She also examined the “politicization” of behavior, and what her studies had taught her about aggressive behaviors shown by groups of humans and chimpanzees when confronted with something they perceived as hostile, even if no threat existed.

“Chimps see a stranger from a neighboring community, and they get all excited, and the hair stands out, and they reach out and touch another, and they’ve got these faces of anger and fear, and it catches, and the others catch that feeling that this one male has had, and they all become aggressive,” she said.

“It’s contagious,” she added. “Some of these demonstrations that turn aggressive, it sweeps through them. They all want to become and join in and become aggressive. They’re protecting their territory or fighting for dominance.”

Falchuk asked if she believed it was the same for humans. “Probably, sometimes yes. But I truly believe that most people are decent,” she said.

I quite agree with her that most people are decent.  See adjacent post about loon rescues.

Photo and text excerpted from The Guardian.

Today (10/6) is Mad Hatter Day

Explained here:

Mad Hatter Day is 10/6. The date was chosen from the illustrations by John Tenniel in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, wherein the Mad Hatter is always seen wearing a hat bearing a slip of paper with the notation "In this style 10/6". We take this as inspiration to behave in the style of the Mad Hatter on 10/6 (which is October 6 here, although in Britain Mad  Hatter Day occurs on June 10...but I digress...)

Mad Hatter Day began in Boulder, CO, in 1986, among some computer folk who had nothing better to do. It was immediately recognized as valuable because they caused less damage than if they'd been doing their jobs.

As I searched this topic on the 'net today, it was interesting to see how many observers misinterpret the 10/6 on his hat as being either a style number ("The Mad Hatter’s top hat, according to Lewis Carroll, was of the 10/6 style") or worse ("my birthdate (10/6) is on his hat although I think that is his hat size!"). The correct interpretation, of course, is that "the paper in the Mad Hatter's Hat was really an order to make a hat in the style shown, to cost ten shillings sixpence."

Reposted every several years.

Introducing Claire McCardell

Some readers may be quite familiar with this lady, but a recent article in The Atlantic was my introduction to her.

Claire McCardell hated being uncomfortable. This was true long before she became one of America’s most famous fashion designers in the 1950s, her influence felt in every woman’s wardrobe, her face on the cover of Time magazine.

As a young girl growing up in Maryland, she hated wearing a dress when climbing trees, and didn’t understand why she couldn’t wear pants with pockets like her brothers—she had nowhere to put the apples she picked. At summer camp, she loathed swimming in the cumbersome full-length stockings women were expected to wear, so she ditched hers and went bare-legged in the lake, even though she knew she’d get in trouble. When she was just starting out as a fashion designer, in the 1930s, she went on a ski trip to New Hampshire and one evening saw a woman shivering in a thin satin dress. Why, McCardell wondered, couldn’t an evening gown be made out of something warmer, so a woman could actually enjoy herself?

McCardell made a career out of asking such questions, and helped transform American fashion in the process, as Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson details in her lively and psychologically astute biography, Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free. The young designer who came home from New Hampshire and devised a blue wool evening dress was often dismissed by her bosses for her “crazy” ideas—wool was for coats, not parties! She was told to keep copying the latest looks from Paris, as was customary in the American garment trade at the time. In those early years, McCardell didn’t have the clout to design apparel her way. But she had a core conviction, and she never abandoned it: Women deserve to be comfortable—in their clothes, and in the world...

McCardell insisted on putting pockets in women’s clothing; previously, pockets were reserved almost exclusively for men... She put fasteners on the side of her clothes rather than the back, so women could get dressed without a husband or a maid. She partnered with Capezio to popularize the ballet flat—and the idea that women didn’t always have to wear heels. When air travel became possible, and steamer trunks were replaced with slim suitcases, McCardell developed separates: tops and bottoms you could mix and match so that you didn’t have to bring a bulky parade of dresses for every occasion. She patented the wrap dress, mainstreamed the leotard, stripped linings out of swimsuits so that women didn’t have to sit sodden and cold on the beach. Ever worn denim? McCardell is the one who ignored its provenance as a humble workingman’s textile and brought it to women’s wear.

More at the link.  I don't plan to read the book and won't be reviewing it here, but I'm introducing her and the book because I'm sure this is the type of fashion designer my pragmatic mother would have loved.

If you received a check from the "National Cancer Research Center"...

... do some research before deciding how to proceed.

Our check (for $2.50) arrived yesterday inside a fundraising appeal, and I was immediately suspicious.  Unsolicited checks can be used as vehicles for scams in which your endorsement of the check commits you to obligations in the fine print.  That did not appear to be the case with this check.

The accompanying letter from Steven L. Blumenthal states -

"The $2.50 check is real.  You could put this letter aside, cassh the check, and forget all about our important laboratory research and national cancer education programs.  But what I really hope you will do is return the $2.50 check along with your own gift of $10.00 or more to help in our fight against cancer."

My wife immediately logged on to access the Charity Navigator website (I would encourage everyone to bookmark this worthwhile site for future reference).  The "National Cancer Research Institute" is, as indicated on their checks, a project of the Walker Cancer Research Institute, which is rated by Charity Navigator with one star (out of a possible four) for accountability and transparency, and 2/4 for finances.  They note that over 50% of the funds raised are used for additional fundraising.  So if you send them $10, about $5 of that will be used to send mailings to more people.

"Program expenses" receive 47% of the funds.  Regarding that "program," Wikipedia states:

The public education portion of the solicitation consists of an approximately 1/8 page list of "risk factors for breast cancer" on the back side of the solicitation. Overall, 52.11% + 43.14% (95.25%) of all donations go to either direct or indirect fundraising costs. The card states that 3.81% of funds go directly to research program services (38 cents out of a $10.00 donation). Thus, of the $12,568,927 raised by WCRI, $478,876.11 went directly to research. As a comparison, an NIH grant awarded to a single Investigator for a specific research study typically ranges from $25,000 to $250,000.

If you read the comments at Charity Navigator, you will see that some people say they cash the check and donate the money to "real" charities.  Or you can keep the money.  But note this - your name and address are on the check (with a scannable barcode), and...

Numerous complaints have been made by individuals who are receiving dozens of letters soliciting funds and are unable to persuade the charity to remove their names from the mailing list. The Center then sells those names to other charities, and people throughout the country have complained of being inundated by requests for money that they can not stop.

The choice is yours.  My check went into the shredder.

Reposted from 2012, because after five years this organization is still sending out these checks, and the public continues to find this old post (over 10,000 views so far...) via Google.  Perhaps it will be even easier to find if I make the date more recent.

Re-reposted from 2017, because people are still getting these checks in the mail.

Reposted again because I received a comment today that these checks are still being mailed (although the size of the checks has declined to $1.95).  Also of note, when I went back to Charity Navigator to confirm the evaluation of this organization, I note they have changed their name to the Walker Cancer Research Institute, and their evaluation places them as a "Zero-Star Charity."  They pay their top four employees over $450K from a revenue of about $2M.