President Jimmy Carter (1924 - 2024)

The 39th president of the United States lives modestly, a sharp contrast to his successors, who have left the White House to embrace power of another kind: wealth.  Even those who didn’t start out rich, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have made tens of millions of dollars on the private-sector opportunities that flow so easily to ex-presidents...

The Democratic former president decided not to join corporate boards or give speeches for big money because, he says, he didn’t want to “capitalize financially on being in the White House.”

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said that Gerald Ford, Carter’s predecessor and close friend, was the first to fully take advantage of those high-paid post-presidential opportunities, but that “Carter did the opposite.”

Since Ford, other former presidents, and sometimes their spouses, routinely earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per speech.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it; I don’t blame other people for doing it,” Carter says over dinner. “It just never had been my ambition to be rich.”..

Carter decided that his income would come from writing, and he has written 33 books, about his life and career, his faith, Middle East peace, women’s rights, aging, fishing, woodworking, even a children’s book written with his daughter, Amy Carter, called “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer.”

With book income and the $210,700 annual pension all former presidents receive, the Carters live comfortably. But his books have never fetched the massive sums commanded by more recent presidents...

Ex-presidents often fly on private jets, sometimes lent by wealthy friends, but the Carters fly commercial. Stuckey says that on a recent flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, Carter walked up and down the aisle greeting other passengers and taking selfies...

That no-frills sensibility, endearing since he left Washington, didn’t work as well in the White House. Many people thought Carter scrubbed some of the luster off the presidency by carrying his own suitcases onto Air Force One and refusing to have “Hail to the Chief” played...

When Carter looks back at his presidency, he says he is most proud of “keeping the peace and supporting human rights,” the Camp David accords that brokered peace between Israel and Egypt, and his work to normalize relations with China. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

“I always told the truth,” he says.

Carter has been notably quiet about President Trump. But on this night, two years into Trump’s term, he’s not holding back.

“I think he’s a disaster,” Carter says. “In human rights and taking care of people and treating people equal.”..

They watch Atlanta Braves games or “Law and Order.” Carter just finished reading “The Innovators” by Walter Isaacson. They have no chef and they cook for themselves, often together. They make their own yogurt.

On this summer morning, Rosalynn mixes pancake batter and sprinkles in blueberries grown on their land. Carter cooks them on the griddle.

Then he does the dishes.

I highly recommend reading the full story at the Washington Post.  His life and his personal principles offer such a stark contrast to current and recent presidents.  Here's one final excerpt about his home:

...a two-bedroom rancher assessed at $167,000, less than the value of the armored Secret Service vehicles parked outside.

Photo credit Library of Congress, via CNBC.

Reposted from 2018 to add this photo of Jimmy Carter at his 96th birthday party several months ago:

He was too frail to attend the inauguration today, but was fondly remembered by several commentators (and me).  Via the Pics subreddit, where there is an affectionate comment thread.

See also: Jimmy Carter: "End the global war on drugs" (2011)

Reposted in memoriam on the day of his death.

A celestial "Christmas tree" aurora

This APOD image was captured in Iceland last December.  It will serve as my Christmas gift to everyone while I take some time off from blogging to enjoy the holidays.

Tomb of the "real Santa Claus" located

As reported by Archaeology News:

"Recent excavations at the Church of St. Nicholas in Demre, Antalya, Turkey, have revealed a limestone sarcophagus that may be the burial site of Saint Nicholas, the Greek bishop whose life and deeds inspired the legend of Santa Claus...

The sarcophagus, found within the church’s two-story annex, is believed to be the original burial site of Saint Nicholas, who lived in the ancient city of Myra during the 4th century CE. Measuring approximately two meters in length and buried at a depth of 1.5 to 2 meters, the sarcophagus features a raised lid and a pitched roof consistent with burial styles of the region. Its proximity to the church—constructed in the 5th century CE by order of Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II—adds credibility to the theory that this was the saint’s original resting place...

Saint Nicholas, known for his acts of generosity and miraculous intercessions, served as the Bishop of Myra and died in 343 CE. Centuries after his death, his remains were moved to the Church of St. Nicholas, which was built over his original burial site. By the 11th century, his bones were reportedly taken to the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy, and later, additional remains were transported to Venice during the First Crusade. In 1953, scientific studies confirmed that bones from both Bari and Venice belonged to the same individual, though whether they were Saint Nicholas himself remains inconclusive."

More on Saint Nicholas at Wikipedia.

"In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them."

Interesting items found beside a trail in Seattle

Image cropped for size from the original posted at the mushroomID subreddit: "A bunch of them by a tree trunk, firm but with a wet plaster texture."  Answer posted in the first comment.  You learn something every day.

Difficult math puzzle

Discussion at a puzzles subreddit thread, with best explanation here.

Cactus. Fasciation. White-winged dove. And Stevie Nicks.

First I encountered this photo of an absolutely awesome cactus (at L'oeil ouvert, via).  The caption was in French, so I had to Google Translate it to find this info about the plant:

The French naturalist and historian Leon Diguet realized six scientific expeditions in Mexico between 1893 and 1913... With a few prints in the world, this picture offers a spectacular example of a species of cacti: the Giant Cardon, about 8 meters high and about 10 tons.

I still wondered if it could be a manipulated image, because these are famously-slow-growing plants - it's said to take up to 75 years to develop a single side arm.  Some take on unusual shapes; here is a cristate ("crested") crown -

- a phenomenon that occurs secondary to "fasciation":

... a condition of plant growth in which the apical meristem, normally concentrated around a single point, producing approximately cylindrical tissue, becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested, or elaborately contorted tissue. The phenomenon may occur in the stem, root, fruit, or flower head.

Wikipedia illustrated the phenomenon with a photo of a wildflower:

- and I suddenly realized that I had seen the same type of anomaly two summers ago while hiking, but had no idea what was going on -

(I had assumed it was some kind of mutation, and made plans to return to the site later in the fall to collect seeds, but didn't have a chance to go).

But back to the cactus.  I remembered from old nature films that the major pollinators are bats:

There are a number of floral characteristics geared toward bat pollination: nocturnal opening of the flowers, nocturnal maturation of pollen, very rich nectar, position high above the ground, durable blooms that can withstand a bat's weight, and fragrance emitted at night. One additional evidence is that the amino acids in the pollen appear to help sustain lactation in bats...

- but one link also listed daytime pollinators as bees and... white-winged doves.  And, of course, I couldn't hear that without thinking of Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen.  Until this moment I had always assumed that the "white-winged dove" in her lyrics was an imaginary creature (her lyrics sometimes tend to be rather mystical and obscure):

The clouds... never expect it... when it rains.
But the sea changes colours...
But the sea... does not change.

And so... with the slow... graceful flow... of age
I went forth... with an age old... desire... to please
On the edge of... seventeen

Just like the white-winged dove... sings a song...
Sounds like she's singing...
Ooo baby... ooo... said ooo

Re the genesis of this song, she was in Australia when she heard the news that John Lennon died.  She returned to Phoenix, where she was familiar with the white-winged dove.  While there she was present when her uncle John died at night, which prompted this part of the lyrics -

In a flood of tears
That no one really ever heard fall,
Oh I went searchin' for an answer...
Up the stairs... and down the hall
I did not find an answer... but I did hear the call
Of a nightbird... singing...
Come away... come now...

"The white-winged dove in the song is a spirit that is leaving a body, and I felt a great loss at how both Johns were taken..." She explains it all in this VH1 Storytellers segment, which is the best way to close this blog for the night.  The resolution isn't good for fullscreen, but you can still crank up the audio...  Enjoy.

You learn something every day.

Addendum:  For a contemporary photo of an immense cactus, see the link posted by HeavenlyJane in the comments.

Reposted from 2011 because the BBC has just posted a longread about the history and legacy of this song.

"... more than any other Stevie Nicks solo moment, Edge of Seventeen has entranced subsequent generations and helped to define the singer's standing as a rock icon: not just as member of Fleetwood Mac, but as an artist in her own right. It's a song that operates on several levels – at once an instant hit of rock drama and a heady meditation on death – and seems to yield something new every time you play it. Its distinctive 16th-note guitar riff – played by Waddy Wachtel, a legendary session musician who also worked with Cher and The Rolling Stones – remains electrifying every time you hear it...

When Tom Petty's wife Jane told Nicks that she and her husband met "at the age of 17", Nicks misheard her Southern accent and thought she'd said "at the edge of 17". In that instant, she realised that she had a brilliant song title."

Related: Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac - Landslide.

Reposted from 2017 because this morning I remembered this has another "seventeen" song to celebrate the blogiversary.  But the YouTube link has undergone linkrot, so I'll need to find another to substitute in that spot (later today maybe). done

An update on the status of Monarchs

I'm impressed by the projects being undertaken in Mexico by scientists and indigenous people to extend the vertical range of Monarch overwintering habitat in an effort of counteract the deleterious effects of climate change.

Janis Ian sings "At Seventeen" for my blogiversary

I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth.

And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say “come dance with me”
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn’t all it seems at seventeen.

A brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downs

Whose name I never could pronounce

Said, "Pity, please, the ones who serve

They only get what they deserve"

And the rich-relationed hometown queen

Marries into what she needs

With a guarantee of company

And haven for the elderly.

Remember those who win the game

They lose the love they sought to gain

In debentures of quality

And dubious integrity

The small-town eyes will gape at you

In dull surprise when payment due

Exceeds accounts received

At seventeen.

[instrumental break]

To those of us who knew the pain

Of valentines that never came

And those whose names were never called

When choosing sides for basketball

It was long ago and far away

The world was younger than today

When dreams were all they gave for free

To ugly duckling girls like me.

We all play the game, and when we dare
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say: “Come dance with me”
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen.

Her most successful single was "At Seventeen," released in 1975, a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty and teenage angst, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood. "At Seventeen" was a smash, receiving tremendous acclaim from critics and record buyers alike — it charted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It even won the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female beating out the likes of Linda Ronstadt who was nominated for the classic Heart Like A Wheel album, Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy. Ian performed "At Seventeen" as a musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live on October 11, 1975... Another measure of her success is anecdotal - on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 Valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received any as a teenager."

Reposted from 2008 because I received in the mail a flyer from the Stoughton Opera House advertising a performance by Janis Ian as part of her upcoming "End of the Line" tour.   Updated photo and bio at the link.

Reposted from 2021 to add the lyrics I elided on the original post, and because today TYWKIWDBI is seventeen years old (18,959 posts and 68,000+ curated comments).  Not done yet.

Carl Sagan's foreboding (28 years ago)

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance” 

-- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Random House, 1996

re the Madison school shooter

This morning several people have contacted me on this subject, so I'll just briefly mention that my family and friends have not been directly affected (it occurred in a different suburb).

This Reddit thread is the source of the embedded photo (cropped for size) and has more info than the local news stations (which don't release details until they are properly verified).  That post indicates "Aug 2024, age 14. This picture is the last Facebook post from her dad."

This other link also has (unverified) information about her "manifesto" and this photo.  TL:DR - a dysfunctional family + bullying at school.

I'll take this post down later after more reliable information is available online.

Addendum:  I probably don't need to repost The Onion's boilerplate:

MADISON, WI—In the hours following a violent rampage in Wisconsin in which a lone attacker killed at least two individuals and injured six others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Monday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place. “This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said Maryland resident Jonathan Pallard, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this individual from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what they really wanted.” At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past eight years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”

Addendum:  for additional detailed information and investigation, see the link in the December 18 comment by an anonymous reader.

Addendum:  she could be a poster child for a dysfunctional family:

"Rupnow’s parents married initially in 2011, about two years after her birth. They divorced for the first time in 2014, agreeing that they would have joint custody but that Rupnow would live mostly with her mother.

They married again in 2017 and divorced in 2020, agreeing this time for a more even split in custody. She would be at her father’s for two days, then with her mother for two days, then with her father for three days, before doing the opposite the next week.

It wasn’t long before her parents remarried yet again. In April 2021, they were going through a third divorce. They were “admonished concerning remarriage,” court records state.

In July 2022, they agreed on shared custody but that Rupnow would spend most of her time with her father. She was now in therapy, intended to help decide where she would spend her weekends..."

Dust-bathing and "anting"

I should think most everyone is at least tangentially familiar with "dust-bathing," a behavior niot uncommonly seen in farmyards, zoos, and nature documentaries about bison.  

Dust bathing (also called sand bathing) is an animal behavior characterized by rolling or moving around in dust, dry earth or sand, with the likely purpose of removing parasites from fur, feathers or skin. For some animals, dust baths are necessary to maintain healthy feathers, skin, or fur, similar to bathing in water or wallowing in mud.  In some mammals, dust bathing may be a way of transmitting chemical signals (or pheromones) to the ground which marks an individual's territory.

Last summer I observed a local bird (cardinal or dove IIRC) who settled down in a barren spot in the garden, wiggled into position, and then remained motionless for a prolonged period of time.  It was there for at least an hour, and was absolutely still, without the scratching and wing-flapping that normally characterizes dust baths.  The behavior seemed so atypical that I remember considering whether to go out to the garden to see if the bird was ill or injured, but he/she flew away without incident.

Last week I encountered this cartoon in the summer 2024 issue of Living Bird, the journal of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, that provides a logical explanation.

Beautiful clothes for school

I am in awe of the gorgeous clothing worn by these Palestinian girls attending the opening of a school in Khan Younis, Gaza.  I looked for additional information and images, including in a large gallery by Getty Images, but could find no other details.  The designs must be traditional, and perhaps are ceremonial to some extent.

Photo (cropped for size) credit to Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian's "Week around the world in 20 pictures."

Word for the day: fellmonger

This week I've been watching One Hundred Years of Solitude;  in a recent episode a character was described as a "fellmonger," so I had to look it up.

A fellmonger was a dealer in hides or skins, particularly sheepskins, who might also prepare skins for tanning. The name is derived from the Old English ‘fell’ meaning skins and ‘monger’ meaning dealer. Fellmongery is one of the oldest professions in the world and since ancient times, humans have used the skins of animals to clothe themselves, and for making domestic articles.

Those interested in exploring the subject matter more fully (including details of the technique and equipment) can tackle this (very)longread in the internet archive Wayback Machine.

"Frost flowers" updated

"Frost flowers" are "a strange phenomenon where frost grows from imperfections in the surface ice amid extreme sub-zero temperatures nearing -22C or -7.6F, forming spiky structures that have been found to house microorganisms. In fact, the bacteria found in the frost flowers is much more dense than in the frozen water below it, meaning each flower is essentially a temporary ecosystem, not unlike a coral reef."

The cold, moist air above the open cracks becomes saturated and frost begins to form wherever an imperfection can be found on the ice surface. From these nucleation points the flower-like frost structures grow vertically, quickly rising to centimeters in height. The hollow tendrils of these “frost flowers” begin to wick moisture from the ice surface, incorporating salt, marine bacteria, and other substances as they grow.

More details (and additional photos) at Colossal, via allhomosapienswelcome. Unlike the land-based "frost flowers" I used to see when I lived in rural Kentucky, these Arctic ones are truly made from frost, not from extruded ice.

Reposted from 2012 (!) to add this image of frost flowers seen on Lake Harriet (Minneapolis) this week:

"These delicate clusters of ice crystals can form on top of newly frozen ice only when it's very cold and the air is very still. Frost flowers are more commonly found on fresh sea ice, but can form on newly frozen freshwater lakes. They do not last long and are damaged by wind.

It's been has been years since we’ve had anything close to the right conditions for frost flowers like the ones that formed yesterday. The ice must be very fresh so it is still close to the water temperature and the air must be at least 20 degrees below freezing and the calm for crystals to form."

CT-scanning packs of baseball cards

"A 2000 Bowman Chrome Tom Brady rookie card as seen through the CT scanner. (Image provided by Industrial Inspection and Consulting)"

Excerpts from an article in The New York Times:

For most of its history, buying and selling packs and boxes of trading cards was a game of chance with neither the buyer nor the seller knowing the results.

“The product is designed to be a mystery,” said Keith Irwin, the general manager of Industrial Inspection and Consulting.

And if it wants to stay that way?

“They’ll need to find new packaging solutions,” he said.

IIC went from a company focusing primarily on industrial X-rays and CT scans within the medical and aerospace fields to potentially taking the cover off the trading card industry without taking the cover off any product at all. And in the process, they say, their company — with no prior connections to the trading card industry — has earned thousands of satisfied customers in the collectibles space. All electing for a sneak peek at their cards before tearing the packs or boxes open, circumventing the mystery that has long been a central element of these products.

The service caters to high-end products manufactured by Topps, Panini and Upper Deck, with the technology best suited to reveal cards in densely packed configurations. Take a 2023 Panini Flawless Football First Off The Line case for instance. Each case comes with two boxes. Each box comes with one pack of 10 cards. At $15,000 a case, it certainly makes economic sense that collectors are willing to pay IIC the going rate of $650 per case of that product to get a CT scan and see whether there’s something inside that they want, or to keep the package sealed and sell it on to someone else.

Salient discussion at the link re the ethics and economics of this practice.  Just the existence of this technology and the possibility that packs have been non-invasively scanned can really crater the asking price for "unopened" packs of cards.