Halloween greetings to my neighbors

Ghosts rising from tombs...

A pumpkin patch...

... and a hybrid "cat-witch"

Brought to you by the same neighborhood chalk artists who created a butterfly garden on the driveway last month.

Humans were never hypercarnivores. Neanderthal consumption of maggots clouds the data.

Excerpts from an interesting paper in Science Advances.

Reconstructions of Eurasian Neanderthal diets based on stable nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) typically place hominins at the top of the food web, together with, or above, hypercarnivores, such as lions and wolves. We suggest that these high δ15N values may, in part, reflect the regular consumption of 15N-enriched fly larvae (maggots) occurring in stored animal foods. The ethnohistoric record contains countless examples of Indigenous peoples routinely consuming putrefied animal foods with maggots... We suggest that frequent consumption of animal foods laced with maggots should be considered as a contributor to the high δ15N values observed in Late Pleistocene hominins...

Indigenous peoples almost universally viewed thoroughly putrefied, maggot-infested animal foods as highly desirable fare, not starvation rations. Many such peoples routinely, often intentionally, allowed animal foods to decompose to the point where they were crawling with maggots, in some cases even beginning to liquify, and inevitably emitting a stench so overpowering that early European explorers, fur trappers, and missionaries were sickened by it. Yet such foods were viewed as “good to eat,” even a delicacy, and when asked how they could tolerate the nauseating stench, they simply responded, “we don’t eat the smell”. While our Western sensibilities might abhor the thought of maggot-infested foods, one even finds vestiges of larvae consumption in Europe with the delicacy of casu marzu, a traditional Sardinian cheese replete with the larvae of cheese flies (Piophila casei)...

Our principal goal in this study was to determine whether 15N enrichment occurred in maggots raised on putrid tissue and whether the degree of enrichment was of sufficient magnitude to account for, or at least contribute notably to, the unusually elevated δ15N values observed in Eurasian Late Pleistocene hominins...

Many nitrogen isotope studies place Late Pleistocene hominins alongside hypercarnivores, giving the misleading impression that both had broadly similar diets. They did not. Hominins are primates with largely vegetarian-derived digestive and metabolic systems, not specialized flesh eaters. While it is possible for humans to subsist on a very “carnivorous” diet, many traditional northern hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit subsisted mostly on animal foods, hominins simply cannot tolerate the high levels of protein consumption that large predators can. A modern human weighing ~80 kg, the estimated body weight for a robust cold-adapted Neanderthal male, cannot consume more than ~300 g of protein per day (<4 g/kg of body weight) without serious health consequences. At sustained intakes above that level for as little as 1 to 2 weeks, the individual becomes vulnerable to a debilitating and potentially lethal condition known to early explorers as “rabbit starvation”...

In modern medical terms, the consumption of such high levels of protein exceeds the capacity of the liver to up-regulate enzymes involved in the synthesis of urea, with the result that the liver can no longer effectively deaminize the amino acids, leading, in turn, to a buildup of ammonia and excess amino acids (hyperaminoacidemia) in the blood. In notable contrast, a modern African lion can readily subsist on protein intakes that would probably prove lethal to a human in a matter of a few weeks. Thus, northern hunter-gatherers were carnivorous only in the sense that they relied heavily on animal foods, but most of what they ate was fat, not muscle...

To stay below the critical protein threshold, hunters deliberately targeted the fattest prey available at a given time of year and harvested mostly the “choice parts” of their kills, i.e., the brain, tongue, briskets, ribs, adipose tissue, fatty organs and entrails, marrow, often the carbohydrate-rich chyme and partly digested stomach contents, and, time and fuel permitting, also the grease in the cancellous tissue of the bones...

...meat and fish surpluses were procured in the summer and fall; processed by drying, salting, or freezing; and cached for later use…. The preparation of food surpluses was an intrinsic part of the seasonal round.” Such reserves were often repeatedly tapped over periods of weeks or months, many over multiple seasons, and some for a full year or more. Foods were often already maggot infested before they were placed in caches (i.e., in summer and autumn), and, by the time that the contents were lastly exhausted (commonly in winter and/or spring), they were almost invariably in an advanced state of putrefaction and filled with both living and dead maggots...

I think this is absolutely fascinating, so I've excerpted way too much, but I encourage interested readers to go to the primary source for more data and discussion.  The general public will focus way too much on the "ick" factor of eating maggots, but there are serious matters to consider here re components of a healthy diet, limitations of protein intake, and the consumption of fat.  In particular, this report gives me new insight into the well-known use of "buffalo jumps" to slaughter entire herds of large animals, such as at the Itasca (Minnesota) Bison Kill site and the more famous Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Canada.  I had always viewed such hunting techniques as extravagantly wasteful, but now I understand that humans could return to the kill site months later to harvest meat, fat, and maggot.

You learn something every day.

Finally a documented case of voter fraud

A woman who cast her dead mother's mail-in ballot for President Donald Trump has been ordered to read a book and write an essay on voting's importance to democracy and the consequences of election fraud.

Danielle Christine Miller, 51, of Nashwauk, avoids jail time despite facing three felony charges following the 2024 presidential election. She also was ordered to serve as many as three years on supervised probation and pay an $885 fine.

Miller filled out her [deceased] mother's absentee ballot and signed her mother's name on the signature envelope. She also signed her mother's name as the witness on her own ballot...

As part of a plea agreement, Miller is required to read "Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America" by Erin Geiger Smith and write a 10-page paper "regarding the importance in voting in a democracy and how election fraud can undermine the voting process."

“I think the sentence that was imposed here is very much designed to help her better understand the importance of those things and make sure that she doesn't — and quite frankly other people don't — take the same type of actions in the future,” Itasca County Attorney Jake Fauchald said. 

I'm sure people around the country are terrified that if they commit overt voter fraud they may be required to read a book and write a paper about it.  That should solve the problem.

Tardigrade egg

Because I like to end my blogging day with an interesting image.   Colorized scanning EM.  Here's another one:

At the via I found this comment:  "Tardigrades are born with the exact same number of cells as they have in adulthood. Their cells don't multiply during growth, they each just ... get bigger, as cells."

And finally this scan of a 50-hour old tardigrade embryo:

"One of nearly 1,000 species of hardy tardigrades, the Hypsibius dijardini embryo pictured above may have been the product of a sexless act of reproduction, its mother squirting her genetic material directly into eggs without bothering with any of the handful of males of her species for fertilization, according to the Encyclopedia of Life. That reproductive ability (called parthenogenesis), a genetic heritage largely unchanged through the generations, was her birthright and one she would likely have passed down to her children."

And BTW, there are tardigrades on the moon now.

Reposted from 2021 to add this video of tardigrades being born:

Via Neatorama, where there is a brief but informative text describing the process.

Today I learned something about arrowheads

The embedded photo was posted in the Arrowheads subreddit with the question "why so small?"

The short answer is "because it is a true arrowhead."  Here are a couple comments from a good discussion thread:

"That’s a true arrowhead. Most of the technology used was atlatl and the atlatl points are very large compared to arrowheads. Once the bow was invented, they could hunt game from further away and with more penetrating power using smaller points. These little points can still kill a deer. An atlatl dart point is like a .45, versus an arrowhead which is more like the stopping power of a 9mm."

"In archaeology we call them PPK'S (Projectile Points/Knives) because bow and arrows didn't appear in the Americas until around 600 years ago. The larger stuff that people call "arrowheads" are actually spear or lance points, atlatl points, or knives. You would be surprised by how many arrowhead shaped items are actually just knife blades."

"General rule about artifacts, Oldest hunting points were the Spear and Knife designed for Mega-Fauna in Paleo Era requiring LARGE ROBUST POINTS. Archaic are large to medium sized designed for new technology of the Atlatl and the smaller available game, deer elk, bear, beaver, antelope, Pronghorn Sheep, etc. The "bird points" are mostly modern Woodland Era and made more effective due to the near extinction of the main food source for the lower 48, the American Bison, Mule Deer, Elk and White Tails. Prairie Chickens, Grouse, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, etc became the alternative out of pure necessity. Feed an entire village with Bison VS Small game, what could go wrong."

Student handcuffed for carrying a bag of Doritos

"Baltimore cops swarmed and handcuffed a high school student after an artificial intelligence tool mistook his bag of Doritos for a weapon.

Taki Allen, 16, was hanging out with his friends after football practice at Kenwood High School Monday night when all of a sudden, armed officers approached him.

"It was like eight cop cars that came pulling up for us. At first, I didn't know where they were going until they started walking toward me with guns, talking about, 'Get on the ground,' and I was like, 'What?'" Allen told local outlet WBAL-TV.

The student described the moment he was handcuffed by police: "They made me get on my knees, put my hands behind my back, and cuffed me. Then, they searched me and they figured out I had nothing.”

Allen said police then found the bag of Doritos he had been eating shortly before."

The story continues at The Independent.  How difficult is it to be a high school student nowadays?  This is a generation that has gone through mandatory shooter response drills since their childhood.  Now AI is deciding whether they are suspected of being a criminal, and the responders come with guns drawn.  FWIW any childhood stress in my era from nuclear war drills pales in comparison.

"Mad Hatterpillar"

Mad Hatterpillar. Winner, Behavior: Invertebrates. Georgina Steytler showcases the strange headgear of a gum-leaf skeletonizer caterpillar. This caterpillar’s unusual headgear is made up of old head capsules, each retained with every molt. The resulting tower is believed to help deflect attacks by predators. Location: Torndirrup National Park, Western Australia, Australia.

This was my favorite among the photos from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year entries posted at The Atlantic.

"The Night Manager"

I first saw this series in 2016 and rated it 4+ (i.e., excellent and worth re-watching).  Fortunately after 9 years I had forgotten enough details to allow me to enjoy the second viewing all over again.  Still superb, with stellar performances by the cast in a storyline crafted by John le Carré.  I found the six-episode two-disc DVD in our library so as not to have to endure the ads while streaming via Amazon Prime.

Polio was the "autumn ghost"

So named because of its seasonality, poliomyelitis was the cause of worldwide epidemics in the 1950s.  This new book presents a detailed look at the 1952 epidemic (in which I was an unwilling participant) with a focus on its effects in Denmark.

"... until quite recently in medical history, there was no intensive care.  Seventy years ago anyone who struggled to breathe, whose heart gave out, or whose kidneys shut down would be kept comfortable and left to die.  There were no ventilators, no monitors keeping track of vital signs minute to minute, no expertise of nurses and physicians to keep critically ill patients alive, and no dedicated units in hospitals for the care of such patients... This is the story of how we got from 1952 to now."

The story in Denmark begins at Blegdam ["Blei-dahm"] Hospital in Copenhagen, created in the 1860s as a "fever hospital" for quarantine purposes in a busy port city.  Cases of cholera and various febrile illnesses arriving by ship would be sequestered here for isolation until resolution or death.  Polio patients came here for "care," but not for "treatment" - which was nonexistent.  

By 1952, some iron lungs were in use, especially in the United States, but those devices were immense, expensive, and difficult to use.  In response to a massive epidemic which was killing their children, the Danes discovered the utility of "bagging" via an endotracheal tube.  But no automated ventilators existed, so medical students were recruited to bag patients continuously, 24/7.  Chapter 13 "Student Ventilators" details the development and implementation of this policy.

Nursing care in that era "was rooted in the tradition of a life given over to the work - long shifts, residence at the hospital for life, and no marriage."  That also had to change.  Analysis of blood gases and arterial pH - never before attempted (or considered) - was also invented, as was the concept of an "intensive care unit," (a term first used in 1958).

This book will not be of interest to everyone.  It will have special meaning to current polio survivors, and should be a must-read for respiratory therapy students who want to learn about the invention of their profession and its tools.

Reposted from 2023 because today is World Polio Day (and because some U.S. states are using medieval thought processes to roll back polio immunization requirements).  If any readers of TYWKIWDBI have a post-polio syndrome (as I do), please check out the information at Post-Polio Health.

World championship boogie-woogie dancing

 

Finals of the competition held in Fauske, Norway in 2012.  This is high-quality video that looks great on full-screen.

The origin of the term boogie-woogie is unknown, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word is a reduplication of boogie, which was used for rent parties as early as 1913. However, Dr. John Tennison, a San Antonio psychiatrist, pianist, and musicologist has suggested some interesting linguistic precursors. Among them are four African terms, including the Hausa word "Boog" and the Mandingo word "Booga", both of which mean "to beat", as in beating a drum. There is also the West African word "Bogi", which means "to dance", and the Bantu term "Mbuki Mvuki", which means, "Mbuki—to take off in flight" and Mvuki—"to dance wildly, as if to shake off ones clothes". The meanings of all these words are consistent with the percussiveness, dancing, and uninhibited behaviors historically associated with boogie-woogie music. Their African origin is also consistent with the evidence that the music originated among newly emancipated African Americans.

Via Nag on the Lake.  

Reposted from 2013 as a break from other grim topics.

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.

Advice to a time-traveler

I think this is the first New Yorker cartoon I've laughed at in years.