Worldwide slaughter of pangolins - updated

From a report at The Guardian:

The true scale of the slaughter of pangolins in Africa has been revealed by new research showing that millions of the scaly mammals are being hunted and killed.

Pangolins were already known to be the world’s most trafficked wild mammal, with at least a million being traded in the last decade to supply the demand for its meat and scales in Asian markets. Populations of Asian pangolins have been decimated, leaving the creatures highly endangered and sharply shifting the focus of exploitation to Africa’s four species...

A total ban on the international trade in any pangolin species was passed by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species in September. But Ingram said the enforcement of both international and national laws had to be increased to prevent African pangolins following their Asian cousins on the path to extinction.

The demand in Asia for pangolin meat and scales as delicacies and supposed medicinal uses is a major factor in cross-border trade but a significant proportion of African pangolins are eaten locally. Ingram said that measures are also needed to develop alternative livelihoods for African hunters of pangolin...

More from Wikipedia:

The pangolin trade is centuries old. An early known example is in 1820, when Francis Rawdon, 1st Marquis of Hastinges and East India Company Governor General in Bengal, presented King George III with a coat and helmet made with the scales of Manis crassicaudata [low-res photo at the link]. The gifts are now stored in the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

The pangolins are boiled to remove the scales, which are then dried and roasted, then sold based on claims that they can stimulate lactation, help to drain pus, and relieve skin diseases or palsy. As of 2015, pangolin scales were covered under some health insurance plans in Vietnam.

The scales can cost more than $3,000/kg on the black market.

GIF of a pandolin.

Reposted from 2017 to show this image of a shipping container with the remains of 36,000 poached critically-endangered pangolins:

They sailed into a Singapore inspection port by shipping container, the vessel marked “frozen beef” and bound for Vietnam. Inside, customs officials found the sacks, packed and piled from floor to ceiling. They overflowed with the product of a wildlife smuggling operation so vast, yet so niche, it had conservationists worried about the extinction of an animal that most people haven’t even heard of yet...

Restaurants buy pangolin meat, which is considered a delicacy, an off-menu item that a well-heeled customer might order when trying to impress. Those seeking the new cure-all buy the scales, which are used in traditional medicine to treat everything from rheumatism to cancer, even though there is no known science that supports their remedial properties. And the fashion industry has shown interest in the skin, its diamond pattern making for an attractive leather design. It’s scale-to-tail consumption.

More information at the Washington Post (whence the embedded photo, credit Getty Images, cropped for size)

"The Girl in the Cafe"

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I couldn't find an official trailer for this 2005 made-for-television BBC drama, so I've embedded someone's screencap of the opening couple minutes of the film.  Bill Nighy is at the top of his game portraying a painfully shy civil servant who has a chance encounter with Kelly Macdonald's character.  Although the storyline centers on world poverty and global aid, the power of the film comes from the sensitive portrayal of the relationship between these two actors.

"The film was noted at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards, where it received seven nominations and won Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for [screenwriter] Curtis, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Macdonald."

Available on Netflix; I found the DVD in our local library.   I can recommend it unreservedly.

Ultranationalism on the rise in Ukraine

Photo essay in The Guardian.

New Zealand bans assault and military-style weapons

Excerpts from an article in New Zealand's Stuff:

The banning of a range of rifles will become law less than a month after the massacre that prompted the swift change.

In parliament on Wednesday night MPs of all political persuasions overwhelmingly voted in favour of The Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines and parts) Amendment Bill after its crucial third reading.

The law, which needs Royal Assent, will become law by the end of the week. It will mean there will be a ban on all semi-automatic and military-style weapons, such as those used during the Christchurch terrorist attack that killed 50 and injured dozens...

"There are good people in all of our communities who will find themselves in possession of banned firearms, parts and magazines.

"This is because we are changing the law, not because these people have done anything wrong."..

She told the House the weapons used in the Christchurch terror attack were designed to kill. When she visited the hospital, not one victim had just one gunshot wound, she said.

"I struggle to recall any single gunshot wounds. In every case they spoke of multiple injuries, multiple debilitating injuries that deemed it impossible for them to recover in days, let alone weeks. They will carry disabilities for a lifetime and that's before you consider the psychological impact. We are here for them."

"I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large scale death, could be obtained legally in this country."

She also acknowledged the buyback scheme for compensation, which would be worked up over the next few weeks.

"We will operate fairly."

Commonly called the "Picasso bug"

Sphaerocoris annulus, common names Picasso Bug or Zulu Hud Bug, is a species of shield-backed bugs belonging to the family Scutelleridae. The basic color is green, with eleven ring-shaped spots on the elytra. The colors and the design of these bugs represent a warning to predators.

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"Ranked choice voting" lucidly explained

Radiolab produces superb podcasts.  "Tweak the Vote" is a detailed but reasonably concise study of ranked choice voting.

The first part of the podcast discusses a recent survey in which many - especially younger - Americans indicated that it is not of major importance to them to live in a democracy, and many of them would prefer a "strong leader who does not have to bother with Congress or elections (!).

The conversation then segues to a consideration of ranked choice voting as a more appealing (and more representative) voting system.

This system has been partially implemented in Minnesota and Maine.  What surprised me is the degree to which implementation of this system instantly cuts down on the viciousness of negative campaigning (because candidates want to be second- or third-choices for their non-base.)

The transcript is here, but it's difficult to speed-read.

Addendum:
Found this cartoon today explaining voting in Australia -

Some discussion at the via.

One-sixth of the U.S. population lives in this megalopolis

More information about the Northeast megalopolis.

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Ransomware erases medical records

A computer virus recently injected itself into the electronic medical record system of Brookside ENT & Hearing Services and ruined the business.

The two-doctor medical practice in Michigan has apparently become the first health care provider in the nation to shut its doors for good because of a ransomware attack, according to half a dozen cybersecurity experts contacted in the past week. Hackers are targeting Minnesota hospitals and clinics at an escalating pace, including four breaches involving patient files already reported in 2019, though any interruptions of work have been temporary...

At Brookside ENT in Battle Creek, Mich., the ransomware virus started by deleting and overwriting every medical record, bill and appointment, including the backups. The virus left behind a duplicate of the deleted files, which could be unlocked with a password that the attacker promised to provide for $6,500 in U.S. currency wired to an account, doctors at the clinic said.

The practice’s two ENT surgeons — Dr. William Scalf, 64, and Michigan state senator Dr. John Bizon, 66 — refused to pay the attacker’s ransom...

More at the StarTribune.  But notice the absence of an air gap between the computer and the backup files.

The leg of Argentinosaurus

To estimate the gait and speed of Argentinosaurus, the study performed a musculoskeletal analysis combined with computer simulations. Similar analyses have previously been conducted on hominids, terror birds, and other dinosaurs. To conduct the analysis, the team had to create a digital skeleton of the animal in question, estimate the muscles and their properties, and estimate the weight and how it's distributed. Then using computer simulation and genetic algorithms, which could be optimised for metabolic energy cost or speed, the digital Argentinosaurus learns to walk. The study estimated that their 83 tonne sauropod model was mechanically competent at a top speed of 2 m/s (5 mph) but was approaching a functional limit

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"Piano stairs"

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2018 Scrabble championship game

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Related - an advertisement for Scrabble:

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See also:  Fun variants of Scrabble

A suggestion to BROIL chocolate-chip cookies

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Arctic now in an "unprecedented state"

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A new research paper by American and European climate scientists focused on Arctic warming published Monday reveals that the "smoking gun" when it comes to changes in the world's northern polar region is rapidly warming air temperatures that are having—and will continue to have—massive and negative impacts across the globe.

The new paper—titled "Key Indicators of Arctic Climate Change: 1971–2017"—is the work of scientists at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen (GUES).

"The Arctic system is trending away from its 20th century state and into an unprecedented state, with implications not only within but beyond the Arctic," said Jason Box of the GUES, lead author of the study. "Because the Arctic atmosphere is warming faster than the rest of the world, weather patterns across Europe, North America, and Asia are becoming more persistent, leading to extreme weather conditions. Another example is the disruption of the ocean circulation that can further destabilize climate: for example, cooling across northwestern Europe and strengthening of storms."

Convenient map shows all the pubs in the U.K.

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Revealing the plastic liner inside a can of Coke

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