Funeral for a pet squirrel

Daguerreotype with "Genushe" etched on back of copper plate (ca.1845-46).  From the collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City).

Addendum:  I can't resist pairing that tender sweet photo with this one -

Identified as "Roast rack of squirrel, fondant jersey royal potatoes, carrot and wild garlic served at Paul Wedgwood’s restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photograph: Wedgwood."

“My original starting point with grey squirrel was taste. But it’s also great for the environment,” says Paul Wedgwood, one of Scotland’s leading chefs, whose restaurant on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile has had grey squirrel on the menu since 2008. Wedgwood has even made haggis from the North American rodent that has driven the local extinction of the native red across much of England and Wales.

“It’s mellow, nutty and a bit gamey. It’s just a really nice flavour, and it’s easy to match. Anyone who’s doing rabbit could just easily swap in squirrel,” he says.

Why China will outflank the U.S. for world influence

Way back in 2010 I posted China and Africa - pay attention to this relationship.  Nowadays it is well known that China is far ahead of the U.S. and other western countries in terms of influence in Africa.

Now start paying attention to South America.  Begin by reading the Bloomberg report How China Beat Out the U.S. to Dominate South America.  Herewith some excerpts:

Chinese technology and money have helped build one of Latin America’s largest solar energy plants in Jujuy (pronounced hu-HUY), where hundreds of thousands of panels coat the desert like giant dominoes. Chinese security cameras guard government buildings across the provincial capital. Servers hum in a Chinese data storage plant. Beneath the remote, craggy hills and vast salt lakes lie veins of copper, lithium, and zinc, the raw materials of 21st century ­technology—including ­Chinese-made electric-car batteries...

It’s no secret that China has been pouring resources into South America this century, chipping away at the U.S.'s historic dominance and making itself the continent's No. 1 trading partner. But while international focus has turned in recent years to China's ventures in Africa and Asia, an important shift has gone largely unnoticed in the country's approach to South America: going local to expand and strengthen its financial grip.

Instead of focusing on national leaders, China and its companies have built relationships from the ground up. In 2019 alone, at least eight Brazilian governors and four deputy governors traveled to China...

China has bought up so much copper, pork, and soy—and constructed so many roads, trains, power grids, and bridges—that it’s surpassed the U.S. as South America’s largest trade partner and is now the single biggest trader with Brazil, Chile, and Peru...

Back in the capital city, on a recent weekday, vendors hawked bric-a-brac out of stalls by an old bus terminal. The new foreign influence seemed to both bemuse and worry them. “At this rate we’re all going to become Chinese,” says Mirtha Ramos, a 49-year-old mother of three who was selling fake designer caps. Nancy Ortega, 31, working at the next stall, adds, “I have a friend up in the mines who said the Chinese are taking over everything.” 

Chinese policy focuses on the very long term.  The U.S. seems incapable of thinking beyond the next quarterly report or mid-term election.  More at the link.

The biggest land mammal ever

Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of hornless rhinoceros.  More info at the link, but what is interesting to me is that this was a mammal, which led me to this interesting Wikipedia page on The Largest Prehistoric Animals.

A comment at the via for the photo led to this (paywalled) New Scientist article explaining that the secret to the large size of the dinosaurs was their unusually lightweight bones (remember they are ancestors of birds) - others, of course, were semi-aquatic.

The illustration is watermarked to Vitamin Imagination.

"Space is fake"

Cropped for size from the image at the via.

Reposted from 2020 to add some interesting material from The Fourth Part of the World, by Toby Lester:

"Thanks in large part to the labors of Arab astronomers and mathematicians, ancient Greek proofs of the earth as spherical had survived into the Middle Ages and were circulating in Europe... For centuries afterward the work would be taught and studied in schools and universities around Europe. 'If the earth were flat from east to west,' Sacrobosco wrote, 'the stars would rise as soon for Westerners as for Orientals, which is false. Also, if the earth were flat from north to south and vice versa, the stars that were always visible to anyone would continue to be so wherever he went, which is false. But it seems flat to human sight because it is so extensive.'  Sailors certainly knew the world was round: a lookout at the top of a ship’s mast, Sacrobosco pointed out, always catches sight of land before a lookout standing at the foot of the mast -- 'and there is no other explanation of this thing,' Sacrobosco wrote, 'than the bulge of water.'"

Or see Ptolemy's third projection (1525):

For more regarding the modern "flat earth" hypothesis, see Kolo Jezdec's links in the Comment thread.  Personally, I think a lot of the "flat earth" stuff online is just people messing around trying to be funny (cf Drabkikkers link to Birds Aren't Real).  Although there are some really, really stupid people like the truck driver above.

Related: Falling off the earth nonsense

A couple other interesting excerpts from the book:

"Matthew [Paris, 13th century] drew his maps as a series of destination cities for pilgrims, often separated by the French word journee - meaning "day," as in a day's travel, a usage that gave rise to the English word journey..."

"The conquests led by Temüjin were legendary, and to celebrate them the Mongols posthumously bestowed on him the title Fierce Ruler, or Chingis Khan.  Today, thanks to an imperfect Arabic transliteration of that name, he is widely known as Genghis Khan...

"During the next four years, between 1237 and 1241, the Mongols swept through much of Russia, Poland, and Hungary, destroying entire cities, armies, and populations.  After a rout in Silesia, one chronicler reported that Mongol soldiers had collected nine sacks full of their victim's ears and had sent them back to their capital, Karakorum, in the Mongolian steppe, as proof of their victory."

Ship image via NPR,  Ptolemy figure cropped and brightened from the one at Wikimedia Commons.

A poem by a Nobel Laureate, and an award-winning photo

White serpent

polar circle

wings in granite

pink sorrow in the iceblock

forbidden zones around the mystery

heartpounding miles from distance

wind chains hanging on homesickness

flaming shell of fury—

And the snail

with the ticking pack of God-time.

When I was an English major back in the 1960s, I read lots of poetry for course assignments, from the epic book-length ones (Milton's Paradise Lost, Robert Penn Warren's Brother to Dragons, Lord Byron's Don Juan) to the briefest (I still remember sitting in a coffeehouse explaining to some bewildered coed the meaning of e. e. cumming's vertical poem l(a, which is four words long).

But I just can't wrap my head around the one above.  Harper's notes that it was written by Nelly Sachs, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966.  It has been translated from the German, so perhaps something has been lost in the process.  Had this been presented to me in 1968 to parse in three pages of a yellow exam book, I suppose I could have come up with something, but nowadays I'll just assume it appeared from another space-time continuum.

My personal taste in poetry tends toward The Road Not Taken or Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  Readers are invited to explain the embedded poem to me in the Comments.

This seems to be an appropriate place to append an award-winning photograph that I don't understand -

- from a gallery at The Guardian presenting "the best of the Sony World Photography awards 2022, this one credited to Vladimir Zivojinovic as part of a project getting to know the "Russian soul from different angles."

I know it's juvenile to mock things one doesn't understand, so I'll just move on...

"Cross sea" and "cross swell" - updated re the Écluse à poissons

"In surface navigation, a cross sea is a sea state with two wave systems traveling at oblique angles. This may occur when water waves from one weather system continue despite a shift in wind. Waves generated by the new wind run at an angle to the old, creating a shifting, dangerous pattern. Until the older waves have dissipated, they create a sea hazard among the most perilous."

A cross swell is generated when the wave systems are longer period swell, rather than short period wind generated waves

Amazing.  I didn't even know this could happen.  You learn something every day.

Text and image from Wikipedia, via The Soul is Bone.

Addendum: Reposted from December 2013 to add this video sent in by reader Dominique:

YouTube link.

The video provides a brief tour of Ile de Re, the tip of which is shown in the photo at the top. I tried to set up the video to start about midway, to focus on the enormous tidal fish trap constructed there but it didn't work, so you can skip to about the 3:45 mark to see the relevant portion.

I have seen other weirs and fish traps over the years, but never one as massive as this.  After watching the video I went to Google Maps and was pleased to see that the structure is visible in the satellite view:

It extends out from the lighthouse and the beach (light brown in the satellite image); the scale can be appreciated by comparing it with the buildings at the bottom.

There is more information here.  And here.  Apparently the structure (or its earliest incarnation) dates to about the 14th century.  Amazing.

Reposted from 2014 to add this photo of cross-waves on the New Zealand coast -

- and these relevant comments from the via:

I believe this is around the very north, possibly Cape Reinga. That's where the Tasman and Pacific oceans meet and collide, creating a pretty line stretching out to sea.  Very dangerous though. Don't swim in it... If you see square waves in the ocean, get out of the water as soon as possible. Why? Because the phenomenon is usually associated with strong and powerful rip tides ..."

Addendum:  Here's a nice gif of cross-sea waves from up close. 

Absolutely worth 10 minutes of your life

 

The YouTube source page has an extensive note from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute with relevant links and a list of the creatures depicted.  There are 40 amazing creatures in this ten-minute mashup (the audio becomes repetitive - too bad they didn't select a longer piece). 

This is not for watching on a phone screen.  It demands either your desktop or a wide-screen TV.  And be sure to click on the fullscreen icon in the LR corner.   

Enjoy, marvel at what forms life can take, and shudder to realize that we are slowly destroying the environment they live in.

Short-term and long-term interest rates

Interest rates will be very much in the news in the months ahead, so I'm embedding a couple charts from Bloomberg for reference.  Above is a two-year chart of two-year bond rates.  Below is a 3-year chart of 10-year Treasuries.

Moon trees

The "moon trees," whose seeds circled the moon 34 times in Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa's pocket, were welcomed back to Earth with great fanfare in 1971. One was planted in Washington Square in Philadelphia as part of the 1975 bicentennial celebrations. Another took root at the White House. Several found homes at state capitals and space-related sites around the country. Then-president Gerald Ford called the trees "living symbol[s] of our spectacular human and scientific achievements."

And then, mysteriously, everyone seemed to forget about them...

[NASA astronomer] Williams has made it his mission to find them. For the past 15 years, he has kept a record on the web of every known tree's location. When he started in 1996, he only knew where 22 trees were found. Now, that number has climbed to 80.

More information at the Wired link above and at The Atlantic.

The curator at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum tells me that there are no moon trees in their collection, and the link above suggests none anywhere in Minnesota or Wisconsin.

BTW, the link for buying seeds of "half-moon trees" (descendants of the originals), appears to have undergone linkrot.

Dolly Parton with REALLY big hair - reposted to add more

The incomparable Dolly Parton, pictured above with massively "big hair" and looking so young, presumably from the 1960s.

I've embedded here the track of her #1 record "Jolene." (click to listen). [seeqpod has vanished]

For an even better experience, go HERE and watch her perform "I Will Always Love You." (image credit here).

Reposted from 2008 to add this photo of Dolly with her husband Carl Thomas Dean, to whom she has now been married for over 50 years -

- and this comment from the discussion thread at the OldSchoolCool subreddit source:

“The only bipartisan thing people in Tennessee agree on is that you don’t talk shit about Dolly.”

Related: 100,000,000 books donated

Reposted once more.   (TYWKIWDBI doesn't like to cover celebrities, but we make an exception for Dolly Parton).  In this video she answers the question "How long does it take you to do your hair?"

Addendum:  Dolly contributed $1 million toward the development of Moderna's covid vaccine.

Reposted from 2020 to add this example of why Dolly Parton is one of the few exceptions to the permaban on celebrities in TYWKIWDBI.

The country singer’s company recently announced that her theme parks will pay for its employees to pursue a college degree.

Starting 24 February, employees at Dollywood who pursue a college degree will have their tuition, associated fees and books 100% covered by the Dollywood theme park.

The offer also includes all 11,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees that work at any of the 25 amusement parks and attractions under Herschend Enterprises, Dollywood’s parent company, including Dollywood.

Under the Grow U program, the new education pilot initiative, employees can register for a higher learning program on their first day through 30 offered learning partners, with subjects ranging from marketing, technology and other studies.

Tuition, fees, and books.  100%.  Every employee.  Starting on day 1.

The world needs more Dolly Partons.

Addendum:  And let's bring this post full-circle by closing with this photo of a 13-year-old Dolly Parton with regular hair (via).

Addendum:  Norah O'Donnell interviews Dolly for 20 minutes re fashion and spirituality:

Marjorie Taylor Greene decries the "gazpacho police"

“Not only do we have the DC jail which is the DC gulag, but now we have Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative  work that we do, spying on our staff and spying on American citizens,” she said, referring to the Democratic speaker of the House. 

Audio and video at the Republican Accountability Project ("We are Republicans & conservatives defending pro-democracy R's, holding accountable those who tried to overturn the election, & fighting against disinformation.")  Via.

More about gazpacho.

Temporary ectopic implantation

"A man lost his arm in an accident. Due to tissue damage, they couldn't reattach it immediately so they sutured it to his leg to ensure blood flow. The procedure is called temporary ectopic implantation. It succeeded in saving the man's arm which was later reattached."

I haven't found the case report [news report here in Spanish].  The comments at the via are trivial and worthless, but the image is worth seeing.

Dogbert

Word for the day: homeboni

Excerpts from an interesting longread at the StarTribune about the increasing prevalence of sophisticated backyard skating rinks.

"When you fly into California, you look down and see everybody's backyards with the pools," Jasper said. "If you're flying to Minnesota, you look down and everybody's got a backyard rink now. It's blowing up."

These rink builders — especially those with deluxe setups — spend long, frozen nights melting and chipping ice bumps, filling cracks, and standing out there with a garden hose. They dream of the Zambonis their spouses won't let them buy and settle for "homebonis" they've McGyvered out of hardware-store parts...

There's a huge range of rink-making materials and methods, including DIY lumber packages and kits with plastic liners, brackets and sideboards, which typically range from the high hundreds to low thousands of dollars...

For Deon Wolff, making smooth ice is a point of pride. He recently upgraded his handheld propane torch, for melting imperfections, to a retrofitted roofers' rack, so he can wheel several torches at once.

Rink-makers are famous for their homemade resurfacing contraptions, from PVC pipes and towels dragged behind buckets to tanks hauled on modified golf carts. Traff hooks three snow blowers together to clear his rink and invested in a military-grade water heater to make fresh coats of ice more robust...

"When you're out there at 10 o'clock and it's dark and the wind is still, you can hear everything from miles away," Greco said. "Then once you're done, you look at that perfect sheet for the morning and you're like, 'This is awesome.' "

Doing crossword puzzles with the professionals

I've been doing crossword puzzles since forever, including daily visits to the online puzzles at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.  I thought my solving times were pretty good, so when I saw an announcement at Boswords that anyone could participate in a national online puzzle-solving competition, I signed up.   I was one of 159 new participants in a pool of over a thousand cruciverbalists.

The competition took place two days ago, in a format of four different puzzles with difficulties corresponding to Tuesday- to Friday- level NYT puzzles (but with the error-check function disabled). 

The first puzzle had a 25-minute time limit for the 66 entries.  I finished in 15:20 with no errors, which I thought was pretty good.

The winner finished the puzzle in 2:34.  There were five who finished in less than 3 minutes!!

It never ceases to amaze me what people can accomplish when they devote time and energy to developing a skill.  Readers who are interested in crosswords should check the Boswords site (and their links to other related websites).  They sponsor other competitions throughout the year.

BTW - not from the competition, but for fun try this fiendish crossword clue:  "Line just before a comma." (seven letters)  (answer in the Comments)