Obsidian Wings

Strange animal goings-on open thread

by liberal japonicus

OK, flying snakes.
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/29/884104072/how-snakes-fly-hint-its-not-on-a-plane

I'm also disappointed that pangolins got such bad press with COVID, though I am glad that there is a general agreement that it is bad to eat them (though they are still used for traditional Chinese medicine, unfortunately). One thing that isn't mentioned about them is that they are anteaters, but eat ants in a very particular way. They have scales and go on to an anthill and lift up the scales. The ants swarm over them and then they close their scales, trapping the ants. They then stroll to a pool of water, enter it and lift up their scales and as the ants float up, they snack out.

Any other animal news to share? Hoping for a nice, calm open thread. There's a first for everything.

Xiànzài huàngè wánquán bùtóng de dōngxī!!

by liberal japonicus

Which is Chinese (Mandarin) for 'And now for something completely different!!' (according to Google Translate)

https://phys.org/news/2020-05-cantonese-lexical-tone-language-evolution.html

Tone is interesting because some examples have been described as an areal feature, which I always took to mean 'we don't know why the hell it is there, maybe they got it from here'.

The question of genetic tendencies influencing language is quite fraught, because it can lead to just-so stories. For example, red-green color blindness affects 8% of males and less than 1% of females. Does this account (or contribute) to the phenonmenon of men having a smaller vocabularly related to color. (see here, here here and here)

Anyway, have at it.

Back to the salt mines

by liberal japonicus

I think that there is still a lot of talk left about racism (As DiAngelo said, white people always have an opinion on racism, white people including me), though if you are exhausted, I totally understand. But for anyone who still wants to talk about it, there is something below the fold.

What Are They Trying to Accomplish?

by wj

Having spent a week variously trashing and defending the progressive approach, I thought we might try something similar for the other side. (Handicapped, admittedly, by the improbability of anyone sincerely doing defense.** But hey, ya go with what ya got.)

At last week's Virginia GOP party convention, Congressman Denver Riggleman (R-VA) was defeated by Bob Good, a former Liberty University fundraiser. Why is that significant, or even interesting? Riggleman isn't notably out of step with the party; he's no Mitt Romney, or even Susan Collins; he's more of a generic Trump fan. Indeed, Trump endorsed him for reelection (making him the first Trump endorsee to lose a primary this cycle). On top of that, Jerry Falwell Jr, the President of Liberty University endorsed him. Obviously not a flaming liberal. So why did he lose? It seems that, a while back, Congressman Riggleman officiated at a same-sex marriage. Oh, the horror!

A couple decades ago, that might have been understandable. But today? As we've noted here, gay marriage ceased to be controversial, for the vast majority of the population, some while back. But not, apparently, for 58% of the district's GOP convention delegates. (Need I say that accusations of vote fraud in the primary are already flying?)

The thing is, Good is extreme enough that his nomination instantly moved the district from "likely Republican" to "leans Republican". And that's before campaigning even starts.

So the question arises: What do these Republican convention delegates think they are accomplishing? Presumably they are not yearning for a Democrat to represent them. So, are they so out of touch with even their own district as to not realize that they just hurt their party's prospects in the general election? Or is ideological purity more important to them than winning elections?

As I've noted, the California GOP has apparently gone for the latter. I mean, after a couple of decades of losing tons of elections, they can't fail to know that their views, in pure form, are losers here. But is the whole party, nationwide, determined to fade into irrelevance? Or do they just share Trump's delusions about the state of the world?

P.S. Perhaps, down the line, we can find an example to use to discuss the libertarians as well.

** If anyone (perhaps one of the lurkers?) wants to defend their approach, naturally feel free.

St Johns Church timeline

by liberal japonicus

Another video, this a reconstruction of the class between non-violent protesters exercising their rights before the curfew and a collection of various law enforcement and military personnel.

Shorter. You don't have to watch it, but if you comment without watching it, you might embarrass yourself...

Discuss

by liberal japonicus

I normally don't do this. In fact, I've never done this. Not sure if I will again. But below the fold, there's a youtube video. It's long, but if you want to discuss it, you need to watch it. Some suggestions and yes, rules below the fold

COVID and social pressure

by liberal japonicus

Since the blog has such a rep for sweetness and light, and we are living in the best of all possible ages, I thought I might present another topic near to my heart. A lot of articles (frex here and here. A bit more accurate one is here) have lauded Japan's success. The dark side of that success is below the fold

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed

by liberal japonicus

This lecture by Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C. The year civilization collapsed, was a pleasant hour, until the end of the lecture (0:54) where he draws parallels to the current Middle East, though now. I'm wondering how close we are to this.