June 14, 2019--Crustateans

I'm not sure if we got to talking about crustaceans because we were having a fried clam and lobster dinner at the Pemaquid lobster pound and wondered if they both were (the lobsters, yes; the clams, no) or because one of the answers on Jeopardy the night before was, "What is a crustacean?" to the question, "Shrimp and lobsters."

But talking about them we were.

All I knew is that they have exoskeletons--their shells. Neither I nor Rona knew much else but we were curious how many kinds of crustaceans there are and which one is he largest. In regard to the latter, we assumed the answer would be icky and that we wouldn't like to run into one in the surf off Coney Island.

We were right about that. According to Wikipedia the largest crustacean is big, very big--the Japanese Spider Crab, which can have tentacles that span 18 feet (see picture below), weigh 42 pounds, and is sure to give one nightmares. In fact, I had such a dream last night. I was floating around in the Mediterranean and one scooped me up and dragged me to its underwater cave for nothing good.

For the scientist in you here's a sample from Wiki--

Crustaceans (Crustacea /krʌˈsteɪʃə/) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimps, prawns, krill, woodlice, and barnacles. The crustacean group is usually treated as a subphylum, and because of recent molecular studies it is now well accepted that the crustacean group is paraphyletic, and comprises all animals in the Pancrustacea clade other than hexapods. Some crustaceans are more closely related to insects and other hexapods than they are to certain other crustaceans.

The 67,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm (0.004 in), to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 3.8 m (12.5 ft) and a mass of 20 kg (44 lb). Like other arthropods, crustaceans have an exoskeleton (yes!), which they moult to grow. They are distinguished from other groups of arthropods, such as insects, myriapods and chelicerates, by the possession of biramous (two-parted) limbs, and by their larval forms, such as the nauplius stage of branchiopods and copepods.

Enough?

What jumps out for me is the fact that there are 67,000 species of crustaceans. 67,000!

How do we know that? Who schlepped around the waters of the world to identify and name and collect them? Who sponsored this? In other words who paid for it? 

And how did whomever did this decide when they were 12 years old that this was what they decided to devote their lives to? 

I assume all 67,000 are gathered in a crustacean museum somewhere. Probably in Japan or France where at least a few thousand are considered to be delicacies.

August 9, 2018--Incels

Those who follow this know I am a poor sleeper and one way I try to get to sleep is to bore myself to exhaustion with late night radio talk shows. From sports talk (WFAN in New York City) to Coast To Coast AM, which focuses on various forms of the paranormal (ESP) with special emphasis on flying saucers, and Red Eye Radio, which offers mainly political talk from a right-wing perspective, primarily to long-haul truck drivers. 

I am not alone (I am not speaking extraterrestrially)--many millions tune in to one or more of these shows. We are a nation of insomniacs. 

The other night I encountered the Incels--Involuntary Celibates. Never having heard of them, I found them so complicated that I listened for at least two hours. 

After leaning about them and their history, rather than dropping off,  fitfully I tossed and turned for additional hours, wondering about the many varieties of human experience and reminded about the tortured inner lives of some of those who walk among us.

From Wikipedia--

Insels are self-identifying members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner, a state they define as inceldom. Incels are mostly white, male, and heterosexual. 

Discussions in incel forums are often characterized by resentment, misanthropy, self-pity, self-loathing, misogny, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex, and the endorsement of violence against sexually active people. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the subculture as "part of the online male supremacist ecosystem . . ." People who have either self-identified as incels or who have mentioned incel-related names and literature in their private writings or Internet postings have committed at least four mass murders in North America, resulting in 45 deaths . . . [including Nikalos Cruz, who murdered 17 people and injured 17 others in 2017 in a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida].

Further, I learned that members of the incel communities use jargon to communicate among themselves. They frequently refer to women as "femoids"; "stacys" are attractive, sexually active women; and "becky's"--less attractive, sexually active women. "Chads" are sexually active men. "Looksmaxing" is an attempt to enhance one's appearance by dressing nicely or having plastic surgery. 

"Volcels" are voluntary celibates; "marcels" are married people; "nearcels" are those considered close to being incels; "hicels" are thought to have high standards because they are picky when dating; and "fakecels"are those pretending to be incels but in fact have had sex recently.

There are also variations of the term "incel" when referring to people who believe their race is the reason behind their inability to find a partner.

"Currycels" are South Asians and "ricecels" are those of Chinese or Southeast Asian ancestry.

They need help. We all do.


In the meantime, I think it's time for me to consider moving on to Ambien.

November 30, 2105--The Legacy Business

I know, all recent presidents do it toward the end of their second terms--play the legacy game.

Nancy Reagan put Ronnie under pressure to focus on arms control during his last years in office to counteract the perception that he was a rigid, unrepentant Cold Warrior. He was so good at being flexible with the leadership of the Soviet Union that he was able to strike a series of arms control agreements with Mikhail Gorbachev that contributed a few years later to the collapse of the USSR and the end (at least until now) of the Cold War.

George W. Bush, stung by increasing criticism of of his Middle East policy, jettisoned one of the leading public faces of that failed war policy--Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld--and committed himself to pulling all combat troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. He saw that to be an essential ingredient of his legacy, also pushed along to do so by his wife.

Which brings us to Barack Obama--the inheritor of various failed Bush policies, from a collapsed economy, out-of-control deficits, and Bush's unfulfilled pledge to withdraw our combat troops from the region, something Obama more or less carried out as part of his own legacy-building agenda.

Obama, in fact, has been thinking about his legacy from almost day one.

He did not want to go down in history as just "the first African-American president." He cared at least as much about substance. Thus Obamacare was a major accomplishment unto itself but also prime-cut legacy material--he uniquely was able to bring about a dramatic expansion of healthcare coverage, an unachieved goal of all presidents from at least Harry Truman days. As Joe Biden said at the time, "This is a f ***king big deal."

So that legislative achievement may make the first paragraph of his Wikipedia entry.

The same legacy claim was made when he appointed Sonia Sotomayer to the Supreme Court, the first Hispanic to serve.

Then, more recently, with his presidential clock counting down, Obama and his people began to think even more overtly about his legacy.

The nuclear deal with Iran is claimed to be his capstone foreign policy achievement and a big legacy item. Ditto for the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. And even yesterday's headline on page one of the New York Times about the current climate summit was titled, "Obama's Legacy at Stake in Paris Talks on Climate Accord."

Not, the "World's Future at Stake in Paris Climate Talks."

That would be the more appropriate headline considering the nature of the problem--not Obama's legacy but the fate of Earth.

So, enough with the legacy business. We have serious issues to face. Including the defeat of ISIS/ISIL/IS/ or Daesh

In legacy terms this is not going well for Obama who just a day before the Paris massacre declared "ISIL contained."

Again, in legacy terms, it is sadly understandable that he was reluctant to appear too upset by the situation in the Middle East and now Europe. He doesn't want to rise of ISIL to creep onto the first page of his Wiki entry much less future histories of his presidency.

April 14, 2015--Going Commando

We've come a long way from Mr. Wipple, the spokesperson for Charmin who admonished us not to squeeze.

Now Cottonelle is running a series of commercials to introduce a new line for those who go commando.

"Go commando?" I asked Rona. "Do you know what that is?"

"Of course I do. It's an old expression," she said.

"Well I'm old," I said, "but have no idea what it means."

Ignoring that, she said, "I haven't noticed the ad. Next time it's on let me know and I'll see if I can explain it to you."

Frustrated, I paid more attention to the commercials than reruns of Married With Children, still my favorite corrosive sitcom.

After about 45 minutes, the Cottonelle commercial ran again. "Check it out," I said. "I have no idea what's going on."

Rona narrated--

"You see the announcer holding a couple of rolls?"

"Yes."

"And how she gives them to those two young women?"

"Got it."

"And now they're going into a tent?"

"Yes. I can only assume what they're going to do in the tent."

"Now they're coming out."

"That was quick. It usually takes me much longer to . . ."

"It's only a commercial. Not Hamlet."

"They have big smiles on their faces."

"The announcer is asking them how they liked the new clean-ripple paper."

"They seem pretty happy to me. Now, pay attention. Check out what those two girls do next."

"They are pulling down the tops of their pants and pointing to their exposed upper thighs."

"That's the funky part. But, again, what I'm not understanding?"

"Didn't you hear the announcer, an attractive woman by the way? No Mr. Whipples this time."

"I think she has a British accent. Classy."

"Again, as you said, she's mentioning something about how this new product is for those going commando."

"Which means?"

"Look it up for yourself. I can't believe you never heard about it before."

"Well you know me." I trailed off and went downstairs to the computer so I could google going commando.

Here's what the every-reliable Wikipedia had to say--

Going commando, or free-balling for males and free-buffing for females, is the practice of not wearing underwear. Some people choose not to wear any underwear for several reasons, including comfort, to enable their outer garments (particularly those that are form-fitting) to look more flattering, to avoid creating a panty line, or because they do not see any need for them. Some people find not wearing underwear to be sexually exciting, and some people regard knowing their sex partner is not wearing underwear to be erotic.

Next I checked Cottonelle's website. Sure enough--

Only Cottonelle^® has CleanRipple^® texture to get you clean, giving you all the confidence you need to Go Commando.

When I reported this to Rona, including that going commando as an expression originated in the 1970s, she rolled her eyes as if to say, "You really are out of it."

Later that day, at the Fairway market in Red Hook, Brooklyn, we needed paper towels. While Rona searched, I checked out the Cottonelle. Sure enough, there was shelf full of CleanRipple.

"Looks like sandpaper," I muttered.

Rona said, "Get with it. Life is passing you by."

I promised to try.

August 5, 2014--Brothers Under the Skin

I always wondered why the late Chairman of the Palestinian Organization, Yasser Arafat, looked so much like my Uncle Louie.  Now I know.

We're related!

Take a close look at that punim, that face.

And then take a look at mine--just over there on the right.

Get the picture?

But there is more evidence than just from photos.

According to Wikipedia--

Genetic analysis suggests that a majority of Palestinians, including Arab citizens of Israel, are descendants of Christians, Jews, and other earlier inhabitants of the southern Levant whose core may reach back to prehistoric times. A study of high-resolution haplotypes [DNA sequences] demonstrated that a substantial portion of Y chromosomes of Israeli Jews (70%) and of Palestinian Muslim Arabs (82%) belonged to the same chromosome pool. 

So there you have it.

What is happening in the Middle East is a "family dispute" and we know how ugly these can be.