Today, most of the day will be spent road-tripping up to the rural interior of Maine, specifically the Kennebec river uplands. It is a trip of about nine hours, much of it on tiny rural roads through small towns and a couple of 'blinking traffic signal' communities.
I just finished work at midnight, and am driving straight up, so I will beat the bulk of the holiday weekend traffic, with my post sunup driving being on those lonely rural byways. There are benefits to being nocturnal, and driving with scant accompaniment is one of them. Since this is a muggy August overnight, my hands may very well be wet on the wheel.
I will have a couple of pre-written posts popping up in the next couple of days. Ciao, amici!
Friday, August 31, 2018
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Secret Science Club Post-Lecture Recap: Vampire Hell Ants of the Cretaceous
Last night, I headed down to the beautiful Bell House, in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, for this month's Secret Science Club lecture featuring paleontologist and entomologist Dr Phillip Barden of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the American Museum of Natural History. Dr Barden specializes in the study of fossils of social insects such as termites and ants.
Dr Barden began his lecture with a short definition of paleontology. Paleontologists ask two main questions: What is the history of life on Earth? How does evolution work? Paleontologists study finite events, such as the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Life on Earth is 3.7 billion years old, with humans occupying a miniscule span of time. Most life is extinct, almost everything that has ever lived is now dead. Dr Barden asked the audience to picture a fossil, immediately following this up with the admonition that not every fossil is dinosaur remains. Some of the most famous non-dinosaur fossils are trilobite and ammonite fossils. There are also environmental remains of organisms, such as footprints. His concentration is the study of fossil insects.
Eighty percent of animal species are insects, While dinosaurs, being charismatic megafauna, attract most of the public's attention, there are spectacular insect fossils, such as that of Meganeura, a dragonfly-esque creature with a wingspan attaining over two feet which hunted in the Carboniferous skies, which had a higher oxygen content than our modern atmosphere- insects breath through treachea, so the surface area of these tubes limit body size. Dr Barden also displayed a fossil of a Jurassic Era lacewing which resembled a butterfly.
The best-preserved insect fossils are encased in amber, fossilized tree resin (NOT SAP!). Resin is secreted when a tree is injured, forming 'scabs' in which organisms can be trapped. When subjected to heat and pressure through geological processes, it becomes polymerized- Dr Barden joked that amber is 'OG Plastic'. Amber, known to the ancient Greeks as 'elektros', produces electric sparks when rubbed. Insects trapped in amber are preserved in three dimensions. Dr Barden accompanied this portion of the lecture with gorgeous photographs of amber-trapped insects, such as two ants trapped in amber while fighting (evidence of a social structure).
Amber is distributed worldwide, with particularly nice Cretaceous amber being found in New Jersey. Dr Barden showed us photos of various amber sources, such as an amber deposit in a Gujarati lignite mine (the remains of a forest compacted and rendered into coal), excavated amber mines in the Dominican Republic, and Baltic amber which is typically found on beaches or 'fished' from the sea. Amber is often fashioned into jewelry, sometimes including fossilized animal remains.
Dr Barden then showed us the 'Mr DNA' clip (though not the Mr DNA you were thinking of) from Jurassic Park, noting that the stand-in for the giant prehistoric mosquito in the amber walkingstick ornament is actually a crane fly and chiding anyone who killed a harmless crane fly as a 'giant mosquito'):
Dr Barden noted that the book Jurassic Park was released in 1990, and that in 1992, it was reported that DNA was extracted from an Oligo-Miocene termite, but that this study posed a problem of reproducibility. DNA from bones has a half-life of 521 years and that new techniques for DNA extraction are constantly sought.
Dr Barden continued to display images of amber encased animal remains, such as a thumb-sized, feathered dinosaur tail found in Myanmar, a tick attached to a dinosaur feather, and an ant queen (the wings identify it as such) transporting a symbiotic mealybug in her mandibles- mealybugs excrete honeydew, which ants consume. Another fossil was that of a lacewing larva with spines for collecting camouflaging detritus. Dr Barden noted that there are about as many ant fossils as there are dinosaur fossils, but that only he and a French paleontologists are studying them- he joked that his job prospects are good. Among these fossil ants was one the size of a hummingbird.
Dr Barden stated that the oldest ants were not like was expected- early ants were thought to be wasplike, having similar body plans. The oldest ants discovered were more like basal Hymenoptera than wasps, with the similarities in body resulting from adaptive radiation.
Dr Barden conducted 3D imaging of ant fossils at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, fluorescing specimens while rotating them to provide the three-dimensional images. He joked that he was the guy putting bugs in the machine. As a comedic aside, he displayed a stupid tweet by a Kardashian: Do ants have dicks? He then displayed a photo of a drone ant fossilized in amber, then zoomed in, showing us a dick pic of a 20 million year old ant.
The topic of the lecture then shifted to the vampire hell ants of the post title. Haidomyrmex scimitarus was a Cretaceous Era ant found in an amber deposit in Myanmar. A detailed reconstruction using animations based off CT scans of this ant suggested that it used its mandibles to impale other insects, and grooves in the mouthparts hint that these ants consumed the hemolymph of the impaled. Dibs on "Hemolymph of the Impaled" for the name of my Doom Metal band. The queen ant was found outside of the nest, and lacked fat storage, indicating that the queen had to forage like a common worker. The generic name Haidomyrmex is a combination of 'Hades' and the Greek term for 'ant', so Dr Barden decided to make 'Hell Ant' the popular term for these insects- he asked the audience members to 'hashtag' #hellant. Another similar 'hell ant', Ceratomyrmex had a horn as well as the impaling jaws. Then, a scan of an ant dubbed Linguamyrmex vladi revealed that the horn was so dense as to suggest that the horn contained sequestered metal, leading to such lurid headlines as: 'Meet the vampire ant from hell with huge jaws and a metal horn.' Dr Braden then displayed a succession of increasingly lurid and 'clickbaity' headlines about this ant. The good doctor then displayed an articulated model of this ant's head, about the size of an American football.
The hell ants thrived for about twenty-million years, during the Cretaceous Era. It is not known what happened to this diverse clade of ants. The earliest ants were social, there is evidence of different specialized castes among early ants. About fifty million years ago, ants became more abundant, ants now currently compose 50-80% of insects in tropical tree communities. The hell ants don't seem to have been all that ecologically impactful. There are many Cretaceous ant fossils. There is a gap in the fossil record until the Eocene, a sort of 'black box' from which only modern ants emerge, while having diverse behaviors, extant ants have similar body forms. Divergent forms, such as the hell ants, disappeared. Dr Braden likened this emergence from a 'black box' to the K-T extinction event, from which one lineage of dinosaurs, the birds, emerged.
Dr Barden posed a question: Does extinction mean failure? He displayed a picture of the thylacine, a wolf-shaped marsupial that was killed off by humans (as an aside, I am obliged to plug SSC goddess Margaret Mittelbach's Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger, co-written with SSC alum Michael Crewdson- it's a great book by good friends, a funny, sad, and informative read). Dr Barden offered his three measures of evolutionary success: Diversity of species (beetles, with over 350,000 species, are very successful), Ecological Impact (South African harvester ant foraging territories can be seen in satellite images, such is their ability to reshape their environment), and Longevity (Neandertals were around for 430,000 years while modern Homo sapiens has been around for about 300,000 years). Certain taxons were extremely successful- about twenty thousand trilobite species are known, which indicates that there were probably many more. The impact of the dinosaurs on other evolutionary lineages is difficult to understate. The hell ants were around for about twenty-one million years, great apes a mere eight million. We only see about .01, much of the evolutionary legacy is hidden.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session, as always. The first question regarded the phenotype of the hell ants- the 'archtecture' of the hell ant lineage has been lost, no traces last into modern ant lineages. The next question was, why did the hell ants go extinct? While this is unknown, it could be that their social structure was outcompeted by the social structure of modern ants which supplanted them. Perhaps the hell ants were 'painted into a corner' evolutionarily. Another question regarded evidence of the large structures which ants and termites build- fossil remains of these structures have been found, and Dr Barden likened this evidence to an 'extended phenotype' which provides clues to the behavior of the insects themselves. Regarding the gaps in the fossil record, new amber deposits have been found in Alaska and compression fossils have been found in Alberta- gradually, the 'black box' is being filled in. Regarding the half life of DNA, while DNA sequences degrade, partial genomes provide information valuable to researchers. Some Bastard in the audience asked about molecular evidence from insects trapped in amber- can inferences be made about pigmentation or the composition of venoms? Dr Barden noted that coloration is often preserved in amber, and stingers are often present in fossil insects, but no molecular structures for pigments or poisons have been found. Regarding prey items of hell ants, they have been found in association with a larva of an insect and a cockroach like insect. The musculature of an insect, useful in computer modelling, can be inferred from bulges in the interior of the exoskeleton, to which muscles, inside the skeleton, are attached. Regarding the caste system of social insects, insects from the same species have the same genome but different gene expression- while a worker has a lifespan of 1-3 years, a queen may live as long as twenty years- transcriptomes play a role in this sort of development. The earliest known modern style ant dates back to the Cretaceous, about ninety-two million years ago, and was found in New Jersey- the lineage probably split off from other ant lineages about 120 million years ago. Finally, asked about his application of the species concept, Dr Barden indicated that, due to the nature of his work, he applied the paleontological species concept, largely working off whether specimens look similar or different.
Once again, the Secret Science Club delivered a fantastic lecture. I make no bones about loving the life sciences the most, so this lecture was right up my alley, or allele... Dr Barden hit what I call the 'Secret Science Sweet Spot'- the lecture was specific, extremely informative about recent discoveries, accompanied by gorgeous images of fossils, and leavened with humor. I call it a grand slam. Kudos to Dr Barden, the staff of the Beautiful Bell House, and Margaret and Dorian for another great monthly event. It was also great to see both the NJIT 'swarm lab' crowd with Dr Garnier and the AMNH crowd, represented by Dr Hekkala and her husband, in attendance. High fives to everyone!
Poking around the t00bz, I found a fun video of Dr Barden giving a tour of the AMNH insect collections to a budding young entomologist:
I only have one quibble, and that's because bugs suck. The video, however, is great. Pour yourself a nice beverage, and watch two cool young dudes talk about SCIENCE!
Dr Barden began his lecture with a short definition of paleontology. Paleontologists ask two main questions: What is the history of life on Earth? How does evolution work? Paleontologists study finite events, such as the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Life on Earth is 3.7 billion years old, with humans occupying a miniscule span of time. Most life is extinct, almost everything that has ever lived is now dead. Dr Barden asked the audience to picture a fossil, immediately following this up with the admonition that not every fossil is dinosaur remains. Some of the most famous non-dinosaur fossils are trilobite and ammonite fossils. There are also environmental remains of organisms, such as footprints. His concentration is the study of fossil insects.
Eighty percent of animal species are insects, While dinosaurs, being charismatic megafauna, attract most of the public's attention, there are spectacular insect fossils, such as that of Meganeura, a dragonfly-esque creature with a wingspan attaining over two feet which hunted in the Carboniferous skies, which had a higher oxygen content than our modern atmosphere- insects breath through treachea, so the surface area of these tubes limit body size. Dr Barden also displayed a fossil of a Jurassic Era lacewing which resembled a butterfly.
The best-preserved insect fossils are encased in amber, fossilized tree resin (NOT SAP!). Resin is secreted when a tree is injured, forming 'scabs' in which organisms can be trapped. When subjected to heat and pressure through geological processes, it becomes polymerized- Dr Barden joked that amber is 'OG Plastic'. Amber, known to the ancient Greeks as 'elektros', produces electric sparks when rubbed. Insects trapped in amber are preserved in three dimensions. Dr Barden accompanied this portion of the lecture with gorgeous photographs of amber-trapped insects, such as two ants trapped in amber while fighting (evidence of a social structure).
Amber is distributed worldwide, with particularly nice Cretaceous amber being found in New Jersey. Dr Barden showed us photos of various amber sources, such as an amber deposit in a Gujarati lignite mine (the remains of a forest compacted and rendered into coal), excavated amber mines in the Dominican Republic, and Baltic amber which is typically found on beaches or 'fished' from the sea. Amber is often fashioned into jewelry, sometimes including fossilized animal remains.
Dr Barden then showed us the 'Mr DNA' clip (though not the Mr DNA you were thinking of) from Jurassic Park, noting that the stand-in for the giant prehistoric mosquito in the amber walkingstick ornament is actually a crane fly and chiding anyone who killed a harmless crane fly as a 'giant mosquito'):
Dr Barden noted that the book Jurassic Park was released in 1990, and that in 1992, it was reported that DNA was extracted from an Oligo-Miocene termite, but that this study posed a problem of reproducibility. DNA from bones has a half-life of 521 years and that new techniques for DNA extraction are constantly sought.
Dr Barden continued to display images of amber encased animal remains, such as a thumb-sized, feathered dinosaur tail found in Myanmar, a tick attached to a dinosaur feather, and an ant queen (the wings identify it as such) transporting a symbiotic mealybug in her mandibles- mealybugs excrete honeydew, which ants consume. Another fossil was that of a lacewing larva with spines for collecting camouflaging detritus. Dr Barden noted that there are about as many ant fossils as there are dinosaur fossils, but that only he and a French paleontologists are studying them- he joked that his job prospects are good. Among these fossil ants was one the size of a hummingbird.
Dr Barden stated that the oldest ants were not like was expected- early ants were thought to be wasplike, having similar body plans. The oldest ants discovered were more like basal Hymenoptera than wasps, with the similarities in body resulting from adaptive radiation.
Dr Barden conducted 3D imaging of ant fossils at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, fluorescing specimens while rotating them to provide the three-dimensional images. He joked that he was the guy putting bugs in the machine. As a comedic aside, he displayed a stupid tweet by a Kardashian: Do ants have dicks? He then displayed a photo of a drone ant fossilized in amber, then zoomed in, showing us a dick pic of a 20 million year old ant.
The topic of the lecture then shifted to the vampire hell ants of the post title. Haidomyrmex scimitarus was a Cretaceous Era ant found in an amber deposit in Myanmar. A detailed reconstruction using animations based off CT scans of this ant suggested that it used its mandibles to impale other insects, and grooves in the mouthparts hint that these ants consumed the hemolymph of the impaled. Dibs on "Hemolymph of the Impaled" for the name of my Doom Metal band. The queen ant was found outside of the nest, and lacked fat storage, indicating that the queen had to forage like a common worker. The generic name Haidomyrmex is a combination of 'Hades' and the Greek term for 'ant', so Dr Barden decided to make 'Hell Ant' the popular term for these insects- he asked the audience members to 'hashtag' #hellant. Another similar 'hell ant', Ceratomyrmex had a horn as well as the impaling jaws. Then, a scan of an ant dubbed Linguamyrmex vladi revealed that the horn was so dense as to suggest that the horn contained sequestered metal, leading to such lurid headlines as: 'Meet the vampire ant from hell with huge jaws and a metal horn.' Dr Braden then displayed a succession of increasingly lurid and 'clickbaity' headlines about this ant. The good doctor then displayed an articulated model of this ant's head, about the size of an American football.
The hell ants thrived for about twenty-million years, during the Cretaceous Era. It is not known what happened to this diverse clade of ants. The earliest ants were social, there is evidence of different specialized castes among early ants. About fifty million years ago, ants became more abundant, ants now currently compose 50-80% of insects in tropical tree communities. The hell ants don't seem to have been all that ecologically impactful. There are many Cretaceous ant fossils. There is a gap in the fossil record until the Eocene, a sort of 'black box' from which only modern ants emerge, while having diverse behaviors, extant ants have similar body forms. Divergent forms, such as the hell ants, disappeared. Dr Braden likened this emergence from a 'black box' to the K-T extinction event, from which one lineage of dinosaurs, the birds, emerged.
Dr Barden posed a question: Does extinction mean failure? He displayed a picture of the thylacine, a wolf-shaped marsupial that was killed off by humans (as an aside, I am obliged to plug SSC goddess Margaret Mittelbach's Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger, co-written with SSC alum Michael Crewdson- it's a great book by good friends, a funny, sad, and informative read). Dr Barden offered his three measures of evolutionary success: Diversity of species (beetles, with over 350,000 species, are very successful), Ecological Impact (South African harvester ant foraging territories can be seen in satellite images, such is their ability to reshape their environment), and Longevity (Neandertals were around for 430,000 years while modern Homo sapiens has been around for about 300,000 years). Certain taxons were extremely successful- about twenty thousand trilobite species are known, which indicates that there were probably many more. The impact of the dinosaurs on other evolutionary lineages is difficult to understate. The hell ants were around for about twenty-one million years, great apes a mere eight million. We only see about .01, much of the evolutionary legacy is hidden.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session, as always. The first question regarded the phenotype of the hell ants- the 'archtecture' of the hell ant lineage has been lost, no traces last into modern ant lineages. The next question was, why did the hell ants go extinct? While this is unknown, it could be that their social structure was outcompeted by the social structure of modern ants which supplanted them. Perhaps the hell ants were 'painted into a corner' evolutionarily. Another question regarded evidence of the large structures which ants and termites build- fossil remains of these structures have been found, and Dr Barden likened this evidence to an 'extended phenotype' which provides clues to the behavior of the insects themselves. Regarding the gaps in the fossil record, new amber deposits have been found in Alaska and compression fossils have been found in Alberta- gradually, the 'black box' is being filled in. Regarding the half life of DNA, while DNA sequences degrade, partial genomes provide information valuable to researchers. Some Bastard in the audience asked about molecular evidence from insects trapped in amber- can inferences be made about pigmentation or the composition of venoms? Dr Barden noted that coloration is often preserved in amber, and stingers are often present in fossil insects, but no molecular structures for pigments or poisons have been found. Regarding prey items of hell ants, they have been found in association with a larva of an insect and a cockroach like insect. The musculature of an insect, useful in computer modelling, can be inferred from bulges in the interior of the exoskeleton, to which muscles, inside the skeleton, are attached. Regarding the caste system of social insects, insects from the same species have the same genome but different gene expression- while a worker has a lifespan of 1-3 years, a queen may live as long as twenty years- transcriptomes play a role in this sort of development. The earliest known modern style ant dates back to the Cretaceous, about ninety-two million years ago, and was found in New Jersey- the lineage probably split off from other ant lineages about 120 million years ago. Finally, asked about his application of the species concept, Dr Barden indicated that, due to the nature of his work, he applied the paleontological species concept, largely working off whether specimens look similar or different.
Once again, the Secret Science Club delivered a fantastic lecture. I make no bones about loving the life sciences the most, so this lecture was right up my alley, or allele... Dr Barden hit what I call the 'Secret Science Sweet Spot'- the lecture was specific, extremely informative about recent discoveries, accompanied by gorgeous images of fossils, and leavened with humor. I call it a grand slam. Kudos to Dr Barden, the staff of the Beautiful Bell House, and Margaret and Dorian for another great monthly event. It was also great to see both the NJIT 'swarm lab' crowd with Dr Garnier and the AMNH crowd, represented by Dr Hekkala and her husband, in attendance. High fives to everyone!
Poking around the t00bz, I found a fun video of Dr Barden giving a tour of the AMNH insect collections to a budding young entomologist:
I only have one quibble, and that's because bugs suck. The video, however, is great. Pour yourself a nice beverage, and watch two cool young dudes talk about SCIENCE!
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Free Stuff Is for Those Who Don’t Need It
I’m at the Woodlawn subway terminal, on a 4 Train which has just embarked for Manhattan and Brooklyn. The MTA has provided free Wi-Fi for its underground stations, but not for the elevated train stations in the Bronx. Funny, the people up here have less money to spend on data plans than Manhattanites.
As usual, here in the ‘States, free stuff is not provided for the people who most need it.
As usual, here in the ‘States, free stuff is not provided for the people who most need it.
Monday, August 27, 2018
Make America Weird Again
Funny, in all of my years blogging, I've never posted about 'Weird' Al Yankovic, though like most members of my age cohort, I consider myself a fan. At any rate, Weird Al just received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in true Weird Al fashion, he was awesome about it:
Besides being a brilliant parodist and a wicked accordion player, Weird Al has a great human rights record. He's also a loyal friend, having early champion Dr Demento at his side for the Walk of Fame ceremony. From everything I've ever heard about the man, he's a genuinely nice guy, and the affection he inspires in others is not only genuine, but reciprocated:
For the record, my favorite Weird Al song is not a parody of a particular number, but his 1985 sendup of 1950s doo-wop:
Generally speaking, I am not a proponent of celebrity candidates, but I think I could get behind a WEIRD AL 2020 campaign.
Weird Al has one request: "Please don't pickaxe my star. I know it's all the rage these days, but that's not cool. Unless at some point in the future, I do something unfathomably monstrous and evil in which case, sure, fine, okay, go ahead" pic.twitter.com/anFQn6lFla
— Variety (@Variety) August 27, 2018
Besides being a brilliant parodist and a wicked accordion player, Weird Al has a great human rights record. He's also a loyal friend, having early champion Dr Demento at his side for the Walk of Fame ceremony. From everything I've ever heard about the man, he's a genuinely nice guy, and the affection he inspires in others is not only genuine, but reciprocated:
For the record, my favorite Weird Al song is not a parody of a particular number, but his 1985 sendup of 1950s doo-wop:
Generally speaking, I am not a proponent of celebrity candidates, but I think I could get behind a WEIRD AL 2020 campaign.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
This Is Actually About Ethics in Video Gaming Journalism Culture
Another day in these here United States, another mass shooting, this time, at a video gaming tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. The shooter, who killed himself, was a competitor who lost a match, then returned to the venue and shot up the place. I imagine that the horrible people at 4chan, 8chan, and the various incel forums are already proclaiming him 'an hero'.
As exposed in the whole Gamergate fiasco, nerd culture is a cesspool of misogyny, racism, and general nastiness. The abuse, including rape and death threats, that women gamers face is horrific. The usual shit-talk that accompanies gaming has occasionally metastasized into something more sinister, including terroristic acts as 'SWATting', which have ended in fatalities.
I'm shocked, but not surprised, that toxic gamer culture has claimed its first mass shooting directly related to video gaming... though I in no way subscribe to the Conservative trope that violent video games 'cause' mass shootings- it's a distraction from the real issue of regulating access to firearms, and in this particular case, the video game the shooter played was a football simulation, not a First-Person Shooter. The culture of casual cruelty and entitlement that prevents a lot of these angry young nerds from handling setbacks in an emotionally appropriate fashion is the problem. Was it inevitable that this toxicity would lead to a case of mass lead poisoning? More importantly, will this mass-shooting be the start of a larger movement to defuse dangerous nerdrage?
As exposed in the whole Gamergate fiasco, nerd culture is a cesspool of misogyny, racism, and general nastiness. The abuse, including rape and death threats, that women gamers face is horrific. The usual shit-talk that accompanies gaming has occasionally metastasized into something more sinister, including terroristic acts as 'SWATting', which have ended in fatalities.
I'm shocked, but not surprised, that toxic gamer culture has claimed its first mass shooting directly related to video gaming... though I in no way subscribe to the Conservative trope that violent video games 'cause' mass shootings- it's a distraction from the real issue of regulating access to firearms, and in this particular case, the video game the shooter played was a football simulation, not a First-Person Shooter. The culture of casual cruelty and entitlement that prevents a lot of these angry young nerds from handling setbacks in an emotionally appropriate fashion is the problem. Was it inevitable that this toxicity would lead to a case of mass lead poisoning? More importantly, will this mass-shooting be the start of a larger movement to defuse dangerous nerdrage?
Saturday, August 25, 2018
On the Whole, a Disappointment
The big story of the day has got to be the death of Senator John McCain at the age of 81. McCain had a storied career as a naval aviator, a prisoner of war, a senator, and a presidential candidate, but on the whole I viewed him as a disappointment.
Back when bipartisanship was possible, McCain actually worked with Democratic colleagues to pass legislation... famously, he co-sponsored a 2005 immigration reform bill with Ted Kennedy. By 2008, during his presidential campaign, he tried to shed his 'moderate' image and run as a right-winger. Besides inflicting Sarah Palin on the nation, he repudiated his former stance on immigration:
This didn't win him friends among the Tea Party wing of the GOP, who lambasted him as a RINO. He attempted to woo people who villified his young adopted daughter and denigrated his military service. He sold out his own politics in an attempt to remain a leader of a party which had abandoned any pretense of sound governance. As I said, I viewed him as a disappointment.
That being said, he did have a long, storied career as a public servant, and that cannot be taken away from him regardless of any late-career missteps. Condolences to his loved ones. I will try to remember the John McCain who addressed an over-capacity crowd at St Barnabas Church on the Bronx/Yonkers border, the man who we serenaded with an a cappella rendition of Fields of Athenry as he left the venue:
Goodbye, John, we'll always have Yonkers.
Back when bipartisanship was possible, McCain actually worked with Democratic colleagues to pass legislation... famously, he co-sponsored a 2005 immigration reform bill with Ted Kennedy. By 2008, during his presidential campaign, he tried to shed his 'moderate' image and run as a right-winger. Besides inflicting Sarah Palin on the nation, he repudiated his former stance on immigration:
This didn't win him friends among the Tea Party wing of the GOP, who lambasted him as a RINO. He attempted to woo people who villified his young adopted daughter and denigrated his military service. He sold out his own politics in an attempt to remain a leader of a party which had abandoned any pretense of sound governance. As I said, I viewed him as a disappointment.
That being said, he did have a long, storied career as a public servant, and that cannot be taken away from him regardless of any late-career missteps. Condolences to his loved ones. I will try to remember the John McCain who addressed an over-capacity crowd at St Barnabas Church on the Bronx/Yonkers border, the man who we serenaded with an a cappella rendition of Fields of Athenry as he left the venue:
Goodbye, John, we'll always have Yonkers.
Friday, August 24, 2018
But Who Knows What He Tweeted to the Darkness?
It's disconcerting to see Trump's Twitter stream and see that the guy seems to be sleeping only four hours a night. I imagine he's under a lot of stress as his longtime Chief Financial Officer has just been granted immunity by prosecutors and New York State is going after the Trump Organization, which could lead to prosecutions of Trump family members which Trump has no authority to pardon. It's no wonder that Trump seems to be in a tizzy. I am reminded of a quote from Tolkien:
“But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?”
Could it be that Trump, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, thinks that all his life seems shrinking, and the walls of his bathroom closing in a about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in? His Twitter activity seems to suggest it.
As an aside, I am on the record writing that I didn't like any of Peter Jackson's loose Tolkien adaptations (though I liked his early, low-budget films), and one of the major reasons is that he gives one of Gandalf's best lines to fucking Wormtongue. Ugh, Jackson's LotR, to crib another bit from Tolkien, seemed fair and felt foul, but I would probably watch the hell out of a Peter Jackson movie about the downfall of the Trump family.
“But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?”
Could it be that Trump, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, thinks that all his life seems shrinking, and the walls of his bathroom closing in a about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in? His Twitter activity seems to suggest it.
As an aside, I am on the record writing that I didn't like any of Peter Jackson's loose Tolkien adaptations (though I liked his early, low-budget films), and one of the major reasons is that he gives one of Gandalf's best lines to fucking Wormtongue. Ugh, Jackson's LotR, to crib another bit from Tolkien, seemed fair and felt foul, but I would probably watch the hell out of a Peter Jackson movie about the downfall of the Trump family.
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