July 8, 2016 in 3,831 words

HUNTING FOR BREAKFAST

The last few days I’ve noticed this rather large bird sitting atop a telephone pole while out walking.

Today I managed to get my phone off my arm and the camera app running before it swooped to catch whatever it was spying for breakfast.

A quick search of birds native to northern Colorado reveals this to be a Prairie Falcon.

While Miguel the Macaw really loves riding my shoulder on the Saint Vrain Greenway, I no longer take him out there. I’m afraid a bird of prey will make Miguel prey. I’ve had hawks try to take him from my shoulder a couple of times while out in open spaces.

Miguel’s walks are now limited to Longmont city sidewalks and bike paths.

Click the image to embiggen somewhat in a new tab.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 8TH- THE FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH

This Day In History: July 8, 2011

On this day in history, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center to deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. Atlantis touched down at 5:57 AM EDT on July 21, 2011, closing 30 years and 135 missions performed by the Space Shuttles.

Throughout their run, a total of five space worthy shuttles were built, with the additional Enterprise prototype used for flight testing, but never upgraded to be able to fly in low orbit, as was initially planned (it lacked engines and did not have a heat shield, among other things). Two of the five space worthy shuttles were destroyed in accidents (Challenger and Columbia). The three surviving were Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. …

Would Donald Trump Quit if He Wins the Election? He Doesn’t Rule It Out

The traditional goal of a presidential nominee is to win the presidency and then serve as president.

Donald J. Trump is not a traditional candidate for president.

Presented in a recent interview with a scenario, floating around the political ether, in which the presumptive Republican nominee proves all the naysayers wrong, beats Hillary Clinton and wins the presidency, only to forgo the office as the ultimate walk-off winner, Mr. Trump flashed a mischievous smile.

“I’ll let you know how I feel about it after it happens,” he said minutes before leaving his Trump Tower office to fly to a campaign rally in New Hampshire. …

Believing, After Seeing

^{National outrage doesn’t necessarily translate to reform.}

When Philando Castile was shot to death on Wednesday, he was in his car, restrained by a seatbelt. When Alton Sterling was shot to death early Tuesday morning, he was in the parking lot of the convenience store where he sold CDs, pinned to the ground.

This is what two amateur videos—filmed by trained bystanders or courageous loved ones—appear to reveal. Twice this week, Americans have found themselves reduced to outrage and mute grief by the killing of a black man by a local police officer. It happened on Wednesday, and then again on Thursday—just as it also occurred last December, and last August, and last July, and last April, and last January, except the “man” in that final instance was a 12-year-old boy. Expand the count to include black women and Hispanic men and the number of incidents nearly doubles.

These are not the only Americans who were killed by cops last year. More than 1,000 people are killed by police officers every year in the United States, according to The Washington Post and The Guardian. And as my colleague Vann Newkirk II writes, a black American will be killed by an officer every two days. …

10 Facts About The Talking Knots Of Ancient Peru

When the Spanish arrived in Peru, they discovered the greatest Native American empire in history, stretching from the mountains of Ecuador to the deserts of Chile and the jungles of Brazil. But, alone among history’s great empires, the Inca had no written language. Instead, they administered the empire using bundles of knotted cords known as quipus. Long dismissed as mere mnemonic aids, it’s now becoming clear that the “talking knots” were a far stranger and more advanced technology than we ever suspected.

10. They’re Incredibly Rare (But Still Respected)

The Spanish recognized that the quipu were more formidable and accurate than their own system of record-keeping. They also realized that they were extremely important to the prestige and history of the local people. They didn’t care for either fact and declared quipu satanic in 1583, burning every example they could find. At the time, quipu were extremely common, with every village in the empire using them. Today, only around 750 examples remain.

Despite their virtual eradication, many Andean people retained an enormous respect for quipu, although they lost the ability to truly read them over time. In the Peruvian village of San Cristobal de Rapaz, the locals carefully preserve a quipu in a ceremonial “quipu house” that must be approached with offerings and invocations. They regard the ancient record as a holy object that allows them to communicate with the nearby mountains, which allow the rain to come in their time of need. …

Hipster Colonialism and the ‘Ruin’ of Cuba

^{A common sentiment about the country’s development shows that some Americans see the island as a tropical Cold War museum.}

Summer is here in Cuba and with it tens of thousands more American visitors. More than 150,000 Americans visited in 2015, and this year seems on track to surpass even that figure. The growth in American visitors is no doubt related to the warming of relations between Havana and Washington and the dramatic internal reforms that the Cuban government has implemented, sweeping aside many of the Soviet-inspired economic policies that dominated, and afflicted, the lives of everyday Cubans for half a century.

When you talk to enough Americans about Cuba, especially those on the political left, someone will inevitably say those words that are like nails on a chalkboard to Cubans and Cuban Americans alike: “I have to go before they ruin it.” Admittedly, most who use the phrase are well-meaning, and they do not represent the American left as a whole. Nonetheless, it hurts to hear this phrase thoughtlessly repeated time and again by people who should know better. A year and a half ago in The New Republic, Ryan Kearney noted that such a use of the word “ruin” implies a fetishization of Cuban poverty. But the sentiment also evinces a colonialist vision of Cuba, revealing the underlying entitlement of those who see the island as their own personal Tropical Museum of the Cold War.

To understand what is being “ruined,” you have to first understand what came before. …

The “Jon Stewart of Egypt” pokes fun at U.S. politics in “The Democracy Handbook”

Bassem Youssef is well known as the “Jon Stewart of Egypt” for his comedy show, “Al Bernameg,” nicknamed “The Daily Show” of the Middle East. It was actually Jon Stewart himself who inspired Youssef to ditch his career as a heart surgeon to host his own comedy show in Egypt during the 2011 Arab Spring.

“Al Bernameg” became one of the most-watched shows in the Middle East, garnering an estimated 30 million weekly viewers. But in 2014, Youssef left it all behind, citing political pressure and safety concerns for his family. He has since moved to California and in his latest project he takes a jab at American politics in a 10-part web series for Fusion called “The Democracy Handbook.” The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

“When I went out in the field and I spoke, for example, to Trump supporters, it kind of resonated with me because I heard the exact same things back home with empty, fake patriotism, demagogic speeches, empty rhetoric,” Youssef told “CBS This Morning” Thursday. “It’s as if we are talking in an echo chamber. It doesn’t make sense… but it does for them.” …

10 Disturbing Murder Mysteries From Canada

When we think of Canada, we think of things like friendliness, good manners, cleanliness, and hockey. But the country does have its dark side. Just like any other place, Canada has been home to good and evil alike. Some very bad people did some very bad things in Canada, and some of them have gotten away with it. It’s unlikely that we will be solving any of these murders anytime soon.

10. Dino Bravo

In his day-to-day life, he was known as Adolfo Bresciano, an Italian immigrant in Quebec. When the spotlight was on, he became Dino Bravo, professional wrestler. Dino achieved his greatest success in the late 1980s working with the World Wrestling Federation where he was billed as “Canada’s Strongest Man.”

Dino Bravo retired in 1992. Less than one year later, he was dead. His body was found in his home, sitting in front of a hockey game and riddled with 17 bullets.

Nobody was ever charged with Dino Bravo’s murder, and the precise circumstances regarding his death remain a mystery to this day. However, wrestlers talk. Rumors soon arose that Bravo was killed by the Mafia due to his involvement in a cigarette smuggling ring. …

The stunning chart that explains the next four decades of American politics

Pew Research created an absolutely stunning graph, plotting the population of the United States by race and age. That description, I will grant, doesn’t make it seem hugely compelling; my affection for demographic data is almost certainly more robust than that of most people. But when you plot that data, the story of the next 40 years of American politics — much less the story of the 2016 election — becomes clear.

Here’s the graph.

^{Click image to embiggen}

The most common age for white Americans last year was 55 — meaning they were born in 1960, at the tail end of the Baby Boom. In ten years, the most common age for whites will be 65 or thereabouts (depending on how well those years go). In 20, 75 — and so on. This is the graying of America, the shift toward a much older population that’s been forecast for a long time. At some point, the Boomers will make up less of the population of white Americans (sorry, Boomers) and the most common age for whites will jump down a few decades, to that millennial peak that’s now at about 24 or so.

But this isn’t the only trend that’s happening. …

Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis Is In Legal Trouble Again

It’s been some time since Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was in the news, in part because Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) removed county clerks’ names from marriage licenses, mooting much of the controversy she started by refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples. Now, however, she and her anti-LGBT lawyers at the Liberty Counsel are facing new legal troubles for trying to hide details about their relationship.

The Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a D.C.-based non-profit, filed an Open Records Act request earlier this year hoping to uncover details about the nature of Davis’ relationship with the Liberty Counsel, including retainer agreements and other documents related to the nature of their attorney-client relationship and how it was authorized. At first, Davis and Liberty Counsel rejected the request simply because the request was emailed, but when CfA then faxed the request instead, they still balked. Though Davis turned over some documents, they refused many more, citing attorney-client privilege, attorney work product, and preliminary documents that are exempted under Kentucky law. …

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 8TH- THE LIBERTY BELL AND A FAMOUS READING

This Day In History: July 8, 1776

Like many beloved tales of early Americana, such as Betsy Ross creating the flag, the Declaration of Independence being signed on July 4th (it was actually about a month later), and Paul Revere doing that midnight ride as a solo act, the tale of the Liberty Bell ringing to mark the first reading of the Declaration of Independence may be more fantasy than fact. We know the bells in the city of Philadelphia were rung on July 8, 1776 to celebrate the occasion, but it’s unlikely that the Liberty Bell was among those pealing that day.

The Liberty Bell came to be in 1751 when the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly had it made to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the state’s constitution. The bell was cracked during a test and recast twice before being hung from the Pennsylvania State House steeple in 1753.

The bell was rung to call to the assembly to order, and to summon people for special events and important announcements, such as the ascension of King George III. But after 1773, ringing the bell was avoided. The steeple it was enclosed in was in such disrepair it was feared it would topple over. …

Stigma Prolongs Global HIV Epidemic Among Gays

High rates of HIV among gay and bisexual men continue in many regions of the world because of discriminatory laws and lack of access to preventive services, a new study finds.

“While HIV rates have flattened overall in recent years, we’re really concerned that the HIV epidemic is continuing among gay men and we’re going in the wrong direction,” said study leader Dr. Chris Beyrer, a professor of public health and human rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“It’s painful that the history of AIDS is looking like its future, but that’s actually where we are,” said Beyrer, who is also president of the International AIDS Society. “But the first step in taking on a problem is recognizing and articulating it, and we’ve really done that here.” …

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: In the United States, a 20-year-old gay black man has a 50 percent chance of becoming infected with HIV during his lifetime, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Portrait Of America’s Middle Class, By The Numbers

What does it mean to be middle class in America?

When All Things Considered‘s Ari Shapiro asked people in New York City’s Times Square, the answers were all over the place.

“You’re struggling, like, paycheck to paycheck, and you’re going, ‘Oh shoot, I want to go into H&M, but you know what, I’ll do it next week when I get paid again,'” said Erin Kennedy, a 44-year-old who runs a gym in the Bronx.

Building manager Bob Berger, who’s in his 60s, also identifies as middle class, but this New Yorker’s experience differs greatly.

“To be middle class means that I never have had to make a budget; I have never wanted for anything,” Berger said. “I pretty much did what I wanted.” …

Why Modern America Scares Me: By An Internment Camp Survivor

Our first impulse when looking back on some particularly ugly event in history is to shake our heads and say, “Man, those people were nuts!” We tend to do that even when the history was fairly recent and the event took place right where we’re standing.

So, while it’s easy to look at something like the internment of the Japanese during World War II and lump it in with the Salem witch hunts in the category of “Weird Things People Did In Olden Times,” you have to remember some of the people involved are still around. You can ask them about it!

We did. Kiyo Sato was an 18-year-old Japanese-American living in Sacramento when the war broke out and the government decided she and her family couldn’t be trusted.

#5. Pearl Harbor Happened, And Then The FBI Showed Up At Their Front Door

The change happened overnight. The bombing of Pearl Harbor happened on Dec. 7, 1941, and suddenly Kiyo’s classmates — and basically the entire country — were treating her like a bear rooting around in their picnic. Literally, by 1942: “There was even a Japanese hunting license issued by the military,” says Kiyo. “Can you imagine? I have an original copy of that.” There were actually a lot of those novelty “licenses” issued by all manner of groups, each somehow more racist than the last:

^{Imagine going to high school with kids who have this

in their pocket. And they think you’re the “snake.”}

Overnight, Kiyo became an awkward teen in a country full of people who suddenly thought she might be The Enemy. “The only time you felt safe was when you were in your own home, and even then you felt like the FBI could be peeking in through your vines. And they would pop in at any time.” …

California Town Fixes Crooked Curb, Breaks Geologists’ Hearts

To the average pedestrian, it was just a curb. To an observant one, perhaps, it was an oddly misaligned curb.

To geologists, it was a snapshot of the earth’s shifting tectonic plates — an accidental experiment, a field trip destination for decades.

But to the town of Hayward, Calif., it was just a bit of subpar infrastructure.

The Los Angeles Times sums up what happened next:

“Then, one early June day, a city crew decided to fix the faulty curb — pun intended. By doing what cities are supposed to do — fixing streets — the city’s action stunned scientists, who said a wonderful curbside laboratory for studying earthquakes was destroyed.”

…

If you’re waiting for a self-driving car revolution, keep waiting

Not a week goes by, it seems, without some sort of development in the world regarding self-driving cars. Whether it’s Google going on a hiring spree as it attempts to accelerate its efforts or General Motors acquiring Cruise, a driverless-car startup, the subject consistently finds a place in any given news cycle.

And now Uber recently got in the mix, putting autonomous cars on the streets of Pittsburgh.

But if you‘re waiting for a self-driving car revolution, you better keep waiting. Sure, the technology is there, but there are plenty of legal and regulatory battles that will have to take place before consumers are being zipped around in autonomous cars.

What’s more interesting, and less talked about, is what a world of automated drivers will look like for some of the world’s most disruptive transportation companies — Uber and Lyft — and how these ridesharing companies will become part of a one-sided, commodity marketplace model with complex logistics and low profit margins. …

10 Things Our Brain Does Without Us Thinking About It

Our brain is a vital part of our life experience. From the ability to think to the control of our muscles, our brain enables us to do everything. But what about the things our brain does without us consciously thinking about it? In this list, we’ll uncover the secrets of how our brain causes us to do things that we rarely—if ever—think about.

10. Filtering information

It goes without saying that every second of every day, we’re constantly flooded with information—so much information that it’s impossible to take it all in. Without looking, do you know what color socks you put on this morning? What about what the first person you saw today was wearing? If not, don’t worry, your memory isn’t fading yet! Our brain works constantly to filter out information we don’t need to consciously be made aware of. This allows us to focus on what information is important to us. For example, if you’re watching a game of football, you’re probably not aware of what’s going on in the crowd, even though your brain is perceiving this information.

This process is called selective attention and allows us not to be driven insane by the high levels of information that are typically present. Some information can, however, break through the barrier of our focus. This is why when we hear our name in someone else’s conversation, we instantly respond. An experiment to test this theory was carried out by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons at Harvard University, a clip of which can be view above. How many times do you see the players in white pass the ball? The answer might surprise you. …

Why Do Things Look Blue at Dusk and Dawn?

^{The brain plays a strange trick in low light—and when people take Viagra.}

We think of color as an innate part of the world. An apple is red, a leaf is green, the sky is blue—all the evidence of our eyes suggests that we are seeing something fundamental about physical reality. And yet there are moments when color seems more like an illusion. If you sit in a space with green light for a while—say, a green plastic Porta-Potty—the world is suffused with red when you emerge. People looking at the same photograph of the same dress have radically different perceptions of its colors. At dawn and dusk, everything looks bluer, such that flowers that are red in sunlight are almost purple.

Your brain is up to something. But what?

In the case of the blue dawn effect, a pair of researchers, one at CalTech, the other now a post-doc at Harvard, recently published some experiments that may finally reveal what is happening. …

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J.P. MORGAN AND HIS GIANT, KNOBBLY, PURPLE NOSE

John “J.P.” Morgan is a name synonymous with business. A man who was so respected and influential in the spheres of business and finance that the appearance of the guy on the Monopoly board, Rich Uncle Pennybags, is thought to be based on him. But rather than talk about how Morgan accumulated his truly vast amount of wealth, how he was such a powerful force in the world of finance that he once rescued the United States government from bankruptcy in 1893; or that time in 1907 when he managed to stop cold the Wall Street Panic of 1907 which might have otherwise plunged the U.S. into a Depression (and the result of which inspired the creation of the Federal Reserve System, for when someone like J.P. Morgan wasn’t around to fix the situation); or that time he financed Thomas Edison in the invention of a commercially viable light bulb and helped form General Electric; or any of the other of his countless history changing business conquests, no, we’re going to talk about something much less well known about this admiral of industry- his giant nose.

Now given the list of accomplishments attributed to Morgan and the ridiculous amount of power he wielded during his lifetime to the point that the President of the United States was called his lapdog and nicknames in the finance industry for the man included Zeus and Jupiter, it may seem a little odd that we want to talk about his nose; so let us explain. Morgan didn’t just have a bulbous nose; it was also purple-ish/red because of a skin condition he suffered from as a child known as rosacea. This causes the blood vessels in the face to dilate and rupture. In addition to this, Morgan also suffered from rhinophyma, which is a common side effect of rosacea, resulting in numerous growths, lesions and fissures also marking the surface of his nose. But here’s the thing, almost nobody in America during Morgan’s lifetime was aware of any of this- impressive considering he was one of the most famous business magnates in the world for a not insignificant portion of his life. …