Thursday: Hili dialogue

Welcome to Thursday, January 30, 2025; February is almost upon us. It’s National Croissant Day, and here’s a photo I took of what, at the time, was rated as Paris’s best croissant, produced at Maison d’Isabelle in the Latin Quarter. It was excellent, and cost only one Euro. I can’t remember where it was from. Now Winnie informs me that it may have gone downhill.

It’s also Yodel for your neighbors day and School day of non-violence and peace (it’s sad that we need one).  Here’s a 12-year-old yodeler on one of those television talent shows. 

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the January 29 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Breaking: An American Airlines jet collided with a helicopter outside Washington, D.C. and plunged into the Potomac River. It was headed to Reagan National Airport from Wichita, Kansas, and it looks bad as there are no reports of survivors yet.

Many people were feared dead after a commercial jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with a U.S. Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday night near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C.

The authorities have not given an official count of casualties or bodies recovered. But some of those aboard the plane were figure skaters flying from Wichita, Kan., which had hosted the national figure skating championships this month. Russian figure skaters were also among the passengers, the Kremlin said.

*Well, the first of the misguided EOs of the Trump administration has been rescinded. They’re not all misguided, but this one surely was! (archived here)

The White House rescinded an order on Wednesday that froze up to trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans and sparked mass confusion across the country, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter and documentation obtained by The New York Times.

The initial directive interrupted the Medicaid system that provides health care to millions of low-income Americans and sent schools, hospitals, nonprofits, research companies and law enforcement agencies scrambling to understand if they had lost their financial support from the federal government.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Tuesday afternoon temporarily blocked the order in response to a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward, a liberal organization that argued that the directive violated the First Amendment and a law governing how executive orders are to be rolled out.

On Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director for the Office of Management and Budget, sent a notification to federal agencies notifying them that memo freezing aid had been “rescinded.”

“If you have questions about implementing the President’s executive orders, please contact your agency general counsel,” Mr. Vaeth said in the notification.

Of course all of my colleagues were distressed about their grants, and my own University sent out a memo saying that federal grant holders could continue to pay their employees but should not spend money for equipment or procedures. While that’s not as important in the cosmic scheme as getting medical care to people, it would, if kept in effect, severely impact not just science in general, but also medical research. Stopping these grants and loans was a terrible idea, and I have no inkling why Trump did it. Next to be rescinded: the equally misguided “birthright” directive.

*As I write this on Wednesday afternoon, RFK Jr. (another misguided move) is getting a licking in the Senate for his nomination as Trump’s health secretary. You can guess what they’re asking him about (he’s pushing back, too):

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday took questions from senators before a vote on whether to confirm him as President Trump’s health secretary. Kennedy, the scion of an American political dynasty, endorsed Trump last year on a theme of “Make America Healthy Again.”

Here’s what else to know:

Kennedy sidestepped questions on abortion and struggled to answer questions about Medicare and Medicaid.

He pushed back on criticism of his vaccine views, saying he supports measles and polio vaccines.

Kennedy would take over a sprawling bureaucracy if confirmed, with an annual budget that tops $1.7 trillion and a department that funds healthcare for millions of Americans.

He needs 51 votes to be confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans currently hold 53 seats. If Kennedy loses three Republicans, Vice President JD Vance can break the tie.

A bit more from the links:

But Wyden wasn’t buying it, saying Kennedy had been clear in the past that he viewed measles as not a threat. Kennedy has questioned whether the MMR vaccine, which inoculates against measles and two other diseases, causes autism.

And Bernie went after him big time (go see the picture):

Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., used a heated exchange between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and the HHS nominee over their baby onesies emblazoned with antivaccination slogans (“No Vax. No Problem.”) to promote their controversial clothing. “Thanks for the plug @BernieSanders.”

“Get Your CHD Baby Onesies Here!” the group said on social media shortly after Sanders’s comments. Kennedy said he isn’t opposed to vaccines and that he previously resigned from the group’s board.

Fluoride:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has blamed fluoride in drinking water for ailments from arthritis to bone cancer to thyroid damage. “I was called a conspiracy theorist because I said fluoride lowered IQ,” Kennedy said during his hearing with senators Wednesday, invoking a recent controversial JAMA Pediatrics review examining the link. He said before the election that if re-elected, President Trump would direct municipalities to stop adding fluoride to water systems.

Most experts say that the amount of fluoride in water is not sufficient to harm children, and there are of course proven salubrious effects on dental health.

And get a load of this—where RFK Jr. had to go to get data supporting his “theories,” which are his:

*More from the Washington Post (the grilling has ended):

A kerfuffle!

The exchanged prompted a rebuke from Advancing American Freedom, the organization founded by former vice president Mike Pence, who opposes Kennedy over his past support of abortion rights. “What other issues do radical RFK Jr. and President Trump disagree on?” the organization posted on X, part of its campaign to sway Republican senators.

And fake news about fluoride:

Kennedy said he was called a conspiracy theorist for saying fluoride (the mineral added to drinking water to improve oral health) lowers IQ, but a recent literature review published in JAMA, the influential medical journal, confirmed the association. That’s true, but missing context: The conclusion is based on elevated levels of fluoride mostly outside the United States and did not apply to the recommended concentration of fluoride in American drinking water. Kennedy has said the Trump administration would advise water districts to remove fluoride.

Finally,

A Washington Post investigation found that the nonprofit Kennedy founded was one of four that rose to prominence during the coronavirus pandemic by capitalizing on the spread of medical misinformation. That group received $23.5 million in contributions, grants and other revenue in 2022, enabling it to pay Kennedy more than $510,000 in 2022, double his2019 salary, tax records show.

I do not want this man to be confirmed.  He is befuddled, wrong, and harmful.

*The Associated Press reports about a new paper in Nature showing that many species are losing genetic diversity, which, they all say, makes the species more liable to extinction because they don’t have mutant gene forms to deal with climate or environmental change.

Two-thirds of animal and plant populations are declining in genetic diversity, which makes it harder to adapt to environmental changes, according to research published Wednesday.

Long before a species goes extinct, the population becomes smaller and more fragmented, shrinking the number of potential mates and therefore genetic mixing. This leaves a species more vulnerable to future threats such as disease.

“A surprisingly trend was that we saw genetic diversity declining even among” many species that aren’t considered at risk, said co-author Catherine Grueber, a conservation biologist at the University of Sydney.

Researchers examined data for 628 species studied between 1985 and 2019. The greatest losses in genetic variation were seen in birds and mammals.

Findings were published in the journal Nature.

“When a species has different genetic solutions, it’s better able to deal with changes,” said David Nogués-Bravo at the University of Copenhagen, who was not involved in the study.

If a new disease spreads through a population or climate change alters summer rainfall, some individuals will fare better than others, in part because of their genes. Higher genetic diversity also means there’s a greater chance of a species’ survival.

It’s not as bad as it sounds.  From the paper (my bolding)

After sensitivity testing (Methods and Supplementary Information 1.4 and 1.5), our reduced meta-analysis dataset comprised 871 published records, providing 3,983 Hedges’ g* effect sizes for modelling, encompassing 622 species from 36 classes across 16 phyla. Meta-analysis over this entire dataset revealed a small, but statistically significant loss of genetic diversity over time (Hedges’ g* posterior mean = −0.11; 95% HPD credible interval −0.15, −0.07) (Fig. 2a and Supplementary Information 1.4 and 1.5). No publication bias was detected (Supplementary Information 1.5). In a few cases, extreme genetic diversity change was observed, which had detectable influence on the results; therefore, such cases were removed so that our model outputs represented the general trends present across 99% of our dataset (extreme genetic diversity changes are narrated at Supplementary Information 1.4).

However, I think the threat is exaggerated for three reasons. First, the reduction, as you can see above from the paper extract, is quite small.  Second, even a small number of individuals can harbor substantial heritability (the ability of selection to move a trait); this would be a problem only if response depended on pretty rare alleles. More important, habitat loss and fragmentation is a far greater threat to extinction than is lack of genetic variation. This is why I’ve left a substantial amount in my will for organizations to buy up land to help conservation.

*And from the AP’s usually entertaining “oddities” section we hear that the last of 43 rhesus macaques that escaped from a South Carolina breeding facility have been recovered. I’m amazed that theyu got them all, but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (my staple lunch) got them back.

Authorities in South Carolina said Friday the last four of 43 escaped monkeys have been recaptured after two months living in the woods, weathering a rare snowstorm and being temped back into captivity by peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The rhesus macaque monkeys, all females, made a break for it after police say an employee did not fully lock their enclosure at Alpha Genesis, a facility that breeds them for medical research — known to locals as “the monkey farm.”

The recaptured monkeys appeared to be in good health, Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said in a statement relayed by Yemassee Police in a social media post, without further details.

While they were on the loose, the area saw its first snow in seven years, accumulating up to 3 inches (8 centimeters).

The rhesus macaques made a break for it on Nov. 6, and mostly hung around near the facility. They’re about the size of a cat, weighing roughly 7 pounds (3 kilograms).

It appears a worker unintentionally left the gates unlocked when the monkeys escaped, Westergaard said in November. Workers were supposed to lock and latch one gate before opening another, but all three gates and latches were left unsecure.

Sadly,the monkeys are being bred for medical research, and you know what that means for them.  I almost wish that had taken it on the lam to where they couldn’t be recaptured. Or at least rewarded by being put in some monkey conservation facility. After all, they wanted FREEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!

Here’s a video about the breakout:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn,

Hili: Can you let me into the basement?

A: What for?

Hili: So I can get out of it after a moment.

Hili: Czy możesz mnie wpuścić do piwnicy?

Ja: Po co?

Hili: Żebym mogła z niej za chwilę wyjść.

*******************

Here’s a photo of the English shorthair Mishka, staffed by Anna and Jay. Isn’t he a beaut?

From Meanwhile in Canada:

From Things with Faces; a happy face seen in dishwater:

Masih isn’t tweeting much but here’s more news about Iran, and, as usual, it’s not good news.

No joke: this Thursday, the Islamic Regime in Iran will become Chair of the U.N. Human Rights Council Social Forum.

Say NO to the U.N. legitimizing a regime that beats, blinds, tortures and rapes women for demanding their rights.

Sign the petition now: https://t.co/Q4HTtbCbgT pic.twitter.com/D8BxYtg6db

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 30, 2023

Two posts from Simon, who clearly does NOT like RFK Jr., either:

There are quite a few irresponsible conspiracy theories about JFK and who took his life.There are quite a few irresponsible conspiracy theories about RFK and who took his life.There are many, many irresponsible conspiracy theories by RFK Jr. that will take thousands of lives.

— God (@skeetofgod.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T16:06:16.666Z

I’m not really sure what this one means, though, except that RFK Jr. looks bad. But he’s not fat!

RFK JR. looks like someone exhumed his father and stuck a helium tank up his ass for 30 seconds.

— God (@skeetofgod.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T16:10:56.024Z

From Malcolm. Poor woman! I hope the kitties helped.

They are healing her Read More