Archive of entries posted on 21st May 2021

Friday Night Open Thread: Just Tryin’ To Drive Traffic to the Site

Posted by on

News Flash:

Great Tits Living in Cities Are Genetically Different From Great Tits in the Countryside
University of Glasgow via Phys.org | May 20, 2021

Great tits living in cities are genetically different from great tits in the countryside. Researchers made the discovery after a unique study where they examined populations of great tits in nine large European cities, including Glasgow.

The researchers compared the city bird genes with the genes of their relatives in the countryside. The findings, which are published today in Nature Communications, showed that it didn’t matter if the great tits lived in Barcelona, Malmö or Glasgow: in order to handle an environment created by humans, the city birds all evolved in a similar way.

The European research, which was led by Lund University in collaboration with researchers at the University of Glasgow, included a study of birds from Kelvingrove Park together with birds from around the forest in the University of Glasgow’s SCENE (Scottish Center for Ecology and the Natural Environment) facility, located near Loch Lomond.

The researchers found that different genes linked to important biological functions regulated by serotonin, including aggression and circadian rhythms, were found to have been selected and passed on from generation to generation in the city birds. In rural populations, these behaviors are also important, however, the genes that control them do not confer the same advantage as they do in an urban environment.

On a serious note, it reads like the rural birds do have the same genes, yet the behavior they express is not as advantageous. How does this make them genetically different?

(The article goes on to say “The researchers analyzed more than half a million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spread over the entire genome, and found that a handful of genes that had clearly changed in response to the urban environment.” But wouldn’t that be the lead paragraph, not just a virtual footnote?)

On an even more serious note, isn’t it about time to change the name of this bird? Surely people as afraid of researching and discussing it as they are of Uranus.

On an even less serious note:

Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s our nightly Open Thread, and you have the floor.

2

From the “Your Day Could Be Going Much Worse” File

Posted by on

Not to make light of a potentially tragic situation . . . but you have to admit, you don’t exactly see this every day. And it’s a nice break from reading about what folks are doing in this country to ruin it.

Camouflaged forest camp is found in hunt for Belgian Rambo soldier as 400 specialised officers search for trained sniper who vowed to fight Covid lockdowns to the death
UK Daily Mail | 5/21/2021 | Charlotte Mitchell

Corporal Jurgen Conings, 46, disappeared from his barracks on Monday after stealing weapons.

More than 400 Belgian troops, back by German and Dutch special forces have been hunting for the soldier.

Makeshift camp was discovered in Hoge Kempen National Park but it is not yet clear whether it is connected.

Authorities from three countries are searching for Corporal Jurgen Conings, a heavily-armed soldier who deserted from his barracks on Monday armed with four rocket launchers, a machine gun and a pistol after threatening Marc Van Ranst, the virologist who is leading Belgian’s response to the coronavirus crisis.

We all hope it ends peacefully, I’m sure.

But a 46 year-old corporal? Is his name Hitler?

3

Chris Wallace Praises Biden’s Latest Speech, Unaware It Consisted Entirely of the Lyrics to “Louie Louie”

Posted by on

In a rare show of unanimity, Chris Wallace of Fox News and his other face cheered an hours-long utterance of Joe Biden’s from an undisclosed location — featuring, for once, an undisclosed location inside his bathrobe.

Biden then crawled across the floor in front of the cameras, thinking that made him invisible, and he and Major attacked Wallace’s nuts without mercy.

6

Straight Line of the Day: The Pentagon Has the World’s Largest Secret Army. Its Mission:

Posted by on

Straight Line of the Day: The Pentagon has the world’s largest secret army. Its mission:

Pentagon has 60,000 troops in secret, undercover army, report says

American Military News | May 19, 2021 | Liz George

The Pentagon has built the world’s largest secret army over the last decade, amassing approximately 60,000 troops who make up the undercover force, a Newsweek exclusive report revealed on Monday.

Way to keep a secret, Newsweek!

According to the report, service members in the force often work under masked identities as part of a program called “signature reduction.” More than 10 times the size of the CIA’s covert elements, the secret army works on both foreign and domestic assignments in both military uniforms and civilian attire, in real life and online. The troops reportedly hide in well-known private businesses and consultancies.

Such as . . . ?

… The report shares a glimpse into an entirely unregulated realm of the American military – the size of which is yet unknown.

Congress has never held a hearing on the secret force, and its existence raises concerns relating to U.S. laws, the Geneva Convention, the code of military conduct and accountability.

The program works with 130 private companies to facilitate the secret army, including making false documentation and paying the bills and taxes of troops working in disguise, as well as creating invisible devices that are undetectable and used to photograph and monitor activity in remote areas of the Middle East and Africa.

3
1

Now that’s interesting

Posted by on

TGIF.

And I almost forgot to put something together for this morning.

Almost.

I present to you an interesting article that is also scary. As we advance our technology to wonderful new frontiers one should remember that technology is a two edged sword. See 9/11.

World first: Oblique wave detonation engine may unlock Mach 17 aircraft

Link to full article

First the good part.

UCF researchers say they’ve trapped a sustained explosive detonation, fixed in place, for the first time, channeling its enormous power into thrust in a new oblique wave detonation engine that could propel an aircraft up to 17 times the speed of sound, potentially beating the scramjet as a hypersonic propulsion method…

…What does it all mean? Well, hypersonic air travel at speeds up to Mach 17 won’t just open the door to potential sub-30 minute flights between New York and Los Angeles. It’ll also enable spaceplanes to efficiently fly themselves right up into orbit without strapping themselves to rocket boosters

Wow, it will be a small world after all. Unfortunately it may not end up all being good news.

As our own David Szondy pointed out in this terrific hypersonic flight explainer from 2017, there’s not a radar or missile defense system in the world that could cope with a hypersonic missile at this point. What’s more, you wouldn’t even need a warhead on it to cause levels of devastation rivaling that of a nuclear bomb. “All that speed and all that inertia turns any research platform, recon unit, or passenger aircraft into a potential kinetic weapon,” writes Szondy. “They don’t need high explosives to destroy a target. All they have to do is hit it. In other words, any hypersonic vehicle is an intrinsic weapon given the proper modifications.”

The article gets a bit into the technology of the engines, well worth reading. Go check it out.

5