INTERESTING: Mama dolphin smack the leader of a human diving group?

Thursday, November 25, 2021

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/11/23/lodging-a-complaint/

Among the most compelling anecdotes suggesting that dolphins have concepts of ‘wrong’ behavior is Thomas White’s description of how a human snorkeler observing Atlantic spotted dolphins off the Bahamas went outside the bounds of the norms of behavior expected by the dolphins of human observers at that site. The swimmer approached a calf engaged in learning to fish with its mother, a no-no in the rules of engagement between swimmers and these dolphins built up over years. When this happened, the mother then swam not to the hapless trespasser but to the leader of the group of swimmers, whom she could identify, and tail-slapped, her displeasure apparently directed at the leader who had not controlled the behavior of those being led.

— Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell, The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, 2015

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Fascinating!

Speechless.

Nearly human?  Maybe better than human.  The was some humans act in traffic, for sure.

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INTERESTING: Who discovered the Pythagorean theorem first?

Thursday, November 4, 2021

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/11/02/tilt-3/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FutilityCloset+%28Futility+Closet%29

Tilt

*** begin quote ***

As early as the 1st century B.C., the Chinese text Zhou Bi Suan Jing reflected the reasoning of the Pythagorean theorem, showing how to find the hypotenuse of the 3-4-5 triangle. 

*** and ***

In Mathematics and the Aesthetic (2007), Nathalie Sinclair writes, “The Chinese diagram … is the same as one given by the twelfth-century Indian scholar Bhaskara, whose one-word injunction Behold! recorded his sense of awe.”

*** end quote ***

Hey, we was taught it’s the Pythagorean formula.  But it seems that some Babylonians may have preceded the Greeks and Indians (from India).  Maybe the Chinese found it first?

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INTERESTING: Are humans like these Deer In The Czech Republic Have Migration Patterns Guided By Memories Of?

Monday, October 18, 2021

https://www.mindbounce.com/trivia/deer-in-the-czech-republic-have-migration-patterns-guided-by-memories-of/

TRIVIA
Deer In The Czech Republic Have Migration Patterns Guided By Memories Of?
Fault Lines
Medieval Trade Routes
The Iron Curtain
Abandoned Logging Roads
Cuchulainn/Wikimedia

*** begin quote ***

Answer: The Iron Curtain

Researchers tracking the movement of red deer in the Czech Republic discovered something rather curious. Despite the physical ability to travel freely wherever they wished, the deer’s travel routes never crossed the border between the Czech Republic and Germany.

The deer have no political motivation in avoiding international travel, but instead are obeying what amounts to a set of rules passed down, generationally, from doe to fawn. During the Cold War, the entire border between the Czech Republic and West Germany was fenced off with parallel electrified fences and patrolled by armed guards. Crossing the border was a death sentence for the deer and they learned to avoid the entire length of it.

Young red deer spend roughly a year with their mother after birth and it turns out that red deer mothers have, for generations now, been teaching their young to avoid the border. At this point, they could easily cross the border without worry, but the habit is ingrained and although the deer can’t communicate why the area is dangerous to each other, they learn by behavior and avoid it for the rest of their lives—passing the border avoidance on to their offspring.

*** end quote ***

Rule of thumb

How many ingrained habits do we humans have?  Lessons aka “rules of thumb” called, in fancy language heuristics, can lead us astray when they no longer apply (i.e., the universe change making them erroneous, obsolete, or if we are lucky just a quaint oddity. We get them from our ancestors or other human beings.

A heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows an individual to make a decision, pass judgment, or solve a problem quickly and with minimal mental effort. While heuristics can reduce the burden of decision-making and free up limited cognitive resources, they can also be costly when they lead individuals to miss critical information or act on unjust biases.

Sometimes, it can be quaint when one of those “rules” is observed in the real world that just makes no sense (i.e., “the man should walk on the left side of a woman” so should he need to draw his sword she’d be safe).  But other times, to just dangerous to ignore (i.e., the safe following distance when driving).

In any event, this story reminds me about how they train elephants to be bound by a thin leg rope.  The elephant is conditioned that they can not escape.

How many limiting beliefs do we have?

How many do I have?

What can’t be seen?

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INTERESTING: Donate Your Body to Science

Saturday, July 17, 2021

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/557341/donating-your-body-science?utm_source=pocket_mylist

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Donating Your Body to Science
BY EMILY PETSKO — MAY 31, 2019

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“I’d much rather be used for medical research than be buried,” Poulakos, 64, tells Mental Floss. “We’re not going to be using our bodies anymore anyway, so they might as well use it for whatever they need.”

*** and ***

These deceased donors help to save lives. Medical students dissect cadavers to learn about anatomy. Researchers use them to study diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Surgeons use corpses to refine new procedures like face transplants. And cadavers have even aided the advancement of surgical robots.

Yet corpses can be hard to come by: An estimated 20,000 Americans donate their bodies to science each year, which equates to less than 1 percent of the 2.7 million Americans who die annually. Put simply, the demand is far greater than the supply.

*** end quote ***

I feel the same way.  I’ve instructed my primary survivor (i.e., POS, HAP, AD) when she pulls the plug to do this but she thinks it “gross”. I hope she will.

It seems such a waste to bury spare parts.  And, if it can’t be used for parts, at least let the med students practice.

If I can’t do anything else right for humanity, I can do this.

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INTERESTING: TIL sign language as an official language?

Monday, May 24, 2021

r/todayilearned 
•Posted byu/GQveracity 
2 hours ago
 
 
TIL There are 41 countries that recognize sign language as an official language

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-recognize-sign-language-as-an-official-language.html

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INTERESTING: Here’s a crazy behavior

Thursday, May 20, 2021

r/todayilearned 
•Posted byu/YourOwnBiggestFan 
15 hours ago
 

TIL of William Lyttle, the “Mole Man of Hackney”, who spent around 40 years digging a network of tunnels up to 59 feet (18 m) long beneath his home. When the authorities discovered the extent of his burrowing, he was rehoused on the top floor of a high-rise to prevent digging.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W…

# – # – # – # – #

That’s strange behavior!

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INTERESTING: Merck, the company that invented ivermectin, doesn’t want an off-patent drug

Friday, May 14, 2021

https://anti-empire.com/indication-ivermectin-drastically-reduces-deaths-keeps-trickling-in-from-the-third-world-too-bad-its-a-cheap-generic/

Indication Ivermectin Drastically Reduces Deaths Keeps Trickling in From the Third World. Too Bad It’s a Cheap Generic
Would rain on the virus cult parade
Dr. Sebastian Rushworth

*** begin quote ***

Back in January I wrote an article about four randomized controlled trials of ivermectin as a treatment for covid-19 that had at that time released their results to the public. Each of those four trials had promising results, but each was also too small individually to show any meaningful impact on the hard outcomes we really care about, like death. When I meta-analyzed them together however, the results suddenly appeared very impressive. Here’s what that meta-analysis looked like:

It showed a massive 78% reduction in mortality in patients treated with covid-19. Mortality is the hardest of hard end points, which means it’s the hardest for researchers to manipulate and therefore the least open to bias. Either someone’s dead, or they’re alive. End of story.

You would have thought that this strong overall signal of benefit in the midst of a pandemic would have mobilized the powers that be to arrange multiple large randomized trials to confirm these results as quickly as possible, and that the major medical journals would be falling over each other to be the first to publish these studies.

That hasn’t happened.

*** and ***

I understand why pharmaceutical companies don’t like ivermectin. It’s a cheap generic drug.

Even Merck, the company that invented ivermectin, is doing it’s best to destroy the drug’s reputation at the moment. This can only be explained by the fact that Merck is currently developing two expensive new covid drugs, and doesn’t want an off-patent drug, which it can no longer make any profit from, competing with them.

The only reason I can think to understand why the broader medical establishment, however, is still so anti-ivermectin is that these studies have all been done outside the rich west. Apparently doctors and scientists outside North America and Western Europe can’t be trusted, unless they’re saying things that are in line with our pre-conceived notions.

*** end quote ***

Follow the money!

Just like DJT45 said!

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INTERESTING: New Zealand trying to eradicate hedgehog ‘killing machines’

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

https://nypost.com/2021/05/08/new-zealand-trying-to-eradicate-hedgehog-killing-machines/

New Zealand trying to eradicate hedgehog ‘killing machines’
By Paula Froelich

*** begin quote ***

New Zealand is now trying to eradicate the animals by 2050, by way of trapping, hunting, and poisoning them — a plan that is despised by some locals due to the “cuteness” of the animals.

Foster told the Guardian there is “a bit of a psychological barrier” when it comes to hedgehog eradication. “It has been proposed to ship them all back to the UK. European hedgehogs aren’t doing so well in Europe. Still in good numbers, but they are declining.”

*** end quote ***

Not that easy to undo the mistakes of the past?

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INTERESTING: “Pickup Trucks” are a metaphor for liberty

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-11/the-dangerous-rise-of-the-supersized-pickup-truck

*** begin quote ***

• What Happened to Pickup Trucks? Why have pickup trucks morphed into such huge, angry, and dangerous presences? Traffic safety experts, commentators on U.S. automotive culture, and social scientists have suggested a range of forces behind truck bloat. As U.S. drivers buy more full-size and heavy-duty pickups, these vehicles have transformed from no-frills workhorses into angry giants. They are more than just a polarizing consumer choice: Large pickups and SUVs are notably more lethal to other road users, and their conquest of U.S. roads has been accompanied by a spike in fatalities among pedestrians and bicyclists. (CityLab)

*** end quote ***

The Gooferment made cars into toys (i.e., all the same and no power to get out of their own way).

And pickup trucks are “macho” or at least an anti-Gooferment statement.

Eventually it will become a “bone of contention”.

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INTERESTING: Funny how some things leak; and some things don’t

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

FROM TWITTER

Sharyl Attkisson 
@SharylAttkisson
·
Mar 15
 
There seemed to be no dispute over the claim that Epstein videotaped, for blackmail purposes, his famous clients. More than a year and a half after his death, where are the tapes?

Funny how some things leak; and some things don’t.

# – # – # – # – #

I’m still waiting for an in-depth investigation of the whole débâcle!

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