A summary of the state of social science: 

Criticizing bad science from an abstract, 10000-foot view is pleasant: you hear about some stuff that doesn't replicate, some methodologies that seem a bit silly. "They should improve their methods", "p-hacking is bad", "we must change the incentives", you declare Zeuslike from your throne in the clouds, and then go on with your day.

But actually diving into the sea of trash that is social science gives you a more tangible perspective, a more visceral revulsion, and perhaps even a sense of Lovecraftian awe at the sheer magnitude of it all: a vast landfill—a great agglomeration of garbage extending as far as the eye can see, effluvious waves crashing and throwing up a foul foam of p=0.049 papers. As you walk up to the diving platform, the deformed attendant hands you a pair of flippers. Noticing your reticence, he gives a subtle nod as if to say: "come on then, jump in".

...it isn’t surprising that this [necrophagous] habit in armadillos has led to various concerns and superstitions: the idea that armadillos might excavate graves and consume the recently deceased is present in several areas, most famously in the Paraguayan Chaco. There are also all kinds of rumours about armadillos being especially abundant, or especially plump and healthy, in or near cemeteries.

An odd tidbit lifted from this longer piece from Tetrapod Zoology on predatory armadillos.

 Przewalski' horse cloned.

Now a portion of this lost genetic diversity may be recovered by cloning historic Przewalski’s horse from frozen cells. Successful breeding can increase genetic diversity by reintroducing lost variants to the surviving population. This is the hope for the new foal, Kurt, who was cloned from cells that had been cryopreserved at the SDZG Frozen Zoo in 1980. These were cells from a stallion that was born in 1975 in the UK, was transferred to the US in 1978, and lived until 1998. He was recorded as Stud Book number 615 (SB615) and known as “Kuporovic” by his zookeepers.

 The Black Suld rises!

Livestream of Aeschylus' The Persians. 7/25/2020.

As promised, Peculiar: the Star Trek staging of Abduction from the Seraglio

IF the knowing well how to expose any Infirmity or Vice were a sufficient Security for the Virtue which is contrary, how excellent an Age might we be presum’d to live in! Never was there in our Nation a time known, when Folly and Extravagance of every kind were more sharply inspected, or more wittily ridicul’d. And one might hope at least from this good Symptom, that our Age was in no declining state; since whatever our Distempers are, we stand so well affected to our Remedys.

--Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

Graphic novelization of the Nart Sagas: recommended! They decidedly do NOT shy away from adult themes, should such things be a concern.

Just got word from MN that Uncle Hugo's has been burned. Feeling rather like Hamlet discovering the skull is Yorick's.

Those who have not read Cordwainer Smith are doomed to make history repeat itself.

Scientists have created a mouse embryo that's part human -- 4% to be exact.
The hybrid is what scientists call a human-animal chimera, a single organism that's made up of two different sets of cells -- in this case, a mouse embryo that has both mouse cells and human cells.

Hence.

Now we wait for D'Joan.

Bronze Age swordsmanship.

Buncha HEMA-types and some archaeologists looked at the dings in ancient swords then whacked each other trying to replicate.

 One of the more wonderful things I have learned in some time:

[Exodus] says: “and the frog arose and covered the land of Egypt.” The word “frog” is written in the singular (“tzefardei’a” in the original Hebrew). What could the Torah be telling us? Rashi finds a Midrash that sees into the unusual wording of our verse: “There was one frog, and when they would hit it, it would spew out bands and bands of little frogs” (based on Midrash Tanchuma, Va’eira 14). Apparently, G-d caused one giant frog to emerge from the Nile. When the terrified Egyptians hit it, it spewed out smaller frogs. The more they struck it, the more frogs would come out. The more frogs came out, the more they would strike it. 

 There's a moral too. Happy Passover/Holy Week/Amphibian Appreciation!

Summits on Titan named for Middle Earth locations

A grim but interesting read on architectural theory and urban warfare.

Contemporary urban operations play themselves out within a constructed, real or imaginary, architecture, and through the destruction, construction, reorganization and subversion of space. As such the urban environment must be understood not simply as the backdrop to conflict, nor as its mere consequence, but as trapped in a complex and dynamic feedbackbased relation with the forces operating within it – be they a diverse local population, soldiers, guerrilla, media or humanitarian agents. Indicative of the emergent relationship between conflict and space are urban warfare tactics that redefine a relation to the physical/architectural element of the wall.

It's worth considering that warfare may not simply require the destruction of the social and legal boundaries made manifest in our public and private spaces, but consist as such.

We should all compact that, if in the course of writing an article one personifies an abstract concept (e.g., "the science says"), one is obligated thereafter to continue in the style of a Renaissance extended allegory.

On the Discourse of SCIENTIA and POTENTIA; their ill Relations and darksome Querulousness, at last overcome by the welcome Light of REASON, holding high her Lantern and joining their Hands; the Conquest and Remotion of MENDACITY and all that sundry foul Brood that pour forth from her spumy Loins; with frivolous and witty Asides by the AUTHOR

Want to build a legacy and found a business for the ages? Brewing and distilling appear to be solid choices: The oldest company still in business in every (well, almost every) country. My own home is currently supporting the entrepreneurial traditions of Finland (Fiskars axe), Barbados (Mount Gay rum) and Trinidad and Tobago (Angostura bitters).

Scythians were known to be great drinkers, and Ossetian ceremonies typically involve the generous consumption of alcohol through repeated toasts. Indeed, the Ossetian word kwyvd (куывд) means both “toast” and “prayer”

 A sample of the many interesting things to be found on A Canadian in Ossetia.

Via Languagehat (who offers some gentle linguistic correction).

Let it never be said that appalling '70s culture was solely an American phenomenon: the Russians could hold their own. Dschinghis really starts gettin' down around 2:26.

A household at war with a ratel
Installed iron bars on their cradle
But then left them unlatched
And the baby was snatched:
What was left they scooped up with a ladle.

--D. Capoda

Sketches made alongside Darwin on the Beagle voyage:

Cephalopod attack! Though the cephalopod's the victim here:

Examination under ultraviolet light reveals the pterosaur tooth is embedded in the now phosphatised cephalopod soft tissue, which makes a chance association highly improbable.

Music inspired by a Great Basin wildlife refuge: The Malheur Symphony by Chris Thomas, performed by the Central Oregon Symphony. I like the middle movements best, particularly "Thunder" and "Curlew Scherzo."

A possible solution to the Dark Forest Theory is that any species advanced enough to make contact with interstellar life is vastly more likely to have evolved a Cooperate baseline strategy rather than a Defect one. Klingons, maybe; Reapers? Ehn.

Not that anyone should take the Drake equation seriously in any case. Our "I Love Lucy" reruns are not going to summon the fungi from Yugoth.

If anything is listening though: hi! We're ballistic cursorial hunters! Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.

The oldest known fossil digestive tracts were recently described in Ediacaran strata in Nye County Nevada.

The largest geologic structures on the planet - do they drive volcanic hot spots and mass extinction-level flood basalts? We don't really know, but definitely maybe.

A fish dying of decompression sickness reveals that the Congo is the world's deepest river.

Oldest fossilized slime mold: 100 million years in Burmese amber.

Pass the Garum - a blog exploring Roman cuisine. Sadly, it's not active, but it's still online with much of interest, some of which I would even consider eating.

Depth perception in cuttlefish:

“Not only did the [team] provide compelling evidence that cuttlefish employ stereopsis, but they demonstrated that cuttlefish can be trained to wear equipment and respond to virtual stimuli.”

Fun toy/timesink: Translate words into every major European language simultaneously.