(Permanent Musical Accompaniment to the Last Post of the Week from the Blog’s Favourite Living Canadian)
On Wednesday, something remarkable happened in the Senate Judiciary Committee. In protest of the actions of the committee chairman—onetime Whig senator Chuck Grassley—the Democrats on the committee walked out of the hearing rather than participate in the bag job of recommending, among other people, a complete slug named Emil Bove, who looks exactly like you’d imagine a guy named Emil Bove would look, whom the administration is seeking to place in a lifetime seat on the Third Federal District Court of Appeals.
During Bove’s confirmation hearing, it was revealed that, during his days at the Department of Justice, Bove reportedly suggested that, in the interest of the president’s agenda, his people at the DOJ would have to say “fuck you” to the courts. Thus is judicial temperament transformed. While the rubber stamp thumped away, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey stayed behind and took over the mic and read the whole exercise for filth.
“This lacks decency. It lacks decorum. It shows that you do not want to simply hear from your colleagues,” Booker said. “This is us simply trying to rush through one of the most controversial nominees we’ve had under this presidential administration.”
Some days, all you can do is holler, throw up both your hands.
WWOZ Pick to Click: “Mr. Gris Gris Man” – James Black
Yeah, I still pretty much love New Orleans.
Weekly Visit to the Pathé Archives: Here, from 1945, is a report on the aftermath of the Trinity atomic-bomb test in New Mexico. Somehow, I don’t think the canvas overshoes are going to get the job done, men. (Here’s another plug for The Atomic Bowl, the film by Friend of the Blog Greg Mitchell, now showing on all PBS platforms. Assuming there’s still a PBS, that is.) History is so cool, even when the ground is hot.
Discovery Corner: Hey, look at what we found! From Smithsonian:
The mosaic was repatriated to Italy in 2023. Now, the piece has arrived at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, where it will be displayed for visitors. ... Set on a square slab of travertine (a type of limestone), the mosaic depicts an intimate scene between two lovers. A man lies on a bed, while a woman stands facing him, her back to the viewer. The man’s right arm reaches towards the woman, as if poised to drop something in her outstretched hand.
“It is the moment when the theme of domestic love becomes an artistic subject,” Zuchtriegel tells the AP. “While the Hellenistic period, from the fourth to the first century B.C.E., exalted the passion of mythological and heroic figures, now we see a new theme.” While some artworks in Pompeii depict magnificent battles, the newly returned mosaic features a simple domestic scene. The man’s expression “seems almost a little bored,” Zuchtriegel says, as reported by Reuters’ Gavin Jones.
All due respect to the good people of Pompeii, who were a hard-luck case like you read about, but their definition of erotic needed a lot of work. Unless that guy is handing the woman a note that says, “Here’s to another wonderful secret,” I’m not feeling the charge here.
Hey, Phys.org, is it a good day for dinosaur news? It’s always a good day for dinosaur news!
“I still find it fascinating that microscopic scratches on fossil teeth can tell us so much about diet and even behavior,” says Winkler, an expert in the applied methodology. The technique, known as Dental Microwear Texture Analysis (DMTA), was originally developed by a research group led by LIB scientist Professor Thomas Kaiser for studying mammals. The current study marks the first systematic application of the method to sauropods. The analyses were carried out in the laboratories of the LIB.
Well, now I find it fascinating too.
A particular surprise was that Camarasaurus specimens from both Portugal and the U.S. had highly uniform wear patterns. Such consistency in microwear is unlikely to be explained solely by uniform plant availability—rather, it indicates that these dinosaurs deliberately sought out the same preferred food sources throughout the year. “The climate at the time in both Portugal and the U.S. was highly seasonal, so certain plants likely weren’t available year-round,” explains Emanuel Tschopp. “The consistency in Camarasaurus tooth wear suggests they may have migrated seasonally to access the same resources.”
I know I’m particularly surprised. I will have to check in with Portuguese Bureau Chief Friedman of the Plains to confirm it, but I am happy now, so Camarasaurus has done its duty.
I’ll be back on Monday for whatever fresh hell awaits. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line and wear the damn masks, and take the damn shots, especially the boosters and the New One. In your spare time, spare a thought for everyone touched by the flooding in Texas, and in North Carolina, and by earthquakes in Myanmar and Thailand, and by the tornadoes throughout the Southeast, and for everyone touched by floods in Kentucky and in West Virginia, and Nigeria, and by the crash in Washington, and by the measles outbreak in the Southwest, and in the wildfire zone around Dallas, and in the fire zones in Los Angeles and in Canada, and for all the folks in Ukraine, who stubbornly fight on, and all the folks in Gaza, and all the people in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Queens, who were visited by the Crazy before the year had hardly begun, and the folks in Dallas and Tallahassee, who were visited by the Crazy this week. And the people in drought-stricken north Alabama. And the folks caught in floods and tornadoes in Nebraska, and in Missouri. And the folks caught in “historic floods” in Kentucky. And in Oklahoma. And the folks in L.A., now fighting floods and mudslides exacerbated by the recent wildfires. And the folks in the wildfire zones in Pennsylvania, and in Minnesota. And the folks in Lahaina, who are still rebuilding. And the victims of the nightclub collapse in the Dominican Republic. And all the folks we regularly cited here in the year gone by, and especially for our fellow citizens in the LGBTQ+ community, who deserve so much better from their country than they’ve been getting. And for all of us, who will be getting exactly what we deserve.
