A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
Love+War chronicles Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynsey Addario’s ascent in the male-dominated world of conflict photography. But her work is dangerous. She’s been kidnapped twice while on assignment in war zones — a cost she must wrestle with each time she leaves her husband and two sons to go on assignment. Behind the camera, Addario is torn between her unwavering commitment to the essential work of journalism and the powerful, competing demands of motherhood, grappling with what it truly means to follow your calling when it threatens everything you love.
I thought Life After would be the big threat to 2000 Meters to Andriivka; it could just as easily be Love + War because it's about journalism and many if not most of the voters are journalists. Electorates matter.
When the residents of a remote Siberian city discover an old Soviet mine has caught fire beneath their neighborhood, they turn to Natalia Zubkova, a local homemaker-turned-journalist, for help. But after her news videos go viral, she suddenly finds herself the target of a massive government disinformation campaign.
This isn't going to win, but I can see why it earned its nomination. Also, I've found another documentary I can recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.
When a group of Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island band together to take on one of the world’s most powerful corporations, they launch a movement no one saw coming. UNION follows their extraordinary journey to form the first Amazon union in U.S. history.
Led by the charismatic and underestimated Chris Smalls, this vérité documentary captures a pivotal moment in the American labor movement—one fueled by resilience, grassroots organizing, and the belief that working people deserve better.
Outstanding Promotional Announcement: Documentary
Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember National Geographic [Mattock] LOVE+WAR Trailer Love + War
National Geographic [Mark Woollen & Associates] NATURE Season 44 Trailer Nature
PBS [The WNET Group] Race Against Time Trailer Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time National Geographic [Buddha Jones] Trailer In Waves and War
Actual Films | NETFLIX [Netflix | Participant | Chicago Media Project]
I need to watch Love + War before the 28th to call this category, too.
I just watched Love + War's trailer and already watched the trailer for Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time. Now for the rest in order of their nominations. Nature as a whole has three nominations, In Waves and War has two, and Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember has just this one, so I kick off this section with Coming This October To NATURE...
Get a sneak peek at a brand new season of NATURE on PBS, starting October 2025.
A trailer that begins with Sir David Attenborough and ends with Dame Jane Goodall is one worthy of this nomination. It helps that the overarching theme is family.
In Waves & War is a powerful documentary following former Navy SEALs as they confront the invisible wounds of trauma and PTSD… and share how treatment with ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT changed the trajectory of their lives.
These men open up about war, loss, addiction, suicidality, and the unbearable weight they carried home after deployment. We also witness their journeys into carefully held psychedelic medicine work, and the integration that follows… the hard conversations, the tears, the reconnection to family, and the possibility of living again with some measure of peace.
I’m sharing this film because I believe these stories need to be heard. So many people are suffering in silence. Whatever you believe about psychedelic medicines, it’s hard to ignore the depth of transformation described here by veterans who had run out of options.
If you or someone you love is living with PTSD, depression, or the aftermath of trauma… I hope this documentary offers at least a little more understanding, compassion, and possibility.
In Waves & Wars' other nomination is for Outstanding Graphic Design: Documentary and it shows! In fact, it's now my favorite to win that category and this one, too.
In this intimate and uplifting documentary, Chris Hemsworth turns the spotlight away from himself and toward his father, Craig, who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Determined to help, Chris designs a therapeutic “road trip back in time,” revisiting key places from their past to explore the powerful science of social connection — a crucial but overlooked tool in protecting brain health. Along the way, Chris uncovers surprising research showing that connection isn’t just good for the soul; it can also reduce the risk of dementia, slow cognitive decline, and even prolong life. This emotional journey across Australia becomes a chance for Chris and Craig to deepen their bond, relive memories, and discover how love, community and nostalgia can be potent medicine.
I'm getting the same feeling about this that I have for The American Revolution; this looks like a documentary that would work better at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards and might just be eligible there, too. Let's see if it earns any nominations in July.
Love + War's other nominations are for Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Outstanding Sound: Documentary. It deserves both, but I suspect it's likely to lose to 2000 Meters to Andriivka for the former and Lost in the Jungle for the latter. Darn.
Dame Jane's obituary post was one of the top social media shares of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Follow over the jump for both of the sites where it became popular.
I decided I had enough in me to continue my series on the nominees at the News & Doc Emmy Awards today, so I'm going right after the category with the most nominated documentary.
Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary
Antidote FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Passion Pictures | Bellingcat | Impact Partners | Channel 4 | M4 Studios] Life After Independent Lens
Multitude Films | PBS [ITVS | Straw House Production] Lost in the Jungle Little Monster Films [National Geographic] 2000 Meters to Andriivka FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Associated Press] Thoughts & Prayers HBO Documentary Films [Tony Tina]
2000 Meters to Andriivka leads all documentaries with six nominations, including Best Documentary. Life After follows with four, also including Best Documentary. Antidote, Lost in the Jungle, and Thoughts & Prayers tie at two to round out the category. I think this is the first category where every nominee has at least one other nomination — such quality! Not even Best Documentary can claim that distinction for its nominees. This will mean 2000 Meters to Andriivka winning, which I expect, will mean that much more.
From the Oscar®-winning team behind 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL, 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA documents the toll of the Russia-Ukraine war from a personal and devastating vantage point.
Following his historic account of the civilian toll in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov turns his lens towards Ukrainian soldiers — who they are, where they came from, and the impossible decisions they face in the trenches as they fight for every inch of their land.
Amid a failing counteroffensive in 2023, Chernov and his AP colleague Alex Babenko follow a Ukrainian brigade battling through approximately one mile of a heavily fortified forest on their mission to liberate the Russian-occupied village of Andriivka. Weaving together original footage, intensive Ukrainian Army bodycam video and powerful moments of reflection, 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA reveals with haunting intimacy, the farther the soldiers advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that, for them, this war may never end.
That's every bit as gripping as I thought it would be.
LIFE AFTER is a gripping investigative documentary that exposes the tangled web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying. Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport uncovers shocking abuses of power while amplifying the voices of the disability community fighting for justice and dignity in an unfolding matter of life and death.
I still expect 2000 Meters to Andriivka will win, but I would not be surprised if this upsets it. If so, it might upset 2000 Meters to Andriivka in every category in which it's nominated, because it's competing against my pick to win in all four. Otherwise, it will likely come home empty-handed, because I expect 2000 Meters to Andriivka to sweep.
What is the cost of speaking truth to power? In Putin’s Russia, it could mean your life. An immersive and chilling documentary, Antidote follows in real time a whistleblower, Vladimir Kara-Murza, from inside Russia's poison program as he attempts to escape. He is a prominent political activist who is poisoned twice and now stands trial for treason. Also profiled is his wife Evgenia and Christo Grozev, the journalist exposing Putin's murder machine. He too is under threat and is forced to flee.
Antidote's other nomination is for Outstanding Graphic Design: Documentary, and it shows in the trailer.
After a deadly plane crash strands four young siblings deep within the Colombian rainforest, a dramatic rescue mission unfolds, uniting Indigenous trackers and the military in a race against time. For the first time ever, LOST IN THE JUNGLE offers the exclusive account of this incredible true story directly from the children themselves and the rescuers who scoured the Amazon rainforest for a grueling 40 days and nights to find them. From National Geographic Documentary Films and Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, along with Emmy® Award-winning director Juan Camilo Cruz, LOST IN THE JUNGLE is a gripping tale of survival, courage and hope.
Lost in the Jungle's second nomination is for Outstanding Sound: Documentary and I can hear it in the trailer.
I'm not going to recycle all the other categories in which these documentaries earned nominations; my readers can go through the posts below and read my opinions, which haven't changed. In the meantime, stay tuned for the nominees for Best Documentary whose trailers I haven't yet embedded tomorrow.
Previous posts about the 57th News & Doc Emmy Awards
A federal holiday since 1971, the roots of Memorial Day go back over a century prior, to the end of the Civil War.
After the burial of many Union and Confederate soldiers, "decoration day" rituals began to spring up, which included placing fresh flowers on soldiers' graves.
One of the earliest known celebrations took place in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865, when the city's freed Black residents organized a proper burial for hundreds of Union soldiers who had died in a Confederate prison, followed by a parade to honor their memory.
In the spring of 1868, General John Logan officially designated May 30th "for the purpose of strewing flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in the defense of their country," and Memorial Day as we know it today was established.
The U.S. would probably still have a holiday to commemorate the country's war dead as a result of the Civil War if the freed men and women of Charleston hadn't done it first, but they definitely deserve credit for leading the way for the rest of us.
From the World War II Memorial to the Garden of Remembrance at Benaroya Hall, taps echoes across Seattle in honor of those who gave their lives in service. We honor their courage, devotion and sacrifice this Memorial Day.
Two things struck me. First, as my readers could probably tell, this video is from 2020. Media made during the pandemic has a very distinctive look. Second, the trumpeters are holding the first valve down. That's because they're playing C trumpets and "Taps" is usually played in Bb. Only a brass player and bugler like me would notice and understand why.
I'm returning to the News & Doc Emmy Awards for this week's Sunday entertainment feature with the category I was originally planning on covering the day I posted 'Katrina: Come Hell and High Water' leads social issue documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Flashback Friday, Outstanding Historical Documentary. Turning Point: The Vietnam War leads this category with five nominations, including Best Documentary. It's followed by Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time with four, also including Best Documentary, Vietnam: The War That Changed America with three, then Becoming Katharine Graham, Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect, The Disappearance of Miss Scott, and Simon Schama: The Holocaust, 80 Years On, all tied at one with just this nomination. I'm sharing their trailers in that order, beginning with Turning Point: The Vietnam War | Official Trailer | Netflix.
From Luminant Media and director Brian Knappenberger, Turning Point: The Vietnam War offers an unfiltered look at one of the most defining and divisive conflicts in modern history and the profound, lasting impact it has had on America’s global identity and on the lives of countless people. Following in the footsteps of Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War and Turning Point: 9/11 and the War On Terror, this five episode docuseries showcases a war that was more than just a military failure; it was a political and cultural reckoning that reshaped America, exposed deep divisions at home and shattered trust in the government. With unprecedented access to CBS News archives, rare Vietnamese footage, declassified government records and previously unearthed White House recordings, the series spans nearly two decades and three different presidential administrations, amplifying often overlooked perspectives. As both America and Vietnam mark the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, Turning Point: The Vietnam War offers a timely exploration of how the war’s unresolved wounds, unlearned lessons, and enduring consequences continue to shape the world today.
I'm having flashbacks to my childhood seeing reports from Vietnam on the evening news as I watch this trailer. I'm sure anyone else old enough is, too. Since this is the most nominated entry in this category, it's the one most likely to win, although it's not the one I'm rooting for. That distinction goes to Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time | Official Trailer | National Geographic, which I recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.
Told in unflinching, moment-by-moment detail, HURRICANE KATRINA: RACE AGAINST TIME transports viewers into the chaos that engulfed New Orleans as one of the deadliest catastrophes in U.S. history unfolded—capturing the fear, heroism and resilience of those who fought to survive the storm and its aftermath. With the clear-eyed perspective of two decades of hindsight, this gripping historical record corrects persistent false narratives and exposes how a natural disaster became a national tragedy. Grounded in gut-wrenching eyewitness testimony from survivors, first responders and officials, and brought to life with immersive archival footage, the series is an unparalleled, emotionally raw examination of the storm’s personal, political and societal fallout. From the Oscar®- and Emmy®-winning producers at Lightbox and acclaimed filmmaker Ryan Coogler and his production company, Proximity Media, and directed by Oscar-nominated Traci A. Curry, this landmark documentary series arrives in time to mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
I can see why this trailer earned a nomination for Outstanding Promotional Announcement: Documentary. It looks like it was created by the same team that produced the Emmy-winning trailer for 9/11: One Day in America, so I have it penciled in as my co-favorite for Outstanding Promotional Announcement: Documentary along with Love + War. As for it winning Outstanding Historical Documentary, its best hope is that Turning Point: The Vietnam War splits its votes with VIETNAM: THE WAR THAT CHANGED AMERICA | Official Trailer | Apple TV+.
With never-before-seen archival footage, Vietnam: The War that Changed America tells the story of the war through the eyes and memories of the people who lived it — 50 years later.
Narrated by Ethan Hawke, this six-part docu-series premieres January 31 on Apple TV+.
The reunion of old friends, first-person accounts, and rarely seen footage paint an extraordinary and deeply profound picture of what it was like to live through one of history’s longest wars. Narrated by Ethan Hawke.
Some of the featured voices include: Bill Broyles, a celebrated Hollywood screenwriter and Lieutenant in the war who reunites with a member of his platoon after 50 years; Hilary Brown, ABC News’ first female foreign correspondent who covered the fall of Saigon firsthand; Melvin Pender, the Olympic gold-medal winning runner who competed in 1968 between tours in Vietnam; soldiers from the Viet Cong who fought in the Tet Offensive, including the first Viet Cong woman in her district to shoot down an enemy aircraft; a veteran who thought his life was over, forced to parachute into the Ho Chi Minh trail, who reunites with the man who rescued him; and Vietnamese civilians who witnessed and fled from the war.
"Vietnam: The War That Changed America” is produced for Apple TV+ by the BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning team at 72 Films, directed by Rob Coldstream (“John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial”) and produced by Caroline Marsden (“9/11: One Day in America”), with executive producers David Glover ("9/11: One Day in America”) and Mark Raphael (“Crime and Punishment”). This series marks the second collaboration for Apple TV+ and 72 Films, following the launch of “John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial” last year.
This looks like a more personal examination of the Vietnam War than Turning Point: The Vietnam War, which took more of a big picture look at the conflict.
The story of a woman’s evolution from a self-proclaimed “doormat-wife” into one of the most powerful newspaper publishers of the 20th century. Becoming Katharine Graham is now streaming on Prime Video.
This is a documentary about journalism and many of the voters are journalists. However, they are television journalists while this is a story about print. Turning Point: The Vietnam War features the power of television reporting and that alone is enough to make the difference. As I'm fond of writing about awards shows, electorates matter.
Explore the life and legacy of the nation’s first African American Supreme Court justice. The film follows Justice Marshall, known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” from his legal career with the NAACP to his 1967 appointment to the nation’s highest court.
The Disappearance of Miss Scott chronicles Hazel Scott’s meteoric rise as a jazz talent and major Hollywood star before being blacklisted during the Red Scare. Hazel Scott was one of the most revered stars of the early 20th century. Not only was Scott a beloved musical sensation, but she also channeled her talents into Hollywood stardom, becoming the first Black American to host their own television show.
Discover her storied life, from her childhood as a musical prodigy in Trinidad to her prolific career on stage and the silver screen in the new documentary American Masters – The Disappearance of Miss Scott, premiering nationwide Friday, February 21 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS App in honor of Black History Month. Watch the first three minutes of the film in this official preview.
This is another documentary that could have been nominated for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, showing why I cover entertainment like I do. It's important.
Renowned historian Simon Schama, a lifelong documenter of Jewish history, examines the Holocaust as a worldwide crime and its lasting impact today, 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, in this deeply personal film.
As James Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." That's why history is important.
2000 Meters to Andriivka leads with six nominations, Turning Point: The Vietnam War follows with five nominations, Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, Life After, and Love + War tie at four nominations, and Black Snow and Union tie at this one nomination. I had 2000 Meters to Andriivka penciled in to win this category because of its awards history, especially its wins at the DGA and WGA Awards, but seeing it lead this category, if not all nominees, in nominations inks that prediction in.
This nomination will help 2000 Meters to Andriivka win best Current Affairs Documentary, unless it boosts Life After, and either Turning Point: The Vietnam War or Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time win Outstanding Historical Documentary. It might help Love + War win one of its other categories, but it's a dead end for Black Snow and Union; both are extreme long shots at winning this category and have no other nominations.
Outstanding Research: Documentary
The American Revolution Florentine Films | PBS [WETA-TV] Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time Lightbox [Proximity Media | National Geographic] Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America 72 Films [National Geographic] The Strike UPHSF LLC The Stringer Netflix [LinLay Productions | Netflix | VII Foundation | XRM Media] Syria’s Detainee Files FRONTLINE | PBS [BBC] Turning Point: The Vietnam War Netflix [Luminant Media | Netflix] The White House Effect Actual Films | Netflix [Netflix | The Department of Motion Pictures]
Turning Point: The Vietnam War leads this category with five nominations, followed by Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time and The Stringer tied at four, then The Strike with three, Syria's Detainee Files and The White House Effect tied with two, then The American Revolution tied with Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America at just this one. That there are so many nominees indicates that this is a very competitive category, so I won't designate a favorite right now. Just the same, I'm noting that The American Revolution earning just this one nomination here suggests to me that it's eligible for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, so I expect it to be nominated there, too. That happened for The U.S. and the Holocaust, so I've seen it happen before.
After today, I'm penciling in Turning Point: The Vietnam War as the favorite.
Sally should just be happy to be nominated in this category. 2000 Meters to Andriivka has six nominations, including Best Documentary. Life After has four, also including Best Documentary, as does The Stringer. Katrina: Come Hell and High Water and Vietnam: The War That Changed America both tied Sally with three. Apocalypse in the Tropics and Music Box: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley have just this one. Out of this field, 2000 Meters to Andriivka is my provisional favorite.
Secrets of the Penguins deserved this nomination, but I doubt it will win. Instead, I think it's between Turning Point: The Vietnam War with five total nominations and Love + War with four nominations. Both are also nominated for Best Documentary. The sounds of combat would probably impress the journalists and documentarians, possibly even more than the sounds of nature or music. If the entertainment professionals in the Creative Arts Emmys were voting, they might give WE WANT THE FUNK! the advantage. Not here; electorates matter.
I think the same of Underdogs' chances for Outstanding Sound: Documentary. Given the competition in its categories, it has an apt title.
I haven't changed my mind, but let's see how I feel after watching the war documentaries.
Now I have to watch Love + War before the ceremony on May 28th.
This is the second nominated category for both The Last Rhinos: A New Hope and Pangolin: Kulu's Journey. Without listening to the score, I can't make an accurate assessment of the music. That written, my gut feels that it's between Vietnam: The War That Changed America and Chasing Time. The former has three nominations and the latter is the first short documentary I recall having a second nomination at these awards. Also, Exposure Labs has a strong track record with music, with Chasing Ice earning an Oscar nomination for its song and Chasing Coral earning a nomination for Music & Sound.
I've changed my mind. I now think that Songs from the Hole is the favorite. The journalists and documentarians might just vote for JJ’88. The composers might not, but I suspect there aren't a lot of them in this Televison Academy, especially voting for the News & Doc Emmy Awards.
The composers might want to vote for one of their own, which JJ'88 almost certainly isn't.
I close the nominations for Turning Point: The Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time with two categories I haven't blogged about.
Outstanding Lighting Direction: Documentary
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden Netflix [The Cut | Tillerman Films | Ventureland | Netflix] Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders Netflix [Third Eye Motion Picture Company | Netflix | Radical Media | MA Productions | Silvio Films] Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam Library Films [Amazon MGM Studios | Library FIlms | Vice Studios | Article 19 Films] Lockerbie: The Bombing of Pan Am 103 Mindhouse Production [Sky Studios | CNN Original Series] Turning Point: The Vietnam War Netflix [Luminant Media | Netflix]
It's Turning Point: The Vietnam War versus a bunch of documentaries with just this one nomination. Somehow, I don't think that will help it, especially if 2000 Meters to Andriivka sweeps, which I expect. The News & Doc electorate isn't into consolation prizes, but they have surprised me by going against the most nominated entry before.
Outstanding Promotional Announcement: Documentary
Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember National Geographic [Mattock] LOVE+WAR Trailer Love + War
National Geographic [Mark Woollen & Associates] NATURE Season 44 Trailer Nature
PBS [The WNET Group] Race Against Time Trailer Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time National Geographic [Buddha Jones] Trailer In Waves and War
Actual Films | NETFLIX [Netflix | Participant | Chicago Media Project]
I need to watch Love + War before the 28th to call this category, too.
Follow over the jump for the most active shares about the News & Doc Emmy Awards on social media during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Detroit’s population continues to climb, according to new estimates released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau, marking the city’s third consecutive year of growth.
Good news! In fact, such good news that I'm recycling what I wrote two years ago: "This is such good news that it's enough to make me repost ProfessorFarnsworth."
I'm also repeating what I wrote in Across the Globe explains 'How Detroit Went From Good to Bad to Good Again': "Detroit moved up from 29th last year to 26th in U.S. cities by population this year, passing Memphis, Louisville, and Portland. Things are looking up for the Motor City!" Detroit has maintained its position and is catching up to Boston. Should I still be blogging when that happens, I'll be sure to celebrate that event.
New U.S. Census estimates show Chicago’s population increased for the third year in a row, while fast-growing suburbs like Plainfield and Lockport continue to expand. Chicago Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin breaks down what the latest numbers reveal about where people are moving across Chicagoland.
McCoppin listed affordability, taxes, and crime as issues in Chicago. Those same issues apply to Detroit, and Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield specifically mentioned affordability as a reason people were moving into Detroit. Detroit is also actively engaging in programs to make home ownership more appealing and sustainable; I didn't hear McCoppin or the ChicagoNOW hosts mentioning the City of Chicago doing such things. The Motor City's population loss was a crisis; Chicago's was merely a concern.
Galápagos giant tortoises once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with at least thirteen species. But now some of those species are gone forever and the same forces that doomed those tortoises might have ended up helping save others.
No need for geneetic engineering and cloning — old-fashioned selective and captive breeding could re-create species thought to be extinct. That's good news for today's biodiversityholiday!
Follow over the jump for a retrospective of two posts from the back catalog that relate to today's topic.
Happy Throwback Thursday! I'm pulling a video out of the archives for today, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver asking Ayn Rand - How Is This Still A Thing?
Ayn Rand, author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead," is still kind of a thing. How?
While Trump, who I've been calling Hoover Harding Cleveland and will now start calling Pervert Hoover, may be a good (bad) example of selfishness, he does not aspire to be a philosopher. On the other hand, Curtis Yarvin does. As I wrote in Leeja Miller examines 'The Ideology Behind The End Of Democracy', "I've decided to focus on Yarvin/Moldbug as a source of the terrible ideas being implemented by this administration. He seems to be replacing Ayn Rand and Objectivism as the person and philosophy animat[ing] the Right." I'm not sure that's an improvement.
Rand and Objectivism were the topics of two of last year's top posts. Follow over the jump for their stories.
Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a strange discovery in a New York cemetery - bees, lots of bees
Anton may have wished this video was six months earlier or later so he could use it for Halloween, but it ended up being perfect for World Bee Day.
When I heard that this cemetary was in Ithaca (not NYC), I was expecting Cornell University to play a major role and I was not disappointed. Here are the first few paragraphs from the article/press release in the Cornell Chronicle, 5.5M ground nesting bees make home in Ithaca cemetery.
To save money, Rachel Fordyce parked her car for free at Ithaca’s East Hill Plaza and walked through East Lawn Cemetery to her job as a technician in an entomology lab on Cornell’s campus. One spring day in 2022, she walked in to work with a jar full of bees.
“These are all over the cemetery,” she told her boss, Bryan Danforth, professor of entomology in the College and Agriculture and Life Sciences. They identified the bees as Andrena regularis (also known as the "regular mining bee"), a wild, solitary, ground-nesting species that is an important pollinator.
Fordyce’s jar of bees led to the discovery that the Ithaca cemetery is home to one of the largest and oldest recorded aggregations of ground nesting bees in the world, with an estimated 5.5 million individual bees. That’s the equivalent of more than 200 honeybee hives in a 1.5-acre plot of land, and more than three times the population of Manhattan.
“I’m sure there are other large bee aggregations that exist around the world that we just haven’t identified, but in terms of what is in the literature, this is one of the largest,” said Steve Hoge ’24, first author of a new study published April 13 in the journal Apidologie. The research delves into the biology of these economically important but understudied wild bees, using those at East Lawn Cemetery as a case study. Hoge conducted the research as an undergraduate working in Danforth’s lab.
The paper describes a novel method for documenting many aspects of bee biology, reveals how such wild bees are extremely important agricultural pollinators for high-value specialty crops, such as the apples, one of New York's most iconic and valuable commodities, and points to the importance of cemeteries as preserves of biological diversity.
“The research elevates the value of solitary ground-nesting bees and shows just how abundant these bees are, how important they are as crop pollinators, and that we need to be aware of these nest sites and preserve them,” Danforth said.
Parody of “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” (Raye, Mike Sabath)
Parody Lyrics by Randy Rainbow
Song Produced, Orchestrated, Mixed, Mastered by: Michael J Moritz Jr @michaeljmoritz
Vocal Arrangement by Brett Boles @thebrettboles
All Vocals: Randy Rainbow
Piano, Synths -Michael J Moritz Jr
Bass - Adam DeAscentis
Drums - Billy LaGuardia
The Democrats in Congress are probably doing everything they can think of. It's just that they seem so unimaginative and are so uninspiring. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries may be good leaders of their caucuses, but they leave activists and rank-and-file Democrats cold. We could use leaders that make us feel like they're doing something, even if it would be merely therapeutic. That would be helpful; I think a lot of us need therapy while watching Hoover Harding Cleveland and his administration doing his will with the support of the Republicans in Congress!
Humanity's relationship with the bubonic plague is over 5000 years old. That's right, it didn't just suddenly appear (and then disappear) during the infamous Black Death. In fact, you could still catch The Plague, today! Although the bacteria that cause it could give you a different kind of plague, instead...
Hosted by: Madelyn Leembruggen (she/her)
In the middle of her history of the plague, Madelyn Leembruggen mentioned Justinian's plague, which I first mentioned in Pandemics and collapse 13 years ago. My conclusion turned out to be prophetic.
This blog is still about how to avoid the collapse of the current civilization and takes a science-fiction slant on the topic. An asteroid impact is the perfect merger of the two.
So are pandemics. We need to be prepared for them, too.
Volcanoes have caused many devastating disasters over the years, but they're not usually blamed for pandemics. Except that a team of researchers say a volcanic eruption may have caused the Black Death. Here's how.
Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
Welcome to one of Commoner's Laws, "Everything is connected to everything else." The next plague pandemic may not need a major volcanic eruption to trigger it. Climatechange or just an extremeweather event might do the trick.
Of course, the most recent pandemic wasn't plague and the next one probably won't be, either. It could be one of the pathogens mentioned in 7 Deadly Epidemics You Didn’t Know Existed.
From the non-bubonic plague that killed a Welsh king, to the deadliest pestilence in 16th century Mexico, to a pandemic we're currently in the middle of (No, it's not coronavirus), here are 7 disease outbreaks spanning roughly 25,000 years of human history that you probably haven't heard of.
