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.
The Mackinac Bridge team let me follow them around for a day, and here's what I learned about how they're still keeping this feat of engineering alive.
Special thanks to the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Mackinac Bridge Authority for the images, research help, and of course, the excellent tour of the bridge!
That was worth waiting for. I hope all the people walking across the Mackinac Bridge today appreciate how much work it takes to maintain it. I know I do!
That's a wrap for today's educational holiday post. Stay tuned for more Emmy Awards coverage.
For the first time in nearly three decades, a tornado has touched down in Detroit, leaving extensive damage and dangerous debris across parts of the city — with the lower Eastside hit the hardest.
I had to take shelter during the tornado warning. While there had been severe thunderstorms the night before, which had knocked out the power for more than 100,000 customers, and all day on Thursday, I had avoided having to take any action because of the weather other than driving to an appointment instead of walking until about 3:30 P.M., when public safety came to my office and told me to take shelter. There, I waited with the rest of the employees and students until the all clear sounded about 4:30 P.M. I also called my wife to see and hear how she was riding through the storm. She was about to seek shelter herself when the livestream she was watching cut off because our house lost power. That was quite a moment, hearing the sudden dead silence on the phone.
An EF2 tornado packing estimated peak winds of 115 mph tore through Detroit on Thursday afternoon, leaving considerable damage across parts of the city and becoming Detroit's first confirmed tornado in 29 years.
WDIV added an objective angle from the studio that complemented WXYZ's man-on-the-street perspective.
NWS confirms a tornado touched down on Detroit’s east side Thursday, causing massive damage and leaving thousands without power.
I'm glad FOX 2 Detroit covered the suburbs, because the straight-line winds and lightning did as much damage as the tornado; it was just more dispersed and the individual incidents were generally not as spectacular. Also, the power being out is the same everywhere, including the suburb where I live. It's disruptive.
I just hit a wall for whining about what my wife and I went through. I'm tired, hot, sweaty, hungry, need to replace the half-and-half that spoiled during the blackout, and don't want to write any more about it today. Instead, I'm telling my readers to stay tuned for the first Emmy winners tomorrow as the Sunday entertainment feature followed by a sequel to Alexis Dahl describes 'The Incredible Engineering Behind Michigan's Iconic Bridge' for Labor Day.
Detroit isn't having all the fun in the Great Lakes State. WNEM TV5 in Saginaw, Flint, Midland and Bay City reported Juneteenth plans in Flint for 54th year.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said Flint was the first city in Michigan to officially recognize Juneteenth in 2020, a year before the federal government.
I didn't know that about Flint, so I learned something new. That makes today a good day.
When you look at Federally declared disasters across the U.S., there’s a surprising blank spot in the Southwest region. What’s up with that? Is the Southwest really a safe haven from natural disasters? Or is there a more sinister explanation for this giant hole in the map? On this episode of Weathered, we talk to the folks who made this map, and some of the world’s leading experts on climate risk to find out what’s really going on.
My wife and I watched this video together on the big-screen TV in our bedroom. I guessed the lack of natural disasters in the American Southwest was because there aren't a lot of people there and that the dark secret was the heat. The first guess wasn't true; the Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ MSA has an estimated population of 5,228,938 while the Las Vegas–Henderson–North Las Vegas, NV MSA has an estimated population of 2,407,226.
The second guess was dead on. That's no surprise, as I blogged about Phoenix being the hottest city in the U.S. in 2021 and mentioned its record heat in 2023twice. What is surprising is that heat waves don't count as federal natural disasters covered by FEMA. The commenters found the reason dismaying: "You don't get disaster declarations for mortality. You only do it for economics." Ecurewitz responded "That’s the most American statement ever." RandomAngle9 commented "The fact that heat doesn't 'qualify' as a disaster because it doesn't destroy buildings, only people, says everything about how we value human life in policy." Speaking of policy, Florida banning municipalities from protecting workers from heat shows that DeSantis wasn't only bad on COVID-19. He and the rest of the Republicans on Florida are bad on climate and weather, too.
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.
Since 2010, the Marche du Nain Rouge has drawn thousands of people to Midtown Detroit each year in a vibrant celebration of community.
I started this blog in 2011, but it took me until 2013 to begin covering the Marche du Nain Rouge. That written, I've been blogging about it long enough that I can say I'm an early adopter.
A festival where creativity wins and the evil spirits are chased away.
I can imagine the after parties. That way, I don't have to attend!
Both of these videos assume some knowledge of the Nain Rouge. I'm sharing Halloween Cocktails 2025: The Lore of the Nain Rouge both to get my new readers up to speed and because I can't resist a good, or at least competent, cocktail recipe video that includes supernatural lore.
Happy Halloween, friends! The lore we are bringing you this wonderful Halloween weekend is based around a Detroit legend known as the Nain Rouge...
I wonder if any of today's after parties are serving one or more of these drinks. Whether or not, drink responsibly!
That's a wrap for today's post. I might observe World Water Day late, or skip it until next year. Stay tuned to find out.
India Naftali reports from the Jaffa port, where the Indian Embassy in Israel and Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality have organized a special Holi-Purim festival to celebrate both holidays.
Early Tuesday morning, the moon will go red and we will witness a total lunar eclipse.
At around 3 a.m. on March 3, we will see March’s full moon pass through Earth’s shadow, turning it a copper color for 58 spell-binding minutes.
Shannon Schmoll, the director of Abram’s Planetarium at Michigan State University, joined Local 4 Live to talk more about the eclipse.
It might be clear enough to see the Moon early this morning. I'll probably be asleep, but if I'm up, I'll look.
In this video, Flux City takes viewers inside Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan—just days after Crain's Detroit Business reported that a court-appointed receiver was announced for the second time in less than a decade.
Once a regional shopping destination that opened in 1976, Fairlane now finds itself at the center of mounting financial distress: millions in unpaid property taxes, alleged missing tenant rent, deferred maintenance, and a history of ownership instability since the start of the COVID-19 era.
As the mall faces potential foreclosure and an uncertain future, this walking tour captures the real-time condition of the property and the broader implications for Dearborn, retail real estate, and legacy suburban malls across the country.
Watching the video open and close with Eddy being ejected for recording inside the mall reminds me of one of my earlier mall entries, Steampunk fans ejected from San Diego area mall. As I quoted KPBS four years later, "Malls are private property. They have the right to determine who shops there." This means you (and Eddy, too)!
Here's to receivership saving Fairlane Town Center.
Stay tuned for the final installment of my coverage of the movie nominees at the Saturn Awards tomorrow.
It's time to say goodbye to the Year of the Snake and hello to the Year of the Horse. What do you know about the Year of the Horse?
0:00 Kai Feng, reporter for ABC Chinese, explains the significance of the horse in Chinese culture and history, 0:49 why 2026 is a 'fire' year, 5:10 and how people across Asia celebrate Lunar New Year.
Not only did ABC News (Australia) explain Lunar New Year, it explained the importance of horses to humans. Bonus educational content!
In this episode, Eddy breaks down troubling reports that Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn may owe nearly $4 million in unpaid property taxes.
Drawing from personal memories of growing up in Metro Detroit and professional experience as a developer, Eddy explains why Fairlane Mall has long mattered to Dearborn and surrounding communities—and why this situation signals a much larger issue facing malls across the country. He explores how declining foot traffic, e-commerce, shifting consumer behavior, and outdated mall formats are putting pressure on once-dominant retail assets.
While I write about national and global issues, I'm still based in Metro Detroit, so I'm always happy to encounter relevant local creators like Eddy. They will uncover situations like Fairlane Town Center's that sources with a national focus wouldn't even notice. They will also hit close to home. Like Northland Mall, I shopped and mall-walked at Fairlane Town Center. That was more than 20 years ago, when I taught at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn. I found Fairlane Town Center impressive then, but the reality looks different now. Sigh.
Fairlane Town Center is a super-regional shopping mall in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan. The mall is adjacent to The Henry Hotel, The Fairlane Club, the University of Michigan–Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College, The Henry Ford, and the Ford Motor Company headquarters. The anchor stores are Macy's and JCPenney, with vacant anchor spaces last occupied by AMC Theatres, Sears, and Ford Motor Company offices.
Following a major renovation in 2007, the mall features a large food court, full-service restaurants, several eateries, and merchandise for the urbanized market.[2] The mall is about a 15-minute drive from downtown Detroit, Wayne State University, or Metro Airport.
Eric C counts six anchor stores closing. Not really. Hudson's becoming Marshall Field's, which was then renamed to Macy's, were just changes in ownership and branding; the locations were still in business afterwards, and the Macy's is still open, so I count four, maybe three-and-one-half because of the change from Saks Fifth Avenue to Saks Off Fifth because of the change in location, footprint, and branding despite the continuity of ownership. That's still not good. Viewers can see the Retail Apocalypse in action through the late 2010s into the 2020s as stores and offices close.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for year-end retrospectives through New Year's Eve.
Ahead of Giving Tuesday, Nakia Mills from the Better Business Bureau advises donors to verify charities before donating to ensure their money is used as intended. The BBB recommends checking the accreditation and financial practices of charities on their website as a precautionary measure.
Good advice, the kind I would given about security if I had celebrated Cyber Monday yesterday instead of World AIDS Day.
On Giving Tuesday, donations will be collected for THAW, the Heat and Warmth Fund, to assist people in crisis with utility bills during winter. THAW offers more than just bill assistance, including energy-efficient home improvements as experienced by beneficiary Byron Spivey. Serving families with children, seniors, and veterans, THAW helped 11,000 homes with $10 million last year, with over 80% of donations going directly to services. The organization aims to enhance the long-term health and financial security of Michigan neighborhoods with additional support like home assessments and appliances.
Not only does THAW pay people's utility bills, it pays for energy conservation upgrades. I approve.
Learn more about the mental health benefits of giving ahead of Giving Tuesday. (Dec. 1, 2025)
I used to be a director of a nonprofit. I can tell you that a physical quarter in a Salvation Army kettle will probably be a net benefit, but any online donation less than a dollar will likely cost the charity money in processing fees.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for comedy tomorrow.
The value of a dime doesn’t stretch as far as it did in 1976 when the state's bottle deposit law was initiated, but for many Michiganders, returning beverage containers to get their 10 cents back sure adds up.
The anchor said "just over 70% of bottles and cans were returned" last year. To be precise, it was 70.4%, as this graph from Axios Detroit shows.
Tessa Kresch examined how the deposit isn't as much of an incentive as it used to be because of inflation but found a counter-example in Mildred Griffin, who still redeems her deposits. Kresh also examined possible reforms, from streamlining the process to expanding it. What she ignored was the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many retailers stopped accepting can and bottle returns in 2020. As a result, many cans and bottles were thrown away, recycled at curbside, or stashed for future redeeming when conditions returned to normal. I still have cans and bottles to recycle from 2020 in my garage, which I've gradually been returning. One of the reasons is the lack of universal redemption; I can only return cans and bottles to outlets that sell them, so it's inconvenient to redeem store brands or brands only carried at a few chains. Most of the cans and bottles still in my garage fit in those categories.
I'm adding lower can and bottle return rates to the list of behavior changes in 'The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers,' a driving update. A lot of people just got out of the habit and never got back in. I can't entirely blame the pandemic; the Axios graph shows that return rates had been slipping throughout the 2010s from the mid 90s to ~89 in 2019 before dropping like a rock to the low 70s in 2020, never to recover. As I first wrote in April 2020, the pandemic accelerated existing trends, including this one. A few of the bad behaviors are returning to pre-pandemic levels; I hope bottle returns do, too.
That's a wrap for today's sustainabilityholiday. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature, when I plan on examining GRAMMY nominees.
Democrats swept key races on Tuesday night, gaining momentum against President Trump. Zohran Mamdani won the NYC mayoral race, while the party notched victories in Virginia and New Jersey governor's races. The Morning Joe panel discusses.
While I selected this video for the preview image, which made a great visual headline, I'm glad I selected it because the panel told a much bigger story of victories for Democrats, democracy, and diversity. In addition to Democratic wins in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia, which added the first female Governor and Muslim Attorney General in Virginia, first female Democratic Governor in New Jersey, and first Muslim Mayor of New York City, former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill listed victories for Democrats, voting rights, and gun control in Maine and Georgia. Joe Scarborough added that the Pennsylvania voters retained three Democratic State Supreme Court Justices in Pennsylvania. It's not just blue states that voted for Democrats and against Hoover Cleveland and his policies. Speaking of pushing back, Mika mentioned Proposition 50 passing in California, which counteracted Texas's redistricting to gain more Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Fight fire with fire!
One of the notable results in New Jersey was the swing of Latino voters toward Democrats. That reminds me of what I wrote last year.
Latino support for Trump was even more pronounced in Michigan, where exit polling showed 62% of Michigan Latinos voting for Trump. That could be enough to swing the state to him...For Latinos, there is nothing I can do that Trump and his core supporters would do more effectively except be a positive example. Who knows, Trump might actually overcome his bigotry and cater to his new voters. We should be so lucky.
We, including Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump, the rest of the Republican Party, and Latinos themselves, were not that lucky. As Scarborough pointed out, Hoover Cleveland and Stephen Miller couldn't help themselves. This is still a democracy and the voters pushed back.
Detroit made history Tuesday night by electing its first woman mayor, marking a significant milestone as the city continues its post-bankruptcy revival. The Associated Press called the race at 9:17 p.m., about an hour after polls closed. Mary Sheffield built on her primary success by securing more than 75% of the vote over Solomon Kinloch Jr. Sheffield addressed the city for the first time just minutes after the race was called, celebrating the victory and the opportunity to lead Detroit into its next chapter. But Detroit was not the only community making decisions Tuesday. More than a dozen other cities also voted on new mayors and important proposals that could shape their neighborhoods for years to come.
Congratulations, Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield! Add your victory to those of Mikey Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger to history-making wins by women!
The Hamtramck mayoral race remains undecided, with dozens of rejected ballots potentially impacting the outcome in what has become a razor-thin contest. Adam Alharbi currently leads Muhith Mahmood by just 11 votes with all five precincts reporting, but city officials say the final results could change as voters have an opportunity to correct rejected ballots.
File this story under every vote counts.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for Vox and the Marsh Family on free speech tomorrow.
John Oliver discusses the prevalence of police chases, why the risks involved can massively outweigh the benefits, and why everyone with a broken taillight needs to go get their laundry out of the dryer. Seriously, stop reading this and go get your clothes. They’ve been in there for days. We’re trying to help you.
Police chases were not a staple of local news in Los Angeles when I moved out of California 36 years ago. They are now. I'm not surprised that the screen captures of chase videos were from Los Angeles TV stations and the clip featuring the TMZ bus trying to stop a speeding driver was from L.A. At least I now know to blame O.J. Simpson. I was also relieved that Michigan police were not involved until the story from Warren, where the case against the police was dismissed — Michigan law and qualified immunity at work. Even when police were convicted, Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump pardoned them. The man seems to like police brutality.
I'm looking forward to the planned episode on police surveillance. The village where I live is getting traffic cameras, so I know they'll be watching. In the meantime, stay tuned for a closer look post tomorrow — comedy about the news because it hurts too much to cry.
This may not be one of Paul Simon’s most successful songs, but it was a fun vibe to work up at the start of a new school year – getting instruments out for the first time since a summer holiday. The original was the second single from the album “Paul Simon” (released 1972) and the inscrutable story in the lyrics is set in the Queens neighbourhood where he grew up. By coincidence, it was apparently performed with Stephen Colbert in 2015 on The Late Show – the programme that this week tore into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s record and showed some of his fiery testimony in the Senate, an episode which also made it into European news coverage (story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c....
Needless to say, the world is watching with alarm the compromising of America’s public health systems, including the dismantling of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – which has now lost its chief medical officer, director of immunisation, and director of emerging diseases (among many others) - while misinformation spreads, rates of vaccine uptake plummet, new outbreaks of measles kill again, and some states gallop headlong towards removing mandates that had the overwhelming backing of the scientific and medical communities.
Vaccine denier RFK Jr. is now the head of Health and Human Services, and it is going about as well as you would expect, with measles cases (and even deaths) breaking out across the country.
Song parody of "It's Not Unusual" written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Tom Jones. The music here is from The Knickerbockers cover: • It's Not Unusual
=== Lyrics ===
It’s not unusual to get measles anymore
They’re not unusual, these diseases anymore
And when I learn about the vaccines that you forswore
It’s not unusual to be notified
Your kid has died
It’s not unusual to elect a Kennedy
But when a brain worm’s there it affects his sanity
If you should ever need help disposing of a bear
It’s not unusual
To drop it in the park
Just wait ‘til after dark
Your alibi is bulletproof
And if you have a whale
This trick will never fail:
Take it and strap it to your roof
It’s not unusual to be sick a day or two
Until you find out you have contracted the bird flu
And if you’re wondering just exactly what to do
The CDC will recommend you take Ivermectin pills
Whoa-whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh
I'm repeating what I wrote earlier this month: "If I have to concentrate on criticizing any of Trump's Cabinet Secretaries, it will be RFK Jr. I'm a scientist and he's the biggest threat to science of anyone actually confirmed by the Senate..." I don't find his statement that "Our purpose is not to reduce any level of scientific research that is important" reassuring. I don't trust his judgment of what's scientifically important, especially in the context of cutting funding to diabetes research at the University of Michigan. That's doublypersonal!
Oliver and his writers also demonstrated how cuts at and by HHS pose short- and long-term threats to health. Bird flu and measles, both of which Oliver addresses later in the video, come to mind on top of the example of lead paint. It's not just in drinking water!
Vox showed its viewers how RFK Jr. could mess things up. Oliver shows how he already is. As Oliver quoted the experts, "This is a disaster. People will die because of the mistakes we're making right now." I'm calling for his impeachment and removal, because I'm sure he won't resign and doubt Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump will fire him because of what he's doing to science and public health...Hoover Cleveland will only do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Even so, that will take until 2027 because the House won't have a Democratic majority until then. Sigh.
There's only one way to drive directly between Michigan's peninsulas, and it requires crossing this absolute feat of engineering. This is the story of the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere: the one, the only, the Mackinac Bridge.
I'll let essemque explain why this is appropriate for Labor Day: "I love that this went live just days before the annual Labor Day walk where the bridge is opened to pedestrians (one way from north to south) for a morning!" The timing turned out to be fortuitous, as Alexis responded, "It wasn't intentional timing, but I am also glad it worked out that way!" Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
That's a wrap for today. I plan on covering casting categories at the Emmy Awards tomorrow, so stay tuned and enjoy the holiday!
Some of the fastest-growing metros in the U.S. are also the riskiest when it comes to climate change. And we’ve long puzzled: WHY? In this episode, we explore how the Great Recession, liberal housing policy and well-intentioned community decision-making have fueled our nationwide housing crisis and helped drive people to move into harm’s way.
We’ll dive into new First Street maps that unveil where people will be living - and fleeing - as the climate warms. So stay tuned to see if your home is on the map, and what we can do to build more resilient communities for the future.
I begin my response by recycling what I wrote in January.
I wrote "I just wish that the economics were such that people would move here instead of into harm's way. That would make a great subject for another post" two years ago in PBS Terra asks 'What is the RISKIEST Region in the US as the Climate Changes?' In the case of Louisiana, which 'Weathered: Earth's Extremes' asks 'What Happens When the Land Runs Out?' covered, the answer is a combination of low income and high cost. As long as people are making money, they will continue moving into and living in high-risk states like Florida and Texas, although Miami-Dade County is starting to lose population. That looks like a good story for another day.
Today is that day.
A factor this video examined is that a lot of the safer states and municipalities, although California is both high-cost and high-risk, have made it difficult to build housing, while many high-risk states, like Arizona, Texas, and Florida, allow quicker, easier, and cheaper construction. The combination of more economic opportunity and cheaper housing will drive people to move to high-climate-risk states despite the threat of droughts, fires, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornadoes. What might stop that trend are higher insurance costs, which has already started to drive people out of Louisiana and might be a factor in California and Florida, and the weakening of FEMA as a backstop to insurance. Losing those supports might change the economic equation surprisingly quickly.
The most encouraging aspect of the First Street study May cited involves climate resilience. The map below shows the places First Street considered to be climate resilient.
I've outlined and labeled the parts of Michigan considered to be climate resilient. From west to east, they are Grand Rapids and its western suburbs, Kalamazoo, Mount Pleasant, Lansing and East Lansing, Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti, and the northern suburbs of Detroit — Livingston, Oakland, and Macomb counties. This fits what I told my environmental science students on Monday, that Michigan is the safest state in the U.S. for natural disasters and Oakland County is the best-prepared county in the state. It also fits what I wrote in MLive asks 'Michigan is a climate haven in a warming world. Will everyone move here?' and repeated in FiveThirtyEight examines 'How Climate Change Will Reshape Where Americans Live'.
I'm in favor of getting people to move here, both because it's a safer place to live (but not immune from the extremeweather associated with climatechange as the second video mentioned) and because the state has room. Detroit alone lost more than one million people since its 1950 peak and other Michigan citieshave lost people as well, so they alone could take up the slack — that is, if they can become better places to live and work. People moved out of Michigan to seek work, so state and local governments need to work with businesses to promote and create sustainable industries to employ the people who move here and rebuild infrastructure to support them in a warmer and, for Michigan, wetter world. Infrastructure and housingconstruction to accommodate people moving here will provide a lot of jobs by themselves, but that only lasts so long. Ask Las Vegas, for example.
This is another lesson I hope my students learn and that they spread.
Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty has his own videos on this topic, so stay tuned for a post featuring them later this month. In the meantime, I have continuing coverage of the News & Doc Emmy Awards and three holidays, Friday the 13th, Flag Day, and Father's Day, planned. I'm looking forward to them.
Lore of the ghostly whale skeleton, Bake-kujira, brings an ominous twist to stories of the revered marine giants in Japan. The entity is an omen of misfortune that emerged during the rise of industrial whaling in the 20th century. Is it a simple ghost story, or a warning of ecological collapse? And is Bake-kujira’s legend as relevant now as ever?
One of the projects I'm considering pursuing in my retirement is a horror mystery series set in Oakland County. I thought I would ignore the Nain Rouge because it was concerned with Detroit proper, not the suburbs. Hearing that the Nain Rouge protects the suburbs as well as the city means that I might have to incorporate the imp in my stories. Hmm. Maybe in the sequel. I have another supernatural entity planned to bedevil my protagonists in the first collection of tales.
In 1927 excavations for a new schoolhouse in Oscoda turned up a Late Pleistocene fossil rib that may have belonged to a bowhead whale of the genus Balaena. The specimen is now catalogued as UMMP 11008.[15] 1930 saw Hussey publish the first scientific paper on the Michiganian whale fossils curated by the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology.
...
The 1950s saw paleontological attention return to Michigan's whale fossils. In 1953, Handley tentatively referred the rib discovered in Oscoda during the 1927 schoolhouse excavation to the genus Balaena.[15] He also reported the discovery of an Arkonan-aged[clarification needed (possibly referring to Thedford-Arkona region)] rorqual rib of the genus Balaenoptera. The fossil had been discovered upright in the sand during the excavation of a cellar in Genesee County.[18] Handley also reported the discovery of another walrus fossil, a skull catalogued as UMMP 32453 found in a Mackinac Island gravel deposit.[13] Handley also reported the discovery of sperm whale ribs and a vertebra from Lenawee County.
While I've read at least one author explain these findings as the result of early Native Americans transporting them from the coast, I think it's just as likely, if not more so, that the whales swam up the early Mississippi or St. Laurence into the forerunners of the Great Lakes. Whales swim into rivers from time to time, and it usually ends poorly for them.
Last week the results of study found the township bones were baleen whale vertebrae and radiocarbon dated the age at 220 +/- 30 BP (Before Present), as such, it is similar to a previous date of 190 years old for a sperm whale bone found in Michigan. The baleen whales have baleen instead of teeth which they use to collect shrimp-like krill, plankton and small fish from the sea. The report also included that all the dated whale bones found to date from Michigan are far too young for whales to have entered the Great Lakes. Bones of a sperm whale, finback whale, and a right whale where reported found in Michigan were dated between 190 and 810 years old,
John Zawiskie, the Curator of Earth and Life Sciences at Cranbrook Institute of Science commented on the results of the whale bone discovery.
“Whales could only have entered the Great Lakes when the sea level was higher during glacial and post-glacial times more than 10,000 years ago,” said Zawiskie. “The whales are all too young – the oldest are only 800 years old.”
Why the bones were found in the township is uncertain, however one suggestion is that the bones may have been brought to Michigan by Hopewell culture people from the Atlantic coast, or maybe even a long running elaborate hoax, where someone else placed the whale bones on the landscape.
“The Hopewell people lived on the Atlantic Coast and they may have brought the whale bones to Michigan as they brought many shells and other marine items with them,” added Zawiskie. “It is unlikely that the Hopewell people scattered whale bones across Michigan and of course the recent find is only 220 years old – the other whale ages range from 190 to 800 years old.”
Darn. On the other hand, these findings make it more likely for whale spirits to haunt Michigan, not less, as they've been moved relatively recently. Just the same, I think I might refer to the legend of Bake-kujira, but choose another angry animal apparition for my antagonist, like a mammoth or mastodon. Time to look for African and south Asian stories of ghost elephants as inspiration.
Enough weirdness. I already have more conventional videos for tomorrow's celebration of Earth Day. Stay tuned.
Delve into the chilling legend of Nain Rouge, the "Little Red Man," a mysterious figure linked to the city of Detroit. Explore the historical accounts, folklore, and theories surrounding this enigmatic entity. From his alleged role in the city's founding to his appearances throughout history, we examine the evidence and speculate on the true nature of Nain Rouge. Is he a malevolent spirit, a guardian, or simply a figment of the imagination? Join us as we unravel the secrets of this captivating Detroit legend.
The video creator does not take the Nain Rouge seriously as a supernatural entity, although they do take its cultural significance very seriously. As a scientist, I appreciate this approach.
The next video, Know Your Nain Rouge (1968) from weirdlectures, takes the Nain even less seriously as a supernatural threat, instead using it as a source of positive inspiration.
A brief informational film explaining Detroit's ancient guardian spirit The Nain Rouge. Help dispel the myths surrounding The Nain Rouge. Don't buy into the fear of rumor-mongers of the Marche du Nain Rouge, stand up for the little guy and support the short.
*Snork* Maybe if Detroiters had taken this video's advice, the city wouldn't have had as much trouble as it's had over the past 60 years. Also, Lowell Thomas — that's a name and voice I haven't heard in a very long time.
One of the projects I'm considering pursuing in my retirement is a horror mystery series set in Oakland County. I thought I would ignore the Nain Rouge because it was concerned with Detroit proper, not the suburbs. Hearing that the Nain Rouge protects the suburbs as well as the city means that I might have to incorporate the imp in my stories. Hmm. Maybe in the sequel. I have another supernatural entity planned to bedevil my protagonists in the first collection of tales.
I joined the 2023 Marche du Nain Rouge. Here's a view of the parade goers, floats, and the musicians who marched along.
Looks like everyone was having fun. I hope this year's revelers, who should be stepping off in a couple of hours, enjoy themselves as much as 2023's did.
That's a wrap for this Detroit tradition. Stay tuned for either an evergreen post I can share in April, no fooling, or the stats for the 14th year of this blog.
