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.
HappyWorldLionDay! Do any of my readers know that lions used to roam across nearly all of Eurasia and North America during the Ice Ages? They did, so I'm putting my own paleontological spin on the day by featuring two videos about two extinct lions from the Pleistocene, beginning with The Curious Case of the Cave Lion from PBS Eons.
A mysterious, large feline roamed Eurasia during the last ice age. Its fossils have been found across the continent, and it’s been the subject of ancient artwork. So what exactly were these big cats?
"Genetics has reached the point where it tells us a lot more than fossils can." Do remember you're talking to a paleontologist. :-)
That written, they can, as fossils usually only preserve the hard parts of an organism.
The frozen mummies of cave lion cubs are ideal in preserving both soft parts and DNA and the latter proved able to solve a question that the bones alone couldn't, were modern lions and cave lions the same species or not. They turned out to be separate species.
North America used to be home to a cat so large, it may have taken down some of the biggest prey of the last Ice Age.
I agree with Hank; one of the points of paleontology is to learn from the past and apply the knowledge gained to the present. In this case, it could help prevent the extinction of modern lions and other big cats.
Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote.
The Hill has more on Harris's tie-breaking vote and its significance.
Vice President Harris cast her 25th tiebreaking vote with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, moving her within six votes of the almost two-century-old record held by former Vice President John Calhoun.
The Constitution stipulates the vice president also serves as president of the Senate and has the authority to break ties, which has occurred with some regularity over the past year and a half given the 50-50 makeup of the upper chamber.
Harris has already cast more tiebreakers than almost any other vice president, except for John Adams and Calhoun, who served from 1825 to 1832.
Calhoun has held the record of 31 tiebreaking votes since his tenure as vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. John Adams, who served as vice president for nearly eight years under George Washington, cast 29 tiebreakers.
Harris, however, has cast more tiebreakers than Adams or Calhoun at the equivalent times in their vice presidencies.
Whether she will pass Adams or break Calhoun's record depends on how long the Senate remains tied at 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, along with the independents who caucus with the latter. Right now, FiveThirtyEight forecasts that the Democrats have a 59% chance of retaining the chamber, which includes 8% probability that the chamber continues to have a 50-50 split with the Vice President breaking the tie. If that's the case, I expect Harris will set a new record for tie-breaking votes.
There are actually seven nominations for "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" and its three spinoffs. I'll get to the one I missed in the next installment of this series. Stay tuned.
Enough of that for now, although I think I will embed more of Lydic's videos in the future. It's time for the nominations for acting in short form comedies and dramas from 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Jacinte Blankenship – Intersection as Jenaya (YouTube)
Patricia Clarkson – State of the Union as Ellen (Sundance TV)
Desi Lydic – Desi Lydic Foxsplains as Desi Lydic (YouTube)
Rhea Seehorn – Cooper's Bar as Kris Latimer (AMC)
Sydnee Washington – Bridesman as Judith (YouTube)
Now that I've covered Lydic's nomination, I can share the following image from #ShareSouthAfrica on Twitter, who correctly counted the number of Emmy nominations for "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" and its three spinoffs as seven, not six, as I carelessly did. Oops.
This category almost disappeared after Comedy Central canceled "Drunk History" after initially renewing it. It would have merged with Variety Talk for a general Variety Series category. I'm glad the Television Academy didn't follow through with the idea and so are the Variety Talk Series and "A Black Lady Sketch Show." One of the first and the latter would likely have been left out of the nominations and the variety talk series would have had an uphill fight to beat SNL. Instead, two variety series get to take home trophies. In this case, I expect SNL to win this category again.
Now for the acting nominations, which are less of a sure thing for SNL.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Carrigan – Barry as NoHo Hank (HBO/HBO Max)
Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso as Roy Kent (Apple TV+)
Toheeb Jimoh – Ted Lasso as Sam Obisanya (Apple TV+)
Nick Mohammed – Ted Lassoas Nathan Shelley (Apple TV+)
Tony Shalhoub – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Abe Weissman (Prime Video)
Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary as Gregory Eddie (ABC)
Henry Winkler – Barry as Gene Cousineau (HBO/HBO Max)
Bowen Yang – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC)
A Proud Gay Oompa Loompa (Bowen Yang) stops by Weekend Update to discuss Timothée Chalamet’s role as Willy Wonka.
That was hilarious. Congratulations to Yang on his second nomination in this category!
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Susie Myerson (Prime Video)
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks as Ava Daniels (HBO/HBO Max)
Janelle James – Abbott Elementary as Ava Coleman (ABC)
Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC)
Sarah Niles – Ted Lasso as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Apple TV+)
Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary as Barbara Howard (ABC)
Juno Temple – Ted Lasso as Keeley Jones (Apple TV+)
Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso as Rebecca Welton (Apple TV+)
Unlike Yang, Kate McKinnon is a previous winner of this award, but she's competing against last year's winner Hannah Waddingham and two-time winner AlexBorstein, so I don't consider her the favorite. To show McKinnon's talents, I'm sharing Final Encounter Cold Open from her final episode on the show as a regular cast member.
After experiencing their third alien abduction, three people (Natasha Lyonne, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong) are questioned again by two agents (Aidy Bryant, Mikey Day) at the Pentagon.
Good luck to McKinnon in her future pursuits! The show and its fans will miss you.
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Jerrod Carmichael – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Jerrod Carmichael" as host (NBC)
Bill Hader – Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Igor, Gregor, & Timor" as Igor/Gregor/Timor (HBO/HBO Max)
James Lance – Ted Lasso: "Inverting the Pyramid of Success" as Trent Crimm (Apple TV+)
Nathan Lane – Only Murders in the Building: "The Boy From 6B" as Teddy Dimas (Hulu)
Christopher McDonald – Hacks: "The One, The Only" as Marty (HBO/HBO Max)
Sam Richardson – Ted Lasso: "Midnight Train to Royston" as Edwin Akufo (Apple TV+)
An Oscars seat filler (Jerrod Carmichael) gets interrupted while talking to Will Smith (Chris Redd).
I found that as much horrifying as hilarious, but it did a great job of showcasing Carmichael's talents. Just the same, I suspect Nathan Lane will win for "Only Murders in the Building," especially since he's reprising his role in the second season, which is streaming now.
Follow over the jump for the rest of SNL's nominations honoring the people behind the camera.
As I wrote in June, "it looks like I may have been too sanguine about monkeypox." I didn't think it would get this bad. Now I expect it will get worse.
Amid growing calls from health officials, the Biden administration declared that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will take a series of actions to combat the monkeypox outbreak.
The number of cases has continued to increase over the past two days, as the CDC website shows 7,510 reported cases in the U.S. as I type this. As the CDC Director said, cases will continue to go up before they start going down.
CNBC's Shomari Stone joins Shep Smith to report on the spread of monkeypox and government efforts to administer the vaccine.
CNBC concentrated on the short supply of the vaccine in this segment. At least there were already vaccines to administer, as monkeypox has been known for decades, unlike COVID-19, which was completely novel and much more deadly.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and CNBC contributor, joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss the outbreak in monkeypox cases after the U.S. declared the virus a public health emergency.
Monkeypox is nowhere near as deadly as COVID-19, but it deserves to be taken seriously as a health threat.
All the above videos point out that the current outbreak acts like a sexually transmitted disease, but it's not really one, and it can affect anyone. Another point that Gottlieb made in passing was that monkeypox is a relative of smallpox, which I think is perversely good news. The CDC page on vaccinations states "Because Monkeypox virus is closely related to the virus that causes smallpox, the smallpox vaccine can protect people from getting monkeypox. Past data from Africa suggests that the smallpox vaccine is at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox." Older Americans like me who have been vaccinated against smallpox are actually in better shape than younger people to avoid becoming ill from monkeypox. I'll take that, as it's the reverse of the usual relationship between age and morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases.
One aspect of monkeypox that the first three videos generally ignored is that monkeypox is a zoonotic disease, one that originally passed from non-human animals to people. The Wall Street Journal tackled that head on in Why Monkeypox Is a Global Health Threat, which the paper uploaded to its YouTube account the day before the Biden Administration declared the disease a health emergency. Perfect timing!
What smallpox is to humans — monkeypox is to animals. So what happens when a human is infected with an animal disease? WSJ explains the symptoms, reactions and treatment of a monkeypox infection.
Despite the name, monkeypox mostly infects rodents, which I find concerning because it can get into native rodent populations that could become reservoirs for the virus. The SciShow video I embedded in May mentioned that the previous outbreak in the U.S. resulted from contact with infected prairie dogs. It could have been worse; I know of cases of bubonic plague transmitted from prairie dogs to humans. Yikes!
Stephen finds out why New Jersey-based celebs like Lil Stevie Van Zandt are getting involved in the Pennsylvania Senate race, and he introduces a brand new long-running segment that will ensure he gets his facts straight.
Leave it to Stephen to make the already hilarious trolling by John Fetterman even funnier.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski discuss new ads out of the Senate race in Pennsylvania between Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, and the meme war taking place between the two candidates online. Scarborough and Brzezinski also discuss Oz's history of false statements.
I knew someone was going to make comparisons between Dr. Oz and "The Wizard of Oz." I'm glad it was done this well.
That was a lot more fun than the post about monkeypox I planned to write until I watched Colbert's monologue. I guess I was in an "I can't be all DOOM all the time mood." Maybe tomorrow, or maybe I'll write about Saturday Night Live'sEmmynominations. Stay tuned to find out.
Kansas voters upheld abortion rights by 59% to 41% in yesterday's election, and scientists have really bad news about some of our favorite foods.
I agree with Stephen; Kari Lake sounds incoherent. No wonder The Former Guy endorsed her. For what it's worth, NBC News currently characterizes the contest for the Republican nominee for Arizona Governor as "too close to call" with Lake leading. Go Katie Hobbs, who is the Democratic nominee for Arizona Governor.
Seth takes a closer look at voters in Kansas overwhelmingly rejecting a state ballot measure that would have restricted abortion access and Trump endorsing multiple dudes named "Eric" in the same Missouri Senate race.
The GOP dirty tricks both Seth and Stephen described didn't work and a good thing, too. Here's to the measure protecting abortion passing in Michigan this November. Also, I knew there had to be an Eric Trump joke in there, and there was, even if I had to wait until the very end to hear it.
BTW, welcome back from quarantine for Seth and congratulations on his shows' threeEmmynominations for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series, and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series. To celebrate, I'm sharing the Twitter images promoting the show nominations.
Good luck, although I think John Oliver, James Corden, and "Saturday Night Live" will win these categories instead.
Kansas votes to uphold the right to have an abortion, Alex Jones' attorney accidentally gives his texts to the prosecutor, Beyoncé tweaks her album again, Brad Pitt wears a skirt to his latest movie premiere, and Airbnb will no longer rent out slave quarters.
Last night's results reinforce what I first wrote in Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at replacing Liz Cheney and Arizona audit and repeated yesterday, "'this fight is not over conventional ideas of left and right. Instead, it is about loyalty to Trump, which is odd considering that major American political parties generally move away from losing presidential candidates. Not now — the GOP is sticking closer to Trump than ever.' That has become even more true since then." Worse yet, if TFG's endorse nominees win, a lot of them will be in charge of certifying elections. Who needs an armed insurrection when the coup will happen through legal means?
Speaking of legal means, LOL, Alex Jones. I might have more to say about his trial later. Stay tuned.
WOOD-TV only had "Aug. 3, 2022" for the video description, so I'm quoting the description for the equivalent video by 13 On Your Side: John Gibbs defeats Rep. Peter Meijer in primary election. "After a single term in the United States Congress, Peter Meijer has conceded the primary election for Michigan's 3rd Congressional District to challenger John Gibbs." I have two things to say about this result. First, as I wrote in Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at replacing Liz Cheney and Arizona audit last year, "this fight is not over conventional ideas of left and right. Instead, it is about loyalty to Trump, which is odd considering that major American political parties generally move away from losing presidential candidates. Not now — the GOP is sticking closer to Trump than ever." That has become even more true since then. Second, no good deed goes unpunished, especially when it involves standing up to TFG.
Michigan held its 2022 primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 2.
Again, the effect TFG has on Republican politics cannot be ignored, both in the contest for the GOP nominee for Governor of Michigan and in the Third Congressional District, where Gibbs beat Meijer. Second, I am not so sure that RashidaTlaib is as liberal as she's being made out. She's part of "The Squad," which the following image from Voteview shows is not as far left as they are portrayed.
As I originally described in a tweet and reproduced on Pinterest, "The Squad's isolation from the rest of the Democratic Caucus is even more apparent in two dimensions. They're way down and to the right of most of the party. Down is also 'liberal,' but not in the way everyone else is." If Janice Winfrey had gotten the nomination and then into Congress, Voteview very likely would have scored her votes as being to the left of Tlaib's and the rest of "The Squad."
That a third of precincts in Detroit may be ineligible for a recount is not good news for anyone having their hopes up that this recount will change the result of the election. If anything, Trump's lead may increase because of it. It also makes me even less enamored of both Janice Winfrey, the Detroit City Clerk, and Cathy M. Garrett, the Wayne County Clerk. Neither one of them appears to be running a tight ship, or otherwise these kinds of irregularities would happen so frequently.
That still seems to be true, six years later. No surprise, I voted for Tlaib.
I'm not surprised that Haley Stevens beat Andy Levin. While I don't live in the 11th Congressional District, my IP address does, so I've been seeing far more ads for Stevens than for Levin, indicating that her campaign and the outside groups supporting her vastly outspent her. It paid off. I'm not sad, as I voted for Levin's primary opponent in 2018, but voted for him in the general election in both 2018 and 2020. I'm not particularly a fan of political dynasties and I'm not shedding a tear over the apparent end of this one.
My last observation on the results is about my neighbor John James handily winning the GOP primary one county over from where he lives, at least for now. I'm not surprised that he won, only by the margin. As I wrote five years ago, "Impressive. The man has a future in politics, even if it won't be in the U.S. Senate."
Not only did TFG go after Meijer, the DCCC did as well, running ads "attacking" Gibbs as too extreme in the hopes that doing so would make him more attractive to the right-wing of the Republican Party so they would vote for him. On the one hand, that's smart politics, as it makes the seat easier for Hillary Scholten to win in November. On the other, it's punishing a holdout for decency and democracy in the GOP by removing him from Congress. Sigh. It worked last night, but I hope it doesn't backfire in November.
Actress and singer Nichelle Nichols, best known for her groundbreaking portrayal of Lt. Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek: The Original Series," has died at age 89, according to a statement from her son, Kyle Johnson.
Nichols portrayed communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in the "Star Trek" TV series and many of its film offshoots.
When "Star Trek" began in 1966, Nichols was a television rarity: a Black woman in a notable role on a prime-time television series. There had been African-American women on TV before, but they often played domestic workers and had small roles; Nichols' Uhura was an integral part of the multicultural "Star Trek" crew.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called it "the first non-stereotypical role portrayed by a Black woman in television history."
Nichols is widely known for participating in one of the first interracial kisses on US television when her character kissed James T. Kirk, portrayed by White Canadian actor William Shatner. In an interview with CNN in 2014, Nichols said the kiss scene "changed television forever, and it also changed the way people looked at one another."
That's pretty comprehensive, but the segment didn't cover everything and it didn't feature an expert who had a more personal connection to Nichols. For that, I turn to ABC News' Remembering trailblazing actress Nichelle Nichols.
ABC News contributor Mike Muse joins ABC News Live to celebrate the lasting impact of "Star Trek" actress Nichelle Nichols, who died Saturday at age 89.
The ABC News clip mentioned that Nichols recruited for NASA. NASA released their own video Nichelle Nichols: Woman on a NASA Mission about her work for NASA, including testimony from the people she influenced earlier this year.
NASA celebrates the life and career of Nichelle Nichols, famous for her role of Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek, as she retires from public life.
Not only did Nichols portray a character that was an incredible role model, but in 1977, she also partnered with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency's shuttle program.
Nichols symbolized to so many what was possible and inspired young minds to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.
In a surprise turn of events, Sen. Joe Manchin released a statement saying he’s on board with the Inflation Reduction Act, a renamed version of the Build Back Better bill, shocking Washington, D.C. and Mitch McConnell.
I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling what I wrote yesterday for the first part of my reaction.
Trevor even mentioned the possibility that Sinema could mess things up. On the other hand, he showed even more enthusiasm for the deal and he and his writers came up with even funnier jokes about it.
The World Health Organization labels monkeypox a global health emergency, cities across America hit record-breaking temperatures, and a chess-playing robot breaks a 7-year-old's finger.
As I wrote in June, "it looks like I may have been too sanguine about monkeypox." I didn't think it would get this bad. Now I expect it will get worse. I'm also recycling my reaction to Trevor's treatment of the climate and weathernews from yesterday's post: "That was grim, but at least we're doing something about climate change now."
Follow over the jump to read about the Emmy nominations for "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" and two of its spinoffs, "Between the Scenes" and "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Globe - Hungary for Democracy."
