Why Evolution Is True

Welcome to The Cruelest Day: May 5, 2026, and it’s National Hoagie Day (also called a “sub” or “submarine sandwich”. It was hard to find a photo of the longest one, but of course it was on Twitter. The damn thing was nearly half a mile long. Guinness says this: The longest sandwich measured 735 m (2,411 … Continue reading Tuesday: Hili dialogue

Bill Maher is tired of heaing about stuff like the Overton window, MKUltra, the “shadow docket” of the Supreme Court, looksmaxxing, “heuristic,” “cognitive offloading” and other examples of what he calls “pedantic bullshit.” (But he really hates the Overton Window. His curmudgeonly diatribe segues into a Dr. Seuss-like poem. He winds up arguing that his … Continue reading Bill Maher’s new rule: “…

I haven’t looked at Natasha Hausdorff‘s videos in a while, but you’ll remember her as a British lawyer, an expert in international law, and a “pro bono legal director of the advocacy group, UK Lawyers for Israel.” Here is her reaction to the latest anti-Jewish violence and anti-Israel protests in England, both of which have become regular … Continue reading Owen Jones v. Natasha Hausdorff on the …

Welcome to the first Monday in May: May 4, 2026, and Bird Day in the U.S.  A bit about the holiday: Bird Day was established by Charles Almanzo Babcock, the Oil City superintendent of schools, in 1894. It was the first holiday in the United States dedicated to the celebration of birds. Babcock intended it to advance bird conservation as a … Continue reading Monday: Hili dialogue

The NYT published a list of the 30 Greatest Living Songwriters that you can find here (archived here), and while many of the choices are no-brainers (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Brian and Eddie Holland of Motown’s Holland/Dozier/Holland, Carole King, Smokey Robinson), but I immediately saw people whose songs I knew a bit about and don’t … Continue reading Rich Beato criticizes the NYT’s list of greate…

Over at UnHerd, Richard Dawkins has a new piece on Ai, masticating the questions of whether AI programs are conscious and, if consciousness in animals evolved by natural selection, what the selection pressures for its appearance might be.  He comes to no firm conclusions, but Dawkins’s musings are always worth reading. You can see them … Continue reading Dawkins: Is AI conscious?

Welcome to shabbos for gentile cats: it’s Sunday, May 3, 2026, and Lemonade Day. Here’s a lemonade joke from the FB page The Language Nerds: It’s also National Chocolate Custard Day, National Raspberry Popover Day, National Two Different Colored Shoes Day, Paranormal Day, and World Press Freedom Day. Yesterday my last Ph.D. student, Daniel Matute … Continue reading Sunday: Hili dialogue

Protestors acting illegally have caused trouble both at Swarthmore College (known for its wokeness) and Cornell University.  The presidents of both schools have sent out letters to their communities. First, from an archived report at the Delaware County Times: Students and staff at Swarthmore College were greeted Friday with hundreds of acts of vandalism and … Continue reading Protesting students…

We’re back with three Caturday items and a  bit of lagniappe. First, Larry the Cat, the Chief Mouser of the Cabinet Office, has shirked his job, catching almost no nice after 15 years at 10 Downing Street.  But at least, at the ripe old age of 19, Larry has not only caught a mouse, but … Continue reading Caturday felid trifecta: Larry the Cat finally catches a mouse; the counties that have the mo…

Welcome to shabbos for Jewish cats: it’s Saturday, May 2, 2026 and National Truffle Day. They mean chocolate truffles, but let’s look at how they find the fungus-y ones. They are usually sniffed out by pigs or d*gs—the latter in this case. It’s also Beer Pong Day, Herb Day (the plant, not the person’s name), … Continue reading Saturday: Hili dialogue

We have another “Friday Flashback from 9 years ago.”  The concept of substitutionary atonement—something that Hitchens used to beef about—has always confused me, as it simply makes no sense. By killing his own son, who is really part of himself, God gave us all the possibility of going to Heaven. Whaaaat? Mo takes it apart … Continue reading Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ substitutionary atonement

The other day I showed photos of a mallard hen who came to the pond on Wednesday and whose bill markings were strikingly similar to that of Vashti, the hen who departed with her brood of seven a week before last Tuesday. Her behavior, her immediate bonding with Armon, and bill markings all combine to … Continue reading The newly-arrived hen is Vashti

Well, brothers and sisters, friends and comrades, this is the last batch of photos I have. If you’re feeling generous and have some good wildlife photos, well, you know what to do. Today’s lot comes from Ephraim Heller: they are manakins and tanagers from Trinidad and Tobago. Ephraim’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge … Continue reading Readers’ wildlife photos

I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “save” when I was preparing today’s Hili dialogue (most of it got done yesterday afternoon), so subscribers might have gotten an incomplete email yesterday and none today. If you want to read the completed one, click on the screenshot below.

Welcome to the Lusty Month of May! It’s May 1, 2026, and we should all be singing this song from “Camelot”.  This version of “The Lusty Month of May’ comes from the stage cast and is sung by Julie Andrews, who unaccountably declined to appear in the movie and was replaced by Vanessa Redgrave. Here’s … Continue reading Friday: Hili dialogue

As I mentioned, a hen mallard came into Botany Pond yesterday and quickly took up with Armon, with him being protective and driving away other drakes.  Could this have been Vashti returning after she left the pond with her brood? The only way to tell is to compare bill photos, as hens have identifying dark … Continue reading Vashti is back (probably)

The degree of anti-Jewish violence in the UK has escalated since October, 2023, and has been especially noticeable in the last six months. Here are the antisemitic incidents that Grok describes, including the stabbing yesterday. 23 March 2026 – Golders Green arson: Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer medical charity Hatzola Northwest were deliberately … Continue reading Anti-Jewish …

Welcome to Thursday, April 30, 2026, with May nearly upon us.  It’s also National Bugs Bunny Day, celebrating the day the dwatted wabbit made his first appearance in 1938. And here it is, in “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Bugs first appears 46 second in, as wily as ever. It’s also Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, National … Continue reading Thursday: Hili dialogue

A message from the Jesus and Mo artist about this week’s cartoon, called “dump2”: A slightly scatological resurrection from 2006 today. Normal service will be resumed next week. Religion vs. science!

This is it for photo contributions (save for singletons), so please send in your good wildlife photos. Many thanks! Today’s photos feature DUCKS, and come from reader Jan Malik. (There are other bird’s too.) Jan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Here are a few common birds … Continue reading Readers’ wildlife photos