Rare Vertebrate of the Week Vol. 2

This installment of RVOTW features one of the most rare and even controversial vertebrates on Earth.  Despite long standing reports of intense, idiosyncratic coloration and vocalization displays, this creature is intrinsically rare, and famously elusive.  The life history of this extremely charismatic megafauna is unique in many respects.  It lives essentially year-long in the arctic regions; experts suspect that only in this remote and intimidating climate can it complete it's life cycle with minimal interruptions.  Famously long-lived, it's thought to pair-bond for life.  However, it's also purported to live symbiotically with at least 2 other species.  It shares its arctic habitat with a related but more gracile and smaller form, which may out-number it on a ratio of dozens of even hundreds to 1.  However, these organisms live quite contently in a colony structure, and apparently assume much autonomy in the important tasks of the "hive" or "workshop," as it's known in this system.

Our vertebrate also lives mutualistically with a tundra-dwelling ungulate (known as caribou in North America).  Perhaps their most significant association comes during a highly seasonal migration which in most accounts--it must be said, quite unbelievably--takes these unlikely symbionts outside of the polar region and around the entire Earth.  The evidence points to this act as some form of dispersal, though not in the biological or reproductive sense.  The creature has been linked to the highly peculiar but also highly patterned leaving of a prized residue, often left around the coniferous trees and hearths of human beings.  Causal explanations are scarce--perhaps the creature seeks out both familiarity and warmth along its long and likely arduous migratory route.  It remains to be scientifically explained why it sets out on this journey in the first place.

The best hypothesis may come from the nature of the dispersal, and the peculiar form of symbiosis the creature seems to have with our own species, Homo sapiens.  As discussed above, the dispersal route does not seem to include any propagative function--in fact, the vertebrate remains very rare, with most experts agreeing that there may in fact only be 1 male left in the wild.  However, interdisciplinary efforts have yielded another viable, if shocking, hypothesis.  It may in fact be the case that this dispersal pattern and residue comprise not genetic but memetic reproduction--in essence, the spread of an idea.  There may be corroboration for this bold theory in the coincidence of both morphological and behavioral mimicry amongst H. sapiens leading to the annual migratory date.  Humans around the world will don this creature's bold colors, vocalizations, and assumed gregarious behaviors, and even more interestingly, mimic the creature's residue-leaving behavior.

Observation studies are perpetually ongoing, with a younger generation of citizen-scientists performing most field work in the hopes of proving the existence of this special creature.  However, we may already be able to make some helpful, if tentative conclusions on the matter.  Nature seems to operate on a "what works, works" basis, with little room for relationships that do not contribute to one's very own fitness.  Humans, however, in all their base desires and mortal considerations, have been shown to be a stark exception in terms of altruistic behavior.  The existing wide-ranging reports of another successful, active, and otherwise highly-evolved creature seem to add welcome company to our ranks.  It is a rare vertebrate indeed that can bring out the very best in an entire species, and a valuable relationship especially for our species, which can lose sight so easily of the best things that this world has to offer--a hearty laugh, a kind thought, and the company and love of our extended human family.

Merry Christmas!

Rare Vertebrate of the Week Vol. 1

Science!  I've been meaning to have this sort of posting for a while now.  I guess the tiger post counts as a forerunner, but I suppose the idea will be to introduce RV reader(s) to a more obscure creature.  So here goes:

The Tuatara:  Not a Lizard

This thing is not a lizard.  It's the last surviving member of a whole reptilian order called Sphehodontia.  (For some context, the group that contains all bear, dog, cat, and badger-like species is just one mammalian order called Carnivora.  Lizards and snakes are grouped in the order Squamata.)  So, yeah...rare indeed!  It currently resides only in a magical land called New Zealand, and its appearance and habits haven't changed since the first of its kind emerged to skulk amongst early dinosaurs and other weird reptiles, 200 million years ago.

But adding to its rarity is a fun fact that I just found.  Researchers at Emory University in NZ have discovered that, despite its implacable morphology, the DNA of the Tuatara HAS been changing at a record speed compared to all other vertebrates.  Double rare!  Not only does this deepen the mystery of this already peerless vertebrate, but it contributes to a hypothesis about how the rate of molecular evolution (i.e., how fast DNA sequences change over time) is "uncoupled" from that of morphological evolution (how fast the body and behaviors change).  This makes the study of DNA and evolution a bit messier, one might imagine, but also even more interesting.  Check it:

Cheers!

There are 2 Types of Bodies

There are 2 types of bodies,
human and non-;
depending on varied
opinions and facts,
in each you'll serve some time.

There are 2 types of bodies,
one dead and one not;
You may yet live if:
your meat is cold,
your bones' dissolved,
your blood's in blocks,
and your name is Dick Cheney.

There are 2 types of bodies--
some weak and some strong:
so,
honored are those 
whose feats find fame
from only fair footing
and a modest name.

There are 2 types of bodies--
yours and mine, and
our square meter secrets
persist like two planets
drawn together,
in all of space,
by only a line.

if you've got 10 minutes lying around...

freaky 80's TV

I stumbled upon this in my search for some of the cartoon samples from my breakdown of a song, and wanted to share it in this corner.  And that's a post, ladies and gentlemen.  Count it!

The Things I Like, Part: Now

Well first off, it's been almost a week since I last posted.  It's also been about 18 days since I started this blog.  So I've missed 33% of the days available for me to post.  I know I said that my goal is one post per day.  Let's just all agree that such a goal wasn't intended to be followed by the letter, but instead to create a guilt-invoking mechanism that would produce palpable shame over an accumulating lack of posts.  The good news is that I have certainly been blogging in my mind, and while my cup not runneth over with posting ideas, it also not runneth out. 

Anyway, I stumbled back across a download from about 2 months ago that I'm listening to right now.  It's by somebody named Baby Jazz.  It's a track called "Michael Jordan."  It's a mash-up of sorts, just over 12 minutes long and in something like movements--maybe 4 or 5?  Overall it has the personality of a Saturday morning cartoon.  It actually reminds me MORE of what those aliens in that movie The Explorers were probably listening to when they got high.

It's starts with creepy sounds of sped-up swing-sets and voices, various clicks and creaks, and finally a slightly manipulated, elegant loop of a woman singing down a simple 4 note scale.  Cartoon samples flit in and out, some gaining more foothold (and recognition) on the track than others.  The song really opens up with an electric percussion sample that carries along all the other miscellaneous vocals, voices, and loops. 

After a serious threat down from the Shredder (to the Ninja Turtles, of course), the song shifts ethereally at about 3 and half minutes in.  It sounds a lot like the way Panda Bear's "Bros" floods the front end of Person Pitch, in a wash of soft drum set and chimes, and bit of chanting--and always with the backing voice samples (whoo!...oh yeah...whoo!....oh yeah...).  Here we also find an iterated Atari or Nintendo sequence that might sound, out of context, like your video game character character dying!  But when embedded in the song, it's just one more constructive piece of construction.

The cacophony builds again until about 5:05, when the slowly building funk line finally precipitates, and forms the backbone for a new slew of samples.  It starts with somebody talking about "50 million dollars?!"; then a piano drizzling down scale; then the sound of video game coins being collected; then kids screaming!; then the building vocal loop going "la la la la la la" down the same scale as the piano and coins.  There are also some weird scribble noises.  It's another big, pleasant mess that ends more abruptly this time (at around 6:25).

Here we enter a more sensual movement, like if Nightmares on Wax had sampled Galaga here and there.  So yeah, there's some video game space sounds, but also the building sound of a ecstatic woman yielding various gasps, some footsteps, and miscellaneous husky breathing and talking.  The whole beat has slowed here, and this section is recognizable as an important interlude only as it picks right back up at 7:40 with a kick drum leading into a drum machine with a heavy back beat, some bells, and some TV action noises as well as one of most familiar sounding sound bites of them all:  "Nobody turns down drugs!"

After building to a peak of sorts, an acoustic guitar loop breaks the tension; the dissonant sounds all meld into what sounds like the business of a happy cartoon factory in the middle of the work day.  As the guitar leaves, the calmer voices that joined it sink together into an ambient scape of soft electric violins, a muted children's chorus, ticking clocks, and a slew of Saturday morning television noises.  A final drum solo lands the plane at almost the 12 minute mark.  Fittingly, though, the last sample and sound to hit the ears is one of those phrases that will exist forever in the 9 year-old region of my mind: "After these messages....[ruuuuuufff!]....we'll be riiight back!"

Hopefully if you actually read this, you listened to the song too!  I appreciate the creativity that it took to make this--there is almost nothing organically made here, as far as the ear can tell.  I am fine with that, since the artist makes a new and compelling composition out of a motley assortment of parts.  Give it a try!  And next time I see you, let me know what you think.

All I'm Sayin'! round II

A long debate on NPR and more on the TV news today about gays in the military.  A study is out now that surveyed about 115,000 military personnel, including combat troops.  It turns out that among service men and women who have served closely with homosexuals, they...do not really mind if they are serving next to any capable person, gay or straight.  Right now I'm watching The Daily Show show clips of John McCain in the congressional hearings about Don't Ask Don't Tell.  After hearing the pro-repeal opinions of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen--and supposedly hearing and understanding the results of the study--McCain said some interesting things.  I find it very funny (NOT ha ha) that the last rhetorical line of defense of some military stalwarts (and mavericks) is to suggest that the issue basically needs to be decided by subordinates.  Because they weren't just asked about it in a huge study.  Because giving subordinates a choice in the matter is definitely how the military has always worked.  Can anyone figure out why REALLY some people don't want this change?  Talk about a cock block.