Shots in the Dark

Well…duh. Crimefighter, right? Tall, dark, and handsome? On the side of truth and light justice? Excellent driver?

Of course Batman went to Yale.

As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve long suggested that one of the great narratives of the 21st century is going to be the changing relationship between humans and other animals, largely driven by how our increasing understanding of animal intelligence forces us to reevaluate the legitimacy of how we treat and slaughter animals.

Three consequences: a profoundly greater concern with environmentalism, exponential growth in our understanding of life, and a redefined concept of God.

There’s more evidence of that in this article from Wired suggesting that sperm whales give each other names.

[Biologist Luke] Rendell and his collaborators, including biologists Hal Whitehead, Shane Gero and Tyler Schulz, have for years studied the click sequences, or codas, used by sperm whales to communicate across miles of deep ocean. In a study published last June in Marine Mammal Sciences, they described a sound-analysis technique that linked recorded codas to individual members of a whale family living in the Caribbean.

In that study, they focused on a coda made only by Caribbean sperm whales. It appears to signify group membership. In the latest study, published Feb. 10 in Animal Behavior, they analyzed a coda made by sperm whales around the world. Called 5R, it’s composed of five consecutive clicks, and superficially appears to be identical in each whale. Analyzed closely, however, variations in click timing emerge. Each of the researchers’ whales had its own personal 5R riff.

It’s going to be a lot tougher to kill something when you know it has a name, don’t you think?

A cautionary tale about speaking too soon: Four days ago, Larry Summers predicted that, at least in the short term, the tsunami/earthquake would be good for Japan’s economy.

“If you look, this is clearly going to add complexity to Japan’s challenge of economic recovery,” Summers said. “It may lead to some temporary increments, ironically, to GDP, as a process of rebuilding takes place.”

Not only does even discussing the subject so quickly seem insensitive given what’s happened since, but Summers is almost certainly wrong: Thousands are dead, nuclear disaster looms, Japan’s industrial outlook is devastated and the implications are yanking down stock markets across the world….

And they used to work with him.

The Harvard president co-authors, with MIT prez Susan Hockfield, a Globe editorial on why Congress should invest in education.

America’s current circumstances are certainly serious. But there is a proven path forward, one that the United States has traveled with great success before: the rising path of innovation…..

The rising path of innovation.

Zzzzzzz…..

Yes, investing in education is a fine idea. But what about this editorial, other than the words Barack Obama, couldn’t have been said any time in the last half-century?

(Also, why place it in the Globe? Talk about preaching to the choir.)

Today… leaders across the political spectrum are proposing ways to foster innovation. As economist Robert Solow of MIT made clear.…

Zzzzz….

It’s all well and good to write on behalf of education, but if a university president does so, she should do it with passion, personality, insight and specificity. What exactly do Faust and Hockfield want? Other than to have it noted that they spoke out on behalf of education?

According to a new report by Battelle, a science and technology development company, US public and private sources together still lead the world in research….

Zzzzzz……

No one wants the presidents of Harvard and MIT to rely upon an unnamed report by a little-known company based in Columbus, Ohio. Doing so suggests the Google search of the studious ghostwriter.

This is not what we turn to the presidents of our nation’s finest universities for.
We want them to be smart—smarter than we are. To lead by example. To inspire thought and discussion and elevated debate.

That’s asking a lot, I know, and maybe that’s unfair. But shouldn’t we hold these women to a high standard?

Such college essay-like pablum accomplishes none of those goals, and will be forgotten within minutes after it is read.

I mean, really.

The April issue of Cosmopolitan (don’t ask) features a column called “Raise Your Game—Work Advice from Arianna Huffington.”

(Also in the issue: “Look Who Has a Cute Brother!” And: “Her Bachelorette Party Left Her Paralyzed.”

Huh. Actually, I’d read that one.)

First question put to Arianna:

My work [sic] has been downsizing staff lately to save money. How can I make sure I’m not one of the casualties?

To which Huffington responds:

Do a great job at everything you are expected to do….and at some things that you are not expected to do. Tell your boss you’re happy to take on extra projects. The more skills you have and the more you develop them, the less likely it is that you’ll be the one let go. It’s also important to have a positive, can-do attitude. Nobody wants to fire a good team member.

Two things:

As most of Arianna’s staff at the Huffington Post can’t really be fired because they didn’t actually get paid, she may not have been the best person to ask this question.

Also: Since at least 400 AOL employees are being fired so that they can be replaced with people who work for free and Arianna can get even richer, she may not be the best person to ask.

Just months ago, Arianna was insisting that HuffPo wasn’t for sale and AOL execs were insisting that they were going to be firing hiring hundreds of journalists.

I don’t know—I’m just not sure that I could take home an estimated $18 to $100 million if it meant that hundreds of people were going to lose their jobs….

Now the convicted sex offender billionaire is causing a scandal in England.

After he was snapped walking side by side with Epstein through Central Park last December, [Prince] Andrew has seen his entire globetrotting existence as a trade ambassador put under the microscope. It has not borne up well.

Suddenly his life and times partying with Epstein have become public knowledge, complete with sordid details of being surrounded by young women and being present at topless pool parties. A woman, Virginia Roberts, who provided sexual services for Epstein and his rich friends while underage, saw the photograph and decided to speak about her experiences. Another picture rapidly surfaced, of Roberts side by side with the prince. To cap it all, Andrew’s links to a whole series of unpleasant developing world autocrats and dictators have also come under fresh examination.

Mr. Epstein is like the O.J. Simpson of sex offenders: What happens when he just won’t go away?

Harvard lost to Princeton yesterday in what sounds like a pretty exciting game.

I think everyone can claim a victory here—Princeton, of course, but also Harvard, for putting together a great season, and Yale, which can’t seem to beat Harvard in football any more but at least didn’t have to see Harvard cap its best basketball season ever while playing at Yale.

Don’t you kind of miss him?

No?