Old Posts Addenda (5)

 A Baker's Half-dozen 
   Here are some "Breaking News" items relating to subjects already covered in MM. 

1. A Big Bird Kill
   There is a flock of posts in MM relating to birds of various kinds and a few have been devoted to the losses in the avian world. In "Passenger Pigeons", their disappearance was lamented and a description of a large flock over the Bruce Peninsula long ago is provided. Readers of The Times (of London) used to write letters to that paper about the spotting of the first cuckoo in the spring. Now they are rarely seen and the song of the nightingale seldom heard ("Books of The Times.") 
   Soon it is the murres we will be missing.
"Scientists Just Confirmed the Largest Bird-killing Event in Modern History: A Marine Heat Wave in the Pacific Ocean That Began a Decade ago Killed some 4 Million Common Murres in Alaska, Researchers say," Joshua Partlow, The Washington Post, Dec. 12, 2024.
"It would take years of study to confirm they had witnessed the largest die-off of any bird species ever recorded in the modern era, according to new research published in the journal Science on Thursday.... The killing was an order of magnitude larger, she said, than the hundreds of thousands of murres that perished in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.“We’ve had lots of long-term declines that have been observed in wildlife,” she said. “But what’s really different here — that we haven’t seen before — is this really swift catastrophe where in one year we have half the population of this really abundant seabird just wiped out.”

2. What Will Eat the Dead Buzzards?
   The "Vanishing Vultures" in India that were written about in MM in 2017 are in the news again. See:
"The Hidden Value of Vultures: "Researchers believe a massive die-off of the birds led to over 100,000 additional human deaths per year in India, by Ian Rose, The Washington Post, September 14, 2024 and
"How a Crisis for Vultures Led to a Human Disaster: Half a Million Deaths The birds were accidentally poisoned in India. New research on what happened next shows how wildlife collapse can be deadly for people," Catrin Eihorn, NYT, July 29, 2024.
   "Now, economists have put an excruciating figure on just how vital they can be: The sudden near-disappearance of vultures in India about two decades ago led to more than half a million excess human deaths over five years, according to a forthcoming study in the American Economic Review."
  Rotting livestock carcasses, no longer picked to the bones by vultures, polluted waterways and fed an increase in feral dogs, which can carry rabies. It was “a really huge negative sanitation shock,” said Anant Sudarshan, one of the study’s authors and an economics professor at the University of Warwick in England...."
"The findings reveal the unintended consequences that can occur from the collapse of wildlife, especially animals known as keystone species for the outsize roles they play in their ecosystems. Increasingly, economists are seeking to measure such impacts."

    The buzzards are also disappearing in other places. 
“To Save a Scavenger: Why Vultures Need Our Protection," Mary Cunningham, Columbia Magazine, Spring/Summer 2024.
   "Vultures, known (and notorious) for their penchant for rotting flesh, have experienced major population decline over the last few decades, due in large part to poisoning, explains Kendall. Hunters often put pesticides on carcasses to kill the scavengers, making it harder for law enforcement to detect illegal poaching (“circling vultures can indicate the presence of a large carcass and therefore help rangers find dead elephants”). Additionally, farmers sometimes use poison to retaliate against predators that kill their livestock. “When the vultures feed on the bodies, they die within a few hours,” says Kendall, adding that vultures are also sometimes killed by superstitious locals who see them as bad omens."

3. Too Many Crows: The Rochester Roost
   A few years ago you were told about the very large number of crows in Burnaby and when we were in Vancouver recently we saw them at dusk everyday flying over and heading there,(see "A Murder of Crows".) "The Purple Martin Problem" in Nashville was noticed more recently and now there is a big murder of crows close by in upstate New York.
  "Where It Isn’t Christmas Until the City Shoots Lasers at 20,000 Crows: In Rochester, N.Y., every year in early December thousands of crows descend on the city, which tries to shoo them away with loud noises and bright lights," David Andreatta, NYT, Dec. 14, 2024.
  "In Rochester, N.Y., there are telltale signs that the holiday season is underway.Santa’s workshop opens at the outdoor ice rink downtown. There is the lighting of the pyramid of kegs at the local brewery. Productions of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Nutcracker” begin.Then there are the tens of thousands of crows that descend on the city every day at dusk in early December, and the fireworks and lasers that are deployed to drive them away.City officials and wildlife experts estimate upward of 20,000 crows roost downtown nightly.“It’s like you’re in ‘The Birds,’” said Rachel Kudiba, referring to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film about birds on a murderous rampage."

4. Line 5
   Line 5 is that pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac where we hope it does not rupture. This is about Line 6 which just did. Here is the story:
"Enbridge Pipeline Spills 260,000 litres of oil in Wisconsin," A.P., Dec.14, 2024.
   "Line 6 is a 748.3-kilometre pipeline carrying crude oil from Superior, Wisconsin, to a terminal near Griffith, Indiana, according to a company map. Critics noted the spill was discovered during the same week that Wisconsin regulators approved the first permits for Enbridge’s plan to move the aging Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation. Opponents said it would still threaten the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels." 
For Line 5 in MM: see, e.g. "Line 5" and "Line 5 Again."

5. "I'll Bet Ya!"
   I am willing to bet the issue of gambling will soon be as big as the debts being accrued. Among the many posts about betting in MM, this one discussed the large wagers placed by someone named "DRAKE" and Phil Mickleson,(see, "ON Betting.") They are not the only one making big bets.
"Bettor Places Largest NFL Wager of the Year: $3.1Million on the Eagles-Panthers Game," Ben Fawkes, Dec.7, The Athletic. 
On Thursday afternoon, Circa Sports reported taking a $3.1 million wager on the Eagles moneyline (ML) against the Carolina Panthers. The wager was placed at -700 odds, meaning the bettor will win roughly $442,850 if the Eagles win the game straight up...."
He won, by the way: #3.1 Million Bet on Eagles Wins After Panthers' Dropped Pass," David Purdum, ESPN, Dec.8, 2024.

Cathal Kelly is the best reason to get a subscription to the Globe and Mail and he picked Gambling Promotors as major sports villains this year: "Sporting Heroes and Villains From 2024," Dec. 25, 2024:
"Gambling promoters: Gambling is legal. Once upon a time, so was drinking and driving.
Using that fig leaf, Canada’s broadcasts and pages are full of people you recognize encouraging fellow citizens with far less than them to blow their rent money betting the under.
Driven by the NHL and its flunkies in the sports media, it is an unalloyed display of amoral greed. Some day, it will be seen as a national embarrassment. Until then, we will continue doing the Canadian thing by pretending that because it doesn’t affect anybody we know, it’s not happening."

Thomas's "The Cotton Bowl" (2011)

6. A Black Sculpture By a Black Sculptor
   In a post about Hank Willis Thomas you learned about a work of his - which was inspired by an event in the 1960s on the Eastern Shore of Maryland -  now resides in a Vancouver back yard. He continues to sculpt and is doing well. For the post see: "A Black Sculpture.")
"Hank Willis Thomas Sees What America Can't Say: In His Art About Race and Freedom, He Asks Us to Look Closer, and Think Twice," Robin Givhan,The Washington Post, Aug. 16, 2024.
"Over the years, Thomas has blossomed into a public artist. His large-scale sculptures, often inspired by photographs, are now part of landscapes across the country. [and even in Canada.]

7. More Pictures From An Institution
   This title was borrowed from Randall Jarrell and I have used it before. It is found in a post about "Jasper Cropsey" and the controversy that ensued when one of his paintings was sold by the University of Western Ontario. A similar controversy is unfolding in Indiana where, you may be surprised to learn, Valparaiso University is located. 
  UWO needed money back in 1980, just as Valparaiso does now. That University came up with a plan to sell some paintings so new dormitories could be built. The justification for selling the paintings needed a legal basis and the University devised a way of characterizing the paintings so they could be sold without violating the terms of the donation. The former director of the Museum which held the paintings said, “I think it was a clever way of trying to pick at the validity of the paintings, and it was done because they thought they wouldn’t have to answer to anyone but the judge..." 
   This controversy needs more space than can be utilized here. You can learn about the "Cropsey Controversy" at UWO by looking at my earlier post. As well, there was a more recent controversy when the Western History Department had to come up with a way to keep a donor's money, while dropping the donor's name (see "Western and the Hilborn Issue.") For the issue in Indiana, see this article:
"To Sell Prized Paintings, a University Proclaims They’re Not 'Conservative': ‘Valparaiso University is arguing it should never have acquired two paintings, including a Georgia O’Keeffe, in the 1960s. It hopes to sell them to pay for dorm renovations," Annie Agular, NYT, July 19, 2024.
   "An Indiana judge is facing that very question as Valparaiso University contends that it should be able to sell high-value paintings it owns, including a Georgia O’Keeffe landscape of the New Mexico desert, in order to finance a renovation of freshman dormitories.When the private, nonprofit university announced its plan last year, it said the sale was necessary because enrollment had declined, which has also prompted the school to cut some programs and positions. After opposition to the sale of the art that had long hung in its on-campus museum, the college is now arguing before a court that selling two of the paintings is justified because they should never have been acquired in the first place."
  By the way, perhaps the committee that purchased the paintings now up for sale should be re-constituted to handle Valparaiso's investment portfolio:
 The university’s petition says the committee bought the O’Keeffe in 1962 for $5,700 and the Hassam in 1967 for $9,000. “Rust Red Hills” renders New Mexico mountains in draping, muscular forms, and “The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate” explodes a pre-bridge San Francisco Bay into an impressionistic light-dappled array.
   Those modernist American landscapes are now the most valuable works in the Brauer’s collection. Appraisals commissioned by the university estimated fair market values of $10.5 million to $15 million for the O’Keeffe and $1 million to $3.5 million for the Hassam. (The Church is valued at $1 million to $3 million.)

Post Script: 
   The Cropsey post also contains some information about another art controversy at Fisk University and other collections at Dubuque and Colby. Given that such controversies are likely to increase as university budgets decline, the link to the Task Force For the Protection of University Collections --Tookit provided in that post and again above, could be useful. 

The Bonus: 
  Art collections at universities can be valuable resources for the surrounding community as well. For some of the better ones see this article:
"The Best College Art Museums in America: The Post's Art Critics Pick Their Favorite Museums at Colleges and Universities Across the U.S.", The Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2024.
Here they are:
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University Harvard Art Museums RISD Museum Yale University Art Gallery Those who commented on the article mentioned, Smith College, the Stanley Museum of Art at Iowa and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. Several mentioned that Princeton was constructing a major new one.