Weekend Wonders: Amber

A tick grasping a dinosaur feather inside 99 million-year-old Burmese amber. (Image: Peñalver et al., 2017)
https://gizmodo.com/new-evidence-from-ancient-amber-shows-dinosaurs-were-pl-1821213048

When we look at amber we wonder at the creatures often caught up inside, changeless in their warm-coloured, luminous prison. It is the fossilised resin exuded by some plants to protect themselves, and first became abundant around 150 million years ago (mya), though the oldest animals found trapped in amber are some mites dating from 230 mya. In the science fiction film "Jurassic Park" the blood-meal of mosquitoes preserved in ancient amber is used to re-breed dinosaurs. (Insects generally are far more ancient than dinos - anything from 412-479 mya.)

Amber is still being produced today, but it takes millions of years to mutate from a sticky sap, through a hardened stage called copal, to the transparent-stone-like final condition.

The very earliest amber found so far dates from around 320 million years ago (mya) and was found in 2008 in an Illinois coal deposit. This was from the Carboniferous period (359 - 299 mya), long before the the age of dinosaurs (previously said to be 220 - 65 mya - though in 2012 another dinosaur fossil was found dating to 243 mya.)

The Illinois amber discovery is something of a mystery as modern trees and flowering plants came later, in fact many millions of years after dinosaurs first appeared. Until recently, the ancestors of flowering plants that produce seeds in protective ovaries (angiosperms) were believed to date from perhaps 160 mya. But before angiosperms there were gymnosperms (plants carrying seed without covers) such as conifers and ginkos, which started in the late Carboniferous period and so it may be one of them that produced that earliest amber.

Having said that, the emergence of flowering plants and angiosperms is being redated too: last year a scientific team produced a model of the earliest flower, from 140 mya; yet in 2013 fossil plant pollen was found from 240 mya and so angiosperms may have developed in the "Early Triassic (between 252 to 247 million years ago) or even earlier."

The Natural History Museum says that dinosaurs evolved in the Triassic (252-201 mya) when all the world's land mass was clumped together (Pangea); lived though the split in Pangea that created the North Atlantic Ocean; survived the still-mysterious mass extinctions at the end of the Triassic and became far more numerous and various in the Jurassic (201-145 mya); and saw the further splitting of landmasses in the Cretaceous period, and diversification in plants and insects (including the appearance of bees).

So we're still finding out when dinosaurs first saw (and presumably ate from) modern trees and flowering plants. Scientists used to think that dinosaurs never even got to munch grass - but thanks to analysis of fossilised dinosaur poo the origin of grass has been pushed back from 55 mya to 66 mya, and some of its cousins may be much older.

There they are, these specimens, frozen in time; yet our understanding of the past keeps changing.

________________________________________________________________________________
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber#Geological_record
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/pictures/120828-oldest-amber-animals-science-proceedings-arthropod-triassic/
https://www.livescience.com/48663-insect-family-tree-evolution.html
http://www.brost.se/eng/education/facts.html
https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/OI/Documents/March10Amber.pdf
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/carboniferous/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-discover-oldest-known-dinosaur-152807497/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_plant
https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j24_2/j24_2_16.pdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131001191811.htm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40780491
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/when-did-dinosaurs-live.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaceae#Evolutionary_history

FRIDAY MUSIC: Creature Comforts, by JD

The brief lull between the Christmas festivities and the Hogmanay celebration merits a slightly unusual and different musical offering!

Never Mind The EU, Can The UK Parliament Be Reformed?

In yesterday's post, Dr North referred to a 1973 Newsweek article by Milton Friedman on "barking cats"; the link he gives is now "404: not found", but another copy can be seen here:

https://miltonfriedman.hoover.org/friedman_images/Collections/2016c21/NW_02_19_1973.pdf

- and one paragraph stood out, for me:

"The error of supposing that the behavior of social organisms can be shaped at will is widespread. It is the fundamental error of most so-called reformers. It explains why they so often believe that the fault lies in the man, not the “system,” that the way to solve problems is to “throw the rascals out” and put well-meaning people in charge. It explains why their reforms, when ostensibly achieved, so often go astray."

The phrase "throw the rascals out" is often used in connection with the British electoral system, compared favourably with the EU where the electorate cannot dismiss a bad or incompetent Commission.

But does Friedman throw light on a problem we have with the UK Parliament, too?

When the overwhelming majority of MPs are Remainers, most of whom representing constituencies that voted clearly for Leave; and when many of those MPs in their several political parties are doing their best to oppose and subvert the results of a referendum which they repeatedly assured us would be decisive; and when they are visibly upset and angry if reprimanded by impertinent members of Question Time audiences who seem to think that this is a democracy; then should we adapt Mrs Thatcher's judgment* and say:

"The British Parliamentary system as a whole is fundamentally unreformable"?

For if their subversion (and the complex public relations assault they are using to scare, distract and confuse the voters) succeeds, they will call into question the legitimacy of their own power. This is not merely theoretical quibbling. To quote the Scottish play:

"Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate."

Even if it manages to put down revolt - and Government has such powerful tools these days - the relations between rulers and ruled will be deeply tainted.

This is now about more than the EU.

___________________________________________________
*"Statecraft" (2003), p. 321 - "Europe" in the original, not "The British Parliamentary system"

The Cure!

Repeat as required:

                                                                                                             Sackerson, 26.12.2018

Resisting our own creations

"In my broader study of the EU, two apparently unrelated tracts were of huge value to me. The first is one I have used many times, the Milton Friedman article on "barking cats", and the second is the study of the Tennessee Valley Authority by Philip Selznick, which led to the concept of "self-maintenance", the idea that institutions would always act in their own self-interests, even if this meant acting against the reasons for which they were established."

- Dr Richard North (http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87096)

And this is a problem for reification generally.

Once a human function - educating the young, caring for the sick, supporting the weaker and less fortunate - has been turned into an organisation, the thing has a life of its own and a desire to survive. It is a multicellular organism, composed of individual humans who each have their incomes and career prospects to consider. Attempts to steer it back onto its proper course are seen as threats, and can be opposed with the wealth and power of a great collective enterprise.

This is why liberty matters. In Britain, though not in many other countries, the citizen can teach his own children, and manage many legal aspects of his affairs without a solicitor, even representing himself in a court of law if he so wishes. The State may not like it, but it has to justify itself to the common man and keep its own behaviour within bounds, so long as judges maintain their independence.

That is the little flame that must be kept alight. Even if we ourselves may be cells in the body of the monster.

Wiggia's Winter Warning

A road safety message..............

A very Merry Christmas to all our readers, may you enjoy the fruits of your labours whether it be good food, good company, the best of wines and everything you have wished over the festive season, but just one word of warning whatever else you do , do NOT drink and drive......................

Toy Car Crash GIF from Toycar GIFs

Sackerson adds:

... and watch for ice...

Goldman Sachs: Can You Spare A Squid?

They've started with the radio adverts. You can open an online savings account with as little as £1.

"Marcus" (GS was founded by Marcus Goldman in 1869) was launched in September 2018 and will take deposits up to a maximum £250,000, paying 1.5% p.a.

With British bank accounts, deposits are protected up to no more than £85,000 per person (per financial institution). This matters, as a legal case in 1848 established that money left with a bank is not held in trust for the customer, who is merely a creditor (and not the most senior) with a claim on the bank's assets should it fail.

In fact even that £85,000 (€100,000) is an arbitrary figure not an absolute guarantee; it was reduced to £75,000 in January 2015 and re-raised in January 2017 to the fanfare of "people have more financial protection for their deposits from today." Potentially, you could end up with merely a slice of the equity of a shrunk and wobbly bank.

Goldman Sachs' new-found enthusiasm for curating the cash of the "little people who pay taxes" may or may not be connected to the 1MDB scandal that has led to multibillion-dollar claims on behalf of Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. So the pennies of the poor man's savings may help clear the blockage in the vampire squid's blood funnel.

The fraud allegations involve the former Prime Minister of Malaysia (Najib Razak) and a Malay businessman called Jho Low. Singapore is extending its criminal investigation to GS, but please don't worry about the bank execs: for people at their level, the very worst outcome is a spell improving their golf handicaps in a five-star open prison. No bunking with Bubba in a 10 x 8 for them.

You may remember the MP who, some years ago, proposed the introduction of completely safe deposit accounts - ones where the bank is only the custodian of your cash and must keep it safe for you: Douglas Carswell, 2010. (He tried again in 2016, as a tabled amendment to the Bank Of England Bill.) Even if he had succeeded, you would only be entitled to your money back - not necessarily its purchasing power.

How can you store value in a world of made-up money, inflated values, fairy guarantees and swindling? When you know, do please tell me.

___________________________________________

https://www.marcus.co.uk/uk/en/savings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#Founding_and_establishment
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/09/new-online-bank-makes-its-marcus-with-top-savings-rate/
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/prudential-regulation/authorisations/financial-services-compensation-scheme
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_v_Hill
https://www.globalresearch.ca/financial-meltdown-and-the-confiscation-of-bank-savings-the-uk-eu-bank-depositor-bail-in-scheme/5475934
https://www.fscs.org.uk/news/2017/january/new-85000-deposit-limit-from-today/
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leona_Helmsley
https://www.barrons.com/articles/abu-dhabi-fund-sues-goldman-sachs-over-1mdb-1542821292
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/malaysia-seeks-7-5-billion-reparations-goldman-sachs-071652236--sector.html
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/singapore-to-expand-1mdb-criminal-probe-to-include-goldman-sachs
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/25/1mdb-scandal-explained-a-tale-of-malaysias-missing-billions
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/457478
https://positivemoney.org/2010/09/douglas-carswell-mp-introduces-bill-to-stop-fractional-reserve-banking/
https://positivemoney.org/2016/04/23871/

Bonus track - Matt Taibbi's famous 2010 article on GS in "Rolling Stone" magazine:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-195229/