Running Commentary 9/19/2022

Hello,

The duck migration doesn’t seem to have started. Yesterday, I checked out a local pond that I know serves as a stopover point for dabbling ducks, hoping that I might see a northern pintail. No migratory ducks were present. I did see a dozen or so wood ducks, and two green herons, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. I’ll keep you posted on my pintail pursuit.

Anyway...

Watching...

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

The fifth episode was released Thursday, which means we’re half-way through the show. Here are my notes:

• This show really seems to be stalling out. I don’t mean the over-arching plot arc, because I’m pretty sure this show doesn’t have one, but in the over-arching character arc for Jennifer Walters. Her coming to terms with becoming a Hulk and (presumably) deciding to use her new powers to help the world is what this show is about, but the past two episodes have only seen her move forward on that journey incementally.
• We’re teased Daredevil’s appearance in the next episode, which makes me wonder what he’s doing in Los Angeles. I guess we’ll find out.
• Thankfully, Andor starts this week, so I should have a show to actually say something about next Monday.

Playing...

Warframe

This week we finally got to start ranking up with Kahl’s garrison. The first mission was, to my mind, a weird start. It’s largely a stealth mission, bringing back the worst (in my opinion) elements of “The New War”: the Narmer deacons. There’s probably a fair number of people out there who really like that sort of sneak-around-the-patrols stealth game, but I’m not one of them. Thankfully, this time we’ve been given a stunner that lets us run away if we’re spotted. You have the option to play the mission over and over, but I’ve only played this the once. Hopefully, since this whole Kahl missions thing seems to be a way for DE to add different sorts of gameplay, the next week’s mission will be a little better. Overall, I’m still hopeful for this new system.

Bird of the Week

It’s back to the water this week as I’ve drawn another duck. This is, I think, the first duck I’ve featured that is not found in North America. In addition to an introduced population in the British Isles, the Red-crested Pochard is found throughout Europe and Central Asia, migrating to the Mediterranean or to India during the winter, when it forms large mixed flocks with other pochards.

Which raises the question: what’s a pochard? Much like the term “teal”, the term “pochard” has a fuzzy definition, having first been applied to a single species and having since been applied to several similar species, but not to all similar species. Only seven species of ducks feature “pochard” in their common name, but the term is more broadly applied to all fifteen members of two closely related duck genera, which are otherwise called “bay ducks” or “freshwater diving ducks”. Pochards are large ducks, similar in size to mallards, which swim in deep lakes and rivers. Depending on the species, they eat either plants or invertebrates found on the water’s floor. Among pochards, the red-crested is less prone to deep dives. It feeds on plants, and can often reach its food simply by upending in the water.

The male of the species is generally dark, with white under the wings, and the namesake coiffe of golden-red feathers giving their heads an enlarged, rounded appearance. Their bill, like that of their cousins, the rosy-billed pochards, is a bright magenta-red. Females are an even, un-mottled brown, with dark bills and white cheeks.

The word “pochard” has an unclear etymology. It is possible that it derives from an old form of the word “poker”, in reference to the ducks’ habits of prodding in the mud at the bottom of lakes and rivers for food, but this is conjecture. To science, this bird is Netta rufina, which translates from Greek and Latin roughly to “golden-red duck”.

Curation Links

Freedom from Liquor | Mark Lawrence Schrad, Aeon

A review of Ken Burns’s documentary on Prohibition. In Schrad’s view, Burns got the central thesis backward, but only because the entire narrative of Prohibition as presented by modern historians also gets it backward. Prohibition was not a moral reform intent on restricting the freedom of drinkers, but a means of bringing down an unregulated industry built on exploiting addiction.

The Despotism of Isaias Afewerki | Alex de Waal, The Baffler

A profile of the autocratic ruler of Eritrea, a revolutionary hero who delivered independence from Ethiopia and who has spent much of the years since attempting to wipe out the neighboring Tigray people.

New Voices: Henry Marsh | Granta Magazine

An autobiographical essay from a brain surgeon, recounting the bizarre experience of cutting through the seat of a person’s mind.

Highway | Vanessa Gazy, DUST

[VIDEO] [FICTION] "A troubled young hitchhiker struggles to escape her fate on a remote mountain highway." (9:39)

See the full archive of curations on Notion