https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/feed

Advancing and retreating glaciers during Ice Ages crushed rock into dust. Meltwater pulses that occurred when climate cycles shifted to warm stages washed this dust into rivers. Then, when climate cycles shifted to arid stages and rivers shrank in size, exposing the sediment, wind blew this dust into huge hills alongside the rivers. This wind-blown dust is known as loess. Hills made from loess are located up and down the Mississippi River Valley, but today they are covered by vegetation that originally took root when climate became more moist and warmer. Land snail shells are often found in the loess. Scientists can use the snail species composition to estimate past average summer temperatures. (Land snails are mostly active during the warmer months.) Every species of snail occurs in ranges within certain temperature parameters. Scientists can also radio-carbon date snail shells. By dating the subfossil snail shells and identifying the species present, scientists can estimate past average summer temperatures.

Map showing where hills made of Ice Age loess sediment are found.

Road cuts reveal loess sediment.

This species of land snail requires warm summers and is evidence of warmer climates.

This is another species of land snail that indicates warmer summers.

The presence of this species indicates cooler summers, like those that occurred during Ice Ages. They still occur in Canada.

Another species of snail that requires cooler summers.

Scientists determined average annual summer temperatures in the upper Midwest near the glacier edge fell drastically about 27,000 years ago–the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum. Before summer temperatures fell, species of snails favoring warm climate including Anguispira kochi, Hawaii minisculs, and Vallonia perspectiva are found in sediment dating between 30,000 years BP-27,000 years BP. After this for the next 12,000 years snail species that require cool summers are found in the sediment. These species include Columella alticola, Vertigo modesta, and Vallonia gracilicosta. In all scientists found 68 species of terrestrial snails from 4 genera at the study sites. The sites were from 14 midwestern states. Each site had from 5-30 species.

During the Last Glacial Maximum summer temperatures near the glacier margin averaged 6-18 degrees F cooler than those of today. Summer averages were 59-61 degrees F. Near the Gulf Coast summer average temperatures were 77 degrees F compared to 92 degrees F today. The results of this study are consistent with climate data from ice cores, ocean sediment, and pollen composition.

References:

Grimley, D.; and J. Conroy

“Last Glacial Maximum Summer Temperature Gradient from Terrestrial Gastropods in Peoria Silt (loess), Midwestern USA”

Quaternary Science Reviews June 2026

Grimley, D.; et al

“Last Glacial Maximum Ecology and Climate from Terrestrial Gastropod Assemblages in Peoria Loess, Western Kentucky”

Quaternary Science Reviews 35 (5) May 2025

Ulysses S. Grant considered Phil Sheridan the greatest general in history. The best example of Sheridan’s exemplary ability was his success turning defeat into victory at the Battle of Cedar Creek during October 18, 1864. The battle took place in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. The Confederate Army under Jubal Early made a surprise pre-dawn flank attack on the Union line, and they also attacked some exposed Union positions. This attack caused most of the Union Army here to retreat in panic. Meanwhile, General Sheridan had just returned from a meeting in Washington DC and was asleep. When he was informed of the attack, he mounted his horse and personally rallied troops back to the front. He reorganized the defense until it was a solid line. The Confederates paused their attack to forage through captured supplies because they were starving. This gave Sheridan time to organize a counterattack (he was a very aggressive commander), and they drove the Confederates back past their starting point earlier in the morning–a decisive victory and all in less than 24 hours. After this battle, the Confederate Army was never able to stop Sheridan’s troops from cutting the supply lines of the main army in Virginia, and the Confederates basically ran out of food and ammunition, forcing them to give up 6 months later.

General Sheridan was a career military man who worked his way up from lieutenant to commander of the U.S. Army. He greatly impressed all his superior officers during a career that included subduing recalcitrant Indians, decisively defeating the Confederate Army in battle after battle, and administering the defeated rebels during reconstruction.

Map of the Shenandoah Valley campaign where the Union Army cut off supplies to the main Confederate Army in Virginia. Along with Sherman’s march through Georgia, this made the Confederacy surrender. They ran out of food and ammunition.

Sheridan personally rallied the troops and reorganized them, turning a stunning defeat into a decisive victory all in 1 day at the Battle of Cedar Creek.

Historians aren’t sure where Phil Sheridan was born. Phil Sheridan was officially born in Albany, New York during 1831, but some suspect he was born on a ship when his family immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland. His mother may have lied, so she could claim he was an American from birth. He was part of a large Irish family that eventually settled in Somerset, Ohio where he clerked in a dry goods store as a teenager. This gave him the experience to be a good supply officer in the army. Sheridan was able to attain an appointment to West Point. He finished near the bottom of his class and was suspended for a year because he started a fight with an older classmate during a marching drill. He was lucky he was not expelled. Sheridan was short, standing just 5’5″, and had a pugnacious personality. The army assigned Sheridan to small western forts, first at Fort Duncan in Texas and later to Fort Reading in California until 1861 where he served as a supply officer. He gained experience solving disputes between Indian agents and Indians who were often cheated. There were some violent incidents.

The onset of the Civil War was a great development for career army officers stuck in stagnant assignments. He impressed his superior officers with his efficient audit of the Missouri quartermaster corps where the army had been defrauded by some corrupt officers. He was promoted to chief quartermaster officer for the 15,000-man army in Missouri. He was known for successfully cracking down on corrupt army officers profiting from the war. These were all non-combat positions, but he was finally promoted to Colonel and put in charge of the 2nd regiment of Michigan cavalry. He soon proved to be as good a combat officer as he was a supply officer. He led men in the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky and the Battle of Stones River. The first was a stalemate; the second was a resounding victory. His regiment’s performance in the latter battle was considered outstanding. Sheridan’s forces were under General Rosecrans when the Union Army outmaneuvered the Confederates through Tennessee and into north Georgia. His regiment took part in the Battle of Chickamauga–a defeat and uncharacteristically a less than stellar performance from his troops. He did manage to rally his troops and organize a successful rear-guard defense and retreat. Sheridan’s role in the Union victory at the Battle of Missionary Ridge during November of 1864 got him promoted to cavalry general of all the Union’s cavalry in Virginia. The Battle of Missionary Ridge was the Union’s army’s successful defense of Chattanooga when they were nearly surrounded and cut off from supplies.

Sheridan’s cavalry burned through the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, destroying farms, slaughtering livestock, wrecking railroad lines, and starving Confederates. Along with Sherman’s March through Georgia, this did more to shortening the war than anything else. They cut the Confederacy off from their main bread baskets. Sheridan’s cavalry was there at the end, ready to give the Confederate army a decisive final blow when they surrendered. He was disappointed that he didn’t get 1 more chance to beat them severely.

After the war General Sheridan was put in charge of a military district that included Louisiana and Texas. Union troops occupied the defeated rebellious states and had to protect freed slaves and enforce free elections. Sheridan did not like Texans and southerners, and he hated ex-Confederates. (He would have been infuriated that some modern military bases are named after mediocre traitorous Confederate Generals.) Sheridan oversaw the integration of street cars in New Orleans (southern whites didn’t think black people should ride in the same cars as them), and he quelled some of the political violence. He didn’t get along with southerners and during 1868 was put in charge of the U.S. Army in the west, then in the process of forcing Indians onto reservations.

Sherman’s successful war against the Indians mirrors the strategy he used to defeat the Confederacy. It was a ruthless campaign to cut off Indians from their supplies. Innocent people on both sides were killed. Indians massacred white settlers, and the army retaliated and often killed women and children when they raided Indian camps. The army attacked Indian camps in a war of attrition that just wore the Indians down until they gave up and agreed to go live on reservations. The U.S. Army didn’t win every battle. Most notably they lost at the Battle of Little Big Horn when Custer divided his forces and attacked a force of Indians that outnumbered his. But the relentless campaigns eventually did make the Indians quit.

Sheridan became commander of the whole U.S. Army after William Sherman retired. Sheridan didn’t get married until he was 44 in 1875. He did have an Indian lover who lived with him at Fort Reading before the Civil War when he was stationed in California. She came to see him many years later when he was in Washington DC before she agreed to marry a French trapper. Apparently, Sheridan was her first choice. It’s just conjecture on my part, but he probably didn’t want to marry her because a mixed-race marriage would have hurt his military career ambitions. Instead, he married Irene Rucker who was 23 years younger than him. They had 4 children. Despite having a small frame, Sheridan grew fat during middle age. He was always a hearty eater and drinker, and he developed heart problems. He suffered a series of heart attacks and died in 1888 at the age of 57.

Reference:

Morris, Roy

Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan

Random House 1992

I chose to watch a new movie on HBO a few weeks ago on a Saturday Night. A great movie, Patton, was on at the same time on the Fox Movie Channel, but I’d already seen it countless times. I watched the new movie (I can’t even remember the name of it) for about 40 minutes but could not get interested in it, so I turned the television to Patton and was immediately fascinated. I should have decided to watch it all along and was reminded how great a movie it is. Great movies are still being made today, but on an annual basis there are fewer being made than there were before the pandemic. Big budget superhero and kid’s movies dominate movie studio releases, and adults desiring good movies made with mature themes are hard pressed to find movies worth their time.

Patton was produced by the 20th Century Fox movie studio and released during 1970. It starred George C. Scott in 1 of his greatest performances, and Karl Malden who became more famous as the star of the mid-1970’s crime drama television series Streets of San Francisco. George C. Scott’s performance was so influential that when most people think of the real-life General Patton, they think of the gravelly voiced character played by the actor. The real-life Patton had a high squeaky voice (the civil war general, Stonewall Jackson had a high squeaky voice as well).

The movie begins with a profane fire and brimstone speech given by the General. The action starts with a depiction of the American army’s defeat in their first battle with the Germans at Kasserine Pass located in North Africa. Patton is brought in to turn things around, and he does in the next battle–an American victory at El Guettar. The rest of the movie follows the famous events of Patton’s career during World War II, including his race with the British General Bernard Montgomery’s army around Sicily, his slapping of a shell-shocked soldier (an incident that almost got him canned), the 3rd army’s rapid advance across France, and the amazing pivot by the 3rd army that helped flatten the bulge of the Battle of the Bulge.

The movie, Patton, was written by Frances Ford Coppola and Ed North. The screenplay was based on Ladislas Farago’s biography of Patton and Omar Bradley’s memoirs. Karl Malden played General Omar Bradley, a much less flamboyant underrated General. It was filmed at 71 locations, mostly in Spain. Hollywood wanted to make a movie about Patton since 1946, but his family resisted until 1959. Nevertheless, they didn’t start filming the movie until 1967. Patton was nominated for 10 academy awards and won for best picture, best director (Frank Schaffner), best actor, best film editing, best art direction, and best musical score by the prolific Jerry Goldsmith. The movie was produced by Frank McCarthy and was also a box office success. I can play the sound effects and melody for the catchy “Patton’s Theme” on my glockenspiel.

“Patton’s Theme” and scenes from the movie.

The Paramount movie studio released The Godfather during 1972. The American Film Institute ranks it the 2nd greatest movie ever made behind Citizen Kane, while Rotten Tomatoes and IMBD rank it number 1. (In my opinion Citizen Kane is so bad and incoherent it is unwatchable and I don’t recommend wasting your time with it.) The movie is based on the Mario Puzo best-selling novel of the same name, and it was filmed in New York City and Sicily. The movie was produced by Al Ruddy and directed by Frances Ford Coppola. The Italian-American Civil Rights League censored the movie (the words mafia and Cosa nostra were never used) because it depicted Italians as gangsters. Ironically, the founder and leader of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, Joseph Columbo, was a well known mafioso, but he eventually approved the film, so it could be made in New York City.

The movie has an outstanding cast including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duval, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Talia Shire, Sterling Haden, and Abe Vigoda. The plot follows the story of the Corleone crime family. The patriarch of the family, portrayed by Marlon Brando, is the leader of a mafia gang. A conflict arises when he refuses to financially back another mafia family’s effort to profit from the heroin trade. They try assassinating him, thinking his eldest son, played by James Caan, might be forced to be more receptive. The youngest son, Michael, played by Al Pacino, gets dragged into the family trade from necessity and protects his wounded father in the hospital. Michael was a World War II hero and college graduate, and his father had high hopes that he would stay out of the family business. Instead, he revenges the assassination attempt and after his older brother is whacked takes over as the leader of the family. He is totally ruthless, crushing politicians who stand in his way, taking over the casino business, and wiping out the power base of the other families.

The Godfather soundtrack is excellent. I can play the main theme and the love theme on my glockenspiel.

Famous scene from the movie. Don Corleone was the Godfather to a famous singer (loosely based on Frank Sinatra). The singer wanted to play a part in a movie, but the movie producer refused because the singer stole his girlfriend. The Corleone’s asked him nicely to give the singer the part, and they offered him their services to suppress the actor’s union, but he still refused. So, the movie producer woke up 1 morning with his favorite racehorse’s head in bed with him. He’d invested a lot of money in that horse. They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

The Godfather broke all previous box office records and was nominated for 11 academy awards, winning best picture, best actor, and best adapted screenplay. The soundtrack is excellent, and I recently learned how to play the main theme and the love theme on my glockenspiel. The musical score was written by Nina Rota and Carmen Coppola.

Some critics think The Godfather II was even better. The sequel features Robert DeNiro as a young Don Corleone in flashbacks that alternate with Michael Corleone advancing his family’s interests in the present. Critics admire its deep thematic storytelling. The Godfather III is a really bad movie, not worth watching.

The Congaree National Park, located near Columbia, South Carolina, is the largest remaining bottomland forest in Southeastern North America and has the largest trees east of the Mississippi. It’s mostly a swamp and hosts an abundance of aquatic species of wildlife. I follow Friends of the Congaree on my Facebook page, and recently they posted photos of a fish survey they took. They put the fish in aquariums on display. They found over 6 species.

Location of Congaree National Park.

This tank held freshwater shrimp, warmouth sunfish, dollar sunfish, pirate perch, piedmont darter, and mosquitofish. I once caught a freshwater shrimp with a net when I was trying to capture crayfish.

Bluegill, striped sunfish, madtom, and crayfish. The aquarium pictured above this holds a spotted sunfish.

The pirate perch (Aphredodurus sayanus) prefers still, clear, warm water. They get their name because they will eat all the smaller fish in a tank. In the wild they mostly eat insect larva, glass shrimp, worms, and smaller fish. This species has an unusual anatomical feature–its anus is next to its throat. They like to hide from predators under riverbanks formed by tree roots. They grow up to 5.5 inches long.

The warmouth (Lepomis gulasus) is a species of sunfish in the Centrarchidae family. They are a popular game fish that grows between 6-15 inches long. They are good for pan-frying and taste better than largemouth bass. They eat insects, crayfish, and minnows. Every spring they make nests in gravel, and the males defend the nests from cannibalistic females. They can hybridize with green sunfish, bluegills, black crappies, and even largemouth bass.

The dollar sunfish (l. marginatus) is a small species of sunfish that grows to just 4-5 inches long. They feed upon detritus, algae, and insects. Like other species of sunfish, the males defend the nests.

Madtoms (Nocturus sp.) are small catfish that grow to 3-5 inches long. There are 29 species. They have venomous spines. Their diet includes crayfish and fish.

Mosquito fish (Gambusia sp.) are small fish growing to about 2 inches long. They are a beneficial species because they eat mosquito larva, and they’ve been introduced into many areas outside of their natural range in order to control mosquito populations. There are over 40 species.

The redfin pickerel (Esox americanus) is a predatory ambush species that prefers clear shallow water. It’s an active predator that hides in the weeds and rapidly bursts from cover to catch other fish. They grow to between 7-15 inches long.

Redfin pickerel.

Another redfin pickerel. The red fins are more pronounced on some individuals than others.

The fish survey in the Congaree National Park also collected bluegills, spotted sunfish, piedmont darters, and golden shiners. The latter species is not native to the park but was introduced by fishermen as bait.

I was quite surprised when I learned there are no known cases of man-eating hammerhead sharks. Facebook algorithms inundate my feed with numerous nature-oriented posts, and when I came across this fact, I couldn’t believe it. I consulted Google AI, and the results confirmed this fact. Hammerhead sharks have been responsible for 18 unprovoked attacks against humans but no confirmed fatalities. Great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarron), the largest hammerhead species, reach lengths of 20 feet and feed upon bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) –a species that is a confirmed man-eater. Great hammerheads are a dangerous species but ordinarily do not attack people.

There are 9-11 species of hammerhead sharks. Taxonomists don’t agree on the number.

Great hammerheads are a dangerous species but don’t ordinarily attack people. I don’t respect the intelligence of anyone who would attempt this stupid stunt.

Scalloped hammerheads don’t grow as large as great hammerheads.

Google AI’s list of shark attacks vastly undercounts the incidents, according to other sources I found on the web. Google AI admits it may be in error sometimes.

There are 9-11 species of hammerhead sharks–the uncertain number indicates a dispute among taxonomists. Genetic evidence suggests hammerheads diverged from other sharks about 20 million years ago, but some believe they may have begun diverging as early as the Eocene over 33 million years ago. Hammerhead shark teeth, dating to the Pleistocene, are commonly found.

The odd shape of the hammerhead is known as cephalofoil, and it serves several useful functions. It gives the sharks 360-degree vision, especially helpful when hunting prey. The hammerhead gives the sharks better electro sensory perception–another advantage–and they actually use their heads to pin prey to the ocean floor. This is useful when they prey upon stingrays, a species that normally hides in the sand on the ocean bottom.

While researching information for this blog, I found a wide discrepancy between Google AI and other sources on the total number of shark attack incidents and deaths. I counted the total number of fatal shark attacks on Google AI, and it was 124 since 1580. Wikipedia reports 459 fatalities just between 1958-2016. Wikipedia is likely more accurate in this case. There’s something wrong with Google AI’s information retrieval. Both use the International Shark Attack Files. Curiously, when I asked the question a slightly different way, Google AI mentions several of the more famous shark attack incidents in history, including the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945 when 859 sailors were eaten by sharks (more than the total in history from a previous search result). These numbers don’t include many 3rd world countries where some fatalities may go unreported.

3 species of sharks are responsible for most shark attack fatalities. Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) prey upon marine mammals and occasionally mistake humans for their normal prey. Bull sharks can survive in fresh water and often swim far up rivers. Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) are another confirmed man eater, perhaps because they will scavenge just about anything. Oceanic white tips (Carcharhinus longimamus) may be responsible for more fatalities than are known because they attack shipwreck and plane crash survivors who are never found. Bronze whaler sharks (C. brachyurus), so named because they used to congregate around whales killed by whalers, have been known to attack and kill men as well.

The corruption of the Trump Administration is sickening. Trump has used the office of the Presidency to enrich his family by as much as $10 billion dollars, just since he won re-election less than 2 years ago. As soon as he won the election, he founded a cryptocurrency business to profit from his victory. Trump has clearly violated the emoluments clause of the constitution, but the Founding Fathers gave us no mechanism to enforce the clause. The corruption of the Trump Administration negatively impacts the environment directly. One example was on display last week. A committee of unethical jerks, known as the God Squad, overruled Congress and decided oil and gas companies can be exempt from Endangered Species Act regulations because it was a matter of national security. It’s simply an excuse to increase the profits of oil and gas companies who now won’t have to spend money complying with environmental regulations. The oil companies weren’t even asking for this reprieve. The ruling has absolutely nothing to do with national security. The U.S. produces plenty of oil and gas, and there is no shortage of these products that endanger national security. The committee made up a ridiculous excuse, and they can’t even explain how national security was threatened.

The God Squad consists of Pete Hegseth (a rapist and acting Secretary of Defense), Dan Driscoll (Secretary of the Army), Brooke Rollins (Secretary of Agriculture), Doug Burgum (Secretary of the Interior), Lee Zeldin (Director of the Environmental Protection Agency), Pierre Yared (head of the Council of Economic Advisors), and Neil Jacobs (Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Lee Zeldin has taken $269,000 in bribes from oil and gas companies. Doug Burgum has taken $312,000 in bribes from oil and gas companies. Brooke Rollins is a professional lobbyist. Pierre Yared has no experience with environmental issues. Hegseth is a former talking shithead for Fox News. Neil Jacobs is a total Trump ass-kisser. He was the official responsible for “Sharpiegate”–the scandal that occurred when Trump insisted Hurricane Dorian was going to hit Alabama and drew a Sharpie arrow on a map. There was no meteorological data that supported Trump’s false claim, but everyone knows Trump is never supposed to be wrong. So, Jacobs released a memo supporting the errant claim. The agency reprimanded him, but Trump promoted him to Director when he won a 2nd term.

This decision likely means the extinction of Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei). Little is known about this species of whale. It wasn’t named as a distinct species until 2019 when a dead specimen washed up in the Everglades National Park and could be described in the scientific literature, though scientists who published a genetic study recognized it was a distinct species in 2014. It’s also known as the Gulf of Mexico whale where it lives year-round. Scientists don’t even know what it eats, but they suspect it feeds upon deep sea fish, such as lantern fish and hatchet fish. There are only 51 known individuals left, and its population has declined because of oil rig activity, not whaling. The population declined by 22% following the Deep Water Horizon oil spill of 2010. The exemption to regulations means oil companies will be allowed to dump as much trash as they want into the ocean. I can’t understand how not dumping trash in the ocean endangers national security. It’s an absurd stretch. Even more hazardous to whales is that the noise from oil rig activities will no longer be regulated. Whales depend upon echolocation for survival. Seismic air surveys can produce over 235 decibels 24 hours a day for months. Drilling operations and construction of new rigs are very noisy as well. The exemption threatens sperm whales, sea turtles, and manatees too. The ruling will be challenged in court. It is dictatorial and ignores constitutional checks and balances.

The “God Squad’s decision likely means the extinction of Rice’s whale and will kill endangered sea turtles, manatees, and sperm whales.

The Interior Secretary is a crooked scumbag.

The Defense Secretary is an incompetent right-wing idiot who Trump picked because he is impressed with Fox News talking shitheads.

I despise Pete Hegseth. He’s a former Fox News talking shithead. He wrongly blames DEI programs for reducing military preparedness, despite a total lack of evidence to support this belief. I don’t know how DEI became such a dirty word. It just means equal opportunity and none of the shitheads against it can explain their opposition to equal opportunity without exposing their racism, sexism, and homophobia. He’s overseen the restoration of Confederate traitor’s names to our military bases–an embarrassing step backwards. He’s communicated top secret information over unsecured lines–an act that would put the average government worker in jail. Changing the name of the Defense Department to the War Department is silly and pointlessly provocative. Contrary to popular opinion, I support the war against Iran, but Trump did it on a whim without strategic planning. Hegseth has no understanding of strategy either. Trump’s entire cabinet consists of greedy, heartless bastards.

Reference:

Eisner, C.

“U.S. Exempts Oil Industry from Protecting Gulf Animals for National Security”

NPR March 31, 2026

U.S. exempts oil industry from protecting Gulf animals, for ‘national security’ : NPR

I always had a vague notion that life as a slave on a southern plantation before emancipation was miserable, but after reading a day-to-day account written by a literate British actress who married a slave-owner, I learned it was much worse than I even imagined. Fanny Kemble was the most famous actress in England during the early 19th century. Her father, also an actor, owned a theater that was struggling financially, so he decided to take his theater to the U.S. where his troupe toured the big cities on the eastern seaboard. Fanny met Pierce Butler in 1834 when she was 25, and he used his southern charm to persuade her to marry him. She gave up her successful acting career to be his wife. She was strongly opposed to slavery, but he conned her into believing his 700 slaves were well-treated and happy to be in bondage on his plantation. Butler lived in Philadelphia off the profits of his plantation, a business managed by Roswell King Sr. and his son Roswell King Jr. (The father founded the town of Roswell, Georgia, now a suburb of Atlanta.) The King family were exceptionally cruel overseers. The Kings managed the plantation for 37 years and the Butler Family hardly ever visited it. Rice was the primary crop, but cotton and sometimes sugar cane were also grown. Roswell King Jr. resigned his position during 1839, and Butler took his family to the plantation during January of that year in order to find a replacement manager. Fanny was horrified to discover how badly slaves were treated.

Location of Butler Island. It’s adjacent to the Altamaha River and close to the ocean.

Fanny Kemble was the most famous actress in England and America during the early 1830s. She was staunchly against slavery but fell in love with a slave-owner and married him. She wrote a day-to-day account of her 4 months stay at the plantation in 1839 in the form of letters to a Pennsylvania school teacher. She was horrified.

During some seasons slaves were forced to work from dawn to dusk. The overseer delegated authority to other slaves who were known as slavedrivers. To force the other slaves to keep working, the slavedrivers used whips. (Slavedrivers remind me of Kapos–the Jewish policemen in concentration camps during the Holocaust who helped the Germans enforce their rules.) Slavedrivers were allowed to give up to 15 lashes with the whip. If they thought the recalcitrant slave needed more lashes, they had to seek out the overseer who could give slaves as many lashes as he thought necessary.

Large slave families lived in 1 room huts with doors and windows always open. There was not enough room in these hovels for the whole family to lie down at the same time. They had leaky roofs and dirt floors and poultry roamed in and out due to the open doors and windows. The houses were filthy and full of chicken and duck shit. There was an infirmary for sick slaves, but it was in the same condition as their huts, and sick people had to lie on dirt floors because there were no mattresses let alone beds. Even the house slaves had to live in these huts because they were forbidden to stay overnight in the master’s house.

Slaves were given 1 set of clothes per year. They rarely could wash their clothes because they had nothing to wear when they were washing their only set of clothes. The clothes turned to rags that barely covered their bodies after working the fields all day every day. Slaves were allowed to make money by gathering and selling Spanish moss (used to stuff mattresses) and by selling poultry eggs, but the merchants often cheated them and sold cheap material, so that when they tried to make their own clothes, the material would tear into useless rags.

The slaves’ bodies were filthy and extremely smelly. After working 12 hour days, they didn’t have the energy to make a bath, a much more laborious luxury than it is today. Back then, it was necessary to draw buckets of water and make a big fire to heat the tub, and there was no privacy. The slaves were often covered in dirt, and this contributed to a high child mortality rate. When a child suffered a simple scratch, they often would contract tetanus, also known as lockjaw, and die. Leprosy was rampant and many slaves were walking around with missing ears, nose, and fingers.

Leprosy and tetanus were common on Butler Island Plantation because of the filthy conditions slaves were forced to exist in.

Overseers used black slave drivers to whip recalcitrant slaves. Women were whipped if they refused the sexual advances of the overseers. They were kept pregnant and constantly abused. It was a hellish existence.

After childbirth, women were excused from field work for just 3 weeks. Small children were relied upon to watch the babies and carry them to the mothers working in the fields when they needed to be nursed. This contributed to many health problems for the women who were not yet recovered from difficult childbirths. Childbirth was dangerous enough during the early 19th century. Many slave women had 10-16 children but often well over half or in some cases all of them had died.

There was no consensual interracial sex on Butler Island. Roswell King (both Jr. and Sr.) and his wife were psychopathic monsters. Ironically, Butler’s family and the owners of the surrounding plantations thought highly of the King family because they were able to keep Butler’s plantation profitable, but they must have been aware of how cruelly the slaves were treated. The planters used racist rationalizations to justify King’s actions. Planters disbelieved slaves complaining of cruelty because they believed slaves were habitual liars. Then slaves were whipped for complaining. Fanny noticed there were many mulattos on the plantation who resembled Roswell King Jr. and Sr., and she learned they were indeed the result of forced sex. Slaves who refused the King’s sexual advances were tied to trees and whipped. Worse yet, Roswell made 3 slaves pregnant within a short time span, and when his wife found out about it, she flew into a jealous rage and had all 3 pregnant slaves whipped, then sent to a remote part of the plantation, known as 5 Pounds, where they were raped again by the black slave driver. Roswell King took any slave he wanted, including married slaves, whose emasculated and degraded husbands could do nothing to stop him without risking a severe flogging and death. King did have some kind of relationship with 1 of his mulatto sons. This man expressed anger when he wasn’t allowed to keep a gun as a memento after his father resigned his position and left the plantation, but Butler did not want any of his slaves to have any kind of firearm for any reason. Fanny amazed the male slaves when she went on boat rides with them unescorted by any white man. Most of the plantation owner’s wives were afraid of the male slaves and stayed hidden indoors all day. Unlike Fanny, they did not venture outside for walks, horseback riding, or boat rides; and they thought Fanny was strange for exercising every day.

Slaves were fed twice a day–at noon and at dusk. They were given rice or grits. Children and handicapped slaves guarded the corn fields all day and night to prevent birds and other creatures from eating their most important food source. John Couper, the neighboring planter, grew peaches and turnips, so his slaves could have fresh fruits and vegetables. (He also successfully grew a fruiting date palm–an interesting novelty for the region.) He suggested growing peaches and turnips to Roswell King who rejected the idea–more evidence that he didn’t care at all about the health of the slaves. Good quality seafood abounded, but slaves were often too exhausted to fish. They did gather oysters and left piles of shells in the middle of plantation roads. Fanny praised the quality of local fish including mullet, shad, and the “Altamaha perch” (I’m not sure which species this refers to); but she was afraid to eat catfish. She often went fishing with a slave child, and he told her it wasn’t fit for white people and took them home for himself. On 1 occasion a neighbor gave Fanny a huge drum fish, and she was disgusted when the cook took the entrails home to feed to his family. Another time, the cook stole a ham and was whipped and demoted to field hand. She had a hard time getting another cook to butcher a sheep the way she wanted. Apparently, the sheep on the island grazed on salt marsh grasses, and it gave the mutton an excellent flavor. Slave children often begged for meat.

Fanny was able to prevent a family break-up. Pierce Butler wanted to reward King for his long-time service by giving him a male slave as part of his severance package. Unfortunately, he was married to a pretty mulatto slave with small children. Fanny objected and convinced Pierce, much to his annoyance, to stop the forced separation. I suspect Pierce wanted the slave woman as a secret side outlet for himself. Slaves often expressed their fear they would be sold off and separated if the plantation was sold.

While reading this narrative, I was most surprised at how ingratiating the slaves were to their owners. They were never sullen and expressed “unbreakable good humor.” They were so brainwashed by the system, they believed the white supremacists were right, and they were inferior. It was the explanation for why the white people were masters, and they were the slaves. It’s difficult for me to conceive of this mentality. The slaves had a big celebration when the Butler family arrived on their plantation, and the slave women, especially, always praised their masters, like they were the greatest people on earth. Even after long days of labor, they would come to the house to say hi and beg for small items, such as sugar or flannel. To me, it seems as if they worshipped their owners. This seems so strange to me, so Stockholm Syndrome-like. Most people, unaccustomed to be slaves would have been driven to violent rebellion, yet 1 small white family was able to control 700 black slaves.

Fanny noted the nature of Butler Island. She loved the Carolina jessamine and other flowers, and she enjoyed the birds. She described a bird that may have been a colorful painted bunting, a species not yet rare. She was impressed with some live oaks but not other individual trees, but she thought the pine savannahs and salt marshes were dreary. The snakes terrified her. Rattlesnakes and water moccasins abounded on the plantation, and she saw large black racers. She did think a green snake was pretty. Sand flies made some of her outings unbearable.

The Butler family left their island in April after a 4 month stay, and they went back to Philadelphia. The new overseer left after 1 year, and Butler rehired Roswell King Jr. who managed the plantation until it went bankrupt in 1859. Pierce Butler lost just about everything, and to pay off his creditors, he sold hundreds of his slaves, breaking up many families. Fanny and Pierce were divorced during 1849. They had 2 daughters. One was pro-slavery, like her father, and the other was against slavery, like her mother. The friction between Fanny’s and Pierce’s beliefs led to their divorce. He divorced her, but she tried to keep her marriage together and delayed publishing her journal for this reason. Her journal was not published until 1863.

Reference:

Kemble, Frances

Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839

The University of Georgia Press 1961

I’m sorry to give this opinion, but I believe the right whale (Eubalanea glacialis) will become extinct within the next 100 years. The right whale is so named, because it was the most valuable whale to kill when whaling was an important industry, and therefore it was the right one to hunt for whalers. People used to use whale oil to light their homes. There are only ~380 of these long-lived but slow reproducing species left, and an average of 2.4 are known to be killed by collisions with ships every year. The number killed but not reported may be 3X that. The numbers don’t add up, and I don’t see how this species will ever recover. They wouldn’t be the first species of whale to be wiped out by man. Although gray whales still occur in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic population was extirpated centuries ago, and a new study determined when this happened.

Right whales were the right whales to kill because they provided the most oil to light people’s homes, until Edison improved the electric light bulb.

Areas where specimens of gray whale bones were found that were used in the below referenced study.

Strange as it may seem, huge gray whales subsist on tiny invertebrates like these that they suck and strain out of muddy ocean bottoms.

Gray whales were extirpated from the Atlantic Ocean between 1150 AD-1350 AD, but some stragglers have crossed the north polar ice cap from the Pacific Ocean, since the ice cap has been melting more and more. They haven’t re-established a breeding population yet.

Up close view of a gray whale.

Scientists radiocarbon-dated 84 specimens of gray whales from different sites including those from Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, England, and Morocco. Some specimens could be identified based on the identification of the bones, but fragments of bones had to be identified using chemical methods. Some specimens were from archaeological sites while others were from paleontological sites. Overall, they looked at 190 specimens from the European side of the Atlantic and 18 from the American side. The extirpation of the gray whale from both sides of the Atlantic is evidence Europeans were fishing off the North American coast almost 1000 years ago. The scientists who published this study concluded gray whales were extirpated by medieval whalers between 1150 AD-1350 AD. There are historical records of gray whale sightings as late as the 1700’s in the northwestern North Atlantic, but this was likely a remnant population that died out.

Gray whales are a migratory species that breed in warm ocean waters and migrate to colder waters to give birth to their calves. They migrate along shallow coastal routes, and medieval whalers likely ambushed these migrations. This is how I believe Paleoindians wiped out several megafauna species during the end of the Pleistocene. They ambushed and eliminated whole migrating herds.

Gray whales feed by sucking in mud from the ocean bottom. They expel the mud through baleen, a mesh-like structure made from keratin–the same material that makes up hair and fingernails. The baleen helps retain the small invertebrates that sustain the huge whales. Their extirpation altered habitats because they were no longer disturbing the ocean floor. These disturbances probably benefited some species but were detrimental to others.

Gray whales may return to the Atlantic Ocean. The north polar ice cap is melting, and some stragglers from the Pacific Ocean have been able to cross the open water to the Atlantic. Whether a permanent breeding population gets re-established remains to be seen.

Reference:

Van de, Kurk, Y.; F. Sikstrom, A. Kreutz, H. Bakke

“Dating the First Historic Extirpation of a Whale Species: The Demise of the Gray Whale (Eschichtius robustus) in the Eastern North Atlantic”

Quaternary Science Review December 2025

Dating the first historic extirpation of a whale species: The demise of the grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in the eastern North Atlantic | Request PDF

There are 8 species of small tropical deer that inhabit Central and South America. Although they are all referred to as brocket deer, some species are not closely related to each other and actually belong to different genera. The list of brocket deer species includes the red brocket deer (Mazama americana), the Merida brocket deer (M. merida), the pygmy brocket deer (M. nana), the little red brocket deer (M. rufina), the Mexican red brocket deer (M. temama), the brown or gray brocket deer (Subulo gouzoubera), the Yucatan brocket deer (Odocoielus pandera), and the Amazon brocket deer (Passalites nemorivagus). Some species are endemic to just 1 small region. The Meridan brocket deer lives in 1 small region of the Venezuelan Mountains. The Mexican and Yucatan brocket deer have limited ranges in Mexico. However, the red brocket deer is widespread.

The red brocket deer probably is good tasting venison because they primarily eat fruit.

The red brocket is a widespread species. Other species of brocket deer have much more limited ranges.

The Yucatan brocket deer is related to North American white-tailed deer. Unlike red brocket deer, their diet consists almost entirely of leaves.

A recent study of tooth wear from 357 specimens of all 8 species found dietary differences among them. The red brocket deer primarily eats fruit, though if there isn’t any available, they will eat fungi, leaves, and shoots. They can co-exist with another fruit-eating species, the gray brocket deer, because these 2 species have different ecological niches. Gray brocket deer prefer dry open forests, while red brocket deer prefer dense moist tropical forests. These species of deer don’t spread the seeds in their dung–the seeds get digested. The Mexican brocket deer is a mixed feeder. The Yucatan and Merida brocket deer almost exclusively eat leaves.

The summer coats of North American white-tailed deer have a reddish color, much like these species of tropical deer. I think the summer coats are much more attractive than their dull winter coats.

Reference:

Martinez-Polonco, M.

“Dietary Ecology of Neotropical Brocket Deer: Evidence from Mesowear and Microwear Analysis”

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology March 2026

Dietary ecology of neotropical brocket deer: Evidence from mesowear and microwear analyses | Request PDF

Boobs are more popular than paleoecology. I’ve written nearly 1000 blog articles about science with an emphasis on paleoecology, but almost every day, the most viewed article on my site is entitled “Breasts were Invisible in Hollywood Movies until the 1940’s.” I think it’s my most viewed article of all time, and I wrote it just 4 years ago. (My blog is 16 years old.) It’s a stupid fluff piece. I’ve written many articles about paleoecology that I think are more interesting, and I’ve also posted my memoirs and a biography about my father, but nobody looks at those blog entries. The public thinks boobs are more fascinating. If more people want me to write about swollen sweat glands modified to produce milk, I suppose I will.

My blog entry about tits has more views than any science-based article I’ve ever written.

I‘m too lazy to look it up, but I think >16,700 views are more views than any other article I’ve written for this blog.

I watched an old movie the other day starring Lana Turner and noticed the pointy shape of her bra underneath her shirt. When I was a child, this type of bra was common, and I wondered when they went out of style because I never see them anymore. Pointy-shaped bras, also known as cone-shaped or bullet bras, were in fashion from 1947-1970. They were introduced by the Perma-lift brand in 1941 and quickly became popular. They briefly came back into fashion in 1990 when Madonna started wearing them, and supposedly they returned in 2025, but I haven’t seen any women wearing them recently. Buxom women became popular during World War II, and famous movie stars wore layers of cone-shaped bras under form-fitting sweaters to give themselves a more buxom appearance. This was before surgical breast implants became more widespread. The skinny fashion model look came into fashion during the late 1960’s, reducing the popularity of cone-shaped bras, and they also fell out of favor with feminists who didn’t think women’s bodies should be objectified. Now, some women are wearing them again amid modern women’s desire to take control of their own eroticism.

Out of curiosity I wondered what the largest cone-shaped cup size was. No bra manufacturer that I could find makes a cone-shaped bra bigger than a J-cup. That will fit some really big boobs, but many modern exhibitionists who advertise on Twitter have natural breasts too large to fit into any cone-shaped bra available. Here are some examples with links to their twitter feeds. Busty Sarah Rae, my favorite, is an O-cup. ((5) Sarah Rae (@BustySarahRae) / X) Carmen Sandi, another astounding beauty, is an M-cup. ((5) Carmen Sandi (@thatgreengirl22) / X) Cleo K-cup has very beautiful breasts that won’t fit into any available cone-shaped bras. ((5) Cleo K cup | 50% off OF!! (@CleoMessy) / X) And Masked Juggs has watermelon-sized titties that could also not fit into this type of bra, unless manufactures start making bigger ones. ((5) maskedjuggs (@maskedjuggs) / X) Unlike old timey movie stars, they don’t need to enhance their breast size. I’ve always preferred voluptuous women, but in my old age I take the most comfort in looking at the biggest tits and ass that appear on my social media feeds.

I began wondering about pointy-shaped bras when I saw an old movie starring Lana Turner.

Mamie Van Buren pioneered wearing layers of cone-shaped bras under form-fitting sweaters to give herself a more buxom appearance.

Jayne Mansfield wore cone-shaped bras. Her breasts were very large by 1950s standards, but there are many modern exhibitionists who have even larger natural breasts than she had. I prefer natural breasts over surgically enhanced ones.

The modern bra was invented in 1913 by Mary Jacob. Before this, women had to wear uncomfortable corsets, first used during the 1500’s. Women living during the Middle Ages wore dresses with bags in them to hold their breasts. Ancient Greeks and Romans used breast bands to hold their boobies in place.

Reference:

Malach, H.

“A Complete History of the Cone Bra Trend”

W. Magazine April 25, 2025

A Complete History of the Cone Bra Trend, From Madonna to Marilyn Monroe