![]() Archives and past articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Welcome to "Grandma Rita's Place" a centrally located home in Cape Cod. Grandma Rita's offers Central A/C, 2.5 bathrooms, hardwood floors, 4 bedrooms, a porch for. Etymology and pluralisation. The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους or ὀκτά- a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō. Narwhal - Wikipedia. The narwhal, or narwhale (Monodon monoceros), is a medium- sized toothed whale that possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year- round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia. It is one of two living species of whale in the Monodontidaefamily, along with the beluga whale. The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helicaltusk, which is an elongated upper left canine. The narwhal was one of many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1. Like the beluga, narwhals are medium- sized whales. For both sexes, excluding the male's tusk, the total body size can range from 3. The average weight of an adult narwhal is 8. At around 1. 1 to 1. Narwhals do not have a dorsal fin, and their neck vertebrae are jointed like those of other mammals, not fused as in dolphins and most whales. Found primarily in Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic and Russian waters, the narwhal is a uniquely specialized Arctic predator. In winter, it feeds on benthic prey, mostly flatfish, under dense pack ice. During the summer, narwhals mostly eat Arctic cod and Greenland halibut, with other fish such as polar cod making up the remainder of their diet. Each year, they migrate from bays into the ocean as summer comes. In the winter, the male narwhals occasionally dive up to 1,5. Narwhals, like most toothed whales, communicate with "clicks", "whistles", and "knocks". Narwhals can live up to 5. They are often killed by suffocation when the sea ice freezes over. Another cause of fatality, specifically among young whales, is starvation. The current population of the narwhal is about 7. Near Threatened under the criterion of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Narwhals have been harvested for over a thousand years by Inuit people in northern Canada and Greenland for meat and ivory, and a regulated subsistence hunt continues. Taxonomy and etymology. Illustration of a narwhal and a beluga, its closest living relative. The narwhal was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae.[3] Its name is derived from the Old Norse word nár, meaning "corpse", in reference to the animal's greyish, mottled pigmentation, like that of a drowned sailor[4] and its summer- time habit of lying still at or near the surface of the sea (called "logging").[5] The scientific name, Monodon monoceros, is derived from the Greek: "one- tooth one- horn".[4]The narwhal is most closely related to the beluga whale. Together, these two species comprise the only extant members of the family Monodontidae, sometimes referred to as the "white whales". The Monodontidae are distinguished by medium size (at around 4 m (1. Although the narwhal and the beluga are classified as separate genera, with one species each, there is some evidence that they may, very rarely, interbreed. The complete skull of an anomalous whale was discovered in West Greenland circa 1. It was described by marine zoologists as unlike any known species, but with features midway between a narwhal and a beluga, consistent with the hypothesis that the anomalous whale was a narwhal- beluga hybrid.[7]The white whales, dolphins (Delphinidae) and porpoises (Phocoenidae) together comprise the superfamily Delphinoidea, which are of likely monophyletic origin. Genetic evidence suggests the porpoises are more closely related to the white whales, and that these two families constitute a separate clade which diverged from the rest of Delphinoidea within the past 1. Fossil evidence shows that ancient white whales lived in tropical waters. They may have migrated to Arctic and sub- Arctic waters in response to changes in the marine food chain during the Pliocene.[9]Description. Narwhals are medium- sized whales, and are around the same size as beluga whales. Total length in both sexes, excluding the tusk of the male, can range from 3. Males, at an average length of 4. Typical adult body weight ranges from 8. Male narwhals attain sexual maturity at 1. Females become sexually mature at a younger age, between 5 and 8 years old, when they are around 3. The pigmentation of narwhals is a mottled pattern, with blackish- brown markings over a white background. They are darkest when born and become whiter with age; white patches develop on the navel and genital slit at sexual maturity. Old males may be almost pure white.[4][1. Narwhals do not have a dorsal fin, possibly an evolutionary adaptation to swimming easily under ice. Their neck vertebrae are jointed, like those of land mammals, instead of being fused together as in most whales. Both these characteristics are shared by the beluga whale.[5] The tail flukes of female narwhals have front edges that are swept back, and those of males have front edges that are more concave and lack a sweep- back. This is thought to be an adaptation for reducing drag caused by the tusk.[1. Tusk. This narwhal skull has rare double tusks. Usually, the canine tooth only on the left side of the upper jaw becomes a tusk. Rarely, males develop two tusks. This specimen, however, was of a female (Zoologisches Museum, Hamburg; collected in 1. The most conspicuous characteristic of the male narwhal is a single long tusk, a canine tooth[1. A tusk grows throughout life, reaching a length of about 1. It is hollow and weighs around 1. About one in 5. 00 males has two tusks, occurring when the right canine also grows out through the lip. Only about 1. 5 percent of females grow a tusk[1. Collected in 1. 68. The tusk is an innervatedsensory organ with millions of nerve endings connecting seawater stimuli in the external ocean environment with the brain.[2. The rubbing of tusks together by male narwhals is thought to be a method of communicating information about characteristics of the water each has traveled through, rather than the previously assumed posturing display of aggressive “male- to- male rivalry“.[2. In August 2. 01. 6, drone videos of narwhals surface- feeding in Tremblay Sound, Nunavut showed that the tusk was used to tap and stun small Arctic cod, making them easier to catch for feeding.[2. Vestigial teeth. The tusks are surrounded posteriorly, ventrally, and laterally by several small vestigial teeth which vary in morphology and histology.[1. These teeth can sometimes be extruded from the bone, but mainly reside inside open tooth sockets in the narwhal’s snout alongside the tusks.[1. The varied morphology and anatomy of small teeth indicate a path of evolutionary obsolescence,[1. Distribution. The narwhal is found predominantly in the Atlantic and Russian areas of the Arctic Ocean. Individuals are commonly recorded in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago,[2. Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Baffin Bay; off the east coast of Greenland; and in a strip running east from the northern end of Greenland round to eastern Russia (1. East). Land in this strip includes Svalbard, Franz Joseph Land, and Severnaya Zemlya.[4] The northernmost sightings of narwhal have occurred north of Franz Joseph Land, at about 8. North latitude.[4] Most of the world's narwhals are concentrated in the fjords and inlets of Northern Canada and western Greenland. They are able to survive in depths of up to 1,5. Migration. Narwhals exhibit seasonal migrations, with a high fidelity of return to preferred, ice- free summering grounds, usually in shallow waters. In summer months, they move closer to coasts, usually in pods of 1. In the winter, they move to offshore, deeper waters under thick pack ice, surfacing in narrow fissures in the sea ice, or leads.[2. As spring comes, these leads open up into channels and the narwhals return to the coastal bays.[2. Narwhals from Canada and West Greenland winter regularly in the pack ice of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay along the continental slope with less than 5% open water and high densities of Greenland halibut.[2. Feeding in the winter accounts for a much larger portion of narwhal energy intake than in the summer.[2. Behaviour. Narwhals normally congregate in groups of about five to ten, and sometimes up to 2. Groups may be "nurseries" with only females and young, or can contain only post- dispersal juveniles or adult males ("bulls"), but mixed groups can occur at any time of year.[1. In the summer, several groups come together, forming larger aggregations which can contain from 5. At times, a bull narwhal may rub its tusk with another bull, a display known as "tusking"[2. Here's The Full 1. Page Anti- Diversity Screed Circulating Internally at Google [Updated]Update 8/5/1. ET: Google’s new Vice President of Diversity, Integrity & Governance Danielle Brown has issued her own memo to Google employees in response to the now- viral memo, “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” Brown’s statement, obtained by Motherboard, can be found in full at the end of this article. A software engineer’s 1. Google’s diversity initiatives is going viral inside the company, being shared on an internal meme network and Google+. The document’s existence was first reported by Motherboard, and Gizmodo has obtained it in full. In the memo, which is the personal opinion of a male Google employee and is titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” the author argues that women are underrepresented in tech not because they face bias and discrimination in the workplace, but because of inherent psychological differences between men and women. We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” he writes, going on to argue that Google’s educational programs for young women may be misguided. The post comes as Google battles a wage discrimination investigation by the US Department of Labor, which has found that Google routinely pays women less than men in comparable roles. Gizmodo has reached out to Google for comment on the memo and how the company is addressing employee concerns regarding its content. We will update this article if we hear back. The text of the post is reproduced in full below, with some minor formatting modifications. Two charts and several hyperlinks are also omitted. Reply to public response and misrepresentation. I value diversity and inclusion, am not denying that sexism exists, and don’t endorse using stereotypes. When addressing the gap in representation in the population, we need to look at population level differences in distributions. If we can’t have an honest discussion about this, then we can never truly solve the problem. Psychological safety is built on mutual respect and acceptance, but unfortunately our culture of shaming and misrepresentation is disrespectful and unaccepting of anyone outside its echo chamber. Despite what the public response seems to have been, I’ve gotten many personal messages from fellow Googlers expressing their gratitude for bringing up these very important issues which they agree with but would never have the courage to say or defend because of our shaming culture and the possibility of being fired. This needs to change. TL: DRGoogle’s political bias has equated the freedom from offense with psychological safety, but shaming into silence is the antithesis of psychological safety. This silencing has created an ideological echo chamber where some ideas are too sacred to be honestly discussed. The lack of discussion fosters the most extreme and authoritarian elements of this ideology. Extreme: all disparities in representation are due to oppression. Authoritarian: we should discriminate to correct for this oppression. Differences in distributions of traits between men and women may in part explain why we don’t have 5. Discrimination to reach equal representation is unfair, divisive, and bad for business. Background [1]People generally have good intentions, but we all have biases which are invisible to us. Thankfully, open and honest discussion with those who disagree can highlight our blind spots and help us grow, which is why I wrote this document.[2] Google has several biases and honest discussion about these biases is being silenced by the dominant ideology. What follows is by no means the complete story, but it’s a perspective that desperately needs to be told at Google. Google’s biases. At Google, we talk so much about unconscious bias as it applies to race and gender, but we rarely discuss our moral biases. Political orientation is actually a result of deep moral preferences and thus biases. Considering that the overwhelming majority of the social sciences, media, and Google lean left, we should critically examine these prejudices. Left Biases. Compassion for the weak. Disparities are due to injustices. Humans are inherently cooperative. Change is good (unstable) Open. Idealist. Right Biases. Respect for the strong/authority. Disparities are natural and just. Humans are inherently competitive. Change is dangerous (stable)Closed. Pragmatic. Neither side is 1. A company too far to the right may be slow to react, overly hierarchical, and untrusting of others. In contrast, a company too far to the left will constantly be changing (deprecating much loved services), over diversify its interests (ignoring or being ashamed of its core business), and overly trust its employees and competitors. Only facts and reason can shed light on these biases, but when it comes to diversity and inclusion, Google’s left bias has created a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence. This silence removes any checks against encroaching extremist and authoritarian policies. For the rest of this document, I’ll concentrate on the extreme stance that all differences in outcome are due to differential treatment and the authoritarian element that’s required to actually discriminate to create equal representation. Possible non- bias causes of the gender gap in tech [3]At Google, we’re regularly told that implicit (unconscious) and explicit biases are holding women back in tech and leadership. Of course, men and women experience bias, tech, and the workplace differently and we should be cognizant of this, but it’s far from the whole story. On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These differences aren’t just socially constructed because: They’re universal across human cultures. They often have clear biological causes and links to prenatal testosterone. Biological males that were castrated at birth and raised as females often still identify and act like males. The underlying traits are highly heritable. They’re exactly what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Note, I’m not saying that all men differ from women in the following ways or that these differences are “just.” I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership. Many of these differences are small and there’s significant overlap between men and women, so you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level distributions. Personality differences. Women, on average, have more: Openness directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas. Women generally also have a stronger interest in people rather than things, relative to men (also interpreted as empathizing vs. These two differences in part explain why women relatively prefer jobs in social or artistic areas. More men may like coding because it requires systemizing and even within SWEs, comparatively more women work on front end, which deals with both people and aesthetics. Extraversion expressed as gregariousness rather than assertiveness. Also, higher agreeableness. This leads to women generally having a harder time negotiating salary, asking for raises, speaking up, and leading. Note that these are just average differences and there’s overlap between men and women, but this is seen solely as a women’s issue. This leads to exclusory programs like Stretch and swaths of men without support. Neuroticism (higher anxiety, lower stress tolerance). This may contribute to the higher levels of anxiety women report on Googlegeist and to the lower number of women in high stress jobs. Note that contrary to what a social constructionist would argue, research suggests that “greater nation- level gender equality leads to psychological dissimilarity in men’s and women’s personality traits.” Because as “society becomes more prosperous and more egalitarian, innate dispositional differences between men and women have more space to develop and the gap that exists between men and women in their personality becomes wider.” We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism. Men’s higher drive for status. We always ask why we don’t see women in top leadership positions, but we never ask why we see so many men in these jobs. These positions often require long, stressful hours that may not be worth it if you want a balanced and fulfilling life.
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