Reading the signs

In ancient Rome, augurs tried to read the future by looking at the entrails of sacrificial animals or the flights of birds. These days we tend to rely on things like polls, which is probably just as well. The results of the latest WV MetroNews poll are pretty interesting. Respondents were asked about their approval of President Trump, Governor Justice, Senator Capito and Senator Manchin.

In it, Trump's approval isn't as high as you might think it is (or as low as you might think it should be, depending on your viewpoint). It looks like Gov. Justice didn't do himself a whole lot of favors even among Republicans with his switch to that party during Trump's WV visit.

Senator Capito's approval rating is the lowest on record, which may or may not have something to do with fears related to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which, for all its flaws, has brought health coverage to around 225,000 West Virginians. At this moment, it looks like Senator Manchin is riding high, with more Republicans, Democrats and Independents holding favorable rather than unfavorable views. Of course, it's way too soon to tell how all this will play out in 2018 and beyond.

You can read more here.

Digression: when the ancient Greeks didn't like the results of auguries from entrails, they sometimes kept sacrificing animals until they got some guts that promised good news, which is kind of like commissioning more polls until you get one you like.

The Romans weren't much of a sea power at first. They would sometimes seek to read the future by seeing is the sacred chickens would eat before a fight. When the chickens wouldn't eat before the battle of Drepana with the Carthaginians, one commander got into trouble by throwing them into the sea and saying "Let's see if they'll drink." The Romans lost that one. Take home message: don't mess with chickens.

I'm not big on omens, but things would have to get pretty bad at the farm for chickens not to eat.

Words and birds

"Auspicious" is a great word that shows up now and then on solemn occasions, but the etymology is kind of interesting. It is related to the word auspice, Latin auspicium, meaning someone who looks at birds.

Lots of peoples historically and probably now as well look to signs from the flight of birds for omens. The Romans were particularly bonkers about it. We got the word auspicious from those times when the signs from the birds were favorable.

I kind of wish the Spousal Unit and I had an auspicium with us on a hike we took this weekend. It happened really fast--too fast to take a picture. We saw in broad daylight an owl fly by with a young rabbit in its claws.

It's still unclear how auspicious it was. We thought it was cool, but the rabbit probably had his own take on the situation.

DOS AND DON'TS. Here's economist Jared Bernstein on how to handle a fragile economic recovery.

SLAVERY IN THE MODERN WORLD is alive and well.

THE STATE OF THE OCEANS: not good.

WHY DIDN'T WE JUST KEEP HUNTING AND GATHERING? Archaeological evidence suggests that the rise of agriculture was a downer for those involved. After spending several hours pulling weeds this weekend, I can see why.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED