Blogiversary!

Wow, it's been three years since I've been posting here at my little htmstead on the Intert00bz. I have to tell you, things have just been getting better and better as they have progressed. The biggest development in my year-o-blogging was being invited to contribute to the Award Winning Rumproast Blog. Being in such august company keeps a bastard on his toes. In a weird synchronicity, this development coincided with a promotion on the job.

Also, I finally hit the six digit mark this year, and I am grateful to my beloved fellow bloggers who have steered traffic my way. Thanks again, folks.

The blogroll still grows- my latest addition was "Just Allison's" Biodiversity Revolution blog. I needed someone from the Drouthy Antipodes on the blogroll, can't let the folks from the Not-so-Drouthy Antipodes have all the fun. Plus, I figured I'd like to have people who may have seen The Celibate Rifles play live back in the day, as well as people who may have seen The Clean.

It's been an interesting year personally and politically, so I haven't had to struggle for material. For me, the blogging experience is a weird mix of sudden inspiration and long-planned posts (such as the monthly Secret Science Club recaps). Most of the time, I don't know what I'm going to write about when I turn on the old laptop. Of course, I get a lot of inspiration from my blogging compatriots, you people truly are the best. Thanks for supporting me through yet another great year of blogging, folks... and lurkers, please don't be shy, I love comments. Even better, start blogging, there's always room on the blogroll!

Vin's Birthday

Today is my brother Vincenzo's birthday. Vincenzo vive in il Veneto, vicino di Verona. He's got a sweet situation- he lives in a house on the grounds of a farm. His landlord has adopted him and his family, and brings over fresh produce and eggs on a regular basis. Every Sunday, Vin, his wife, and their kids have dinner at the landlord's house. The kids get horse rides and generally live an idyllic life in one of the world's most charming countrysides. Not a bad gig, da vero?

Buon compleanno, fratellino!

Clueless Caucasian Curmudgeons Critique Cute Korean Cutup

Who better to weigh in on a genuine international pop phenomenon than an angry, stupid old white guy? I have to admit that my exposure to the song Gangnam Style was pretty late in the game, and completely due to a post by Interrobang. My knowledge of K-pop is slightly more substantial than bubbles but less substantial than rain. Of course, being ignorant about a particular subject may cause me to eschew criticism of said subject, but Bill O'Reilly has no such qualms about flaunting his dumbassitude. Yeah, Bill just had to weigh in on Gangnam Style and, in a masterstroke, brought on somebody even more ignorant than himself to contribute his two cents. Bill could have brought on a hip, young Korean-American to break down the cultural phenomenon, but he's not really trying to understand it... this is a classic example of fostering the ignorance and bigotry of his audience.

Bill's guest Dr Keith Ablow is even more clueless than he is. Let's unpack some of Ablow's idiocy regarding the song. Here's the "Heart of Dorkness", so to speak:


For Americans, at least, most of the lyrics of Gangnam Style can't be understood, since they are in Korean. Here's a sample: "Na je nun ta so ro un in gan jo gin yo ja . . . " Psy himself performs (like many entertainers) under a pseudonym. His real name is Park Jae-sang.


The great sin here is that Ablow states that the song can't be understood, yet he makes no attempt to understand the lyrics, even though he goes so far as to write some of them out. It's so much more comforting to foster the prejudicial view that the song is gibberish... would such bullshit fly if Ablow were discussing Nessun Dorma or In Fernem Land? If Ablow had decided to scratch below the surface and do his homework, he would have discovered that Gangnam Style is actually a slightly subversive satire of a stratified society. Here in the 'States, we need more such satire.

Of course, the popularity of Gangnam Style is international- any discussion of the song's impact has to take this into consideration. South Korea, with its population of just under fifty million has internet usage of 82.7%, making it the 17th "most wired" nation on Earth (the United States comes in 27th place with 78.3% connectivity). Trying to shoehorn the popularity of the song into an "Americacentric" model is plumb dumb.

As far as the popularity of the song outside of Korea, I imagine much of the popularity in Asia is due to the fact that fans are drawn to "PSY" because they can relate to him better than, say, to a Taylor Swift or a (shudder) Ted Nugent. Bill-O, of all people, should realize that people enjoy seeing folks who look sorta like them represented in the media.

Moving on to the Western World, there are approximately 1.7 million Korean-Americans in the U.S. Korean-Americans have long labored under the stereotype of being a model minority, composed of hard-working, wonky brainiacs. Gangnam Style, much like the "Howard and Kumar" movies, shatters this stereotype. Here we have a thirtysomething Korean guy who is a jokey, yet savvy, party animal- take your "model minority" perceptions and shove 'em. One of my favorite iterations of the song is this one, which perfectly encapsulates the "cool brainiacs" aesthetic.

Outside the Korean-American community, a lot of youth culture is otaku culture... there is a hearty embracing of Asian popular entertainment and the young consumers drive much of the popularity of web content. The incredible rise of Gangnam Style is incomprehensible to a square old fogey, much like the inexplicable resurgence of 80's pop tunes used to "count coup" on n00bz and the bizarre popularity of glorious Russian cheese among snarky youths. The very concept of "cool" in the 21st century involves syncretism, it's a blending of cultures low and high, east and west, meatspace and web- the cool people are African-Americans who are obsessed with kung-fu movies, Canadian muppets, and glorious mutants. Who would be more appealing in today's pop culture melting pot than a not-so-young Korean guy, surrounded by pretty young women, singing a piss-take of a song, rooted in an African-American musical style, with a brief, catchy English chorus and featuring a hilarious video?

Gangnam Style works on many levels- it's a satire, it's a physical comedy, it's an easily learned dance craze (like other inexplicable hits). Hell, even a clumsy galoot (don't look at me, I'm a dancing machine, most guys who like to fight are) can hit the floor when this tune plays. Expect to hear the song played at weddings for years to come (my prediction is that the "Hey, sexy ladies!" part will be played while the bridesmaids assemble, maybe when the garter is tossed).

Finally, Gangnam Style lends itself to the DIY/mash-up culture, and has spawned a plethora of videos, including some truly inspired ones. Gangnam Style, far from merely being the most popular Youtube video of all time, is actually a good microcosm of the Internet itself- it's a true melting pot of styles and themes from across the planet. It's no wonder that a couple of fuddy-duddies, addressing an audience of grumpy old fogies, can so spectacularly fail in their assessment of this cultural phenomenon.

UPDATE: Now, here's a real assessment of Gangnam Style by someone who knows what she's talking about.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Special thanks to zrm, who corrected my misspelling of "Gangnam". Thanks, old chum! mikey observes Bill-O's combination of racism and opportunism, which leads me to this observation... I think the main reason Bill's ass is chapped by the popularity of Gangnam Style is that it represents the primacy of "hip-hop culture" worldwide. In Bill-O's world, Asians are supposed to be the model, "almost white, well behaved" minority. To see a Korean guy performing a rap dance number must make Bill-O's head feel all assplodey. Remember when America's Racist Uncle decried the fact that young Latinos identify with "rap culture"? Well, now even the "nice" non-whiteys have succumbed to the beat. Combined with the overwhelming support for President Obama by Asian-Americans, expect to see a lot of Asian-bashing in the conservative media in the coming years. Yeah, yet another "natural Republican voter" constituency fleeing the "big tent" due to bigotry and ignorance. J. Neo Marvin compares Gangnam Style to the most important song of the 1990's, the prescient Common People by Pulp. Now, this is how to approach a song- figure out the lyrics. Of course, Bill-O and his knuckleheaded guest don't want you to be exposed to the class-critique central to Gangnam Style, it suits their purposes to portray the song as so much gobbledegook (nasty pun intended, we all know what Bill-O was thinking). The unintentional hilarity of Ablow's take on the song is that his characterization of its popularity as a symptom of a shallow American youth culture is based entirely on an extremely shallow understanding of the song.

Never Piss Off a New York Bartender

If there's one piece of advice I feel I must impart, it's that one should never, ever, ever piss off a bartender in New York City. Of course, one should never piss off anyone who is handling their comestibles, but it's even more of an imperative in New York City. EVERY NEW YORK CITY BARTENDER KNOWS EVERY OTHER NEW YORK CITY BARTENDER!! It's axiomatic, folks, they all know each other. Of course, this works to one's benefit when one is well-versed in bar etiquette, which basically boils down to "don't be an asshole and don't be stingy with the tips.

After last night's fundraiser for NY Aquarium staff whose homes had been damaged by the storm (including one individual I have met, and think highly of), I decided to hang out in the bar for a bit. The bartender, Brian, was a Galway native who had lived in various neighborhoods in the outer boroughs. After a couple of beers, he comped me a shot of Jameson's. We soon got to talking about (what else?) bars, and the conversation went a little like this:

Hey, you know **REDACTED**, who works at **REDACTED**?
Of course, I know the whole family, how about **REDACTED**?
Yeah, a few years back, he worked at **REDACTED**, I went there at eight in the morning to watch the Ireland/Netherlands cup match, and the place was packed with Ozzies and Kiwis watching the tail end of the rugby championships. Stumbled out of the bar drunk as a lord's bastard around two P.M.
Well, **REDACTED** now owns **REDACTED**.
That's across the street from **REDACTED**, you know, one of members of the family who owns it was killed in the Trade Center. Damn shame, he was a hell of a guy.

It's funny how small aa town New York City, with its millions of inhabitants, can be... at least as far as pub talk goes. Most of the bartenders have worked in various places, and a lot of them help each other with referrals. Of course, I live in a pretty solidly Irish neighborhood, so a couple of the bars are "bar staff bars", the places where Manhattan bartenders grab a drink on their day off. Other places are known for their music, while some are known for their physical plant (Brian told me that he covets the unusually beautiful antique bar at The Punch Bowl, which is an "old man bar" in The Bronx- oddly enough, the spectacularly talented Mary Courtney plays ballads there for the topers).

The bartenders are sort of like a secret society, a brotherhood of beer-slingers. I like to think of them as the Murphia.

I Can Help People by Guzzling Beer?

So, I can raise money for displaced aquarium workers by chugging large quantities of beer? I can get behind that. I can totally get behind that.

Good thing I'm a thirsty boy. Here's to hoisting a few pints... for great justice.

I Love the Taste of Schadenfreude... Tastes Like Butterscotch Schnapps

Ah, where would I be without the hilarity to be found at The House of Substance? Anyway, Monsieur McGravitas embedded a great musical version of the infamous, foul-mouthed rant by a drunk woman who was enraged by the re-election of the Kenyan Usurper, done by the mysterious and not-quite-vanished Righteous Bubba. Anyway, I was shocked that the embedded video had less than a thousand hits. I've been watching it regularly, and you should be doing the same:





I won't be satisfied until this song gets played regularly in night clubs.

Belated Post Lecture Recap: The Science of Sandy

Last Tuesday, I headed down to the beautiful Bell House in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn for the latest Secret Science Club lecture featuring physicist and atmospheric scientist Dr Adam Sobel of Columbia University and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The subject of the lecture was Superstorm Sandy, a topic very much on the minds of lecture attendees.

The key to understanding Superstorm Sandy is the chronology of the storm- the "Frankenstorm" which hit the Mid-Atlantic states. This storm was a combination of post-tropical storm Sandy and a winter storm, which could be likened the "parents" of the superstorm which made landfall centered on the Jersey Shore. If one were to search for "grandparents", one would have to discuss two climatic systems, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (a tropical system of eastward-progessing fluctuations in the amount of rainfall from the Western Indian Ocean to the Atlantic) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (which, true to its name, deals with atmospheric pressure fluctuations between Iceland and the Azores). Due to the North Atlantic Oscillation, the polar jet stream moves- a postive condition drives the jet stream northward, a negative condition drives the jet stream southward, bringing cold air to the Atlantic seaboard.

In Mid-October, an active Madden-Julian Oscillation moved into the Atlantic Ocean and the North Atlantic Oscillation pushed the jet stream southward. The conditions were conducive to both tropical and winter storms. Additionally, on 10/20/2012, a "blocking high", an area of high pressure which remains largely stationary, formed in the Western North Atlantic. Such blocking highs in this region prevent winter storms from moving east.

On 10/22, the National Hurricane Center named Tropical Depression 18, which was subsequently upgraded to Tropical Storm Sandy.

On 10/24, Sandy hit Jamaica as a category 1 hurricane. On 10/25, it hit Cuba as a category 2 hurricane.

Many computer models of the track of a storm are run due to the vagaries of chaos theory- small changes in one region of the atmosphere can result in large changes in weather elsewhere. In the case of Sandy, European computer models accurately predicted the track of the storm.

When Sandy made landfall in the mid-Atlantic states, it was a post-tropical storm interacting with an extratropical storm (the "winter storm" blocked from moving east by the stationary area of high pressure in the western North Atlantic). This interaction resulted in a condition known as the Fujiwhara Effect, which causes the vortices of two cyclones to orbit a mutual center and, sometimes, to merge. In the case of Sandy, the storms merged and the resultant storm was pushed ashore. When Sandy made landfall, it was not a hurricane (cyclones are typically symmetrical, while winter storms are asymetrical, usually comma-shaped)... Sandy had a high degree of asymmetry and was a vast storm... the windfield of the storm was approximately one thousand miles across. When Sandy hit landfall in New Jersey, no hurricane force winds were observed. The horrendous damage associated with Sandy was due to storm surge- high sustained winds pushed ocean water onto the shore.

Sandy's unprecedented storm surge was largely due to the unusual sharp westward angle of the storm track. Storm winds are stronger to the right of the track, and the onshore winds were associated with a very large wind field- this was the worst possible situation in terms of storm surge. Most cyclones which hit the New York metro area move up the cost and weaken, storms which take Sandy's track are exceptionally unusual. In terms of historic hurricane landfalls, Sandy's angle was unique. Stochastic models indicate that a category one hurricane making landfall at the angle which Sandy made landfall is a once-every-700-years event.

Tidal gauges at the Battery (the southern tip of Manhattan) indicated a three-meter storm surge on top of a five-foot tide (sorry about the mixed measurement metaphors). This was the highest storm surge ever recorded at this location.

As to whether climate change "caused" sandy, no single weather event can be attributed to climate change. As far as trends go, the best models give result in mixed predictions about whether the number of cyclones will change. Worldwide, there are typically 90-100 cyclones every year. While some models indicate that this number may even drop, there is much confidence that the most intense storms will become stronger. Of course, Sandy was not an intense storm when it made landfall, it was a category one storm rendered destructive by its size and the angle at which it hit. The distorted jet stream which resulted in the blocking high which prevented Sandy and its accompanying winter storm from moving eastward is associated with the loss of sea ice. The most simple link between climate change and the destruction resulting from Sandy is a rise in sea level. In the past century, the sea level in the NY metro area has risen a foot, largely due to the land subsiding post-Ice Age, and partially due to thermal expansion of the sea water.

In the Q&A, some bastard in the audience asked why, in light of atmospheric pressures lower than any recorded for the latitude, Sandy did not result in stronger winds. Because Sandy was such a vast storm, the pressure "contours" were wide- a smaller storm would have had smaller "contours", so the winds would have blown with greater velocity.

Once again, the Secret Science Club delivered a top-notch lecture, and a timely one. Sandy still looms large in the public's mind, and Dr Sobel's lecture did a lot to demystify the storm, even if such demystification didn't provide comfort to those who suffered loss.