The one news story that had me pig-biting mad today was the news that FEMA would be ending its shipments of food and water to Puerto Rico, though a recent update indicates that FEMA will continue to send aid. This seems to be a reversal, rather than an initial error in reporting, no doubt due to public rage and the perception that the cessation of aid was 'revenge' for San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz' attendance at the State of the Union.
The crazy thing is that the story about FEMA abandoning Puerto Rico is altogether too plausible... the response to the crisis there has been so bad that the term 'ethnic cleansing' is being bandied about. Meanwhile, there has been an influx of tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans into Florida, which is a swing state with twenty-nine electoral votes. This diaspora, while tragic, will remake the face of national politics for the forseeable future, and I don't think that the boricuas will have any love for Republican candidates.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Secret Science Club North Post Lecture Recap: A Glorious Ignorance
Last night, I headed down to the scintillating Symphony Space on Manhattan's Upper West Side, for the latest Secret Science Club North presentation, featuring particle physicist Dr Daniel Whiteson of the University of California at Irvine and CERN, teaming up with Dr Jorge Cham, recovering robotics researcher and the genius behind the Piled Higher and Deeper comic. Drs Cham and Whiteson have a new book, We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe. Their presentation concerned the topic of the book and was a celebration of a certain type of ignorance- that ignorance which inspires inquiry, that ignorance which seeks to remedy itself with discovery.
The good doctors first decided to combine their talents a few years back when Dr Whiteson approached Dr Cham to ask if he did commissioned work. They combined forces and produced a video which has been described as the best explanation of the search for the Higgs boson for the layperson:
The video was a distillation of eight hours of conversation between Dr Cham and Dr Whiteson, a brilliant 'editing' job on the part of Dr Cham combined with his charming cartoon art.
The presentation was lovely, a casual tour through millennia of inquiry with a recap of the current state of particle physics. I pretty much just sat back and enjoyed the lecture, which had Dr Whiteson lecturing in front of a screen displaying Dr Cham's art, with Dr Cham improvising comical additions to the background. As such, I figure that the best way to recap the lecture is to present a video of it (seeing as Dr Cham's drawings are an integral part of the program):
I had a lot of fun- the interplay of Drs Whiteson and Cham was funny, and they quickly imparted a fantastic overview of the state of physics to an audience ranging in age from grammar school children to senior citizens, from second graders to PhDs. The talk covered such topics as dark matter and dark energy and particle physics. There were some hilarious moments, such as Dr Whiteson's observation that, even as a kid, he was one to smash rocks together to see what they were made of, and Dr Cham's characterization of his life as a grad student as reminiscent of a video he made of a cockroach-modelling robot on a treadmill occasionally getting smacked by an offscreen aggressor. There was a brief Q&A session afterwards, during which the bastard asked about antimatter, and possible reasons why it is in such short supply compared to regular matter- Dr Whiteson indicated that it is unknown whether there was a higher proportion of matter from the beginning of the universe, and that there might actually be entire sectors of the universe that are composed of antimatter, joking that the residents of such an area would call it matter. There were a lot of questions about dark matter- could it even be considered made of 'particles', is there a fifth force which determines how it interacts with the universe?
The night was a love-fest, I have to note that, in particular, Dr Cham is held in esteem and affection by the world's grad students... my friend Dr Garnier noted that Dr Cham's cartoons are ubiquitous in university offices worldwide. At any rate, the presentation was fun and informative, and I do not hesitate in plugging Dr Cham's and Dr Whiteson's book.
The good doctors first decided to combine their talents a few years back when Dr Whiteson approached Dr Cham to ask if he did commissioned work. They combined forces and produced a video which has been described as the best explanation of the search for the Higgs boson for the layperson:
The video was a distillation of eight hours of conversation between Dr Cham and Dr Whiteson, a brilliant 'editing' job on the part of Dr Cham combined with his charming cartoon art.
The presentation was lovely, a casual tour through millennia of inquiry with a recap of the current state of particle physics. I pretty much just sat back and enjoyed the lecture, which had Dr Whiteson lecturing in front of a screen displaying Dr Cham's art, with Dr Cham improvising comical additions to the background. As such, I figure that the best way to recap the lecture is to present a video of it (seeing as Dr Cham's drawings are an integral part of the program):
I had a lot of fun- the interplay of Drs Whiteson and Cham was funny, and they quickly imparted a fantastic overview of the state of physics to an audience ranging in age from grammar school children to senior citizens, from second graders to PhDs. The talk covered such topics as dark matter and dark energy and particle physics. There were some hilarious moments, such as Dr Whiteson's observation that, even as a kid, he was one to smash rocks together to see what they were made of, and Dr Cham's characterization of his life as a grad student as reminiscent of a video he made of a cockroach-modelling robot on a treadmill occasionally getting smacked by an offscreen aggressor. There was a brief Q&A session afterwards, during which the bastard asked about antimatter, and possible reasons why it is in such short supply compared to regular matter- Dr Whiteson indicated that it is unknown whether there was a higher proportion of matter from the beginning of the universe, and that there might actually be entire sectors of the universe that are composed of antimatter, joking that the residents of such an area would call it matter. There were a lot of questions about dark matter- could it even be considered made of 'particles', is there a fifth force which determines how it interacts with the universe?
The night was a love-fest, I have to note that, in particular, Dr Cham is held in esteem and affection by the world's grad students... my friend Dr Garnier noted that Dr Cham's cartoons are ubiquitous in university offices worldwide. At any rate, the presentation was fun and informative, and I do not hesitate in plugging Dr Cham's and Dr Whiteson's book.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Binging on Nostalgia
For some reason, I was in a nostalgic mood, so I went poking around for information about some old computer games I had played the bejeezus out of and I found Old Games, a website which allows users to download vintage computer games which have been configured so no older computer emulators such as DOSBox are needed. For just under six bucks, a user gets a day of unlimited downloads, for under ten, a month of unlimited downloads is available. I, uhhhh, kinda went nuts and downloaded a shitton of games I used to play, and a bunch of games I had seen reviewed but never played. Now, I can replay computer games I haven't played since the 1980s, when the song Computer Games could be heard on the radi-adi-o:
My one saving grace is that my precious kitteh is at my job, not my home, so there will be no catassing going on.
My one saving grace is that my precious kitteh is at my job, not my home, so there will be no catassing going on.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Native Americans and Recent Arrivals
Here's an idea to shelter the DREAMers, those undocumented child immigrants who have been given protection from deportation under the DACA program, those undocumented child immigrants whose protection Trump seeks to rescind. Native American CJBakken has hit upon opening reservations as sanctuaries:
As a Native American I just had an epiphany about undocumented DACA people. How big of a coronary would trump and ryan have if the tribes welcomed the DACA folk onto the reservations, affording them protection under the sovereignty of the tribes......
MSBellows proposed an enhancement of this strategy:
What if a tribe offered tribal membership to any undoc immigrants with indigenous blood (ie, 99.9% of those from Mexico/Central America) in exchange for the ability to tax their income?
While the reservations do fall under federal immigration statutes, there is some leeway concerning membership in a Native American nation:
As a general rule, an American Indian or Alaska Native person is someone who has blood degree from and is recognized as such by a federally recognized tribe or village (as an enrolled tribal member) and/or the United States. Of course, blood quantum (the degree of American Indian or Alaska Native blood from a federally recognized tribe or village that a person possesses) is not the only means by which a person is considered to be an American Indian or Alaska Native. Other factors, such as a person’s knowledge of his or her tribe’s culture, history, language, religion, familial kinships, and how strongly a person identifies himself or herself as American Indian or Alaska Native, are also important. In fact, there is no single federal or tribal criterion or standard that establishes a person's identity as American Indian or Alaska Native.
There are major differences, however, when the term “American Indian” is used in an ethnological sense versus its use in a political/legal sense. The rights, protections, and services provided by the United States to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives flow not from a person's identity as such in an ethnological sense, but because he or she is a member of a federally recognized tribe. That is, a tribe that has a government-to-government relationship and a special trust relationship with the United States. These special trust and government-to-government relationships entail certain legally enforceable obligations and responsibilities on the part of the United States to persons who are enrolled members of such tribes. Eligibility requirements for federal services will differ from program to program. Likewise, the eligibility criteria for enrollment (or membership) in a tribe will differ from tribe to tribe.
While I doubt that such attempts would be successful, the real goal would be to tie up individual cases in the court system until this current regime is removed from power. Trump has a history of hostility toward Native Americans. It would be fitting if they could thwart him in his campaign against the DREAMers, 85% of whom are from Mexico and Central-and-South America, regions which have populations with majority mixed-autochthonous heritage.
As a Native American I just had an epiphany about undocumented DACA people. How big of a coronary would trump and ryan have if the tribes welcomed the DACA folk onto the reservations, affording them protection under the sovereignty of the tribes......
MSBellows proposed an enhancement of this strategy:
What if a tribe offered tribal membership to any undoc immigrants with indigenous blood (ie, 99.9% of those from Mexico/Central America) in exchange for the ability to tax their income?
While the reservations do fall under federal immigration statutes, there is some leeway concerning membership in a Native American nation:
As a general rule, an American Indian or Alaska Native person is someone who has blood degree from and is recognized as such by a federally recognized tribe or village (as an enrolled tribal member) and/or the United States. Of course, blood quantum (the degree of American Indian or Alaska Native blood from a federally recognized tribe or village that a person possesses) is not the only means by which a person is considered to be an American Indian or Alaska Native. Other factors, such as a person’s knowledge of his or her tribe’s culture, history, language, religion, familial kinships, and how strongly a person identifies himself or herself as American Indian or Alaska Native, are also important. In fact, there is no single federal or tribal criterion or standard that establishes a person's identity as American Indian or Alaska Native.
There are major differences, however, when the term “American Indian” is used in an ethnological sense versus its use in a political/legal sense. The rights, protections, and services provided by the United States to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives flow not from a person's identity as such in an ethnological sense, but because he or she is a member of a federally recognized tribe. That is, a tribe that has a government-to-government relationship and a special trust relationship with the United States. These special trust and government-to-government relationships entail certain legally enforceable obligations and responsibilities on the part of the United States to persons who are enrolled members of such tribes. Eligibility requirements for federal services will differ from program to program. Likewise, the eligibility criteria for enrollment (or membership) in a tribe will differ from tribe to tribe.
While I doubt that such attempts would be successful, the real goal would be to tie up individual cases in the court system until this current regime is removed from power. Trump has a history of hostility toward Native Americans. It would be fitting if they could thwart him in his campaign against the DREAMers, 85% of whom are from Mexico and Central-and-South America, regions which have populations with majority mixed-autochthonous heritage.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
ILOLminati
Now, this is an embarrassing little tidbit- conservatives, including Congresscreep Trey Gowdy (R-Uncanny Valley), have been promulgating a conspiracy theory that there is a 'Secret Society' in FBI that is attempting to undermine President Vulgarmort. Predictably, Fox has been pushing this narrative to a large extent.
Predictably, the whole conspiracy theory has been spun out of a joke between two FBI staffers:
"Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society."
Now, I am not a member of a secret society... well, maybe a not-so-secret one... I have a hunch that members of actual secret societies don't exactly yap about it through text messages. Even psychotic fictional bros know this:
As usual, the right-wing reverse Ouroboros (a snake with its head up its ass) has been played due to their wish-fulfillment fantasies. It's exciting to believe in secret societies arrayed against your heroes, to believe that you are playing a role to preserve what you hold dear, and that makes you susceptible to believing bullshit. It's not some grand conspiracy that is targeting Trump unfairly, just the normal, everyday law enforcement apparatus. Sometimes, even these SERIOUS PEOPLE need to blow off steam by snarking... they're not the Illuminati, but sometimes they're the ILOLminati.
ADDENDUM: On the Media had a pretty good distillation of this topic.
Predictably, the whole conspiracy theory has been spun out of a joke between two FBI staffers:
"Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society."
Now, I am not a member of a secret society... well, maybe a not-so-secret one... I have a hunch that members of actual secret societies don't exactly yap about it through text messages. Even psychotic fictional bros know this:
As usual, the right-wing reverse Ouroboros (a snake with its head up its ass) has been played due to their wish-fulfillment fantasies. It's exciting to believe in secret societies arrayed against your heroes, to believe that you are playing a role to preserve what you hold dear, and that makes you susceptible to believing bullshit. It's not some grand conspiracy that is targeting Trump unfairly, just the normal, everyday law enforcement apparatus. Sometimes, even these SERIOUS PEOPLE need to blow off steam by snarking... they're not the Illuminati, but sometimes they're the ILOLminati.
ADDENDUM: On the Media had a pretty good distillation of this topic.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Like Losing a Beloved Uncle Who Turned Into a Right-Wing Crank
I was surprised and saddened to read of the death of Mark E. Smith, frontman of celebrated Manchester post-punk band The Fall, a Bastard fave. Mr Smith was always an irascible figure, but in his later days, he went full-on right-wing nutjob. Rather than dwelling on his unpleasant political and social stances, I figure I'd celebrate his music. The Fall's early singles were jagged, discordant- you can detect their DNA in bands such as The Pixies and Sonic Youth, bands that could mix melody and aural assault.
To convey some idea of The Fall's early sound and transgressive lyrics, I can think of no better example than Spectre vs Rector, from the band's second album, 1979's Dragnet. The song casually name-drops M.R. James and Lovecraftian Elder Entities, and merits at least one trigger warning:
In the 1980s, the band went through an almost accessible phase, with 1988's Hit the North from The Frenz Experiment album being decried by some hardcore fans as a 'sellout', the band's flirtation with disco. I've always thought it was a fun song, a love letter to a quirky Mancunian culture:
The band released a second 1988 album, I Am Kurious Oranj, which yielded the single Big New Prinz:
Another almost-pop single was 1985's Cruiser's Creek from This Nation's Saving Grace:
Smith also wrote a play about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I, Hey! Luciani: The Life and Codex of John Paul I. The title song of the play was almost poignant:
Mark E. Smith had an interesting career. He was always a prickly fellow, a curmudgeon from day one and a crank at the end. I've long been a fan of his, since first picking up a college radio station on my transistor radio while in middle school. He was always interesting, even if listening to him took some effort... especially when listening to him took effort. As soon as I hit 'publish', I'm going to go on one of my periodic 'Fall' binges.
To convey some idea of The Fall's early sound and transgressive lyrics, I can think of no better example than Spectre vs Rector, from the band's second album, 1979's Dragnet. The song casually name-drops M.R. James and Lovecraftian Elder Entities, and merits at least one trigger warning:
In the 1980s, the band went through an almost accessible phase, with 1988's Hit the North from The Frenz Experiment album being decried by some hardcore fans as a 'sellout', the band's flirtation with disco. I've always thought it was a fun song, a love letter to a quirky Mancunian culture:
The band released a second 1988 album, I Am Kurious Oranj, which yielded the single Big New Prinz:
Another almost-pop single was 1985's Cruiser's Creek from This Nation's Saving Grace:
Smith also wrote a play about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I, Hey! Luciani: The Life and Codex of John Paul I. The title song of the play was almost poignant:
Mark E. Smith had an interesting career. He was always a prickly fellow, a curmudgeon from day one and a crank at the end. I've long been a fan of his, since first picking up a college radio station on my transistor radio while in middle school. He was always interesting, even if listening to him took some effort... especially when listening to him took effort. As soon as I hit 'publish', I'm going to go on one of my periodic 'Fall' binges.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Hope I Didn't Sit in Qusay's Chair
Today, I attended a luncheon thrown by my boss, who heads up not only my department, but several other departments in the organization. At noon, twelve of us met at the Guadalajara restaurant in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Unfortunately, this place gained a degree of notoriety when asshole Eric Trump celebrated his birthday there, donning a sombrero despite his father's racist attitude toward Mexican immigrants.
I had never dined at Guadalajara before, writing it off as a Tex-Mex place... when it comes to Mexican food, I prefer to patronize hole-in-the-wall places, the sort of places that serve buche and menudo. To be fair, though, the meal was very good. We were immediately presented with freshly fried tortilla chips and a decent mild salsa. After this start, we ordered several servings of guacamole, which was prepared tableside and served in molcajetes. The guacamole was excellent, having just a hint of a bite to offset its richness. The menu consisted mainly of tacos, burritos, tostadas, sizzling fajitas... pretty much standard Tex-Mex fare. I ordered chicken enchiladas mole poblano and was pleasantly surprised at how excellent the incredibly complex chocolate/chiles sauce was. One of my usual Mexican food destinations, the taco stand on 4th Ave and 9th St in Brooklyn, is owned by folks from Puebla, and when I asked them if they made mole poblano, the owner joked, "I make it at home." It was nice to have something this rich for lunch, though my tastes still run toward buche and tacos al pastor. Guadalajara also makes a creditable horchata, fragrant with cinnamon.
Of course, the best thing about lunch was the company. I love my co-workers, they are a great bunch. One particular co-worker, who emigrated from Ireland twenty-one years ago, had us in stitches with tales of her exploits... one of her best stories involves her driving off with the gas nozzle still in her car's intake, ripping it off of the pump. When she stopped and offered financial restitution, the owner told her, "Just leave and never come back!" Yeah, it was funnier delivered in her charmingly accented, mile-a-minute manner. At one point in her narrative, one of her closest co-workers chimed in, "Notice how she never completes a sentence?" It was a jocular lunch, and it went on for two hours... two hours of just hanging out and yukking it up. I may not be making a gajillion dollars, but I dig my job (my coworkers being a major factor).
All told, Guadalajara is a good Tex-Mex place, with touches of authenticity for people who know what to look for. The service was excellent, and we were able to hang out for two hours without being rushed. The fact that they served asshole Trump scions is actually a feather in the staff's cap- they are better than any of Donald's spawn. Plus, if any restaurant owners decided not to serve assholes, they'd be out of business in a day.
I had never dined at Guadalajara before, writing it off as a Tex-Mex place... when it comes to Mexican food, I prefer to patronize hole-in-the-wall places, the sort of places that serve buche and menudo. To be fair, though, the meal was very good. We were immediately presented with freshly fried tortilla chips and a decent mild salsa. After this start, we ordered several servings of guacamole, which was prepared tableside and served in molcajetes. The guacamole was excellent, having just a hint of a bite to offset its richness. The menu consisted mainly of tacos, burritos, tostadas, sizzling fajitas... pretty much standard Tex-Mex fare. I ordered chicken enchiladas mole poblano and was pleasantly surprised at how excellent the incredibly complex chocolate/chiles sauce was. One of my usual Mexican food destinations, the taco stand on 4th Ave and 9th St in Brooklyn, is owned by folks from Puebla, and when I asked them if they made mole poblano, the owner joked, "I make it at home." It was nice to have something this rich for lunch, though my tastes still run toward buche and tacos al pastor. Guadalajara also makes a creditable horchata, fragrant with cinnamon.
Of course, the best thing about lunch was the company. I love my co-workers, they are a great bunch. One particular co-worker, who emigrated from Ireland twenty-one years ago, had us in stitches with tales of her exploits... one of her best stories involves her driving off with the gas nozzle still in her car's intake, ripping it off of the pump. When she stopped and offered financial restitution, the owner told her, "Just leave and never come back!" Yeah, it was funnier delivered in her charmingly accented, mile-a-minute manner. At one point in her narrative, one of her closest co-workers chimed in, "Notice how she never completes a sentence?" It was a jocular lunch, and it went on for two hours... two hours of just hanging out and yukking it up. I may not be making a gajillion dollars, but I dig my job (my coworkers being a major factor).
All told, Guadalajara is a good Tex-Mex place, with touches of authenticity for people who know what to look for. The service was excellent, and we were able to hang out for two hours without being rushed. The fact that they served asshole Trump scions is actually a feather in the staff's cap- they are better than any of Donald's spawn. Plus, if any restaurant owners decided not to serve assholes, they'd be out of business in a day.
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