Hope Everybody Had a Safe, Happy Pride Day

Here's wishing all of my LGBTQ readers a happy Pride Day. In the wake of the Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre, the main theme of Pride Day coverage on the news was security. The real news is that, at least in New York, politicians have been lining up to march in the parade, when not too long ago, they probably would have been reluctant to show up for such an event.

In the wake of the Pulse massacre, one thing that struck me was the love and support that the families of the victims showed for the fallen. My personal awareness of the struggle for LGBTQ rights occurred in the context of a family kicking their lesbian daughter out of the house when she came out of the closet. Three decades later, it's heartening to see the change in attitudes, even though it comes in the context of a mass-murder and act of terrorism. The majority of the victims were of Puerto Rican descent, and I have to note that Puerto Rican Pride Day in NYC was a couple of weeks ago. With the outpouring of positivity after such a horrible event, I have to commend both the LGBTQ and Puerto Rican communities... you have a lot to be proud of, people. Be strong/Sea fuerte, the country is changing for the better, even though things are far from perfect.

Pride Day Post

To all of my LGBT readers, a happy belated Pride Day. I typically put up a Pride Day post to show my support of LGBT rights. I've also long been a supporter of same-sex marriage- a friend of mine got married just over six months ago after thirty years in a committed relationship- he and his husband are reaching the age where they may have to make serious decisions about each others' care, and they now have the legal standing to do so.

To opponents of LGBT rights, since you have to lie about your "opposition", you can be pretty sure you're on the wrong side of the issue. Seriously, before you weigh in on a consensual relationship between two adults, you need to learn what consent means: children and dogs cannot give consent, box turtles can't give consent, police cars and DPW trucks can't give consent. Seriously, your warnings of the dire "slippery slope" consequences of same-sex marriage say a lot more about your paraphilias than they do about the lives and proclivities of LGBT people. Another thing, if you are an anti-LGBT bigot and you want to accuse LGBT people of hypocrisy, don't weasel out when they show themselves to be better people than you (even the Catholic website I linked to called out Bill Donohue). In general, you bigots have long acted like a bunch of freaks, while the innocent victims of bigotry and violence showed real moral fiber. You're losing, mainly because you're hateful and mendacious. It's time you stopped butting into other people's personal lives. Morality doesn't involve what you do with your genitals and consenting adults, and spreading dangerous lies about other people is a lot worse than buttsecks. Also, stop being so damn narcissistic- there's not plot against you, nobody's trying to "convert" you- you evangelicals do that conversion thing, stop projecting!

Happy pride day, and boo to the haters. Now, here's an irreverent bit of snark- be sure to watch to the end, because it has a happy ending:





Say no to hate, people!

Happy Pride Day! Returning to Last Year's Theme

It's the day of the NYC Pride Parade, the day I typically take to wish my LGBTQ+ readers a happy Pride Day and Pride Month.  I'm going to reiterate my theme of last year's Pride post- intersectionality is crucial to all liberation movements.  I don't think I could do better than repeating what I wrote last year:

An intersectional approach to human rights campaigns involves confronting all oppression- racial, class, religious, sexual and gender orientation/identification. Your feminism is broken if you are anti-transwoman. Your racial liberation movement is defective if it countenances homophobia. Your Democratic Socialist agenda just isn't working out if you are anti-semitic.

LGBTQ+ friends of mine have lamented the fact that homophobia still has a place among Black churches which have been at the forefront of the Civil Rights and racial justice movements.  Similarly, wealthy gay individuals have been insensitive to the needs of people of color.  As a straight white male, playing the game of life on the lowest difficulty setting, I urge everybody to take an intersectional approach- human rights should not be compartmentalized, period.

This year has been characterized by a record number of bills targeting transpersons.  Anti trans agendas are being promulgated by joke woke groups such as the LGB 'movement', which is attacking trans-identity from a supposed gay perspective, and the TERF 'movement', which is attacking trans-identity from a supposed feminist perspective.  Both groups have cynically allied with right-wing groups to attack transpersons' rights.

Meanwhile, right-wingers are using anti-trans bigotry as a Trojan Horse to promulgate a broader anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.  They lost the culture war against same-sex marriage, and, being reactionaries, they are fighting to roll back gay rights, especially in light of the Biden Administration's stated commitment to LGBTQ+ rights.  Ignore this wide spectrum right-wing approach at your peril.  Also, from a historical perspective, transwomen of color were at the forefront of the Gay Rights movement, at great risk to themselves.  If you celebrate Pride, you owe them a debt of gratitude, and more importantly, you owe them the protection that they need. 

Happy Pride Day 2017

Today marked NYC's annual LGBTQ Pride Day parade- here's wishing a happy pride day to all of my readers. Significantly, this year's pride parade was televised for the first time, furthering the goal of LGBTQ visibility. One theme that has been covered in the local news is the importance of trans-acceptance, another is the importance, in the post Pulse nightclub massacre and Trump/Pence election, the need to resist attacks on LGBTQ people, both physical and legislative.

I learned long ago that people who belittle, demean, and assault LGBTQ people are bullies, plain and simple. As a teenager, I witnessed a friend's family disown her when she came out... they destroyed their family, favoring small-minded bigotry over love and loyalty. Two gay friends of mine in high school tried to kill themselves... thankfully, neither one of them succeeded. I value equality, and I value authenticity- nobody should have to live a lie, or to live in hiding. The same regressive, authoritarian forces that want to curtail LGBTQ rights are the same ones who want to roll back women's rights and civil rights for minorities. In a very real sense, the LGBTQ pride movement is on the front lines of the culture wars, and the rest of us in the progressive community need to be thankful of them.

Happy Pride Day!

Here's wishing all my LGBTQ readers and their straight allies a happy Pride Day. In light of last Friday's Supreme Court ruling, today's pride events are going to have an extra special resonance. Like James Inhofe, I have gay friends, and I'm glad that their marriages will offer them legal protection throughout these here United States.

I do a Pride Day post every year, but I'll give a short précis about why I do so. The primary reason why I support LGBTQ rights is that I believe that every single human being deserves a chance to live a life without fear, and to have the opportunity to live happily as long as their happiness does no harm to others. Opponents of LGBTQ rights continually lie about gay, bi, and trans*persons, accusing them of posing an existential threat to society... accusations that are patently false. I want people to live truthfully, not to hide who they love out of fear. I think this is crucial to an open, healthy society.

On a personal level, my first encounter with anti-gay animus took place when I was about six years old, when I intervened when an older neighbor kid was bullying the nice, well-mannered kid next door, calling him a "faggot" and threatening him. Never having patience with bullies, I went after the jerk and ended up getting knocked on my ass and down a hill, with a sprained ankle that had me off my feet for several weeks... in the summer. Nice gay kid or bully, who's side do you take? That question has informed my attitude to the LGBTQ community ever since I was old enough to understand it.

The Annual Pride Day Post

Here's wishing all of my LGBTQ readers a happy Pride Day. The New York parade has a different route this year to accommodate more marchers. This year's parade should take on an added significance as a memorial for local gay rights pioneer Dick Leitsch, who died last week. Also, the Pride festivals feed into the Resistance movement because Trump has been bad for LGBTQ rights, among other things nominating judges who decide to legalize bigotry under the guise of religious freedom.

Since last year, I have had LGBTQ friends express to me their fears about the direction in which our government has been heading. One friend even told me that she was afraid to marry her partner because she was concerned that she'd end up on a watch list. As someone playing the game of Life on the Lowest Difficulty Setting, I can't even begin to comprehend that sort of fear.

Anyway, here's hoping that everyone is safe and happy on Pride Day. If things do get worse in the short term, you have friends and allies... and we'll figure out a way to make sure that things get better in the long term.

Intersectional Pride Day!

Here's wishing a happy LGBTQ Pride Day to all of my readers. This year, with the continuing Black Lives Matter demonstrations occupying the public spaces of multiple communities throughout the nation, I figured that I'd bring up the topic of intersectionality, which even a cishet white guy like myself can see is the proper approach to any and all liberation movements. An intersectional approach to human rights campaigns involves confronting all oppression- racial, class, religious, sexual and gender orientation/identification. Your feminism is broken if you are anti-transwoman. Your racial liberation movement is defective if it countenances homophobia. Your Democratic Socialist agenda just isn't working out if you are anti-semitic.

This year in particular, the dangers faced transwomen of color need to be addressed. Just this month, two black transwomen were killed. Violence against transwomen of color has been described by the AMA as an epidemic. Black transwomen were on the front lines of the original LGBTQ rights movement, playing a critical role in the Stonewall 'riots'. Black lives matter, trans lives matter, black transperson rights matter.

Enjoy the Pride celebrations, but remember that the Trump Maladministration has reversed policies protecting LGBTQ people from healthcare and health insurance discrimination. Trump would also love to crush the Black Lives Matter movement, violating the Constitution to do so. The time for a compartmentalization of activism is long gone, discrimination against any protected class is unacceptable.

Have an happy Pride Day, but don't forget that being angry as well is perfectly reasonable.

Intersectional Pride Day

Today was Pride Day in NYC, and for the first time in two years, the march was packed with participants... people were confident to step out during this weird, not-quite-fraught stage of the pandemic, and more cogently, people wanted to show defiance in the face of the Supreme Court's bad rulings.  NYC Pride actually kicked off with Planned Parenthood, which released a statement: 

"Pride was born of protest and will always be a space to fight injustice and discrimination. Join us as we advocate for bodily autonomy at this year's NYC Pride March."

I've long said that intersectionality is the key to fighting for human rights- any attempts to compartmentalize human rights issues can lead to balkanization, which makes divide-and-conquer easy.  In particular, reactionaries have a talent for using fear and misunderstanding of marginalized groups as a Trojan horse to revive culture wars that people assumed they had already lost.  This year, their campaign against transpersons was a pretty transparent attempt to roll back LGB rights as well.

Reactionary authoritarians have been pretty upfront about wanting to roll back many matters considered settled law.  Not content with overturning Roe vs Wade, Clarence Thomas has stated that he would like to overturn Griswold vs Connecticut, which grants married couples the right to contraception, Lawrence vs Texas, which grants individuals the right to engage in certain sexual acts (sodomy), and Obergefell vs Hodges, which grants the right to same-sex marriage.  Like the Terminator from the movie, he will not stop, ever, until the rights of non-fundamentalist Christian men are dead.

It's heartening to see that the organizers of Pride teamed up with pro-abortion rights activists.  They know that any attack on bodily autonomy will negatively impact them.  It's going to be a long summer of rage, at least it kicked off with a party.

Pride and Prejudice

Just in time for Pride Day, same-sex marriage was legalized in New York State. Three cheers for the NY legislature- they finally decided to give bigotry the heave-ho, and strike a blow for equality and compassion. Predictably, the archbishop has complained that legalized gay marriage will destroy the family (as if two d00dz marrying could be as deleterious to the family as low wages, no benefits, and long uncompensated hours could be). Some of Dolan's statements are unintentionally hilarious... “a violation of what we consider the natural law that’s embedded in every man and woman.” (heh, embedded) “we’re realistic to know the forces pushing this are very strong, they’re well oiled, they’re well financed.” (heh, very strong and well oiled) “a couple bones to the dog.” (heh, bones)... Of course, the archbishop's assertion that same-sex marriage will be detrimental to religious freedom (“We just don’t want this definitive religious freedom to be at the mercy of some government whim”) is asinine- the imposition of the standards of particular sects of certain religion on non-believing members of our secular society is not religious freedom. Shorter Dolan, "Interfering with my sectarian authoritarianism is a blow to religious freedom." Yeah, your eminence, right. Also, appeals to "natural law" are bullshit- most organisms on this planet are neither male nor female, and even among vertebrates, there are gender changers and non-sexual animals which reproduce by parthenogenesis. The archbishop's understanding of nature can be characterized as parochial.

Brian Brown of the evil, but hilariously cack-handed NOM has vowed to go after politicians who voted in support of same-sex marriage (yay, conservatives going after Republicans!). Hopefully, Brown will be run out of town, because we don't need his bullshit here in the Big Apple.

In other news, homophobic ministers in Harlem have actually increased interest in Harlem's first gay pride march by trying to get it banned. Few things piss me off more than members of a persecuted minority acting in a bigoted fashion towards other minority groups (this criticism could also be levelled against Dolan).

Why am I making a big deal about this? I'm not even gay! Well, I can't stand bullies, I can't stand authoritarian assholes who try to make life miserable for people they perceive to be easy targets. You're born screaming and covered in slime, you'll die, maybe screaming, likely in pain... why the hell would you begrudge anyone a little happiness in the course of their all-too-short life?

I first got involved in gay-rights activism (albeit unknowingly) when I was six or seven years old. Tommy, the boy who lived across the street, was four of five years older than I was, and he was a really nice kid. The word "effeminate" wasn't in my vocabulary at the time, but Tommy wasn't a rough-and-tumble kid. One day, the asshole kid next door, who was Tommy's age, was pushing him around and taunting him (I can't remember what he was saying, but I wasn't about to stand for his bullshit). Even though the kid had four or five years on me, I went after him, yelling "LEEEEAVE TOMMMMMY ALOOOONNNE!!!!" The asshole, rather than cooling it because the kid standing up to him was so much smaller than he was, knocked me on my ass, and down a hill, and I ended up with a sprained ankle, forced to use crutches and sport an Ace bandage for weeks. So, the bully or the kid who ended up coming out as gay when he was a teenager... who the hell do you think has my sympathies? How can I see a homophobic asshole, and not see the chickenshit coward who thought it was acceptable to fight back against a little kid?

In high school, the two friends who tried to kill themselves were gay. Thankfully, they didn't succeed, although my one friend (who had chronic pain issues from a really bad case of scoliosis) tried to kill herself three times. She was disowned by her family when she came out. Homophobia destroys more families than gay marriage ever will.

At my college reunion, I found out that two of my classmates (unfortunately, neither could be there) had come out- one was a hilariously funny, artistically brilliant Chicano kid from Texas who grew up in an Evangelical household; the other was a true Southern Gentleman without all the bullshit racial baggage, sort of "New and Improved" Southerner 2.0. It's too bad they weren't ready to come out while they were in college, there were plenty of "out" kids in school. I guess it's hard to jettison one's cultural baggage, but I sure as hell wish they had been comfortable enough to be true to their natures back then.

Yeah, I'm pretty much for civil rights and civil freedoms. I also think that the species has to grow up when it comes to sexual matters. I'm going to type the next sentence out in a bold font, because I want someone to needlepoint it on a pillow or tattoo it on their ass:

Morality is not about how a person uses their genitals on a consenting adult, it's about how they use their power on a non-consenting individual.

That, in a nutshell, is why I am pro-marriage equality. I'll stand by my principles, even if it means that I could be forced into being a gaymarried love slave to the food-pr0n obsessed Emperor of Portland.

Hey, rant's over, how about a little ditty? Yeah, marriage licenses in the U.S. shouldn't be subject to religious dictates, marriage is a legal matter:





Happy Pride Day to my gay readership, now shove your agenda down Conservatives' throats!

Yesterday Was Pride Day

Yesterday, the gay pride parade took place in New York City. One of the grand marshals was Constance McMillen, the Mississippi teen who caused a kerfuffle among the bigots when she wanted to attend her prom with another girl. Once again, the bigots' small-mindedness has backfired on them, as Ms. McMillen has received national attention, scholarship money, and a free ticket out of Palookaville. Good for her.

I am going to take a moment to say that I am not gay, I never have been gay. That being said, my iPod is definitely bisexual:






The song, by Canadian duo Kon Kan (jokingly named after the Canadian Content laws in our Socialist Northern Neighbor to the North), is a glorious mess, incorporating the melodic "hook" of Italo-Disco Diva Ivana Spagna's Call Me, the chorus of Lynn Anderson's I Beg Your Pardon, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, a vocal sample of Get Up And Boogie (That's Right) by Deutschdisko group Silver Convention, and (hilariously) a snatch of Elmer Bernstein's The Magnificent Seven Overture.

Now, watching that video is almost guaranteed to turn you gay, so beware!

The frivolity aside, I just want to give a hearty "Boo Hiss" to all of the bigots who love to try to make life miserable for gay people. You're losing the battle, bigots, and your followers will hopefully awaken to the reality that they are being fleeced by you. The fact that you are spending some of this money on gay prostitutes is merely the hallucinogenic, unripe mulberry on top of your hypocrisy sundae.

Oh, and by the way, evolution is real, assholes!

Happy belated Pride Day, people!

Pride Post 2019: A Half-Century After Stonewall

The annual Pride parade in NYC has become a Big Deal, but in this era of Pride commercialization, it has to be noted that the Stonewall Uprising a half-century ago was a response to government-sanctioned violence against LGBTQ persons, largely persons of color. The riot, as it was termed, was led by transwomen of color responding to police harassment and assault (despite the whitewashed depiction in a recent movie).

Fifty years later, Pride is often seen as a white male celebration, though alternative marches have arisen to counter the sanitized narrative pushed by government agencies and corporations. The point of Pride is visibility, a display of solidarity in the face of peril. A gathering such as took place in Manhattan today could not have occurred a half-century ago... the Powers That Be simply would not have allowed it. The problem is that the struggle isn't over- violence against transwomen of color is rampant and Republican congresscreeps still oppose anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. The Bad Old Days could always return in these days of weaponized bigotry and fanatic populism.

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr said: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. That arc needs to be bent toward justice. The Stonewall patrons who refused to accept abuse at the hands of individuals who were supposed 'to protect and serve' strained to bend that arc, and any bit of complacency can cause that arc to bend in another direction. Here's wishing my LGBTQ readers a happy Pride day, albeit a cautious one. The struggle isn't over, and the forces of regression never stop.

Nuns on a Bus vs. Bishops Being Pricks

This morning, Mark Riley of WWRL interviewed one of the "Nuns on a Bus" who are traveling around the U.S. to protest the Paul Ryan budget. It's a relief to hear Roman Catholic "religious" discussing social justice in the tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement. Of course, there are some stories which evince some confusion regarding what the nuns are doing:


The idea of socially liberal nuns doesn’t just sound like a contradiction — it is. We don’t often associate social progressivism with the Catholic Church. In fact, the Church has become a de facto leader of the pro-life movement, anti-gay marriage amendments and other socially conservative policies. So it is indeed surprising that a large number of American nuns have embraced socially liberal policy in the name of social justice. Sisters involved with Networkparticularly support high government spending for programs that benefit the poor. Their road trip across the nation is aimed at informing Americans on the importance of government spending for social welfare programs.


There has always been a liberal thread in American Catholicism, from the aforementioned Catholic Worker Movement to the anti-war and anti-racism Berrigan Brothers. The fact of the matter is that the all-male church hierarchy has taken a huge lurch to the right since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. In fact, the Vatican has accused the largest group of American nuns of "radical feminism", criticizing the nuns for being preoccupied with matters of social justice, rather than social conservatism. Shit, social conservatism has been pounded into the faithful (who largely ignore the message) every Sunday by the male clergy, while the nuns have been in the trenches, helping the poor, the sick, and the desperate. Somebody has to provide some balance to the bishops, and as is typical, it's up to the women to actually get the work done. At the rate things are going, the American Conference of Bishops will soon be a small subset of the Republican Party- so much for being catholic...

I hope the nuns can reclaim the progressive mantle for those fair-minded Catholics who aren't willing to march in lockstep with the Conference of Bishops and the Holy See. Most Roman Catholics have interacted more with nuns than they have with bishops (insert joke here, dirty-minded readers), and I'd wager that they are more sympathetic to the nuns' message than the hierarchy's. I don't see a big pushback against the nuns working out well for the bishops.

I also want to say that I'm happy that the news coverage of NYC's "Pride Day" yesterday was thankfully free of interviews with the Cardinal. Last year, he was interviewed by the "all news, except when the Yankees are playing" station, which would not have interviewed Mel Gibson to provide "balance" in coverage of the Israeli Day parade. Sheesh, the Church Fathers really have to stop worrying about what consenting adults do with their genitals, while worrying what adults do with their genitals to non-consenting parties.

I'll take the "Nuns on a Bus" over "Bishops being Pricks" any day.

UPDATE: Christ wept... here's an Iowa congressman laughing at a joke about beating up nuns.

Happy Da Vinci Day, or Is It Dante Day?

It's been my tradition the last few years to put up a post regarding Columbus Day. I am proud of my Italian heritage, indeed, my Genovese heritage (in the interest of full disclosure, la famiglia actually hailed from a small town in the Greater Genoa Metro Area... the Yonkers of Genoa, perhaps?). At any rate, Columbus, while being Genoa's most famous son, was not a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination. Why make this accomplished, yet evil, individual the guy on whom Italian-American pride is pinned?

How about changing the name of the holiday to Da Vinci Day? Who doesn't love Leonardo Da Vinci? The guy was a bona fide genius and polymath- he was a pioneer of just about any scientific or engineering field you could think of, and a master of a plethora of artistic media. As a Nerd-American and an Italian-American, I would heartily endorse a holiday honoring Leonardo.

Alternately, how about Dante Day? Dante Alighieri not only holds the distinction of being Italy's greatest poet, but the Tuscan dialect in which he wrote formed the basis of the modern Italian language. Sure, a lot of Italian-American linguistics originates in Southern Italy and Sicily (that's why cafone is typically pronounced "gah-vone", "Marone" is how "Madonna" tends to be pronounced, and what is known on the "boot" as "pasta e fagioli" bears the Arabic-influenced name of "pasta fazul"). At any rate, Dante is the father of the lingua franca italiana, and he wasn't a horrible person.

At any rate, it's difficult to remain unconflicted about Columbus- his accomplishments were manifold, but many of them were evil. Why not concentrate on accomplished individuals who weren't bad guys? Lucky Luciano managed to accomplish a lot, but nobody is proposing naming a holiday after him.

Anyway, enough of my yapping, how about a classic Italian love song? Here's the original 1961 version of Al di là, sung by "Betty Curtis", born Roberta Corti:





Happy Betty Curtis Day!

PR: Pride, Resistance

Today is National Puerto Rican Pride Day, and the streets of Manhattan will play host to an estimated two million attendees. I occasionally post about Puerto Rican matters- in the course of working in the South Bronx for fifteen years, off and on (I was a rover, having assignments all over the NYC metro area), I developed an appreciation for Puerto Rican culture. My friends and co-workers, solid working and middle class people who came from humble origins, embraced me and taught me about their music, their food, their solid family values. I was introduced to the music of Eddie Palmieri and reveled in the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater's annual performance of scenes from my beloved Don Quixote. Working Sunday mornings with a solid mountain-born boricua, I ate so much mondongo that another co-worker was convinced that the two of us were 'a couple of drunks'. Puerto Ricans, and the diaspora Nuyoricans, are an integral part of the metro area's fabric- they tend to work as civil servants: police, firefighters, health care professionals, teachers.

This year, though, in the wake of the revelation (no surprise) that almost five thousand people died as a result of Hurricane Maria, the parade takes on a new urgency. This year, the parade will not only be about pride, but about resistance. The Puerto Rican people were abandoned by the federal government, led by a chief executive and a coterie of advisors who have an antipathy for people of color, especially people de la herencia latina. Last month, a Republican candidate opined that Puerto Ricans who settled in Florida in the aftermath of Maria should not be allowed to vote. As a mental exercise, could you imagine a political candidate suggesting that New Jerseyans resettling in Pennsylvania after Sandy should not be able to vote? Actually, PA being a swing state, don't answer that... Not only are Puerto Ricans US citizens, but Puerto Ricans have a tradition of service in the US armed forces. I find it shameful that such loyal Americans have gotten such a raw deal in their hour of greatest need, but I have hope that they will be a major force in reclaiming the government of the nation. Yo tengo fey en la alma de mis amigos puertorriqueños, y esta fey me da esperanza.

This being a post about Puerto Rico, I can't finish off without posting some good salsa, so here is Puerto Rico by Frankie Ruiz:





Al fin, recuerdan que no son olvidados.

Secret Science Club Zoom Lecture: Handprints on Hubble

Yesterday, I goofed, thinking that this month's Secret Science Club Zoom lecture was to take place last night.  Tonight, my great and good friends at the Secret Science Club are featuring the triumphant return of Dr Kathryn Sullivan, scientist, deep sea explorer, astronaut, former head of NOAA, author, and general supercool individual.  Dr Sullivan is the first American woman to have walked in space, and was instrumental in getting the fabulous Hubble Space telescope into orbit.

About a year ago, in the Before Times, Dr Sullivan delivered a lecture for the SSC North at the scintillating Symphony Space.  The lecture, which began with a tale of an almost-aborted launch straight out of a techno-thriller, was broadcast on C-Span's Book TV and can be seen at this link.

Dr Sullivan began the lecture by congratulating the eighteen astronauts chosen for the Artemis mission.  She then celebrated the lifespan of the Hubble Space Telescope (twice the expected time) and the skill of the engineers (not just the pocket protector crew, but individuals of great imagination and passion) and astronauts who created the tools and techniques which allowed for the repair of the invaluable telescope.

The lecture proper began with a celebration of Hubble, the bus-sized orbital telescope which started taking shape in the early 1970s.  The telescope had to be maintained by astronauts in bulky spacesuits (picture two snowmobile suits, heavy gloves, and a bucket on your head), in orbit.  In 1985, Dr Sullivan was chosen to shepherd Hubble into orbit, and had to undergo training with various tools to make sure that mishaps would be avoided.  The training took place in water tanks in which a mockup of the telescope was submerged.  Much of the work involved choreography, some involved fine detail work, such as replacing electrical connectors with specially designed tools (she broke two ninety-degree connector tools, ratchet wrench-like devices designed to remove connectors, before a proper tool was built).  Platforms used to lock astronauts' feet into place so they could turn a connector rather than spinning themselves around, had to be designed.

In 1990, another platform with a rigid tether had to be developed (the shuttle's robotic arm had to hold the Hubble in place) for the repair of the Hubble's mirror.  This tether is still in use.  Hubble was designed to be maintained and repaired in modular fashion- instruments were built into various boxes which could be swapped out for upgrades as detectors, electronics, and cameras improved.  Dr Sullivan characterized the Hubble as being one thousand times better than the original space mirror.

Dr Sullivan then pivoted to the topic of exploration of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, part of the Hadal Zone, below six thousand meters depth, which contains about 40% of the oceans' water.  The Challenger Deep is approximately 10,994 meters in depth.  The surface ship involved in this exploration is the DSSV Pressure Drop, a former submarine chaser purchased by explorer Victor Vescovo.  The Pressure Drop plays host to a submersible which is approximately 12x15x5 feet in dimension.  The submersible, which has a manipulator arm, takes about four hours to submerge to the bottom of the Challenger Drift.  An oceanographer, Dr Sullivan noted that the dimples on the ocean floor indicated that the muddy bottom was 'busy' with polychaete worms and sea cucumbers.  The seafloor is cold, dark, and food poor.

Dr Sullivan noted that her greatest source of pride lays not in her individual achievements, but in the team activity that has allowed humanity to achieve feats never before accomplished.

The Zoom lecture was followed by a Q&A session.  The first question came from a young listener, about Dr Sullivan's role as a pioneer- again, Dr Sullivan's pride is a pride in exploration more than a pride in being in the record books.  The next question regarded space junk- space junk cannot be tracked, statistical analysis has to be employed... Hubble cannot 'dodge' space junk.  The next question came from a seven year old who wants to be the first astronaut on Mars and wanted advice- Dr Sullivan joked that she would have to race her, and stated that learning as much as possible is the key... a student must be 'all in', and must continue learning every single day.  Another question involved spacesuits, of which there are many types.  During a shuttle launch, sealed pressure suits are worn, but for space walks, another type of suit must be worn.  The suits are pressurized to sea level, so there's no ear-popping like one would feel on an airplane flight.  The next question involved the hours of training involved- Dr Sullivan noted that space walks are not physically demanding, microgravity being delightful, but that the academic requirements are stringent, equivalent to graduate level crash courses in aeronautical/astronautical engineering, physiology, and the particular tasks one has to perform.  Asked about the pressure at depths of 30,000 feet below sea level, Dr Sullivan joked that the pressure was the equivalent of a hippopotamus wearing a single stiletto heel standing on every single square inch of the submersible.  Regarding the budget for space exploration, and whether that money would be better spent elsewhere, Dr Sullivan noted that only half a penny per dollar spent goes to NASA, and the satellites which NASA and NOAA maintain allow weather monitoring and ocean analysis- the benefits from the space budget are invaluable.  Even more valuable is the pride in space exploration, the motivational and aspirational effects on young people, the unifying nature of projects such as Apollo.  She would round that expenditure to one whole penny.  Another question involved Dr Sullivan's wildly divergent adventures in highly specialized craft- she joked that there was a 'Magic School Bus' effect, but her engineering training gave her a familiarity with the conveyances.  The real surprise is voyaging into exotic, lethal environments.  She could eat a tuna fish sandwich while wearing shirtsleeves while voyaging in a place she had no business being in.  The one experience which took her breath away was seeing the Earth from orbit for the first time.  A question regarding the submerible... it's an untethered craft.  Asked about her favorite space movie, she mentioned that 'Space Cowboys' had laughable physics but the jokes rang true.  Her favorite space movies are 'Apollo 13', based on a true story, and 'The Martian', a fictional movie (no dust storm could knock over a craft like that) but one which was a celebration of the scientific method, and problem solving.

Once again, Dr Sullivan delivered a fantastic lecture, hitting that 'Secret Science Sweet Spot' which encompasses hard science, adventure narrative, and advocacy, leavened with humor.  Kudos to the good doctor and to Margaret and Dorian.  As an added bonus, which warmed my heart, several of the questions in the Q&A were from children.  I miss the Bell House lectures, but having an all-ages audience is a benefit of these Zoom lectures.

Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day

Today marks the celebration of Thanksgiving in Canada, the mysterious land to the north of the United States. Canadians are interesting- they are a lot like the citizens of the United States, but there are subtle, sometimes eerie, differences. One difference between Canadians and U.S.ers is the choice of bird eaten on Thanksgiving... in the U.S., the traditional centerpiece of the Thanksgiving is a turkey, while Canadians typically roast a loon for their Thanksgiving meal.

Uh, just kidding folks- I have a lot of Canadians on the blogroll, ranging from Ontario to British Columbia (C'mon Maritimers and Newfoundlanders, come out of hiding so I can get coast-to-coast coverage of your nation!). Happy Thanksgiving, jim, MenD, Laura, D-KW, SMcG, interrobang, and all other Canadians. This Canadian Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for Canadians- you folks are great!

Today is also Columbus Day, the day in which Italian-Americans celebrate their heritage. This pains me to say, because my paternal grandfather's parents emigrated from the Greater Genoa Metropolitan Area, but Columbus, the most famous child of Genoa, was pretty much a horrible person. Yeah, his accomplishments were many, but he was, in many ways, responsible for a legacy of appropriation of land, extirpation of cultures, and genocide. I think that Garibaldi might be a better exemplar of Italian achievements in the Americas- he even lived on Staten Island for a period of time. Whether or not you disagree with me about commemorating Columbus, you pretty much have to agree with me about cannoli. Cannoli are awesome- whenever it is an option, take the cannoli. I'll be celebrating my heritage with pride, but I'll be showing my allegiances by wearing a red shirt.

CONFESSION TIME: The red shirt also hides the tomato sauce stains...

My People Have No Use for Insincere 'Niceness'

I'm a New Yorker, and New Yorkers tell it like it is... we just don't have the time to be doormats for people who we think suck manatee balls. Therefore, it's no surprise the anti-LGBTQ politica Nikki Haley was booed in a New York City restaurant on Pride Day. Fuck, lady, if you want an insincere show of what passes for 'politeness', you came to the wrong town... you can't live in a bubble in this city, life is lived too publicly for that shit.

There may be hope for Haley, after all, she did condemn LGBTQ purges in Chechnya. Of course, she has no control over Chechnyan policies, and in the places and times in which she did have control over policies regarding LGBTQ people, she didn't exactly cover herself in glory.

At any rate, don't expect people in NYC to be doormats, especially if you are a hypocrite who thinks that 'political correctness' is a problem, but when when bigots are taken to the woodshed. We New Yorkers don't tolerate assholes, and we don't care who we upset when we call out assholes for censure... after all, in this place, "fuck, fuckin' fucker's fuckin' fucked" is a perfectly grammatical sentence.

Hoist On His Own Pootard

Thunder has a saying, "The Schaden freudes itself." From the Schadenfreude Department, we have a serious case of unforeseen circumstances biting a bigot in the ass- the infamous Pastor Martin "Eat Da Poo Poo" Ssempa has been accused of promoting homosexuality in Uganda.

If you don't know who Pastor Ssempa is, he's a homophobic propagandist who, possessing more gay porn than the Castro District, travels throughout Uganda in order to promote anti-gay legislation by showing extreme scat porn. His infamous "Eat Da Poo Poo" tirade went viral, spawning a bunch of parodies and spoofs. Tengrain often blogs about Matt Barber, an anti-gay activist who thinks about gay sex more than the most promiscuous rentboy in the West Village- Ssempa is a lot like this, the guy thinks about the most extreme gay sex acts more than all of the Pride Day marchers combined.

It's only appropriate that he got caught up in a law that he has relentlessly promoted... he was hoist on his own pootard.

Secret Science Supplemental: Fruit Flies in Focus

Last night, I headed down to the beautiful Bell House in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn for a Secret Science Club event that featured a film clip and a discussion of fruit flies by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories neuroscientist Dr Josh Dubnau. Dr Dubnau studies neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and temporal lobe dementia using fruit flies as a lab subject. Dr Dubnau likened Drosophila melanogaster to the genetic Swiss army knife- they have been the go-to organism used to study genetics for about a century.

Drosophila is a good lab subject because it has manipulable genes and manipulable neurons. Flybase is a database of Drosophila genetics and Flycircuit is a database of Drosophila neurons. Enhancer traps are inserted into the genome of a subject to produce genetic markers, with the GAL4 gene (obtained from yeast) being commonly inserted in Drosophila.

Dr Dubnau made a humorous comparison between Drosophila behavior and human behavior, noting that Drosophila was highly motivated to mate with opposite sex parters (and sometimes with same-sex partners, most appropriate for a Pride Day lecture), and that they enjoyed alcohol (with unsuccessfully mating flies seeking out alcohol after their amatory failure). Those little flies are enough like us genetically and behaviorally to make good models for human genetics and neurology.

Dr Dubnau then went on to discuss the role of transposons or "jumping genes". Transposons were first described by Dr Barbara McClintock, who, while researching the genetics of corn (Zea mays), discovered that there were genes which could change locations on a chromosome, and such changes in location could alter the expression of nearby genes. She was specifically describing the genes which control the pigmentation of corn kernels. McClintock originally described these "jumping genes" as "controlling elements" because she hypothesized that these movable genes regulated development. In humans, about 44% of the genome is composed of transposons.

In Drosophila, transposons have been implicated in intra-specific infertility among two strains of flies (the Harwich and Canton-S populations- Harwich males mating with Canton-S females would result in a lack of fertility)- in the Q&A session, some bastard in the audience asked Dr Dubnau about the role of transposons in speciation, and Dr Dubnau responded that they probably played a major role in the inability of populations to mate successfully, thus leading to a "separation".

Dr Dubnau then moved on to the topic of fruit fly neurology, and his specialty, the study of neurological degenerative diseases. Structures in the fruit fly brain, the mushroom bodies are connected to olfactory learning and memory. Dr Dubnau showed us a video of flies which had been subjected to a mild electric shock while being exposed to a particular fragrance. They learned to associate the fragrance with the shock, so continued exposure to that fragrance would cause them to behave so that they would avoid an expected shock. The flies are then put in a T-maze and subjected to different odors... here's a video featuring Dr Dubnau, explaining this experiment:





Neurological damage may result from a "storm of tansposons", with the accumulation of a protein called TDP-43 playing a role in ALS. In patients with neurodegenerative diseases, these transposons avoid the regulatory affects of piwi-interacting RNA, which "tamps down" transposons.

Besides Dr Dubnau's lecture, the 1910 short film The Acrobatic Fly was shown:





The main news of the night, though, came from Friend of the Bastard Dr Alexis Gambis, who announced that he has finished filming his first feature film, The Fly Room. He will be spending the next few months editing the film, and hopes to shop it around to the major film festivals. The Fly Room will tell the tale of pioneering geneticist Calvin Bridges through the eyes of his daughter Betsey (who, **SPOILER ALERT** makes an appearance in the film). In discussing the film shoot, Dr Gambis told me that filming took place in upstate New York during the emergence of the 17-year cicada brood so, appropriately, **SPOILER ALERT**, insects make their presence known in the film.

All told, it was a great night, and the news of Dr Gambis' first feature film has me overjoyed. I always love to see the good guys succeed and Dr Gambis (who I have known since 2006, before he was a Doktor) is one of the goodest of good guys. Here's video of a TED talk that Dr Gambis gave back in 2011, so you can get an idea of where he's coming from:





Rest assured, I'm going to make it to the theater when The Fly Room is released. GO DR GAMBIS!!!

Fijne Konigsdag

This week, I have received 292 visitors from the Netherlands, mainly because I posted a recap of a lecture by a celebrated Netherlander. In all my excitement, I forgot that yesterday was Koningsdag, or perhaps I'm just nostalgic for the days of Good Queen Beatrix, and the 'old' April 30th celebration of Koninginnedag.

Years ago, I had the great good fortune to be in Amsterdam for Koninginnedag. I had traveled to the Netherlands with one of my housemates (at the time, I was living in a house owned by a cousin of a high-school classmate of mine, with a bunch of guys I'd known for years- it was like living in a beach house without an ocean), and we had done enough research to know to bring orange shirts. Even better, another old friend of mine who was living and working in Warsaw at the time, and his brother who was living in California, were both in the Netherlands at the same time, so we had the perfect amount of travelers to share a rijsttafel, or a bottle of jenever. Being rogue adventurers, we went a bit off the beaten path- one memorable occasion saw me confronted by a local in a bar in the Jordaan district:

"What are you doing here?"
"We're tourists."
She wasn't convinced: "No, the tourists are in Leidseplein, the tourists are in Rembrandtplein. What are you doing here?"
"Honestly, we're tourists."
"You're not tourists, you're freaks!"

Now, that's a compliment... As I said, we got a little bit off the beaten path, trying to scratch a bit beneath the surface. As a New Yorker, there are echoes of home all over the Netherlands- Breuckelen, Haarlem... I took a day trip to Rotterdam to check out the unusual post-WW2 bombing architecture, and we all took a train to Haarlem and took a local bus through the polders and bulbfields to Noordwijk aan Zee and back again. Wherever we went, we met with the warmest hospitality, and a genuine interest among the people to share their culture with us.

It all culminated on Koninginnedag- upon getting up and looking out the hotel window, I saw a sea of orange-clad revelers. My friends and I went from bar to bar, partying with the friendly Amsterdammers. At one point, I was 'adopted' by a family- mom, dad, and their eight year old daughter were all together in a local tavern, and they took the time to explain the significance of the various patriotic songs that the crowd was singing. I had the overwhelming sense that the crowd was filled with a deep sense of pride without the slightest bit of jingoism... theirs was the pride that says, "This is who we are, and this is who we love" without the need to claim that who they were and what they loved was better than anyone else's culture. They felt it very important to share their pride with visitors who wanted to get somewhere beyond the tourist experience... not tourists, but friendly 'freaks'. It was a wonderful experience, and I really can't say enough about Hollanders.

Here's wishing a happy belated Konigsdag to the influx of readers from the Netherlands... a few years back, I posted the video for the sentimental song Het kleine café aan de haven, but I figure that this is a perfect opportunity to post a live version:





The sentiments expressed in the song are so universal that the song has become a standard in several languages... I like it because it reminds me of all of the little cafes in which I found such a welcome.