Taking a Break - Merry Christmas

It's that festive time of the year again and it's time to take a break from blogging. I'll be back here early in the New Year. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the season and I'll see you again in January.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Using the Windows 11 Magnifier

I just discovered that Windows 11 has a magnifier function that you can enable under Settings > Accessibility. Once enabled, you open it with the Windows Key + Plus Key combination. 

By default, it gives you a 200% magnification of the full screen. I don't usually need that much so I have set it to 150%. You can set it to magnify an area around the mouse cursor if you prefer. I now have it set to turn on when I log in and have pinned it to my taskbar. 

Full details on all of the Magnifier settings are on the Microsoft website.  

Featured Links -- December 15, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Birds on ice

The best science images of 2024 — Nature’s picks. "A breathtaking total eclipse, courageous penguins, volcanic smoke rings and more." There are some truly incredible images here. Best viewed on a large computer monitor. 

Google Timeline location purge causes collateral damage. "Privacy measure leaves some mourning lost memories." If you rely on Timeline data more than three months old, you should read this.

Miranda’s Last Gift (gift link). "When our daughter died suddenly, she left us with grief, memories—and Ringo." A beautiful and moving tribute by David Frum to his late daughter, and her dog. 

Debunking Every Myth You Hear Against Universal Healthcare. "Whether you are politically left or right, you should want Universal Healthcare as a human right—here are the receipts on why."

Powerful solar storms are a nightmare for farmers. 'Our tractors acted like they were demon possessed'. "When the sun's fury disrupts high-tech farming, precision turns to chaos." It does make me wonder if the universe really is out to get us. 

Alena Tensor—a new hope for unification in physics. "Our new article published in Physica Scripta brings new hope that such a theory exists. It demonstrates that the use of a certain mathematical object called Alena Tensor reconciles various physical theories, including general relativity, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics and continuum mechanics. Will this finally allow scientists to unify descriptions used in physics?" Some highly speculative new physics theorizing. 

Refinement of post-COVID condition core symptoms, subtypes, determinants, and health impacts: a cohort study integrating real-world data and patient-reported outcomes. "PCC can be categorized into four distinct subtypes based on ten core symptoms. These subtypes appeared to share a majority of pathogen and host-related risk factors, but their impact on health varied markedly by subtype. Our findings could help refine current guidelines for precise PCC diagnosis and progression, enhance the identification of PCC subgroups for targeted research, and inform evidence-based policy making to tackle this new and debilitating condition."

The latest in poker cheats: Tiny cameras that can see cards as they’re dealt. ""Several recent schemes were uncovered, so should players everywhere be concerned?" Only if you're playing $10,000 buy-in poker. 

Battery prices continue to drop, lowering the cost of electric vehicles. "The price of lithium-ion batteries in China has decreased by 51 percent in the past year. Lower battery prices make electric vehicles cheaper than fossil fuel cars in many segments, and large-scale battery solutions in energy systems become more profitable."

Photo of the Week - December 15, 2024

Here's a seasonal picture for the week. We have had a very mild run up to winter so with only a dusting of snow and temperatures several degrees above normal. That hasn't stopped people from setting up displays for Christmas. I'll have to come by at night to see if they light it up. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. 

Getting ready for Christmas

 

Saturday Sounds - Kensington Market - Avenue Road - Aardvark - Live

The Kensington Market were a Toronto band that released two superb albums in the late 1960s. From Wikipedia: 

Named after a downtown Toronto neighbourhood, it was known for 'gentle, lyrical, rock music', masterful musicianship, and for being was one of the first Canadian rock bands to develop a style independent of US and British models

Their music is somewhat psychedelic, guitar-driven rock with great vocals. The group had middling success but lack of record company promotion and bad lifestyle choices shut down their career after the second album. 

The albums are long out of print but Spotify has them and they are most definitely worth a listen. 

I saw them perform twice, once in Sault Ste. Marie in 1968 or thereabouts, and at a reunion gig in Hugh's Room in Toronto in 2010. Much to my surprise, the Hugh's Room gig that I attended and a previous one were recorded and are up on the band's YouTube channel. I'm including a few of those videos here as well. 

Is the Atlantic Circulation Collapsing?

I've posted here several times about the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (which includes the Gulf Stream), a system of currents that is responsible for (among many other things) moderating Europe's climate. There have been reports over the last decade that it may be slowing down or even collapsing, which would have devastating effects on the world's climate.

The excellent Eye on the Storm blog on the Yale Climate Connection site has just published a two-part article about the AMOC. You may have seen some sensationalist articles in the mainstream press saying that it's collapsing and we're all doomed. If you want to find out what we really know about the AMOC, its current state, and what might happen in the future, then read these articles. This is topflight science journalism. 

• Atlantic circulation collapse? New clues on the fate of a crucial conveyor belt. "In part one, we looked at observations from the North Atlantic that suggest a gradual weakening in AMOC strength over the last few decades, but only a marginally significant drop over the past 40 years of AMOC monitoring, including the largest near-surface component, the Gulf Stream."
• How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt? "It’s not yet game over for the AMOC. As we discussed in part one of this post, the actual observations of 3D AMOC flow through the North Atlantic are still too brief to separate natural variations from long-term trends. And a modest decrease observed over the last 40 years has just been revised in an even more modest direction. ... As for now, we’re left with a dystopian, world-changing possibility – but one that’s still shrouded by enough observational and methodological uncertainty to make the answer to “When will it happen?” both less concrete and more worrisome than we’d like."
• 
  

Featured Links - December 9, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

TGull on a post

• The Grateful Dead ran this madcap country through their ‘fun machine’. "The long, strange trip — drugs, jams, drama and death — now brings the band to the Kennedy Center Honors."
• Stunning New Titanic 3D Scans Show Shipwreck In Unbelievable Detail. "It's so detailed you can even see the serial number on the Titanic's propeller blade."
• Giant Underground ‘Batteries’ Are Shaping the Future of Renewable Energy Storage. "We're wasting too much of the clean energy we generate. Reservoirs and caverns can store excess solar and wind power."
• This Is What the Giant Tonga Eruption Sounded Like. "A crowdsourced survey reveals how the sounds of the explosive event travelled around the world, and showcase the importance of fast-acting researchers."
• Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound. "Three new species of superconductivity were spotted this year, illustrating the myriad ways electrons can join together to form a frictionless quantum soup."
• H5N1 bird flu just one small mutation away from being a threat to humans, California researchers say. "California researchers say the world may be just one genetic tweak away from human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus — a worrisome mutation that could open the door to widespread human infections and possibly even a pandemic, according to some experts."
• R.I.P Trent. George R. R. Martin's obituary for Trent Zelazny, writer and son of writer Roger Zelazny.
• After critics decry Orion heat shield decision, NASA reviewer says agency is correct. "If this isn’t raising red flags out there, I don’t know what will." I will be very surprised if the new US administration doesn't kill the SLS, the Lunar Gateway, and possibly the Artemis program. 
• The Distinction Between Imaginary Science and Magic. This is an excerpt from SF author Ted Chiang's speech at American Humanist Association’s 83rd Annual Conference. 

Photo of the Week - December 8, 2024

This week's photo is of swans on the bay, taken with my Pixel 8 Pro.

Swans on the bay

Saturday Sounds - The Searchers - The Searchers and Love's Melodies

The Searchers are a British Merseybeat group who had a several hits, including  "Needles and Pins" and "Love Potion Number 9", in the 1960s. I saw them in the later 1970s, when they were on a comeback tour, and quite enjoyed them. Their 1979 album, The Searchers, is a classic example of guitar-driven, melodic British pop. It's still quite listenable, as is the 1980 follow-up, Love's Melodies. 

We're Toast 55

This post is a collection of links that support my increasingly strong feeling that the human race (or at least our technological civilization) is doomed. (And based on the results of last month's US election, probably sooner than I originally thought). It is part of an ongoing series of posts.

‘Depressing’ photo of suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne enrages Aussies. "A “depressing” photo of a mega housing estate just an hour outside of Melbourne’s CBD has enraged Aussies and left experts fuming." If they find that depressing, they should never try flying into Toronto's Pearson airport.

The Imminence of the Destruction of the Space Program. "New calculations put the date much closer than we should be comfortable with." The consquences of the Kessler Syndrome would be massive and far reaching, given our reliance on satellite technology (global communications and GPS location, to name just two)..

Persistence of spike protein at the skull-meninges-brain axis may contribute to the neurological sequelae of COVID-19. In other words, COVID-19 can damage your brain. 

Unexplained Heat Wave ‘Hotspots’ Are Popping Up Across the Globe. "The large and unexpected margins by which recent regional-scale extremes have broken earlier records have raised questions about the degree to which climate models can provide adequate estimates of relations between global mean temperature changes and regional climate risks."

Climate change is spoiling food faster, making hundreds of millions of people sick around the world. "The World Health Organization estimates 600 million people a year already suffer from foodborne illnesses."

Antarctic researchers warn of possible 'catastrophic' sea level rise within our lifetime in group statement. "Antarctica and the Southern Ocean have been undergoing rapid and extreme changes in recent years, including unprecedented heatwaves and record-low sea ice levels. Over the past week, more than 450 researchers gathered in Hobart for the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference — the first such event in more than a decade."

‘Climate bomb’ warning over $200bn wave of new gas projects. "New liquefied natural gas projects could produce 10 gigatonnes of emissions by the end of the decade, close to the annual emissions of all coal plants."

Movie and TV Reviews - November 2024

Movies and TV shows that Nancy and I watched in November. I do these posts mainly so I can keep track of what we've been watching, so the reviews are cursory. 

Movies

• Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version): I am not particularly a fan of Swift's music but I am impressed by her performance and showmanship in this concert film. (Disney+)
• Queen Rocks Montreal: This 1981 concert was released as an IMAX movie. I'm not sure that it would be more impressive on an IMAX screen though it might benefit from their sound system. If you like Queen, you'll like it but I don't think it would make anyone a new fan. 
• The Beach Boys: A documentary covering the long career of the Beach Boys. I thought it was a bit superficial. 
• Deadpool and Wolverine: We gave up on this after about 40 minutes. 'Nuff said. 
• Stargate: The Ark of Truth. A movie culled from a later season of the original Stargate TV series. If you like Stargate (which I do) you'll probably enjoy this but it won't make any new fans. (Prime)

TV Shows

• Whistable Pearl (season 3): This cozy mystery set in a sea-side English town continues. 
• Scrublands: A reporter comes to a small Australian town to do a follow-up story on a mass murder but gets much more than he bargained for. This one was quite good.
• Ellis: A series about a detective inspector who get sent to troubled police department to clean things up. Another good one. 
• Bad Sisters (season 1): A very dark comedy about a family of Irish sisters who try to murder an abusive husband. One of Apple's better series. 
• Cross: Yet another Michael Connolly adaptation. It started out well but got too complex and I didn't like the super-psycho villain trope. (Amazon Prime)
• Red Queen: A Spanish thriller about the smartest woman in the world taking on a shadowy underground conspiracy. It's a bit surrealistic in places, and maybe an episode or two too long, but we watched it all the way through. 
• Antiques Road Trip (season 5) The antique hunters' trips through the UK continue. 
• Madam Blanc: A widow travels to France to get details about her husband's accidental death and gets more than she bargained for. Another cozy mystery. (Acorn TV)

Featured Links - December 2, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Creepy Christmas yard ornaments

• Populism, freedom, and democracy in Alberta (and beyond). Here's a very good article about populism in the context of Alberta's politics. It has direct relevance to what's happening here in Ontario as well, not to mention the US.
• A Personal Pre-Pandemic Plan. "5 things you can do today to prepare for a possibility of seeing another pandemic sometime in the reasonably near future."
• Trumpomuskovia. From historian Timothy Snyder, "four scenarios for Trumpomuskovia, the musko-trumpified America that is already upon us." From a Canadian perspective, his second scenario is especially interesting.
• The Redbox Removal Team. "Redbox left 24,000 abandoned DVD rental kiosks. "The unceremonious end of Redbox is a reminder of how much stuff we make and buy, and how, when companies fail to plan for end-of-life or go out of business, they often leave a bunch of devices that suddenly become e-waste behind."
• Libraries can help end the culture wars. That’s why they’re under fire (gift link). "Nothing threatens authoritarianism like a quiet place to explore knowledge." Opinion piece by Annalee Newitz, author of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind.
• Kennedy’s Inheritance: How Addiction and Trauma Shaped a Turbulent Life (gift link). Donald Trump’s pick to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reached a pinnacle of power after a life of fame and addictions and a career intertwined with conspiracy theories.
• TV In 2024. "It’s probably part of your life too. What happened was, we moved to a new place and it had a room set up for a huge TV, so I was left with no choice but to get one. Which got me thinking about TV in general and naturally it spilled over here into the blog. There is good and bad news."
• Notre Dame is a pipeline for Supreme Court clerks, magnet for justices. (gift link) "Growing ties between Notre Dame law school and the Supreme Court show the appeal of getting out of D.C. and of an environment that welcomes conservative views."

 

Photo of the Week - December 1, 2024

This week's photo is of a neighbour's maple tree that overshadows our backyard. All of the leaves have finally fallen and I find myself fascinated by the fractal patterns of the branches reaching for sunlight. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. I was tempted to dump it into Photoshop to remove the cable and power lines but I'm too lazy. 

Reach for the sky

Saturday Sounds - Carbon Leaf - Time Is The Playground

This week's musical treat is courtesy of Andrew Liptak and his excellent Transfer Orbit newsletter in which he praised a band called Carbon Leaf who I had never heard of. That's now remedied after I listened to their excellent new album, Time Is The Playground. 

Carbon Leaf have been around for a while and play melodic indie rock. Liptak has this to say about them:

The last decade has felt a little aimless for the band: albums and EPs like Constellation Prize, Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle, Gathering, and How the West Was One are solid albums with memorable tracks, but they never quite captured me as with Indian Summer or Love Loss Hope Repeat. That's why Time Is The Playground really struck me as something special: it feels like all of the band's strengths have come together into one sleek, entrancing package that I've had on repeat for weeks. It's an album that covers a range of familiar themes: the passage of time, memory, and of the various stages of one's relationships.

I can't say anything more than that other than I like the album and will be checking out the rest of Carbon Leaf's catalogue.

 

The New World Order In Action

So the prime minister has made an unannounced trip to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the new leader-of-the-free-world's ass ring. We'll see how that goes.

If you want a better idea of the new order and how it will affect Canada, read this article. Here's a relevant quote.

"But that environment is changing. I quipped with my colleague Jen that Canadians are penguins now being beamed via a Star Trek-style transporter from our comfortable Antarctic home directly into the Amazon. This is not the geopolitical environment in which we have adapted to thrive. And much like those penguins beamed right into the rainforest, a lot of our leaders right now — the prime minister, most of his cabinet, the premiers — are still stuck in the stage of looking around at all the tropical foliage and wondering, whoa. What the hell is going on? And why is it so hot?!"

Trump's Tariffs

Donald Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet and he's already causing chaos and uncertainty in the world's economy with his ridiculous plan to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. 

If implemented as he wants, it will almost certainly cause a recession in Canada and resume an inflationary cycle in the US. 

Here are a few articles about it that I found worth reading.

From The Big Picture, Trump's Tariffs Are Here:

Today’s piece is a bit of Tariffs 101, with a focus on how the proposed taxes would affect trade with our three largest trading partners. I’ll first cover what Trump announced and the reasons he gave for why, addressing his threats on our neighbors and also on China. We’ll pay some close attention to Trump’s specific language because that could shape the course of events to come. 

Second, I’ll address the question, “Can Trump really do that?” The short answer is “yes” but there is a longer discussion to be had around whether the tariffs would be reversed, particularly because they would violate the plain terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump himself negotiated and signed.

Third, I’ll discuss the broad impact such high tariffs would have upon our economy and which sectors might feel the immediate effect. Sadly, consumers wary of higher prices aren’t going to like the answers.

Lastly, I’ll peer inside the muddled mind of the president-elect and posit a few theories about what he’s up to and where this is headed, using past behavior and outcomes as a guide. I’ll show how Trump’s attempt to bludgeon his way into getting what he wants won’t necessarily work this time and will carry longer term consequences that will be difficult to shake.

And from Canada's The Globe and Mail, As Trump pledges tariffs, here are five things we know so far (gift link):

For Canada, which sends more than 77 per cent of its exports to the U.S., the tariffs would represent an economic blow and threaten a recession, with the oil and auto industries particularly affected. For U.S. consumers, who would pay the cost of the tariffs, they would mean punishing price increases.

For Mr. Trump, the tariffs combine two of his foundational political issues: building protectionist trade barriers around the U.S. economy and hardening the country’s borders against migrants.

And finally, from the CBC,  How Canada can hit the U.S. where it hurts in fight against Trump's tariffs. 

If Canada seeks to retaliate over U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's tariff threat, the government should hit the U.S. where it would hurt economically and politically, some trade experts suggest.

The challenge would be to "find some iconic U.S. item … that would resonate with Trump's supporters, or the constituencies he cares about, which if Canada put tariffs on them, it will get a lot of notice in the U.S," said Gary Hufbauer, a non-resident senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Trump has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods unless both governments tighten their borders to prevent the flow of drugs like fentanyl and illegal migrants into the U.S. But his threat has raised questions as to whether Canada has any kind of leverage to squeeze the U.S. and prevent such tariff action.

"It's unclear what Canada can do going forward," wrote Derek Holt, vice-president of Scotiabank Economics, in a note to clients.

Ultimately, he said, Canada may feel it doesn't have any choice left other than to retaliate, and "we need to be prepared for such a risk."

That last article reminds me of the classic 1950s satire, The Mouse That Roared. Hopefully things will turn out as well for Canada as they did for the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. 

Has the USA Become a DINO: Democracy in Name Only?

This  is a guest post by Kevin Davies, a writer (prose & songs [300+]), artist, graphic designer, game creator and  publisher. 

It was originally posted on Kevin Davies' Facebook page and is posted here with his permission. Copyright 2024 by Kevin Davies. 

While it might seem outrageous to ask the question, especially just after a US election where voter turnout was reported as “the second-highest in the past century,” (The Washington Post) [1], it does appear that the USA may have reached the point where it has become an open OLIGARCHIC PLUTOCRACY.

The wonderful thing about American democracy (and most others), if you are a corrupt politician, is that you can promise anything, get elected, and then spend at least one term serving the actual interests that paid for your winning.

But also, once in power, it’s much easier to STAY in power — again in part because those ‘interests’ you’ve been serving are going to keep giving you money and other forms of support (e.g., favorable messages on social media and traditional media platforms), doing all they can to ensure they maintain their influence. 

Think tank messaging and other ‘educational’ propaganda that ‘mentally capture’ politicians and their supporters make the task of obtaining the desired pro-wealth policies even easier. 

While this is something that some reporters have been discussing for decades, the power and influence of the wealthy elite — at least since WWII — has never been so great.

“WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?”

One of the primary reasons for this expansion of power for oligarchs, is a decades long campaign to influence public attitudes to transition from an electorate that wants “What’s best for America,” (i.e., society, which tends to describe ‘the masses’), toward voters who’ve been encouraged to individually demand “What’s in it for ME!” — which suits the wealthy elite fine. 

When voters are thinking ONLY ABOUT THEMSELVES, not only does it eliminate any finger-pointing at the wealthy for doing exactly the same — except that they have the clout to actually ensure they get what they want and it’s considered a ‘virtue’ (e.g., tax cuts, deregulation, security, diplomatic influence and military conquest of potential resources and markets, etc.) — but also it means voters can more easily be bought off with lies from candidates and campaign messaging. 

When people are only interested in PERSONAL GAIN, and not societal gain, it means that politicians can avoid talking about or meaningfully acting on the things that the society needs to function grow, and maintain.

This includes the basic NECESSITIES for a modern and wealthy democracy such as: infrastructure, regulatory oversight, a functional and fair justice system, health care, education, a social safety net, pensions, and anything a government acting in the service of the masses deems desirable that private investors won’t fund, or are unable to provide on terms that best serve the public (e.g., providing services to less or non-profitable low population and hard to reach rural areas, national security, and many other services that too many fail to recognize until they need them personally) — which also benefits the rich!

The ‘SMALL GOVERNMENT’ view of low taxation and minimum services provision (setting aside the ‘large’ government required to enforce ant-abortion and pro-faith laws), works best for wealthy ideologues — because at least they have the funds to hire private contractors to deliver most desired services (until the economy collapses). 

For the rest of society, not so much. 

Yet the propaganda of the pioneering ‘INDIVIDUAL’, acting unhindered by government oversight and taxation continues to appeal to those who, for some reason, can never imagine themselves running out of money, becoming sick or dying from toxins in their food and water, or having to exist in a infrastructure decaying, crime-ridden, diseased and dying, environment. 

The Mad Max films are better as entertainment than a lifestyle; smaller government means a much smaller population. 

These things need to be clearly pointed out and rationally discussed.

“WE’LL THROW THE BUMS OUT IF THEY DON’T DELIVER!”

In the past, ‘throwing the bums out’ may have had some genuine success, and in select cases, still might prove effective. 

However, changing one’s government representative has increasingly become less effective since: 

a) elections in many areas are so EXPENSIVE that only candidates backed by corrupting corporate ‘BIG MONEY’ have any hope to win, 

b) to obtain that ‘big money’ support, candidates are required to CHANGE which POLICIES they advocate to accommodate a more ‘PRO-WEALTH’, instead of a ‘pro-masses’, stance (note: this is typically called ‘moving to the center’ in the media), 

c) an increased number of information sources offer MISINFORMATION, DISINFORMATION, and PROPAGANDA, which manipulate and polarize the public by increasing ignorance, cynicism, uncertainty, distrust, paranoia, and apathy [2], and

d) apathy and disgust with the political process and outcomes has resulted in large numbers of electors NOT PAYING ATTENTION to whether on not politicians actually DELIVER on promises that actually improve their circumstances, whether the outcomes are what was promised, and what any unintended consequences were. 

All these factors benefit the wealthy and connected pro-wealth lobbyists promoting a pro-wealth, trickle-down, policies.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PRO-SOCIETY AND PRO-MASSES PARTIES?

Clearly the current behavior of many politicians, academics, and supporters that desire pro-society policies isn’t working. Meanwhile, the strategy used by the wealthy and their pro-wealthy supporters is doing great!

The Democrats (and many supposedly ‘left leaning’ parties in various democracies) have tried to win the support of the wealthy and those demanding “What’s in it for ME!” by moving toward what they perceive to be the ‘CENTER’. 

This represents flawed thinking. The ‘center’ is ALWAYS toward the RIGHT — and always toward the interests of the WEALTHY and their supporters (i.e., against the masses and society). 

This faulty strategy, widely adopted, has only further reinforced conditions where the wealthy can obtain what they want regardless of who wins, playing one side off the other while smiling all the way to their offshore accounts. 

Meanwhile, elected politicians and their supporters that advocate pro-society and pro-masses policies are branded by their opponents — and much of the mainstream media — as ‘too left’, ‘fanatical’, ‘extreme’, ‘crazy’, etc. The reason is because such policies do not serve the interests of the wealthy. 

Having heard this nonsense repeated so many times the media (which is OWNED by the wealthy), some academics, and many of the masses, now take these smears as ‘normal’ and truthful, accepting and repeating them as fact. 

Even political parties such as the Democrats in the USA have accepted such slurs as something they must accept or run away from, shifting their policies and behavior increasingly, and somewhat suicidally, toward the RIGHT. 

This is the aim of the slander and lies!

IS THERE A WAY FORWARD FOR THE PRO-SOCIETY MASSES?

As long as the electorate is employing a “What’s in it for ME!” transactional attitude toward politics, they can NOT be expected to vote for a candidate or party that wants to make society better for EVERYONE. 

Voters have been taught, by pro-wealthy propaganda, to think things such as: “Why should i pay for schools if I don’t have kids?” or “Why should I fund infrastructure, health care treatments, regulations and oversight, etc., that doesn’t appear to DIRECTLY BENEFIT ME?”

This society corroding thinking is the great win of the pro-wealth propaganda effort that began in the 1950’s and has succeeded fantastically with the 2024 election. And the most insidious thing about it is that few people seem aware or find it anything but ‘natural’. 

The Republicans, and conservative parties in general, win elections by manipulating and lying to the masses in the service of the wealthy. They tell them what they want to hear, then once elected do nothing, or just enough to be able to claim that they’ve delivered (e.g., build a wall and make Mexico pay!) — so that any supporters not fact-checking will be convinced. 

Simultaneously, they implement policies which serve their real constituents — the ones who fund them: the wealthy elite and upper middle classes.

The pro-society, pro-masses parties, candidates, and pundits must become much BETTER COMMUNICATORS, using the people they serve as their lodestar (i.e., if a policy primarily serves the interests of the masses and society, it has merit and is worth defending). 

Standing on such principles in the service of society’s interests is the only way to differentiate from pro-wealth parties, candidates, pundits, and supporters.

Language must be employed to CLEARLY and EFFECTIVELY communicate the significant benefits of such policies… REPEATEDLY. 

People must be informed to understand that when policies improve the lives of the MANY, each INDIVIDUAL ALSO BENEFITS — even if those benefits don’t appear immediately obvious. 

How those “What’s in it for ME!” thinkers benefit from policies that appear to be aimed at others must be clearly and rationally explained to them — using language that they can relate to. They must not be talked down to, or be made to feel insulted, if they initially fail to comprehend — there is a lot of pro-wealth messaging to overcome. 

Also, pro-society communicators must STOP ACCEPTING or using TERMS or DEROGATORY EPITHETS that the pro-wealthy employ to criticize or slander them and their policies (e.g., socialist, communist, ignorant, crazy, etc.). They must master and defend the language used (as conservatives have done) so that they CHANGE HOW THE MASSES HEAR AND THUS PERCEIVE their policies.

There are some wise, philanthropic, and pro-society wealthy people out there who will recognize the importance and necessity of a shift in policies toward the masses — even though it may not initially appear to serve their interests (e.g., raising taxes on the wealthy to fund infrastructure; yet, the wealthier one is, the more infrastructure they use). 

Such elites must be sought out by party leaders and candidates and won over with reasoned arguments for funding and guidance for this project. 

It will not be easy. Most wealthy elites accumulated what they possess by acting only in their self-interest.

Yet it must be done. It is the only way to overcome what is now a government an electorate which has been convinced that “WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE WEALTHY IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE.” It really isn’t. 

It will require a huge and focused COMMUNICATIONS EFFORT to INFORM and re-educate the public about who and what policies might BEST SERVE THEM. It will require adopting a LESS DEFERENTIAL attitude toward pro-wealth politicians, media, pundits, and academics.

It will require making choices for the sake of a GREATER GOOD — and not necessarily one’s own long-term political career. It’s a lot to ask. But the benefit will be massive.

WE MUST ALL TRY TO LEARN FROM THE PAST

Unfortunately, it appears that we’re running out of time to counteract the propaganda poison that has infected democratic systems worldwide and captured minds. Wealth inequality has grown to its highest level since the Gilded Age (1870 to 1900). Countries and leaders are becoming more belligerent.

Yet is seems most have chosen to be willfully blind or have simply accepted it, with little discussion about the implications, or thought to the possibility of rational, peaceful, and productive alternatives. 

When the masses are deeply unhappy and losing hope for a better tomorrow — especially while they see and serve others who appear to be doing so much better (e.g., on social media) — they become confused, and begin to loathe their circumstances, themselves… and one another. 

As such, they are more likely to embrace ‘quick fixes’ and trust in a populist ‘strong man’ who assures them he can quickly and easily improve things for them. 

They become more vulnerable to accepting BAD ECONOMIC POLICIES (e.g., protectionist tariffs causing a reduction in global trade and inflation on imports — including necessities), XENOPHOBIA, a DISTRUST OF DIPLOMATIC to provide solutions, and a tendency toward MILITARISM (remarkably combined with ISOLATIONISM). 

They become divided, bitter, callous, transactional, angry, and more vulnerable to being exploited and supporting unreasonable one-sided and FORCE-BASED SOLUTIONS, both domestically and abroad — including being manipulated into sacrificing their lives in the name of political and greedy ambition couched as patriotism. 

History rhymes. 

— Kevin Davies, November 11, 2024.

------

NOTE: 

[1] ARTICLE - 2024 turnout is near the 2020 record. See how each state compares. 

[2] ISSUE BRIEF - Distinguishing Disinformation from Propaganda, Misinformation, and “Fake News” (National Endowment for Democracy).

Featured Links - November 25, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The bay on a grey day

• Summary of the Hyperactive 2024 Hurricane Season. "The 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season will finally come to an end on November 30, and by any measure, it was an extremely active and impactful season."
• How the 15-minute city idea became a misinformation-fuelled fight that’s rattling GTA councils. (archive link) "The idea of making cities walkable and livable has helped fuel a conspiracy theory that is throwing local meetings into chaos — and is already changing the way councils work." The article includes a section about my local city council, which has had major problems with a particular right-wing councillor and her followers.
• This Wasp Was Brought To Christmas Island In 2017—7 Years Later A Struggling Species Thrives. "Since the micro-wasp was introduced in 2017, the red crab migration has been seeing better numbers. While last year’s migration was delayed owing to a lack of timely rainfall, the crabs appear to have roared back to life this year."
• Supervolcano shows signs of waking up, which would plunge the world into chaos. "The Phlegraean Fields, now considered one massive supervolcano, are beginning to stir, making the scientific community uneasy." The article headline is a bit hyperbolic.
• Mechanically strong yet metabolizable supramolecular plastics by desalting upon phase separation. "A strong, glassy supramolecular polymer has been shown to prevent the formation of marine microplastics by slowly dissolving in salt water into metabolizable compounds." This could be important, assuming it can be made commercially at scale.
• The Gift of Preparedness 2024. Instead of giving ugly sweaters for Christmas gifts, give items that could be useful in an emergency or disaster. 
• NASA is stacking the Artemis II rocket, implying a simple heat shield fix. "NASA expects it to take about four months to fully assemble the main parts of the SLS rocket." Finally!
• Jan. 6 as Foundational Event for the Coming American Autocracy. "This is the first in a series of essays about political violence and how to combat it. Here I focus on Jan. 6 as a historic event that prepared the psychological, social, and political climate for an authoritarian politics of violence by breaking taboos against assaulting the Capitol and hunting down lawmakers."

Photo of the Week - November 24, 2024

This week's photo is from my walk along the lakeshore last week, in a still unnaturally mild November. The boats are along the west side of the marina, where some people winter in their boats.  

Fujifilm X-S10 with 27 mm./F2.8 at F6.4, 1/2500 second, ISO 400, Velvia film simulation

Saturday Sounds - Don Ellis - At Fillmore

This week's musical treat is a blast from the past, the Don Ellis Orchestra At Fillmore. Don Ellis was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. I heard music from this album ("Pussy Wiggle Stomp", if memory serves) on Detroit's WABX-FM when I was in university and immediately purchased it to play on my jazz show on the student radio station.

This is highly propulsive, somewhat avant garde, big band jazz. It was recorded at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in 1969. From Wikipedia:

The band's energetic live performances such as the one at Stanford caused its popularity among college crowds to increase. In June 1970, the Orchestra performed for three nights at Bill Graham's Fillmore West auditorium, opening for the Quicksilver Messenger Service and Leon Russell. The resulting recording was made into a double LP and released by Columbia in late 1970. "Live at Fillmore" was a happy return to original material, and even included one Beatles cover, a highly experimental rendition of "Hey Jude", as well as another version of "Pussy Wiggle Stomp".

In listening to it today, I'm struck by how modern it sounds. Also notable is how appreciate the audience at the Fillmore was, considering that big bands weren't the normal fare there. I hope you enjoy it too.  

New to Bluesky

I will never forgive Elon Musk for ruining Twitter, which was an essential service for many people. Twitter is still there, as X, but it's a pale shadow of its former self and has become a cesspit of right-wing and misogynist content, some of it posted by Musk himself.

So what are the alternatives? 

There are now three major platforms vying for users.

• Threads is Facebook's offering. It has the largest user base but being a centralized platform under the control of Mark Zuckerg's Meta has put off many users, myself included.
• Mastondon is a federated and distributed system which means it can't be bought by a billionaire with an agenda. Mastodon is relatively small (about 10,000,000  users). 
• Bluesky is also potentially a federated platform though currently it has only one central node. It's probably the closest to the original Twitter in design and feel and recently has surpassed Mastodon in usage. 

I'm not going to discuss Threads as I am not on it nor do I plan to join up.

I have been on Mastodon for two years and it's become my replacement for Twitter. It doesn't have the reach or variety of users that Twitter had, but I'm finding the overall quality of what I'm seeing there much higher than what I saw on Twitter at it's peak. You can find me there at @ksoltys@twit.social. 

Bluesky has experienced a large surge in membership over the last month, most of it coming from Twitter users who can no longer stomach Musk's antics. I signed up recently and my handle is @ksoltys.bsky.social. 

So far, I haven't been very active as I'm gradually finding my way around. The interface is very close to Twitter's, but lacks many features that Twitter had or that Mastodon currently has. (One example: in my Mastodon client, when I sign in, I can go to the my last location in the feed rather than having to start at the top and work my way backwards). 

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on Bluesky right now. But I am going to list a few resources that I've found helpful in getting started there.

• How to use Bluesky Social: Everything to know about the popular X alternative. "Bluesky is one of several social networks striving to offer an alternative to the site formerly known as Twitter. Here's how to join and use it."
• An Unofficial Guide to Bluesky, by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. 
• Maybe Bluesky has "won". "November has sucked so far. One upside of the terrible nonsense is that more people are fleeing X. Many are choosing Bluesky. I’ve seen a bunch of takes about this recently, but I keep seeing things I disagree with. I figure that’s a good enough excuse to write more about this weird-assed social network."
• r/BlueskySocial on Reddit.

Some Newsletters Worth Reading

I'm finding that reading email newsletters is a better use of my time than browsing the web looking for news or especially, analysis of current affairs. (Also better is using an RSS reader like Feedly, but I'll save writing about that for another time).

These are some of the newsletters that I subscribe to. They are all free, though some have a paid tier for more posts or features. 

• Field Notes is a weekly newsletter of urban nature writing and photography from author Christopher Brown. His latest book is A Natural History of Empty Lots which incorporates some material from this newsletter.. He has also written three dystopian, near future novels, including Tropic of Kansas, which I recently read and recommend. 
• Letters From an American is a daily newsletter from historian Heather Cox Richardson. She is especially good at putting current events into their historical context. This newsletter is my main tool for understanding what's going on behind the daily flood of US political news. 
• Ground Truths by Eric Topol, a cardiologist, still practicing, with some expertise in genomics, digital and artificial intelligence, at the Scripps Institute. Weekly, mostly about medical topics, including COVID-19.
• The Status Kuo by Jay kuo, a lawyer who takes "a deep dive each weekday into important political and legal topics, broken down in plain English and easily digestible morsels." He also writes for The Big Picture.
• The Big Picture, founded by George Takei publishes two in-depth articles a week on social and political issues. 
• The Munro Report by Alasdair Munro, a senior clinical research fellow in paediatric infectious diseases in the UK. Topics include child health, clinical research, and infectious diseases. 
• betakit, a weekly newsletter about Canadian startup and technology companies. If you're interested in Canadian tech news, betakit is the site to go to.
• Thinking About.... by Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale and author of the books On Tyranny, Our Malady, and most recently On Freedom. This is a good complement to Letters From an American.
• Transfer Orbit by Andrew Liptak, an author and historian who writes about cosplay and science fiction and fantasy. 
• Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy, by Phil Plait, astronomer and author of Death From the Skies: The Science Behind the End of the World. "Everything, the Universe, and Life".
• Your Local Epidemiologist by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an  an epidemiologist and data scientist. The newsletter covers a wide range of medical topics including the pandemic and other infectious diseases. Of all the medical newsletters I read, this is the best. 
• Unapocalyptic by Karl Schroeder, a professional futurist and science fiction writer. His goal is to provide "a community of dedicated people putting their heads together to find out how to use one to amplify the effect of another—to turn a jumble of ideas into a system for change."

I get several other newsletters, but most of those are published by the newspapers that I subscribe to and provide links to daily news stories that they want to promote.

Featured Links - November 18, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The marina waiting for winter

How to Stay Covid Safe When in Hospital. "A guide to navigating the risk of hospital acquired Covid - as well as how to manage overall risk of nosocomial infections and hospital derived complications." Reading this article may save your life.

Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges Hall discusses Norman Rockwell's famous painting. "Ruby Bridges became a civil rights icon when she was 6. Yet she didn't realize it for decades. The world knows her as the little girl in Norman Rockwell's famous 1963 painting, The Problem We All Live With, a black child being escorted to a white New Orleans school by federal marshals."

What Is RSS? If you aren't using an RSS reader, you're online life is a lot more complicated than it needs to be. I use Feedly and would have a hard time living without it.

In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024. Kurtz was the co-inventor of BASIC, arguably the most influential computer language. It was the second one I learned, after encountering FORTRAN in university.

Half-Life 2 remaster drops; no word on Half-Life 3. "Half-Life 2 RTX, a remaster of the original game featuring all kinds of fancy, cutting-edge graphics tech, has been revealed in full force and looks absolutely beautiful." I can't wait to play this! It's too bad there's no release date yet.

Trump Claims a Mandate, But He’s Wrong And It Will Cost Him. "Trump is already overreaching, giving Democrats a clear opening."

The Ghosts of John Tanton. "Today’s contentious immigration debate is the construct of one man’s effort to halt overpopulation, brace for climate change and preserve “European” culture. Now climate change is amplifying environmental concerns that have always run through the white supremacy and the anti-immigration movements. Experts warn that extremists who seize on global warming to justify violence are part of a far right trend to reclaim environmentalism as their own."

Photo of the Week - November 17, 2024

This is one of the trees along the shore of the spit leading to the entrance to Frenchman's Bay. Given the complete lack of leaves, I don't think it's doing too well.

Fujifilm X-S10 with Fujinon 27 mm/F2.8 at F6.4, 1/250th second, ISO 400, Velvia film simulation

 

Saturday Sounds - Julian Taylor - Pathways

Julian Taylor is a Canadian indigenous singer-songwriter. Nancy and I have heard some of his songs on SiriusXM's NorthAmericana channel and like what we've heard. Last weekend we drove up to Greenbank and saw him in a concert presented by the Greenbank Folk Music Society. We enjoyed it enough that we ordered tickets for a February concert presented by Acoustic Harvest in Scarborough. 

Julian Taylor in Greenbank

During his concert, he played several songs from his latest album, Pathways, which is embedded below. The title song is particularly captivating.

And here's a pro-shot video of Julian Taylor playing with his band at Toronto's Winterfolk Festival earlier this year. It's quite lovely.

We're Toast 54

This post is a collection of links that support my increasingly strong feeling that the human race (or at least our technological civilization) is doomed. (And based on the results of last week's US election, probably sooner than I originally thought). It is part of an ongoing series of posts. 

Autumn Leaves

• ‘Wicked problem’: five charts that show how the climate crisis is making Australia more dangerous. "A report by BoM and CSIRO checks ‘vital signs of Australia’s climate’ – and shows temperature trends will only worsen."
• Satellite images show major expansion at Russian site with secret bioweapons past (gift link). "New construction at a military research site near Moscow reveals a specialized laboratory complex designed to research and handle deadly pathogens, experts say." It could be just because they want to do research to protect against pandemics, but given past history, I have my doubts.
• How Oceans are becoming an Acid Bath. "Oceans have saved us from the worst impacts of global warming but are turning acidic as a result of carbon pollution."
• Microplastics Likely Causing Wave of Cancer in Young People. "Millennials and zoomers have a new thing to worry about."
• We’ve Slipped Back into that Alternate Universe. "Took a nap, what a bad dream! Trump got elected, and the Senate was taken over by GOP! Like an alternate world! I mean, a rapist felon in the WH, a Senate that would work with Trump to make sure they can’t be voted out–that could never happen. What? No. Come on. No don’t tell me that. I said no."
• ‘Minimal progress’ made this year on curbing global heating, report finds. "Analysis by Climate Action Tracker puts median temperature rise by 2100 at 2.7C if current policies continue." I really didn't intend the title of this blog topic to be literal. 
• Space trash is falling from the sky. And that’s not the worst of it (gift link). "The world needs to clean up its junk."
• World on track for hottest year ever as carbon pollution hits record levels. "Extraordinarily warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic are helping to fuel an unusually active hurricane season."
• Expert: Trump's second term will create "hellscape". "If you haven't freaked out yet about Trump resuming office, Al Franken's latest podcast episode, "The Coming Hellscape," might do the trick. His guest, political scientist Norm Ornstein, and longtime observer of American politics, says Trump's victory could be devastating to the country."

Protecting Yourself from Government Surveillance

If you live in the United States, it's a good idea to start thinking about how you can protect yourself from being surveilled by the government. 

As Wired Magazine says in their Guide to Protecting Yourself from Government Surveillance:

“Undocumented immigrants, Muslims, pregnant people, journalists, really anyone who doesn't support him” need to reconsider their personal privacy safeguards, says Runa Sandvik, a former digital security staffer for The New York Times and the founder of the security firm Granitt, which focuses on protecting members of civil society. “Whatever platforms you're on, whatever devices you have, you need to have a sense of what kind of data you're generating and then use the controls available to limit who can see what you're doing.”

The guide covers several key areas:

• Encrypted communications
• Encrypted devices
• Cloud storage
• Online anonymity
• Location data
• Financial privacy
• Burner phones
• Your digital past, present, and future

Even if you're not a US resident, this article is worth reading as the measures it suggests may help protect your from scammers and abusive trolls. 

A Bit of Silver Lining in Dark Clouds

The political news coming out of the United States has been pretty grim in the last week, but there are some silver linings in the dark clouds. In his Tuesday newsletter, Jay Kuo points out that Trump's penchant for appointing sycophants may be threatening a presumable Republican House majority.

If the House race watchers are correct, the GOP may have 220 or 221 House seats in the next session, compared to the Democrats at 215 to 214. That’s already a fairly slim majority, and a defection of three or four members could sink any piece of legislation. We saw that dynamic play out repeatedly over the past two years, resulting in the least productive Congress in recent history.

That’s why analysts like Adam Carlson (and myself) are rather shocked at how many of Trump’s picks for key cabinet or operational positions are being drawn from the ranks of the House Republican Conference. By today’s count, as many as five GOP members could give up their seats if they are nominated and get confirmed by the Senate.

On top of Reps. Waltz and Stefanik, Trump reportedly may tap Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) for Secretary of Defense, Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) for Secretary of Transportation, and Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) for Secretary of Agriculture.

There is even a world in which a 220-215 GOP majority moves this spring to a 215-215 tie.

If all this happens, and while we await special elections, Speaker Johnson might struggle mightily to push any legislation through, assuming he can even re-win the Speakership. Any delay in moving bills along will give Democrats that much more time to rally and lobby against them, particularly if they would strip away healthcare or raise costs on working families or the elderly, and peel off a few GOP swing district members.

We can only hope. 

Long-Term Effects of COVID-19

More research is showing that COVID-19 infections can have long-term, subtle, and dangerous effects on the body.

• The Conversation reports on several studies, including two in the New England Journal of Medicine, showing that COVID-19 can have impacts on the brain. 

In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders. A large and growing body of evidence amassed throughout the pandemic details the many ways that COVID-19 leaves an indelible mark on the brain. But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.

• Britain's NIH describes The Long-Term Effects of SARS-CoV-2 on Organs and Energy.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can damage the lungs, heart, brain, kidneys, and blood vessels. Inflammation was first thought to be the main source of this damage. As it became clear that parts of the virus bind to proteins in the mitochondria — the parts of the cell that produce most cellular energy — researchers realized that compromised mitochondria may also play a role in organ damage from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Both of these articles contain links to various research studies.  

Featured Links - November 11, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about. Sorry for all the politics this week, but I think you can understand why.

Autumn colour contrast

• Science is revealing the true stories of Pompeii’s victims beneath the ash. "Analysis of ancient DNA rewrites what we know about the relationships between the people buried there in A.D. 79."
• Coping Strategies. "Governance--like theories--should be as simple as possible, but no simpler." From SF author and futurist, Karl Schroeder. 
• Readying the Resistance. "A Democratic guide to minimizing harm from the coming Trump term."
• Now what for public health? "We need to be ready for a new world."
• Concert Archives. "The concert database for fans, by fans. Explore, Track, and Share the Experience." This is a cool site for digging into your personal concert history.
• 1000 Nuclear Reactors. "That's how much solar and wind electricity is sitting around waiting to be plugged in." Some encouraging news on the environmental front, but utility companies need to get out of the way. 
• It’s Find Out Time. "“I never thought the leopard would eat my face,” sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party." Voter remorse is going to be a big topic in the coming days. 
• November 8, 2024. Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American newsletter. In this one, she discusses the role of right-wing misinformation in the election and ties it to a similar period in American history. 
• Making Money in the Next Four Years, and Why You Need to Plan Now to Support Your Favorite Creators. Good advice from John Scalzi on how you can help your favourite creators weather the next (at least) four years.
• NASA Quiet Space Fan Research to Benefit Commercial Space Stations. "Controlling noise inside spacecraft helps humans talk to each other, hear alarms clearer, get restful sleep, and minimizes the risk of hearing loss. It is best to control the noise at the source, and in spacecraft the noise often comes from cabin ventilation and equipment cooling fans."
• XOXO. "This post annotates a talk I gave on August 24, 2024 at the final XOXO Festival in Portland, Oregon. The talk was about why I left the internet, how the Covid Tracking Project got me back online, and most of all how the work we did at CTP led to me to believe that we—the weirdos of internet-making and online life—have to not merely retreat from the big-world social internet, but fix it."
• Toronto crypto company CEO kidnapped, held for $1M ransom before being released. This is at least the 171st instance of suspects using physical violence to steal bitcoins. 

Photo of the Week - November 10, 2024

Here's a picture from my walk yesterday, taken along the shore of Lake Ontario just west of the entrance to Frenchman's Bay. I took this with my Fujifilm X-S10, which I haven't used much recently.

Fujifilm X-S10 with Fujinon 27 mm. F2.8 at F6.4, 1/1000 second, ISO 400, Velvia Film simulation

Saturday Sounds - Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band - Nov. 6, 2024 - Toronto, ON

"This is a fighting prayer for my country." That's how Bruce Springsteen opened his concert in Toronto on November 6th. Backed by the E-Street Band, a horn section, and the "E-Street Choir", and starting more than an hour late due to travel delays, Bruce gave us almost three hours of glorious, joyous, life-affirming music. It brought me to tears of joy several times and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. It's been years since I've had that kind of emotional impact from a concert. In thinking about it later, I realized that there was sadness, pain, and anger in the music, but there was no negativity. The overall feeling was overwhelmingly positive.

The view from the nose bleed seats

Being his first concert after the US presidential election disaster and with Bruce's strong support of Kamala Harris during her campaign, the concert has attracted quite a bit of press coverage. I've seen reviews in Billboard, Variety, and Rolling Stone.

We had seats up in the 300s in the curve of the bowl beside and slightly behind the stage, but the sightlines were good (aided by a large video screen) and the sound was perfect, loud and crisp. 

Thank/ you Bruce. I needed an antidote to darkness and you delivered, in spades.

Here are a few audience YouTube videos from the concert, starting with the opening "Long Walk Home" followed by a majestic "Land of Hope and Glory".

Better Days

Reason to Believe

Rosalita

Tenth Avenue Freezeout

A Prescription for the Coming Dark Times

I am not optimistic about the near future. There is no scenario in which Trump's election can be considered a good thing. We are in for a period of chaos in disruption in politics, the economy, society, and international relations. What do we do now?

Ken White is a Los Angeles-based lawyer who publishes a blog under the title of "The Popehat Report". His post yesterday is the best thing I've read about Trump's election, what it means for us, and what we can do cope with the coming dark times.  

Modernity has spoiled us in thinking things won’t get dramatically and catastrophically worse, worse in a way that will last for generations. But things have gotten abruptly much worse before, and they can again. And yet people must persevere, even if their children and grandchildren who will see the benefits and not them.

Trump won yesterday, as I feared he would. I firmly believe America — and likely the world — will get significantly worse for at least a generation, probably more. I’ll spare you, for now, the why. Frankly, I think you either already accept it or will never accept it. The things I care about, like the rule of law and equality before it, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, free trade in service of free people, relative prosperity, protection of the weak from the strong, truth, and human dignity are all going to suffer. Bullies and their sycophants and apologists will thrive.

What should we do?

Agent of Chaos

I am beyond disappointed. Angry. Scared. But not surprised. It seems like the world is moving in the direction of authoritarianism and the US is just the latest country to fall to this madness. 

Most of all, I am sad. Sad for my family members in the US; sad for any Americans who are not CIS, white, and male; sad for Ukraine and other countries struggling for freedom; sad for the planet because there will be no chance of mitigating global warming. 

The next four years (at least) are going to be chaotic. I am not looking forward to them. 

Featured Links - November 4, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The future if Trump wins

• Guns. Knives. Bats. Hammers. Hatchets. Spears. "As incidents of road rage escalate across the country, aggressive drivers in Texas try to understand what triggers anger." A good article about something that is all too common. 
• Kingdom Uncovered. "New documentary reveals that 21,000 laborers have died working on Saudi Vision 2030, which includes NEOM, since construction began."
• See a giant ‘ghost particle’ detector and more — October’s best science images. "The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team."
• Reinventing the world’s favorite building material (archive link). "Concrete, the second-most-used material on Earth, generates about four times more CO2 emissions than planes." And one of the solutions might be slag; I hope someone at Algoma Steel reads this article. 
• The 2024 Grateful Dead Almanac. The year in the world of the Grateful Dead.
• The Strongman Fantasy. "And Dictatorship in Real Life". An historian on life under a dictator. 
• A fearful nation. "Jeremy Dauber's American Scary argues that America's horror genre are intrinsically linked to our horrific pasts–and present."
• Thousands Turn Out For Nonexistent Halloween Parade Promoted By AI Listing. The perils spreading disinformation created and enhanced by AI. 
• How The New York Times is using generative AI as a reporting tool. "LLMs help reporters transcribe and sort through hundreds of hours of leaked audio." AI can be useful, if it's handled responsibly and with understanding of its limitations.
• Why Are Liberals Infuriated with the Media? "From sanewashing to false equivalence, many readers have had it with their favorite news publications. Editors would do well to listen."