Ignorant hateful white men who worship a rising fascist dictator look like this.
Monthly Archives: September 2016
More Analysis of the Trump-Clinton Commander In Chief Faceoff
Following up on one of the issues addressed in “How The Press Created FrankenTrump and Ruined Civilization“, we have this:
The Cold Stop: Trump Hasn’t Proved IRS Audit
It is not easy being Kellyanne Conway. This is fun:
Boom: Julia; Karl?
Update (Mid day Wed):
The disturbance in the eastern Atlantic is now a depression, and it is reasonably likely that it will be a named storm by mid day tomorrow, Thursday.
The predictions for the next several days do not have this storm turning into a hurricane any time soon; it should remain a storm or a depression, possibly going back and forth between the two, for four or five days, but after that, perhaps it will turn into something. Or not. Keep an eye on Karl, if this becomes Karl.
Meanwhile Julia is annoying people in the Southeast, but not doing much. However, keep an eye out for flooding.
Original Post:
There was a disturbance in the Atlantic. And it very suddenly developed the attributes to be a named tropical storm, so suddenly we have TS Julia hosing down the East Coast, on land already. That was fast.
And, farther out in the Atlantic, a zone of disturbance is reasonably likely, but by no means certain, to become a named tropical storm, and it would be called Karl.
Julia is my daughter, and Karl was my best friend in high school (he died soon after), so this is a big week for me wrt Atlantic storms! Not that you care, but for me it is cool.
What you might be more interested in is this: The total number of named storms for this time in the Atlantic is normally close to about 10, and with Karl, we’ll be at eleven with several weeks more to go. So, this is becoming a somewhat more active hurricane season than average, as predicted.
Ian is still out there somewhere.
Everybody Always Gets This Wrong, Even Smart People
This is a great cartoon by Randall Munroe that makes a very important point very effectively. Spread it around, love it, learn from it.
Here is an excellent video walkthrough of the cartoon, discussing its value as a communication tool.
But do ignore the details of the prehistory because the cartoonist has fallen into the same trap so many others have, well meaning in intention but simply a) not an expert on key things and b) unaware of the real consequences of getting certain things wrong.
When we represent prehistory, we represent humanity both past and present. It is not difficult to do so in a way that leads to serious and meaningful, even impactful, misconceptions.
So, here, I’m going to complain not just about this cartoon, but about the general phenomenon of people who are not paleontologists or archaeologists (or some other appropriate expert) using human prehistory to make a point, but at the same time, throwing accuracy about that prehistory under the bus.
Right way, I want to point out the consequences: Westerners, for sure, but this is more widespread than that, tend to have a view of humans that involve concepts of civilized and primitive, and hierarchical concepts mixed with evolutionary ones. And there are other problems in the conceptualization of prehistory and the diversity of humanity. These problems make it very easy to maintain a racist perspective despite overwhelming evidence against the validity of biological race. These problems make it very easy to lessen the pain and suffering of certain people, which, often, we are busy causing in our own self interest. These problems in conceptualizing the nature of humanity across time and space lead to all sorts of misunderstandings with all sort of consequences including, but not limited to, simply getting it all wrong.
XKCD is a comic written in and fully appreciated by the context of modern skepticism and science cheerleading. Let us please not throw the important social and natural sciences of archaeology, prehistory, paleoanthropology, etc. under the bus in service of making a point in some other area of study. A smart man whom I respect quipped, “but this comic is not about archaeology.” My answer to that: This comic makes one point about climate change and dozens of points about archaeology. It is about archaeology.
Why this is a great cartoon.
Look at the cartoon. Go from top to bottom.
It tells us that over a very long period of time, as humans did all sorts of different things, and conditions on the earth changed dramatically, the global surface temperature a) remained within a fairly narrow range and b) didn’t vary that quickly even when it did vary.
Then, all of the sudden, temperatures shoot way up and are expected to shoot way up even more. Holy crap. Point well made.
Missed opportunities
The climate change science is not bad but a bit off. The baseline of temperatures (pre industrial) vs. now should be somewhat different in relation to the current temperature. If you take the last few thousand years as basline, which is the proper thing to do, we are closer to 1.5, and not 1.0, degrees C above it. But that may be a nitpick since the time scale of this cartoon is larger. But, once you get past that level of time scale, the question of baseline becomes untethered from pragmatics and you can justify anything.
Also, there are probably times in the past, within the time range of this cartoon, where more abrupt and dramatic climate change did indeed occur. And, at those times, major effects happens with humans.
This is where not getting the archaeology right causes the cartoon to both miss some key points and become inadvertantly somewhat less than straight forward.
Here’s the thing. Climate change can have a very negative effect on humans. How do we know? Because it apparently has happened over and over again. For example (and there are many examples), within the time range of this graphic, climate changed caused a significant increase in aridity in a huge area of southern Africa. The place was pretty well populated by hunter-gatherers before that, and after that, and for thousands of years, no one could live there. Climate change had made the region uninhabitable for humans.
Similarly, climate change probably caused depopulations, evacuations, and migrations in many other parts of the world at several points in time represented here.
Critics from the denier side of things would point out that climate change has always caused problems, so this new change is no big deal, and XKCD ignore this. But the cartoon, had it mentioned more of these earlier changes, would instead represent a different fact: Natural variation in climate can be catastrophic to humans. The level of change happening now, and expected in the near future, still caused by humans, is much larger than what happened during this time period, or faster. So look out!!!
But that’s not the point I want to make.
Simple facts and big concepts
NOTE: Since I wrote this post, at least one change was made in the original carton, pertaining to the flooding of the scablands in Washington State. Perhaps other changes will be made over time!
There are a number of simple facts that the time line either gets wrong or represents in a way that we would not like for a basic intro class in archaeology or paleontology. Some of these facts were pointed out to me by John McKay or Helga Ingeborg Vierich. This is not comprehensive, but gets the point across:
- Impressive prehsitoric art appears on the cartoon at 15K. Art and adornmnent appear well before the time line begins, and jot just in Europe. The super impressive cave wall art dates well before the time line, and somewhat less impressive works occur very much earlier. This is a decades old conception overturned many years ago.
- The Clovis First model of the peopling of the Americas is on its last legs and should not be used as assumed knowledge.
- The Missoula mega-flods affected eastern Washington, not Oregon.
- The glaciers weren’t just in New York and Boston, they covered many other places. If the idea is to connect glacial geography to people’s lives, references to other areas might be helpful.
- Wrangle Island is not tiny. He may have confused Wrangle Island with Ts. Paul in the Privilovs.
- Abu Hureyra is one of several sites with early year round settlement. More important may be the more southerly Natufian, where foraging peoples, for a very long time, took up permanent settlement, and the first commensal organisms (which would become very important to humans, like plague carrying rats and domestic dogs, etc.) came on the scene.
- Agriculture has multiple origins, but a single origin is implied here.
- The origin of copper metal working happens in multiple places (two with smelting in the old world, plus it was worked in the new world).
- Similarly, other metal working has multiple origins.
- People will fight about the date for “proto-indo-european” languages or even is fuch a proto-thing existed or could be dates. The majority of historical linguists don’t accept this at all. But if that is right or not, again, Indo-European languages are not particularly important in overall human history. The cartoon centralizes a relatively rare language group and ignores thousands of other language groups, as though the mostly post hoc Western lineage of human civilization is assumed to be the most important.
- “Permanent settlement in the fertile crescent” is out of the blue, and contradicted earlier on the time line. Permanent settlements in the region predate this by 6,000 years.
- All of the early steps in civilization rising are focused on a very limited area, represent only a small (and very Western oriented) portion of civilization, ignoring most of human prehistory, and privilege “civilization” over what the fast majority of people were doing at the time.
- Same problem with writing. Writing was invented many times over many areas, but it looks here like it may have a single origin, the origin that is part of the Western Civilization story.
- Missed opportunity: “Invasion of the sea peoples” may very well have been an example of climate change messing up a population and causing a mass migration.
- For later civilizations, I appreciate the reference to the New World. But again, it is only part of the story, mentioning a small part of the record. Isn’t it a much more interesting story to note that between 10K and 2K (or so) dozens of independent highly organized hierarchical societies, often referred to as “this or that civilization” arose all over the world, while at the same time, the vast majority of people lived off the land as foragers?
- The Industrial Revolution starts in the 18th, not 19th,century, in Europe.
Larger scale things you might learn from this graphic that are wrong.
That agriculture was invented once, as part of Western Civilization, and the same for metal working, marginalizes the new world, many regions of Asia, many regions of Africa. These are misconceptions that those of us who teach intro to world prehistory or similar courses have to spend a large amount of our time refuting.
The idea seems to be represented that humans made the transition from hunter-gatherers at one point in time and thereafter were mostly agriculturalists. The opposite is true. Most humans were living in small groups as hunter gatherers for the entire time represented by this cartoon, except at the end. Half the humans or more at the time of Christ, for example. It is likely that in many regions, at various points in time, an early stab at horticulture was abandoned, and people returned to agriculture.
Is this important?
Well, getting facts right is important. In the case of prehistory, this mainly means not overstating the facts. One might argue that in a simplified version of reality (like in a cartoon) it is ok to overstate things as facts where we really don’t know. No, it isn’t. There are ways to speak briefly, and in an interesting way, of a past that we understand more vaguely than some DK book for five year olds. So let’s do that.
The oversimplification of prehistory contributes to the co-opting of intelligence, innovation, rights over various things like landscapes and cultural phenomena, by the dominant cultures who have condensed the relevant prehistories to centralize and privilege themselves. The prehistory presented here mostly privilages what we sometimes refer to as “Western Civilization” with its middle eastern roots and its simple, linear, one way, always improving, progressive history. A very inaccurate history.
As Helga Vierlich wrote on my Facebook timeline, “In short, this reflects a preoccupation with “progress” whereas what it really shows is a progressive ecosystem and social clusterfuck that brings us to the present situation – characterized by continuing destruction of the last ecologically sustainable (“indigenous”) economies… and also characterized by deforestation, massive climate change, pollution, ecosystem distraction, soil erosion, and species extinction.”
So, in making a point about self destruction by the human species, due to anthropogenic climate change, the oversimplification misses key points in that actual process.
But it is still a good cartoon.
I would like people who pass this cartoon around to make a brief statement, like, “I hear the prehistory is oversimplified a bit, but this makes a great point about climate change” or words to that effect. Many will argue that this statement is not enough. But I’m not a big fan of sacrificing the really cool for the sake of the perfectly pedantical. Usually.
Science Questions for the Candidates
ScienceDebate.org is an organization that, for years now, has been pushing to get the candidates running for President of the United States to engage in a debate over science policy, just as they debate foreign policy, or economic policy, etc.
And, ScienceDebate.org has had some success. Some of the candidates, at the primary level, have engaged in such a debate, and at the national level, some of the candidates have contributed written answers to citizen-generated questions about science policy.
And now, they’ve done it again.
The four main candidates (two actual main candidates and two “third party” candidates) were provided with several science policy related questions. Three of the candidates have provided answers.
The entire project is to be found HERE. There are 20 questions.
I’m still going through them. If you have comments on any, please post them, I’d love to hear what you think.
Personally, I think Trump’s answer on climate change was probably written by Bjorn Lomborg. Or, cribbed form something he wrote.
(I suppose someone should be running these answers through a plagiarism checker???)
Gary Johnson apparently has nothing to say about science policy. That makes sense. He’s a Libertarian, and Libertarians don’t believe in science policy.
Jill Stein gave an interesting answer on Vaccines.
Trump wants to stop the inflow of opioids into the United States. He may not have understood the question.
The word “wall” does not appear among the answers, though Immigration is asked about.
Interesting answers on space as well.
And, if you’ve not seen this, enjoy:
A Science Film Festival in Saint Paul (Get a discount from me!)
Ever been to a CON? Like, ComiCON, or CONvergence? One of the best parts of a CON is the science, often involving panels with interesting science experts, or perhaps even a film or two.
Well, Twin Cities denizen Ryan Johnson founded and organized a new thing, which is set up as a film festival, to provide these fantastic CONnish features in a very attractive package. Admission is by the day, and thus less expensive than the average convention. Also, you can get a 15% discount if, when you go online to buy your tickets, you use the code “laden”
The Northstar Science Film Festival is a new film festival that celebrates the collision of science and entertainment. The first festival is scheduled for September 15-17, 2016, with events at Twin Cities Public Television, Bedlam Theatre, and Tin Whiskers Brewing in Saint Paul.
Scientists participating include Drs. David Tillman, Marla Spivak, James Kakalios, Chuck Niederriter, Clifford Johnson, and many others.
They have a great line up of films and speakers scheduled for this year’s festival. Here are (most of?) the speakers:
and How Quantum Mechanics Made Life Worth Living
and The Day The Universe Changed
“>The Day the Universe ChangedInformation, full schedule and ticketing is all available at www.northstarscience.org. Again, readers of this blog can get a 15% discount on tickets by using the coupon code “laden”.
I hope to see you there!
Northstar’s advisory board includes the following:
*Ann Merchant-Deputy Executive Director of National Academy of Sciences, Science and Entertainment Exchange
*Shawn Otto-filmmaker and co-founder of ScienceDebate
*Michael Halpern-Director at Union of Concerned Scientists
*Richard Hudson-Director at Science Programming at Twin Cities Public Television
*James Kakalios, PhD-physicist, professor at University of Minnesota, author of Physics of Superheroes
*Lawrence Krauss, PhD-theoretical physicist, author (Physics of Star Trek), and director of Arizona State University’s Origins Project
*Matthew Chapman-filmmaker, co-founder of ScienceDebate, and great, great grandson of Charles Darwin
*Christine Walker-filmmaker and Executive Director of Provincetown Film Festival
*Melissa Butts and Kim Rowe, Filmmakers with Melrae Pictures
*Scott Bur, Professor of Chemistry, Gustavus Adolphus College
*Ryan Johnson-attorney and science advocate
*Tad Ware-advertising executive
Tell The AGU To Do The Right Thing About AGW #ExxonKnew
A while back it became apparent, or should I say, more apparent, that Exxon corporation had been playing a dangerous and unethical game with the science of climate change, and for decades, misled people on the relationship between their fossil fuel related activities, the effects of those activities, and possible solutions. (They’ve known about this problem all along.)
Part of this seems to have involved making misstatements about climate change, and pumping resources into anti science activities and organizations.
The American Geophysical Union is the unifying organization for geologists and physicists and other scientists who study climate change. The AGU does a lot more than that, but a good portion of the climate science community, internationally, engages at the AGU’s annual conference.
Meanwhile, the AGU has a rule against accepting sponsorship from anti science organizations. Yet, Exxon has been sponsoring events at the AGU for some time.
Obviously this can get tricky. Why not take money from a major corporation that ultimately benefits from the AGU, as it does by having a better equipped scientific community from which to draw both employees and expertise? And to some extent that is true, and to some extent many situations of tension exist like this.
But in this case, there is a very strong argument that AGU should stop taking money from Exxon.
Also, see this piece by Geoffrey Supran: Scientific organizations must be braver in confronting climate denial
Recent revelations about Exxon have indicated that that organization’s activities are over the top. And, hundreds of members of the scientific community that is served by AGU and that engages in this sort of research signed on to a letter demanding that the AGU stop taking Exxon’s tainted money.
And, the AGU board met, and blew off the scientists, and sidled up to Exxon. They gave all the usual, but rather lame, excuses.
Tomorrow the board meets again. ClimateTruth.org is asking people to sign a petition supporting the scientists. Below is information from ClimateTruth.org. HERE IS THE LINK TO SIGN THE PETITION.
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is the largest association of Earth scientists in the world and a well-respected institution that advances public understanding of science. Yet, the AGU continues to accept funding from Exxon, one of the world’s leading funders of climate change denial.
The AGU’s own sponsorship policy forbids accepting funding from any organization that supports science misinformation, a rule that was put in place for good reason. It’s time for the AGU to start abiding by its own policy — starting with Exxon.
Now’s your chance to take a stand. Over 300 Earth scientists have signed on to an open letter calling on the AGU to reject Exxon sponsorship. Signers include renowned climatologists James E. Hansen, the former director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Michael E. Mann, Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. Today, we’re asking you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these scientists, and 50,000 citizens, by adding your name.
The AGU Board meets TOMORROW and we’ll be hand-delivering the thousands of petition signatures from across the nation directly to AGU headquarters in Washington, DC. It’s not too late! You can still join this collaborative campaign of scientists and citizens — and help us remind the AGU that its leadership matters to all of us.
Stand with scientists and tell the AGU: Stop taking funds from Exxon, a company that misleads the public about climate change.
Exxon has been deceiving the public about the science of climate change for decades and funding climate disinformation at a massive scale. Yet, the AGU Board couldn’t be convinced at their last meeting and decided to continue accepting funding from Exxon. It took a letter from U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Ted Lieu to push the AGU Board to vow to once again “review and discuss the information” at its next meeting tomorrow, on September 14.
Your voice matters. Tell the AGU to drop Exxon sponsorship.
Thank you for helping us hold the AGU accountable and for standing up for science — today and every day.
Truthfully Yours,Amanda, Emily, Brant, Brandy, Daniela and the rest of the ClimateTruth.org team
The Real Story Behind The Basket of Deplorables
I have to say, first, that when I hear the term “Basket of Deplorables” I think right away of Edward Gorey
Anyway, I’ve seen and hear a lot of whining and bellyaching about this term, and Secretary Clinton’s statement.
But most people have only heard the statement, and not the discussion that led up to it. That, folks, is the real story. So spend two minutes and edumicate yourself:
Personally, I can’t see how one would support Trump unless one was fully deplorable, or a basket case, or both. Secretary Clinton underestimated with that 50% thumbsuck guess.
Update: Super Typhoon Meranti Heads For Mainland China
Wed AM Update:
Meranti passed near the southern tip of Taiwan, and apparently it was pretty windy and nasty there. But, Taiwan has invested heavily in infrastructure with the idea of being hit with giant typhoons now and then, so things were not as bad as they could have been.
apparently Meranti is now a category 5 equivalent heading for China. The storm is expected to weaken only a bit as it makes landfall (see this post on what landfall means) so this is going to be a direct hit by a major hurricane. There are some pretty densely populated areas in the storm’s path. There are also many harbors that narrow quickly on the way into the elevated interior, where there is a very hilly terrain and some moderately restricted inland valleys. So, the prospects for major storm surges and serious inland flooding are significant.
Original Post:
Within a 24 hour time period, Typhoon Meranti cranked up from what we in the US would call a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 storm. Or stronger, if we had more categories.
Some time between late Tuesday and mid day Wednesday, the typhoon will have a run at the southern tip of Taiwan. This is the less populated part of the island, but this is a big storm and its effects will be felt over the entire country.
Interacting with Taiwan is not expected to slow down the storm too much, and some time late Thursday, possibly as a Category 3 equivalent, it will slam into China.
Then it will go inland and contribute significantly to flooding.
This is the strongest cyclone so far in this year’s Northern Hemisphere season. Under climate change, we expect some cyclones to undergo much more rapid intensification, which can be a real problem when it occurs just before making landfall. This is the case with Meranti, though, as noted, the area to be affected initially is not as dense of a population zone as it might have been. The storm is stronger than it otherwise would have been had it not been for global warming, as well.
For a further discussion of human caused global warming and this storm, visit Climate Signals (Beta). The graphs above are from Weather Underground.
An Affordable Android and Windows 2-in-1 Tablet
I’ve been testing out the Teclast Tbook 16 Pro 2 in 1 Tablet PC. I think the emerging term for this kind of device is “2 in 1” because if configured one way it is a small notebook computer, configured the other way, it is a standard tablet.
First, a bit of philosophy. When Apple and others invented the iPod Touch and various Smart Phones, it seemed obvious that a larger version of such a device might be helpful. So they went ahead and invented tablets. And tablets are cool. But, as often happens in technology, extreme coolness came to stand in for “the next big thing” in all applications. In fashion, you know that “orange is the new black” or “black is the new white” etc., as though there was only one color allowed at a time. In technology, “tablets are the new notebook” and “notebooks/laptops are the new desktops” is a similarly misguided concept. For some individuals, with a certain range of needs and abilities, such a transition is possible. For others, it is not. those who believe standard tablets like the iPad can replace all technology are few in numbers.
But there are enough of them that when Apple decided to replace all computer technology, or at least, all semi-mobile or fully mobile tech, with tablets, that worked great until that small number (but still in the millions) all got their tablets.
Then the market became saturated, and everyone else needed their keyboard, because that is how many interface with their technology. And it is a good way to interface. Years have gone by now since one did not technically need a keyboard, and we still need the keyboards.
So, the result is the 2-in-2 technology. Even as Apple does away with the longest living and consistent technology ever developed for normal human use, the headphone jack, I promise you that Apple will be shifting towards the 2-in-1 technology if they plan to keep up.
Anyway, the Teclast Tbook 16 Pro 2 in 1 Tablet PC is my attempt to test out this technology. (Short version, we are having a great time with this affordable and powerful tablet!)
I’ll provide some comparative data below, but here’s the gestalt. All microprocessors used today are fast and powerful, so all modern tablets have the computing power you need for, well, checking Facebook, handling email, and browsing around on line, which is most of what you do. All modern tablets have excellent high resolution screens. When it comes down to it, there isn’t a lot different between different tablets other than things like size, what kinds of do-dads you can plug into it, and the operating system.
But, there are 2-in-1 tablets that cost a couple thousand dollars, most of the higher end ones are well over $500. But the Tbook without the keyboard is just over 200 (as it is now on sale, see this link for more info, or click through to the link given above). And, of great importance, the same source (Gearbest) has bundles with various tablets and their keyboards.
Usually I don’t recommend specific outlets for specific devices, but at the moment, this outlet in China is trying very hard to give you what is essentially a 600 or 700 dollar 2 in one tablet for just over $200. So, I thought you should know.
OK, details on the Teclast Tbook 16 Pro 2 in 1 Tablet PC. When you boot up, you can chose between running Windows (full version) or Android (a nearly stock current version). When you are in either of these systems, using a link that is very similar to logging out, you can change to the other operating system. The change is essentially (almost) a full reboot, so both changing and starting from off take the usual boot up time for any phone or computer (well, much faster compared to the average desktop Windows computer).
The screen is large, and cinema shaped, and the overall build seems solid. There is a micro USB receptacle which allows you to expand out as well as charge if plugged into a charger. There is also a regular charting receptacle for a DC connector. The cable for that is provided, and you plug that cable into a USB charger brick or slot. There is an HDMI output as well, and a standard headphone jack.
I’ve tested all the plugs and outputs. We’ve shown movies and otherwise mirrored the device via HDMI to a TV. We’ve switched back and forth between systems. I’ve heavily used the Android system, and less vigorously tested out the Windows system. All this works great. We also dropped the tablet from a height of about 4 feet and that had no effect. (That was not on purpose.)
The tablet hooks via magnetic interface (and various contact points) to a nice tablet-width keyboard. The keyboard has multiple USB outlets. This allows you to use this 2-in-1 as a fully functional Windows computer.
Some of you may wonder why I would want to do that. Normally, I would not as I don’t use Windows. However, the only other Windows computer in the house is Amanda’s work laptop, and that is managed by her school and we can’t really use it. So, having a single, small, yet powerful Windows computer in the house is not a bad thing for that occasional need. For example, I have a small electronic device that needs occasional adjustment to the bios. It is possible to do it from Linux, but (because of the software provided by the manufacturer) easy to do it in Windows. So having a Windows computer hiding inside an Android tablet, for occasional use, is nice. If you do that, though, I recommend running the Windows system every now and then so the infernal upgrade process can keep up with the outside world and not hobble you on your first use after a year of non-use. (Not a problem for Linux.)
I’m a little disappointed that a Chinese manufacturer does not have a Linux option. Linux is widely used in China, and I think it is the most popular system there. Also, at some point, I’ll try booting from a live USB with Linux. If that works, heck, I just might … well, we’ll see. And I’ll let you know. (This tablet comes with a severe warning to not mess with the OSs, but … well, we’ll see.)
The specs for the tablet:
<li>Android 5.1 Lollipop OS</li>
I haven’t played around enough with the keyboard to say anything smart about that mode of use, but I’ll post on that later. Also I’ll note that ordering from this company was easy and shipping costs are very reasonable.
Now I want to put this in some context. Here is this 2-in-1 tablet in context of roughly comparable, in terms of overall size, etc. devices, listed from most expensive to least expensive. Notice the very steep gradient on price.
$1,200: Lenovo Yoga 900 13 Powerful processor, more ram, Windows only.
$550: HP Elite x2 1011 G1 Ultrabook/Tablet – 11.6″ Windows only
This tablet is a great and affordable way to ender the 2-in-1 technology in a way that has a significant advantage: The Android OS ready to go along side that other OS.
23,000 Dead In The US Per Year
Ever year about 23,000 people die of infections from antibiotic resistant bacterial.
Here is a film of bacteria evolving from regular old bacteria into killer superbugs. On a coffee table size Petri dish.
You can get the story at NPR, where you will learn that
“Getting more people to understand how quickly bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance might help people understand why they shouldn’t be prescribed antibiotics. The drug resistance is not some abstract threat. It’s real.”
How to make a hand crank flashlight
This looks like a fun project. I think it works so well, or at least, seams to in the video because LEDs are so damn efficient.
I would make it somewhat differently, but this is good. For one thing, I’d probably make it out of an LED flashlight, swapping out the batteries for a motor.
And then, when you have your flashlight ready, you can do this!
(Hat tip: David Cassatt)
Generation 9/11. History will be embarrassed by us.
This is a piece I wrote in 2011, on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (Originally posted here.)
I believe that the sauntering I refer to has diminished. But instead of sauntering, our local and county police departments seem to have taken up a different hobby: Shooting unarmed people of color. I think the problems underscored in this essay are mostly worse now than they were five years ago, and the argument I make here for what happened since 9/11/2001 is stronger, more clearly demonstrated by event. Also, the link between 9/11 and the Donald Trump candidacy is as clear as a brand new picture window right after the window washers left.
I’ve made minor edits, but left time references as they were five years ago. This will not affect you reading of this post.
Happy Anniversary 9/11
A former engineering student, on seeing film of the World Trade Center towers collapse on September 11th, 2001, indicated surprise. He told a friend that he would have thought that on being hit with jumbo jets, the two or three immediately affected floors of the tower would have been destroyed but the structures would probably remain standing, or at most the floors above the impact sites could possibly collapse due to melting support beams but the lower floors would stand. The complete collapse, above and below the impact sites, of both of the structures was a surprise to him, given his engineering training.
Those remarks were made shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Almost ten years later the same man who made these remarks was shot to death by US special forces agents in a raid on a residential compound in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad. And just like Osama bin Laden, the former engineering student1 who made those remarks, also a businessman, and ultimately, the world’s most serious terrorist ever (and no relation to me), I also have a hard time believing that it happened. But it did happen and the fallout from that event is still with us, and in fact, getting worse.
Many have spoken of the Post Patriot Act world, affecting day to day life in America, the wars, our treatment of our fellow humans at Gitmo and untold secret prisons around the world, the rise of the most expensive bureaucracy ever, all that. Icons of post 9/11 loom over us largely, and also exist in a small way in every nook and cranny of day to day life. And it rarely makes sense.
I once told you about a rural Iowan, who felt trapped and scared in the Big City, calling an elderly African American homeless wheel chair bound gentleman a “Terrorist.” That was an example of regular people substituting mundane daily fears, in this case, the “inner city” the “Black man” and I suppose “Wheel chairs” … oh, and we were in a “deli” run by “middle eastern people” so there was that too … with the largely made-up bogeyman of “Terrorist.”
One day last summer criminals drove down our street and carried out a criminal act before our very eyes, so we called 911. The police showed up way too late to matter and with way too many cops to make me think they were anything but frightened to go out alone, and the first thing they did was to demand to see my identification. I’m standing in my yard at the Weber, coals hot, brats cooking, a long bbq style fork in my hand and an apron that says “A Man and his Grill” on it and the cop is asking me for my identification.2 I blew him off with a stern look, and he went away. (Our cops are fairly meek. That would not have worked everywhere.) But that has become the norm: When the cops show up, you better damn well assume we live in a police state at least for that moment, or pretty soon you’ll be assuming the position just for standing there. Yes, folks, more and more people are being treated just like black folk in this country always have been. That should tell you something. One step backwards. Then a few more steps backwards.
I used to be a guy who called 911, when appropriate, and probably more than others on average. Now, I only call 911 if someone is in physical danger or needs medical attention. If I’m going to get shaken down for helping the coppers, the coppers can help themselves, thank you.
When an accident happens, or even some crap falls off a truck and causes an obstruction in the road, the First Responders show up and close more lanes than they need to and they saunter. Yes, that’s what I said. Instead of rushing in and managing the situation safely and effectively, they saunter around in full view of the drivers who are all forced over onto the shoulder to get by the scene. One day I sat in traffic for a half hour going north on State Route 169, and for the last six or seven minutes of that I could clearly see the two fire trucks that were blocking most of the lanes of traffic and the first responders sauntering around with absolutely nothing going on, no debris, no inured citizens, no other vehicles, nothing on the road to clean up, no “investigation” in progress, and they were passing around coffee. I’m sure there were donuts somewhere. I’m a fairly observant person and I’m not especially paranoid, and I’m pretty sure that I’m right: Post 911 first responders think they are the shit because hundreds of them died in the World Trade Center. This change in status and attitude is seen everywhere in our culture, I don’t need to convince you of that. Here, I’m just adding in that extra bit of unnecessary and costly sauntering at scenes that should be cleared. Because the cultural details matter even when they are small.
Do you know that during the late 1960s, when the US was in the throes of an unpopular war and a on the edge of revolution at home, there were an average of well over one hijacking of a commercial airplane flying out of a US based airport every month? Do you know what the reaction to that was? Metal detectors, and eventually baggage screening. Society did not change. It just got slightly harder, but not much harder, to get onto an airplane. Post 9/11 changes have been enormous and far reaching and pervasive. Now, I’m not trying to equate, or even compare, the scores of hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s with 9/11 and related acts (such as the attack on the Cole and the earlier WTC bombing, etc). There is no way to make that comparison. What I am trying to compare is the reaction, then vs. now. And, I’m not even comparing the reaction, exactly. What I’m trying to point out here is that in the 60s, the governmental and societal reaction to a significant spate of hijackings was to address airport security. The more recent reaction (to 9/11) was to shift all of society and almost every aspect of American culture, the activities of ever government department and agency, the expectations and rule sets, the budgets, the procedural manuals, and everything else to a paranoid modality and to institute what is essentially a low-level police state. That’s a difference worth noting. And worth complaining about.
Generation 9/11. History will be at least a little embarrassed by us.
Recently, we’ve been discussing the State Mandated Recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. The reason this is becoming increasingly enforced around the US is because of various state laws passed in time to be in place for today’s anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, or more generally as part of a post 9/11 culture. In one of our local schools, students had interesting responses to this happening on their turf, expressed in a school paper’s “debate” layout. The printed views were even … same number for and same number against. Those against the pledge requirement made all the usual and generally quite convincing arguments and did a great job. Those in favor of the jingoistic approach were, well, jingoistic, but, with an interesting and very positive twist; Most of them gave sway to atheists and agnostics. They said that they fully supported people leaving off the “under god” part and totally understood why they might do that. And none of the pro-pledge opinions were dripping with religious commentary or reference. It is important to note that of all the high schools in the region, the one to which I refer to is in the top four or five with respect to conservatism of the area served (it is in a Michele Bachmann clone’s Congressional District), and in the top two with respect to per capita wealth of the residents, and is probably the least diverse district in the state.
And that is interesting because the average high school kid is about 16 years old, meaning that they were 6 when the 9/11 attacks happened, and therefore, the attacks themselves are not necessarily part of their own cultural composition to the same degree that it is with older folk. These are kids that grew up in the post 9/11 world without necessarily feeling the powerful disbelief that many of us felt, followed by whatever fear or rage or helplessness or sense of dread or revenge that affected so many. The bad news is that this generation has become accustom to a much, much lower standard of freedom than many older people have, but this also means that when they confront this lack of freedom they may be more willing to rebel against it because they related less directly to the Defining Moment.
Sauntering firemen and cocky police officers are not the end of the world and they are not the Nazi’s or the Bradbury’s Salamander. They are, rather, puddles of dried blood from a minor wound. When you get into a bad accident, you may get a major wound that could kill or maim you, but you will also get a lot of minor wounds that on their own would not mean much. But you know that the accident was truly traumatic when the minor wounds add up to a plethora but are uncounted or ignored because they are just background. Sauntering firemen, cocky police officers, and Iowans who label homeless wheel chair bound African American old guys as “terrorists” are the tiny scrapes and bruises on a battered corpse.
And now might be a good point to ask the question, “What has risen from the ashes of the 9/11 attacks?” There was much talk at the time, and since then, and again today, about how great America is, how great Americans are, and how we will move forward and become better and stronger and so on and so forth. But it is just talk. What has happened instead is something entirely different.
The giddy fear and sense of dread that comes from a violent moment clouds the mind, of the individual or more broadly but also the collective social mind. The disorientation that caused that lady from Iowa to mistake the wheel chair bound homeless man for a “terrorist” represents an internal derailing of logic. The guard rail is down, the road is slippery, and rational thought has spun not just into the ditch but across the highway into oncoming traffic. The playbook has become garbled and the Quarterback is running the wrong way. The general, gone mad, is locked up on the army base with the launch codes. Twelve Angry Men, Lord of the Flies … stop me before I metaphor again! I think you get the point. There are a lot of people who benefit from our present social pathology, and that surely has been a factor. But also, it is simply a social pathology that we are experiencing, a terrorist victory, a lack of character on our part as a nation.
But the scary part is what comes out of it, and by now you have probably guessed my point. The Tea Party and things like the Tea Party. Strongly held anti-social illogical destructive beliefs with no hope of critical self evaluation, in a large and organized part of the population. It is obvious why this happened in the Republican Party and not the Democratic Party, but people on both sides of the political aisle have contributed. Literalist, libertarian, paranoid, self-centered, easily frightened, reactionary, sub-average in intelligence, deluded in self worth and unmovable in conviction and belief despite all evidence to the contrary. The lady from Iowa, the sauntering firemen, the sheep who welcome being harassed by the TSA agents at the gate, the people who are happy to click “I agree” when confronted with a 43 page EULA that, somewhere in there, tells you the thing you just bought and paid for is not yours; A general social willingness to be told what to do, fear of not being told what to do, cynicism that we can think of what to do on our own, and utter disbelief that collective progressive action any longer has potential or meaning.
The little puddles of drying blood are everywhere, splatter evidence not from the 9/11 attacks but from our national and social flailing about and rending of cloth and flesh as aftermath. It isn’t just that the terrorist won on that day; It is much much worse than that. First they beat us, then they recruited us to do ourselves in.
Happy Anniversary 9/11
1Apparently there is some question as to whether or not Osama bin Laden was actually an engineering student, but we’ll roll with it for the present purposes. Here’s the video of him making the remarks I paraphrased:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkdFNLqJajM&w=400&h=330]
2I’m exaggerating. There was no apron. But I was wearing my Darwin I Think Cap.
What did Neil Armstrong Actually Say On The Moon?
In linguistic communication, a pattern generally emerges whereby the speaker or the listener (but not both) work extra hard to make the communication happens. This work (or lack thereof) consists of enunciation, use of contractions, various other things. You know about this because you make such adjustments all the time. When speaking to a child, or when speaking about your area of expertise but to a non-expert, etc., you not only use an adjusted vocabulary but also speak more clearly and maybe even more loudly; you end up doing more of the work than you would usually do.
Entire cultural entities, back in the old days when lingusists were still anthropologists, could be classified (probably too arbitrarily) in this way, where in one setting speakers did little of the work and the listeners had to work harder, but in other settings, the opposite was true.
When we humans speak on radios, I get the impression that everyone is working extra hard because of the interference. Also, if there is a dispatcher or central voice of some kind, I think the dispatcher or equivalent works harder and those out on the periphery don’t work very hard at all. To see for yourself, listen to a police band radio for a while.
Dispatcher: “Unit 41, code 11 at Main and Fourth.”
Unit 41: “KSshhhhs blorp bleep. Ain orth.”
That sort of thing.
Some of this has to do with the quality of the radio signal coming from some places. So, when human astronauts are out visiting other planets, you can get this effect as well.
Houston: Thirteen, we’ve got one more item for you, when you get a chance. We’d like you to stir up your cyro tanks. In addition, I have a shaft and trunnion –
Apollo 13: Ksshsh Kay
Houston: ..for looking at the Comet Bennett, if you need it.
Apollo 13: Bleep blorp k standby
(Loud explosion)
Apollo 13: Kssh k ooson i elieve we’ve had a problem herksshh.
Houston: This is Houston. Say again, please.
Apollo 13: Oh ksssh Houston we’ve had a problem blorp. Ba bee bee a boblrt undervolt.
Houston: Roger. Main B undervolt. OK stand by 13, we’re looking at it.
(Oddly, from this point on in that historic transmission between Earth and Outer Space, the words from the Apollo 13 astonauts start to become clearer than the words from Houston. As though Houston had it’s hands over the mouthpiece for a while.)
Which brings us to Neil Armstrong’s moonlanding quote. What did he say exactly?
Well, being a human, I am quite certain that I know what he said and what he meant. This is what he said:
“That’s one small step for man, one diant leap for mankind.”
But this is probably a better transcription of what he said:
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
What he meant by that:
“So one guy can hop off the foot pad of a Lunar Landing module, no biggie, but in this case, this is a huge leap forward in the history of our species since we are now walking around on another planet. Albeit one circling our own, not like we just landed on Jupiter or something.”
So it is likely that what we actually heard was:
“One small step for BLORP man, one DORPiant leap for mankind”
Where I have substituted nonsense for the missing or messed parts.
To deal with this apparent ambiguity, NASA has generally written the quote as following, provisionally adding the indefinite article and converting “diant” to “giant.”
“That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
And now, a team of linguists writing in PLoS ONE report that even though we couldn’t hear it, Armstrong probably did say “a” before “man.” From the abstract of the paper:
Neil Armstrong insisted that his quote upon landing on the moon was misheard, and that he had said one small step for a man, instead of one small step for man. What he said is unclear in part because function words like a can be reduced and spectrally indistinguishable from the preceding context. Therefore, their presence can be ambiguous, and they may disappear perceptually depending on the rate of surrounding speech. Two experiments are presented examining production and perception of reduced tokens of for and for a in spontaneous speech. Experiment 1 investigates the distributions of several acoustic features of for and for a. The results suggest that the distributions of for and for a overlap substantially, both in terms of temporal and spectral characteristics. Experiment 2 examines perception of these same tokens when the context speaking rate differs. The perceptibility of the function word a varies as a function of this context speaking rate. These results demonstrate that substantial ambiguity exists in the original quote from Armstrong, and that this ambiguity may be understood through context speaking rate.
Now, there is yet another interpretation. Here’s audio of the actual event.
Here is my interpretation of what actually happened. The words Armstrong said are in bold. The words that were only in his head are in italics.
And I’ll step off the LEM now.
Holy fuck. The moon.
That’s one small step for BLORP man.
Crap, did I just leave out the “a.” Not sure. Should I say it again? No, that would be worse. Maybe I just said it real fast. Whatever. Everybody will get what I mean. This will not be a controversy.
One giant leap for mankind.
Holy fuck. The moon.
So, that controversy, if it ever was a controversy, has been dealt a mighty blow.
