It was the Thracian Gladiator, Sparticus!
Cory Booker May Be Thrown Out of the US Senate For Standing Up to Republicans.
Holy moly. Every day you can make a list of which is the most important news story of the day, but if you do, put it on 3×5 Index Cards so you can keep re-arranging it.
Booker released a chunk of the secreted Kavanaugh documents, possibly breaking a Senate rule. Breaking that rule, if he did break it, can result in his expulsion from the Senate.
When confronted with that prospect by Republican leaders, with Kavanaugh looking on and making funny faces, Booker said, “Bring it!”
Does this qualify as a constitutional crisis? It probably would if Booker is thrown out of the Senate and a few thousand citizen show up to put him back in the Senate.
Do Not Upgrade To The New Chrome! Yet.
The new Chrome browser by Google, Chrome 69, is probably an important improvement in browser functionality, look and feel, and security. But, as you might expect, the first version available for general users is buggy, perhaps very buggy. I would wait a little while for the bugs to get all hunted down and exterminated. How long? A week or two should do it.
What is new in the new Google Chrome 69 Browser?
Ed Yong Contains Multitudes But His Book Is Now Cheap On Kindle
I assume for just a day or two, I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin—a “microbe’s-eye view” of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on earth.
Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light—less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are.
The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squid with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people.
Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us—the microbiome—build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners, and introduces us to the scientists on the front lines of discovery. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.
Murderous dictator stands by Trump
I have no words.
Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims “unwavering faith in President Trump.” Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2018
Here, the President casts Americans — the citizens, the elected government, the appointed and hired civil servants — aside and aligns himself with a nefarious foreign leader.
There is a pattern emerging here. Trump likes foreign dictator that hack America.
How A Minority Party Can Win An Election
The difference between Democrats and Republicans:
Democrat One: There’s a blue wave coming!
Democrat Two: Don’t say that, it will jinx us!
Democrat Three: If we say there’s a blue wave, people will relax and we won’t have one!
Democrat Four: There might be a blue wave, but it is all Progressives and they can’t win so we’re done for!
Democrat Five: Don’t say Blue Wave, that might make it not happen!
Democrat Six: There might be a blue wave, but it isn’t Progressive enough, don’t vote for incumbents!
Democrat Seven: I’m going to Cancun in November, see ya later!
Republican One: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
Republican Two: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
Republican Three: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
Republican Four: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
Republican Five: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
Republican Six: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
Republican Seven: There’s a Red Wave coming, were’ winning!
The Unspoken Alliance between Science and the Military: Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new book
Years ago I was visiting a relative of a friend in a house near a major east coast University, and a friend of the relative of the friend was visiting. He was a professor emeritus who had just gotten a renewal of a grant. The grant was from the US Military and it was to further develop a machine he had been working on for decades. The machine, if it ever worked, would be part of a Death Ray (and yes, that’s a thing.)
“The point of my work,” he told me. He was drunk, old, and forgot that this was all a secret. “The point of it is this. It lets us see things we could never see before. Very small things. This will help us cure cancer.”
“But what about the Death Ray,” my friend asked him.
“Oh that. The Death Ray can never work, and my machine can’t help that project along at all. But I had to get the funding somehow. This is very expensive research.”
“But won’t you get in trouble?” my friend asked him.
“I’m sure I would if I was younger. I’ll be dead before those morons catch on.”
And I’m pretty sure that is exactly what ended up happening. He died about 25 years ago. The Death Ray never really took off. Yet, we can see very very small things using machines. The part I don’t know is whether or not his machine ever worked out, but I’d wager it did.
Anyway, the famous and widely loved Neil deGrasse Tyson has a book coming out (for preorder) that reminded me of that story. It is called Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military
In this fascinating foray into the centuries-old relationship between science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and writer-researcher Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. “The overlap is strong, and the knowledge flows in both directions,” say the authors, because astrophysicists and military planners care about many of the same things: multi-spectral detection, ranging, tracking, imaging, high ground, nuclear fusion, and access to space. Tyson and Lang call it a “curiously complicit” alliance. “The universe is both the ultimate frontier and the highest of high grounds,” they write. “Shared by both space scientists and space warriors, it’s a laboratory for one and a battlefield for the other. The explorer wants to understand it; the soldier wants to dominate it. But without the right technology?which is more or less the same technology for both parties?nobody can get to it, operate in it, scrutinize it, dominate it, or use it to their advantage and someone else’s disadvantage.”
Spanning early celestial navigation to satellite-enabled warfare, Accessory to War is a richly researched and provocative examination of the intersection of science, technology, industry, and power that will introduce Tyson’s millions of fans to yet another dimension of how the universe has shaped our lives and our world.
Fear and Loathing in Trump’s White House as only Woodward could Tell It
You know Bob Woodward, because he wrote All the President’s Men
But you might not know that Woodward has a new book just about to some out (you can preorder
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.
Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.
I’ve not seen it yet, but I’ve read a WaPo overview of it, and it looks fantastic. I’ve already ordered mine.
In case you’ve not see the movie adaptation of All the President’s Men
Aderlt Murvie Actas: Testing the Damaged Goods Hypothesis
This post was originally published on December 3, 2012. Since it is now fairly old research, it may not be that important, but since I did go through the trouble of writing it, and people took the trouble to comment on it, I see no reason to delete the post.
Yet, hpph;r (move your fingers to the left one and type those letters to see what I said there) has determined this post to be a violation of norms. I changed the title of the post and replaced a few other words in it so their bothered bot will not be bothered, and reposted the post below. Note that I’ve added the earlier comments as screen grabs at the bottom of the post
A study has just come out in the Journal of when-mommy-and-daddy-really-love-each-other-and-want-to-show-it Research comparing various psychological and lifestyle measures of women who act in pornographic films with matched sets of women who do not.
There is a pretty clear association between negative attitudes towards pornography and negative assessments of the quality of life for actresses in the pornography genre. Studies have shown that those who regarded pornography as harmful to society also believed that those acting in the films must not like their work. Studies have also shown that people tend to believe that porn stars have serxual and physical abuse in their backgrounds at a higher rate than the general population. Conversely, people who have more positive attitudes towards pornography also seem to have a more positive attitude about porn actresses. As a whole, the research that involved asking people what they thought about pornography and those who participated on the stage in making it painted a picture that has become known as the “Damaged Goods Hypothesis.”
The damaged goods hypothesis posits that female performers in the adult entertainment industry have higher rates of childhood serx abuse (CSA), psychological problems, and drug use compared to the typical woman.
The purpose of the study at hand was to test this hypothesis. Among the numerous data collected for each participant, the following especially salient questions were asked: Continue reading Aderlt Murvie Actas: Testing the Damaged Goods Hypothesis
John Le Carre’s Smiley Books
This started out as one of those posts I put up pointing to a cheap book on the Kindle. And it still is a post pointing to a cheap book, but then, I have a pitch for you to read John le Carré’s Smiley series (and one other book).
If you have never red John le Carré’s Smiley series, you should. Well, you may or may not like Le Carré’s writing style. He requires work on the part of the reader and can be dense and intense. The stories can be grueling in their detail. But that all makes it very realistic. If you have been keeping up with all the newspaper accounts and findings regarding the Trump-Russian scandal, and if you have been doing so over the last two years, then you are experiencing something much like reading all of Le Carré’s novels in sequence, except a) Le Carré is a better writer than reality and b) reality is much scarier.
The Smiley series happens in the context of the Cold War (as to all of le Carré’s books up until the cold war ends, more or less). You pretty much need to read them in sequence, then, when you are done, watch the various movies and TV series based on them.
I bring this all up now because the seventh book in the series, Smiley’s People: A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 7)
And, for general reference, John le Carré’s Smiley books in order:
Pre-Karla Trilogy, from the author’s page-turner period:
Call for the Dead: A George Smiley Novel
A Murder of Quality: A George Smiley Novel
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Looking Glass War: A George Smiley Novel
Karla Trilogy:
At this point the novels shift in several ways. The dynamic at the British intelligence agency is set up around factions that involve class and ethnic differences (in this case, “ethnic” means one kind of British white guy vs. a different kind of British white guy), and Karla (East German) emerges as the main bad guy. The next three books are a trilogy. You can read them without having read the above, but this is the point where JlC’s writing style changes from something you might really like/not like to something you might really like/not like, so I’d not skip the titles listed above. (I think what happened is, le Carre made it big enough that he was able to tell his editors what to do, instead of the other way round. Sort of like JK Rowling after Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: A George Smiley Novel
Smiley’s People: A George Smiley Novel
Latter day Smiley novels
Le Carré wrote several other novels (and continues to do so) but they vary a lot in how much I like them. I won’t discuss them here. But, there is one book I want to mention.
If the Smiley series (above) is one of the greatest stories ever told set in the world of spies and espionage of the 20th century, then it is possible that A Perfect Spy: A Novel
Carl Sagan’s Demons
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Hillerman, continued
Anne, in this case, continuing the tradition:
Gillum for Governor, and Racism Everywhere
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum just won his party’s endorsement to run in the general election for Florida’s Governor. He is a strong candidate, a progressive, and we all hope he wins.
He also happens to be African American, which would be a great thing for Florida.
I have two observations, though, that I want to point out.
1) If you google around for the names of candidates that are referred to by name as “Sanders-backed [name of candidate]” you will find pretty much none. Except for Gillum. He is the “Sanders-backed gillum.” His name, today in the news, appears most of the time with Sanders’ name attached to him. Its like he is owned by Sanders. He can’t be his own candidate. He has to be the northern white guy’s candidate.
2) Ron DeSantis, the Russo-Republican Trumpian candidate running against Mayor Gillum, made a horrid racist comment. In case you didn’t know, when an African American speaks in an articulate and intelligent matter, the racist thing to do is to call him articulate. (In the old days, add in “He’s a credit to his race,” but we don’t do that so much any more.) DeSantis did that. You probably know that referring to an African American as an ape, gorilla, or monkey, or making a vaguely indirect reference to such, is also racist. DeSantis did that too. From NBC News:
“You know, he is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views and he’s a charismatic candidate,” DeSantis said. “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. That’s not going to be good for Florida.”
We are not surprised. But I thought you should know.
Temperature Anomalies by Country 1880-2017
This is pretty spectacular. Click through to see it:
Democrats Get Rid Of Superdelegates
A few comments, largely from a Minnesota perspective, on this remarkable event. Continue reading Democrats Get Rid Of Superdelegates