Jasper was impressed at the turnout.
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Update on the Neighborhood Century Plant
The century plant is still standing. The limbs and flowers are darkened and look moribund, but there's no sign of an impending collapse. It started shooting up in April and May of 2021. Maybe it'll keep on keepin' on for awhile.
The Challenges of Energy in a Finite World
Hot springs are scarce in the desert:
On Monday, a U.S. district judge halted construction of two geothermal power plants on public land in Nevada. The decision was in response to a lawsuit filed in December by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit, and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, against the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, for approving the project.
Geothermal power plants pump hot water from deep underground and use it to generate steam to produce clean electricity. The Nevada plants are set to be built on a verdant wetland in the desert called Dixie Meadows. The suit alleges that the project threatens to dry up the hot springs that support the wetland and are of religious and cultural significance to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone. The ecosystem is also home to the Dixie Valley toad, a species that is not known to exist anywhere else on Earth.
...Geothermal power plants currently produce a small fraction of U.S. electricity — only about 0.5 percent in 2020. But an analysis by the Department of Energy found that with improvements in technology, that number could go up to 8.5 percent by 2050. Geothermal power plants have several relative advantages, in addition to not directly producing any carbon emissions. They have a small physical footprint compared to wind and solar farms, and they can provide power 24/7. This kind of always-available, dispatchable source of electricity will be critical for grid reliability as intermittent sources of energy like wind and solar increase.
...The plaintiffs have reason to be skeptical. The geothermal company behind the Dixie Meadows project, Ormat Technologies, opened a geothermal power plant in 2011 about 40 miles away on another hot springs called Jersey Valley. The springs dried up entirely a few years after the plant began operating.
The lawsuit also asserts that the project violates the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. “Many of the other springs in the area have been damaged or ruined by development,” the lawsuit says. “Dixie Meadows Hot Springs is therefore the most important and sacred spring to the Tribe, and one of the very last remaining springs in the area.” Members of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe use the site for “healing, soaking, camping, and harvesting native plants for weaving and other uses. These practices require quiet for contemplation, and darkness to see the night sky.”
A Bunch of Icefish in the Weddell Sea
Interesting stuff:
A breeding colony of 60 million fish has been discovered in Antarctica's ice-covered Weddell Sea -- a unique and previously unknown ecosystem that covers an area the size of Malta.
...The vast colony, believed to be the world's largest, is home to the remarkable icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah), which has a see-through skull and transparent blood. Icefish are the only vertebrates to have no red blood cells.
To survive at such low temperatures, it has evolved an anti-freeze protein in its transparent blood that stops ice crystals from growing.
...The breeding colony was discovered in February 2021 by the German polar research vessel Polarstern, which was surveying the seabed about half a kilometer below the ship. It used a car-sized camera system attached to the stern of the ship that transmits pictures up to the deck as it's being towed.
..."We just saw fish nest after fish nest for the whole four hours, and during that time we covered maybe six kilometers (3.7 miles) of the sea floor," said Autun Purser, a postdoctoral reseacher at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. He's the lead author of a study on the icefish colony that published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday.
...The colony covers more than 240 square kilometers (93 square miles), the researchers said. With, on average, one nest for every three square meters, they estimated that the colony includes about 60 million active nests.
..."Some animals like to be social, but there's a limit. Congregating may give them advantages for finding mates but provides a rich point source for predation."
The fish appear to be attracted by an area of warmer water, which is around 2 degrees Celsius warmer than the surrounding sea bed, which is a chilly 0 degrees Celsius, said Purser. (Sea water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water.)
...The findings reveal a globally unique ecosystem, according to the researchers, and they say it should be designated a protected area. ...While the Weddell Sea is covered with sea ice all year round, the ice is relatively thin -- three feet thick -- meaning that photosynthesis can still take place and life can thrive. Purser said the Weddell Sea floor is far from barren, with sea sponges, corals, octopuses and star fish lurking along the seabed.
Monday, January 10, 2022
Lions in Europe
No reason not to believe lions once roamed eastern Europe:
But early-20th-century archaeologists in mainland Greece thought that there might be some truth to the existence of lions in the region in ancient times. Why else would these creatures feature so prominently—and realistically—in art from the late Bronze Age, as well as in myths and actual reports by later scholars from the Classical period, such as Aristotle and Herodotus?
Though such theories were long dismissed by other researchers, in 1978, two prominent German zooarchaeologists made a startling discovery. During an excavation of Tiryns—the same city whose legendary king dared Hercules into action—they chanced upon a feline heel bone near a human skeleton. It was unmistakably from a lion, they concluded, and possibly of the same species that inhabits parts of the African continent today.
The bone was only the first of dozens to surface in Tiryns and elsewhere over the following decades. Though some details remain unclear, many archaeologists and historians now use this evidence to conclude that modern lions once lived alongside people in parts of what is today Europe, including Greece, for hundreds of years. Today lion bones offer a rare glimpse into the Bronze Age world and the fraught relationship that humans had with these fierce predators, animals that inspired legends and creative works for centuries.
“Now it’s possible to say that some [lion images] could have been recalled from real experiences on the [Greek] mainland,” says the art historian Nancy Thomas. The finds, she adds, cast “a whole different light on the art … and how hunting real lions could have played into the elite structure development that was going on in Greece at the time.”
...The fossil record suggests that modern Panthera leo populations were once widespread, stretching from parts of Africa through the Middle East to India. But the route these cats would have taken to reach Europe, whether across the mainland or crossing the Bosporus over an ancient land bridge, remains a mystery.
Scholars such as Bartosiewicz speculate that lions ventured around the Black Sea into Ukraine, then moved south to the Balkans. From there, some could have roamed farther south to Greece.
Agriculture In Iraq is in Trouble
No freaking water. These places have been superb farmland for millenia. And they are in trouble:
This corner of Diyala province, which stretches from the center of Iraq to the country’s east, was once famous for its pomegranates. Everywhere you drove, you’d encounter acres of trees laden with blood-red baubles. Yassin had three fields and a vineyard.
Not these days. Standing in one of his plots, Yassin pointed out a few desiccated-looking trees and the churned brown of recently tilled fields. Like other farmers in Diyala, he had given up. Over the last few months he cut down most of his pomegranate trees; he just finished plowing over his vineyard.
“If you saw this area 10 years before, I swear you would think you’re in Eden,” he said.
“But there’s just no water. We couldn’t do it anymore.”
Diyala is perhaps the starkest example of Iraq’s impending Great Thirst. The country — fed not by one but two mighty rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates — is thought to be where humans first started cultivation: Mesopotamia, the land of plenty.
But another year of crippling drought and of competition with equally parched neighbors means there isn’t enough water to go around. Both Turkey and Iran have activated dams and tunnels to divert water from tributaries of the Tigris and Euphrates, leaving downstream Iraq — which relies on the two rivers’ largesse for 60% of its freshwater resources — with an acute shortage.
This year, inflows from Turkey fell by almost two-thirds; from Iran they’re about one-tenth of what they were, Mahdi Rashid Hamdani, Iraq’s minister of water resources, said in an interview.
In desperation, Baghdad has appealed to its neighbors to help mitigate the crisis. In October, the Water Ministry invoked an agreement with Ankara that’s supposed to ensure Turkey’s “fair and equitable” contributions to the Tigris and Euphrates. In Tehran, the appeal has been met with silence, Iraqi officials say.
“Iran hasn’t cooperated with us at all. It diverted rivers to areas inside the country and doesn’t work with us to share the damage from the drought,” Hamdani said, adding that his ministry has completed procedures for a lawsuit against Iran and asked the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to contact the International Court of Justice. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions on the matter.
The water scarcity is compounded by wider shifts in the environment. This year, temperatures in Iraq reached 125 degrees, and the country is experiencing 118-degree days more frequently and earlier in the year. Berkeley Earth, a California-based climate science organization, found that temperatures in Iraq have increased at double the world average.
Last year, Iraq ranked No. 5 on the United Nations’ list of countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. By 2050, the World Bank said in a report last month, a temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and a precipitation decrease of 10% could cause Iraq to lose fully one-fifth of its available fresh water.
That’s already the reality in Diyala. Almost all of the province was dropped from the government’s agricultural plan for summer crops, excluding farmers there from water appropriations in favor of irrigating strategic crops such as barley and wheat. The same thing happened in October. Instead, Diyala’s farmers have had to rely on roughly 200 wells to slake their orchards’ thirst as well as their own.
For many here, the changes mean the end of a way of life.
Saturday, January 08, 2022
Far Away, But Still Visible
An astronomer caught glimpses of the James Webb Space Telescope, even though it's more than half a million miles away. Apparently it's pretty bright!
Approaching an Omicron Peak in Europe
There are some indications that the Omicron surge may be beginning to peak in Europe. Not everywhere, but in certain places: UK, Ireland, Finland, Greece. Rates are really high, though - up to three times higher than in the U.S.
Tuesday, January 04, 2022
Omicron Is Moving Fast!
Omicron is moving so fast in the U.S., outstripping all previous variants. The Daily New Confirmed Covid-19 Case Rate increased by 19% IN ONE DAY! The case rate is taking off like a rocket!
Some real novelties are present too. For the first time, Hawaii is fully participating in the pandemic. And Idaho now has the lowest case rate in the country. How can that be? Idaho case rates are still pretty high, recovering from Delta.
So, what's happening is that case rates exploded elsewhere in the country, but not quite yet in Idaho. The state is momentarily a comparatively-healthy orphan.
The Omicron wave is still mostly east of the Mississippi; mostly urban - but that situation won't last.
Sunday, January 02, 2022
RIP, Betty White
(h/t IK)
I know everyone is saying this is a sign that 2022 is gonna be worse. This is copied from someone else's comment and I'm gonna stick with this thinking and hopefully her passing was a sacrifice for a better 2022.
"Betty White didn't die.
Nope.
She grabbed 2021 by the throat, and whispered in its ear "I'm taking you with me, you son of a bitch."
And then she threw them both into the fires of Mordor to save us all.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
It is canon. Deal with it."
Appalled By The Fires in Colorado
The worst possible nightmare, complete with what appeared to be something like Chinook winds. Reminds me of what I fear most about living in California - even this part of California:
Hundreds of homes have been lost after two wildfires started and grew quickly Thursday as high winds whipped through the Front Range in Colorado, forcing tens of thousands of residents from their homes, the Boulder County sheriff said.Sheriff Joe Pelle estimated 580 homes or other structures in and around Superior may have been lost.
A shopping center and a hotel in Superior also were engulfed by the flames.
"Historic" 80-100 mph winds, with gusts in the state as high as 115 mph, fed the wildfires that injured at least six people, prompted a hospital to send patients elsewhere and forced the evacuation of Superior and Louisville near Boulder.
Friday, December 31, 2021
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Slumber Party - December 29-30, 2021
Egads! Jumanji, Aladdin!, Babe, and Chicken Run. (I tear up with Babe.)
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Wet Winter Still Holding
The 2021-22 La Niña rainy season in northern California has so far been erratic af, but in Sacramento we are still holding at about 230% above average. Goodness knows we can still snatch drought from the jaws of inundation, but the longer the precipitation lasts, the better things look. We just broke a December snow record in the northern Sierra that had held for 50 years:
The Sierra has officially beat a snow record for this month that was set more than 50 years ago.
As of Tuesday morning, the new December record is at 202.1 inches. According to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, the previous record was set in 1970 at 179 inches.
Even more snow is expected to come to Northern California Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Although the previous record is from 1970, that year is also the first time they began keeping track of Sierra snow. It’s possible there may have been years before 1970 with more snow that wasn’t recorded.
The Standells - "Dirty Water"
I've always been puzzled why the Classic Rock radio format often ignores the songs that people were actually listening to back in the day. Like an alternative reality I only half belong to, even though I was there.
Listening to rock music on the radio in the Sixties, I gravitated to Motown - so energetic, and for someone from Corrales, NM, so exotic! - but I also liked anything with a good beat.
I'm amused that none of the California-based Standells had been to Boston before releasing this song. According to Wikipedia, "Tower Records producer Ed Cobb wrote the song after a visit to Boston, during which he was robbed on a bridge over the Charles River."
New Covid-19 Case Rates in the U.S. are Now at the Highest Level of the Entire Pandemic
And wham! - just like that, new Covid-19 case rates in the U.S. are now at the highest level of the entire pandemic. There are places overseas with higher rates, but the U.S. keeps striving. New Covid-19 cases in Washington D.C., and the state of New York, are just as high as in Denmark.Monday, December 27, 2021
That Transistor Radio!
When I was twelve years old, early in 1969, I fetched the AM transistor radio out of storage. Our family was supposed to use the newly-purchased radio to get updates from the government after the Cuban Missile Crisis went nuclear in 1962, after we had fled Corrales and relocated (by family consensus) to the ironically-named town of Cuba, NM (provided we weren't incinerated first, of course), but since that didn't happen, the radio, along with the newly-purchased 50-gallon water tanks, had been collecting dust ever since.
Playing with the radio, outdoors, after the sun set, I was shocked at just how many radio stations I could listen to, from all over North America - KSL (Salt Lake City), KFI (Los Angeles), KRLD (Dallas), WHO (Des Moines), KSTP (St. Paul) - from all over! So sensitive!
Totally beguiling!
Rock music was red hot in 1969, of course. I loved listening to Wolfman Jack, broadcasting from XERF in Ciudad Acuña, just over the Mexican border from Del Rio, TX,, broadcasting at 250,000 watts, five times the regulated U.S. maximum limit. XERF dominated the airwaves. Apparently you could drive from New York City to Los Angeles and never lose the signal. The radio station was so powerful that Europeans and even Soviets could sometimes receive it.
And so many good Sixties tunes! Like this one, from 1966. Never gets old!
Friday, December 24, 2021
Sacramento Woman Pleads Guilty
No other way out:
A California woman has pleaded guilty to punching a flight attendant in the face -- bruising her and chipping three of her teeth -- during an argument over mask wearing and other air safety requirements.
Vyvianna Quinonez, a 28 year old resident of Sacramento, had initially claimed she was acting in self-defense, before accepting Wednesday the federal charge of "interference" of a flight, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The incident took place on May 23, when Quinonez's Southwest flight began its descent into Sacramento, according to the plea agreement.
The flight attendant requested Quinonez to fasten her seatbelt, stow her tray-table and to reposition her mask so that it covered her mouth and nose.
In response, Quinonez pushed the flight attendant and then began "punching her in the face and head with a closed fist and grabbing her hair," the agreement stated.
"The flight attendant who was assaulted was simply doing her job to ensure the safety of all passengers aboard the plane," said Randy Grossman, a federal prosecutor in California.
The prosecutor's office said it intends to ask for a jail sentence of four months plus six months of house arrest.
Quinonez will also be banned from flying for three years.
Thursday, December 23, 2021
The End of the Cretaceous Was in Late Spring or Early Summer
(h/t, John) Amazing the detail from 66 million years ago!:
In the new research, scientists turned to the Tanis fossil site in western North Dakota, a part of the vast Hell Creek Formation, a geological layer that spans several states and is dated to have been laid down at the time of the impact. Some 10 – 13 minutes after the impact in Mexico, immense seismic waves passed the Tanis site, causing flooding that most likely came from the nearby Western Interior Seaway, a huge but shallow sea that ran north/south across western North America at the time. This in turn created what’s called a seiche, a huge standing wave in water that can generate waves a hundred meters high. This is similar, for a much smaller and mundane scale, to when you scooch back and forth in a bathtub in time with the waves generated, amplifying the crests enough that you can splash water out of the tub.
Now picture the tub being a lake, and the waves reaching 20 stories high.
This happened quite suddenly at Tanis, and the geography of the area makes it possible to actually get extremely fine time resolution of the events. It’s also replete with fossils, including fish, insects, plants, and more. Here’s where this gets cool: By examining these fossils, it’s possible to figure out the time of year of the impact.
RIP Joan Didion
RIP, Joan Didion, Sacramento's native daughter. Here is her childhood home, just a short bike ride away.
Frickin' Anti-Maskers
"West Side Story" was a success, but I didn't much like the three young women next to us in the movie theater. Unmasked, in open defiance of theater regulations. I directly asked them to mask up, and they directly refused, with a touch of naughty smugness.
So, what to do? I was inclined to thrash them with my jacket, but I had just purchased a high-quality N95 mask. So I sat next them, masked up (except when I ate popcorn). The seats were of the larger sort, so there was a bit of separation. And thank goodness I'm vaccinated up the wazoo.
Throughout the movie, I fantasized whipping them with my jacket.
Maybe next time.
"West Side Story" 2021
We went to see the new "West Side Story." I liked it! Better than the original. Much better backstory development, with much better exposition at the start of the movie. I loved all the little details, rendered lovingly by Steven Spielberg and his crew, like the ragtag sign opposing Robert Moses and his vision for the future of New York City.
I noticed the dancing was a touch slower and less angular than the original. That suited me fine. The character development was better. The cinematography was awesome; light years ahead of the original. And Rita Moreno was in it too!
The only things I didn't like was scene in the morning at the apartment after the dance - it dragged a bit. And I didn't like the Anybodys character - not as sassy as the original, and somewhat inexpressive, with a disconcerting hint of horror. Still, in the grand scheme of things, very minor complaints.
Just a triumph of a movie!
I Like The Mall!
Christmas season means it's time to start prowling the mall. And I like it. Even in this Covid year.
The greatest mall I ever knew was Cinderella City, near where I lived for a time on the outskirts of Denver, in 1976. The largest mall west of the Mississippi! I can't believe it's gone: 1968-1997. That's just 30 years! I guess I'm getting old! It came and went like a dream. They even have a virtual tour.
But Sacramento's Arden Fair Mall is still here.... Let's go!
This display in J.C. Penney's is inexplicably ticking. Like a time bomb. I won't wait around for the BOOM!
Grande vistas at Arden Fair Mall.
Skylight!
Cool displays.
This display at Barnes and Noble is ticking too. Apparently there are theft-deterrent devices on these items.
This display in J.C. Penney's is inexplicably ticking. Like a time bomb. I won't wait around for the BOOM!
Grande vistas at Arden Fair Mall.
Skylight!
Cool displays.
This display at Barnes and Noble is ticking too. Apparently there are theft-deterrent devices on these items.
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Covid-19 Apocalypse Now
It looks like it's the calm before the Covid-19 storm here in the U.S. Omicron is coming! Omicron is just as infectious as Measles, heretofore the most-infectious disease known to mankind.
The wave of Delta infections in central and northern Europe is finally waning, as represented on this graph by the Netherlands. Nevertheless, despite improved rates, the Dutch are going into immediate lockdown, because they expect Omicron to start hitting them very soon. In the UK, where Covid-19 rates have been unacceptably high all year, rates are suddenly accelerating, likely due to Omicron.
It's astonishing how quickly Omicron slammed South Africa. Exponential growth is fearsome to behold! As recently as Thanksgiving, there was very little Covid-19 in all of South Africa. Now, South Africa Covid-19 rates have climbed as high as those in the United States. Suddenly, everyone sickened!
The United States has been on a high but eerily-calm Covid-19 plateau for the past two weeks. If Omicron slams the U.S. as hard as people fear, things will deteriorate so fast that it will break the U.S. health care system, perhaps as soon as the end of January.
Update: Omicron is spreading with astonishing speed. At Thanksgiving it was beginning to spread from Johannesburg, South Africa. Last week, 70% of new cases in the U.S. were Omicron (in purple). By New Year’s, Delta variant will be essentially gone; thoroughly outcompeted by Omicron. Not even forest fires spread this fast.
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Lucking Out With Rain This December
Such an erratic rainy season so far! Wetter than we usually get in a La Niña year.
At the end of October, following the immense rainstorm of October 24th, Sacramento was a surreal 700% above average precipitation for the water year, which started October 1st. Then November was mostly dry, so by last weekend, we were only 190% above average. With the most recent rainfall, we are now 237% above average. We've already surpassed normal December rainfall amounts.
There are more storms coming too! After a few days of sunshine, Dec. 21-22 will be rainy, as will Dec. 23-24, and Dec. 25-27.
December will be very rainy, but we've got to bank the water we get, La Niña might kick us with drought again, the way she's kicking the Southwest right now.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Did Somebody Say Something?
I was walking behind a young man on the sidewalk. Bum calls out, “Hey, do you have any money?” Young man replies, “No, sorry.” Bum replies, “I wasn’t talking to you, but to the old man behind you.” (I affected deafness)
Belated RIP: Ken Young
My Master's Degree advisor, Ken Young, passed away in 2018. Even though he lived in Petrolia, California, and ran in the Sacramento area, I never met him here. I wrote a paper regarding equilibrium rainfall drop distributions under him. Many people cite that paper these days. We are still having an impact! I should see how our reputation is standing up these days.
I recall the first time I met Ken. I was a new graduate student. I told him, "I understand you like to jog." His jaw dropped in shock.
"JOG????!!!!" he replied with overwhelming sarcasm. "JOG!!!!???? I AM A RUNNER! I RUN!"
I stood corrected.
He had problems with injuries later in life. I remember his difficulties with two of his Grand Canyon runs: running from the South Rim to the North Rim, and back, in one day. Twice, he had knee issues on the very last leg of the runs. So hard! (I'm amazed anyone thought to do that at all!)
Runner and statistician Ken Young, who practically single-handedly revolutionised the way road running is tracked, passed away on 3 February, aged 76.
While working on his Ph.D at the University of Chicago, Ken joined the school’s track club where he met Ted Haydon, an assistant coach for the USA Olympic team. Haydon got Ken to help him with statistics for a handicap race which launched his lifelong passion for computer analysis of running data. He began to compare results from different distances to determine who the faster runners were and developed a model to predict race times. He visited libraries across the US and Canada to collect running data from their archives. In 1973 he founded the National Running Data Center.
Under Coach Haydon’s guidance Ken targeted particular records. In 1972 he succeeded in setting a world indoor marathon record of 2:41:29 in Chicago. Later that year, on an outdoor track, he set an American Records on separate occasions for 40 miles (4:08) and 50km (3:08).
Through his National Running Data Center he became the official record keeper of the USATF Long Distance Running Committee from 1979–1988. He also took a keen interest in the measurement and certification of running courses.
In the early 1990s these various interests coalesced in the publication of a statistics-heavy newsletter, The Analytical Distance Runner.
In 2003 he banded together with other like-minded statisticians to establish the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) which maintains the website arrs.net. By 2016 the ARRS database included more than 1.1 million performances from 214,000 races. He maintained a system of ranking elite runners worldwide for head-to-head competition which race directors used to decide who to invite to their races.
Over about a 40-year period he spent about 40 hours a week sorting through running data. “The world is full of so much chaos, and I’m a born planner, an organizer,” he said. “I try to make sense out of things and look for an underlying structure.”
Kentucky's Rand Paul and Thomas Massie Sure Have Balls For Asking For Disaster Aid For Kentucky
These two bastards have opposed disaster assistance for large hurricanes for the last decade if the storms focused their damage on blue areas: Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Maria - all of them! These GOP clowns treat disaster assistance as a red state piggy bank. It's time to smack them in the face! The hell with them!:
When former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey requested federal aid for Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Paul criticized Christie for having a "gimme, gimme, gimme," attitude. In 2017, the Senate passed a disaster relief bill for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, with Paul being one of 17 senators — all Republicans — who voted No. Paul, speaking against the bill, said "People here will say they have great compassion and they want to help the people of Puerto Rico, the people of Texas, and the people of Florida. But notice they have great compassion with somebody else's money." Aaron Rupar, former journalist at Vox, wrote on Twitter, "Turns out, @RandPaul, that people can't bootstrap their way out of a storm destroying their house."
Still Plenty of Toilet Paper
Today in the pandemic, I’m finally nearing the end of the bundle of paper towels I bought in the frantic early days of March and April, 2020. Still, haven’t made much of a dent in the bundles of toilet paper purchased at the same time. I’ll have to think of something.
Steady Rain Today
2.36 inches, and counting! Rainfall since October 1st jumped from about 189% above average, to 237%, and climbing. And there is more coming too, over the next week. Such an erratic season, so far!
Monday, December 13, 2021
Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Been Working On My Surrealism Talk For February
This is fun stuff. Surrealism has definitely affected "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul."
Weird Fitness Mystery - November 21, 2021
Who ARE these people! I saw the flags and assumed it was a political demonstration of some sort that was about to pass my house: maybe some pro-Trump rally. Instead, it appears to have been a mass jog by some fitness studio. No real explanation.
No One Wants To Date Conservatives Because They Are Moral Lepers
The whiny white-boy babies are pouting again. Too bad. No one will ever love them:
"Young Dems more likely to despise the other party," blares Tuesday's Axios headline, noting in the article that "5% of Republicans said they wouldn't be friends with someone from the opposite party, compared to 37% of Democrats," and "71% of Democrats wouldn't go on a date with someone with opposing views, versus 31% of Republicans."
...On the right, there was a lot of trumpeting how this supposedly proves the left are the ones who are "really" intolerant. Radio talker Matt Murphy whined that liberals "don't believe in our republic cannot abide people who think differently than them." As if not getting to have sex with or go to parties with liberals is exactly the same as having your basic rights as a citizen stripped from you. "This doesn't bode well," complained GOP lawyer and ABC commentator Sarah Isgur, who previously defended the Trump administration's policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border as a former spokesperson in the Justice Department.
...This is about desirability, not "tolerance." Democrats are desirable as friends and lovers, not just to their fellow party members, but to Republicans, as well. But Republicans? They apparently don't have much to offer to Democrats as friends, and certainly not as lovers. Digging into the polling shows why this is.
As the Axios write-up by Neal Rothschild notes, young Democrats believe that GOP positions "spearheaded by former President Trump — are far outside of the mainstream and polite conversation." In particular, "human rights, and not just policy differences, are at stake." Which, no duh. Just last week, the GOP-controlled Supreme Court made it clear they plan to strip basic bodily autonomy rights from everyone with a uterus. The Republican Party is rallying around violent and white supremacist rhetoric.
Covid Vaccinations For Children - Kaiser Roseville Hospital - December 3, 2021
Children and their parents line up in the hallway. Not enough children are vaccinated yet to avoid a winter spike, but at least this is a start.
I found the bottom label on the fridge amusing.
Kiki Dee Band - I've Got The Music In Me - 1974
I've had a cold the last several days, but I'm beginning to feel better again. I took one of those BINAX Covid tests, and it came up negative. Beginning to feel - good!
Good theme music for the moment...
Saturday, December 04, 2021
Rat Jumped To Conclusion
My big urban moment yesterday came while driving through the pharmacy parking lot. To exit the parking lot, I was faced with a choice. Do I turn left, or do I turn right?
I started to turn right, but then changed my mind and turned left. I surprised a large rat, exposed crossing towards the pharmacy, who thought, for sure, that I was turning right.
Friday, December 03, 2021
That Damned Delta
It looks like the post-Thanksgiving disease rush has started in earnest. Covid cases zoomed 62% in the past week - the fastest percentage increase of the entire pandemic! The northern tier is bad: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan. New England is bad: Vermont, New Hampshire, with increases moving into the urban northeast too (particularly Rhode Island). New Mexico is bad. I'm hoping the mass inoculation of school-age kids will blunt Delta's impact, but despite that, it looks like we'll see a bad winter after all.
Culinary Forensics
I’m not terribly good at cooking and related domestic arts, and don’t even know much about what’s in my own cupboards. I remember back in the 90s, when a sudden fly infestation revealed that a hidden 20 lb. bag of potatoes had aged and liquefied. Goopy! Those were the days!
Still, I’ve been cleaning out old food, and noticed a box of brownie mix, so I whipped up some tasty brownies. I noticed the box had an expiration date of January, 2016, but age doesn’t seem to have affected quality or taste. Just a big scare notice. Next up, some powdered green chile mix that, if memory serves, dates to about 2006.
Monday, November 29, 2021
Nite School: Haunted New Mexico
Amusing Albuquerque-oriented by the improv types at the Vortex Theater.
Friday, November 26, 2021
RIP, Stephen Sondheim
Ah, the master passes away:
NEW YORK (AP) - Stephen Sondheim, the songwriter who reshaped the American musical theater in the second half of the 20th century with his intelligent, intricately rhymed lyrics, his use of evocative melodies and his willingness to tackle unusual subjects, has died. He was 91.
...Sondheim influenced several generations of theater songwriters, particularly with such landmark musicals as "Company," "Follies" and "Sweeney Todd," which are considered among his best work. His most famous ballad, "Send in the Clowns," has been recorded hundreds of times, including by Frank Sinatra and Judy Collins.
The artist refused to repeat himself, finding inspiration for his shows in such diverse subjects as an Ingmar Bergman movie ("A Little Night Music"), the opening of Japan to the West ("Pacific Overtures"), French painter Georges Seurat ("Sunday in the Park With George"), Grimm's fairy tales ("Into the Woods") and even the killers of American presidents ("Assassins"), among others.
Tributes quickly flooded social media as performers and writers alike saluted a giant of the theater. "We shall be singing your songs forever," wrote Lea Salonga. Aaron Tveit wrote: "We are so lucky to have what you've given the world."
"The theater has lost one of its greatest geniuses and the world has lost one of its greatest and most original writers. Sadly, there is now a giant in the sky," producer Cameron Mackintosh wrote in tribute. Music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire tweeted: "For those of us who love new musical theater: we live in a world that Sondheim built."
Six of Sondheim's musicals won Tony Awards for best score, and he also received a Pulitzer Prize ("Sunday in the Park"), an Academy Award (for the song "Sooner or Later" from the film "Dick Tracy"), five Olivier Awards and the Presidential Medal of Honor. In 2008, he received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement.
Sondheim's music and lyrics gave his shows a dark, dramatic edge, whereas before him, the dominant tone of musicals was frothy and comic. He was sometimes criticized as a composer of unhummable songs, a badge that didn't bother Sondheim. Frank Sinatra, who had a hit with Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns," once complained: "He could make me a lot happier if he'd write more songs for saloon singers like me."
To theater fans, Sondheim's sophistication and brilliance made him an icon. A Broadway theater was named after him. A New York magazine cover asked "Is Sondheim God?" The Guardian newspaper once offered this question: "Is Stephen Sondheim the Shakespeare of musical theatre?"
A supreme wordsmith - and an avid player of word games - Sondheim's joy of language shone through. "The opposite of left is right/The opposite of right is wrong/So anyone who's left is wrong, right?" he wrote in "Anyone Can Whistle." In "Company," he penned the lines: "Good things get better/Bad gets worse/Wait - I think I meant that in reverse."
He offered the three principles necessary for a songwriter in his first volume of collected lyrics - Content Dictates Form, Less Is More, and God Is in the Details. All these truisms, he wrote, were "in the service of Clarity, without which nothing else matters." Together they led to stunning lines like: "It's a very short road from the pinch and the punch to the paunch and the pouch and the pension."
Taught by no less a genius than Oscar Hammerstein, Sondheim pushed the musical into a darker, richer and more intellectual place. "If you think of a theater lyric as a short story, as I do, then every line has the weight of a paragraph," he wrote in his 2010 book, "Finishing the Hat," the first volume of his collection of lyrics and comments.
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Jesus on a Tortilla - A Very New Mexican Story
A touching retelling of a strange episode in New Mexico's history:
One October morning in 1977, Maria Rubio was in her small green stucco house in southeastern New Mexico, preparing her husband’s lunch. It was 6 a.m., and she was making burritos—cooking beans, scrambling eggs, and preparing tortillas from scratch. And then she saw it, as she was putting together the second burrito: a burn mark on one of the tortillas, in the shape of a little face. Maria felt chills, and she could sense her body moving, though she wasn’t sure if it was out of joy or fear.
Maria shouted at her 17-year-old daughter, Rosy, to come into the kitchen. She asked Rosy what the burn mark looked like to her. “Oh, my God,” Rosy recalls thinking. “That looks like the face of Jesus.” Maria agreed. She hadn’t wanted to say it out loud, because she didn’t want Rosy to think she was crazy.
...That image was about an inch tall and an inch wide. If you look at photos from back then, the likeness is unmistakable: It’s Jesus Christ in profile, complete with a beard and a crown of thorns. Maria and Rosy were overwhelmed with excitement. But Eduardo felt warier. He worried the tortilla might be a bad omen.
...By the end of 1977, more than 6,000 visitors had signed Maria’s guest books. People streamed in from all over New Mexico, many of them Latino, drawn by word of mouth and local news stories. “We related a lot more to the Mexican Catholic people,” Rosy says. “Those were the people I remember just coming in with a lot of faith, with a lot of intention.” The visitors prayed for sick relatives and lit votive candles. One woman said that she was “looked down upon because she [was] poor and Mexican American.” She believed that Jesus had appeared “in a poor person’s house to show … people are all the same.”
...Maria and Rosy did a lot of interviews. But the one they taped in 1994 was their biggest yet. The Phil Donahue Show was recorded in front of a live studio audience in New York City. That trip was the first time that Maria had ever been on a plane. As they took off, Maria said, “I think I’m going to die now.” For Rosy, it was thrilling to be in New York, but Maria was overwhelmed. When they went to a nice dinner downtown, Maria was too nervous to eat her apple pie.
Filming the show itself wasn’t any easier. The studio audience started laughing less than 30 seconds in, when Donahue uttered the phrase “Jesus in a tortilla.”
...On The Phil Donahue Show, Maria and Rosy got presented as potential scammers. “If you give up your caution and your common sense,” one guest, a well-known debunker of phony religious miracles, said, “any charlatan with a pocketful of magic tricks can come in and take your money and sometimes your life.” Later in the episode, an audience member told Donahue, “Although I’m not much for tortillas, I am going to keep a close eye on my potato chips.”
On the outside, Rosy managed to keep her composure. But on the inside, she says, “I remember just seething.” What she wanted to do most of all was give that potato chip woman the finger.
After that experience in New York, Maria told Rosy that she was done with TV interviews. The next year, when The Oprah Winfrey Show called, Rosy went to Chicago without her mother. But her second big television appearance didn’t go much better than the first. “I just don’t know why Jesus would want to be on a tortilla,” Oprah said. And the crowd roared with laughter.
...By the 1990s, Jesus on a tortilla had become a kind of small-scale meme. Kurt Cobain wrote in his journal, “I saw Jesus on a tortilla shell.” The Simpsons referenced it. (“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to appear on a tortilla in Mexico,” God tells Homer.) There’s even a feature film, Tortilla Heaven, about Jesus’ image miraculously appearing on a tortilla in New Mexico. The Rubios weren’t consulted for that movie, which critic Justin Chang called “as flat as a tortilla and considerably less nourishing.”
In Tortilla Heaven, everyone tries to make a buck off the holy image, charging admission fees to see it and selling tortilla merchandise. That was the popular conception—that anyone who saw Jesus on a tortilla surely had impure motives. But for Maria, the tortilla was always a duty. Something she’d been asked to share, for reasons she didn’t understand. In 1977, she opened her home to the entire world. But over many years, very gradually, that sense of obligation to the public started to go away.
...The tortilla broke sometime around 2005. “My mom says she lent it out to one of my nieces,” Angelica says. But she thinks nobody wants to tell the real story. “They’re afraid of what might happen,” she says, “which is nothing. Like, the tortilla’s a tortilla, it was bound to break at some point.” The tortilla now sits in pieces, and the part with the actual burn mark has gone missing.
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