How Can Climate be Predictable if Weather is Chaotic?

Election Day

Just returned from morning walk around the neighborhood with Jasper. 

An unfamiliar homeless guy was tottering silently around the dumpster for nearby apartments. He looked way, way gone. 

A woman was picking up her “Harris for President” signs that had been torn down and tossed. I told her I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn’t seen ANY Trump signs in the neighborhood this election season. “No one would dare put up a Trump sign in THIS neighborhood,” she replied, as she reassembled her signs. And it’s true, this is the bluest precinct in the entire city, with 90% of the voters typically voting Democratic. 

Jasper and I passed by the neighborhood voting location. Two women with the “Cofer for Mayor” campaign chatted with approaching voters just outside the 100 foot limit signs out front. Things looked orderly.

The Inimitable James Carville

@realjamescarville

Professional Truth Tellers 🤦‍♂️ @politicon_news | Get tickets to Matt Tyrnauer's documentary "Carville: Winning Is Everything Stupid" at CarvilleDoc.com/tickets or through the link in my bio 🎬🍿 #politicstiktok #politicalnews #political #documentary #jamescarville #carville #politics #news #carvilledoc jamescarvilledoc #carvilledocumentary #politicstiktok #funny #fyp #foryou #bts #behindthescenes #politicon

♬ original sound - James Carville

Elon Musk’s America PAC Door Knockers for Trump

The abusive conditions under which Elon Musk’s America PAC Door Knockers for Trump work under in Michigan. Somehow you just knew it was going to be this way:

Muldrow and the rest of her canvassing group of roughly a dozen people had just been fired en masse, after WIRED reported that they had been tricked and threatened as part of Musk’s get-out-the-vote effort. Speaking publicly for the first time about her ordeal, Muldrow says that the canvassers in her group were fired with little explanation beyond a complaint that someone had spoken with the press. Many, including her, were still owed money. Muldrow had to find her own way home; others are still stranded in Michigan.

Getting to the Essence of it All

Getting to the essence of it all. Someone I know once told me “People keep saying Trump is a racist, but I don’t see that at all.” The guy keeps skating.

@convosfromtennessee These two absolutely crush it when talking about “white privilege” and how we simply give Trump a free pass for all the terrible shit he says and does because of it, a pass that noone else could ever get. #moveon #kamalaharris #white #whiteprivilege #fame #wealth #genz #fyp #greenscreenvideo #vanlathan ♬ original sound - A-Aron

They Are After Me

Jasper and I walked over to V and 19th Streets this evening. Jasper was keen to explore the neighborhood beyond, called Newton Booth: new smells, new dogs, and an expanse of lawns never visited before. I pulled him back. “It’s just too far away,” I said. Despite his pleading we began returning home. 

Passing the Broadway light rail station, a woman approached and asked, “Can I walk with you? I was over by the Catholic store, and I’m worried about all these black men. They are following me! I should have gotten on that light rail train. Should I have gotten on that light rail train? Can we walk, maybe towards the McDonalds? They are after me.” (She seemed to have a kind of nervous, paranoid energy. I looked around. There were several black men nearby. They were all shuffling along while looking at their shoes and didn’t reveal or express the slightest interest in her. I said, “It looks pretty safe right here.”) 

“Can we pray?” she said, and paused for a few seconds of prayer. 

“You don’t understand,” she said. “I have an envelope with money in it. Five thousand dollars! They know I have it!” (I wondered how anyone might know she had lots of cash?) “They’ve taken my purse and my car and my belongings” she said. (Who are ‘they’?) “I need a place to stay. I was staying in two motels in West Sacramento, but all they had there was cold water. The Econo Lodge was better, but they wanted a deposit.” 

“A deposit? I’m afraid I can’t help. I don’t have any money,” I said. (And it’s true, I rarely walk Jasper while carrying a wallet.) “No, you don’t understand,” she laughed, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want anything like money. I need to explain. I wish I had my wig with me. I’m quite the good looker!” (Really? Something seemed up with her teeth.) “Maybe I should find a place to couch surf?” she said. 

She continued: “My father is a billionaire. A billionaire! But he doesn’t let me take out more than a hundred – no, fifty - dollars a day.” (“Oh, so he’s just parsing out the money,” I said.) “Yes!” she replied. (Then I got distracted, because parsing was clearly the wrong word. What is the right word? English has so many words. I must be tired. It’s all this walking to reveal to Jasper a tantalizing new neighborhood.) 

“My father is one of those corrupt billionaires,” she said. (“Ah, a corrupt billionaire. Not one of those straight-arrow billionaires,” I thought.) “Yes, he tried to kill me in prison!” (“That’s interesting,” I thought. “Was it her prison cell or his prison cell? Or were they both in prison together? And why? Maybe it was all that close company? It can drive anyone bonkers.”) 

“What I really need is a place to stay,” she said. “Can we pray?” (And she paused for prayer again.) 

“I’m afraid I can’t help,” I repeated. So, she walked off to wait for the light rail train, surrounded by various inattentive but I assume menacing black men, and Jasper and I headed in the opposite direction for home, clearly not fully understanding her plight. 

(The well of human need is infinitely deep.)

The Concept of a Landfill

Birthday Dinner and Show at Twin Lotus Thai, Featuring Vivian Lee

Rachel took me out for birthday dinner and a show at Twin Lotus Thai (TLT), featuring jazz singer Vivian Lee. It was an excellent time! I didn't know about this place before. Almost a stone's throw from last week's burning homeless encampment.

The History Of This Neighborhood Is More Complex Than I Realized

Happy Days Are Here Again

I think people are getting overly-nervous about the upcoming election. Modern technology gives us the illusion of omniscience, but in the days before television people just had to accept that there was a lot they just didn’t know, and that it was all right. It’s still true! 

The 2024 presidential election is already the best of my lifetime; maybe the best ever. Never have the differences between tickets been starker. Kamala Harris/Tim Walz are the best set of candidates I’ve ever seen: Donald Trump/JD Vance are the embodiment of evil. Can’t get better than that! 

Most American historians think the 1896 clash between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan was the most exciting election in American history, with up to 90% turnout of eligible voters. I hope we can get turnout like that! 

When I get fidgety about the election I pull out my copy of journalist Jay Franklin’s “What We Are About To Receive,” published in 1932, and a follow-up to his 1931 book, “What This Country Needs.” The country desperately needed a new direction but would this set of candidates rise to the occasion? Jay Franklin was beside himself with anxiety. 

President Herbert Hoover: “Whatever the facts are, Herbert Hoover is himself. He does not pretend to be a hero, saint, or second Lincoln. He is neither an imitation Roosevelt nor a synthetic Wilson. He may or may not be a good President, a great man, or even a good engineer, but he acts and talks like no one else on earth and does not hesitate to follow his own line, against all advice and all indications of public opinion. … He is as undramatic as a porcelain bathtub, as unspectacular as a cash register, as unmagnetic as a telegraph pole….” 

Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “He is an irrepressible candidate. Scarcely a day goes by or an issue bobs up but Roosevelt hits the front page with a statement, or something. … There is a widespread conviction that Franklin Roosevelt lacks guts, that he can’t force the pace or take punishment, and that when cornered he will play dead dog. He is not a fighter. … Roosevelt represents the all but forgotten strain of chivalry, untempered by self-righteous morality, in the tradition of our public life. … On every other issue – tariff, farm relief, disarmament, foreign policy, banking policy, social unrest – he is as hard to pin down as a live eel on a sheet of oilcloth.” 

Franklin also looked at Al Smith and a number of other politicians. 

Franklin concludes: 

“We shall survive and the world will survive, no matter who is elected President of the United States on November 8, 1932. A hundred years from now our race will still be here, the petty problems of today forgotten, our ridiculous worries over taxation and prosperity rendered insignificant by the march of science and the progress of human events. To paraphrase Macaulay, sources of energy which are still unimagined, machines not dreamed of by inventors yet unborn, laws not even suspected by our wisest legislators, and new ways of thought and standards of conduct which will regard our most profound statesmanship as childish, will reduce our present miseries to a chapter, then to a paragraph, and finally to a footnote in history. 

Future schoolchildren may be compelled to memorize the name – together with those of our other presidents – of the man whom we elect in 1932; it is doubtful, nonetheless, that in 2032 more than one educated man out of a hundred will be able to state, offhand, what he accomplished in office or what his election signified. For we are still too young to have learned the only lesson of history, which is that politics, though lots of fun, is only the result and not the cause of human progress.” 

For myself, this is how I feel about this election:

 

The Trump Campaign Is Now Trying To Deny Its Obvious Hatred of Puerto Ricans

Can't run; can't hide:

Travis Akers, a retired Naval Intelligence Officer and Newsweek opinion writer, responded to that by saying, "That rhetoric from the Trump rally absolutely reflects the GOP values. This is exactly who your party under Donald Trump has become."

Dissonant Messages

"Marriage of Figaro" - Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera - October 25, 2024

(more)

People Are Finally Beginning To Call Out The Media’s Bullsh*t

The Rule That Got Me Bounced From The Eighth Grade Spelling Bee

Doctor Humor

Thinking about doctor humor this morning (October 24, 2024). 

I visited the doctor who gave me my cardiac catheter ablation three months ago. The most common difficulty is that the procedure doesn’t quite hold and has to be done again. So far, though, I’ve had no trouble. 

I’ve found this doctor to be somewhat awkward- maybe more comfortable with video games than with people - but I’m still grateful to him and glad his procedure is holding and also surprised at the procedure’s effectiveness. So I said, “Who would have thought how relatively easy it all was?” His jaw dropped, he started laughing, and said, “Maybe for you!” 

I like doctor humor and the idea of relegating cardiac problems to the past.

Up In Flames

Driving, I reached Folsom Blvd. and turned east instead of west, as I should have, and was startled. I saw a young blonde woman walking west beside the road, in sturdy walking shoes and a two-piece black bathing suit. But even more striking, behind her, an intense fire had erupted in a homeless encampment across the railroad and light rail tracks.

I stopped, as did an excitable young man (long, flowing dirty-blonde hair and big floppy hat). We both clambered across the tracks (light rail trains coming from both sides!) The young man called 911. They asked for the address. He didn’t know - there was no address - but it was across from the Folsom Blvd. Flea Market.

The fire was burning near a tent, and adjacent to a fire circle, so it was adjacent to a possible ignition source, but it was unclear why the fire was burning so damned hot. There must have been some kind of petroleum product there; maybe plastic tarps or some kind of fuel. We both shouted into the tent in case anyone was asleep or unconscious there. There was a minor explosion. We pulled back a bicycle and some crates from the flames and started to dismantle the tent in order to save the bedding at least. Fortunately, firemen arrived quickly. The firehouse was located nearby.

So, we all went our separate ways, but the Tarantino corner of my brain still wondered if the young woman was somehow involved.

I posted about this fire on Facebook and lots of people sensed that there was a cinematic aspect to it - like, we've all seen this movie before. "Kill Bill" came up. I was thinking maybe "Natural Born Killers," "Sin City," or "Terminator 2." Then, in passing, I saw this drawing on JO’s post. It reminded me of the young woman. But who is this character? M. recognized the character instantly as "Tank Girl." So, yeah, Tank Girl. The woman I saw was Tank Girl in the making. Not so rough around the corners, but soon.

Kamala Harris is Great at Answering Questions

@brynodc Empathy. Policy. This is absolute perfection. #harriswalz @Kamala HQ #election2024 #demsoftiktok ♬ original sound - Bryan

Another Morning of Bloody Mayhem

Who is that deftly winging through the treetop this morning? It’s the local hawk, looking forward to another morning of bloody mayhem. I can hear the doves cowering in their hiding places.

Anthony Davis Speaking the Words of Nate White on Donald Trump

@americasorangeproblem #fiveminutenews #comedy #trump #maga #trending ♬ original sound - orangeisthenewred

MAGA and the Home Rule Crisis

I believe in the value of looking to history for parallels to our current difficulties. The author of this article compares the challenges of MAGA to Britain's Home Rule Crisis more than a century ago:

Consider this scenario, unfolding in a country that views itself as the world’s leading democracy:

• A cynical but charismatic demagogue emerges as a disruptive force in politics — a person of wealth, privilege and fame who claims to represent a mass movement of ordinary people, but uses it for his own purposes.

• He leads a right-wing, ethnic nationalist paramilitary force with more than 100,000 members, which proclaims itself more loyal to the true spirit of the nation than the actual elected government, and threatens armed rebellion.

• The leader of the mainstream conservative opposition party pledges full support for the paramilitary movement’s campaign of resistance, up to and including civil war.

• Conspiracy theories rooted in a long history of ethnic and religious bigotry spread widely in support of the potential rebellion, including claims about the savage, superstitious and bloodthirsty behavior of previously disempowered groups now out for revenge.

• A leading government official is told to cancel all public appearances because the risk of violent assault or assassination is too high.

• Dozens of high-ranking military officers, in collusion with senior commanders and right-wing political leaders, stage an open mutiny, pledging to resign or be dismissed rather than obey the lawful orders of the elected government.

 

... Because everything on that list really did happen, just over 110 years ago in the United Kingdom, which despite its peculiar political history and lack of a written constitution was abundantly confident in its democratic credentials — and, not to drive the point home too hard, was given to lecturing other countries about the superior wisdom, tolerance and flexibility of its system.

Things That Don't Seem To Work So Good

I seem to be a witness to things that don't seem to work so good. 

One day last week, I opened the front door of my house to go out and get the mail, but I hesitated to open the screen door, because there was an argument going on between a couple on the sidewalk. A woman was towing a Radio-Flyer-style wagon loaded with belongings. Behind her, a man was sitting in a wheelchair, towed on a leash by a single Golden Retriever. They were likely homeless. The overall effect was of Mr. and Mrs. Claus as refugees. The woman was very tense. The man was shouting, in effect, that she wasn't very attractive. The appropriate response, of course, would have been to push him into traffic. Nevertheless, a couple of hours later, I saw them sitting quietly and working cooperatively together in the park. 

On Friday, I saw a young man wearing a hoodie and walking down the sidewalk. The shell of the hoodie looked exactly like the front of a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Branded! A walking advertisement! I wonder what the rest of his wardrobe looks like? 

I went to eat lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. I've been wondering how much of a shoestring operation it had become. It had opened with fanfare earlier this year, but then a couple of months ago the entire crew was replaced with a skeleton crew and the menu was dramatically shortened. Now you can't even get a printed menu. I suppose it's too expensive to produce. They just point at a QR code on the table. The only item on the new menu that I knew I liked was the "Rice Bowl," so that's what I ordered. They apologized and asked if vermicelli would do. They had run out of rice. 

On Saturday, I approached a pizza takeout restaurant but I was momentarily blocked from entering. A homeless person was pushing a shopping cart in a circle in front of the door. The person started taking off their pants. They removed the right pants leg, but their other pants leg got hung up on their left sock and shoe. It would require additional attention to clear the left pants leg. Exasperated, the person just pushed the shopping cart down the sidewalk with their pants all bundled up on their left foot. Despite the fact the person was partially-naked i couldn't establish whether they were male or female. 

Which reminds me of when my family first traveled to California and we kids, my sisters and I, first saw the Pacific Ocean, in 1970, at San Diego's Mission Beach. It was overcast and chilly but some people were entering the water. We watched a topless person enter the surf, but my sisters and I couldn't establish their sex. Some body shapes are just ambiguous. We wondered if it was a California thing. In the 90s one would say it was an "It's Pat!" moment.

Great Opening Night For RCTC's "Chicago" - October 18, 2024

Bows.

The Family Nachmanoff.

Marc and Larry Rycerz (Mary Sunshine, Jazz Cast) at the Truxel In-N-Out (Photo by Rachel Rycerz, who is volunteering on soundboard for a number of the shows)..

If They Can Hang On For Six Months They Can Enjoy Some Good EDM!

It's Halloween Time Again!

Neighbors are decorating all around!

Lowe's Home Improvement in Citrus Heights, CA, has the wrong idea right now.

Gunther's Ice Cream Parlor has the right idea!

Signs

Knowledge Massage.

Coming out of the Tower Theater after seeing the movie "Lee" and seeing my car alone in the parking lot.

The Tower Theater's tower at night.

Someone's security system.

Meeting the Burmesters

While in Davis, CA, Rachel wanted to leave a birthday card for David Burmester, who was celebrating his 86th birthday that day. David was her theater instructor at Davis High School in the late 80s, and a founding director of Acme Theater Company. The Burmester family has been and still is one of the leading theatrical families in Yolo County. 

As it turned out, one of her high-school co-actors was in town; James Burmester had flown in from Hawaii. Tom Burmester, Executive Director of the Woodland Opera House, wasn't at the party (likely because as an Exec Director he has a lot of things to do). 

The Burmesters graciously invited me in too.

A hawk came into the yard to inquire into the health of the chickens in the back yard's chicken coop.

David Burmester blows out 86 candles (or at a representative sample) on his birthday cake.

Marc Valdez, Rachel Rycerz, David Burmester, Libby Burmester, and James Burmester.

RIP, Steve Thorpe

On Tuesday, October 15th, I was up on my roof, making minor preparations for the next rainy season, when Rachel arrived unexpectedly. Steve Thorpe had died.

I had never met Steve Thorpe - he was a Facebook Friend - but Rachel had a number of fond reminisces about him.  Steve had been her baby sitter in the 70s and very early 80s, in Davis, CA.  He was watching his own son and he watched her too.  He even included her in a novel he wrote.

Sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, Steve Thorpe moved to the Black Hills of South Dakota, where he became a well-known folk singer there.  The folk-singing community there is in mourning over his death.

We traveled to Davis, CA, to honor Steve's memory.

The house at 6th and C Street, where they had all once lived back in the day.

I like the "Dream of the Trees" (below).

I'm Intrigued by Tiny Hurricane Oscar

I'm wondering why we don’t have more tiny hurricanes.

Lewis Black on Undecided Voters

The New Middle Ages

An empire under stress. The GOP is slowly degenerating into fiefdoms, where it now makes perfect sense to run Colorado campaigns from Arizona (apparently membership required for full article):

So here’s the deal. The Colorado GOP appears to be under the control of one weird dude, Dave Williams, who spent most of the party’s money on preventing people from firing him as party chair, trying and failing to get himself nominated for a House seat and … oh yeah, one other thing, Lauren Boebert. Other Colorado Republicans tried to oust Williams but a judge ruled against them. El Paso Country District Judge Eric Bentley ruled against state party chair pretender Eli Bremer and confirmed that Williams is in fact the chair of the Colorado Republican Party. In any case, the point is that, for the moment, the Colorado GOP is basically the personal property of this guy Williams. Once that happened, Coloradans in at least two congressional districts started getting mailers for the local Republican candidate coming from the Arizona state Republican Party. 

So what’s going on here? Why is the Arizona Republican Party, which has a contested Senate and presidential race, among others, funding campaigns in Colorado?

RIP, Donnakay Ohmburger

From Albuquerque comes news that Donnakay Ohmburger passed away. A Court-Appointed Special Advocate and a former middle-school teacher, she was among the hardest core of "Breaking Bad"/"Better Call Saul" fans in Albuquerque. She will be missed!

 

Donnakay Ohmburger, aka Kim Wexler, at Forque Restaurant in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, July 1, 2016.

Donnakay Ohmburger, aka Kim Wexler, together with James Gelet, July 1, 2016.

Donnakay Ohmburger brings her bench to Washington Park in Albuquerque. Just then, the Breaking Bad RV arrives on its tour, August 21, 2016.

Donnakay Ohmburger brings her bench to Washington Park. Just then, the Breaking Bad RV arrives on its tour, August 21, 2016. Lots of people here: Sam Hughes, Jackie Sandoval, Nicole Bynum, Kelly Tow, Adam Ramirez, among others.

Donnakay Ohmburger, with KT Yeung, at Washington Park, August 21, 2016.

I asked my friend Rachel Rycerz to sing “Ave Maria”in Donnakay’s honor.

Regarding Hurricane Milton

I discovered I had more connections to Tampa, Florida.  Two weeks ago, one of my cousins purchased a condo in Clearwater, Florida. (smh  Just hit my head with a hammer!)

A Facebook friend in the UK worried about a cousin who was going to ride the storm out in Palm Harbor.  That place has some elevation - up to 80 feet above sea level! - but if the storm surge is big she could be isolated for weeks.

Fortunately the storm surge was not as large as feared, because the eye of the hurricane crossed the coast south of Sarasota and the winds in Tampa Bay and vicinity were mostly from the east, which greatly limited the potential damage.

There's still a lot of damage, though.

My friend Dwight reported on Thu, Oct 10, 2:15 PM:

Thanks again for all your guidance. The good news is that according to our next-door neighbor, there was no damage to our building, and we did not lose power. I'm planning on taking a quick run home tomorrow to check it out.

Good for Dwight!  Linda still needs attention from the surgeon, however.  Now that the storm has passed I hope that surgery can get scheduled.

To flesh out the record, here are two E-Mails I sent Dwight as the storm approached.

On Wed, Oct 9, 2:20 PM, I wrote:

I hope all is well, under the circumstances. 

The storm now has what they call a sheared structure, with the rains and winds to the north of the eye and the eye open to the south. The storm has weakened to a Category 3, but it has also expanded in size. Radar shows you are getting heavy rain at this moment. There are numerous tornado warnings as well. 

It looks like there was a subtle shift in direction too, with the eye heading towards just south of Tampa Bay. Eyewall should reach the coast in about 2 hours (7:20 pm EDT), with the eye arriving in almost 5 hours (10 pm, or so).

On Tue, Oct 8, 1:07 AM, I wrote:

Hurricane Milton hit major milestones today, with the fifth-lowest central pressure on record for an Atlantic hurricane (897 millibars), and reaching and sustaining Category 5 strength. It's very difficult for a hurricane to sustain Category 5 strength, since just about anything will disrupt it. Tonight it's at Category 4 as it goes through an eyewall replacement cycle. 

As it encounters drier air with more shear tomorrow, it should weaken to Category 3 (the closest analogy is Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, which did the same thing). The hurricane should expand in size as it weakens, however, which will just endanger even more people as it rolls onto land. 

Best guess right now is that the eye will come ashore just south of Tampa Bay. In general, it's better to be north of the eye, since the motion of the storm subtracts from the wind speed rather than adds to it. People are rightfully anxious about many things. One is that people have been putting belongings that got waterlogged during Hurricane Helene into piles on the street, which will serve as plentiful projectiles when wind speeds are high. Stay away from easily-punctured exterior walls if possible. All the usual caveats apply. Stay away from the shoreline, if possible, due to storm surge. Have plenty of supplies, particularly water. 

Praying that you and all your friends and relations will come through this OK.

He's Back!

This evening, as Jasper and I concluded the evening walk, we encountered two neighbors in the parking area just outside my back gate. They were both aghast. A dead pigeon was on the ground; it's chest expertly carved out. They asked if I could do something. I had my pooper scooper with me, so I quickly scooped the pigeon away. 

What happened to this pigeon? It must be one of my birds. Then I remembered, the pigeon fell directly under the neighbors' eucalyptus tree, where I observed this guy on September 21st eyeing the spot where I feed all the local pigeons.

He's back!

I Recommend The Knitting Cult Lady

I've been watching a lot of The Knitting Cult Lady's videos on TikTok, and I recommend them. Many institutions in society work or act like cults, and it's important to see them for what they are, for your own sanity, if nothing else.

 

@knittingcultlady Replying to @IWontEvenMissYouTomorrow #Inverted labor, always #knittingcultlady #cults #groupbehaviorgal #groupbehavior #knitting #lovebomb #crossfit ♬ original sound - Knitting Cult Lady

Mr. Not-A-Meteorologist Keeps Yammering Away

“The wind, the wind. It sounds so wonderful,” Trump meandered on. “The wind, the wind, the wind is, the wind is bullshit. I'll tell you. It's horrible.”

When Meteorology Meets The Real World

@theallinpod Warming Oceans, Stronger Hurricanes, Higher Property Damage: Florida’s home insurance market is in crisis, and what happens next will impact everyone. #hurricanemilton #florida #floridainsurance #homeinsurance #insurance ♬ original sound - theallinpod

Tropicana Hotel Implosion

The departure of an old friend and important landmark - the Tropicana Hotel and Casino (as apparently seen from Mandalay Bay’s Foundation Room).

 

@itsloozh #lasvegas #tropicanacasino #tropicanalasvegas #implosion #celebration #oaklandathletics #newstadium #ballyslasvegas #foryou #fyp #foryour #foryoupageofficiall #fypシ #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬ Tropicana hotel - itsLoozh

Interesting Times

"Lee"

Saw this film last weekend, at the Tower Theater, on Friday, October 4th:

   

I was eager to see this movie since I had read about Lee Miller when studying Surrealist artists for my various "Breaking Bad" talks.  She had been Man Ray's lover in the 1920s.  Later, in World War 2, she became well-known for her photography of the war.  Lee Miller was famous, for example, for bathing in Hitler's bathtub.  Kate Winslet played her in the movie.

The movie starts in 1938, at a picnic near the French Mediterranean.  I remember reading about this picnic - it was a regularly-scheduled event among the Surrealist artists, where the women were frequently topless.  I expected to see Salvador Dali - he was a regular here - but by 1938 he had made off with the host Paul Eluard's wife.  So, no Salvador Dali.

The movie attacks misogyny, which, of course, was rife under wartime circumstances.  The most-interesting episode shown in the movie was a quick kangaroo court arranged by French villagers immediately after liberation.  Numerous young women who had been in various relationships with occupying Nazis were seized and humiliated by having all their hair cut off.  One woman is shown explaining to Miller that her relationship was "different":  the Nazi had humanity.  Lee Miller yells at an American soldier reveling in the women's humiliation.

I wondered, is this imposing the values of the future on the past?  These Nazi-affiliated women ensconced in village life no doubt inflicted much pain:  indulging in petty vendettas under Nazi protection; spying on others; getting all kinds of people killed - especially Resistance fighters.  What would I have done under this circumstance?  I probably would have gotten yelled at by Lee Miller.

I had some minor disappointments in the movie.  It's a World War 2 movie, after all, and I would have liked to see a bigger spectacle, but budgets are budgets.  

Nevertheless, the ending of the movie is very strong - probably the best ending of any movie I've seen in years.

Go see it.  Good movie.

Hurricane Milton Approaches

I do a bit of hurricane weather forecasting for friends north of Tampa. Things are looking grim right now regarding Hurricane Milton. 

“The forecasts don’t look good. On Wednesday evening, October 10th, you will suffer a direct hit by a hurricane traveling east-northeast on areas north of Tampa - the eye of the storm, basically. There will be plenty of rain in advance, so there will be nowhere for the hurricane floodwaters to go. Strength looks like a Category 3 storm - strong enough to cause serious damage. The track looks like it’ll head towards areas south of Jacksonville.”

There are also suggestions that a follow-up hurricane might occur, but no indication at this time where it might hit - Tampa, Ft. Myers, Cuba, Miami, and the Bahamas are all possibilities.

Disaster Rant

I love this rant about the federal response to natural disasters:

@myrandapolisci Replying to @user4298964766744 #whatisfema #fema #noaa #hurrican #naturaldiaster #helene #northcarolina #florida #georgia #mattgaetz #kamalaharris #harriswalz #timwalz #fyp ♬ original sound - Myranda Kazos

Budgeting a Deportation

What it would cost to do a mass deportation of illegals in this country.

 

@jamellebouie

short answer, this would be an expensive disaster.

♬ original sound - b-boy boo-eebaisse👻

Overheard in Target

“If you want a place where people have no concept of spatial awareness, go to Costco.”

Ding Dong - Normal Pree

Infectious Dancehall song.

 

Jimmy Carter Memory

In 1976, 48 years ago, I was living in Englewood, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. In the evenings I would go to downtown Denver and do phone-banking for the “Jimmy Carter for President” campaign. Although I did some campaign work in 1972, 1976 was the first presidential election year I was eligible to vote. Although I voted for Congressman Mo Udall from Arizona in the primaries, I thought evangelical Georgia Governor Carter was the perfect candidate to bridge the differences between the North and South following the difficult Watergate and Civil Rights years. 

Phone-banking was strange – cold-calling people, some of them hostile. My fellow callers were kind of unknowable people – professionals mostly; mainly lawyers. When I referred to the woman companion of the phone-bank leader as his wife, I was swiftly corrected by one of the other volunteers, who warned me that we didn’t want any “faux pas.” Oh, now we speak French! Life in the big city has so many levels of complexity. 

On October 4, 1976, Jimmy Carter came to Denver for a downtown rally. I arrived at the rally to help out. As I recall, Carter was speaking from the steps of the Federal building, but it was difficult for anyone to see him, because the national media had set up tables and placed big television cameras directly in front of him. I got angry, and along with others, started yelling at the national media. That felt good. I was pleased that in newcasts that evening you could hear our inarticulate shouts in the background. The hostile local media (after all, in 1976, Colorado was a Republican state) reported that the audience was only 4,000 people. I’m sure that the crowd was bigger than that (although, to be truthful, the downtown buildings did hem in the audience and prevent it from being even bigger). 

After the rally, I returned late to the phone bank headquarters. The leader was closing up shop. “Do you want to come with me to the airport?” he asked. I thought, “Sure, why not?” Only later did I think to ask why we were going to the airport. “We’re going to say farewell to Jimmy Carter,” he replied. Oh boy! 

We barely arrived in time at the foot of the stairs out on the tarmac at Stapleton International Airport. The limousine arrived, Jimmy Carter stepped out, shook hands all around (including mine) and posed for a few photos with the lady volunteers. Given the “lust in his heart” controversy at the time, I thought it notable that he placed his arm around their waists while posing for photos. Then the entire traveling entourage climbed up the steps into the jet aircraft and they headed out for another city. 

Happy 100th birthday to Jimmy Carter!:

As a candidate, Carter’s faith had endeared him to many fellow white evangelicals and cultural conservatives. That made him a difficult foil for Republicans, who wanted to cast Democrats as out-of-step with most of America. The flip side, Scheer noted, was the many young voters and urban liberals — key Democratic constituencies — who “wondered if he was this Southern square.”

“Hamilton Jordan (Carter’s campaign manager) had always called Carter’s faith ‘the weirdo factor,’” said media historian Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor who has written extensively on Carter. “Talking to Playboy was their way to prove he wasn’t some kind of prude.”

Scheer, who was with Carter as part of his traveling press corps, said Playboy’s early text release sparked a frenzy. 

“Reporters were scrambling, asking me, ‘Bob, what is this?” he recalled.

Open House at "The Ballet Studio" - September 29, 2024

Celebrating graduation of the “First Position” class at “The Ballet Studio,” plus an Open House, with conversation, food, and memories.

Founder Bobbi Bader (left) taught all the classes back in the day.  Memories were a bit hazy about when the studio started.  The studio was in full bloom at this location when I first arrived in August, 1990.  There was a prior, triangular studio located somewhere near Folsom and La Riviera Drives.  The best anyone could come up with was "The Ballet Studio" started sometime in the Eighties.

Bobbi Bader as "The Doll" in Sacramento Ballet's 1973 Nutcracker.

Bobbi Bader in "Clown Alley."

Celebrating Barbie last year.

Maricar.

Sunday class.

Bobbi Bader.

Wednesday class celebrating Barbie, plus my Mojo Dojo Casa House.

Flowers!

The studio has been in a quiet succession crisis for much of the year.  Eighteen years after Bobbi's untimely death, the collective leadership that has since guided the studio would have to pass on to others.  At the gathering, Katie Rogers announced that, with Patrice's and Maricar's help, she would henceforth lead the studio.  This is the best resolution!  

Listening to Katie, and telling our own stories of how we came to The Ballet Studio.