Friday, October 15, 2021
Anticipating Some Travels in Late October
Bremerton, WA for a memorial service, and Las Vegas, NV, for Lady Gaga.
Experiencing Brief, Occasional Spells of Dizziness
I'm worried my asymptomatic atrial fibrillation is beginning to become symptomatic. Right now, averaging maybe a one-second spell, once a day. Not much. Still, worrisome.
I take medication that should shield me from bad outcomes. Still....
Fire in Isleton
This is my secret nightmare. Things seem calm and orderly, and ten minutes later, you're homeless. I see no reason why fires like this couldn't strike neighborhoods like mine in Sacramento. It's so damned dry:
They were all gone within minutes, Sarah Thompson’s place and Jeff’s and Pam’s, too.
Dustin Brandon barely escaped his trailer. He pointed to the ash that was left. Dennis Barbour’s home was one of the first to go — 30 years of memories gone in three minutes.
Barbour’s 74, his mother’s in her 90s. They’re safe — they’re all safe — but everything they had at Rancho Marina Mobile Home & RV Park in Isleton is gone.
“I’ve lived here 30 years, Barbour said, using a cane to gingerly walk alongside Brannan Island Road, the levee road that leads to what remains of Rancho Marina. “There’s a lot of stuff here. Irreplaceable.”
As many as 150 residents were forced from their homes as 42 structures in the community surrounded by the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were destroyed in a devastating fire Monday.
Sacramento County spokeswoman Janna Haynes said 25 mobile homes and 16 RVs were destroyed, along with a park building.
Another 20 structures remained threatened Tuesday, but firefighters expected containment by day’s end, said Deputy Fire Chief Hugh Henderson of the River Delta Fire Protection District. The fire was 60% contained and holding by afternoon.
No injuries were reported. Firefighters received assistance from neighboring departments and air support from Cal Fire “which greatly reduced some of the damages” to the mobile home park, Henderson said.
Fueled by fierce winds that peaked at 35 mph around the time the fire broke out, the 40-acre vegetation fire raked across the community of mobile homes situated by the confluence of the Mokelumne and San Joaquin rivers in the far southwestern corner of Sacramento County. Those winds dropped to about 20 mph by 6 p.m., but gusted again Tuesday morning as River Delta, Isleton, Walnut Grove and Cosumnes Fire crews worked to stamp out hot spots.
Anticipating "Dune"
I'm really looking forward to this. Such a good sci-fi story!:
Villeneuve, a true devotee of the book, does not repeat the same mistakes. No one is going to make it rain this time around, and the script repeatedly makes clear—as Herbert’s book did—that the religious beliefs that lead the Fremen to recognize Paul as a messianic figure are lies seeded by outsiders for the purpose of political manipulation. Paul—here played by Timothée Chalamet, who actually looks like a teenager—is callow, stubborn, argumentative, and possessed of a superficial idealism that can easily slide into cynicism. In short, he is a budding false messiah, and while Villeneuve has chosen to adapt only the first half of the novel (it remains uncertain whether the second half will be greenlit, though it would be criminal if it isn’t) in order to give all of its complexity room to breathe, it should already be clear to a careful viewer that things are not going to end happily ever after for Chalamet’s Paul, or for the universe he’s destined to conquer.
SN&R Reviews Hummingbird's "Into The Woods"
For the first time since their sold-out Nov. 2019 musical theatre gala, Rancho Cordova’s Hummingbird Theatre Company is mounting a production of Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical “Into the Woods” at Village Green Park, with performances continuing each Friday and Saturday evening until Oct. 23. The company’s creator and director Danielle Mercado is excited staging the show, which is Hummingbird’s first musical. Mercado noted that, traditionally, producing musicals is prohibitively expensive, though in this case the troupe applied for — and was granted — a community enhancement fund through the City of Rancho Cordova.
...Jack, of beanstalk fame, plays a central part in the story not only because of his interactions with giants, but because of his close relationship with his pet cow, Milky White. In Hummingbird’s production, local actor Andy Leggett plays the boy with the magic beans.
“It’s probably a top-ten dream role for me,” Leggit said. “People tend to play Jack straight. I think he’s supposed to be funny. One of the big choices I wanted to make is that he needs to be all over that cow throughout the whole show. He gets confused about the gender of the cow, but genders don’t matter. All that matters is his love of that cow.”
As the Baker (played by Karl Johnson) sleeps in the background, Jack (played by Andy Leggett) sings about his visit to a kingdom at the top of a beanstalk in Giants in the Sky from “Into the Woods.” Photograph by Keli Rafter In Grimm’s tale Rapunzel, the namesake maiden is kept in a tower by a sorceress. That character is more fleshed-out in “Into the Woods.” She’s named the Witch and lives next to a baker and his wife. Broadway veteran and former Miss Orange County Raquela Burt takes on this role for the Hummingbird performances. Burt, who lived and worked on stage in New York for 18 years, appeared on Broadway as Acid Queen in The Who’s “Tommy.” She’s even workshopped with Sondheim and is now returning to the stage for the first time in 14 years. Recently, she’s been a vocal instructor working from her home in Elk Grove.
“I didn’t realize how much I was going to love it,” Burt admitted. “I love teaching voice. Danielle contacted me and says, ‘Are you nuts? Are you ok? I don’t think you should spend this much time away. You need to be performing. You need to get back on stage.’ Then she mentioned ‘Into the Woods.’ That’s a dream role for me, playing The Witch. I’ve never felt better in my life. This has been very healing for me, honestly.”
...The open nature of the park leaves the sets built by Mercado and her crew vulnerable during the day. She said that factor, combined with budgeting, made some of the effects the play usually requires difficult or impractical to create. “For one thing, we don’t have a giant head that we can slam onto the ground,” Mercado went on. “We’re in an outdoor space and have to load in and out each night. It is an exhausting process. It’s 200 feet from my house. We use my garage as storage and people get changed in my living room. It’s very grassroots.”
Time To Take His Act Elsewhere
Firing an entitled New Mexican professorial ass:
David Clements, a business college professor who took a public stand against New Mexico State University’s vaccine and masking mandates on campus, has been fired, he reported on the social networking site Telegram last Thursday.
...Clements’ post came days after an Oct. 4 hearing before university administrators in which Provost Carol Parker recommended Clements lose his tenure-track post, arguing he had made it clear he would not follow the university’s COVID-19 policies and would discourage others from doing so, presenting a disruption to the academic environment and public safety.
...While on leave, Clements has traveled to several states alleging election fraud over the 2020 presidential contest as well as opposing public health mandates related to COVID-19. An online fundraiser set up by a political ally had raised more than $280,000 in donations for Clements as of Monday.
...He also questioned the evidentiary basis for claims that he had created an intimidating environment for students and used his position to promote himself as a political and legal commentator. Clements has been a guest on numerous podcasts and cable news programs, including “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News.
...Clements posted the hearing on his Rumble channel, where he has 29,000 followers, with a title card labeling the video as “Law professor vs. The Marxists” and subtitles depicting Nazi swastikas while university administrators spoke.
"Dinosaur Shrimp"
Strange stuff in Arizona:
After hatching, Triops can grow up to 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) long, with a shield-like carapace that looks like a miniature helmet, according to Central Michigan University. Their eyes make them look angry and wise at the same time — they have two large, black-rimmed compound eyes (like those of a dragonfly or bee) and a small ocellus, or simple eye, between them. Ocellus eyes are common among arthropods (a group that includes insects, crustaceans and arachnids), which are filled with simple photoreceptors that help these creatures detect light, according to the Amateur Entomologists' Society.
In this case, the Triops at Wupatki National Monument got lucky with a short but intense rainy spell. Usually, Wupatki gets around 9 inches (22.9 cm) of rain a year, Carter said. In 2020, Wupatki had its driest lowest monsoon summer on record, with just 4 inches (10.2 cm) of rain, Carter said. But in the last week and a half of July 2021, the region got a tumult of rain: nearly 5 inches (12.7 cm).
Wednesday, October 06, 2021
Weirdness Near Deterding
Aryan folks doing Aryan things:
CARMICHAEL, Calif. — Local and federal law enforcement officials are investigating recent reports of hate crimes in the Sacramento area, which include Aryan Brotherhood leaflets concealed in a bag of white rice being put on people's property, officials confirmed.
Residents in a Carmichael neighborhood first reported the incident Wednesday morning. It wasn't just residents being targeted, law enforcement officials said.
It appears schools in the area were also targeted. Deterding Elementary School Principal Melanie Allen released the following statement Wednesday afternoon to the community:
"This week, several of our neighbors around Deterding reported finding sandwich bags filled with rice and a flyer containing racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic messages on their doorsteps. The messages contained in these bags are inappropriate, unacceptable, and unnerving, especially for the communities that are targeted.
On The History of Reggaeton
The LA Times has an interesting article on Reggaeton, which has come a long way in the past 20 years.
It is a thrilling recollection in the middle of a deeply researched production by Spotify Originals and Futuro Studios. “Loud,” which comes out with its 10th and final episode this week, has arguably set a new standard in Latin music-focused historical cultural podcasts, after last year’s WBUR hit “Anything for Selena.” It’s also breaking ground in its use of Spanish and Spanglish as the de facto lingua of the show, and the inspired choice of reggaeton original Ivy Queen as its host.
The podcast charts the journey of this amalgamation of musical influences in a direct line from Jamaica, to Panama, to New York, to Puerto Rico, where it boomed, and now to Colombia and the world.
I like this song:
'Magic Man' Tent
This past weekend, I helped with setup for a theater group to play in an outdoor amphitheater. To my surprise, their first priority was setting up a 'Magic Man' pop-up canopy tent.
I admired the 'Magic Man' tent in "Better Call Saul," and wondered how much time the set crew spent on assembly, weathering, and other fine details for the camera. They may have had a head start, though, since the theater folks say anyone can buy these tents on Amazon.
A Quick Look at the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Delta Variant surge is easing in most places, but is increasing in parts of eastern Europe, and in the Caribbean. Barbados now leads; Israeli and Botswanan levels are now much lower; UK levels remain stubbornly high, and U.S. rates are dropping as a whole (although rates remain high in the interior Pacific NW, the northern Rockies, North Dakota, Alaska, and West Virginia). The IMHE model results suggest U.S. rates will bottom out about Oct. 20 before increasing again as we head into the winter months.
Grant Takes A Stand - October 4, 2021
Hmm… Trespasser on roof of local auto garage lecturing the cops at 12:40 a.m. This was about a block from my house. The cops seemed unpersuaded. The question is, how to end the standoff without getting the guy hurt?
Just as the cops were leaving - they decided they had higher priorities - I realized I know this guy. One of my newer Facebook friends. Talkative homeless guy in the neighborhood trying to fight off various conspiracies. I tossed him some water, a soda, and a bit of fried chicken, plus an old blanket.
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