Saturday, February 17, 2024
Our Hopes and Dreams Wall
The sentiments expressed on the "Our Hopes and Dreams Wall" at Deterding Elementary School were frequently high-inded and optimistic: "End terrorism," "Cleaner oceans," "No more cruelty," and the like. Still, a few were a bit - different.
Dental Disco
About 9 p.m. (on February 4th), I heard a big boom, so I knew a transformer had blown and someone nearby had lost electrical power. At 11:30 p.m., Jasper and I went searching to find out who that might be. It turned out to be the nearby dentist’s office, where the lights had gone nuts, creating a dancerless, dentist-office disco.
A Couple of Wandering Turkeys
Vehicles move around and honk in the parking lot behind my house all the time, but it was the first time I ever heard a honk followed by a gobble. I looked closer and sure enough there were two turkeys in the parking lot. One turkey trilled musically and pecked at its own reflection in the black finish on all sides of a Dodge RAM SUV. The other turkey eyed me curiously. I quietly dropped a bit of bird seed and both were delighted.
Michael Mann Wins His Lawsuit
Michael Mann wins against the climate change deniers/defamers! Time to sue all of those right-wing, fossil-fuel fuckers for all they're worth:
One of the major issues confronting scientists today — especially those working in the heavily politicized fields of global warming, vaccines and the origin of COVID-19 — is how to deal with the torrents of misinformation and disinformation, some of it personal, pushing back against their work.
Climate scientist Michael E. Mann just found an answer. Sue the critics — and win.
Last week, a Washington, D.C., jury awarded Mann more than $1 million in punitive damages against two right-wing writers who had accused him of research fraud.
“I hope this verdict sends a message that falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech,” Mann said after the verdict.
There’s more to the case than the exoneration of a single scientist. The verdict scored a direct hit on personal attacks on scientists using innuendo and outright lies, all aimed at advancing partisan and economic ideologies by undermining scientific research.
“The attacks denigrating science and trying to undercut science, both for climate science and biomedicine, [are] not just about the science,” Peter Hotez, a leading authority on medicines and vaccines and a prominent foe of anti-science politics, told PBS.
“It’s now gone the next step to attack the scientists and portray us as public enemies,” said Hotez, who is collaborating with Mann on a book about the anti-science movement. “Both Michael and I are stalked regularly. We receive threats online, phone calls to the office, sometimes physical confrontations. So it’s gone out to that new level.”
Jarring Visit to Mrs. B.B.'s Deathbed
Poor Mrs. B.B. We people are such fragile creatures. Afterwards, a visit to the Putah Creek South Fork Preserve, just outside Davis.
Sac Dancelab's Valentine's Weekend Performance in Old Sac
A few photos from Sac Dance Lab’s Friday night performance (02/09/24) in Old Sac. Tried to get a few with fellow ballet students Dimitra and Bethany together.
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Moths Just Trying To Orient Themselves
Science gets around to why moths act bonkers around lights:
The insects are not actually drawn to the glow like “moths to a flame,” as the old saying suggests, but rather trapped in a disorienting orbit around the artificial light, scientists reported in a study published January 30 in the journal Nature Communications.
By using motion-capture cameras — and filming with infrared illumination so as not to disrupt the creatures’ vision — the researchers showed that when the insects flew around a light source, they were tilting their backs toward the light and keeping their bodies in that direction. By maintaining this orientation, the hapless critters created odd orbits and steering patterns, according to the study.
...When artificial light does not interfere, nocturnal insects keep their backs pointed toward whatever direction is brightest, which is typically the sky versus the ground.
This evolutionary trick has helped the critters know which way is up and keep them level during their night flights. However, when the insects pass by an artificial light source, they become disoriented, believing that the human-made lighting is the sky, said co-lead study author Samuel Fabian, an entomologist and postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London’s department of bioengineering.
Wednesday, February 07, 2024
About Normal
The California rainy season (since Oct. 1) has been fairly mediocre, but after the recent rains we're almost at normal levels in Sacramento (with respect to average, 103% at Sac Exec Airport and 89% at Sac City). Things have been wetter than average at the coast and drier than average in the Sierra Nevada. Could be a lot worse!
Sunday, February 04, 2024
Wind, and the World’s Best Stick
Last night, when the fast-moving Pacific storm finally reached California, I said to myself, “Well, where’s the wind? This is supposed to be a super-windy storm.”
This afternoon, the wind arrived, and what wind! So hard! If one moment stands out, it was watching a harried woman speaking on a cellphone and staring straight ahead, dragging her dog on a leash behind her through a crosswalk. The dog was reluctant to follow because the winds had dropped at his feet the World’s Best Stick, and you just can’t leave that in the street.
Briefly Attended Palestinian Demonstration Today
I briefly attended the tail end of the demonstration organized by the Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights on Sacramento's K Street Mall. I missed seeing special guest Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
I'm of divided mind regarding Palestinian rights in the current circumstances. I sympathize with Palestinians concerning their displacement and having their rights stripped away. Still, I also sympathize with the Israeli Jews in their effort to build a homeland. Unfortunately, this conflict is partly a legacy of colonial intervention in the Middle East, and I don't know how we'll ever set things right. "From the River to the Sea" - if it were only that simple!
Genocide or ethnic cleansing by one party or the other is never far from the agenda. Back around 1977, for about two weeks, I had a college roommate who was Palestinian. He told me his favorite fantasy was to have a loaded AK-47 and ten minutes alone in an Israeli nursery. I never forgot that. And that was 46 years ago. Feelings have only hardened since then.
For all the ways that it's been undermined over the years, no one has come up with anything better than a Two-State solution. It's time to start that process again.
Color in My Neighborhood
There's some pretty painted boxes in my neighborhood that I hadn't really noticed before. This is at 21st St. and Broadway.
This is at 21st Street and X Street.
This is an unusual garage-door mural near Noodles to Thai For.
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