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Try to interpret this dream…
Dreamed this morning about Jesse Unruh, the old California political mover and shaker. I was an office manager. Unruh came in the front door along with a uniformed cop. I greeted him warmly. “Always wanted to meet you, Mr Unruh!”** But he was in a hurry, wanted to see the boss. I took him and…
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No QE in nature
Another “leftover” “vestigial” piece of anatomy turns out to be useful after all. The muscles around the outer ear are unquestionably used by most mammals. We can see a dog or cat moving both ears to listen in various directions. The outer ears are also used for emotional signaling, showing fear or alertness or curiosity…
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We weren’t always stupid
I was skimming through some 1966 RCA periodicals at American Radio Library just for jollies. RCA was demonstrating a fancy time and temperature screen generated by one of those newfangled Electric Brains: Ping! That’s KHQ in Spokane! Nah, impossible. The last time I watched broadcast TV was 2010. They couldn’t have been using the same…
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Olympic city
Spokane is trying to beat its own record today! In the last 24 hours we have 10 overdoses, 2 suicides by gun, one suicide by jumping, and two stabbings. The overdoses are coming in fast and furious in the last hour. Must be EBT card time.
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City of stolen ideas
Today’s list of Days includes Marmot Day, an obvious ripoff of Groundhog Day. Marmot Day is a Spokane specialty because we supposedly have a monopoly on marmots. I’ve only seen them in the downtown park, not elsewhere. Sure enough, “local” media had to mark Marmot Day. So Spokane owns two official Days, both plagiarized. Fathers…
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Mexico joins the Allies
Later: Mexico is planning retaliatory tariffs like Canada, but not quite as specific yet. From Reuters: With a universal tariff of 25%, it is estimated that exports could fall by around 12%. Sheinbaum also rejected as “slander” the White House’s allegation that drug cartels have an alliance with the Mexican government, a point Trump’s administration…
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Is this what he’s doing?
Trump was trained by Roy Cohn in Agent Provocateur tricks. Cohn used the tactic on Joe McCarthy and later on the Birchers. He took charge of Joe in the 50s and JBS in the 70s, turning each into a grotesque extreme parody of a rational belief system. The Agent Provocateur trick was first perfected by…
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Unthingable
Now that all the tech tyrants are pursuing the AI stock bubble, previous stock bubbles are popping fast. Before AI, virtual reality was the earth-shaking new technology, the Transformative Universal Fix for all the world’s problems. Facebook and Google already dropped VR last year. Apple is dropping it this year. Meanwhile, AI has already been…
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Saluting Canada
Polistra and friends salute Canada and Trudeau’s excellent action. And to customize the tribute, linking to a series I did back in August on Reginald Fessenden, Canada’s own radio pioneer. Fessenden was unstoppably creative, working on a wide range of problems, always strictly scientific, always coming up with unique ways to deal with every detail…
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Amazingly good
Trudeau’s response to Trump’s pointless lunacy is pretty damn good. He starts with a history of Canada and US working on the same side in wars and crises. He actually understated Canada’s WW2 contribution, since Canada started fighting a year earlier. Then he talks about the shared economy, missing the earlier period when Canada was…
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Unsolvably stupid
Journalism is beyond salvation, and journalists are beyond salvation. Even when they talk about checking their own hidden assumptions, they make the same fucking hidden assumptions. One paragraph: = = = = = START QUOTE: A lot of time and energy is spent by news organizations trying to convey that they know better than their…
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Sounds promising
Canada and Mexico are finally showing some guts after many decades of willing servitude to the US empire. Trump’s crazy threats of Mutually Assured Destruction for all sides have finally awakened some noise, if not some action. The clip features the premier of Newfoundland who has the right idea. This is a chance for Canada…
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Survival of the misfittest
Continuing inspiration from Sherri Olson’s marvelous book on English peasants in 1300. = = = = = Court sessions were participatory performances. = = = = = START QUOTE: Many ears are listening to a story that is being worked out as it goes along, a story that is searching for assent as it unfolds,…
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Did science as entertainment continue?
Yesterday’s mention of symphonies that wear out the bass drum and the eardrum with endlessly hammered final movements reminded me of Peter Schickele’s classical parodies. Schickele mainly focused on the finicky excesses of Baroque Purists. I was a finicky Baroque Purist, so I appreciated his work. This led to a broader thought about science as…
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Worthy question
Note seen on Substack: The only writing advice I can give is always cut your last sentence. 99% of the time you’ve already said what you want to say, and you’re just trying to tie it up with a bow. Writing doesn’t need bows. Unlike most notes, this is a worthy question, not immediately dismissable.…
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