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| me in home office 2005.20 |
Above is a recent picture of me that I took with a timer for the LCC Faculty Union web site. It's supposed to be a picture of me working in my home office, which I always do with a Frisbee: forehand. Note the space video -- Hubble telescope imagery -- on the TV. You cannot see well both monitors in the command center, but you can see the main monitor sporting a Nick Fury Agent of Shield comic book cover.
Welcome to the weekly hodge podge, the assortment, the gallimaufry, the myriad and sundry.
Lots of good things in this week's Hodge Podge, including the weekly COVID report. Nearing 95,000 deaths in the U.S. alone.
New video by Rebecca Watson with a transcript.
Some David Brin blog content, SCIENCE!!
A great article from Monster.com on "work-at-home scams." Yikes!!
The usual features from Twitter. Some music videos from the 1980s.
Trump update on how he's slipping in the polls.
Okay, sue me, I had never heard of Joe Pera.
And in case all that wasn't awesome enough content, there's an article called "New Math Proves That a Special Kind of Space-Time Is Unstable."
If that alone does not intrigue you, there's a Scalzi post about why he's staying at home, mostly.
And the truth of where the band The Teardrop Explodes gets its name:
Yes, from Daredevil!! (see near the end of the post).
joe pera keeps you company during the quarantine pic.twitter.com/zTcBy90yDv— Yee Foie (@foie) May 19, 2020
One of the most reliable Republican voting blocs in the country is seniors—but newly released polling shows that Donald Trump's botched coronavirus response may cause that support to crumble under his feet.
These stunning new polls show that just between March and April, Trump's approval rating among seniors dropped a whopping 14 points, and notably, the percentage of seniors who say they are "very favorable" to Trump has dropped to just 20%, the lowest of his presidency.1
This shift could not be more important. In 2016, voters over age 50 represented more than half of the electorate, and the majority of these voters voted for Trump.2 If he loses a significant portion of that support, it will be the death knell for his campaign.
The potential impact of seniors abandoning Trump in November is enormous.
Voters over 65 will represent 23% of the entire electorate this November, the largest since 1970.3 If turnout numbers are similar to those in 2016, that is a whopping 30 million votes.4
In 2016, Hillary Clinton won 44% of the senior vote, but if Democrats can just win 50% of that voting bloc in 2020, it would be a total game-changer.5
And seniors have reasons to abandon Trump. People over 65 are the most at risk for serious complications from contracting the coronavirus, and Trump's monumental failure to lead during this moment is endangering their lives more than any other age group's.
Seniors also rely more on the Postal Service than any other age group, and Trump has been actively trying to bankrupt the USPS during the pandemic.6
And, most recently, Trump and the GOP have hatched a cruel plan to force Americans who receive coronavirus relief payments to pay them back through delaying those citizens' access to Social Security benefits.7
Sources:
1. "Trump's Favorability Falls Among Seniors Amidst Pandemic," PRRI, May 11, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
2. "An examination of the 2016 electorate, based on validated voters," Pew Research Center, August 9, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
3. "An early look at the 2020 electorate," Pew Research Center, January 30, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
4. "2016 United States presidential election," Wikipedia, accessed May 14, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
5. "An examination of the 2016 electorate, based on validated voters," Pew Research Center, August 9, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
6. "Trump threatens to block aid for U.S. Postal Service if it does not raise prices for Amazon," Reuters, April 24, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
7. "Column: Republicans seek to exploit COVID-19 crisis to cut Social Security benefits," Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/
https://act.moveon.org/go/
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
WEEKLY PANDEMIC REPORT
I am a day late. But this week I am going to post both graphics. The estimates of 147,000 deaths by August seem low the way the death rate is climbing and with re-opening and relaxing of precautions.
Anyway, as usual, here's the weekly links to the data about cases (lower than reality) and deaths (lower than reality, also) due to COVID-19.
Data can be found here, as always:
This is also a good data site:
Transcript:
In previous videos I’ve debunked conservative Americans’ claim that the government is not stamping on our rights and freedoms by closing businesses and asking people to shelter in place during a pandemic that has, as of this recording, killed 84,000 people in the United States and infected at least 4.3 million people worldwide. But I thought that for at least one video I could entertain the idea of what it would look like if a government decided to use this global catastrophe as an opportunity to move from a democracy to a fascist dictatorship.
To make it as similar as possible to the United States, let’s say that the president of this hypothetical country is a far-right populist, a man of the people who ran a campaign based on fear of immigrants and social conservatism, including a strong bias against transgender issues. And let’s say that his party has so much power thanks to gerrymandering, and not because they won the popular vote. Let’s say that in addition to the presidency he has significant power in Congress and the court system. And let’s say that he absolutely hates the press and constantly complains about “fake news.”
And let’s call this hypothetical country….oh, I don’t know...let’s just call it “Hungary.” Because this isn’t hypothetical, this actually happened! A few weeks back, the “Prime Minister” of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, passed a law that allows him to rule by decree, without consulting Parliament. He also canceled all upcoming elections, meaning that his rule will extend indefinitely, which...yeah, you’ve got a dictatorship there, pal. And I’m not kidding with the similarities to Trump: Orbán really is an anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQ, far-right populist. His Parliament is controlled by a 2/3s majority from his own party, who got that majority despite losing the popular vote thanks to some over-the-top gerrymandering. And for awhile now, he’s been attacking the press for “fake news,” meaning news that is critical of his administration. The comparisons are truly stunning. Thanks to his party’s Parliamentary majority, he was able to push through his dictatorship law, while also criminalizing the spread of misinformation, threatening any journalist with jail time if they consider posting something he finds insulting. And not just journalists: a 64-year old man was detained by police this week over a Facebook post in which he referred to Orbán as a dictator and begged him not to relax the quarantine rules while the pandemic was still raging. He was released but the threat is clear: self-censor or face consequences.
Orbán is also about to push through a law effectively cleansing the country of transgender people. The new law would change the wording on driver’s licenses and passports so that instead of the word “nem,” which means “sex” or “gender,” it will now read essentially as “birth sex” -- the sex a person was assigned at birth based on their genitalia. This new designation cannot be changed even if it is wrong, meaning that trans people who need to show ID (which they are required to carry at all times) will be outed constantly. Anti-trans sentiment is already high in Hungary, and this law will put many lives at risk.
It’s not clear where the country is going to go from here. Orbán claims that once the pandemic is over, the new dictatorship law will be lifted, as it’s ostensibly supposed to give him the ability to make quick decisions to help the country through the virus. But experts aren’t sure he’s actually going to do that, or if he does do that there’s concern over whether or not he’s going to make a big show of ending the law while still keeping a lot of the pro-dictatorship policies in place under the hood.
So, does that mean that American conservatives are right to worry about our government using these shelter-in-place orders to trample our freedoms and prepare us for a dictatorship just like Hungary? Let’s go over some of the reasons why the answer is “uhhh no.”
First of all, as Orbán illustrates the most likely person to do that is the far-right populist in charge: Donald Trump. The people spreading these concerns are by and large Trump supporters, which is why Trump has subtly (and at times not so subtly) encouraged the protests against quarantine. It’s not going to be Gavin Newsome, the Democrat governor of California, who suddenly decides to become a dictator, form his own country, and attack the United Midwestern States. It’s Trump. Newsome isn’t the one constantly crying about the free press, or weighing whether or not to cancel elections. That’s Trump. The President. The analogy to Hungary’s Prime Minister.
Second of all, Hungary has not been a true Democracy for years. You can argue about whether or not the US is, but for all our problems we’re not as bad as Hungary. Experts agree that this dictatorship isn’t actually new -- it’s just the mask falling off. Orbán’s party controls the Parliament and the Courts, and the minority parties aren’t even close to gaining parity. He’s limited the funding those parties can even receive to run elections. He and his allies own approximately 90% of all news outlets. This didn’t just happen: the far-right party has been orchestrating it over the past decade.
That’s not to say Americans shouldn’t look at Hungary with a certain amount of anxiety. I’ve pointed out the similarities, and they’re not surface-level-only. It is worth considering how much power we give to our government in a time of crisis -- I happen to remember the last time we went through something like this during George W. Bush’s years. He used the 9/11 attacks to grab an astonishing amount of power, including establishing the Patriot Act. It’s been 19 years and the Patriot Act is still allowing the government to use surveillance techniques on American citizens with no checks and balances. In fact, Mitch McConnell is now expanding the FBI’s abilities to spy on exactly what websites you are viewing, with no warrant needed.
Yes, you should be concerned. But you shouldn’t go off the deep end and assume that the government asking you to work from home for little while is akin to a dictatorship. It’s not. I go outside all the time, often without a mask! I go for runs and bike rides and swims. I talk to friends. I even hang out with them sometimes, being careful to maintain distance! I can still read, watch, and play whatever books, movies, and games I want. I can still be bisexual. I can still read independent journalists. Quarantine isn’t a prison sentence. It’s a way to protect my fellow human beings. Even the morons who don’t understand what a dictatorship is.
http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2020/05/your-coronacovidcovfefe-sideways-update_16.html
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Your Corona/Covid/Covfefe sideways update
In a moment, much of interest - including startling slides - about the covid-crisis. But first: the Trumpist-Foxite war against all fact professions is zeroing in on a central goal, to crush or eliminate all of the 75 inspectors general in US agencies, for their inconvenient dedication to fact-centered professionalism. See the horrifying progress of this purge... any one incident of which would have enraged any Republican, if a Democratic President even hinted at it.
It seems vital to keep reminding this particular audience of what one of the truest Americans said - with (alas!) prophetic insight about one age-old trend among some of his countrymen:
It seems vital to keep reminding this particular audience of what one of the truest Americans said - with (alas!) prophetic insight about one age-old trend among some of his countrymen:
"Throw in a Depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here on earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negrosim, and a good large dose of anti-“furriners” in general and anti-intellectuals here at home, and the result might be something quite frightening – particularly when one recalls that our voting system is such that a minority distributed as pluralities in enough states can constitute a working majority in Washington."
Jiminy! Robert A. Heinlein wrote that in the early 1950s! Is there anything he did not hit right on the head? Heck, he even nailed the dominionist "Prosperity Gospel" so popular among Ted Cruz types, promising fervid followers that their "material heaven here on earth" will come by righteously seizing the property of unbelievers.
Seriously, read his last paragraph (above) again and again to your MAGAs who might be reachable. Then recall that Heinlein portrayed Nehemiah Scudder taking the White House against the will of a majority, in 2012. (He also spoke of America sinking into "The Crazy Years.")
Meanwhile... winter is coming. Our latest whistleblower, former top vaccine official Rick Bright, fired by the Trump administration, recently warned Congress that the U.S. faces its "darkest winter in modern history" if it fails to develop a coordinated, effective response to the pandemic. (Late news. Bright is no longer the "latest" fired IG. Two more in just the last week,)
Meanwhile... winter is coming. Our latest whistleblower, former top vaccine official Rick Bright, fired by the Trump administration, recently warned Congress that the U.S. faces its "darkest winter in modern history" if it fails to develop a coordinated, effective response to the pandemic. (Late news. Bright is no longer the "latest" fired IG. Two more in just the last week,)
== Covid/covfefe update -- from our unusual angle ==
(1) There is a simple, capitalist/market solution to surging protests against “oppressive” closures of public gatherings like bars and church services. It’s called insurance. Let such groups do as they like, so long as they take out policies to remediate any subsequent outbreaks… and so long as they gather names/addresses of participants/ parishioners/ customers for contact tracing if their event endangers the public with a flareup. Note: except for random compliance audits, the state won’t get that info, only the proprietor. Also…
… if you’re so sure it’s safe, then convincing an insurance company to give reasonable rates should be a cinch, especially since many are run by Republican moguls. Hey! Don’t trust government bureaucrats? Then do it the market way!
-- MEANWHILE…
-- MEANWHILE…
(2) Wuhan reported no new Covid-19 cases since April 3rd*. But six new cases just emerged. So now they plan to test all 11 million people citywide in 10 days. That's what you do if you're serious about getting the virus under control and returning to modified normalcy. We (the U.S.) haven't conducted 11 million tests nationwide during this entire pandemic.
(* With the usual caveat that you can't believe everything coming out of China)
(3) With our regular alumni reunion cancelled, Caltech posted a zoom replacement seminar day. One talk on Covid clarified some scary things. I will append below several of the slides that are frighteningly self-explanatory. Note that nearly all of the downturn in infection rates in the US is because of New York's success turning things around. Russia, India, Brazil and the U.S. are all scary. Meanwhile Florida and other states are desperately avoiding truth-telling by redefining death-attribution and reporting. It won't work. Because of those inconvenient fact-people.
(4) Two (...now five(!)...) previously “negative” sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam just tested positive, upsetting every schedule to get back in operation. The first one failed to report four days having lost his sense of smell. Indications are that one's sense of smell diminishes by the third day after infection with the novel coronavirus.
And hence... EVERYONE, SCRATCH AND SNIFF A LEMON, DAILY!
(4) Two (...now five(!)...) previously “negative” sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam just tested positive, upsetting every schedule to get back in operation. The first one failed to report four days having lost his sense of smell. Indications are that one's sense of smell diminishes by the third day after infection with the novel coronavirus.
And hence... EVERYONE, SCRATCH AND SNIFF A LEMON, DAILY!
(5) Have any of you out there noticed the surge of road repair work going on? Two months (more) ago I proposed the "Pothole Solution" to under-employment while the streets are mostly empty. I guess the idea was obvious.
(6) Hey, why aren't we seeing FOOD TRUCKS roaming neighborhoods, just like the ice cream trucks of old? With flyers they could let every home know a schedule or make orders to be dropped off. Izzit happening near you?
(6) Hey, why aren't we seeing FOOD TRUCKS roaming neighborhoods, just like the ice cream trucks of old? With flyers they could let every home know a schedule or make orders to be dropped off. Izzit happening near you?
— AND FINALLY… An astonishing number of Sars-CoV-2 (covfefe) traits have made it more insidious than the original Sars-Cov-1 (SARS). The incredibly long and highly variable asymptomatic contagious period is the main reason for its pervasive spread and why mask discipline is vital.
But other things scare me even more and make me deeply worried and (yes) a little suspicious… like evidence of nerve and kidney damage, even when the lungs are spared. And the still unknown answer to the antibody/immunity question. (Seriously? Still? Shouldn’t the recovered be volunteering en masse for hospital duties? Or be flocking to their own bars and church services and events, so we can get an answer to that vital question? Shouldn’t Elon staff his factory with the recovered?)
All those traits - plus the notorious ability of corona viruses to cause immunity amnesia - beggar the imagination when we’re asked to believe this is just an escaped bat-pangolin virus. Just sayin’.
SCIENCE
https://www.quantamagazine.org/black-holes-prove-that-anti-de-sitter-space-time-is-unstable-20200511/
EXCERPT:
New Math Proves That a Special Kind of Space-Time Is Unstable
Einstein’s equations describe three canonical configurations of space-time. Now one of these three — important in the study of quantum gravity — has been shown to be inherently unstable.The Swell of Gravity
The instability conjecture — and indeed the whole school of thought from which it sprang — goes back to Einstein’s equations of general relativity, which spell out exactly how mass and energy affect the curvature of space-time. In a vacuum, where there’s no matter at all, space-time can still be curved and gravity can still be present, due to the energy density of the vacuum itself, described by a “cosmological constant.” Empty space, it turns out, is not really empty at all.
The three simplest solutions to Einstein’s vacuum equations are the most symmetric ones — those in which the curvature of space-time is the same everywhere. In Minkowski space-time, where the cosmological constant is zero, the universe is perfectly flat. In de Sitter space-time, where the cosmological constant has a positive value, the universe is shaped like a sphere. And when the cosmological constant is negative, you get AdS space-time, which has a saddle shape. In the early days of cosmology, scientists wondered which one of these three space-times describes our universe.
Mathematicians, on the other hand, tended to wonder if these space-times were really, truly stable. That is, if you disturbed a vacuum space-time in any way — say, by injecting some matter into the system or sending in some gravitational waves — would it eventually settle down into something close to the original state? Or would it evolve into something wildly different? It’s the cosmic equivalent of dropping a rock into a pond: Will the waves gradually diminish, or will they build into a tsunami?
In 1986, a mathematician proved that de Sitter space-time is stable. A pair of mathematicians did the same for Minkowski space-time in 1993. The AdS problem has taken longer. The general consensus was that AdS, unlike the other two configurations, is unstable, which meant that mathematicians would have to take an entirely new approach. “A lot of tools in mathematics have been developed for stability problems,” said Dafermos. “But instability is a completely different arena — especially this type of instability,” which is nonlinear in nature, making for an inherently complicated situation, with correspondingly tricky calculations.
Researchers suspected that AdS space-time might be unstable because they believed its boundary would be reflective, thereby causing it “to act like a mirror so that any waves hitting it will come back,” Dafermos explained.
“Reflection at the boundary makes sense from a physical point of view,” said Juan Maldacena, a physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. This is partly due to the curvature of AdS space, but there’s an even simpler explanation: The premise upholds the principle of energy conservation.
If the boundary is, in fact, reflective, nothing can leak out of AdS space-time. So any matter or energy put into the system could potentially get concentrated — perhaps to such an extent that a black hole would form. The question was: Would that really happen, and, if so, what mechanism would cause matter and energy to cluster together to such a degree rather than staying spread out?
Moschidis imagined standing in the middle of AdS space-time, which would be like standing inside a giant ball whose edge or boundary lies at infinity. If you sent a light signal from there, it would travel out and reach the boundary in a finite amount of time. That kind of travel is only possible because of a well-known relativistic effect: Although the spatial distance to the boundary is indeed infinite, time slows down for a wave or object traveling at or near the speed of light. So an observer standing in the middle of AdS space-time would see a light ray reach the boundary in a finite amount of time (though some patience would be required).
Instead of using a light ray, Moschidis dropped into AdS space a form of matter that is commonly used in general relativity models — so-called Einstein-Vlasov particles. These particles create concentric waves of matter in space-time, similar to the water waves that appear in a pond.
Of the many concentric waves created when matter is suddenly plopped into this space-time, the first two will be the biggest. Since they contain the most matter and energy, we’ll focus on them. The first wave — call it wave 1 — will expand outward until it hits the boundary, bounces back, and contracts as it retreats toward the center. The second wave, wave 2, will follow.
MORE SLASHDOT NEWS:
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America's FDA Halts Bill Gates-Backed Coronavirus Testing Program
Bill Gates Regrets Not Calling More Attention to the Danger of Pandemics
Does Science Fiction Build Mental Resiliency in Young Readers?
Is NASA Actually Working On a Warp Drive?
Doctors Are Tweeting About Coronavirus To Make Facts Go Viral
'Doom Eternal' Is Using Denuvo's New Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat Driver
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https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/05/15/2029240/quantum-security-goes-live-with-samsung-galaxy
Quantum Security Goes Live With Samsung Galaxy (threatpost.com)
Samsung and South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom have debuted the Galaxy A Quantum 5G smartphone, sporting a quantum random number generation (RNG) chipset. It's the first commercialization of quantum technology for mobile phones, and it will serve as a significant bellwether for full quantum encryption's chances of going mainstream. Threatpost reports:Quantum encryption in general has been touted as being "unhackable" because it generates random numbers and secure keys that cannot be predicted, via particles that can't be intercepted, eavesdropped upon or spoofed. The very laws of physics themselves prevent successful cracking, the theory goes. However, researchers have proven more than once that this isn't the case -- though hacks so far have required sustained physical access to a device.
In any event, the Samsung phone will provide an interesting test case for the technology -- though details are scant in terms of how the chipset actually works. The Galaxy will use quantum security in a few different scenarios, according to an SK press release (translated with Google Translate). These include logging into carrier accounts on the device; securely storing personal documents via a blockchain-enabled "Quantum Wallet" and for biometric-based mobile payments at retail stores. Online payment protection is also on the roadmap. SK Telecom also plans to roll out open APIs for developers to begin incorporating the technology on an OEM and application basis.
In any event, the Samsung phone will provide an interesting test case for the technology -- though details are scant in terms of how the chipset actually works. The Galaxy will use quantum security in a few different scenarios, according to an SK press release (translated with Google Translate). These include logging into carrier accounts on the device; securely storing personal documents via a blockchain-enabled "Quantum Wallet" and for biometric-based mobile payments at retail stores. Online payment protection is also on the roadmap. SK Telecom also plans to roll out open APIs for developers to begin incorporating the technology on an OEM and application basis.
https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/05/16/0224259/americas-fda-halts-bill-gates-backed-coronavirus-testing-program
America's FDA Halts Bill Gates-Backed Coronavirus Testing Program (digitaltrends.com)
America's Food and Drug Administration "halted, at least temporarily, a Seattle-based at-home coronavirus testing program backed by Bill Gates," reports Digital Trends:"Please discontinue patient testing and return of diagnostic results to patients until proper authorization is obtained," the FDA told the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN) in a memo, according to The New York Times.
"The FDA has not raised any concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of SCAN's test, but we have been asked to pause testing until we receive that additional authorization," according to an update on the SCAN website.
The delay "is the latest evidence of how a splintered national effort to develop, distribute and ramp up testing has left federal regulators struggling to keep up," reports the New York Times:Dr. Eric Topol, the director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, who is not involved in the Seattle group, said it was "bizarre" that the F.D.A. would halt such a project. The Seattle partnership that is conducting the testing, the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, said in a statement that it had been in conversation with the Food and Drug Administration about its program for about 10 weeks and submitted data a month ago. "We are actively working to address their questions," the group said...
The issue in the Seattle case appears to be that the test results are being used not only by researchers for surveillance of the virus in the community but that the results are also being returned to patients to inform them. The two kinds of testing — surveillance and diagnostic — fall under different F.D.A. standards.... "We had previously understood that SCAN was being conducted as a surveillance study," the spokesperson said
"The FDA has not raised any concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of SCAN's test, but we have been asked to pause testing until we receive that additional authorization," according to an update on the SCAN website.
The delay "is the latest evidence of how a splintered national effort to develop, distribute and ramp up testing has left federal regulators struggling to keep up," reports the New York Times:Dr. Eric Topol, the director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, who is not involved in the Seattle group, said it was "bizarre" that the F.D.A. would halt such a project. The Seattle partnership that is conducting the testing, the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, said in a statement that it had been in conversation with the Food and Drug Administration about its program for about 10 weeks and submitted data a month ago. "We are actively working to address their questions," the group said...
The issue in the Seattle case appears to be that the test results are being used not only by researchers for surveillance of the virus in the community but that the results are also being returned to patients to inform them. The two kinds of testing — surveillance and diagnostic — fall under different F.D.A. standards.... "We had previously understood that SCAN was being conducted as a surveillance study," the spokesperson said
https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/05/15/2256225/moons-mysterious-disappearance-900-years-ago-finally-gets-an-explanation
Moon's Mysterious Disappearance 900 Years Ago Finally Gets An Explanation
Iwastheone shares a report from Live Science:There's no use sugar coating it: According to one scribe in medieval England, A.D. 1110 was a "disastrous year." Torrential rainfall damaged crops, famine stalked the land -- and, as if that wasn't bad enough, on one fateful night in May, the moon simply vanished from the sky. "On the fifth night in the month of May appeared the moon shining bright in the evening, and afterwards by little and little its light diminished," the unnamed scribe wrote in the Anglo-Saxon manuscript known as the Peterborough Chronicle. "As soon as night came, it was so completely extinguished withal, that neither light, nor orb, nor anything at all of it was seen. And so it continued nearly until day, and then appeared shining full and bright."
So, what made the moon disappear in an already dismal year? According to a study published April 21 in the journal Scientific Reports, the explanation for both the moon's mysterious vanishing act and the rain-ravaged summer that followed may be one and the same -- volcanoes. "The spectacular atmospheric optical phenomena associated with high-altitude volcanic aerosols have caught the attention of chroniclers since ancient times," the study authors wrote. "Careful evaluation of ice core records points to the occurrence of several closely spaced volcanic eruptions," which may have occurred in Europe or Asia between A.D. 1108 and A.D. 1110.
Those volcanic events, which the researchers call a "forgotten cluster" of eruptions because they were sparsely documented by historians at the time, may have released towering clouds of ash that traveled far around the world for years on end. Not only could a high-altitude veil of volcanic aerosols blot out the moon while leaving many stars unobscured, as the Peterborough writer described, but a series of large eruptions could have also disrupted the global climate, the researcher wrote, causing or exacerbated the cold, wet weather that made life so miserable in A.D. 1110. One such eruption, which occurred in Japan in A.D. 1108, could be to blame, the team said.
So, what made the moon disappear in an already dismal year? According to a study published April 21 in the journal Scientific Reports, the explanation for both the moon's mysterious vanishing act and the rain-ravaged summer that followed may be one and the same -- volcanoes. "The spectacular atmospheric optical phenomena associated with high-altitude volcanic aerosols have caught the attention of chroniclers since ancient times," the study authors wrote. "Careful evaluation of ice core records points to the occurrence of several closely spaced volcanic eruptions," which may have occurred in Europe or Asia between A.D. 1108 and A.D. 1110.
Those volcanic events, which the researchers call a "forgotten cluster" of eruptions because they were sparsely documented by historians at the time, may have released towering clouds of ash that traveled far around the world for years on end. Not only could a high-altitude veil of volcanic aerosols blot out the moon while leaving many stars unobscured, as the Peterborough writer described, but a series of large eruptions could have also disrupted the global climate, the researcher wrote, causing or exacerbated the cold, wet weather that made life so miserable in A.D. 1110. One such eruption, which occurred in Japan in A.D. 1108, could be to blame, the team said.
MORE SCIENCE
http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2020/05/science-keeps-moving-on-it-could-give.html
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Science keeps moving on! It could give us the stars...( if we don't get idiocracy first.)
== Do humans need uplifting? ==
Alas, P.Z. Meyers speculates that my novel The Postman may be my most prophetic... re: a plague of selfish romanticism driving "preppers" at both society's low and high ends.
Or else maybe the Uplift Series? Because we badly need it? Oh, but see below. We're getting the tools!
== Uplifting animal news ==
Apparently chimps use Instagram and similar apps really well, swiping and touch-activating etc. Does this speak to their “pre-sapient” potential for uplift, as in my cosmology? Or to the really primitive level that these crude apps operate on?
And octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish, routinely edit their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to adapt to their environment. When such an edit happens, it can change how the proteins work, allowing the organism to fine-tune its genetic information without actually undergoing any genetic mutations. "I wonder if it has to do with their extremely developed brains," asks geneticist Kazuko Nishikura. The theorized tradeoff: cephalopods may gain individual flexibility at the cost of slower genetic evolution.
Jumping jaws: the trap-jaw ant uses its jaws - that open a full 180 degrees - not just to catch prey, but to jump as well, propelling them at a speed of 140 mph, with a force 300 times the insect's weight.
Engineering new life forms. A generation ago, religious leaders called it a red line. A no-go zone, arrogating Heaven’s authority. Now? Silence, as the red lines keep getting moved. Scientists are sculpting and arraying frog stem cells into nano-robots that move tiny appendages and swim about, as designed.
Gosh what a fascinating time! Just a few years ago we learned about Denisovans, a human branch as widespread and important as Neanderthals. Both groups contributed partial inputs to our modern genomes... for non-Africans, that is.
Only now it seems some African populations carry genes from the “ghost population” of yet a third mystery sub-species! This interbreeding happened about 50,000 years ago, roughly the same time that Neanderthals were breeding with modern humans elsewhere in the world. Are you jazzed that science keeps inventing time machines?
Only now it seems some African populations carry genes from the “ghost population” of yet a third mystery sub-species! This interbreeding happened about 50,000 years ago, roughly the same time that Neanderthals were breeding with modern humans elsewhere in the world. Are you jazzed that science keeps inventing time machines?
Toxic love. Yet sadly endearing. A baboon tries to groom and comfort a lion cub it stole, of course dooming the cub. Should pet owners take note?
== Recent research ==
In “strange metal” scientists have managed to get billions of electrons simultaneously entangled into a shared quantum state. We’ve long been able to do this with bosons (photons, phonons etc) in say lasers. But electrons are fussy fermions. Ooh.
A fascinating method using “carboranes” to trap and extract particular elements from solution, even seawater. The first tested use was Uranium, but there may be others.
Another for the Predictions registry: “Teslasuit’s new VR gloves let you feel virtual objects.” See my story 'NatuLife,' from my collection Otherness.
== Mining the seas? ==
Consider this paragraph: “Ships above will draw thousands of pounds of sediment through a hose to the surface, remove the metallic objects, known as polymetallic nodules, and then flush the rest back into the water. Some of that slurry will contain toxins such as mercury and lead, which could poison the surrounding ocean for hundreds of miles. The rest will drift in the current until it settles in nearby ecosystems.”
Yes, the image is noxious. Though consider also that it is upwelling of ocean bottom sediments that is precisely where nearly all ocean life derives. The possibility of positive outcomes should not be blithely dismissed any more than negative ones. What’s needed is prudence and incremental approaches and above all, transparency combined with skepticism toward the truth-bending effects of greed.
Much will depend on a factor barely considered in the article… close proximity of test sites to fast or slow ocean currents. Having said all that (partly as a contrarian) let me add that this fine article should both inspire and warn you. We must to well by this Earth. Or we have our likely explanation for the Fermi Paradox.
== Saving the planet across a broad spectrum ==
Ever more it seems that some form of 'geo-engineering' is in the cards. While the biggest threat to the planet is right wing denialism, the left’s puritanism is also bad news, insisting that only draconian reductions in carbon emissions can do any good at all. This argument -- a version of "moral hazard" -- is flawed in several ways.
(See KSR's novel about the consequences of warming in New York 2140, and of course I portrayed the dilemma in my own 1990 book Earth.)
2) Carbon fuel replacement by sustainables and e-vehicles already has huge momentum, driven by ever advancing technology, far more than by puritanism. Over the long run, we should be fine. If we can get across the next few decades.
3) The very notion that we can only do one thing, instead of attacking problems across a broad front, is a pure sign of zero sum fanaticism based upon sanctimonious emotion and not vigorous problem solving. It is proof that even the “good” side that is right about overall problems and goals can still be infested with self-righteous loons. (Though nowhere near as bad as the other side, which has no positive traits at all.)
We can and must do many things, in parallel. And experiments must go forward to see if methods like this - and ocean fertilization — can offer safe and effective amelioration for a problem to the planet and future generations… while the real solutions lose no momentum at all.
An interesting article about the world trade in “recyclables”… or otherwise known as “waste” … now that China is producing so much of its own that it no longer needs any from the West. Progress... I think?
https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/Avoid-Work-from-Home-Job-Scams
How to avoid work-from-home job scams
Learn how to identify work-from-home scams—
even ones that may not be so obvious.
With a rising mobile workforce, scams related to work-from-home jobs are becoming more common these days, and they come in many forms: wire transfer schemes, claims processing, envelope stuffing, refund-recovery work, and other fraudulent offers. We want to help you identify legitimate work-from-home jobs so you can focus your energy on pursuing remote jobs that won't waste your time.
Spot the red flags
Since work-from-home scams have become so prevalent, identifying common signs of a fraudulent job has actually become easier than ever.
“You can root out 90 percent of scams with just a few simple rules," says Rob Holmes, founder and CEO of MI:33, a Texas-based intellectual property investigation firm. “If they are using Gmail, it is a scam. If the only interview is done by online chat, it is a scam.”
Never take online jobs from home if you haven’t at least interviewed by phone or video conference. Make sure to ask the name of your interviewers so you can research the people you’ll be talking with to ensure they’re for real.
Make sure the job description sounds legit
Sometimes, the job description is a giveaway that the job’s not what it seems. For legitimate work-from-home jobs, job descriptions almost always include a detailed list of responsibilities and required experience to help you determine whether or not you’re qualified (and interested!) in applying.
If the description only includes a few bullet points, or makes it sound like getting the job will be quick and easy, it’s might be a scam.
“If a potential employer cares very little about your qualifications for the position, they probably aren't legitimate,” says Stephanie Foster, career expert at Home With the Kids, an online resource for stay-at-home and work-at-home parents. “Real employers want highly qualified people.”
Research the company
Before you say yes to any online jobs from home, researching the company is a must. There are so many ways to find out what a company is like (or if it even exists) from sites like Monster's company guide, or you can simply check out a company’s website or social media presence.
“Look at reviews, check online business complaint sites, and try to reach out to people working for the company,” says Justin Lavelle, chief communications officer at BeenVerified, an online background-check company located in New York City.
If the company doesn’t have a website, any presence on social media, or a single review? Most likely a scam.
Ask questions early and often
If you’re invited to an in-person (or video conference) interview and are still uncertain whether or not the position is legitimate, make sure to ask the right kind of questions, so you’ll feel confident about taking the job.
“Learn the exact details of the job and ask a lot of detailed questions about their expectations of you,” says Foster. “Find out how you're earning your pay and how the company makes money. If these don't make sense, there's probably a problem.”
A tactful way to phrase the money questions might be, “What are the company’s top revenue streams?” That way, you’re getting your answer and simultaneously showing interest in how the company operates.
Another non-imposing, smart investigative question to ask is: Where is the home office or corporate headquarters? This will help you research whether or not it actually exists!
Never, ever shell out any money
Don’t forget to ask, “What type of training will I receive?” If it prompts a discussion about you, the candidate, paying for your own training, it’s most certainly a scam.
“Any job that requires you pay a fee to get the job should be an immediate red flag,” says Lavelle. “Honest employers train employees on their dime. You don’t have to pay for training or any other fee such as an application fee, or a processing fee. Any job that requires you to give your bank information or credit card or financial information should be fully vetted before turning that information over to them.”
Let the opportunities come to you
Could you use some help scoring legitimate work from home jobs? Join Monster for free today. As a member, you can get job alerts sent directly to your inbox so you can apply as soon as the jobs are available. Additionally, you can upload up to five versions of your cover letter and resume—each tailored to different types of WFH jobs that interest you. Recruiters search Monster every day looking to fill top jobs with qualified candidates, just like you. Just remember to change out of your pajamas for the video interview.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2020/05/21/ohios-opening-up-but-im-still-staying-in/
Ohio’s Opening Up But I’m (Still) Staying In
So, Ohio is on its way to opening up entirely — restaurants can open their inside dining areas today, and by June first places like banquet halls and bowling alleys can be back in business. This is all presuming social distancing, etc, inside those halls and alleys. A lot of people around here are thrilled, and I can’t say I blame them; it’s difficult to be away from the world for two months, even in the best-case scenario where your job and well-being are miniminally impacted by these events. A lot of people are ready to go back into the world, or at least the bit of it encompassed by Ohio.
I’m probably not going to be one of them. And, briefly, here’s why:
1. Because the virus wasn’t (and isn’t) actually contained.
2. Because lots of people think the virus was contained, when it wasn’t (and isn’t).
3. As a result, they’re not really paying attention to things like masks or social distancing.
4. Or they think that things like masks/social distancing make you look weak and/or like a Democrat.
5. And I live in a county that went 78% for Trump in 2016, so you do the math here.
Sooooo, yeeeeeah. My plan is to stay home for most of June and let other people run around and see how that works out for them. The best-case scenario is that I’m being overly paranoid for an extra month, in which case we can all laugh about it afterward. The worst case scenario, of course, is death and pain and a lot of people confused about why ventilator tubes are stuck down their throats, or the throats of their loved ones, when they were assured this was all a liberal hoax, and then all of us back in our houses until September. Once again, I would be delighted to be proved overly paranoid.
I do plan to leave my house. I have a dentist appointment in June, and it’s likely at some point or another I will go to the grocery store, or the post office, or run some errands. When I do, I’ll wear a mask (well, probably not in the actual dentist chair, but right up until then) and I’ll keep my distance from most folks. You know, like I have done for the last few months anyway. Mind you, even if I stay at home there’s a chance I’ll still get exposed, because people are becoming more mobile in general, so there are more potential vectors for infection, etc. So I’m not under the illusion that I’m safe. Just safer.
(I could go on about all the political/social dimwittery that caused us as a nation to waste the time all of us were inside, and how we could have been in a better place vis-a-vis this virus if we had better leaders, but, honestly, you already know where I would go with all that, and I don’t want to bother right now. I’m angry about it, but mostly at the moment I’m just exasperated. And tired. Possibly mildly depressed. Meh.)
I am of course immensely privileged to have the resources to stay at my (objectively nice and comfortable) home, a job that allows me to work from that home, and a temperament that mostly doesn’t consider staying at home a hardship. As far as dystopias go, mine is quite cozy and it won’t be exactly onerous to hunker down for another month (or two! Possibly three!). I feel sorry for the people who would like to able to do what I can, but cannot, for various financial and personal reasons. And again, I have sympathy for the people who are all, the hell with this, I’ll risk getting sick, just let me out of my fucking apartment. I get where you’re coming from. You probably don’t actually know what you’re asking for. I hope that you never have to learn.
In any event: Hi, I’m still staying home. Probably. Mostly.
MUSICALS
Been tied up with a bunch of stuff today, and I have a lot more work stuff to think about, so I’m out, BUT there’s a new Julianna Barwick record coming! juliannabarwick.bandcamp.com for those reading this on IG.
"Fear is always with us, but we just don’t have time for it,” I told my classmates when we graduated from college in 1969.— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 17, 2020
Over the last 50 years, I’ve seen just about all the ways fear can paralyze us—and the ways it can spur us on.https://t.co/tWHtj5l9mf #iHeartClassof2020 pic.twitter.com/726ODEPLVh
AND......................... this just here because it has to be somewhere and I wasn't done reading it.
https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2020/05/farewell-beyond-beyond/
Actually, I have read most of it now. See ya Bruce. Thanks, mate!
Excerpt:
I’m even proud and happy that I managed to spare the readers so much of my own mental compost in this blog. The chosen, curated material that made it on to this blog was maybe one percent of the vast heaps of rubbish I was overturning. I could have stuffed this blog with two hundred times as much “content,” and if I’d lived for two hundred years, I would never have lost interest in my sky-blackening sandstorm of off-the-wall topics. Every day was a gift, and full of grist for the mill.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2005.21
- Days ago = 1783 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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