2022-07-16
Readings
The first images from the recently-operational James Webb Telescope have been released, providing much higher-resolution (and thankfully prettier) views of areas covered by Hubble; this is good coverage of the early images (but more images will be coming out continually for many years as more work gets done):
Writings on the takeover of the Libertarian Party:
Engineering efforts to efficiently measure degree-of-vacuum: https://phys.org/news/2022-07-primary-standard-vacuum.html
I wonder if at some point we’ll have a body of analyses that we can do on a structural MRI that will help predict later-life problems and allow for earlier, gentler interventions; finding Parkinson’s early (see also some genetic approaches here: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-07-scientists-genetic-parkinson.html ), as described in this article, is one such possible focus: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-07-imaging-method-diagnosis-early-stage.html
I was hoping to get something new out of this, but this is a nice refresher on the rules for polite/familiar forms of “you” in earlier forms of English; for those who never learned this it might be interesting:
Thoughts
Raising a puppy alone has got me thinking about how much easier life is when one isn’t operating alone; I know that quantifying these things is wading into muddiness, but I’d guess that a couple can bear most task-type difficulties in life maybe 2.5x as well as an individual; anything that needs to get done is less likely to run into schedule conflicts or just moods, and a task done half as often is far easier to bear (leaving one partner able to go on trips as needed). And when done together the chores are far more enjoyable. In theory, there are twice as many events, but the flexibility of allocation should still make this hold (and some events are shared).
I really liked the discussion below on the struggles involved in porting Mononoke Hime to the United States; I particularly appreciate the efforts the Japanese studios made to prevent American meddling in the film, because I feel that doing so would have made the film less remarkable; it is more remarkable in the US (and its story-theming more important) because it doesn’t fit the childish good-vs-evil defect that the Hays Code made common in our films. There’s no way to force it to without butchering the film. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220713-princess-mononoke-the-masterpiece-that-flummoxed-the-us
Wikipedia’s resistance to abuse is overstated; the community of editors, as a whole, is good at keeping out things that are clearly abusive from high-profile pages, but for topics off the beaten path (few visitors), or those that require special expertise to verify, or a few other blind spots, things can slip in. The degree of attention needed to prevent this is rarely applied (because it’d start to look like a job, and the process would starve the creativity of the project). This is just a Sokal-Hoax-type demonstration of these problems (which don’t damn the project, they just should be considered when relying on information there): https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkgbwm/chinese-woman-fake-russian-history-wikipedia
Current Events
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, with Russia adopting terrorist tactics on civilian areas. Anti-missile systems from the west are reducing the effectiveness of these, but civilian deaths continue in high numbers. Russia has also pledged to intensify its attacks. I continue to believe that western forces should declare war on Russia, immediately removing Kaliningrad from the country.
Former President Rajapaska of Sri Lanka resigned (remotely, having fled the country) after a little over a week of mass protest, with the crisis having been sparked by economic mismanagement. Currently both the presidency and the prime minister roles are being filled by the same caretaker (who has a rather long name).
In Italy, Prime Minister Draghi tendered his resignation after parts of his coalition decided not to support him in a confidence vote; the resignation was refused by Italy’s President, which will likely lead to another vote of confidence
In the ongoing back-and-forth over abortion in the US, it’s interesting to see the influence (and its hazards) of the most firm pro-life stances confronting a worst-case example - if a natural referendum to shape federal law were part of our system I suspect that would be a way through this; comparing these three stories in particular:
Reviewlets
Witcher: Time of Contempt (book) - The series is now excellent, I am having a really great time with it as it continues to improve now that we’re into the novel format. It’s also clearly working from a different continuity from the games; not entirely incompatible, but being in the same timeline is now pretty implausible.
Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden (manga) - I started on this years ago and then put it down; picking it back up again and I’m mostly liking the less-likable characters; Miaka from the original FY was a little bit too saccharine (I preferred Yui, who was kind-of a villain). Takiko is well-written and complex.
Nylabone chew toy (dog toy) - I was initially pretty skeptical that this toy (which has some annoying traits for proper use - you’re supposed to pour water into its crevaces and then toss it in the freezer) would be useful, but it turns out to be really good for a dog that’s teething, to the degree that I may order another so I can alternate their play-vs-freezer periods. My pup’s teething is a constant annoyance but this limits that.
Amusements
An archive of manuals from old SNES games: https://archive.org/details/snes_manuals
Trabi (common and trashy east german car) review:
I liked thinking this puzzler through; it wasn’t particularly hard, but I think part of it was the distracting tension between the offered options (which one really must focus on to give the right of them) and the actual maximal information one can get out of the premises. That and some doubts about what style of logic one should use (should we restrict ourself to a binary system with vacuous truths? There are other functional logics). Enjoy:
This other puzzler I solved a fairly different way (more laborious), but had a great time with it as well (deriving an approximate formula for solving areas that fit that general form starting with the top and triangle-oids and then measuring deviation from that shape):
Recent Music
I’ve been enjoying the excerpts of Wynton Marsalis’s jazz lectures/demos that he did at Harvard
I am the One who will remember Everything - Dar Williams - This is one of the strongest songs in what I think of as Dar’s later music; the album is the first on the older side of the gap (maybe others would place such a gap somewhere else, if at all); what I hear is more musical sophistication, more use of layers and setting up patterns early in songs to play off of afterwards.
Hanging On - Cheyenne Kimball - I missed hearing about her music until very recently; I think she’s retired now (and is younger than I am by a fair bit, but musicians can do that).
Pray Your Gods - Toad the Wet Sprocket - I first heard this (sad, calm) song when I went to an engineering summer academy during high school, from one of my summer-dormmates (who I only barely remember, I think his first name may have been “Kelsey”). I am a little saddened to know that memory is long since gone, and the song is partly about that
Personal
Recently I’ve been struggling with my new puppy; I’m wondering if trying to raise a pup in a tiny apartment in Manhattan is a mistake. I can’t give him a yard. I often have to pull things out of his mouth that he grabs on walks that could easily hurt him (and are disgusting enough that people shouldn’t see them). I now live on a timer. I have some family that’s looking for a pup that might take him in a few months if we mutually agree to it, although I also love having him around; the good times are good. It’s a struggle and something I haven’t figured out yet.