2022-07-23
Readings
I assumed the answer to this reasonable-question-a-child-might-ask would be different: Why don’t people develop immune responses to foods. My guess would be that food is relatively isolated from the rest of the body while in the digestive tract, leaving little opportunity or need for immune responses among healthy individuals. Apparently this is not quite the answer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-07-people-immune-response-food.html
Using virii to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria may be a reasonable solution, but to a problem that’s not good to have; overuse of antibiotics is a dangerous problem that could leave us without tools to deal with future plagues. https://www.science.org/content/article/there-s-now-cleaner-better-way-create-viruses-kill-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria
Interesting to read about China’s next proposed Venus mission, which appears not to have a lander; China’s space ambitions and this kind of competition will be good for science (this is just a proposal though, best not to get too wed to the details): https://www.space.com/china-venus-mission-details
Unusual forms of matter can have unusual interactions; this is a claim of a new kind of molecular bond: https://physicsworld.com/a/physicists-detect-a-new-type-of-molecular-bond/
I think Bari Weiss here offers a pretty coherent explanation of a set of ideas that I only partly agree with; I think that the ideological shifts that recently have come from the Progressive Movement are similar where it counts to moralising movements we’ve seen on the right, that it’s nothing new but highly negative, and that it will likely eventually pass just as other moralising movements have in the past. I disagree more with her solutions (particularly opposing moral relativism, which offers a way out of this mess and is also basically more intellectually respectable than the alternative). Still, I think she gets enough right to be worth a read or listen: https://podcastnotes.org/honestly-with-bari-weiss/the-new-founders-america-needs-honestly-with-bari-weiss/
I don’t know what the application of this is, but better understanding of cancer can only be a good thing: https://www.science.org/content/article/breast-cancer-cells-are-more-aggressive-during-sleep
Thoughts
Three layer model: Who has power, what are the laws and norms around their use of that power, and what are the rules made by the content of their rule (whether made by them or their predecessors). There are other important things (like how do we handle a madman in power whose role constrains them and with basically decent general rules), but those three are the most important.
Recently I had the chance to go to a talk by someone working in MRI-focused human neuroscience, where he went over the broad methods used in the field nowadays; it was interesting to hear how it’s changed since I did MRI-based research (which ended in 2007 I think), and to hear that some of the things that were still theoretical are now commonplace. MRI is often cited as being nearly impossible to replicate, and as a very conservative tool-and-methodset; at least over 16 years though, a lot can change.
I disagree with the conclusion (while seeing its core argument as insightful) in this article on how opensource doesn’t necessarily help with AI models. The main point being that opensource doesn’t mean a lot if the computations needed to run something are too expensive to actually do it (or the hardware is unavailable). The problem with that argument is that being opensource means that such algorithms can possibly be simplified (or collaboratively run) so that they can be run affordably; engineering effort can be put into removing custom dependencies. There is a lot of value in these things being open despite the important-to-mention limitations: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3667433/open-source-isnt-working-for-ai.html
While I generally support Hochul, this is one of her dumber policy ideas - to have gun applicants in NY submit their social media account URLs for review. I don’t think police should avoid searching the internet for content that might suggest dangerous acts, but asking people to hand these things over beforehand would be difficult to enforce (just make another such account and post banal stuff to it, or don’t have such accounts, or …) and likely ineffective. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/08/1110477445/gun-applicants-social-media-accounts-new-york
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues; Russia has done targeted strikes on Odesa (which was to resume farm exports), alongside indiscriminate shelling of civilians. Traitors within the Ukraine government have been removed over the last week. Chomsky and Orban have both taken (sadly unsurprising, for both of them) pro-capitulate-to-Russia positions recently.
Fairly unpopular Sri Lankan leader Wickremesinghe (who was most recently the PM) became the President of Sri Lanka, vacating his old position. It is unclear whether he’ll manage to steer the country out of its current crisis or whether he’ll end up deposed
Italian PM Draghi’s resignation was accepted and new elections will be held for Italy’s Parliament
Continued spread of monkeypox across the world has led the WHO to declare it an international public health emergency
The British race to become the next Tory leader and PM of the UK has narrowed to two: Liz Truss (favoured to win) and Rishi Sunak (not). The final result is set to be announced on 5 September
Reviewlets
Stray (game) - This is a very cute game without a lot of depth where one plays as a cat; it’s not a walking simulator, but the movement is largely there to punctuate the story and to provide mild muzzle and exploration elements. Replay value will likely be nearly zero, but I’m enjoying casually making my way through anyhow.
Loopmancer (game) - This reminds me of Dead Cells with a Cyberpunk theme. Interesting world, strong plot, the cutscenes are poorly animated but that’s forgivable. I’m playing on hard difficulty and that’s just the right level of challenge. Probably will have reasonable replay value too. The only thing I’d change is the skill tree, which is a little boring.
Witcher - Tower of Swallows (book) - The witcher series continues to be great; I think I’m likely to look into Sapkowski’s other books afterwards when I wrap up with the last two books (next).
Vertigo: the making of a Hitchcock classic - Vertigo is one of my favourite films; this covers how it was made. Some years ago I took a class on Hitchcock’s films; this provides a lot more depth (I’m about a third of the way through so far)
Amusements
A fun fact check on alternating tread stairs and their original purpose: https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-witches-stairs/fact-check-alternating-tread-stairs-were-not-historically-built-to-ward-off-witches-idUSL1N2L71QA
Antiquity and space are a strange mix, but the things that first sent humans to the moon or the bottom of the ocean were often surprisingly primitive: https://www.righto.com/2022/07/reverse-engineering-apollo-spacecrafts.html
An amusement that I might buy if it were not too expensive or otherwise troublesome - vests people can wear to nag them to fix their posture. Partly because my poor posture has given me neck problems, but it’d also be healthier and maybe more attractive to fix it. Like braces, perhaps, for a semi-voluntary thing. https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-have-created-a-comfortable-vest-that-will-fix-your-posture/
I’ve recently become fascinated with the Poris de Candelaria, an abandoned-ish beautiful village in Spain built in a semi-isolated cove: https://fascinatingspain.com/place-to-visit/what-to-see-in-canary-islands/what-to-see-in-la-palma/poris-candelaria-white-treasure-la-palma/
This Jane Austen cookbook sounds pretty cool; might have to pick up a copy: https://bookriot.com/jane-austen-cookbook/
Recent Music
Cold Missouri Waters - Cry Cry Cry - a nice, sad country ballad, from a band I had never heard before (hooray for recommendation engines, sufficiently fed with personal data)
Black River - Lera Lynn - This reminds me intensely of a 90s song, but one that’s not quite clear enough in my head to find/name. It’s distinct enough to be interesting on its own too.
Why Doesn’t Anybody Like me? - NuFAN - The basic sound structure of the song feels like it’s a remixed children’s song, elaborated into adulthood.
Psychopharmacology - Firewater - One of the songs that got me hooked on this band - the slow build into being full-throated is particularly delicious