2022-08-13
Readings
Linguistic creativity is apparently possible for orangutans, chimps, and (newly discovered) gorillas: https://phys.org/news/2022-08-zoo-gorillas-human-handlers.html
One of the more troubling (but navigable) things for people who want to grow their own food: humanity has contaminated a lot of soil for land people actually lives in. This couples with recent reports that most river and ocean water has microplastics and other substances that build up in living things. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/backyard-hens-eggs-contain-40-times-more-lead-on-average-than-shop-eggs/
It’s good to see efforts to reduce scientific malpractice; ideally we’d find a way to fund things like this rather than have them be a volunteer thing; only so much good in the world can ride on the free time of volunteers, particularly without some kind of a social structure to at least provide social reward (see also Debian). https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/research-papers-misinformation-elisabeth-bik
The topics that can come up in kerning have some fun intricacies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
Possibility of using diamagnetic effects to retrieve oxygen from mixes of other gasses on spacecraft: https://phys.org/news/2022-08-oxygen-magnets-astronauts-easy.html
Advances in polymers may lead to better artificial muscles: https://phys.org/news/2022-08-strong-fast-switching-artificial-muscle-feasible.html
Thoughts
It’s stylish in certain subcultures to blame religion (sometimes particular religions) for all the ills of the world. Right now Islam gets a lot of attention because of the attack on Salman Rushdie. I don’t do this, not because I’m reluctant to criticise faiths, but because this particular criticism would be painting with a very broad brush; most faiths have terrible things done in their name, often with scriptural support. Most faiths also have people railing against those same terrible things. The problem isn’t, in my view, usually the faith - it’s cultures (that interpret the faith). Those same injustices can happen in a nonreligious society, the only thing that would shift is the offered reasons. There may be a few ills that come uniquely from religion, or some particular religion, but harmful moralising eras can happen even distinct from faiths (as the current woke-progressive stuff is demonstrating). The best analysis usually starts with cultural defects, not the flags attached.
In walking a puppy around my neighbourhood and to parks, while a lot of it isn’t sustainable for me because of health issues, I’m getting a reminder of what life is like for people who are not in the grip of an unwanted reclusivism; my instincts drive me to isolation, and never to reach out to people, but I’m seeing a lot more of how people actually live and what I’m missing out on. Wondering, assuming I actually pass the pup onto someone else in my family in a month or two, if there’s a way I can keep some of what I’m seeing and sampling now in my life.
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, with Russian shelling of a nuclear plant, reports of Russian manpower shortages, and Ukraine striking at positions in occupied Crimea. Russia has been setting up illegal independence referendums for territories it controls for now.
Trump’s compound was raided by the FBI, recovering a number of classified and likely-illegally-retained nuclear and other documents from Trump’s time as POTUS. Republican politicians’ reactions to the raid were, as usual, disappointing in demanding special scrutiny that raid targets are not due, and insisting that it must be some conspiracy.
Salman Rushdie, novelist who accidentally became a free speech icon, was stabbed this week while preparing for a discussion on urban policy. His injuries were fairly severe; it is unclear whether he’ll just be disfigured or die. The event, as before, revived a long cultural conflict between people on the internet in some Muslim countries (particularly Pakistan) and people elsewhere, also echoing general free speech debates
There was a short-lived flareup of conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza, followed by a ceasefire.
There’s an ongoing (and close) presidential election in Kenya, with a lot of drama associated with counting and verifying the results
Reviewlets
Hex and the City (Nightside series, book) - The series continues to be a trashfire that I can’t look away from; I can’t tell if the writing is getting worse or I got the impression from having read a few other books between. The writing is unashamedly very cliche and terrible, although there is some neat worldbuilding; I imagine a better writer could (maybe) build something great from a wiki covering the series, although it wouldn’t be nearly as memorable. I think I’m probably done with the series with this one though. 4 books of it was enough.
Shokugeki no Soma (manga) - I’ve been a fan of the series (in anime and manga form) for a long time, but mostly in the “I know I’ll love this when I get into it, I’m saving that for later” sense. I think now’s a good time to dive through the manga, and maybe see if I can get access to the anime. The series is in a world where professional chefs treat cooking like warfare and have cooking battles; it’s very silly, a little bit perverted, and it makes me wonder what Klingon cooking warriors would look like in this environment. Great light entertainment, not a lot more.
Corporation Wars: Dissidence (book) - Still on a Ken MacLeod kick, apparently, I’m appreciating how much more confident the writing is with this series, and how it’s struggling with harder ideas. It revisits one of the ideas that I think is a big part of MacLeod’s future for humanity - struggles over whether to embrace transhumanism and virtuality. I remembered and decided to reread this based on a particular scene, waking up endlessly on a bus in a virtual environment. Good to have something that sticks with us from fiction, over the years. Also interesting to see a fairly strong anti-deep-AI stance from the earlier series being generally rejected here.
Amusements
I was interested to read about Derinkuyu, a large underground complex that was in what’s now Turkey; variances in how people live (like what would a culture be like that sings continually) have always interested me, and novel architecture is one of those things that could make a big difference. Maybe someday large sets of humans will live in space; when we do the differences will likely be as profound. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220810-derinkuyu-turkeys-underground-city-of-20000-people
Interesting story on Zero Euro notes (wondering what other currencies have had anything similar):
This video is mistitled, but there’s some utility in advising populations on how to minimally cooperate with their occupiers during times of war:
Recent Music
Superheroes - Rocky Horror Picture Show - It strikes me as strange that the closing song from RHPS is cut in some versions, although I’ve learned that over the life of a stageplay, and when a stageplay is turned into a film, there are usually a number of alterations (many of which strike me as unfortunate). I often like sad music; this song has long been a favourite
Human - Killers - For some reason I think of this as a British band, although I’m reading that they were founded in Las Vegas. They look to be more active in the UK than the US though
Le Tresor Interdit- Radical Dreamers OST - A nice, sad vocal-and-guitar piece from an obscure videogame, I’ve also liked this for a really long time (without ever bothering to figure out the lyrics, which are in Japanese)
Window - Fiona Apple - There was a particular period in Fiona Apple where her music was mature before it became unpleasantly angry and experimental; this piece is from that period, from an album full of great pieces. I wonder if she’ll ever return to writing listenable songs.