2022-12-03
Readings
A project to crowdsource some galactic survey analysis: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/cbellhouse/fishing-for-jellyfish-galaxies
Intrigued at the idea of “Paper Architecture”:
Easily manipulated conductive plastics: https://phys.org/news/2022-12-basics-yields-printable-transparent-plastic.html
A better understanding of differences in nerve connectivity development in Autism: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-12-autism-linked-gene-nerve.html
A method to tell how cells interact in the body: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo5503
JWST imagery of stars that were ejected from galaxies: https://phys.org/news/2022-12-james-webb-telescope-unparalleled-view.html
Thoughts
Having watched this video on how much space poeople actually need, I wonder about the reason I’d like more space than I have - devoting a room apiece to things like music and art, and having a guest room for visitors; all impossible in the space we “should” be able to live in, all clear benefits, I think; I’ve lived without these things over my life, but they don’t seem useless or even frivolous:
Bad Religion, a band I like, sometime back wrote a song called “Atheist Peace”; the lyrics talk about the idea that if people could get past religious divisions we’d potentially live in a better world (see also some lyrics in John Lennon’s “Imagine”); as appealing as the idea is on first glance, I think it’s misguided. Religious differences can cause strife, but they also are often an excuse to fulfill an already-existing willingness towards it. Also, the shape of these differences is roughly the same as the superset of ideological strife; this makes the main argument resemble “we remove causes of conflict that are painted blue”, or perhaps even “we will remove things painted blue to eliminate conflict”; while I think religion is generally not sensible, this is not a good argument against it; to eliminate all things that might cause conflict would be to eliminate too much (e.g. communists and libertarians may have a lot to fight about)
I’ve been reflecting on impermanence, particularly with human ties, and how often efforts to hold onto something doesn’t prolong its being for an emotionally satisfying time; everything is fragile, and we only find robustness in aggregate, if that
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with this week being mostly an expensive standstill; Russia’s loss of standing internationally is leading to loud complaints from them, while western powers still are not doing enough to help Ukraine; Russia has indicated a willingness to negotiate, but only with opening terms that would validate their invasion
South Africa’s President is caught in an insurance fraud scandal that may unseat him
China recently attempted some firm covid controls to deal with recent outbreaks and was forced to back down from public protest, a rare event given how much China has emphasised keeping face in the past
Pakistan’s military, perhaps to distract from messy domestic events involving Imran Khan’s efforts to destabilise democracy in his country, is sabre-rattling against India over Kashmir
Reviewlets
Last Watch (Night Watch novel) - More, surprisingly far-reaching mythos built on the basics set up in earlier novels ; I’m coming to see the worldbuilding to be the strength of the novels, with the rest being a bit weak (still servicable, of course)
Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (play) - This week I saw the Yiddish production for the second time, with much better seats this time. It does a great job at giving the feel of being part of the continuity of traditions I’ve seen in actual frum Jewish communities over my life, the music is great, and overall I think it outdoes the movie. Despite some minor annoyances (the character of the fiddler is deeply irritating, and the “Rothschild” lyrics in “Rich Man” may be necessary for syllabic reasons but it’s an annoying intrusion
Amusements
Samoyeds pulling sleds:
Amused that new life experiences can happen late in life:
Piano playing along with the original Zelda game:
Recent Music
Beat Unidad - Klack - I hadn’t heard a mix of synthetic sounds with serious bossanova before
Automaton - Jamiroquai - I admire how Jamiroquai’s music keeps evolving without feeling it’s changing its core.
Frantic Feathers - The Snake Charmer - A cool fusion of traditional Scottish music and Bhangra