2023-01-28
Readings
Interesting to see a commercial exoskeleton approved as rehab for stroke patients; I wonder if it works well. https://www.engadget.com/wandercraft-atalante-exoskeleton-fda-clearance-stroke-rehab-054521933.html
Very specific forms of bigotry are not something I see as worth worrying about (it’s so fundamentally a part of being human that it’s probably unavoidable, but it also probably evens out in the end), but it’s interesting to think about how reactions to specific face attributes can shape our perceptions of people: https://www.sciencealert.com/some-people-may-make-extreme-snap-judgements-about-you-thanks-to-face-ism
The weird physics around a magnetar are fun to think about: https://phys.org/news/2023-01-volcano-like-rupture-magnetar-slowdown.html
One of the downsides of fMRI as an imaging method is that it has a poor temporal resolution (when I was doing such research, covering a reasonable area of a human brain would usually take 1.5 to 2 seconds with generally useful parameters). It’s interesting to see people working on making image acquisition faster, although beyond a certain point, the relatively slow fluid dynamics it’s trying to measure are more a limiting factor than MRI itself: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-ultrafast-fmri-technique-brain.html
Efforts to find more medications that might help people quit addictive substances: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-machine-drugs-potentially-smokers.html
Another carbon-derived substance simular to graphene: graphullerene: https://phys.org/news/2023-01-newly-carbon-graphene-superatomic-cousin.html
Thoughts
I’ve been pondering a provocative (possibly underpowered) idea, that if people had robust systems of tracking credibility and society had good habits of thought around them, to the degree that it were to shape people to be wary of spending it without good reason, it would make a lot of the siloing of knowledge in academia and journalism and the like less necessary. I say this as someone who generally supports recognised expertise in academia, and mainstream journalism as practiced in the west, because those systems work better than any alternative we’ve found at protecting quality and ethics and seeking truth.
I did a Fallout video on Youtube on who should rule the wasteland:
A throwaway line asking jokingly if the Deep State is real might be an interesting writing prompt - I don’t think questions like these usually have clear-cut answers, but the definition of a deep state might be worth haggling over. One non-worrying definition would be that what people call the Deep State is best understood as institutional policy inertia present between different administrations that can in some circumstances conflict with a current administration’s goals and be hard to get past during a 4-8 year term. Understood this way, it is not necessarily a bad thing (our legislative branch has this more-or-less as an explicit design). With this model, it would require the voters having a sustained preference for new policies of some kinds over several administrations for some kinds of change to be fully enacted.
Another weird and bad piece of advice from a philosopher on general life things - The Guardian chose to highlight offering people life advice, arguing that it impinges people’s ability to self-author; except in the very rare case where it’d be awkward to disregard that advice, I think this is wrong - the mass of advice is another source of information for personal growth, and learning to navigate that (and when/how to say no) is one of the first life skills people need to learn. The idea that self authorship must happen in a vacuum to count is deeply flawed, to the degree that unless the news story badly misrepresents the Akhlagi’s points, it’s discrediting to have suggested it. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/26/advising-others-on-crucial-life-choices-immoral-says-cambridge-philosopher
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, with Germany and the US separately deciding to send tanks to help the Ukranian military repel the invasion, and (hopefully) edging closer to entering the war on Ukraine’s side
Brasil and Argentina are working towards a currency union, possibly extending to other regional nations
In The Czech Republic, Pavel was elected President, beating a (worrying) populist rival
Israel, having recently reelected far-right leader Netanyahu, finds itself in cycles of violence with Palestinian militants
Hipkins has become the new PM of NZ, replacing outgoing PM Jacinda Ardern
Political instability continues in Peru as its Congress and President clash on efforts to hold early elections
India, having banned a BBC documentary covering Modi’s inaction during riots (which he was friendly towards) in Gujarat, has detained students who were screening it after some student groups supporting him stormed areas where it was being screened anyhow; this is part of a pattern of abuses from Modi’s government and radical social movement
Reviewlets
Oral-B electric Toothbrush - Got this on advice from my dentist, and I like it so far. I’m a little disturbed by how smart it is (it wants to connect to an app, and does judgemental drawn faces depending on how long your brushing session was), but it seems to do a good job. I’m still getting used to a less manual brushing process
Safeway (supermarket chain) - Seems to occupy a middle ground between Trader Joe’s (cheap, good, but some weird brands that are quite nasty) and West Side Market (more expensive, more variety, complex to navigate); they’re very expensive with pretty decent quality and a lot of brand variety. I like them, but probably not enough to make the somewhat longer walk to shop there
Grimaldi's pizza - I’ve walked by this place hundreds of times on the way to/from work; it’s set in a former church. Decided to try it - cool atmosphere, but bad food and bad service. Their pizza is the bad kind of greasy and is extremely nasty.
The Outsider (Stephen King novel) - Surprisingly, not to my tastes. I think I’m stumbling into one of the grooves King writes in that I’m not at all into (gruesome murder story in small town) and rejecting everything of that flavour. I’ll have to be more selective when trying his books in the future (a lot of what he writes I end up loving, but in other grooves
Doors of Eden (sci-fi novel) - Fantastic intro and the writing keeps getting better. I’m about a third of the way through and am very enthused. Interesting characters, philosophical asides, good sci-fi premise, surprisingly thoughtful scientific speculation, I could hardly ask for a better (start to a) novel. I’ll want to try more books by the author if I still feel this way by the end
Crysis 3 (video game) - After two mediocre games I quit partway through, they finally have the gameplay up to being pretty good and the plot is at least sort of interesting. I don’t see how the series managed to get up to number three with its predecessors being what they were, but this one feels like it’s kinda worth playing all the way through. It’s not great, but it’s at least a pleasant diversion.
Amusements
Weird stories from the filming of The Shining (the good version): https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2022/dec/09/the-police-came-because-of-the-sea-of-red-gore-unseen-photos-from-the-set-of-the-shining?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Amusing and a little sad to have studies involving giving dogs impossible tasks: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-020-01345-8
Dog disrupts dust devil:
I stumbled across this classic surreal Bugs Bunny cartoon moment again recently (the cartoons of that era did absurdism really well):
Recent Music
Do the Evolution - Pearl Jam - This had a fantastic music video that helped the song stick in my head; the song has an interesting meander between modes in a kind of hierarchy, like wandering a garden managed by someone with both fastidious and chaotic moments
Dirty Town - Mother Mother - Fun playing around with beats and convention
What I Want - Living Tombstone - Half-rap, a lot of the music part seems to be playing with adding impact to the spoken parts. Has a weird music video, but it’s dips into the irritating self-obsession that some musicians have