2023-02-11
Readings
More efficient molecular synthesis (through a kind of maths): https://phys.org/news/2023-02-discovery-molecules.html
Coverage of the legalities (and their limits) around the shooting down of the Chinese balloon over the US (and related issues with the one in South America and the subsequent device in the US):
The ethics of scientific publication are complex, covering a lot of behaviour designed to protect both integrity and meaning of various metrics; the Elsevier journal “International Journal of Hydrogen Energy” had a screw-up in peer review where a paper was, against current ethical standards, rejected for not citing enough of the journal’s papers; the ethics around this cover ground that people not working in the sciences might not be aware of (for those who want more, follow Elizabeth Bik on social media as she tracks and publicises stuff like this): https://cen.acs.org/policy/publishing/Elsevier-journal-under-fire-for-rejecting-paper/101/web/2023/02
An amusing (and educational) presentation of Spain’s 20th century political shifts, including some details I wasn’t aware of:
More detail than I was aware existed about the FBI dress code:
Progress on understanding how fingerprints form (long been curious about this because the twins in my family don’t have identical fingerprints; the Turing angle in this article is also interesting): https://phys.org/news/2023-02-fingerprints-unique-whorls.html
Cool project to render Frank Lloyd Wright’s wilder ideas: https://www.openculture.com/2023/02/the-unrealized-projects-of-frank-lloyd-wright-get-brought-to-life-with-3d-digital-reconstructions.html
Interesting details on Cockatoo tool use: https://phys.org/news/2023-02-cockatoos-multiple-tools-fish-cashews.html
Shipwrecks sometimes give us really cool glimpses into history: https://phys.org/news/2023-02-trove-spices-world-sunken-fifteenth-century.html
Thoughts
Should we treat bigotry (if the term properly applies) towards groupings that are not races or sexes the same as other things? Professions? Creeds? My gut feel is at least some of the intellectual defect part of it is in common most of the time. Although we should feel comfortable making inferences about cultures, tendencies, and the like across both too.
Should it be more normal for high school teachers to publish? More broadly, should high school teachers be less distinct from university professors? The idea has its appeal - better job satisfaction, less likelihood of teachers becoming stagnant in their knowledge. But it may also raise costs as they would be expected to have resources and time for research. Maybe they’re overworked anyway, and maybe the overlap of knowledge between the cutting edge of a field and what high schoolers know is so much less as to make the usefulness of the nearness present in universities not present/useful.
Would the norm of auto-authorising the release of confidential/privileged information if a politicial person lies about it in public be a good thing? It would prevent one abuse, but would it itself be abusable?
Current Events
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, with Russia making mild advances at great cost. Advanced weapons systems, from jets to tanks, have yet to turn the tide. In the meantime, Russian media and Putin allies continue to suggest an intention to invade Poland and beyond, while Russians publicly expressing opposition to the war given long prison sentences
A major earthquake struck eastern Turkey, resulting in at least 25k dead, many more injured, and massive property damage.
Presidential Elections were held in the Greek part of Cyprus; runoffs will be held tomorrow to reach the final conclusion
Pakistan continues to resemble a failed state, with a mob in the Punjab region having been arrested for blasphemy, then abducted from his jail cell by a mob and killed by them
The PM of Moldova stepped down over rising tensions with Russia as well as economic difficulties
Reviewlets
TaxACT (tax preparation service) - Every year I file my taxes with them. They make a few things more cumbersome than would be ideal, and I’m not a fan of any company that’s in this business because they almost universally lobby against legal changes that would let the IRS handle all this, to preserve their markets. Still I need to live in this world, and they do an okay job. I haven’t really looked into the alternatives, but I rarely am deeply dissatisfied.
Godfather Part 2 (movie) - Ended up rewatching this for the first time in over 15 years as part of a movie-watching event; was reminded how well it gave a feeling of the times it depicts (accurate or no). It was also a reminder of the enormous social defects of that era - the informal structures of power. And it made me itchy to see it and eager to have those things uprooted in favour of the less-tribal era we live in now. Was strange, perhaps good, to have a film remind me of the business of civilisation and the urgency of universalism. Another moment that stuck with me (wrt access to material resources) was a moment where a family was excited to have a fresh pear.
Victory City (novel) - New from Salman Rushdie, who for me is hit-or-miss (I didn’t really get into Quichotte), this is a reminder of why he’s a great author. The style is a modern myth, with a lot for the thoughtful. I’m still early into the read and it’s hard to put it down to do other things.
Bangkok 2 Thai (thai restaurant, NYC) - Great presentation, but the food is a bit bland. Not just not spicy enough, but it doesn’t have much flavour.
Amusements
Sona Movsesian on a weird nickname for one of her childhood friends - very relatable:
A creative gibbon got pregnant while alone in her cage (also maybe a little sad that she was alone): https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/asia/japan-zoo-gibbon-pregnancy-mystery-intl-hnk/index.html
For the rare person who hasn’t seen it yet, this SNL skit about a pretend Mario Kart movie (surprisingly high budget for a skit) was great:
Recent Music
I recently tracked down a bit of music I was briefly obsessed with after the (terrible, canon-breaking) 1996 Dr Who movie, which was played near the beginning of the film. It’s called “I called out your name”, sung by Pat Hodges. It’s practically impossible to find:
No Place Left - Ghostfeeder - Not that musically interesting, like a wine made to prioritise smoothness over everything else, but wow is it easy to listen to
Out in the Rain - Mental Discipline - Some good darkwave, perfectly demonstrates how visible the “set up a pattern and play with it and make it sound a bit like weather” style in the genre works