2024-05-04
Readings
Efforts towards non-needle-based insulin delivery for diabetics have advanced over the last few years; this effort offers a more nuanced approach towards the same by using nanomaterials that react to sugar levels in the blood: https://phys.org/news/2024-05-nanotech-door-future-insulin-medication.html
Cooperation mechanics in bees: https://phys.org/news/2024-05-lego-bumblebees-reveal-insect-collaboration.html
Mechanisms of gender in butterflies: https://phys.org/news/2024-05-male-female-scientists-genetic-mechanism.html
Remarkable visualisations in an explainer about the leading theory of Saturn’s ring formation:
A reanalysis of older telescope data shows a nearby-ish (about 2000 ly away) old high-mass black hole (which has been named Gaia BH3, and which has a decent Wikipedia article): https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Sleeping_giant_surprises_Gaia_scientists
Cool to see high-temperature-tolerant computing advancing, as eventually we’ll presumably want this kind of technology for rovers on Mars: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/manufacturing/new-memory-demoed-running-at-600-degrees-celsius-for-60-hours
Outside of a few narrow illnesses, purebred dogs don’t have worse health than mixed breeds (to my surprise): https://phys.org/news/2024-04-dispels-myth-purebred-dogs-prone.amp
Kate Klonick introduces a perennial topic of discussion on why some countries have a bigger tech industry:
Current Events
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, with Russia’s upcoming military celebrations putting the pressure on its military to see significant gains; Russia has begun to use chemical weapons on Ukrainian forces; the UK is increasingly willing to arm Ukraine to strike at Russian territory using western weapons (I see this as obviously appropriate so long as Russia has troops on Ukraine’s territory, from Crimea to its East)
Israel’s invasion of Gaza also continues, with plans to displace civilians ahead of its entry into Rafah shared with allies while other countries try to press forward with talks to defuse the crisis. An Israeli invasion of Lebanon looks more likely as Bibi’s administration adopts a more maximalist foreign policy. Facing student protests, the US House has made the mistake of passing legislation that would cement the defective IHRA’s definition of antisemitism into title 6, although the US senate may be able to prevent it from becoming law; some South American countries are breaking ties with Israel while the US as a whole puts sanctions on settler groups and parts of the IDF that have been tied to the most visible abuses. European countries, notably France, are reducing arms exports to Israel
Mexico, having suffered an attack on its embassy in Ecuador last month from government forces, in violation of international norms protecting diplomatic facilities, brought Ecuador to the ICJ; the suit aims for a declaration on the matter, a possible suspension of Ecuador from the UN, and monitoring as Mexico withdraws diplomatic staff from its embassy in Ecuador; international reactions to Ecuador’s missteps are making the nation and its current leadership pariahs in South America.
Sudan’s war between two illegitimate powers, the remnants of its main military and the Rapid Support Forces (a former specialist military unit composed significantly of Arabs) has tilted in the direction of the RSF, with the main military only having one city left and a RSF attack on that city likely
Content
I recently briefly wrote about an analysis of some demands made by one group of pro-Palestinian protestors at UCSC:
Polls
A Pew Poll and infoset on Asian Americans ( https://www.pewresearch.org/2024/05/02/asian-americans-charitable-giving-and-remittances/ ) noting that over half of those surveyed gave to a charitable org and about a third have sent money back to what they consider their homeland; I was not aware that this grouping was majority immigrant (term defined in article); I consider it important, if one has the funds, to give to causes one believes in and it’s good to see that it’s common in at least one group of Americans
A Pew Poll finds most Americans, in a party but not race independent way, see freedom of the press as important to our social-political system: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/23/most-americans-say-a-free-press-is-highly-important-to-society/
Gallup on what most Americans (recently and historically) see as the most pressing problem for the nation, with immigration taking center stage (I see it as a large problem but not the largest, that being degrading democratic norms): https://news.gallup.com/poll/644570/immigration-named-top-problem-third-straight-month.aspx
Policy Focus
The US passed a bill that starts a process of attempting to force Tiktok to change ownership from Bytedance, a company in China, to something with western ownership; whether this is a First Amendment violation or not is unclear (it will be challenged on those grounds if risk-tolerance doesn’t lead to a sale first that makes the matter moot), but it strikes me as a bad move that would lead to few good concrete effects, motivated by vague fears. Some legitimate fears may come about (as China has not always been restrained with interfering with other countries, particularly Chinese nationals abroad), but those are not part of public discussion on the issue.
The US DEA is in the process of reclassifying Marijuana from being a schedule 1 drug to being a schedule 3 drug, making a halfway move (in the right direction, at least) at a time when entirely lifting its classification would be more appropriate. It may be easier to do it in two steps; hopefully some future administration (soon) or perhaps our legislature will entirely remove it from federal regulation (it remains intensely irritating that states that are legalising it on a state level usually are tying reparation efforts to licensing rather than keeping any licensing tied to technical concerns)
Regarding this video -
- on how a rule for redundant stairs in much of the US makes building smaller apartment buildings not viable - I live in a one-stairs apartment building, but I’m guessing this is about how new construction can’t be this way. There’s a value tradeoff between safety (if stairs are damaged in a single-stairs building, people may be doomed) and the desirability of allowing smaller buildings; I suspect it may often be sufficient to instead require that the single stairs meet a certain safety and fire-resilience and air circulation standard and that the legal framing is wrong in focusing on just these two things in the tradeoff.
Granting legal personhood to nature as a whole is being discussed, significantly because the traditions of individualism in law often leave little room for balancing other interests against humans, but it’s the wrong solution to that problem; abstract concepts, even important ones, don’t think like people or resemble them in any real way; they lack a will, a particular location, an ability to bargain or even pick a course, particular property, and basically everything else that makes people (and unfortunately corporations) entities before the law. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-granting-legal-personhood-nature-movement.amp
The Wall of Shame
We finally know that a Paramont executive named Jonathan Dolgen was responsible for ruining the Borg in Star Trek: https://www.slashfilm.com/1562426/star-trek-borg-queen-paramount-president-origin-story/
Cornell (and in particular Christina Liang who leads OSCCS) damages its academic reputation by offering to bend records relating to college credit as a behavioural incentive: https://cornellsun.com/2024/05/01/suspended-protester-rejects-offer-to-receive-academic-credit-in-exchange-for-discontinuing-encampment-involvement/
Science Magazine (AAAS’s flagship journal)’s editor-in-chief Holden Thorp damages its credibility with a stupidly overbroad notion of who should be called a scientist (or perhaps if we see this as not being ex cathedra, he’s just demonstrating his personal unsuitability for such a role): https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2024/05/02/viewpoint-promotion-of-social-science-drivel-by-science-magazine-editor-in-chief-holden-thorp-undermines-the-credibility-of-his-preeminent-journal/
Professor Steven Thrasher of Northwestern University, in its school of journalism, for advocating that journalism should be about advocacy rather than objectivity: https://dailynorthwestern.com/2024/04/27/campus/medill-prof-steven-thrasher-speaks-at-encampment/
Reviewlets
Bloodstained (video game) - A great castlevania-like game with enough added depth for collectionists that you’ll want to keep a spreadsheet or at least a note-taking app open. Dusted this one off for another playthrough after many years, had a great time. Given that basically everyone loved this game, I’m surprised they haven’t (at least visibly) produced another game like it since.
Manhattan Sports and Physical Therapy (PT in NY) - Finally a PT place I like; I had bad experiences at Spear before (too many patients per PT) and it’s good to find a place that’s not so boringly sterile and which has people who seem to have a knack for diagnosis.
United Healthcare (Health Insurer) - Thanks to my employer working closely with them to tailor specifics, most of my direct experiences with them have been good, but the company as a whole is doing bad things that hurt plan members - specifically they’ve been dramatically reducing reimbursement rates for PT, leading most PT places in the area to no longer accept their insurance (because it’s not financially viable) and the rest to have about 3 patients being treated by a PT at the same time.
Amusements
The interestingness and difficulties with Kansai Airport in Japan:
Ranking of pop-tart flavours (I’m all for frosted cherry):
Recent Music
Hard Times (cover) - David Byrne - It’s bizarre to hear Byrne do a cover of a Paramore song, as his voice is very different and his take on the song ends up feeling unlikely but cool (meaning if someone wrote the song for him and it were not already out there, I don’t know if he would’ve released it as a “him” song)
Gennkidashitebushi - Takeharu Kunimoto - This was the closing song to a now-obscure anime I liked in college (the album version is a slightly different mix from what the show used though), and recently I’ve been reading up on the surprisingly interesting life of the musician behind it
Unity - Project Pitchfork - Cool to hear a song that’s clearly darkwave but doesn’t seem musical-motif-wise stuck in the past (for me the genre is mostly a nostalgia thing).