2024-11-02
Readings
Continued observations seem to confirm a mystery - why Vega’s debris disk isn’t clumping: https://phys.org/news/2024-11-hubble-webb-probe-smooth-disk.html
Early steps towards a genetic treatment that can reverse liver fibrosis: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-scientists-successfully-reverse-liver-fibrosis.html
After the 2019 discovery of a short waltz by Chopin in a manuscript held by a NYC museum, the now-authenticated piece has been announced: https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/29/style/new-chopin-waltz-discovered-scli-intl/index.html
Bird versus bat wing evolution: https://phys.org/news/2024-11-comparison-bird-wings-reveals-evolutionary.html
I’m not sure of the method here, but it’s interesting to see people attempting to tackle the question of how animal size scaling relates to movement speed and stamina: https://phys.org/news/2024-10-big-small-modern-humans-ideal.html
When I see videos like this about recreating old garb and shoes, it reminds me how good it is to live in the modern era, when we can take for granted that shoes have a lot of characteristics that would’ve been marvels starting even 200 years ago:
Thoughts
One of the most common forms of mass-dehumanisation I've heard, applied across a lot of situations, is to deny that a certain grouping of people is a real people, based on some kind of historical analysis. Two recent examples: whether Palestinians or Ukrainians are real or not (some Russian colleagues were describing Ukraine as not being a real country in the context of Russia’s first invasion). This doesn’t mean we need to accept all self-claims of any group - such an obligation would be absurd. But I think we should pay extra attention and likely make an extra effort to counter the narrative, whenever it’s tied to a likely/current/recent military action (I rarely wanted to talk politics with the ex-Yandex Russians I worked with because their politics were mostly pretty backwards, but I now regret not doing so, as they brought it up)
I disagree with this MindYourDecisions video and largely find its argument incomprehensible - that we should prefer functional understandings of mathematical operations over what I think of as correct ones, and that we should therefore define the square root operator as only providing the principal answer; I’d mark the answer he prefers as wrong:
Current Events
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, with little motion on the ground, world reaction to North Korea’s now-public alliance with Russia, and increased US aid for Ukraine’s defense
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza continue
International efforts are underway to pressure Israel to reverse its ban on the UNRWA support organisation for Palestinians
The IDF seems eager to end its invasion, General Halevi among others having publicly tried to set up an expectation that it would end soon; IDF leadership has previously clashed with Bibi on his eagerness for military action; this is another in that series
Continued Israeli attacks on civilian medical facilities in Gaza continue to add to the death toll
Japan is heading for a coalition government as snap elections have the LDP falling from a majority to a plurality of the votes
Bulgaria held elections in an attempt to resolve a months-long failure to form a coalition government; with only moderate changes in results it's unclear whether the election will improve chances of forming a government or not
Uruguay held a general election, which did not result in a majority and will require runoff elections in three weeks
Lithuania finished its two-round parliamentary elections, with the Social Democrats having displaced the center-right Homeland Union party
Botswana had a notable election where the formerly ruling party lost almost all its seats after six decades of control, with a left-leaning broad coalition taking power
Flash floods in Spain killed several hundred people
Polls
An international poll suggests that a surprisingly high percentage of people want to leave their country ( https://news.gallup.com/poll/652748/desire-migrate-remains-record-high.aspx ), with numbers highest in Sub-saharan Africa and lowest in Asia (the US and Canada are roughly in the middle, at about 18 percent). I wonder how much of this is an abstract desire for change that people would never act on, versus a serious desire. Largely because of my belief in very strong legal and cultural free speech, I’m not interested in living outside the US long-term (although if I were to, Nederlands and France seem like places I might be happy). The US, despite a drop, is the most-cited desired destination in the polling.
It’s good to see Israel has a solid majority for removing a special immunity from being drafted from Charedim; worldwide I think it’s positive when religions and their adherents do not receive special treatment (and even generally they should not receive accommodation for rules they place on themselves): https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/10/30/poll-shows-massive-support-for-drafting-haredim-to-idf/
The Wall of Shame
Former Philippine President Duterte recently opened up during a Senate inquiry about violent and corrupt practices he used when he was a mayor and later President, having groups of paid killers and having a policy of having police scare suspects into fighting back so they could be killed without trial: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/28/philippines-ex-president-duterte-says-he-kept-a-death-squad-as-mayor
US Presidential candidate Donald Trump also recently suggested violence against conservative politician Liz Cheney, largely over her and her family’s refusal to join his populist movement, not long after his recent suggestion he would use the military against political rivals
Ben-Natan, a now-deceased IDF soldier and many at his funeral, for celebrating his eagerness to commit war crimes: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/reservist-eulogized-for-desire-to-take-revenge-against-gazans-setting-home-on-fire-to-boost-morale/
Amusements
One of my favourite classic SNL skits, Jingleheimer Junction:
A Bernese Mountain pup vs a lemon:
Archive footage of moving around in Kowloon in 1991 before it was demolished:
Recent Music
We’ve Got You - Vienna Teng - I don’t know exactly what the message of the song is (probably could find out by looking for interviews, but there’s a good chance it’d irritate me), but it’s good to have an intelligent person experimenting with song structure to produce complex new music, without going off the deep end like Fiona Apple did with her recent work.
A Fragile Thing - The Cure - Another complex piece from a band that started with simpler but solid work; the layering-repetition contrast in this is fascinating because the base layer feels it restrict the later layers far more than it does
Canada’s Really Big - Arrogant Worms - They have a lot of very silly, enjoyable songs; I’ve revisited this one every so often for over 20 years.