the gadfly

In the course of reading various political websites and following several political groups on Reddit, I've seen plenty of coverage about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected to Congress in November 2018 and who will be seated in a few days.

She strikes me as an annoying gadfly. She's apparently never met a TV camera or microphone that she didn't like and gives what seem like deliberately provocative commentaries about other elected officials, including many on her side of the aisle, in order to generate headlines. Google her name and you'll see what I mean.

During the first day of freshman orientation for new members of Congress, she held a protest outside the leadership office. Now she's picked a fight with a retiring Senator, again from her side of the aisle.

Her politics are far to the left of mainstream America but she apparently thinks -- I'd say wrongly -- that America wants to go there. At best, America is a moderate nation. National elections are won and lost in the middle, not the far left or right.

I would not be surprised if Ocasio-Cortez introduces a lot of legislation but nearly all of it will be dead on arrival. Then she will take to the airwaves and bitch and moan about how her measures aren't even being considered by House committees.

I thought at first she was angling for a presidential run in 2020, but at barely thirty, she won't meet the age requirement in the constitution, which is 35. She will, however, be old enough in 2024, and that may be where she's set her sights.

While she obviously has some fans, I imagine there's a larger group of Americans who just wish she would put a sock in it. You can count me in that latter group.

common-sense logic

Earlier this year, I wrote an entry about how the so-called Fermi Paradox was bogus because it relied on logical conclusions that were nothing short of guesses because of an absence of facts. For those not in the know, the Fermi Paradox is a thought exercise about the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets.

I was therefore pleased to see an article written for laypersons by an astrophysics professor who critiqued the Drake Equation and said that it, too, was bogus because its proponents came to conclusions without any actual facts. The Drake Equation, like the Fermi Paradox, deals with the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets.

Now I highly doubt the astrophysics professor read my blog and adapted it to critique another theory, but it's nice to see I wasn't full of beans, considering I didn't even graduate from high school.

Both of these theorems lack common-sense logic. Then again, academics aren't always long on common sense.

the frugal millionaire

If you need a heartwarming story, this should lift your spirits: an extraordinarily frugal lifelong bachelor who wore duct-taped shoes and bought his clothes at the supermarket left an estate worth a surprising $11 million to children's charities.

Some might have thought he was miserly in his lifetime, but he had good reason: he was holding on to as much money as possible so he could give it away.

I wonder how he felt knowing he had so much money but never let anyone know. I wouldn't be surprised if someone looked down their nose at him that he secretly laughed inside.

What a really wonderful man. It's because of him I want to believe that heaven is real.

glass bacteria

I think these are both beautiful and fascinating. They're giant bacteria and virus cells hand-rendered as sculptures in blown glass.

They're designed by a British artist named Luke Jerram, and he calls the collection "Glass Microbiology." If you follow the link above, you can click on each photo, which in turn opens more photos of that particular bacterium or virus.

Most of mankind's most infamous microbes are represented: HIV, malaria, Zika, E coli, Ebola, salmonella, smallpox, and more. Some non-dangerous single-cell friends are also in attendance, including sperm cells.

If you displayed one of the glass microbes on a table in your home, what percentage of your visitors recognize unprompted what they represented? I suspect the number would be very small.

Pictured below is the E coli sculpture being polished by artist Jerram (enlargement).

royal enemas

Last night, I finished reading Gulp, an often disgusting yet nonetheless fascinating book about the human digestive system. The short book is filled with all sorts of scientific oddities and historical anecdotes relating to our alimentary canal, the system from mouth to anus.

In a chapter about constipation, author Mary Roach describes various celebrated names in recent history who have had colon disorders. She also describes how King Louis XIV of France received 2,000 enemas in his lifetime. Many of these were administered as part of his official court duties, with guests and ambassadors calling and, at times, the king himself eating while being cleansed.

The historical record is silent as to why the king had so many enemas -- was it simply because he believed it a healthy practice or because of chronic constipation?

Whatever the answer, the practice was not threatening to the royal health. The king lived to be almost eighty, which was an uncommonly old age for the era.

the better films of 2018

The husband and I have been working through the big box of screeners that my Hollywood writer friend sent to me. I thought I'd do a post of what stood out for us. At the same time, none of these completely blew our socks off in terms of story but some did have very notable performances.

So presented in alphabetical order, we thought these were worthy of a viewing:

BlacKkKlansman I'm not really a Spike Lee fan because I think most of his movies are somewhat heavy-handed, but this is a refreshing exception. He still goes over the top at times but it's arguably one of his best films.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? The script and directing are uneven at times, but Melissa McCarthy's performance is so outstanding that this film should not be missed. She seems guaranteed to snag an Oscar nomination.

First Man A polished, highly watchable film about Neil Armstrong's quiet quest to be the first man to walk on the moon. The film really is gripping at certain moments even though everyone watching knows how the story turns out. Ryan Gosling does an outstanding job playing a character who keeps everything tamped down inside, and Claire Foy perfectly accompanies him with a stellar performance. Expect Oscar noms for both.

First Reformed Downbeat and grim, like all of Paul Schrader's films, the movie nonetheless is compelling because of Ethan Hawke's outstanding performance which will surely garner Oscar attention. I would not be surprised if this is also nominated for best picture, and I expect Schrader will pick up nominations for writer and/or director.

Leave No Trace This is a small character film about a damaged father and daughter and beautifully done. The leads, played by Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie, are exceptionally strong. I suspect this film will receive some Oscar attention, but given the talent is not "A-list," I expect nominations but no wins, as often seems to happen with independent films.

Roma A beautiful film from writer/director Alfonso Cuarón. It feels a bit pokey at times, but that's to be expected for a non-studio film. I would not be surprised if this wins the best picture Oscar.

We still have about thirty screeners left in the box that we haven't yet watched, so this list is by no means complete.

merry christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone reading this. I hope your day is special and memorable.

Although this is also our tenth wedding anniversary today -- yay! -- we don't have anything special planned. At least I'm not aware of anything. We'll spend morning at home with the children opening gifts and then the afternoon and evening with James's family.

Have a great day. And if you can't be good be careful!

the last fighter

I think this man was an extraordinary individual -- he was Simcha Rotem, believed to be the last surviving fighter from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 and also one of the last surviving fighters from the Warsaw Uprising a year later.

Facing certain death in liquidation camps like Treblinka, Rotem and his fellow fighters chose instead to resist, knowing they would almost certainly be killed for trying. Rotem nonetheless survived and helped lead fellow survivors to safety through the Warsaw sewers during the final hours of the uprising.

Sometime thereafter he returned to Warsaw and, later, fought alongside the Polish resistance in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

How many of us would have done what he did if we were in his shoes? There's no way of knowing, but I'm sure most of us would hope we would fight back, too.

May he rest in peace.

The period photograph below (enlarged) shows resistance fighters captured during the uprising in 1943. They were executed shortly after this image was taken.

do you fear robots?

According to a recent survey, 72 percent of Americans are at least somewhat worried about a near future where robots will perform many tasks now being done by real people.

Well I'm not one of them. I'm fine with robots as long as they don't put me or my loved ones in danger. What's the point of technology if you don't realize it to its full potential?

I have to imagine that a future filled with robots will lead to some frustrations. Anyone who has battled with a voicemail system can attest to that. And then there are the YouTube videos of robot vacuums spinning nonsensically in a room.

If you're youngish now, by the time you become elderly, robots will be ubiquitous and helping older folks. That sounds like a very good thing IMHO.

reading faster

When it comes to reading speed, I think I'm pretty average. I've know people who read much faster than I do and some who are slower, too.

Nonetheless, I think I'm reading faster than I used to. I guess with time my reading has become faster because I do a lot of reading now.

My electronic library record shows for 2018 I will have read about 125 books, or two-and-a-half books a week. Now parts of some of these books I listened to as audiobooks, so that probably means I actually read the print form of about a hundred books. Still, that's more books per year than I've ever read before.

All in all, the only value in reading faster is that you can read more. I would never want to read so fast that it's not enjoyable, but speedier reading is preferred, if possible.

FWIW, I've never been much of a "comfy chair" reader. When I read, it's at a table or desk with the book laid on the surface before me. If I try the comfy chair approach, I sometimes fall asleep.

I read somewhere not too long ago that heavy readers in life are far less likely to develop dementia in their later years. I certainly hope that's true. I've been a big reader all my life and hopefully will be so the rest of my life.

Just as long as I don't die with a book half finished. Then again, heaven hopefully is a huge library so maybe it doesn't really matter.

sober advice

I was fixing lunch for the children yesterday when Baby Three decided to kick up a storm. I sat in a chair so the boys could feel their little brother in action.

At five, Joey had more practical questions. Does it hurt? Why is he kicking? Can he hear us talking?

At nearly three, Tombo had more surreal inquiries. What is he playing? Is he trying to come out? How come he's our brother?

Joey has a picture book about pregnancy that shows a baby growing inside his mother at different stages during the nine months. I brought that out and explained what the baby was doing inside me and why.

Tombo looked at me very seriously and said, "Careful. He might fall out."

roots ignorance

I spoke via Skype with one of my cousins earlier in the week. I mentioned an elderly great uncle we share. My cousin then said something like "how are we related to him again?"

I was surprised. I explained that he was the youngest of our grandfather's five brothers and the next to youngest of the eleven children. My cousin then went on to say he had no idea our grandfather had so many siblings.

Now this cousin is almost my age -- he's a little over a year younger than I am. He grew up in the same Pennsylvania county where most of my grandfather's extended family was located. I grew up three states and nearly a thousand miles away.

How did he not know all this? Not only do I know all my grandfather's siblings names, I know their birth order. I also know their parents names and grandparents names and, for one of those grandparents, all the names back to our six-times great grandfather who was the sibling of a Revolutionary War notable.

I know my cousin is not alone in this roots ignorance. Lots of people are that way. My husband is like I am -- he knows his family history back to before his ancestors were transported to Australia. A lot of my family's history came via my late grandfather. I can now share that with my children when they're older.

(A little aside here: many Australian natives are descended from British prisoners who were transported here as part of their sentence. A good number of those were political prisoners and not criminals.)

History is interesting and particularly so when it intersects with your own family's past. Knowing that family history renders overall historical knowledge much more interesting.

Know your roots, because you never know what's back there until you find out.

an incredibly bad idea

There's a movement gaining strength in Russia to bring back monarchism and have Vladimir Putin crowned Czar for life. What a really, really bad idea.

Less than two decades ago, Russia was moving toward democracy. But now it's moving backwards and flirting with a monarchy.

In reality, as a quasi-dictator, Putin acts much like a czar in an absolute monarchy. Formalizing that with a crown on his head, however, would legitimize his extreme corruption and cruelty.

I'm of firm belief that an honest, open democracy is the highest form of government known to mankind. Moving backwards to crown someone like Putin would be a grave mistake and a blemish on Russia's history for all time.

showering's dark, violent history

I love taking a shower. It's one of life's simple pleasures that never grows old for me. A shower is a great way to wake up, to feel totally refreshed and reinvigorated. I never regret having to take a shower and will often linger in one far longer than I probably should.

The Atlantic is currently running a short, fascinating article about showering's dark and violent history as a means of treating mental patients. Many of these apparently were cold showers, which are horrible. No wonder they didn't really work.

It almost seems like forcing people to take ice-cold showers would be a way of increasing mental illness, not the other way around. Maybe that's what actually happened.

What's amazing to me is how the whole practice seems to have grown out of one doctor's experience with one patient. It's amazing how earlier eras of medicine were built on foundations of such dubious origins.

Yet another reason to be glad we live in modern times and not past centuries. While visiting the past as a time traveler would be interesting, a permanent stay almost certainly would not be.

the cult of ted

New York magazine is running an interesting but disturbing article about a sort of ad hoc cult that has grown up around the writings of Ted Kaczynski, better to known to history as the Unabomber.

Well that's just lovely. People glorifying a murderer. Kaczynski pleaded guilty to killing three people with his bombs. IMHO he is not martyr material.

Perhaps he wrote some things that make a certain sense. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day and all that. Kaczynski is a contemptable person and not worthy of adulation.

With so many esteemed people of accomplishment who are not killers, couldn't these Kaczynski cultists find someone more deserving to admire?

stomp

Baby Three seems much more active than his two brothers were. I am now six months pregnant and he is regularly stomping on my bladder off and on through the day.

At eight months or so, I'm thinking I'll have bladder control problems if he keeps this up, particularly at night. I've nearly had several accidents and just made it to the loo in the nick of time.

I'm obviously a few years older with this pregnancy than the last two and am wondering if that has made me somewhat more sensitive. Whatever the answer, Baby Three seems like he's busy practicing a dance routine like the one seen below.

transcription

Yesterday, I finished British novelist Kate Atkinson's newest book Transcription. It's absolutely terrific. I can see why it's been earning so much critical praise.

While the central character engages in some minor clandestine work, I think it's inaccurate to describe the book as a "spy story." It's a character story about a woman who happens to do some work for MI-5.

The author has a beautiful writing style with such precise language. The book has some very tense and intense moments but also some very funny ones, too.

The only flaw, IMHO, is the author doesn't clearly distinguish some of the more minor male characters. Most of them also have two-syllable names, making them harder to keep separate.

I loved Transcription so much that I want to read it again in a few months. I give the novel my highest recommendation.

extravagantly brutal

I was reading online about a Texas woman who pleaded guilty to dismembering and barbecuing her cousin after a drug deal gone bad. Her boyfriend, who actually murdered her cousin, sounds like a charmer, too.

These people give "family cookout" a whole new meaning. At least no cannibalism was involved. The barbecuing was apparently an attempt to hide the body, but police nonetheless found the remains.

This leaves me wondering why the group was so extravagantly brutal in dealing with the victim's corpse but then apparently rather careless with what remained after the barbecue. What was the point of cooking the corpse pieces as opposed to, say, just burying the body in some remote location?

One might imagine these people were high from sampling their own product and not necessarily making rational, level-headed decisions. But it also demonstrates the brutal capability of ordinary people.

If these folks hadn't gotten in drugs, what would their lives have looked like? Or was the pull toward criminality strong enough that if it wasn't drugs, they would be involved in some other illegal trade?

Most people are fundamentally good, but some people are fundamentally very, very bad.

face transplants

Like many people I'm sure, I find the whole idea of face transplants to be pretty fascinating. They bring hope to badly disfigured people who are transformed by the complex surgical procedure that can sometimes take days from start to finish.

Nonetheless, with so many variables involved, the recipients typically don't look "normal" after the procedure. Most end up with faces that look like something on a squashed doll -- all the parts are there but the fit isn't right.

This man is something of an exception. His face looks much more "normal" than those of other face transplant patients. I imagine with time this will be more the norm as surgeons refine the procedure.

This leads me to wonder when full-on head transplants will be available, if ever. In recent months, I've read several articles that predict they will become a reality. Others, however, are far more skeptical. Time will tell.

chatting with aliens

Grammar Girl is running an interesting entry on her website that asks if humans ever encountered an alien race, how would we communicate? Is it even possible?

The answer is interesting, but I think the writer makes too many unfounded assumptions along the way to deciding that, yes, humans and aliens could communicate. But here is where I think he makes a fatal flaw in his thinking -- he presumes that language would only be sound.

Aliens could communicate by sound and/or another sense or senses. They might use sound and, say, infrared light and/or ultrasound waves. Humans would presume they're only using conventional sound because they can hear something, so they would miss the other sources.

Or, the aliens could use sound but also subtle body language that's completely missed by humans. They may have language structures that don't incorporate tense but use other concepts utterly unknown to us. They may at times use a sort of shorthand that's unfathomable to humans.

Alternatively, the could be concurrently coding their language for reasons unknown to us but, because they have far more advanced brains than we do, they can instantly decode what they're hearing. So their language comes out something like output from an Enigma cipher machine.

The result could be something like the classic "To Serve Man" episode from the original Twilight Zone program. It takes a long time for humans to figure out what the aliens language says, and when they do, it's far too late.

It's a cookbook!

gangsta chanel

One of Chanel's new ads (enlargement) is shown below. Why is whiter-than-white model Amber Valletta throwing gang signs?

She looks ridiculous. The Madison Avenue glamorizing of gangster life is also ridiculous. What's so wonderful about gang life that affluent people in the public eye think they need to adopt its behaviors?

Of course, many people to whom this ad is directed will not even know what she's doing. It just won't register for them. And gangstas who would react to the image will never see it, either.

So what's the point? It just ends up being advertising dadaism and faux cool.

FWIW, "l'instant" translates as "nothing" from French.

a book about books

Last night I finished reading a book called The Library Book, which I found utterly addicting and captivating. I highly recommend.

At its core, it's a book about the great Los Angeles Library fire of 1986 that devastated one of the largest libraries in the United States. But author Susan Orlean makes plenty of side trips to the history of libraries and books.

It's a meandering narrative, which can be very annoying when attempted by many writers, but Orlean manages to successfully keep all of the balls in the air at once. Reading the book, you're reminded of how absolutely essential public libraries are, now more than ever.

Many habitual readers began their love affair with books and reading through trips to their local public library. It's a ritual many of us share. And the author uses that as a touchstone to keep us captivated by the story she tells.

If you're a reader and, in particular, a library regular, I can't see how you wouldn't be captivated by this book. I recommend with enthusiasm.

hairy days

Like many women, my hair undergoes changes when I'm pregnant. This happened with all three pregnancies.

My hair normally is somewhat on the fine side and not really full bodied. But with my body now ranging with hormones, my hair is very thick and luxurious.

Before I became pregnant this third time, I got the idea that I could have a hairpiece made from my pregnancy mane to wear later when I wanted to put my hair up or even a full wig. Trouble is, I haven't found a source who can do this reasonably. Nonetheless, I'll have my hair cut shortly before my delivery date and then put that hair aside for a future wig or wiglet.

My pregnancy hair is not quite this gorgeous, but it's getting there.

lu guang

I found this photo collection on Imgur to be disturbing, and I'm sure most people would agree. The images were all shot by photographer Lu Guang who captures the darker side of modern China.

The photographs are disturbing for what they reveal. And China's treatment of Lu Guang is highly disturbing because of what they conceal. During a trip to the country's Xinjiang region in early November, the photographer was suddenly hustled away by state security officers. Nothing more has been heard from him since then and Chinese authorities are refusing to comment.

China is arguably the world's most powerful autocracy. From what I've read over time, the Chinese people seem to be cowed by powerful security forces.

That leads me to wonder if we'll ever see a democratic China in our lifetimes. Right now, the partially communist, partly capitalist country is like something Orwell would have imagined. Conformity is strongly encouraged. Dissent in any form is strongly discouraged.

I'm too young to remember the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests which happened when I was four, but I have read about them. Together the world held its breath, hoping China would move toward a more open democracy. Sadly that did not happen.

Reading about Lu Guang makes me very thankful that I have lived in a free and open country my entire life.

The picture below shows hundreds of thousands protesting for democratic reforms in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Where are all these people now?

anti-dick pic law

Wired magazine is running an interesting short article about a proposed New York City law that would impose a fine of up to $1,000 and jail time of up to a year on people who send unsolicited sexually explicit electronic messages.

I had a number of immediate reactions. First, if this is a problem, penalize people in their wallets and compel them to perform community service. Don't incarcerate them.

Second, while I'm not a lawyer, this would seem to raise First Amendment issues. Sending a dick pic by IM or email is fundamentally different than flashing your junk in a public place. One involves potentially protective speech -- the electronic message -- whereas public flashing does not.

Third, this would be ridiculously difficult to enforce. An offender could simply use a proxy. Or do it when outside New York City. Or use a pay-per-use phone. And on and on and on.

The law already has a remedy for this issue -- the recipient of unwanted naked material can file a civil suit for harassment if he or she is particularly bothered.

This proposed solution seems like legislative overreach to me.

evelyn's seven deaths

Last night, I finished reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, a highly inventive new mystery from British first-time novelist Stuart Turton.

Very early in the novel, you learn the narrator character is able to jump from body to body and repeat days in the quest to solve who murdered poor Evelyn.

In some ways the book is very conventional, a cozy mystery set at a country estate somewhere in England. In other ways, it's highly unconventional with the body-switching and time jumps.

The biggest mystery, of course, is why and how the body-jumping works. That's answered toward the end, at least to a certain degree.

Sometimes when I was reading the book, I said outline "I hate this novel." Other times, however, I'd suddenly change my mind and say "I really love this book." So I'm left feeling somewhat ambivalent about the book as a whole but do agree it's particularly memorable.

Hence, some readers may love the book and others may hate it. If you can stand leaving books unfinished, you might want to try the first few chapters to see whether you like it and, if not, you could abandon the endeavor.

vagina volcano

The Literary Review has announced some of the contenders for the Bad Sex Award 2018 which honors out-of-control sexual descriptions and over-the-top sexual metaphors found in English-language fiction published within the last year.

My personal favorite is this passage found in a Haruki Murakami novel: "My ejaculation was violent, and repeated. Again and again, semen poured from me, overflowing her vagina, turning the sheets sticky. There was nothing I could do to make it stop. If it continued, I worried, I would be completely emptied out. Yuzu slept deeply through it all without making a sound, her breathing even. Her sex, though, had contracted around mine, and would not let go. As if it had an unshakeable will of its own and was determined to wring every last drop from my body."

Good lord, it sounds like someone could actually drown in all that. Haruki must be pretty hot in the hay to think up stuff like this.

tumblr bans porn

Yesterday, Tumblr announced it was banning all adult content, effective in two weeks. So my Tumblr blog will be censored out of existence.

They sent users a happy horseshit note about how they embrace free speech and expression at the same time they announced they were mass-banning content. Perhaps they could hold a First Amendment Book Burning Party to commemorate this, too.

Notwithstanding the announcement that no changes would be made until December 17, nearly all of my 15,400 entries from the past ten years are missing. I don't know what the story is with that. Several entire years of content have disappeared, including material that was not adult.

So fuck you, Tumblr. Yeah, I know, it's your site and you have the right to do it, but it's a shitty kick in the teeth to long-time users like me that drove visitors to your site in the early years-- I have 67,000 subscribers to my blog and have posted a daily entry for more than ten years, without exception. Much more so than Blogger, Tumblr was built primarily by adult content users. Now we're pariahs to be exiled.

I will keep my daily blog here, which is tamer than my Tumblr. Hopefully, Blogger will never pull the plug. They did once try to ban adult content, but the backlash was so severe, they reversed themselves.

I'm not holding my breath, waiting for Tumblr to reverse themselves.

rembrandt’s fingerprints

This Wednesday night in London, Sotheby's auction house will sell a Rembrandt painting that is unique among all of his works -- the artist accidentally left his fingerprints on the wet canvas and they can still be seen today.

The fingerprints' presence is expected to boost both demand and the final price for the painting, which is technically called an "oil sketch." While existence of the fingerprints cannot be used for any scientific purposes, the paintings new owner will have bragging rights to own the only fingerprinted Rembrandt.

The final sale price is expected to be in the range of $8 million US to $10.5 million. So if you've got that bouncing around in your sock drawer, you might want to throw in a bid.

nutrub

While searching for something utterly unrelated on Google, I somehow ended up on this company's webpage.

Why is a separate product needed for a man to keep his junk clean? Whatever happened to soap and water?

I'm also mystified by the product called Nutrub. Is that solid deodorant for a man to rub on his balls? Wouldn't that be rather harsh on the skin? And what man wants his nuts to smell like burning suede?

In all candor, if I were a man, I'd worry that using some of these products might diminish the chances of a blowjob or humjob. Would it make his junk taste funny or artificial? I wouldn't want to find out.

overcooked vegetables

My husband's aunt, an absolutely lovely woman, called yesterday to invite all of us for dinner. She and her husband have no children nor grandchildren so they love to dote on our kids and thus invite us about once a month.

We will, of course, accept and then, once there, stoically eat what almost certainly will be a badly overcooked meal. For whatever reason, auntie thinks it's necessary to vastly overcook everything she makes.

Meat and even a starch dish are usually tolerable if overcooked, but there's nothing worse than severely overcooked vegetables. In the recent past, she has served severely overcooked broccoli and grossly overcooked peas.

At home, we prefer vegetables that are lightly cooked, crisp, and hot. This is not hard to do. Why do people insist on cooking veggies until they're like khaki pulped mush?