The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 170, August 13, 2023 (V4 #14)
Hope is not happiness or confidence or inner peace; it’s a commitment to search for possibilities.—Rebecca Solnit
Books, Culture & Music
Remembering Robbie Robertson, Who Sacrificed His Ego For the Music, Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 8/10/23: “I wanted to make the next discovery; I wanted to get to the next chapter.” Video: The Band plays The Weight at Winterland, 11/25/76
She threw a party to buy school clothes. Hip-hop was born that night, Timothy Bella, Washington Post, 8/10/23: “They liked what I was playing and the rest is history.” (DJ Kool Herc: “Merry Go Round”) This week is the official 50th anniversary of hip hop!
My Kendom for a Horse? Barbie: A Strategic Analysis, Lawrence Freedman, Comment is Freed, 8/6/23: “Barbie Land represents a stable system in which the Barbies spend their time with each other, in harmony and prosperity. As they also have immortality, they do not need the Kens for reproductive activity. The Kens are confined to recreational activities even while occasionally yearning for female company.”
What if women were in charge? Comparing the feminist utopias in Barbieland and Herland, Elle Griffin, The Elysian, 8/7/23: “Herland is now my favorite of all of the utopian novels I’ve read. Not only does it express an incredibly beautiful society, but it has a fun plot and incredible character development and emotional growth as the three men learn to adapt and even accept a new (and sometimes better) culture than their own.”
What are Hollywood actors and writers afraid of? A cinema scholar explains how AI is upending the movie and TV business, Holly Willis, The Conversation, 8/7/23: “However, the ability for anyone – amateurs and professionals alike – to create a screenplay and conjure the likeness of an existing actor means that the skills once specific to writers and the likeness that an actor once could uniquely call his or her own are now readily available – with questionable quality, to be sure – to anyone with access to these free online tools.”
When Small-Town Pride Sounds Like Anger: Jason Aldean says “Try That in a Small Town” celebrates community—but its words and sound tell a different story, Spencer Kornhaber, Atlantic, 8/8/23: “The big-city problems Aldean laments—violent crime, sedition, even fraying communal ties—are, in many cases, worse problems outside the cities than in them.”
Hillsborough schools cut back on Shakespeare, citing new Florida rules: The decision is aimed at better performance on state tests and avoiding sexual content found in some of the Bard’s work, Marlene Sokol, Tampa Bay Times, 8/7/23
The plot thickens: The battle over books comes at a cost, Tovia Smith, NPR, 8/11/23: “Amid all the skirmishes over individual book titles and challenge policies, it's easy to miss the toll it's taking on librarians, kids, and the country.” (DW: Ya think?)
US love affair with stage faces crisis: ‘Hardest time to be producing theater:’ With audience attendance still down, many theaters across the US are struggling to adjust to a post-pandemic landscape, David Smith, The Guardian, 8/8/23
The Secret Feminist History of Butter Cows: Women’s work and food sculpture, LYZ, Men Tell at Me, 8/10/23 “… sculpting butter became the realm of women. This ephemeral golden art, gently crafted into consumable shapes, was an expression of beauty and joy.”
When Does the Past Become History? Never? John Warner, Biblioracle Recommends, 8/13/23: “It’s possible we’re not only living through history, but through an inflection point that signals the end of history (at least as far as mankind is concerned). Or not. We don’t know. Honestly, I hope we don’t know in my lifetime.”
The Problem of Nature Writing: To succeed—to get people to care about preserving the world—it can’t be only about nature, Jonathan Franzen, New Yorker, 8/12/23: “There’s an urgent need to interest nonbelievers in nature, to push them toward caring about what’s left of the nonhuman world, and I can’t help suspecting that they share my allergy to hymns of devotion.”
Celebrating the Songs of Ray Davies, John Visconti, CultureSonar, 8/10/23: “This excellent album gives you the chance to explore Davies’ magnificent oeuvre, and experience it through the passion and respect these bands have for his exemplary work.”
But Terry and Julie cross over the river
Where they feel safe and sound
And they don't need no friends
As long as they gaze on
Waterloo Sunset
They are in paradise—from “Waterloo Sunset,” The Kinks, written by Ray Davies
Politicks
The Weaponization of Loneliness: To defend America against those who would exploit our social disconnection, we need to rebuild our communities, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Atlantic, 8/7/23: “The question that preoccupied me and many others over much of the past eight years is how our democracy became so susceptible to a would-be strongman and demagogue. The question that keeps me up at night now—with increasing urgency as 2024 approaches—is whether we have done enough to rebuild our defenses or whether our democracy is still highly vulnerable to attack and subversion.”
Ohio’s Special Election Shows Abortion Is Still Driving People to the Polls: Voters’ rebuke of a Republican-led ballot initiative should serve as a warning shot to the GOP that its culture-war agenda might not be a winner, Abigail Tracy, Vanity Fair, 8/9/23
Whither China? Part I - Regime impasse? Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 8/12/23: “With the inflation (or should we say price shock) drama in the West largely played out, there is no story more important in the world economy right now than the question of China’s future.”
The year that broke US politics: what 1968 can tell us about 2024, Historian Luke Nichter considers the turmoil you know about – assassinations, chaotic conventions, the racist rise of George Wallace – but also the backroom dramas you don’t, Rich Tenorio, The Guardian, 8/12/23. Book: The Year That Broke Politics
The End of Legacy Admissions Could Transform College Access: After the fall of affirmative action, liberals and conservatives want to eliminate benefits for children of alumni. Could their logic lead to reparations? Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 8/8/23: “Many untold possibilities might open up if we look hard for alternative ways to unlock education as a means to social mobility.”
The Small-Town Library That Became a Culture War Battleground: Throughout the country, far-right groups are trying to control what books kids can read. In Dayton, Wash., they tried to shut down the library altogether, Sasha Abramsky, The Nation, 8/7/23
Report Warns State Voter Purges Are a Growing Threat to Democracy: "We are facing an unprecedented assault on voting rights in this country, and purges that erroneously target eligible voters for removal are part of the problem," said one campaigner, Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams, 8/10/23
Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica, 8/10/23: “The fullest accounting yet shows how Thomas has secretly reaped the benefits from a network of wealthy and well-connected patrons that is far more extensive than previously understood.”
Videos denying climate science approved by Florida as state curriculum: Prager University Foundation’s animations cast doubt over renewable energy and liken climate activists to Nazis, Oliver Milman, The Guardian, 8/10/23
The Anatomy of a Viral Tweet: Rage Farming Edition: How Internet outrage is helping racists monetize hate, Caroline Orr Bueno, Weaponized, 8/8/23: “In the “War on Woke,” anything from children’s books to M&M’s to Target’s inventory can be the next outrage bait used to whip willing participants into a frenzy simply by attaching the word “woke” to it. It’s shamefully simple.”
Don't Give Up on the Dream of a Liberal Israel: Reflections from the Diaspora, Michael Walzer, Persuasion, 8/7/23: “…there are still many critics of Israel who try, as I do, to separate the government from the state, so that we can be brutally critical of zealots in power without giving up on the possible future of a Jewish state—that is, a state that reflects the liberalism of the greater number (by far) of Jews the world over.”
‘Better martyrs’: the growing role of women in the far-right movement: The pipeline from mommy blogger to Tradwife to book-banner is an important aspect of the extreme right wing in the US, MacKenzie Ryan, The Guardian, 8/12/23: “Far-right mothers start building rapport with other parents, using the vulnerability of their children to open the door to QAnon conspiracy theories and anti-government sentiment.”
I'll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you
—from “I’ll Stand by You,” The Pretenders, written by Billy Steinberg, Christine Hynde, Thomas Kelly
Science & Environment
Climate Education That Builds Hope and Agency, Not Fear: Reframing climate change education around a message of “hopeful alarm” not only will underscore the threats we face but will also show students how they can act to shape the future, Jeffrey D. Corbin, Meghan A. Duffy, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Carly Ziter Eos, 8/10/23: “It is time to reorient our messaging, focusing less on predictions of future hazards as though they are foregone conclusions and instead communicating a “hopeful alarm” that simultaneously stresses the urgency of the situation and instills a sense of agency in guiding the future.”
Maui’s fire became deadly fast. Climate change, flash drought, invasive grass and more fueled it, Claire Rush, Seth Borenstein, Jennifer McDermott, AP News, 8/10/23: “What these ... catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue.”
Living Through Maui’s Unimaginable Wildfires: Hawaiians who survived Lahaina’s deadly fires described an inferno that blackened the sky and laid waste to entire neighborhoods, Carolyn Kormann, New Yorker, 8/11/23: “It’s like a nuclear bomb went off.”
After Maui fires, human health risks linger in the air, water and even surviving buildings, Andrew J. Whelton, The Conversation, 8/11/23: “Chemicals like benzene, lead, asbestos and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, are common in ash, runoff and sometimes water systems after fires.”
Sanders Aims to Convince Fox News Readers Climate Action 'Is a Moral Responsibility:’ "Either we maintain the status quo and continue to see more heatwaves, drought, floods, and extreme weather disturbances or we move away from fossil fuels and do our best to make sure that the planet we leave our kids and future generations is healthy and habitable,” Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, 8/8/23
The Race to Save the World’s DNA: A scientific rescue mission aims to analyze every plant, animal, and fungus before it’s too late, Matthew Hutson, New Yorker, 8/9/23: “The quest to document life spans scientific disciplines, continents, and generations.”
New national monument comes after more than a decade of advocacy by Native nations, Ryan Heinsius, NPR, 8/8/23: "That's all we have left now as Native Americans, our historical sites and sacred places. Everything else has been taken from us, our original homelands, our sacred places."
The heroic effort to save Florida’s coral reef from devastating ocean heat, Michael Childress, The Conversation, 8/9/23: “Volunteers…across Florida will hand-feed the tiny creatures to keep them alive until the Florida waters cool again and they can be returned to the ocean and eventually transplanted onto the reef.”
Vermont's flood-wracked capital city ponders a rebuild with one eye on climate change: The gutted shops, restaurants and businesses that lend downtown Montpelier its charm are considering where and how to rebuild in an era when extreme weather is occurring more often, Lisa Rathke, NECN TV, 8/7/23
Rising flood risks threaten many water and sewage treatment plants across the US, Suman Naishadham, Brittany Peterson, Camille Fassett, AP News, 8/10/23
Champagne sales are booming. But its taste could soon change forever — thanks to climate change, Hannah Ward-Glenton, CNBC, 8/7/23: “The Champagne region’s exposure to physical risk caused by drought is set to almost triple by the 2050s, according to the S&P Global Sustainable1 report, posing serious problems for vineyards.”
The climate-friendly cows bred to belch less methane, Rod Nickel, Reuters, 8/8/23: “If adopted widely, low-methane breeding could have a "profound impact" on cattle emissions globally.”
The Weird Way That Human Waste Is Killing Corals: Wastewater fuels blooms of reef-smothering algae. Better engineering and an army of funny-looking fish can come to the rescue, Matt Simon, Wired, 8/9/23
Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism: New observations of a faraway rocky world that might have its own magnetic field could help astronomers understand the seemingly haphazard magnetic fields swaddling our solar system’s planets, Jonathan O’Callaghan, Quanta, 8/7/23
What the Webb Space Telescope Will Show Us Next: The astrophysicist Jane Rigby talks about the beauty of space, the possibility of life on other planets, and how the Webb sees hidden parts of the universe, David W. Brown, New Yorker, 8/6/23: “It’s just really cool that we can see almost to the end of the universe, right? We can do that because that light only travels so fast: the speed of light.”
How NASA Nearly Lost the Voyager 2 Spacecraft Forever: The space agency lost touch with the beloved spacecraft following a faulty command signal. Here’s how it happened—and how engineers worked to bring it back, Ramin Skibba, Wired, 8/11/23
U.S. lab says it repeated fusion energy feat — with higher yield, Ben Brasch, Kyle Rempfer, Shannon Osaka, Washington Post, 8/6/23: “Fusion…creates energy by merging atoms together. It’s long been a dream because it could create limitless clean energy without the radioactive byproducts of nuclear power or the risk of meltdown.”
A New Experiment Casts Doubt on the Leading Theory of the Nucleus: By measuring inflated helium nuclei, physicists have challenged our best understanding of the force that binds protons and neutrons, Katie McCormick, Wired, 8/10/23: “We exposed the puzzle, but unfortunately we have not solved the puzzle. Not yet.”
Scientists may be on brink of discovering fifth force of nature: Experts closing in on potentially identifying new force after surprise wobble of subatomic particle, Nicola Davis, The Guardian, 8/11/23
The earth was fragile and mostly water,
just the way the orange was mostly water if you peeled it,
just the way I was mostly water if you peeled me.
—from “Ego” Denise Duhamel
Health & Wellness
Everyone Was Wrong About Antipsychotics: An unprecedented look at dopamine in the brain reveals that psychosis drugs get developed with the wrong neurons in mind, Max G. Levy, Wired, 8/7/23: “We can start to understand the actual mechanism. And that is the first step to then really get to much better treatments.”
Latest in Body Art? ‘Tattoos’ for individual cells: New technology involving dots and wires adhering to live cells could some day provide early warnings for health problems, Roberto Molar Candanosa, HUB-Johns Hopkins, 8/7/23
AI Is Building Highly Effective Antibodies That Humans Can’t Even Imagine: Robots, computers, and algorithms are hunting for potential new therapies in ways humans can’t—by processing huge volumes of data and building previously unimagined molecules, Amit Katwala, Wired, 8/9/23
What to know about EG.5, the most prevalent covid subvariant in the U.S., Grace Moon, Niha Masih, Adela Suliman, Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post, 8/8/23: “EG.5, although more infectious, is not more virulent, and the response to it is generally the same as for other variants because the impact on the human body is just about the same.”
New COVID vaccine and booster shots for this fall to be available by end of September, Alexander Tin, CBS News, 8/9/23: "There doesn't seem to be any particular advantage to a bivalent vaccine. XBB is the lineage right now, and there is good cross-protection, no matter what antigen is chosen, according to the data that we've been shown.”
Learning from the ‘Covid dodgers,’ Joanne Kenen, Politico, 8/10/23: “No one knows for sure (how many remained uninfected). It could be as low as four or five percent. It could be, you know, nine or 10 percent. But it probably isn’t 15 percent.” (Eric Topol)
Birds
The Owls are not What They Seem: The birds possess even uncannier powers than we’ve imagined, Rebecca Giggs, The Atlantic, 8/10/23: “Owl calls often seem ghostlike or inchoate. A twofold sorcery: Owls can lead us to doubt our own faculties while drawing us to wonder at the mysteries of theirs.”
Rufous hummingbird at risk for extinction, Joseph K. Giddens, Red Rock News, 8/8/23 “We know that this is a species in very serious decline, and we don’t know why.”
“Wherever the bird with no feet flew, she found trees with no limbs.”—Audre Lorde
Sending out two newsletters in one day seems to be OK with most of you (but if you object, please do let me know). Thanks for working your way through the flood of news with me. For this issue, I’ve had to omit alot of stories I really wanted to share, but I promise to only issue “Trumplements” when there is just too much news going on to fit into one issue of TWT. Enjoy the week. Be well and stay strong. Much Love—David