The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 168, July 30, 2023 (V4 #12)
We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know” about our history. We have to learn what we should know. We should know about our country. We should know everything: the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That’s what great nations do, and we are a great nation.—President Joe Biden
Outrage does not change the world. Collective power does.—Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin
Books, Music and Culture
Sinead O'Connor was once seen as a sacrilegious rebel, but her music and life were deeply infused with spiritual seeking, Brenna Moore, The Conversation, 7/28/23: “O’Connor was decades ahead of her time. But leaving it just at that, we miss something profound about the complexity and depth of her religious imagination. Sinead O’Connor was arguably one of the most spiritually sensitive artists of our time.” Book by Allyson McCabe: Why Sinéad O'Connor Matters
What My Musical Instruments Have Taught Me: I’ve spent my life working on virtual reality—but my instruments have revealed the real world, Jaron Lanier, New Yorker, 7/22/23: “I prize the edge of chaos; that which cannot be repeated.
‘We just stopped using it’: bringing back an Indigenous language through children’s books: Elder Aunty Jenny Crew wants to give kids the chance to learn stories in Wamba Wamba, rarely used since the Moonahcullah mission near Deniliquin closed, Fleur Connick, The Guardian, 7/28/23
The New Sex Writing: In Praise of the “Idiotic Erotic:” On Letting the Sluts Speak, Tamara Faith Berger, LitHub, 7/26/23: “For better or worse, contemporary erotica houses a never-ending repository of occasionally thrilling human sexual practices. I’m just glad that literature is no more running from it.”
Everything and Nothing: The Barbie movie, Lilith, Eve, and all our gendered hopes and expectations, LYZ, Men Yell at Me, 7/26/23: “Containing nothing and everything is what Barbie is expected to do. So, too, are women.”
Why Barbie Must Be Punished: Mothers, daughters, and an icon’s existential crisis, Leslie Jamison, New Yorker, 7/29/23: “There’s nothing a girl wants more, perhaps, than a toy it seems like her mother does not want her to have.”
Why do I hoard more books than I could possibly read? An investigation, Chris Vignar, LA Times, 7/25/23: “In buying books, I’m feeding the delusion that I will get to them all. Because, from my cockeyed perspective, it’s the noble thing to do.”
How W. E. B. Du Bois Helped Pioneer African American Humanist Thought: On the Complex Relationship Between Black Americans and the Black Church, Christopher Cameron, LitHub, 7/27/23: “African American humanists such as Du Bois laid the foundations for one of the most significant streams of twentieth-century Black thought and culture.”
The Real Reason Steph Curry Is So Damn Good: The hoops god tells WIRED that his path to greatness was blazed by “irrational confidence” and going beyond the metrics. Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler—producer of the new Curry doc, Underrated—agrees, Hemal Jhaveri, Wired, 7/27/23
Public libraries are the latest front in culture war battle over books, Gregory S. Schneider, Washington Post, 7/25/23: “This isn’t actually a thing about caring about children; it’s to rile up the base, and we’re being used as a pawn.”
Booksellers sue to stop Texas law restricting ‘sexually explicit’ content, Niha Masih, Washington Post, 7/26/23: “The suit filed today seeks to protect the basic constitutional rights of the plaintiffs and restore the right of Texas parents to determine what is age appropriate and important for their children to access in their schools, without government interference or control.”
Love, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Polyamory: A Look Under the Covers of Nonmonogamy and Its Burgeoning Civil Rights Battle: The most pervasive misconception that thrives in this void is that polyamory is just about sex, but for many polyamorous individuals, it’s about deep connection, committed partnerships, reliable family, and supportive community—things that everyone deserves to pursue free of discrimination, Caroline Rose Giuliani, Vanity Fair, 7/25/23
What AI Teaches Us About Good Writing: While AI can speed up the writing process, it doesn’t optimize quality — and it endangers our sense of connection to ourselves and others, Laura Hartenberger, Noema, 7/25/23: “…using ChatGPT is like supervising a bumbling assistant who needs painfully detailed, step-by-step instructions that take more effort to explain than to simply do the work yourself.”
Humans Suck at Seeing Into the Future: Breathless predictions about nuclear power put today’s AI “revolution” into perspective, Freddie DeBoer, Persuasion, 7/28/23: “The problem is that people mistake rapid development in a given technology for a rapid onset of predictable consequences.”
When Pete Brown Made Cream, Mark Daponte, Culture Sonar, 7/24/23: “…before Pete made his fortune and name as Cream’s go-to lyricist, he was a poor traveling Beat poet, sometimes sharing bills with legends Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso.”
In the white room with black curtains near the station
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes
Dawnlight smiles on you leaving, my contentment
—from “White Room,” Cream, written by Pete Brown and Jack Bruce
Politicks
Where did it all go right for Biden? Facts blunt Republican attack lines: Crime is down, inflation is falling and the border is quiet. Little wonder the House speaker is floating impeachment of the president for … something, David Smith, The Guardian, 7/30/23
Age, the Blue Sky and That Enduring Question of ‘Is Joe Biden Too Old?’ Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, 7/29/23: “Get over it!”
The Pivot We All Need Before 2024: Power Over Outrage, Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, Newsletter, 7/26/23: “Collective power can change minds, industries and nations, and its time we started focusing on that. So the next time you read a Democratic or left-leaning account that draws your attention with outrage, ask yourself: what is this person doing to solve the problem?”
FTC readies lawsuit that could break up Amazon: A case would be a high-water mark for FTC Chair Lina Khan who gained prominence criticizing the company’s dominance, John Cisco, Politico, 7/25/23
Six ways that AI could change politics: A new era of AI-powered domestic politics may be coming. Watch for these milestones to know when it’s arrived, Bruce Schneier, Nathan E. Sanders, MIT Technology Review, 7/28/23
Will America Face “Narcissistic Collapse” as Trump Descends into Legal Hell? He’s already using the language of narcissistic collapse, priming his cult followers to experience rage and act out revenge fantasies on his behalf in a clear call to stochastic terrorism...Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 7/25/23
States’ rights make a comeback as Republicans rush to defy Washington: Several red states are rejecting the authority of not just the federal government – but also the conservative supreme court, David Smith, The Guardian, 7/29/23
How Republicans flipped America’s state supreme courts: State supreme courts were once dominated by Democrats. A concerted effort by right-wing groups has changed that — with massive implications for abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and elections, Aaron Mendelson, Center for Public Integrity, 7/24/23
‘Project 2025’: plan to dismantle US climate policy for next Republican president: Rightwing groups penned a conservative wish list of proposals for the next conservative president to gut environmental protections, Dharna Noor, The Guardian, 7/27/23
The Plutocratic Policies of No Labels: Cutting Social Security, nixing increases to family benefits, No Labels’ economics are old-school Republican, Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, 7/25/23
How the Ultrawealthy Use Private Foundations to Bank Millions in Tax Deductions While Giving the Public Little in Return: It’s a simple bargain: The rich get huge tax breaks by donating art, property and company shares to benefit the public. But some donors collect millions while offering little or no public access, Jeff Ernsthausen, ProPublica, 7/26/23
Why Elite-College Admissions Matter: A conversation with Annie Lowrey about how to diversify these schools—and by extension, America’s elite, Isabel Fattal, Atlantic, 7/25/23: “Attending an elite school ups a person’s chances of ascending the ranks of elite society.”
For unhoused people in America’s hottest large city, heat waves are a merciless killer: Finding shelter from extreme heat is critical to survival in Phoenix, Arizona, where record-breaking heat waves are on the rise, Osha Davidson, Yale Climate Connections, 7/24/23
Ignoring Warnings of Mass Job Loss, Fed Hikes Rates to Highest Level in Decades: "The dangerous reflex to hike rates, no matter the causes of inflation, is both a policy failure and a failure to imagine a world in which workers are anything other than expendable," said one economist, Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams, 7/26/23
Americans are falling out of love with the idea of college: We expected too much of our one functional institution, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 7/27/23: “College isn’t a magical box that will make your life turn out like a fairy tale.”
Burning Hamburg 1943 - the first culmination of liberal militarism, Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 7/29/23: “Maximum effort strategic bombing was a distinctly liberal mode of war-fighting.” DW: really interesting piece in light of how the US has fought wars and smaller military engagements ever since WWII.
Self is the grand pursuit of half mankind;
How vast a crowd by self, like me, are blind!
—from “The Author’s Picture,” Thomas Blacklock
Science & Environment
We can’t afford to be climate doomers: It often seems that people are searching harder for evidence we’re defeated than that we can win, Rebecca Solnit, The Guardian, 7/26/23: “You can feel absolutely devastated about the situation and not assume this predicts outcome; you can have your feelings and can still chase down facts from reliable sources, and the facts tell us that the general public is not the problem; the fossil fuel industry and other vested interests are; that we have the solutions, that we know what to do, and that the obstacles are political; that when we fight we sometimes win; and that we are deciding the future now.”
'The Climate Change Bomb Has Gone Off,' Says Jay Inslee Amid Extreme Heat: "What the scientific community is telling us now, is that the Earth is screaming at us," said the Washington governor. "We need to stop using fossil fuels. That is the only solution to this massive assault on humanity,” Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, 7/23/23
Forget Conspiracy Theories: The Really Bad Stuff Happens in Plain View, Bill McKibben, The Crucial Years, 7/24/23: “…while our planet was experiencing its hottest month of all time, the earth’s biggest pile of cash (the asset manager Blackrock, with $8.59 trillion dollars under management) named to its board of directors the CEO of the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, which has produced more carbon emissions than any firm on earth.”
How Long Will Politicians Be Able to Ignore the Planet Becoming Unlivable? This truly is a climate emergency, and every day that goes by without significant action further endangers the future of almost all life on Earth, including us...Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 7/24/23
Scientists investigate the climate impact of airborne dust: They’re using data from a high-tech instrument mounted to the International Space Station, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 7/24/23
The race to defuse an oil ‘time bomb’ disaster threatening the Red Sea: A U.N. plan to avoid a spill four times larger than the Exxon Valdez is "only half a solution, but it’s better than nothing,” Saquib Rahim, Grist, 7/25/23
A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet,’ Laura Paddison, CNN, 7/26/23
Florida ocean records ‘unprecedented’ temperatures similar to a hot tub: The 90-100F readings add to previous warnings over warming water putting marine life and ecosystems in peril, Dani Anguiano, The Guardian, 7/25/23
Black sea bass habitat is shifting north as the Atlantic heats up: But fishing regulations haven’t kept up with the changes, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 7/27/23
California aims to tap beavers, once viewed as a nuisance, to help with water issues and wildfires, Amy Taxin, AP News, 7/25/23: “There’s been this major paradigm shift throughout the West where people have really transitioned from viewing beavers strictly as a nuisance species, and recognizing them for the ecological benefits that they have.”
The Mystery of the Colorado River’s Missing Water: Snow is falling—but it doesn’t show up to replenish the river. In a drying West, researchers are racing to find out where it goes, Bella Biondini, Wired, 7/29/23: “Are we going to have less water for the rivers? Is more of it going into the atmosphere or not? And we just don’t know.”
A Fight for Salmon Fishing Rights Connects Indigenous Peoples Across the Pacific Ocean: For Japan’s Indigenous Ainu people, salmon is king. With inspiration from Indigenous groups in Washington state, the Ainu are reclaiming their historical fishing rights, Naoki Nitta, Civil Eats, 7/26/23
The fan jacket: the Japanese innovation keeping workers cool in extreme heat: As rising temperatures make traditionally hot and sticky Japanese summer months more severe, those toiling outside are turning to the fan-jakketo, Gavin Blair, The Guardian, 7/25/23
8 creative ways that cities are redesigning for extreme heat: From Phoenix to Abu Dhabi, city planners are taking new measures to try to cool cities and keep residents safe, Adele Peters, Fast Company, 7/25/23: “Adding a white coating to a roof can help it reflect as much as 90% of sunlight, keeping rooms inside around 30% cooler and shrinking the need for air-conditioning.”
These moisture-sucking materials could transform air conditioning: Desiccants that pull water out of the air could help cool buildings more efficiently, Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review, 7/26/23
Tree Keepers: Where Sustaining the Forest Is a Tribal Tradition: The Menominee tribe of Wisconsin has sustainably harvested its woods for nearly 170 years, providing a model for foresters worldwide. Amid climate change and other threats to the forest, the tribe continues to follow a traditional code: Let the healthy trees keep growing, Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360, 7/24/23
Crystal and sediment linked hot
all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.
—from “Riprap,” Gary Snyder
Health & Wellness
What are endocrine-disrupting chemicals? Everything you need to know about endocrine-disrupting chemicals and how to avoid them, Allison Guy, Environmental Health News, 7/26/23: “Because endocrine disruptors are found in air, water, soil and thousands of consumer products, it is impossible to completely avoid these chemicals. There are, however, many steps you can take to help lessen your risk.”
Long COVID impact on brain function equivalent to ageing 10 years, Giulia Carbonaro, Euronews, 7/25/23: “Our findings suggest that, for people who were living with long-term symptoms after having COVID-19, the effects of the coronavirus on mental processes such as the ability to recall words and shapes are still detectable at an average of almost two years since their initial infection.”
The CDC sees signs of a late summer COVID wave, Rob Stein, NPR, 7/28/23. “Most of the hospitalizations are among older people.” DW: Buy some masks!
There is no light
only a honey-thick stain
that drips from leaf to leaf
and limb to limb
spoiling the colors
of the whole world—from “Love Song,” William Carlos Williams
Birds
Hummingbirds! Peak activity at feeders and flower gardens is in late July and August, Laura Erickson, For the Birds, 7/26/23: “Hummingbird migration is like a regular annual marathon except it’s not scheduled on a calendar.”
Birds of Prey Show Exposure to Neurotoxin Bromethalin: A rodenticide, a neurotoxicant called bromethalin, can bioaccumulate in birds of prey, new findings show, Angela Nelson-Tufts, Futurity, 7/25/23
Thousands of Purple Martin birds flock to Houston as they migrate to South America: Probably at this point there are about 200,000 Purple Martins. And they swirl and descend into the trees in kind of a tornado effect or like a hurricane. It’s a spectacle, Robert Salinas, Houston Public Media, 7/27/23
Birds Are the Secret Weapon in Your Fight Against Anxiety: Their chirping sounds can comfort us, soothe our stress and bring us joy, Elizabeth Bernstein, Wall Street Journal, 7/25/23 (free article): “Bird songs and calls may be the most restorative natural sounds, research is finding. They can help reduce stress and give our brain and nervous system a much-needed rest. They can also alleviate our anxiety, comfort us and bring us joy.”
Some humor to end the week. Here’s an exchange from a Congressional oversight committee:
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ): “Biden’s national drug control strategy is 150 pages. The words ‘God’ and ‘faith’ are not mentioned one time.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD): “Looking for some kind of religious test, which is explicitly forbidden in the Constitution...in the drug control strategy? What about the free exercise clause? What about the establishment clause?”
I hope there is enough optimism displayed here—along with this week’s typically terrible news —to give some comfort to everyone. The world is not yet coming to an end.
Our garden is producing an abundance of tomatoes, peas, lettuce and squash and cucumbers are coming soon. There’s fresh corn at the market. Buy some books and go to the beach before summer disappears. Much love to all — David