The Weird Times

Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces

The Weird Times: Issue 130, November 6, 2022 (V3 #26)

“You have the power, it’s your choice, it’s your decision, the fate of the nation, the fate of the soul of America lies where it always does, with the people, in your hands, in your heart, in your ballot.”—President Joe Biden, 11/2/22

Principe Scops-Owl, or Otus bikegila

There is a sweetness buried in my mind

there is water with a small cave behind it

there’s a mouth speaking Greek

It is what I keep to myself; what I return to;

the one thing that no one else wanted

— from “The One Thing in Life,” Gerald Stern

Books and Culture

Gerald Stern, prize-winning American lyrical poet, dies aged 97: New Jersey’s first poet laureate, Stern wrote about his childhood, Judaism, mortality and the wonders of the contemplative life, AP, The Guardian, 10/30/22

The Best American Novelist to Disappear (And Come Back) Twice: On Working with Gayl Jones, Helene Atwan, LitHub, 11/4/22. New book: The Birdcatcher

A Yale Economist Read 50 Personal Finance Books. He’s Got Some Notes: Personal finance gurus frequently depart from conventional economic wisdom, Yale SOM’s James Choi discovered, but their advice isn’t all bad, James Choi, Yale Insights, 10/18/22

Accumulated Memory: On the Intersection of Individual Intimacy and National Narrative: “Rhymes of race, freedom, innovation, politics, war, leadership, prejudice, art, and scandal recur vividly and insistently,” Ken Burns, LitHub, 11/2/22: “We have created flying machines and probed the heavens, but have failed to protect the most vulnerable among us. Book: Our America: A Photographic History

How a national book-banning trend erupted at the Lincolnwood library, with pushback aimed at LGBTQ materials, Caroline Kubzansky, Adriana Pérez, Chicago Tribune, 11/1/22

The Right-Wing Mothers Fuelling the School-Board Wars: Moms for Liberty claims that teachers are indoctrinating students with dangerous ideologies. But is the group’s aim protecting kids—or scaring parents? Paige Williams, New Yorker, 10/31/22

‘My heart is racing, I’m terrified’: Cat Power on recreating Bob Dylan’s infamous 1966 ‘electric’ gig, Laura Barton, The Guardian, 11/4/22: “Ahead of her show at the Royal Albert Hall, Chan Marshall, AKA Cat Power, explains the uncanny ways the musician has shaped her life.” Song: “He Was a Friend of Mine”

‘I want to open a window in their souls’: Haruki Murakami on the power of writing simply: The master storyteller on finding a voice, creative originality and why he has never suffered from writer’s block, Haruki Murakami, The Guardian, 11/5/22: “Writing in a foreign language taught me to express thoughts and feelings with a limited set of words.”

The Long and the Short of It: On Returning to Short Fiction in Her 90s.“To publish a collection of short stories in my 90’s seems miraculous to me,” Hilma Wolitzer, LitHub, 11/2/22: “After I developed the habit of writing novels, I seemed to have forgotten how to write short stories, as if I’d made a pact with a literary devil.” Book: Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket

Judge Blocks a Merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster: The government’s case blocked the merger of two of the United States’ largest publishers and reflected a more aggressive approach to curbing consolidation. It was closely watched by the publishing industry, Alexandra Alter, Elizabeth A. Harris, NY Times, 10/31/22 (gift article, no paywall).

WORK ETHIC

To sit outside in the afternoon and see

the trees grow or lie in bed long

early and not get up; both are good.

The done is doing; I don't need to do.

—William Bronk

Science and Environment

Here’s exactly how your diet affects the planet, a landmark study finds: From pork to rice to seafood, a new analysis of nearly 99 percent of all food production on land and sea reveals the ecological footprint of what we eat, Scott Dance, Washington Post, 10/24/22

Scientists discover a new ecosystem in the deep ocean of Maldives: The new ecosystem was found 500 meters beneath the surface of the ocean, Baba Tamim, Interesting Engineering, 10/16/22: “The ecology, which is now known as "The Trapping Zone," sustains an oasis of life in the ocean's depths.”

A Caustic Shift Is Coming for the Arctic Ocean: Scientists have already begun to observe the ecological effects of acidifying oceans on sea life. The changes ahead may be more drastic, Gregory Barber, Wired, 11/2/22

Preventing a dark future: Zhenyu Tian, Ph.D.: “Environmental pollution is sometimes recognized as a smaller issue...but serious consequences could happen if we don't take serious actions,” EHN Staff, Environmental Health News, 11/1/22: “When you think of our planet's future, do you imagine a dystopian reality? Dr. Tian hopes his work will help to avoid that.”

Antidotes for ecological forgetfulness: Bear witness, make a record, pass it on, Jason Mark, High Country News, 11/1/22: “Remembrances of Earths past can serve as a kind of cultural touchstone, a common shore from which we can navigate the uncharted waters of this hot, chaotic, fast-moving century.”

Tribe seeks to adapt as climate change alters ancestral home, Tammy Weber, Martha Irvine, AP News, 11/1/22: “Pueblo elders say ancestral knowledge is key for future generations to develop a strong cultural and spiritual sense of self, a connection to this ancient place so they have a fighting chance to preserve their way of life.”

The surprising value of a small patch of grass: To save more nature, think small, Benji Jones, Vox, 11/3/22. The fight to save a tiny but crucial piece of America, Bell Bowl Prairie, near O’Hare Airport in Illinois.

Pulsatilla Nutalliana flower found in Bell Bowl Prairie

Mathieu Flamini Has a Plan to Decarbonize the Chemical Industry: The former soccer player is working to turn agricultural waste into a fossil fuel replacement, reducing emissions and harmful byproducts, Amit Katwala, Wired, 10/31/22

Finally, a Climate Change Silver Lining: More Rainbows: By 2100, rainbows could surge by 4 to 5 percent, especially in places with more rain. Plus climate optimism, menus with eco-labels and nutritious algae, Katelyn Weisbrod, Inside Climate News, 11/5/22

How Digital Technology Is Helping Decode the Sounds of Nature: Digital technology is enabling scientists to detect and interpret the sounds of species as diverse as honey bees, peacocks, and elephants. In an e360 interview, geographer Karen Bakker discusses the surprising and complex ways that animals and plants use sound to communicate, Yale Environment 360, 11/1/22

AlphaFold’s new rival? Meta AI predicts shape of 600 million proteins: Microbial molecules from soil, seawater and human bodies are among the planet’s least understood, Ewen Callaway,  Nature, 11/1/22: “These are incredibly mysterious proteins…they offer the potential for great insight into biology.”

A Dream of Discovering Alien Life Finds New Hope: For Lisa Kaltenegger and her generation of exoplanet astronomers, decades of planning have set the stage for an epochal detection, Joshua Sokol, Quanta, 11/3/22

New Omicron Variants Are Here—What We Know So Far: The variants appear to sneak past the immune system, but vaccines will likely continue to hold strong, Shannon Hall, Scientific American, 11/2/22

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we share a ride we share a country but live in alternate nations and here I must tell them what they don’t know or, should I? Should I is the moment to seize and before I know it I say Well you know Native people as in tribes as in “people” living over there are people with their own nations each with its own government and flag they rise to their own national songs and sing in their own languages, even. And by there I mean here all around us I remind them.

—from “Whereas” by Layli Long Soldier (an incredible poem by a brilliant poet)

Politicks: Election Time

Elon Musk’s Twitter Layoffs are Brewing up a Perfect Storm for the Midterms: Misinformation experts are sounding alarms as the tech billionaire sets out to reportedly axe half the company’s workforce and blow up its blue-check verification system ahead of Election Day. “Comms has gone dark,” one reporter tweeted. “To say I’m worried for next week’s election doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Caleb Ecarma, Vanity Fair, 11/4/22

The ranting right is winning, from the US to Israel. The left must raise its game: US Democrats and leftwing parties around the world have failed to come up with a compelling narrative to counter the lies and distortions of extremists, Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, 11/6/22

Democrats Rediscover How to Run on Economic Issues: But it’s kinda late, no? Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, 11/3/22

A Closing Argument for Democracy: The president defends American institutions, but it might be too late, Tom Nichols, Atlantic, 11/3/22

Political violence in America isn’t going away anytime soon, Richard Forno, The Conversation, 11/3/22: “Until Republicans actively disavow their extremist rhetoric and the misinformation contributing to it, I believe the likelihood for political violence in America increases with each passing day.”

Originalism’s Charade: Two new books make a devastating case against claims that the Constitution should be interpreted on the basis of its purported “original meaning,” David Cole, NY Review of Books, 11/24/22 issue. Books: Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism, Erwin Chemerinsky and Constructing Basic Liberties: A Defense of Substantive Due Process, James E. Fleming.

Republicans plan surge of attacks on ‘woke’ investing after the midterms: The biggest U.S. financial firms are likely to face expanded scrutiny over sustainable investing practices, Jordan Wolman, Politico, 11/1/22

How Michigan Republicans’ campaign is a ‘direct attack on democracy’: As the key swing state heads into the midterms, Republicans have launched a coordinated effort to pack the process of overseeing elections, Chris McGreal, The Guardian, 11/5/22

These companies claim to support abortion rights. They are backing anti-abortion Republicans: An analysis of major companies’ donations, including Meta and Amazon, reveals donations to candidates calling for banning the procedure, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Lauren Aratani, The Guardian, 11/622

Why I Teach “Hate Speech,” Sandy Bohrer, Smerconish.com, 11/4/22: “We claim the “marketplace of ideas” will weed out the “bad” speech, but it hasn’t happened yet, so for one semester in one class here at the University of Miami School of Communication, we talk about it: racism, religious prejudice, gender, misogyny, sexual orientation, politics, cancel culture, etc. And we talk about how to change things.” Sandy Bohrer is co-author with Jessica Bohrer of Your Voice Is Your Superpower: A Beginner's Guide to Freedom of Speech (and the First Amendment)

Why aren't wages rising in a tight labor market? A macroeconomic mystery with important consequences, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 11/5/22: “But in a world where high labor demand coexists with falling real wages, we need to start to ask ourselves whether the standard intuition is just wrong.”

Elephants in the Room, Scott Galloway, No Mercy/No Malice, 11/4/22: “The state of the economy is a distraction here. Something else is killing ads, and tech companies are reluctant to acknowledge it because, unlike the economy, it’s not cyclical but structural.”

What Hunter-Gatherers Can Teach Us About the Frustrations of Modern Work: Research on early human societies offers lessons about improving our jobs today, Cal Newport, New Yorker, 11/4/22: “It’s not that knowledge workers lack ability but, instead, that the relentless, mind-warping distraction that defines the modern office makes it difficult to apply these abilities in a satisfying manner. “

VIDEO: In this BBC Newsnight interview from 1999 David Bowie talks to Jeremy Paxman about going to meet Tony Blair in stilettos, his alter egos - and makes some incredibly accurate predictions about the potential of the internet.

Now that we’re in our future, we can see how much we missed along the way to getting here.

Anybody's got the power

They don't see it 'cause they don't understand

Spinnin' round and round for hours

You and me, we got the world in our hands

—from “We Could Be Heroes,” David Bowie

Birds

Crows Found to be Smarter than We Think, Two birds learned to organize structures in a way once thought unique to humans, researchers said, Dominique Mossbergen, Wall Street Journal, 11/2/22 (gift article, no paywall): “Two crows appeared to grasp the cognitive concept at a toddler’s skill level, the study said. The crows required just a few days of training before they learned the skill.”

This loophole allows pesticide-coated seeds to kill birds. It’s time to close it: Changing the special status of coated seeds is a long overdue step for wildlife conservation in the U.S., Hardy Kern, Environmental Health News, 11/4/22

Same traits, different island: study highlights evolution quirks, Pat Leonard, Cornell Chronicle, 11/1/22: “Two populations of flycatchers that evolved on different remote islands separately developed the same trait – all-black feathers – according to a new study that used machine learning to understand the process that shaped the birds’ genome.”

The labyrinthine patterns traced by birds on the wing – in pictures, Alice Fisher, The Guardian, 10/29/22: “On a hike one day, photographer Xavier Bou, who is based in Barcelona, wondered if the flight paths of birds could be captured on paper. Through research he realised they could – and represented in a single image. Since then he’s recorded the labyrinthine patterns created by birds on the wing, a project published next month as a book called Ornithographies (Lynx Edicions). “We’re at a point in history where conservation is no longer an eccentric hobby,” says Bou. “It is a necessity. I hope Ornithographies encourages people to become aware of the birds around us… just raise your head and – who knows – maybe a beautiful formation of migrating geese will pass by.””

New species of owl discovered in the rainforests of Príncipe Island, Central Africa, Pensoft Publishers, EurekAlert, 10/31/22

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We will all just have to hang on for a while,

It seems now.

—from “One Coat of Paint,” John Ashbery

November is Native American Heritage Month. Visit the Library of Congress’s Living Nations, Living Words Collection part of the project created by Joy Harjo when she was the US Poet Laureate.

The Earth’s womb tightens with the need to push.

That is all that I see because of the fogginess of time.

I sing my leaving song.

I sing it to the guardian trees, this beloved earth,

To those who stay here to care for memory.

I will sing it until the day I die.

—from “Exile of Memory,” by Joy Harjo

To The Wall: The final push to save democracy: it’s ours, Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, The Newsletter with ECM, 11/5/22: “Let’s get it done, all the way to the wall, until the polls close. WE are the difference between a better future and the end of democracy as we know it.”

You know she is talking to you, to all of us, now, right now. Good luck to us all. Here we go.