The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 181, October 29, 2023 (V4 #25)
The GOP is a failed state. Donald Trump is its warlord.—Will Saletan
Americans think our economy, currently the strongest in the world, is in poor shape. They mistakenly believe it was better under Trump.—Heather Cox Richardson
Books and Culture
How ‘La Catrina’ became the iconic symbol of Day of the Dead, Matthew Sandoval, The Conversation, 10/24/23: “La Catrina is actually a transcultural icon whose prestige and popularity are equal parts invention and accident.”
Why Tupac Never Died: It’s because the rapper’s life and work were a cascade of contradictions that we’re still trying to figure him out today, Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 10/23/23: “At the heart of the Tupac Shakur mythology is how much of his artistic persona was the result of moments in which he imagined what it might be like to walk in another’s shoes.” Buy the book: Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography
Boogie on the Higher Levels: Judee Sill made two exquisite, defiantly spiritual albums in the early 1970s. A flawed documentary attempts to reckon with her too-brief career, Paige K. Bradley, NY Review of Books, 10/26/23: “Sill died of an overdose in 1979 at thirty-five, and loss tends to be the theme of most retrospective efforts to publicize her music.”
Comparing Poets to Dogs, Nin Andrews, Best American Poetry, 10/25/23: “Poodle-poets tend to be smart, or at least a lot smarter than they look, and they often win prizes.”
It took me years to understand the paradox of George Harrison: After books on Lennon and McCartney, the author turns to the contradictory ‘quiet Beatle’ – whose acid tongue and sexual buccaneering coexisted with his mantras and prayer wheels, Philip Norman, The Guardian, 10/29/23 Buy the book: The Reluctant Beatle
Which Writers Will We Remember? Saul Bellow gets a stamp, and speculating on the odds of enduring literary legacies, John Warner, Biblioracle, 10/29/23: “It should go without saying that the quality of a writer’s books are only incidentally related to whether or not they are remembered.”
Nonfiction That Rivals Little Women: The Forgotten Essays of Louisa May Alcott: on the Literary Marvels of Alcott's Memoirs, Liz Rosenberg, LitHub, 10/24/23: “In many ways, her finest essays are even more brilliant—more consistently brilliant—than her novels and stories.” Buy the book: A Strange Life: Selected Essays of Louisa May Alcott
Penguin Random House launches high schoolers’ award to combat book bans: The publisher’s $10,000 Freedom of Expression prize invites teens to write about a banned book that changed their life, against a backdrop of rising censorship, Ella Creamer, The Guardian, 10/24/23
The Report of my Death......is an exaggeration. So far, Margaret Atwood, In the Writing Burrow, 10/23/23: “I am not at Death’s door. I am merely in Death’s gazebo, an attractive structure on the lawn, quite far from the main entrance, where one lounges at ease, protected by mosquito netting (this being Canada), while sipping cool drinks such as water and undergoing medical tests.”
A Man Without a Country: On Scott Eyman’s “Charlie Chaplin vs. America,” Chris Yogerst, LA Review of Books, 10/26/23: “Agnostic about the idea of national pride, Chaplin became a victim of patriotic correctness.” Buy the book: Charlie Chaplin vs. America
Adult Halloween Is Stupid, Embarrassing, and Very Important: The most inherently childish holiday might be the one grown-ups need the most, Faith Hill, The Atlantic, 10/28/23: “Adults really do require fun.”
Let the community work it out: Throwback to early internet days could fix social media’s crisis of legitimacy, Ethan Zuckerman, Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci, The Conversation, 10/24/23: “…a group of authors designed and built their own platform specifically to meet the needs of their community. AO3, as it is colloquially known, serves millions of people a month, includes tools specific to the needs of fan-fiction authors, and is governed by the same people it serves.”
This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI: The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models, Melissa Heikkilä, MIT Technology Review, 10/23/23
The mezuzahs on my doorposts: I don't know who put them there, and until this month I hadn't given them much thought, Karen Christensen, Newsletter, 10/26/23 “ I’ll leave them in place as a reminder of the troubles that Jewish people have faced over the centuries, and of the myriad ways our lives are entwined. And they will remind to me to be grateful for the peace I too often take for granted.”
A Murdered Israeli Filmmaker’s Prophetic Warning, in “The Boy” Yahav Winner’s final work captures the dissonance of life along the Israel-Gaza border, Yahav Winner, Text by Daniel Lombroso, New Yorker, 10/27/23: …a hauntingly beautiful short that captures the dissonance of life along the Israel-Gaza border.”
If, when the rocket fell, I had moved my head a bit
to watch a bird on a tree or to count
the clouds coming from the west side,
the shrapnel might have cut through my throat.
I wouldn’t be married to my wife,
father of three kids, one born in America. . . .
I look around me, relatives circle my bed.
I watch them as they chat. I imagine them praying round my coffin.
—from “The Wounds,” Mosab Abu Toha
Politics and Economics
What everyone should know about the new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, Judd Legum, Tesnim Zekeria, Rebecca Crosby, Popular Information, 10/26/23: “Over a year after January 6, 2021, Johnson “continued to argue that he and his colleagues had been right to object to the election results” on his religious podcast “Truth Be Told.”” (and this is just the tip of the iceberg).
New House Speaker Champions Fossil Fuels and Dismisses Climate Concerns: Representative Mike Johnson comes from Louisiana oil country and has said he does not believe burning fossil fuels is changing the climate, Lisa Friedman, NY Times, 10/26/23
The era of the 'Handmaid' speaker has begun PLUS: Why Donald Trump is to blame for rise in support of political violence, Steve Schmidt, The Warning, 10/26/23: “Johnson sees power as a means to impose his fanaticism.”
Citizens United has Destroyed America: Why Is Nobody Talking About It? If America is to recover any semblance of meaningful democracy in our country, we must cut out the cancer of big money in our political system by overturning Citizens United…Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 10/27/23: “Republicans on the Supreme Court having legalized political bribery (and, thus, functional ownership) of judges and legislators, both federal and state.”
‘Get the right cases to the supreme court’: inside Charles Koch’s network: Billionaire’s web of rightwing groups works to bring cases to court that could undermine core functionings of the US government, Ed Pilkington, Nick Surgey, The Guardian, 10/26/23
The MAGAfication of the GOP is Complete: How a radical faction yanked an entire party even further right, Damon Linker, Persuasion, 10/26/23
‘It splintered our sense of reality’: how JFK’s assassination spawned 60 years of conspiracy theories: The murder of the US president left millions convinced their government lied and covered up. Decades on, it continues to twist the truth about everything from Covid to G5 to Trump’s defeat at the polls, Steve Rose, The Guardian, 10/26/23
How Third-Party Hopefuls Could Put Donald Trump Back in the White House: Bidenworld is fretting over potential 2024 spoilers, from Cornel West to RFK Jr. to No Labels, and may need to hammer home the election’s stakes to keep people from, as one strategist put it, “essentially throwing their vote away,” Chris Smith, Vanity Fair, 10/23/23
Nearly one in four Americans believe political violence justified to ‘save’ US: Support for political violence increased over past two years, poll finds, offering snapshot of America’s deepening polarization, David Smith, The Guardian, 10/25/23
Trump’s Court Whisperer Had a State Judicial Strategy. Its Full Extent Only Became Clear Years Later: Conservative activist Leonard Leo helped elect a judge in Wisconsin. Without him, the GOP feared their agenda would be “toast,” according to an email, Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll, ProPublica, 10/23/23: “The stakes for democracy are stark.”
AI promises incredible benefits, but also terrible risks. It’s not luddism to rein it in: Safeguards are vital even if artificial technology helps unlock the answers to our biggest questions, Sonia Sodha, The Guardian, 10/29/23
At the origins of Ukraine: How a history begins can help us see how a war ends, Timothy Snyder, Thinking About, 10/29/23: “The Ukrainians can win this war, provided that we do not let them down. What they cannot do is constantly remind us how important the war is. We have do some of that work for ourselves.”
A lot of what you see in the news is just Cold War 2: A model for understanding the madness, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 10/24/23: “The Israel-Gaza war, and the bizarre and toxic discourse on both the far left and the far right in America, the sudden return of industrial policy and the reshaping of supply chains, and so on — can be understood as being at least partly outgrowths of the great-power contest between the U.S. and its democratic allies and an authoritarian bloc led by China and Russia.”
For Israel, There Are No Good Options Now: How the Jewish state finds itself in a dead end. Thanks in part to its US supporters, Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish, 10/27/23: “Israel has every right to take out Hamas. But at what price? And for what future? These are tragic choices in a tragic place. That tragedy has many authors, but Israel’s American supporters are among them.”
The Problem of West Bank Settlements, Tomas Pueyo, Uncharted Territories, 10/26/23: “To this day, neither Hamas nor Fatah—in power in Gaza and the West Bank respectively—publicly accept Israel’s right to exist, and regularly promote the chant From the river to the sea, which can be interpreted benevolently as the destruction of the State of Israel, or more broadly the elimination of Jews along with it. The very point of the existence of Israel is to make sure this does not happen. The result is that Israel will always put its security first.”
Causes for Despair: The human suffering that the people of Gaza have endured in the past three weeks is beyond comprehension, Raja Shehadeh, NY Review of Books, 11/23 issue
Israel: Beyond Deterrence, Lawrence Freedman, Comment is Freed, 10/29/23: “In the end if there is to be any resolution of the current conflict the starting point will be taking the fate of Gaza away from both Hamas and Israel.”
Yuval Noah Harari backs critique of leftist ‘indifference’ to Hamas atrocities: Sapiens author among 90 signatories to statement of dismay at ‘extreme moral insensitivity,’ Robert Booth, The Guardian, 10/24/23: “The job of intellectuals, artists and scholars is to try and go deeper. [It is] to try and see the complexity of reality, especially in today’s climate of post-truth. It feels intellectually and emotionally lazy to just pick a side.”
When Both Silence and Statement Become Complicity: Where we are now, Charlotte Clymer, Charlotte’s Web Thoughts, 10/23/23: “When innocent people are being murdered, it’s morally unacceptable to stay silent, of course, but what happens when speaking up means somehow being perceived as taking a side between competing oppressions and their corresponding evils?”
In the Cities of Killing: The Hamas massacre, the assaults on Gaza, and what comes after, David Remnick, New Yorker, 10/28/23: “Occupation is not a solution. Our peoples should both be led by sensible majorities, but both peoples are being led by their extremists. This is the challenge of Israel.”
Across the evening sky,
all the birds are leaving,
But how can they know,
it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire,
I will still be dreaming,
I have no thought of time.
—from “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” Fairport Convention, by Sandy Denny
Science and Environment
Can dangerous environmental tipping points be averted? Solutions need to be implemented before climate, food and water systems are tipped beyond the point of recovery, says a United Nations University report, Stuart Braun, DW, 10/25/23
World shift to clean energy is unstoppable, IEA report says, Esme Stallard, BBC, 10/24/23
Can we have a low carbon food system and a burger and shake too? We’ve been told to give up meat but innovations in agriculture could end up taking a bigger bite out of global emissions, Mark Harris, Anthropocene, 10/26/23
KU research: Human-driven climate change to amplify risk of toxin concentration in U.S. lakes: Toxin produced by blue-green algae likely to spike as temperature rises, Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector, 10/25/23
Democrats unveil ‘most comprehensive plan ever’ to address plastics problem: The sweeping bill is unlikely to pass, but its components could still make an impact, Joseph Winters, Grist, 10/26/23
Are Halloween pumpkins a future superfood? Pumpkins usually only appear over Halloween. But this drought-tolerant, stable and versatile crop is packed with nutrition. Could it be the superfood of the future? Rashi Goel, BBC, 10/26/23
Ancient rock carvings revealed by receding Amazon waters amid drought: Human faces and other figures believed to be up to 2,000 years old exposed as Brazil river level hits record low, Constance Malleret, The Guardian, 10/24/23
Arctic Warming Triggers Abrupt Ecosystem Shift in North America’s Deepest Lake: Great Slave Lake’s huge cold water mass shielded it from impacts of the rapidly warming climate—until now, Cheryl Katz, EOS, 10/24/23
Scientists create world’s most water-resistant surface: Finnish researchers make ‘liquid-like’ outer layer from silicon that could revolutionise household tasks, Sammy Gecsoyler, The Guardian, 10/23/23
Critical Minerals for a Carbon-Neutral Future: The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative is filling data gaps and fostering more holistic understanding of critical mineral resources in the United States using a novel mineral systems framework, Douglas C. Kreiner, Jane Hammarstrom, Warren Day, EOS, 10/27/23: “To identify prospective areas that may host critical and other minerals, we need to better understand the geologic and metallogenic environment under our feet.”
Kelp Keeps a Record of Environmental Calamity: By studying where kelp populations have been wiped out and replaced, scientists are developing a new way to understand historical environmental destruction, Bill Morris, Hakai, 10/27/23
Fossilized Molecules Reveal a Lost World of Ancient Life: A new analysis of billion-year-old sediments fills a gap in the fossil record, uncovering a dynasty of early eukaryotes that may have gone on to shape the history of life on Earth, Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta, 10/23/23
The Invisible Force Keeping Carbon in the Ground: In climate-addled places, mats of mycelium may make all the difference for the trees they live alongside, Zoe Schlanger, The Atlantic, 10/23/23
The moon is 40 million years older than thought, ancient crystal suggests, Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, 10/23/23
Shut your mouth. Put down your pen. Drop
your weapon! Stop! In the name of the law
and the prophets.
—from “Poem Which Talks Back to Itself,” Sharon Olds
Health and Wellness
Long COVID brain fog may originate in a surprising place, say scientists, Will Stone, NPR, 10/24/23: “Basically, we can explain some of the neurocognitive manifestations of long COVID through this pathway that leads to serotonin reduction.”
Birds and Birds
AI analyzes bird sightings to help conserve species, Pat Leonard, Cornell Chronicle, 10/5/23: “For the first time, big data and artificial intelligence are being used to model hidden patterns in nature – not just for one bird species, but for entire ecological communities across continents.”
Mexico’s raptor flyway: the world’s biggest mass of gliding birds, John Pint, Mexico Daily News, 10/26/23: “The best time to come here is from mid-September to mid-October.”
Why do birds flock? Shedding light on collective motions in heterogeneous populations, Leiden University, Phys.org, 10/26/23: “We saw that the small beads quickly migrated to the center and the big ones to the edge. They spontaneously sort themselves. And of course, we want to understand why.”
Huge Cicada Broods Have Ripple Effects on Birds, Caterpillars and Trees: When Brood X emerged in 2021, scientists measured how the influx of billions of insects affected the ecosystem near Washington, D.C., Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian, 10/24/23
A stranger may have found you
Where the angels have lulled you to sleep
They swallow you whole
Like a whale from your head to your feet
—from “Gonna be a Darkness,” Jayhawks
Today I am mourning. This has been a terrible week. I am saddened by all our many losses.
This issue of The Weird Times is dedicated to the memory of Henry Berliner, lover of books, birds, and baseball, warm, generous, and funny, a great human, a great friend.
There is more time than there is expanse of the world and so any voyage at last will end.—Ivan Doig
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, thanks for who you are and what you do. Please keep in touch. Stay well. Share love. I am with you.—David