The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces: Issue 161, June 11, 2023 (V4 #5)
Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.”—Anthony Bourdain
Our problems are self-imposed — therefore, they can be solved by us. And humankind can be exactly as we want it to be. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Our reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable — and we believe we can do it again…—John F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963
Literature, Art, Music and Culture
Impromptu train station duet goes viral: Pianist and violinist take on Vivaldi's 'Summer,’ Rusty Blazenhoff, BoingBoing, 6/8/23 Watch on YouTube
Some good reading: Wendell Berry, Jim Hightower, Lowdown, 6/5/23: “The best homage we could pay to Berry – and the best favor we could do for ourselves and our country – is simply to read and spread every word of dirt-level common sense that this 88-year-old Kentucky farmer/essayist/poet/Little-d democrat writes.”
Moneyball Broke Baseball: But now the whiz kids who nearly ruined the national pastime have returned to save it, Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 6/6/23: “Change can invigorate at any age. It’s important to keep traditions, and base runners, moving. Obsolescence is a choice.”
Elliot Page, From Shame to Self-Acceptance, in Hollywood’s Glare: In the “brutally honest” memoir “Pageboy,” the actor recounts the fears and obstacles to gender transition, and the hard-won happiness that’s followed, Gina Chua, NY Times, 6/6/23. Book: Pageboy: A Memoir
Trespassing on Edith Wharton, Alissa Bennett, Paris Review, 6/5/23: “Walking the property’s grounds, I thought about what it means to be allowed entry into a stranger’s Eden, how impossible it is for the dead to protect themselves from the violence of our curiosity once we are allowed access to their private spaces.”
Little Richard: I am Everything, John Visconti, Culture Sonar, 6/8/23: “The film is also an in-depth examination of the power and impact of Little Richard’s genre-defying (and genre-defining) music, featuring interviews with artists like Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Billy Porter, writer-director John Waters, and sociologist Zandria Robinson.” Film Trailer!
The Millions We Failed to Save: The recent documentary The US and the Holocaust is a scathing, even bombastic indictment of US immigration policy over the past 160 years, Ruth Franklin, NY Review of Books, 6/22/23 issue.
A Middle Way for Abortion: Lessons for grieving the unborn from Japanese Buddhism, Francisco Toro, Persuasion, 6/9/23: “There is no such thing as abortion politics in Japan.”
We Can Start Thinking in Centuries: A new book explores how a global shift toward long-term thinking can solve the problems caused by our here-and-now mindsets, Peter Yeung, Reasons to Be Cheerful, 6/5/23. Book: The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time, Richard Fisher.
Only Humans Make Sentences: Machines assemble syntax, John Warner, Biblioracle Recommends, 6/11/23: “Writing literature is to make war against he deadening effect of a world where we mostly encounter cliche.”
The Death of Captain Waskow: In praise of the infantry, Lawrence Freedman, Comment is Freed, 6/11/23: ‘I don’t believe one of us was afraid of the physical part of dying. That isn’t the way it is. The emotion is rather one of almost desperate reluctance to give up the future.’ (Ernie Pyle, 1944)
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.—Charles Bukowski (from “The Laughing Heart”)
Politicks
The Legal Dynamics of Trump’s Second Indictment: The case, which concerns the former President’s handling of classified documents, raises complicated questions about intent and national security, Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 6/9/23
Dear Republicans: A thought about our former president, our laws, and our future, Timothy Snyder, Thinking About, 6/9/23: “…if you commit yourself now to an anti-constitutional position, you will have a hard time extracting yourself later. Leaders come and go. A republic endures.”
The Choice Trump Has Forced Us To Make: At some point soon, the Republic either lives or dies. Hold tight, Andrew Sullivan, Weekly Dish, 6/9/23: “I wish I believed that what we are about to witness is the ultimate triumph of the rule of law in America.”
The fanatical GOP defense of Trump, Steve Schmidt, The Warning, 6/10/23: “. Fundamentally, the GOP response is an attack on the American justice system that rivals their collective and years’ long attack on the American electoral system…. What purpose does the Republican Party have in this moment? What do they stand for beyond Trump and his lies?”
First Criminal President: Donald Trump Didn’t Do It Alone: As Trump faces the music for a small slice of his crimes against our nation & our democracy, let’s not forget that he’s not the first. He was carrying on a GOP tradition stretching back to 1968…Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 6/8/23
'Disturbing': 12 Million US Adults Think Violence Is Justified to Put Trump Back in White House: "We're heading into an extremely tumultuous election season," said one expert. "What's happening in the United States is political violence is going from the fringe to the mainstream,” Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams, 6/9/23
How to avoid a civil war, by the man who predicted Trump: Across the west, popular misery and ‘elite overproduction’ are fuelling crisis, argues data-driven historian Peter Turchin. So what can we do to turn things around? David Shariatmadari, The Guardian, 6/10/23: “Things are now set up, he argues, so that money gushes away from workers and towards the elite, like a blowout from an oil well.” DW: sounds kind of like Marx was on to something, eh?
Here's the Truth - If You’re Anti-Woke, You’re Pro-Bigot: Turn on a light, the old saying goes, and the cockroaches will scatter. It’s time to bring honest and unflinching light to the Republican Party’s use of the word “woke”…Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 6/6/23
These 25 rainbow flag-waving corporations donated $13.5 million to anti-gay politicians since 2022, Judd Legum, Tesnim Zekeria, Rebecca Crosby, Popular Information, 6/5/23: “Comcast has donated at least $1,046,000 to anti-LGBTQ politicians since last year.”
It's Time to Investigate Ginni Thomas: Trying to overthrow the government of the United States, however, may be another matter altogether. And that’s where Clarence’s wife Ginni may be vulnerable…Thom Hartmann, Hartmann Report, 6/7/23
Will a universal basic income solve everything? A study of the socialist utopia in Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, and a discussion about how we might achieve his goals today, Elle Griffin, The Elysian, 6/9/23
The reverse OPEC maneuver: Pricing power in the oil industry is shifting, and will shift more, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 6/7/23: “…OPEC countries now face a future of demand that just keeps shrinking year after year.”
The triple inequality of the "global" climate problem, Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 6/10/23: “The impact is suffered most by those who have least contributed to the crisis and are least able to pay. Those of us who are most responsible and have most ability to contribute to the solution, currently suffer and are threatened in the future with relatively less impact.”
What if We’re Thinking About Inflation All Wrong? Isabella Weber’s heterodox ideas about government price controls are transforming policy in the United States and across Europe, Zachary Carter, New Yorker, 6/6/23: “She shows policymakers how they might move beyond the Fed and, by doing so, open up new ways to address different kinds of problems.” DW: Even if you are not interested in economics and policy, this story is important. New thinking is needed and it is out there.
On "Debt Ceiling Drama”, Media Promote Tiresome ‘Clowns in Congress’ Trope: Many bad things Congress does are bipartisan, but threatening to tank the economy in order to gut the liberal state is almost entirely Republican cruelty. Our media should explicitly say so, Adam Johnson, The Column, 6/6/23
Why trying to "shape" AI innovation to protect workers is a bad idea: Instead, we should empower workers and create mechanisms for redistribution, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 6/11/23
‘It’s been a total witch-hunt. It takes its toll’: the LGBTQ+ families fleeing red states: Anti-trans bills and threats leave adults and children fearing for their safety at home, Amelia Abraham, The Guardian, 6/6/23
Times have changed and times are strange
Here I come, but I ain't the same
—from “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” Ozzie Osbourne
Science & Environment
We Can See Clearly Now: The Smoke Has Come, Bill McKibben, The Crucial Years, 6/7/23: “If the climate crisis is the great existential crisis on our earth, then smoke is the great daily crisis.”
ABC, CBS and NBC Evening News Reports on Canadian Wildfires Ignore Climate Change’s Role Entirely A snapshot of how Bad Things Just Happen with no cause and no author, Adam Johnson, The Column, 6/7/23: “…solutions become that much more difficult to rally support for when the public isn’t told that the brown smog outside their house is connected to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by other humans looking to get rich off our collective climate disaster. “
'People Didn't Listen': Complete Loss of Arctic Summer Sea Ice Now Inevitable, Warn Scientists: "As scientists, we've been warning about the loss of Arctic summer sea ice for decades," said one researcher, Julia Conley, Common Dreams, 6/6/23
New Jersey is teaching kids about climate. Opponents call it ‘indoctrination:’ The education culture wars are coming for climate change, Anya Kamenetz, Grist, 6/7/23. DW: ironic timing - NJ was covered this week in smoke from climate change related smoke.
Moving Through the Trees at Night (To Save the Forests): on Taking Radical Steps to Combat Deforestation, Greg King, LitHub, 6/9/23: “Forest activism awakens the senses.” Book: The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods
‘A portion of paradise’: how the drought is bringing a lost US canyon back to life: Record dryness has restored an ecosystem under Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir. Is it time to see it as ‘a national park rather than a storage tank’? Annette McGivney, The Guardian, 6/11/23. DW: Bring back Glen Canyon! We don’t need two giant lake reservoirs
Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment: As conditions that best support life shift toward the poles, more than 600 million people are already living outside of a crucial “climate niche,” facing more extreme heat, rising food scarcity and higher death rates, Abraham Lustgarden, ProPublica, 6/6/23
Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Emit Carcinogens and Other Harmful Pollutants, Groundbreaking Study Shows: The release of cancer-causing benzene and other toxic gases from sites in Pennsylvania raises concerns about millions of other abandoned wells across the U.S., Liza Gross, Inside Climate News, 6/6/23
In a geologic triumph, scientists drill a window into Earth’s mantle, Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, 6/6/23: “We’ve achieved an ambition that’s been feeding the science community for many decades.”
Researchers find why San Andreas fault hasn’t caused a big earthquake in L.A. — yet: Over the past 1,000 years, earthquakes at the southern San Andreas fault occurred when water levels of a large nearby lake were high, Kasha Patel, Washington Post, 6/7/23
Nearly 20% of the cultural differences between societies boil down to ecological factors – new research, Alexandra Wormley, Michael Varnum, The Conversation, 6/6/23. “Places with less access to water tend to be more future-oriented…And in places with colder temperatures people feel less need for lots of personal space in public, perhaps because there tend to be fewer germs, or maybe from an impulse, on some basic level, to keep warm.”
Rejecting the Apple Vision Pro, Mark Hurst, Creative Good, 6/9/23: “The only way for users to see anything is to accept the representation of the world as offered by the corporation’s filters.”
40% of their study area used no till farming. Researchers asked what if it was 100%? Results were astounding: It would take 10,000 years to reach the levels of soil loss that will unfold in just a century under business as usual, Emma Bryce, Anthropocene, 6/2/23
Rethink, reform, rebuild: 7 steps to save the Amazon: As the world’s biggest rainforest degrades fast towards its tipping point, finding solutions is more urgent than ever. But who to ask first and where to begin? Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, 6/5/23
Restoring our waters is restoring ourselves: Using water quality research to bring healing and sovereignty to the Apsáalooke, JoRee LaFrance, Environmental Health News, 6/7/23: “Taking care of the water is to take care of our wellbeing not only as an individual, but as a people.”
The race to map the world’s seagrass — before it disappears, Allyson Chiu, Washington Post, 6/8/23: “What we don’t know, we can’t protect.”
It’s the Features, Stupid: EV Market Share Is Growing Because the Vehicles Keep Getting Better: New research finds no change in the share of people buying an electric vehicle for the sake of buying one, but plenty of other reasons for the appeal, Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News, 6/8/23
Turbulence on flights is getting worse because of climate change: Climate data from 1979 to 2020 shows that clear air turbulence is occurring more frequently – a predicted consequence of a warmer atmosphere, Madeleine Cuff, New Scientist, 6/8/23
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years
Somebody holds the key—from “Can’t Find My Way Home,” Blind Faith/Steve Winwood
Health & Wellness
Skin-to-skin contact significantly reduces death rates for premature babies:A sweeping analysis also suggests that kangaroo mother care works best if started within the first 24 hours of life, Sabrina Malhi, Washington Post, 6/7/23
Forget 10,000 steps. 7 surprising tips for step counters: Recently, scientists have come up with evidence-based recommendations about step count goals that might be lower than you would expect, Gretchen Reynolds, Washington Post, 6/7/23
Factory farming is fuelling a ‘silent pandemic’. Here’s what we can do about it, Nichola Daunton, EuroNews, 6/8/23: “Antimicrobial resistance could cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050.”
From the porch at dusk I watched
a kingfisher wild in flight
he could only have made for joy.
—from “Before Dark,” Wendell Berry
Birds
LeConte’s Sparrow: Tiny Ahab, Laura Erickson, For the Birds, 6/5/23: “The biggest sperm whales weigh 724 times as much as Gregory Peck’s reported weight, but his weight was fully 6,000 times a Le Conte’s Sparrow’s—an order of magnitude difference!”
What City Birds Around the World Have in Common: How a study of so-called “trash birds” revealed conservation clues for urban species, Rebecca Heisman, The Revelator, 6/7/23
A shocking number of birds are in trouble: We know better than ever how to help endangered birds, with notable conservation successes, Emily Sohn, Ars Technica, 6/4/23
George and I: on the Early Days of Raising a Magpie: “His warmly feathered presence was like having an emissary of the natural world grounding me daily,” Frieda Hughes, LitHub, 6/8/23. Book: George: A Magpie Memoir
What a week. That’s about all I can say. And there’s more to come, for sure. Stay strong, stay well, stay tuned. Much love to all—David
PS: Next Sunday expect a modified version of The Weird Times. Our eldest daughter is getting married, so I’ll be busy preparing for and then celebrating the joyful event.