Month: March 2018

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Shower Thoughts

Trying to make the United States "the best country in the world" while slashing the education budget is like baking the best loaf of bread while setting fire to all the wheat fields.

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Proving Once Again That We Don't Even Know What We Don't Know

From NASA:

Other Juno science results released today include that the massive cyclones that surround Jupiter's north and south poles are enduring atmospheric features and unlike anything else encountered in our solar system. The findings are part of a four-article collection on Juno science results being published in the March 8 edition of the journal Nature.

"These astonishing science results are yet another example of Jupiter's curve balls, and a testimony to the value of exploring the unknown from a new perspective with next-generation instruments.  Juno's unique orbit and evolutionary high-precision radio science and infrared technologies enabled these paradigm-shifting discoveries," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. "Juno is only about one third the way through its primary mission, and already we are seeing the beginnings of a new Jupiter."



North Vortex


South Vortex

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Where is the Passion?

One of the things I've been struggling with in this Trumpian episode of The Twilight Zone we now find ourselves living in is a complete and utter lack of passion about pretty much anything (my relationships notwithstanding) that I used to throw myself into with abandon.

I still enjoy writing/blogging (such that it is) and there are television shows I get caught up in, but when it comes down to actually creating, the fire's gone out.

I have a friend (well, actually two friends) who gush over my painting and photography (one of whom has a fantasy of me opening my own gallery, bless her heart) and are constantly asking when I'm going to start putting brush to canvas or taking photos again. I tell them both that the Muses have (hopefully only temporarily, I tell even myself) forsaken me for whatever reason—but I worry sometimes that it goes deeper than that.

I've been in such a funk since the 2016 election I simply don't care about creating much of anything any more. I mean, why bother? The world has gone to hell and the Cheeto-faced Shitgibbon in the White House is well on the way to undoing an entire generation's worth of American progress and obliterating our country's standing in the world in less than two years —with no end to this destruction in sight.

PAINTING

I simply have no passion. There is no fire burning within me to create the way it used to. I now consider the amount of work required to produce a painting and immediately think, "Ain't nobody got time for that." I shouldn't be thinking of it as work, at all, for chrissake! It should be an expression of joy! (My last painting—Ben's portrait—was actually done nearly ten years ago, so it can't be based wholly on the illegitimate presidency of the Orange Russian Wig Stand, but this lack of desire to pick up a paint brush has certainly been exacerbated by it.) I've had other dry spells that have gone longer than ten years without producing a single painting, so I'm not worried that the Muses have abandoned me completely, but more and more I look at Ben's portrait and catch myself wondering if that actually is my last painting.

PHOTOGRAPHY

I also can't tell you the last time I went out with my camera—or even just my phone—for the express purpose of simply taking photos.

No, wait. That's a lie. It was about ayear ago when we drove down to Picacho Peak to photograph the poppies. Prior to that it was December 2016 when I went out out to see the architecturally interesting White Tank Library.

In those rare instances when the photo bug has bitten me, more often than not I go to grab my camera and discover the battery pack is dead and needs to be charged. By the time it's charged the urge has passed. (Granted, for 90% of the types of photography I do, my phone will suffice—and more and more it actually surpasses the results I get from my DSLR—so I can't really use the dead battery defense as much as I'd like to, but you get the drift.)

I used to make photo books for those same friends as holiday gifts; this last year I hadn't taken enough photos I considered worthy enough to even bother putting one together. I miss doing photography, but not yet enough to get me out and about and wanting to take photos simply for the sake of taking photos.

Don't get me wrong. I still take hundreds of photos every year—but none are done with any planning or purpose. And damn few are what I would personally consider high art (worthy of actually printing out and framing).

My friends respond to my current lack-of-creativity with, "Well you need to do something to get your mind off this horror show." Yes, I know. But right now I simply have absolutely no desire to make anything, and therein lies the rub.

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"It's going to end, end ugly, and end not in Trump's favor. At all."

From Boy Culture:

An advisor to the United Arab Emirates — who has ties to Trump — is now cooperating with Mueller in his open-ended investigation into Trump and his cronies aka Russia.

The New York Times reports that George Nadar was a conduit for money from the Emirates to Trump's campaign and to benefit his Administration's efforts, which is blatantly illegal. 

This transaction would have occurred at the fabled Seychelles meeting that has puzzled those examining Trump's clearly corrupt behavior from the beginning. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who is a close advisor to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (who rules the U.A.E.) was at the Seychelles meeting, which took place in January 2017.

Also at the meeting, a Russian investor with Putin ties; founder of Blackwater Erik Prince (a Trump advisor); and Kirill Dmitriev, a Putin lackey:

The significance of the meeting in the Seychelles has been a puzzle to American officials ever since intelligence agencies first picked up on it in the final days of the Obama administration, and the purpose of the discussion is in dispute. During congressional testimony in November, Mr. Prince denied representing the Trump transition team during the meeting and dismissed his encounter with Mr. Dmitriev as nothing more than a friendly conversation over a drink.

A lawyer for Mr. Nader did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Mr. Dmitriev has repeatedly declined to comment about the Seychelles meeting, as has Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador in Washington.

Anyone cynical enough to think Trump gets away with anything is going to have to face it sooner or later — Mueller is going to have Trump and all around him (especially Jared Kushner) dead to rights, and the things of which he will accuse Trump will not be able to be swept under the rug, not even by the craven GOP.

It's going to end, end ugly, and end not in Trump's favor. At all.

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Mood

Now it's Ben's turn to have his 2017 MacBook Pro sent off for top-case replacement. He was having slightly different problems, but since EVERYTHING on these machines is apparently soldered/glued in place, individual parts can't be swapped out.

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A Question For My Fellow Dog Owners/Companions

Well, it's now two a.m. and despite the fact I was exhausted when I crawled into bed, after tossing and turning since midnight with absolutely no sleep in sight, I decided it was time to get up for a bit. I popped two of those little purple gel caps marketed as "night time sleep aids"—in reality absolutely nothing more than repackaged Benadryl—and hope they will make me sleepy enough to quiet my overactive thoughts. Yeah, I know I'll be useless tomorrow, but at this point it's worth it.

In the meantime, I haven't done a poll on this here blog thingie for a while, so why not?

If your furry little friends sleep with you, where do they sleep? I was raised that the goggies ALWAYS sleep ON the covers and NEVER under.

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Oh, Sah-NAP!

Yesterday the Dotard-in-Chief spewed this bit of gibberish on Twitter, originally referring to Alec as "Alex." I guess one of his minions got word of the very public LOL that resulted and corrected it:

Of course, Mr. Baldwin was having none of the Dotard's bullshit, and fired back:

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Want To Feel Old?

What was the first CD you ever purchased? Mine was Ammonia Avenue. (At least I think it was. At this point I'm trusting my memory of these sort of things less and less.)

From Behind the Grooves:

On this day in music history: March 2, 1983 – The Compact Disc makes its debut in the US. Research and development of the technology begins in 1974 when engineers from Philips Electronics of The Netherlands begin developing an optical audio disc designed to have superior audio quality and durability to the vinyl record. Two years later in 1976, Sony Electronics of Japan create their own prototype digital audio disc, with a 16 bit sampling rate of 44,056 hz per second. Philips and Sony Electronics begin working together in 1979 to design a new digital audio disc in a joint venture. The discs are five inches in diameter, are made of polycarbonite plastic and aluminum, and are etched with a binary code that when read by a laser turns the information back into an analog signal. The discs maintain the 16 bit sampling rate increased to 44,100 hz with a maximum running time of seventy four minutes. The first titles released by Polygram and CBS are a combination of classical and pop music titles. The format revolutionizes the music industry, surpassing sales of vinyl records and cassettes by 1985. Reaching its peak in sales during the mid 90's, CD experiences the beginning of a decade long decline with the introduction of the MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) digital format, which allows greater compression of digital audio files. This technology gives rise to illegal file shares services like Napster, Limewire and various others, allowing people to share and trade unauthorized downloads of digitized music for free. This opens a literal "pandora's box", leading the devaluation of music, and the eventual downfall of the Compact Disc format, taking with it numerous music retailers, and the virtual shrinking of the music industry itself. Though still a viable audio format, currently the CD represents only about 24% of US music market in terms of physical media sales.

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Friday

That feeling you get when you realize you've made it through another work week and the Orange Shitgibbon in the White House hasn't started WWIII.