Year: 2015 (Page 1 of 5)

Christmas Day, the temperature outside reached 67˚F. Boxing Day, we received more than four inches of snow.

December 27th in southern New Mexico, about 3 a.m., taken with ambient light only (no flash).

Cold snaps like this remind me of how hard climate change is to explain to those who chose not to understand. Such instances set off the “A winter storm in December proves that Global Warming is a hoax” crackpots on their periodic rants featuring hackneyed and long-discredited right wing talking points. But instantaneous weather is not climate. While January may have cold days, the predictive models have been proven by empirical data. A slightly warmer day in the dead of winter may make no discernible difference to you as a a person. The same single degree difference will, however, have a measurable effect on the rate of, say, glacial melting. Scientific analysis of empirical evidence is ineffective, however, next to the selectively remembered individual event of a particular year in the minds of certain people.

In the words of Upton Sinclair:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” – Upton Sinclair, I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked, (1935)

But really, this was just an excuse to show a strange flashless picture taken in the middle of the night.

I am currently reading The Better Angels of our Nature, by Stephen Pinker. It is not my typical sort of book, though I did read Pinker’s The Stuff of Thought over a decade ago. The main reason I picked this one up is that I do statistics in my work. Of particular interest to me is just how far off a typical person’s intuition is on mortality. I’ve read varied sources on it, perhaps since inspired to do so by hearing the appalling rates of violence in Medieval Europe as told in William Manchester’s A World Lit Only by Fire.

Pinker tells the story of an obscure (outside of his field, I imagine) philosopher Norbert Elias. In one passage, I notices a familiar sentiment:

Elias himself was haunted by the not-so-civilized behavior of his native Germany during World War II, and he labored to explain that decivilizing process within the framework of his theory. He discussed the fitful history of German unification and the resulting lack of trust in a legitimate central authority. He documented the persistence of a militaristic culture of honor among its elites. The breakdown of a state monopoly on violence with the rise of communist and fascist militias, and a resulting contraction of empathy for groups perceived to be outsiders, particularly the Jews.

In a way, the social media have proven a tremendous boon for authoritarians from movements such as Men’s Rights, White Supremacy, and Christian Identity. Right-wing populist poiticians are taking full advantage.

My son recently read “Anthem” in school. I have read one Ayn Rand work, “Philosophy, Who Needs It?” Having done so, I can’t help but wonder how a functioning adult who has endured her cartoonish fantasies could possibly recommend such tripe to anyone in good conscience.

I am reminded of one of my all-time favorite quotes from a blog post (Kung Fu Monkey aka John Rogers):

“– There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”

More on the fire-breather herself, courtesy of John Oliver on Last Week Tonight:

I often wonder this myself.

Continually threatening certain rights helps certain people remember their place.

Bill Nye and Abortion (originally seen on Pharyngula)

A woman should know that she may have as much access to reproductive health care as the primary male in her life will allow.

Reproductive rights strongly resemble the Roberts Court’s handling of the Voting Rights Act. Alabama issues laws to require identification during voting, while simultaneously shutting down the sorts of places one could go to get identification. In predominantly black districts. The Roberts Court declared racism over. I didn’t read the majority opinion, but I’m sure the argument contained wording substantially similar to the following in meaning, “… I mean, come on, one of those people is even President.”

Trump:

One who can’t be bothered to memorize canned answers for the most softball of questions posed by the “professional toady” class of “journalists” can’t be expected to successfully fulfill any function for which success has not been preordained through a monetary exchange.

Bush, III, (The Revenge?):

Surprisingly, though, “Jeb!” has managed to trip over his own tie midstride while walking down the well marked path to his eventual nomination. It’s rare to see a golden boy that looks so much like he’s about to stumble right off the primrose path and into the thorns.