Hurricane Priscilla sent a week of rain to the Southwest, which is generally great, but also brought a lot of flooding.
It also brought some lovely clouds! Here's a couple of shots I took on Monday as we came out of a movie (Tron: Ares, pretty but fairly dumb), just 10-15m after these were taken the clouds had darkened significantly and the rain started.
cf. that last blog entry: I do want to learn more about passkeys, thankfully Ricky helpfully provides a list of resources in their post.
Poynter.org – a globally-known organization promoting Democracy though Journalism, has a section on their site for the International Fact-Checking Network:
The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter was launched in 2015 to bring together the growing community of fact-checkers around the world. The network advocates for information integrity in the global fight against misinformation and supports fact-checkers through networking, capacity building and collaboration.
(Source: @nelepoldvere@fediscience.org)
Went to the theater last night with my girlfriend(😁 👋), like a real adult.
Except it was a shockingly hilarious parody puppet show version of The princess Bride (By S. Morgenstern) by the All Puppet Players, complete with alcohol, musical numbers, 4th wall breaking, flubs, ad-libs and improv.
And I will never hear the lines "I'm going to do him left handed... if I use my right it's over too quickly!" the same again (Vizzini the puppet: "We didn't change those lines -- at all!!)
(SORRY, LOST IMAGE)
When you've managed to make it too hot for cacti to survive, you've broken the desert #climatechange #cacti #heatwave
Cacti need to cool down at night or through rain and mist. If that does not happen they sustain internal damage. Plants now suffering from prolonged, excessive heat may take months or years to die, Hernandez said.
AZCentral: Phoenix has its own 'I can't breathe' case. The outcome was far different
"Three years ago, Phoenix had its own "I can't breathe" case. But its outcome has so far been very different than that of George Floyd's."
Let's see, black man doing basically nothing at the time:
"In 2017, Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin Jr. tried to take his dog with him to the bathroom at a city community center in west Phoenix. The police were called, discovered he had a warrant for his arrest, and decided to detain him."
Sounds the same to me. Maybe the police response was entirely different?
At least four officers got on top of him and held him down. Some put their knees on his neck and head.
Exactly like George Floyd. Perhaps Muyaymin was released without harm?
"I can't breathe," Muhaymin is heard saying several times in police body camera footage. When officers eventually got off him, Muhaymin had no pulse, according to comments from officers in the video, and lay in a pool of his own vomit.
With the same unnecessarily violent, incomprehensibly callous response from law enforcement, same tragic outcome for a non-violent black man.
The outcome was exactly the same. The "outcome" that matters is the life or death of this black man. The rest is just wrap up.
Once the headline had to say Phoenix had it's own 'I can't breathe' case, it was too late. I want to see the headlines saying "Our community has not had a case of police brutality in 5 years", "...10 years", "... 50 years".
#Heroes for today https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/may/06/banksy-artwork-superhero-nurse-nhs-coronavirus-covid-19-southampton-general-hospital #banksy #socialart
Trump seeks to further distance himself from increasingly unpopular and politically costly coronavirus lockdowns.
"Unpopular", "politically costly", but effective at flattening the curve. I think maybe people don't realize that in order to #flattenthecurve on #covid19 you have to maintain the suppression activities over the life of the curve. If you stop, the curve goes back up.
This are projections for Arizona from CovidActNow.org:
(SORRY, LOST IMAGE)
Right now the "expected hospitalizations" curve is nice and flat, but lift the restrictions on activities too soon, and the demand for beds exceeds supply in about 10 days. Calling for new restrictions after they've been lifted would be a hard sell to a population frustrated with the isolation and hurting from the economic effects we're already seeing. There's no easy answer, but I believe that solutions are going to involved more government aid to -- yes, small businesses -- but especially to disadvantaged populations who are getting hit the worst.
In order to fix my archives and daily digests, I might have to address timezone handling on my blog. Or I might just stop blogging #timezonehell #blogging #programming
Thread: https://twitter.com/timkmak/status/1251936242834563073 -- Same people resisting masking, different pandemic #COVID19 #masksforall #publichealth
I need suggestions for some wholesome content to put on my extra screen that is NOT minute-by-minute pandemic information #mh #mentalhealth
Shut Up, Moby #racism #the90s #butimvegan https://www.good.is/articles/shut-up-moby-how-the-but-i-m-a-vegan-problem-is-ruining-progressives dammit, Moby is the soundtrack of much of my 20s
Converting a small playground #python data pipeline from ruffus to #apachebeam and wrecking my assumptions
https://beam.apache.org/
R.E.M. recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of 1994's MONSTER, an album that french-fried expectations of both critics and fans of R.E.M., after the success of the rich, string and mandolin-y flow of '92's Automatic For The People.
Me? I loved AFTP so completely. I have multiple singles and special releases, including the one in an actual wooden box with vellum prints of the band (back when packaging was a thing). I was living in the states when MONSTER was released, and I recall rushing to play it for my small group of friends, who honestly looked at me like I was insane. Monster was SO different, so raw, simultaneously in your face and hiding behind a flash facade. Grinding electrics, stripped back thumping percussion, and Michael Stipe alternatively crooning or growling.
The first track, and first single, Whats the Frequency, Kenneth? -- I was hooked from the first guitar, and Buck's possibly-recorded-backwards-then-played-forwards solo left me agape. My CD copy of the single is scratched now beyond believe, but treasured.
Crush with Eyeliner's droning guitar wah, backed by Mike Mill's walking bass lines #chefskiss she's three miles of bad road
Make your money – King of Comedy introduced voice-crushing compression on Stipe's and Mills' vocals, perhaps for the first time? I was all "whuuuh whoa"
I don't sleep I dream, dreamy piano, atmospheric distortion, and a more tom-driven drum background that keeps the song less driven than almost rolling forward. Also featuring Stipe – Stipe's falsetto – on lead vocals.
Star 69 starts fast, stays fast, and still Mike Mills lays down interesting bass lines throughout. The title makes sense to us olds, ask your mother. squirrelies didn't chew the wire
"I don't know, why you're mean to me", starts Strange Currencies, a slow, rising tune that doesn't so much confront as much as wish. Stipe brings his plaintive, meaningful voice to this and I'm there for it. During a bridge, playing the strings above the bridge of his guitar, Buck adds a childish, toy-like section that is both sweet and creepy.
Tongue is a full falsetto crooner from Stipe, over a (likely Mills-provided) Hammond organ. Not my favorite track on the album, but I won't skip it either.
Bang and Blame is a pretty full rocker, still with Bill Berry's steady but tom-heavy drums keeping the song rolling more than driving. The guitars, with a long, echoey reverb, are more accent than impact.
Nice tag at the end, too.
I Took Your Name is another guitar-heavy rocker, with the wah and distortion cranked to 11. Another one that's not a fave, but I usually won't skip it. It definitely has its moments. There was some confusion, some confusion, as to who's to blame
Let Me In – another song I will often put on repeat, Let Me In is Stipe's, and the bands', tribute to Kurt Cobain. The guitar is heavy, droning, omnipresent. I believe in concert Mike Mills sometimes played Cobain's left-handed sky blue guitar for this track. Stipe's voice is almost reverent, plaintive, then powerful as he sings out his love for Cobain.
Circus Envy – another WTF tune that is really fun to listen to even while SMH at the crawling, self-loathing lyrics. Put pepper in my coffee I forgot to bark ON COMMAND
You – I woke up in a sleeping bag, with no where else to run I love you crazy just keep on I love you madly just keep on I love this album just keep on
