Obsidian Wings archive

by russell Marty's post in another thread made me ask myself what it is, exactly, that we celebrate on the 4th of July.  that put me in mind of this often quoted poem by Langston Hughes. It's long-ish, but this excerpt perhaps captures the spirit of it: O, let America be America again—The land that … Read more

by russell it's been a weird week here in Lake Wobegon… last weekend, one of our local white supremos drove a stolen struck into a building, then walked around and shot the first two random black people he encountered.  cops suspect he might have intended to drive the truck into a Jewish temple in the … Read more

by russell if you have not already met him one way or another, allow me to introduce you to Gurdeep Pandher. who is Gurdeep?  he is a Punjabi Sikh who currently lives in the Yukon.  not sure how he got there, but life is interesting and full of surprises. what does Gurdeep do?  he dances … Read more

by liberal japonicus The previous post was an invitation to talk about history and society. However, I found this article quite interesting and thought it might spark some interesting thoughts https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00333-9/fulltext Medicine could arguably be described as man’s greatest achievement beating out other fields of endeavor because it must have been a lot harder to … Read more

by liberal japonicus We are just starting back to face to face classes and still under social distancing so my teaching is still rather constrained, which, strangely enough, means that I’m much busier. So I think I would have been much more plugged into reading about and trying to transmit information to students about this … Read more

by russell Time for a fresh thread. A bad day, I think we can all agree, is when a whale tries to eat you while you're diving for lobster.  A good day is when the whale figures out that 'human in a dive suit' was not what he ordered, and spits you back out. A … Read more

by russell our friends the tardigrades are in the news again. the little water bears have survived extreme heat and cold (-328 F to 304 F), extended periods (years) with no water or food, extreme pressure (6x the water pressure at the bottom of the Marianas Trench), radiation at levels 1,000x a lethal dose for … Read more

by russell From the League of Women Voters notes on a recent City Council Meeting in Salem, MA: The motion to pass an ordinance to change the language in existing and future ordinances to remove gender bias was distracted by a long debate over the suitability of changing "manhole" to "maintenance hole." Though this linguistic … Read more

by liberal japonicus [The jury is going into deliberations, so am opening this now] Not sure about this, but via LGM, this link gives a detailed day by day description of the Chauvin trial https://www.startribune.com/what-happened-today-in-the-derek-chauvin-trial/600031856/ Some other reporting suggests that a lot of people are following the trial, which is being televised live. Perhaps people … Read more

by wj Last night, the Ingenuity helicopter made history by taking off and flying on Mars. Several more flights are planned before it’s done. I think this is really great. However. It is being referred to as a “Wright brothers moment.” But I don’t think it actually is. What made the Wright brothers’ flight significant … Read more

by liberal japonicus Some questions about trans rights and existence came up. I approach this topic hesitantly. I sometimes deal with younger people who come to Japan and I have met a few who are gender-fluid. When my daughter had to return because of Covid, she did her classes for the last term on zoom … Read more

by liberal japonicus When I first arrived at my posting in France to be a teaching assistant at a lycée, I was put in a residence facility with several other assistants and after a week or so, one of the British assistants said after a long day ‘my god, I am knackered’. This Grauniad article … Read more

by wj Way back when I was still in grammar school, a book came out called The Ugly American. It was about what was wrong with the American diplomatic corps –- specifically, but not exclusively, in Southeast Asia. Essentially, we had ambassadors who were typically out-of-office politicians or big donors. They were ignorant of the … Read more

by liberal japonicus I played golf, but was never very good, but for a time, followed it. And I love reading about sports, especially as it intersects with society, so was pretty familiar with the story of Lee Elder. So this story was quite interesting to me. We have some golfers as well as some … Read more

by liberal japonicus I share a page from MIT peofessor’s website that I ended up at because 1) all of the academics in the crowd might enjoy it and 2)Hartmut can probably find something to add. After Reisig’s death, Ritschl was without a doctor father. But Meier took the high road and took him under … Read more

by liberal japonicus Well, the pushback against the restrictive voting laws in Georgia and Texas is happening. A couple of links, please add your own. Georgia https://www.npr.org/2021/04/01/983450176/based-on-a-lie-georgia-voting-law-faces-wave-of-corporate-backlash https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-voting-law-coca-cola-ups-home-depot-voter-rights-ups-delta-for-the-people-act/ https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-state-legislature/election-laws-how-georgia-stacks-up/KYO7CBZFVFAC5HFUT4XHZURKWI/ Texas https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/texas-voting-rights https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/03/georgia-texas-gop-election-laws-us-companies-face-pressure-to-oppose.html I enjoyed Josh Marshall’s take on it (normally behind a paywall, but the share is supposed to allow you to view it. In … Read more

by liberal japonicus Perhaps time to take a break from fevered dreams of libertarian heavens, one commenter suggested I put this article forward. https://www.americanpurpose.com/articles/the-tolling-bell/ While I agree with the notion of the exhausted center, I have to admit, the article doesn’t really grab me so much, though at this point, ‘centrism’ seems to be outmoded. … Read more

New pasta shapes https://kottke.org/21/03/the-invention-of-a-new-pasta-shape Otherwise, a food open thread. (via a friend on facebook)

by liberal japonicus I wanted to make a post about copyright, patent and IP, though there has already been some discussion. First, a copyright story. When I first came to Japan, I was based at a high school with a really good band. They are called brass bands here, but they are just like your … Read more

by liberal japonicus I’m grateful to Janie for the open thread, and I encourage you to keep posting there, but it seems that talk about revising the filibuster is increasing so a thread to discuss that. Here is the Vox article (I am appreciating their explainers more and more) and a TPM article that points … Read more

By JanieM Okay, some topics. 1. Guns I wrote this comment at BJ today in a thread about last night’s killings in Atlanta: I was poking around on YouTube yesterday looking for something or other and stumbled across some clips from a Western that was on TV when I was a kid. I had forgotten … Read more

by liberal japonicus From that Marxist rag, the Atlantic. The researchers also found that the guaranteed income did not dissuade participants from working—adding to a large body of evidence showing that cash benefits do not dramatically shrink the labor force and in some cases help people work by giving them the stability they need to … Read more

by wj I came across this article in the Washington Post today: We’re having trouble recognizing each other in masks, and it’s getting awkward I confess my immediate reaction was: Welcome to my world! There are some people, me being one, who are really terrible at recognizing faces. It doesn’t necessarily rise to the level … Read more

by liberal japonicus Commentariat regular nous wrote New Mexican apple pie (with hatch chilis, piñon streusel, and cheese in the crust) is the pinnacle of apple pie as far as I’m concerned. Found some recipes, here’s one https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/an-official-new-mexico-state-pie/ Favorite dishes or ones you want to try, with or without recipes. My daughter is coming home … Read more

by liberal japonicus Thought I’d crack open a quasi open-thread with two links This one, from TPM, has some great info about the current energy systems crisis in Texas. And this one from lifehacker, entitled How to Take Time Off Without Screwing Over Your Coworkers, leads with a picture of Ted Cruz. Have at it!

by liberal japonicus This is a side story and it seems to have only been picked up by the San Francisco outlets, but to me, it says a lot. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threatened Vice President Kamala Harris with a potential impeachment trial in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” The interview, conducted one day … Read more

by liberal japonicus Picking up an earlier thread, this article may be of interest https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Decoupling-denied-Japan-Inc.-lays-its-bets-on-China Not sure if you read it on your phone, you bypass the paywall or I was within the maximum of free visits, but here are some grafs TOKYO — In 1978, when Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited a factory belonging … Read more

by liberal japonicus The first of two, count ’em, two open threads. I have been following it thru the lens of the Guardian, whose interface I like https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/10/capitol-attack-videos-trump-impeachment Feel free to add your links and commentary.

by liberal japonicus A bit of a less serious post here. Perhaps all of you are familiar with this picture of samurai warriors visiting the Sphinx, but if not, enjoy! What prompted this was looking up the Bowery in Wikipedia and the note there that Lorenzo Da Ponte, the librettist for 3 of Mozart’s most … Read more