194 on gods vs. dogs
Venus and Mars are giving us a pretty good sense of our place in the solar system right now.
Venus is in the eastern sky in the morning, near the sun. It is the next planet closer to our star than us.
Mars is opposite, in the western sky, the next planet farther away from the sun.
It is quite a marvel that our ancestors got over the idea that these celestial bodies were gods, and started to wrap their heads around what our solar system might actually look like.
We grew up knowing about the sun and planets, but looking at the evening sky, it still requires a fair amount of mental gymnastics to understand why Venus is there by the sun, and why Mars is over there opposite, and why they both appear to be moving backwards right now.
A few years ago I read Copernicus' letter to the pope, where he attempted to suggest that the Earth isn't flat, it's a ball, and that the sun doesn't go around us, we go around it. It is an amazingly polite letter.
He starts out with several pages of compliments to his high holiness, or his holy highness, I forget. Then he gets into explaining gravity, and how that maybe affects water flowing from mountains to the sea, and gets deeper into the weeds from there.
Like Darwin three hundred years later, Copernicus waited until near the end of his life to drop this truth bomb. But he wasn't burned at the stake for his blasphemy. He was, by and large, ignored. In most human minds, the Earth lay lodged firmly at the center of the universe, placed there by a god who created us in his image.
It wasn't until sixty years later, when Galileo dredged up the idea again that it became widely known. And he spent the rest of his life on house arrest for daring to go against scripture.
He is now considered "the father of modern science." (The mother of modern science wasn't allowed into school.)
Of course, there's still a chance the flat earthers will continue to run the show.
Speaking of science, and facts, let's take a look at one idea: the success of the stock market under dear leader.
Here it is. Lurching up over 40% in just three years, then one big dip, now right back at 'em. Looks pretty spectacular, right? He claims it is the best ever.
And it does look strong compared to some presidents.
JFK could barely get out of the muck.
And Jimmy Carter couldn't at all.
Richard Nixon, again, stuck in the negative. (Now, I would argue that the stock market is more a reflection of how well rich people are doing than the overall economy, but whatever. I would also argue that Nixon, JFK and Carter were all beset by the same problem: peak oil in the US.)
Dear leader's one term has certainly delivered more results for his rich friends than Hoover did.
But how does he compare, to, say, Roosevelt, the last and only president to serve more than two terms?
Oh. Ain't gonna be printing that chart out and waving it around on TV.
And how about, say, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush?
Boy, Clinton rocked it, but Bush2 was pretty miserable, huh? Like, nothing. How about Bush1?
Pretty close to Grump. Not exactly a stellar performance.
And I've saved the best for last, of course. The most incompetent president of all, the one who made things so bad that only dear leader could fix them?
(Thanks to the Special Educator for that link.)
File under: Facebook is listening
What do you get when you combine my current obsession with VR with my wife's recent truck purchase?
An ad for a VR viewable RC Hilux, of course.
(Also, I find it interesting the move toward calling older Toyota trucks "Hilux." That's the global brand name, but it's never been used in the US. It's almost like we want to be part of the big picture or something.)
Tinseltown is getting going again.
With all of this reopening happening as the normal flu/cold season approaches (remember the rant about humidity and viruses lingering in the air?), something is telling me we're about to see either a lot of "walking it back" or else "news from the ICU."
But in the meantime, maybe we'll see a show or two first.
Go quick, before the noise complaints start coming in. Or other problems arise.
Or just stick with Zoom.
That's what Berkeley Rep did for their first rehearsal in six months.
They seemed to have fun.
Even though the material, a play based on a story by Sinclair Lewis, was resonating at a high level. The title?
"It can't happen here."
Finally, some dog gamn good news.
How long does it take to develop a "canine coronavirus test?"
Like, a month. Think about that. One month of training, 99% accuracy. Our best and brightest scientists aren't close to that after nine months.
Eventually they think the dogs will be able to sniff out the virus just from a walk by.
Go dogs!
Well, cats are alright, too.
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