Hyperreality Writ Large

I first encountered hyperreality 5 years ago, as described here. If you ever doubt the validity of the concept, go to Las Vegas -- hyperreality writ large. More real than real.

I hadn't been to Vegas since maybe 1994. Even back then, it was, who can be more gaudy and garish. The sky's the limit -- cancel that, there is no limit.

This time, I stayed at the Luxor. So, I'm inside a pyramid, on the 22nd floor. You look down, there is a Mayan pyramid, and then a bunch of Italianate buildings, with a 1/4 scale Chrysler building just behind. Beneath, of course, a 100 x 40 ft American flag.

But I look out my window, and there, behind the castle (Excalibur), next to the 1/2 scale Empire State Building, is a 1/2 scale Chrysler Building. So which Chrysler Building is the real one?

Oh wait -- neither. "I don't need to go to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, I saw it already in Vegas."

So the 1st night there, we eat at the House of Blues in the Mandalay Bay casino. The band (drums, bass, strat, and harp) plays as their first song "Dock of the Bay" as a shuffle -- not a blues song. Followed by "Little Red Rooster" as a straight 12 bar blues, rather than going to the 4 at the start of the verse. And the last song they played, as we were leaving, was "Here We Go Round In Circles", a good song, but also not blues.

They had on the menu as an appetizer "Gator Pizza". Great, I love gator. But the waitress seemed astonished that I expected the Gator Pizza to have gator meat -- where the fuck was I from that I actually expected that a Gator Pizza might have gator meat on it? It had andouille sausage and jalapenos and lots of cheese and was very good. But, still, no gator. When you're more real than real, I guess you just get to make it up as you go along.

"A shrine to all the worst of American consumerism" my friend Ron characterized it as. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Seriously, what kind of slogan is that? You are going to do stuff there so bad that you don't want anyone in your normal life to know about it???

When I used to go to Vegas, it always felt like another planet. More real than real == unreal, completely. We've all seen "The Godfather", we all know where this came from. Family friendly or not, Las Vegas totally gives me the creeps.

The Libertarian Menace

Libertarians have now achieved the greatest success in their history. They have their first ever US senator, and congressmen to join the pater familias, Ron Paul. So now Libertarians want to open a dialogue, and tell us all about their Libertarian philosophy and principles.

I have one word in reply, which I learned from our senior senator, Mitch McAsshole: no.

I do not want to discuss a national sales tax or fair tax.

I do not want to discuss getting rid of the minimum wage.

I do not want to discuss getting rid of social security.

I do not want to discuss getting rid of Medicaid, Medicare, or health care reform.

I do not want to discuss getting rid of the EPA and OSHA.

I do not want to discuss getting rid of the Departments of Energy, Education, or whatever.

The whole "less government" movement is driven by the ultra-rich (in this case the Koch Brothers) and (fossil fuel) corporations for one purpose -- to get rid of those pesky government agencies so we can go back to the good old days of the robber barons like Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan (giants striding the earth!) when you could plunder the environment, workers, and the public pretty much as you wanted. The whole deficit issue is just a stalking horse, they don't really give a damn about deficits.

So what was the secret of this recent success? When David Koch ran for the senate as a Libertarian, he got 1% of the vote. What is different now?

They were given an incredible gift last year by the Supreme Court, in deciding that corporations "free speech rights as individuals" allows them to donate as much as they want to political campaigns. Nameless foundations funneled 100s of millions to candidates in the 2010 elections, with republicans winning 4 to 1. That Supreme Court decision is still incomprehensible to me.

But, they were given an even greater gift in 2008: the US, in a move that the rest of the world applauded as showing that perhaps America was true to its purported values, elected as president a black man, the son of a first generation African immigrant, with an Arab middle name.

Immediately the finest propaganda and disinformation organ in the history of the world (Goebbels would be green with envy), Faux "News", sprang into action. Glenn Dick sez, "Obama is a racist who hates whites" -- with the implication that it's only self-defense for whites to be racist and hate him back. Dick and his ilk say over and over "Obama is probably not a muslim". And the birther movement generates enough requests for Obama's birth certificate that the state of Hawaii has to set up an automated system just to fulfill them all.

The subtext of all these messages being sent to every WASP waiting to receive them was very simple:

"Obama is going to take everything you've worked so hard for and give it away to blacks, immigrants, muslims and arabs!"

And how is Obama going to do that? Why taxes of course! And aren't we ... Taxed Enough Already!

It of course helped not at all that stimulus packages, which may have helped to avoid a great depression, have created a huge deficit. But, I fixed that! The NY Times budget calculator made it easy. And no one making under $250,000 per year will pay any more taxes!

And notice, the teabaggers did not form their own party. Republicans to the bone, and real republicans at that: the best century was not the 18th, it was the 12th, before that Magna Carta thing started us on the road to democracy and away from the divine right of kings.

When the republicans are in power, the main message of Faux "News" is fear. Be afraid to where you give up civil liberties and allow warrantless wiretaps, because those will happen to "them", not "us". With the democrats in power, that message changes to anger. Get angry that Obama is going to give it all away to blacks, immigrants, muslims, and arabs who don't deserve it.

It has been a masterful strategy. That it is cynical, dangerous, and disastrous to the long term interests of the US of course matters to them not one whit, if it will further their path to power.

So what do they want? Even though the disparity in wealth between the ultra-rich and the rest of us is the greatest since the 1920s, it is looking like the bleeding heart "we have to care about everybody" democrats will cave to the hard hearted "we've got ours so we don't give a shit" republicans on extending all the Bush tax cuts. I think the dems should come back with, "OK, if you don't want to drop the cuts for those making over $250,000, how about $500,000? How about $1M? How about $10M?" Maybe then people would see who's calling the shots for the republicans.

But I don't think that the taxes are the issue. I think that the immediate goal here was stated as one of the campaign planks of the Koch's current top lapdog, our newly elected Libertarian senator Random Paul:

Fight the EPA and make full use of our natural resources.

Koch Industries is one of the top 10 air polluters in the US. I'm sure the EPA cramps their style, and, come on, the Koch brothers are captains of industry, the rest of us should get out of their way and quit whining about air quality and global warming.

They have spent 100s of millions funding global warming denial. "Bad science" or "suspect science" -- did you ever particularly hear of these before fossil fuel billionaires felt threatened? Spend a few 100 million on misinformation and you could call to question whether the earth circles the sun.

Random Paul also proposed local rather than federal mine inspection and safety standards. He's got his "Friend of Coal" license plate, I'm sure. Did you know that pregnant women in Kentucky are advised not to eat fish caught in our beautiful lakes because of the high mercury content which comes from our many coal-burning electric plants? And that the rest of us are only supposed to eat fish once a week?

In his book "Collapse" (blogged here), Jared Diamond talks about mining as being one of the most environmentally damaging industries. It used to be standard practice for mining companies to create mountains or lakes of toxic byproducts, declare bankrupcy, close down the company, and move on, leaving a toxic mess for the government to clean up. And a little better process up front can avoid the whole thing, but, there goes that big government interfering in business again.

I believe in progress. I believe that all men are created equal. I believe that the struggle continues, that the words of Lincoln are as true now as they were 150 years ago:

It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, “You toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.” No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

–Abraham Lincoln, Seventh and Last Joint Debate with Steven Douglas, held at Alton, Illinois, Oct. 15, 1858.

I cannot believe how quickly people forget, and how quick they are to sell out. Just because you make a million, or two, or 10, does not mean you have to become a republican. I can't get over republican women. Don't they realize that if these conservative types had their way that they wouldn't be voting? Or black republicans. Or non-Cuban hispanic republicans.

I am happy to work in technology. Just as the printing press led to the Enlightenment, when people began to question things like the divine right of kings and the right of small aristocracies to own and control everything, the Internet may lead to a similar but greater revolution, led by the Makers. But, even if we can all make everything we need locally everywhere in the world, the old fat cats will still control the sources of the raw materials. So we can't just opt out and ignore them.

So, Libertarians make big gains. Anarcho-capitalists trying to get us back to the good old days when the robber barons of industry were free to rape and pillage (although I'm sure they are way impressed by the recent financial manipulations of Wall Street that led to the housing collapse). A menace? Completely. A far worse threat to the future of America and the world than any terrorist threat I can think of.

Source materials:
Even farther right than you thought.
Presenting the Koch Brothers!

A New Heuristic

I think I have formulated a new heuristic for selecting reading material: avoid add-ons to an existing popular corpus. I just finished "The Children of Hurin", by J.R.R. Tolkien (and his son Christopher). Not as disjointed as "The Silmarillion", but very stilted in its narrative style. Not quite sure what the moral was. The bad guy (Sauron's old boss) curses the family of the main characters, curse seems to work pretty well ?!?!?

I also read two of the follow-up Dune trilogies. Really schlocky. Not that I don't mind schlock -- I still read graphic novels (aka comic books) -- but there's schlock, and then there's schlock. One thing that made most of Frank Herbert's novels so good what that, under the covers, they were about evolution. Completely lost in the follow-ups -- of which there are now two more. Also, they were prequels, which seem to obsess in making sure to fill any questions that one might have had in the originals. So you wind up with checking things off a list rather then getting a decent narrative.

Kingbird in the City

Had a couple of titmice at our birdbath this morning (titmouse is German for "small bird"). I also saw what looked like a kingbird. I see those fairly often out on the country roads, but I've never seen one in the city.

Now that I think of it, tho, it might have been a junco. About time for them to be showing up. But, I think it was bigger than a junco. I'm holding out for kingbird.

Biked to High Bridge Park today. Headwinds heading out, so, mercifully, tailwinds coming back. Tried to check-in on FB from the park, but the signal from AT&T was too weak. Took a long-cut back: west on KY 1268 from downtown Wilmore, south on US 68 to KY 33, KY 33 back to Troy. 43.2 miles, 3h32m. I stood up 20 minutes from home to stretch and the bottoms of both my quads tried to cramp. Must have been more dehydrated than last time I biked. That may have been the last time biking for this year.

Weather was crazy. High of 68 today. A brutal hot summer transitioning into a long warm fall by way of 3 months of drought. The trees seem confused. Lots of stretches where all the leaves are down, others where leaves are still green.

An additional note:

Coming down a hill at about 25 mph on KY 1268, the wind almost blew me over. I really am getting too old for biking on these country roads. My plan is to bike until I get a serious injury. Hmmm, surely there's a better way to know when I should quit?

Zero History

"Zero History" is William Gibson's latest. He once again turns to the modern world of "Pattern Recognition" and "Spook Country", where he somehow is able to make anti-marketing fashion trends seem numinous and liminal. These are his best books since "Neuromancer" in 1984.

There were at least a couple of dozen places where Gibson's surreal metaphors and turn of phrase made me laugh out loud. I almost wanted to be kind of live-blogging as I read it and capturing them.

One of the main characters is a recovering drug addict (diazepams). He talks about how "when you first get an addiction, it is bright and shiny and makes everything more interesting. But then it gradually starts making all your decisions, and it has less brain than a goldfish." In terms of the number of neurons involved, that may not be too far off.

He also makes a statement that reading was his gateway drug. Hmmm. I wonder if there is a correlation between liking to get out of the normal world into a book and liking to get out of your normal mind into a drugged state. I saw a headline recently on a correlation between youthful genius and alcoholism in later years, but I didn't read the article.

When the Revolution Comes, They Won't Recognize It

Not quite sure what to make of the "Makers" movement. I have read this blog post several times, and it still does not all seem to be sinking in.

Just as the ease of copying music has wreaked havoc with IP there, the spread of cheap 3D printers and DNA sequencers will also wreak havoc. So many of the concepts of current Intellectual Property and patent law are so outrageous. Like corporations being granted patents for portions of the human genome. Or the ridiculous software patents out there, of which the big software companies file hundreds, which they then grant each other rights to use (or not), essentially freezing small players out or the market.

It will be interesting to see how big pharma, one of the most potent political forces in medicine, reacts when the 3rd world starts cranking out their drugs for pennies on the dollar. Particularly when the drugs are serious lifesavers.

Close But No Cigar

So the Faux News "Outrage of the Day" yesterday was that President Obama's five day trip to India, Indonesia, and Japan was going to cost taxpayers $1 billion dollars!!! And in tough economic times like these!!!

Faux based this figure on five days times $200 million a day, a number which came from an Indian newspaper.

The only problem is, that number is high by a factor of 20. The real number is more like $10 million a day, for a $50 million total.

Wow, off by a factor of 20. Not very close, no sir, not very close at all. How embarassing. I bet Faux News is going to go to great lengths to let its viewers know how badly it misinformed them.

Or not.

Compression Algorithms Redux

So quite a while ago, I did a post that computed the amount of storage to snapshot the state of a human brain at 10,000 terabytes -- now known as 10 petabytes. I posted that number to Charlie Stross's blog -- which has some really good discussions -- and someone commented, "But surely you'd compress the data."

Duh.

The state of a brain is obviously highly compressible. And, the deltas to that state, when you turn the snapshot into a movie, ditto. So my prediction is that, whoever first comes up with the most efficient and natural algorithm for compressing brain state will be the first to achieve hard AI.

Almost five years ago, in a book review I had posted "Theories Are Compression Algorithms". And, more and more, I think that compression algorithms might be What It's All About (as opposed to the hokey-pokey).

It is somewhat reminiscent of another old post "The Universe Is Information", talking about Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science", and its premise: that the base substance of the universe is information, and all physical processes are computations.

This had led me to kind of conclude that the smallest system that could simulate the universe was the universe itself -- seems somewhat self evident. But, with compression algorithms, that might no longer be the case. Via data compression, we can conceivably describe the state of the universe in an amount of matter considerably smaller than the entire universe.

But if we do that, then the versions of ourselves in the simulation could presumably use compression algorithms and model their state, and so on ad infinitum. Or could they? Would the laws of, what, information processing (???), be different in the simulated universe?

Back in the day, I had pictured our pulsating universe as a wavicle in a larger universe, and each wavicle in our universe as its own pulsating universe, going up and down for say 10^640 or so levels, but with the snake biting its tail so that there is no top or bottom (or more importantly, no privileged frame). Now we can picture that same model, but with compression algorithms on the information of the universe as the mechanism of how we move down to the next level. Hmmm.

I May Have Overdone It

Beautiful morning for biking, a little brisk at first. Got to Midway and decided that, since I'd eaten at Azur twice in the past week, I should keep going. So went on to Spring Hill Station, then back through downtown Versailles, 43.4 miles, 3h25m. Legs not great, butt definitely hurts.
Early on saw two huge red-tailed hawks, on Van Meter and on Redd. The 2nd one paced me for a while, it was doing 16 mph stoking real easy. Saw a third hawk up in a tree on Military Pike when almost home, couldn't tell what kind it was.

Took a pic of a stand of sycamores west of Paynes Depot about 1/2 mile north of Old Frankfort Pike.
I noticed riding that I'm thinking about politics, blogging, taking pix, music, and not spending near enough time in the Here and Now. Prolly need to do some yoga or otherwise adjust my neuro-receptor mix to get the self-plex to quiet down some.
Internationally renowned guitarist, the inimitable Ben Lacy was playing at Azur last night. He's added "Today's Tom Sawyer" by Rush to his repertoire. He finished the set with Steely Dan "Aja", probably one of the most complex songs in the modern pop corpus. In the 5 or so years we've been listening to Lacy, he has continuously improved. That's what comes of lots of practice.
Speaking of which, I have had the misfortune to see 8 or so videos of myself performing. Ouch. Off-key singing (way beyond blue notes), never a clean solo. My rhythm guitar playing is probably what I'm going best, far less suckish than the other two. I am thinking I will refrain from playing in public until I can practice more regularly.
Time to call some voters. I really don't like doing this, but, soldiering on ...

Random Paul's Top 10 Randomisms

I named him "Random Paul" because I was guessing no one would be able to predict what came out of his mouth. He surely did not disappoint. We don't just have a top 10, we have a baker's dozen!

I have also given each randomism a rating from 0 to 3 points in the following categories, which reflect various aspects of the simple yet complex package that is Random Paul:

• sense of entitlement (E);
• self-serving (S);
• naivete/cluelessness, often from those Libertarian principles of his (N);
• not from around here (Kentucky, not the planet Earth) (F for furriner);
• delusional (D).

So, let's get started!

#13. "I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."

??? Obama administration officials are critical of British Petroleum creating the largest oil leak in history, off the coast of Louisiana, and its un-American ???

E+1, N+1, D+1

#12. Aqua Buddha

Yes, the attack ad was smarmy, but: you do stupid stuff in college, you run for national office, you will get called on it. You then say "I was young and stupid and I'm sorry I did it" or "It was just youthful hijinks" or "I didn't inhale". But not Random, no sir. He calls everyone liars and affects great outrage. He probably had just finished the Faux News "Outrage 101" course and wanted to practice.

E+2, D+1

#11. "Medicare deductibles need to be raised to $2000."

Sure, he was just speaking hypothetically.

N+1

#10. "I don't think anyone's going to be missing a hill or two here or there."

Unless you grew up there. Or hunted there. Or watched the sun set there.

Mountain top removal mining is visible from space.

E+1, N+1, F+2

#9. "Repeal the 16th Amendment and replace the graduated income tax with a sales tax."

Sales taxes (31% in this case) are well known to be regressive -- the less money you make, the greater a percentage of your income you pay.

S+1, E+1, N+1

#8. Drug abuse in Eastern Kentucky: "I don't think it's a real pressing issue"

And we don't need any Federal funding to try to do something about being the oxycodone capital of the US.

N+2, F+3, D+1

#7. "Keep Kentuckians' tax dollars home."

Instead of sending them to those wastrels in Washington. The only problem is, Kentucky is a poor state and receives back from Washington $1.50 for every $1.00 it sends in.

Oops. I would have thought a doctor would be a little better at math.

N+3, F+2, D+1

#6. "Physicians deserve to make a comfortable living."

The rest of us, not so much???

This was in opposition to lowering Medicare reimbursement rates. Government programs bad, bad, bad -- unless they're putting money in Random's pocket.

E+2, S+3, N+1

#5. "It's famous for, like, The Dukes of Hazzard."

Random was trying to figure out why Harlan County was famous. All he could come up with was that it was near Hazard, famous for "the dukes of". Never heard of Bloody Harlan.

"There exists a virtual reign of terror (in Harlan County), financed in general by a group of coal mine operators in collusion with certain public officials: the victims of this reign of terror are the coal miners and their families." -- Governor Ruby Laffoon, 1935.

N+2, F+3

#4. "Maybe sometimes accidents happen."

And miners die. Or oil workers die. But hopefully, the CEO of BP has "gotten his life back" now that he's been fired.

E+2, N+1, F+2

#3. "You’d try to make good rules to protect your people here."

In saying why the federal government should not be involved in mine safety and inspection. The mine owners own the local government as well as the mines, in addition to having considerable clout at the state level. But, I'm sure that the mine owners are all kindler and gentler now.

Random continues "If you don’t, I’m thinking that no one will apply for those jobs.” Yah, there are lots of other jobs for them to apply for in most coal towns.

E+2, S+1, N+2, F+3, D+1

#2. "It's a crowd control problem."

Random's supporters/Brownshirts throw a defenseless woman to the curb and one of them stomps on her head. Random's campaign disassociates itself from the stomper -- their Bourbon county chairman -- but doesn't return his $1900 contribution.

It's not "a crowd control problem" when teabaggers nationwide engage in thuggish behavior. Faux News and Rush Blowhard and their ilk scream "get mad, get outraged, get angry" 24x7. And they're surprised when things like this happen? I think not.

The stomper wants the stompee to apologize to him. I guess it's the Republican way -- the guy Darth Cheney shot wound up apologizing to him.

E+2, S+1, N+1, D+1

#1. "I R A Certifying Board"

Random Paul doesn't think it's fair that The American Board of Ophthalmology is grandfathering in older diplomates (who were given undated certificates) such that they don't have to recertify (but he does). So he creates his own certifying board (7 diplomates so far), with himself as president, his wife as vice-president, and his father-in-law as secretary. He creates his own certification board, and hangs a certificate on his office wall saying he's "board certified" -- to me, that is fraud, pure and simple.

Libertarians I have discussed this with say:

1. "Patients should be responsible for researching the certificate he hangs on his wall."
2. "I admire that, he figured out a way to beat the system and took it."

The more I find out about Libertarianism, or Anarcho-Capitalism as my niece Julie most astutely labeled it, the more it seems to me to be a form of sociopathy. I wonder if there's a genetic component? Maybe they have fewer mirror neurons, which cause us to feel what others feel, and are the source of our natural empathy?

E+2, S+3, D+2

Of course, as his handlers reined him in and muzzled him, he's repudiated probably half of these statements.

Let's see how those ratings turned out (drum roll; results being tabulated by spreadsheet). And the winner is:

• naivete/cluelessness (N) 16
• sense of entitlement (E) 15
• furriner (F) 15
• self-serving (S) 9
• delusional (D) 8

If Random does get elected, I would expect we won't have to be embarrassed too long. A year tops, he will get his book deal, pull a Palin and quit, and go to work full time for Faux News. Random's adherence to that most sacred of Libertarian principles, selfishness, demands nothing less.

One last piece of random Random coverage: the toupee!

I thought that it was just a bad perm until my sister pointed out that googling "Rand Paul toupee" gets 15,000 matches. (Googling "rand paul stomp" now gets 23,200,000 matches. Millions spent for World Equestrian Games, and now we go from being Horse Capital of the World to Head Stomping Capital of the World.) Wow, it has its own Facebook page! Here he has a chance to bond with his fellow male-pattern-baldness sufferers, like me, and he instead decides to live in a pretend world of "I still have hair". Tsk, tsk, tsk -- we should have added "narcissism" to our list of personality traits above. A number 2, 1, or 0 all over is the answer, not a rug.

The top three comments from a lengthy blog discussion:

• I kept waiting for Rand Paul’s hairpiece to rise up and say “I can haz cheeseburger?”
• Now that I think about it, though, it’s wonderful that someone has finally found a practical use for a Tribble.
• Somebody stole the tail off that poor man’s Davy Crockett hat.

New Yellow Lines

What a beautiful day to be on a bike. Temperature perfect, but headwinds all the way home. I decided to try the Legacy Trail again. 15.7 miles from my house to the Horse Park. The trail is nice and flat, but on the whole trip, I had to stop for lights and come out of a clip 3 times. I think I prefer the county roads. Came back Ironworks to Yarnallton -- headwinds 5-10 mph as soon as I turned onto Yarnallton to head south.

The new yellow lines were an accident. Instead of going right on Greendale off of Spurr, I went right on Sandersville. Residential, but it connects Georgetown to Leestown, right? Wrong. I had to take Masterson Station to Leestown and come in to Alexandria rather than out.

Fell over on Parkers Mill. Tried to go around on the right a minivan stopped for the light at Lane Allen. Front wheel went into the grass, which sloped down pretty steeply. Over to the left I went, on the road in front of the minivan. The woman driving it (about my age) got out and was concerned. "I'm OK, totally my fault, sorry." Small scrape on the left elbow, slightly sprained left wrist (worse than the last time I did this). Worse injury was of course to my pride. Hopefully I can play Wednesday. I played my political song last Wednesday at Lynagh's. Off-key singing worse than the 2 bars where I forgot the chords, I wanted to try again. Last sprained wrist I had I did not play the following Wednesday.

New music wise, the new Clapton, "Clapton", is really good. All over the place, some nasty swamp boogie grooves, and two (2!) Fats Waller songs, oh yeah!. Also got two more Sufjan Stevens: "Michigan", very nice, 3 stars, and his brand new one, "The Age of Adz", way weird techno and electronica backgrounds, also 3 stars. "Illinoise" remains his best.

Working on "Random Paul's 10 Best Randomisms" for next weekend. Want to make sure and not miss any. His handlers are muzzling him better lately.

Keeneland Kids

So I was at Keeneland today, with one of my wife's groups of coworkers. Beautiful Sunday afternoon, high in the upper 70's, bright sunshine, mild cooling breezes.

I would estimate that 15-20% of the patrons were children, of all ages.

Growing up, my dad loved to bet on the horses, and would go to Churchill Downs, occasionally accompanied by my mom. Going to the track involved Gambling, which was well known to be A Dangerous Adult Activity. There was never, ever any question of the kids accompanying them to the track.

So what do I make of today? I don't think that it's a function of, I am older than dirt. I would guess that this is an attitude unique to Lexington, KY, The Horse Capitol of the World. Keeneland has a special place in the heart of Lexington. It only runs 6 weeks a year. And a disproportionate number of local residents make some or all of their livelihood from the horse industry. Hence, hell yeah, bring the kids out to the track ?!?!?

Comments? Is there any other city in the US where parents would vaguely consider taking their kids to the racetrack to be a fine, respectable Sunday afternoon activity?

Alexander Jablokov

Phew, finally finished reading the Ruby/Rails book, now for something fun.

Alexander Jablokov was a sci-fi author who wrote some very good novels in the early '90s. "Carve The Sky" was an art murder mystery. "A Deeper Sea" gave us talking dolphins that everybody wished would just shut up. But then he kind of disappeared.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I was browsing in Joseph-Beth Booksellers during my brother Mark's signing of his novel "Shine", to see a new Jablokov novel. I started reading "Brain Thief" yesterday. I'm halfway through, so far a lot of fun. Breakneck pace, new characters practically every chapter, nice cheap detective feel.

According to Jablokov's website, sounds like he did a day job and kids for 12 years. Great that he's back writing, Joe Bob sez, check it out.

Sci-fi Recommendations Off the Top of My Head

The Uplift Trilogy, David Brin.

Anything by Dan Simmons. "Hyperion" and "Fall of Hyperion" are literary, I am rereading soon, for the 4th-5th time.

Gregory Benford "Great Sky River" has several sequels.

Charles Stross is the best new author of the last 5 years.

William Gibson -- "Neuromancer" in 1984 created cyberpunk. Some of the sequels to that were weak, his last 3 novels are totally back in his prime.

Bruce Sterling. Lucius Shepard. Greg Egan. Alexander Jablokov.

Jack McDevitt -- astro-archeology. John Barnes.

Every year, I buy "The Year's Best Science Ficton", edited by Gardner Dozois, currently in its 27th year. That's where you spot the up-and-comers.

The Rest of the Story

So I posted this to Facebook after playing last night. In the interest of being kinder, gentler, reconciliatory, etc, I pulled it and removed the last two sentences. Here's the original rant.

Random Paul
wants to repeal the 16th Amendment and replace the graduated income tax with a sales tax -- the less money you make, the greater a percentage of your income you pay! Wow, fabulously forward-thinking idea!

I bet the rich people are really mad that they would have to pay so much less than the somewhat less than fair share they pay now!

Teabagger, Republican, Conservative, Libertarian -- I think it's a sliding scale of how far back they want to set the Wayback Machine. It's an increasing scale of sociopathy. Greater good? F### that, me, me, me!

WHAT’S NEW by Robert L. Park

You can still only get his Friday newsletter by email, so I can't link to it. Here's the first item from yesterday, very well said:

1. IN VITRO FERTILIZATION: R.G. EDWARDS WINS MEDICINE NOBEL PRIZE.

The most essential qualification for a Nobel Prize is often longevity. Now 85 and in failing health; Prof. Edwards was a graduate student at the University of Edinburg in Scotland when he conceived the idea of in vitro fertilization. His colleague, surgeon Patrick Steptoe, died in 1988. The Catholic Church, which opposes IVF, invented the superstition that, at the moment the haploid male and female gametes intertwine in the womb to form a diploid zygote, the Holy Ghost assigns it a soul, thus making it a person. The head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which speaks for the Vatican on medical ethics, criticized the choice of Edwards as, "Completely out of order... Without Edwards there wouldn’t be freezers full of embryos waiting to be used for research, or to die abandoned and forgotten by everyone." Poor things. But he’s not talking about a person or even an embryo; this is a single, undifferentiated cell, human only to the extent that it contains human DNA. So do my nail clippings – but I do not mourn for them. The world needs neither the archaic superstitions of religion, nor more unwanted children. Every IVF child is a wanted child.

Music In

Erica has chided me for communicating with her privately about recent "Music In" rather than blogging about it here. So, I will correct my error.

In particular, after Erica had recommended it for years, I finally purchased "Illinoise", by Sufjan Stevens when it was on sale at amazon for $5. 22 tracks, catchy tunes, great variety in orchestration, instrumentation, and time signatures -- I like one song that alternates between 5 and 6 beats per measure, reminiscent of the Radiohead that alternates between 7 and 8. Really nice album, 4 stars.

I followed that up with "The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album". 21 more tracks, still $5. And the 3 remixes of "Chicago" are different enough that I don't mind them, as I normally do remixes.

The only thing not to like about these is that per Wikipedia, Sufjan (which means "comes with a sword" in ancient Persian) was raised by cultist parents; occasionally has somewhat religious overtones; and actually published a "christian" album. Hopefully he will outgrow this.

Note, this was seriously emo stuff (don't hear that too much anymore), as is our next group.

Greatly enjoyed "The Rhumb Line" by Ra Ra Riot, out of Syracuse. Reviews say reminincent of Vampire Weekend, but they're contemporary or before, so I don't think they should be labeled as just a copy. I really like the cello and violin that are permanent members. Track #5, "Winter '05", really struck me. I am almost embarrassed to post the video thereof, as it demonstrates me to be a hopeless romantic. Sad, sad, sad. 4 stars for this album. I think only three for their next album, "The Orchard".

Also got the latest Of Montreal "False Priest". Not as good as the prior, but still some LOL lyrics from the gayest music that I have ever heard. Three stars.

All over the place -- rap, hip-hop, dance, R&B -- is "The ArchAndroid", by Janelle Monae, an Of Montreal collaborator. 18, tracks, quite an effort, and also on sale for $5 at amazon (ouch, also now back to $7.99, should have posted sooner, sorry). Three stars, probably a few will go to four.

The New Pornographers, "Together". A very nice album, after just a few listens some of the songs felt like old friends. Three stars.

Interpol, "Interpol". Didn't do much for me, three stars (just barely).

Finally, "Lonely Avenue", by Ben Folds, to lyrics by Nick Hornby. If you like Ben Folds, highly recommended, it is vintage stuff. Hornby is at least as much a smart-ass as Folds. I particularly liked "Levi Johnston's Blues" -- a great american saga. Four stars.

I've been trying to use iTunes Ping, without much luck. I can follow artists, but I like stuff (which you have to do at the track level rather than the album level) or post stuff and it seems to go in the bit bucket?!?!? I did a one line review of one album, that seemed to stick. I see where one of my Ping friends bought an album -- presumably on iTunes, which I never do. So far, so bad.

Very Nice. Completely on Point. Not a Single Distracting Digression.

My brother Mark just emailed me this. I really like it. The title says it all.

To the Editor:

Rand Paul recently quoted Ronald Reagan thusly: “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” Still, Republicans across the country are blasting Obama and the Democrats for not creating more jobs, as if they want it both ways.

Which is it? Should government stay out of the private sector and let business run unchecked and unfettered? Or, should government keep a firm hand on the tiller of American commerce to stimulate job growth and ensure we don’t suffer another catastrophic economic meltdown?

Wall Street and the financial sector fought for 30 years to have their industry deregulated. But once their deregulated house of cards collapsed, they all clamored for and received multibillion-dollar bailouts from the federal government. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

Sure, we’re all frustrated with the lackluster state of the economy just now, and Rand Paul and the Tea Party movement have done a great job of capitalizing on that frustration. Unfortunately, they offer little more than bluster and balderdash at a time when we need professionalism and sound policy making.

Rand Paul is not a professional politician. Aside from his nomination to run for senate, his main political accomplishment has been his creation of what is essentially his own private licensing board which certified him as an accredited ophthalmologist.

Rand Paul is certified by the National Board of Ophthalmology, which is an organization led by Rand Paul. Rand Paul’s board has recognized just seven doctors to do ophthalmology as opposed to the 16,000 certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

That sort of rakish individualism might appeal to some voters, but it clearly illustrates Rand Paul’s disinclination to play by the rules, any rules. Apparently, he wants to make up his own rules as he goes along, rules which are entirely self-serving, and rules that ignore traditional morays and values.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, on the other hand, strongly defends and advocates those rules and laws which ensure the public good. He is a seasoned team player, not a flash-in-the-pan maverick like Rand Paul.

Jack Conway is a conservative Democrat, whereas Rand Paul is not a conservative anything. Rand Paul is a radical, plain and simple, with radical and dangerous ideas such as increasing the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare, and placing a huge deductible on Medicare.

Now more than ever, we need proven and professional politicians in the U.S Senate. We need Jack Conway to serve as our next senator from Kentucky.

Very, very well said. I hope the Courier-Journal prints it.

Random Paul's act of founding his own medical certifying board (which I blogged here) totally sticks in my craw . He creates his own certification board, and hangs a certificate on his office wall saying he's "board certified" -- to me, that is fraud, pure and simple. Libertarians I have discussed this with say:

1. "Patients should be responsible for researching the certificate he hangs on his wall."
2. "I admire that, he figured out a way to beat the system and took it."

Self-serving to the point of sociopathy is my diagnosis. :-(

Things Bears Love

www.thingsbearslove.com

Laughed until I cried. Given to a coop by one of our senior developers as a reward for getting some cool new stuff working.

Surely Not

I'm going try and change the posting style, more to shorter, single topic posts. Hopefully more of them.

So, I can't get over the US Supreme Court's decision to allow unlimited corporate contributions to political campaigns, so as not to infringe their right to free speech. This is so contrary to any common sense approach to the Bill of Rights that it totally boggles the mind. And we are already seeing the effects in this midterm election. There are numerous attack ads on Democratic candidates by national groups that no one has ever heard of.

So the question is, did the Supreme Court somehow get bought off? I would have thought that that was impossible. They have lifetime tenure. You would think that achieving what I would guess is the ultimate goal of every legalist would make them very sensitive to their legacy.

I guess I should find the decision and read it -- but that's definitely not my cup of tea. Oh well, I guess I'll just hope "surely not".