October rambling: tax billionaires

everythingistb.com

State Street in ALB between Lark and Willett, 20 Oct 2024

Of course, we can tax billionaires. They disguise their demands (“don’t tax billionaires”) as observations (“it is technically impossible to tax billionaires”).

Find Out Who Funds Political Action Committees

Six Lies Elon Musk Believed (in a 24-hour period)

‘Serious Risk’ of Vital Ocean Current Collapse by 2100, Warn Scientists

One in three tree species at risk of extinction: report

Mifepristone, round 2

Order Your 4 Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests: Every U.S. household is eligible to order 4 free at-home tests.

Traffic Stops: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Will Arthur’s ballot be counted?

Democracy Succumbs in Silence

The Trouble With Tradwives. TikTok’s old-school housewives paint a rosy picture of their lives. Ex-tradwives and Influencer moms tell a vastly different story.

The US Copyright Office Frees the McFlurry

City On Fire: The night during the Civil War that violent anti-government conspirators sowed chaos in the heart of Manhattan.

The game
Wordle 1,214 was the third-hardest ever and the hardest for two years, and people are angry—here’s why. (I got a 6.)
Why Not Shake Up the Olympics?

Field of Dreams: Sometimes Myth and Reality Coincide

Obituary: pitcher Luis Tiant (1940-2024)

Trailblazing pitcher Fernando Valenzuela passes away at 63

Teri Garr died at 79. I saw her in Tootsie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Oh God! and many TV appearances. Oh, and Young Frankenstein (1974) – Put the candle back!

Singer Jack Jones, RIP

Ron Ely, RIP

Tim Urban: Why I Brought My Toddler to Watch SpaceX’s Flying Skyscraper. I can’t shield my daughter from negativity. But I can continually redirect her attention to the rocket—showing her all the ways our species is incredible.

John Green’s new book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, is coming out March 18, 2025

What Really Happens When We Unfriend Someone On Facebook?

The language we speak can change our perception of time.

Mark Evanier’s links to several full-length movies such as Naked Gun, American Graffiti, and Hannah and Her Sisters

Bob and Ray in “The Hobby Hut”

Kelly’s a little stealing on Sunday

Now I Know: The Identity Theft That Went Backward and Is It Illegal To Not Wish Someone Farewell? and Where Everybody Knows Your 6E 61 6D 65 and The Fish That Glow… As a Warning?

Security Updates for the Internet Archive

Starting earlier this month, the Internet Archive faced a DDoS attack. After temporarily taking the site offline to enhance security, they have resumed services to Archive.orgOpen LibraryWayback Machine and Archive-It. For ongoing updates, please follow their blog and official social media channels on X/TwitterBluesky, and Mastodon.

FAST COMPANY: The Internet Archive is even more essential than I realized

WASHINGTON POST: The world’s largest internet archive is under siege — and fighting back

WORDPRESS FOUNDATION: WordPress Foundation Donates $100,000 to Internet Archive

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW: The organization that safeguards the internet’s history is under attack

SF GATE: The random Bay Area warehouse that houses one of humanity’s greatest archives

MUSIC

Mitzi Gaynor sings I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair from South Pacific; she died at the age of 93

Vale Alan Mansfield of the band Dragon died

Dancing In The Street – Dick Carpenter Trio

Suite from Camelot, original music by Frederick Loewe, and arranged by Robert Russell Bennett

I’m Yours and  Puttin’ On The Ritz – Herb Alpert

The Kairn of Koridwen by Charles Tomlinson Griffes

Airport Codes (Big Band Version) – Aubrey Logan

The Pink Panther theme song and the James Bond theme song go well together

The welcome arrival of rain by Dame Judith Weir.

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: The (English) Beat and The Replacements

Coverville 1506: Cover Stories for Natalie Maines and David Lee Roth and 1507: The Katy Perry Cover Story III

Triumphal March from Aida by Giuseppe Verdi

Convection Oven – Peter Sprague

Wichita Lineman – Colin Hay

Inch Worm – Road Work Ahead

The theme from Exodus · Ernest Gold

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean performed at the World Figure Skating Competition with a routine set to the Entr’acte of the original Broadway production of Mack and Mabel.

Spies – Randy Newman

Sesame Street Cast Crashes The Late Late Show with James Corden

I Just Called To Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder

K-Chuck Radio: Another 10 classic pop songs you barely remember (actually, one I recall quite well)

Neurodiversity advocate John Elder Robison

life with autism

Before the New York State Writers Institute brought him to UAlbany’s Page Hall on October 7, I was unfamiliar with  John Elder Robison, “a world-recognized authority on life with autism [and] a New York Times bestselling author of thoughtful and humorous books about his experiences living on the autism spectrum.”

Robison received his autism diagnosis at the age of 40. His child, a second-grader, had also been similarly diagnosed.

So here’s the dichotomy. John Elder Robison is a “photographer, educator, neurodiversity advocate, automobile aficionado, and designer of special effects guitars for the rock band KISS.” He is “a world-recognized authority on life with autism, a New York Times bestselling author of thoughtful and humorous books about his experiences living on the autism spectrum.”

But before that, he was considered a “social deviant” because of “his tendency to blurt non-sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes.” His workplace encounters early on were challenging. Even now, he’ll chastise someone with a YouTube how-to video if thewe

His designs require advanced calculus, yet he failed basic high school algebra. He acknowledged that he still has no idea of the difference between adjectives and adverbs, and he did poorly in classroom English. Yet, because he loved reading, he would absorb the pages vociferously enough to model his writing based on his reading, writing lucidly and powerfully.

Books

Robison has written four well-regarded books – Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s (2007), a memoir about growing up with Asperger’s syndrome; Be Different (2011), Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s (2013), and Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening (2016).

Here’s a pull quote from Look Me in the Eye:  “Child psychologists who said ‘John prefers to play by himself’ were dead wrong. I played by myself because I was a failure at playing with others. I was alone as a result of my own limitations, and being alone was one of the bitterest disappointments of my young life.”

Fast forward. “Amid the blaze of publicity that followed [Look Me in the Eye], he received a unique invitation: Would John like to take part in a study led by one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists, who would use an experimental new brain therapy known as TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, in an effort to understand and then address the issues at the heart of autism? Switched On is the extraordinary story of what happened next.”

Here’s a review of Switched On by an old friend, who he referred to, along with himself, as part of the OG (old guard):  “A mind-blowing book that will force you to ask deep questions about what is important in life. Would normalizing the brains of those who think differently reduce their motivation for great achievement?”—Temple Grandin, author of The Autistic Brain.

Check out the interviewNeurodiversity in the Real World. The obvious takeaway is that we all learn differently and that we need to make space for people to take in information in varied ways, but that is probably difficult in the standard classroom setting.

Another advocate

Other members of the neurodivergent community attended the event and spoke briefly. Angelo Santabarbara is a New York State legislator who went into public service largely because he has a neurodivergent child. (Santabarbara was a victim of his current opponent’s recent sloppy election interference ploy.) 

Robison, the neurodiversity scholar in residence at the College of William & Mary, commended Santabarbara directly from the stage—the Assemblyperson was sitting in the front row. Indeed, he champions all who advocate. The speaker noted that he serves on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which produces the U.S. government’s strategic plan for autism spectrum disorder research.

I was happy to see my old buddy Michael Huber, who used to wrangle the Times Union bloggers. He’s the Writers Institute’s communications specialist and was instrumental in pulling off the event.

Some Like It Hot; Seared

a hot-headed chef

On Thursday, September 19, my wife and I went to Proctors Theatre to see the national touring company production of Some Like It Hot. A couple of seasons ago, it was a smash on Broadway.
It was very useful that we saw the 1959 movie at a cinema in 2023, which starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe.
 
The interesting thing about the musical is that they took the bones of the fairly absurd storyline from the film and made a not-quite-as-absurd tale. It’s about two musicians in 1933 Chicago. Saxophonist Joe (Matt Loehr) and his best friend and bass player Jerry (Tavis Kordell) need a gig. But they are forced to “flee the Windy City after witnessing a mob hit.”
Meanwhile, in another speakeasy, performer Sweet Sue (Tarra Conner Jones) is arrested in a raid. After exiting jail, she forms an all-girl band and heads to California. Sugar (Leandra Ellis-Gaston) is the fine vocalist in the girl band. With gangsters hot on their heels, Joe becomes Josephine, Jerry becomes Geraldine – no, Daphne! – and they join the band on its cross-country train “for the life-chasing, life-changing trip of a lifetime.”
The show was great and occasionally exhausting. I expect that the chase scene near the movie’s end was edited together. The musical has a similar scene, but it’s astonishing in real-time.
All the performers are tremendous, including Edward Juvier as Osgood Fielding III, the multimillionaire who falls in love with Jerry/Daphne. His character is much more fleshed out than his cinematic predecessor.
The dog knows
From the Nippertown review:
“The Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin book with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman is a thrill for all the senses. Scott Pask’s scene design and Natasha Katz’s lighting package create a beautiful world for the cast to inhabit. Gregg Barnes has put together a magnificent array of costumes…  Broadway director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw does a wonderful job filling both roles… [He] works every ounce he can from the 25-member cast.”
Since it was a Thursday matinee, we watched a talkback session. Devon Goffman, who played the mobster Spats, and two dancers responded to questions.
The tour dates for Some Like It Hot run through at least August 2025. You should see it if it comes to your town.
The restaurant life
My wife saw the play Seared at Capital Rep in Albany on Saturday, October 5, the penultimate day of the run. The Rep’s page notes:
“Brilliant, hot-headed chef Harry Caesar Samayoa] scores a mention in a food magazine with his signature dish, and his business partner Mike [Kyle Cameron] finally sees profits within reach. The only problem? Harry refuses to recreate his masterpiece for the masses. Mix in a shrewd restaurant consultant [Rin Allen as Emily] and a waiter with dreams of his own, and it all goes to hell in this hilarious and insightful new play that asks us to consider where art ends and commerce begins.”

That’s pretty accurate. What you DON’T tend to get is this:

  • ALLERGY NOTICE:  Seafood is cooked on stage during “Seared.” NO SHELLFISH. The following foods are also used in “Seared”—

    asparagus, bacon, broccoli and broccolini, butter, cabbage, fennel, garlic, gnocchi, lemon, lettuce, mushrooms, oil, onions, pasta, pesto, salmon, some spices (cumin, paprika, mustard seeds, cinnamon, salt), spinach and white fish.

There was actual cooking onstage, and it smelled delicious! Seriously.

As for the play itself, Theresa Rebeck’s mostly comedy was off-Broadway five years ago. I liked the play more than the Berkshire Eagle and WAMC reviewers did. I’ve seen Harry’s ego in artists and other creatives. But it may have been overly long and a tad too shrill.

Still, the Times Union’s dining critic, Susie Powell Davidson, said the food side was correct. : “‘Seared’ taps into sizzles and scent, visuals in precise knife cuts and blaring music to convey escalating tension. This in contrast to the calm collegiality of coffee and doughnuts shared during prep and the cost-of-living issues discussed, from the high price of a Brooklyn doughnut ($3.50 for one) to the post-pandemic topic of equitably split tips.” 

The linchpin of the production is the character of Rodney, the waiter (Jovan Davis, who was great in Sweat in March 2024).

A ‘Jezebel spirit’?

djt – “an impetuous child”

I saw this AP story, “What’s a ‘Jezebel spirit’? Some Christians use the term to paint Kamala Harris with a demonic brush.” And you wonder why many people steer clear of “some Christians.”

“Christian nationalist leaders are telling followers that Vice President Kamala Harris is under the influence of a ‘Jezebel spirit,’ using a term with deeply racist and misogynistic roots that is setting off alarm bells for religious and political scholars.

“The concept is inspired by the biblical story of the evil Queen Jezebel, who persecuted prophets and was punished with a horrible death. The word ‘Jezebel’ was used during slavery and throughout U.S. history to describe Black women, casting them as overtly sexual and untrustworthy.”

Never underestimate the power of misogynoir.

“In the context of ‘Jezebel spirit,’ the term has sinister connotations, suggesting the person is under the influence of demons in a spiritual battle between good and evil. People who have studied the Jan. 6 insurrection warn that similar rhetoric on spiritual warfare drove many to the U.S. Capitol that day.”

If you want to hear more about The Dangerous Reality of White Christian Nationalism, watch Kat Abu here.

djt keeps prompting Christians to go out and vote. I’m planning to do so THIS week (not for him), in the unlikely event that by doing so, I will stop feeling anxious about the contest.

Arnold Palmer and Mickey D’s

Of course, the election is a dead heat, despite rational reasons not to vote for the guy, not just over policy. The Weekly Sift guy has the right attitude, which I wish I could replicate. “I can’t help but learn from headlines that the race is still close. How much more do I need to know? I know who I’m voting for, and I’ve already written my check to the Harris campaign. I could spend all day fretting about whether the likelihood of Harris winning is 55% or 45%, but what’s the point?”

He also notes about djt, “Father Time is undefeated, and he gets us all eventually. What we’re seeing here is exactly how dementia works: It takes our little quirks and exaggerates them until they become serious dysfunctions.” He needs to release his medical records. 

From A Word A Day: “Whenever [djt] trains his blunderbuss…it’s difficult to decipher whether he’s deadly serious, merely trying to generate instant outrage, or just heading off on a senescent ramble.” – Irish Times (Dublin); Aug 9, 2024.

(The number of people who’ve told me that JD Vance and the cabinet are going to 25th amendment djt is astonishing. Even they believe that Orange is not up to the task.) 

Turn the entire machinery of the government to his whims.

But Ezra Klein takes a different view in the New York Times; djt is not diminished, just more himself. “It is Trump’s absence of inhibition that makes him a great entertainer. [Entertainer? Meh.] It is Trump’s absence of inhibition that makes him feel, to so many, like not a politician — the fact that he was already the U.S. president notwithstanding. It is why the people who want to be like him — the mini-Trumps… — can’t pull it off. What makes Trump Trump isn’t his views on immigration, though they are part of it. It’s the manic charisma born of his disinhibition.

“It is his great strength. It is also his terrible flaw…

“Trump’s disinhibition is yoked to a malignancy at his core. I do believe he’s a narcissist… Trump does not see beyond himself, what he thinks, what he wants, and how he’s feeling. He does not listen to other people. He does not take correction or direction. Wisdom is the ability to learn from experience, to learn from others. Donald Trump doesn’t really learn. He once told a biographer, ‘When I look at myself in the first grade, and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different.”

Hit the brakes
Endorsements, or lack of the same
ITEM: Washington Post Says It Won’t Endorse Anyone for President. Will Lewis, the company’s chief executive, said the paper was “returning to our roots” of not endorsing presidential candidates. The Post has endorsed presidential candidates since 1976, when it gave its stamp of approval to Jimmy Carter, although it did endorse Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

Robert Kagan, “editor-at-large of the Washington Post and a persistent neoconservative critic of [djt]… Members of the Post’s editorial board were surprised Friday when they learned about the decision not to endorse from top opinion editor David Shipley, Semafor reported. The board drafted an endorsement of Harris earlier this month, which was sent to the newspaper’s owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who reportedly pressured publisher and CEO Will Lewis to not give an endorsement.”

The Borowitz Report, a satire column, noted: “Urging Prime customers not to miss out, on Friday Amazon founder Jeff Bezos offered to sell the Washington Post’s integrity as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime Black Friday Deal.’ Calling the Post’s integrity ‘a signature feature that made this former newspaper great,’ the product page for the item listed it at $4.99 with free shipping… Customers shopping for Bezos’s spine, soul, and human decency got an ‘Uh oh, something went wrong’ error message, indicating that the products did not exist.”

Also
ITEM : The Los Angeles Times opted not to endorse anyone for President. Per Columbia Journalism Review: “Mariel Garza, the editorials editor…, resigned on Wednesday after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse… Harris for president. ‘I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent. In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.'” Two of its writers subsequently quit. “On October 11, Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the newspaper for $500 million in 2018, informed the paper’s editorial board that the Times would not be making an endorsement for president. The message was conveyed to Garza by Terry Tang, the paper’s editor.”
ITEM: The New York Times supported “The Only Patriotic Choice for President.” 
ITEM:  “Scientific American, the 179-year-old bedrock of American scientific publication, has endorsed Harris for President, only the second such endorsement in its long history.” Cory Doctorow notes, “Some institutions are getting over their discomfort with norm-breaking and standing up for democracy.”
FINALLY…
Expat Cole Haddon wrote on Medium: “All I can think about is the polls that continue to show Kamala Harris, a typically flawed Democratic candidate, polling neck-and-neck with a convicted felon, rapist, and accused insurrectionist currently running on throwing out the U.S. Constitution, punishing political enemies and whomever else he feels like, and mass-arresting and deporting millions of those he deems to be foreigners — and half of voters think this sounds like a great idea for their country’s future. In other words, nearly half of U.S. voters would prefer fascism over sharing what they perceive to be ‘their country.'”

Sunday Stealing: blueberry muffins

Bonnie, Neil, Diana, and Mac

  1. Here’s another installment of Sunday Stealing, which is reason enough to have a picture of blueberry muffins. The first question is, What’s your guilty pleasure?  

I’ll list foods I should not eat but crave for this exercise. These tend to involve pastry with fruit, such as banana bread, blueberry muffins, and apple pastry. 

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Dinner, because it tends to be the most varied. Breakfast is almost always oatmeal. Lunch is whatever leftovers might be kicking around. Dinner tends to be the most interesting.

What do you do when you want to chill out after a long day?

It tends to be watching television, specifically the Evening News, which we record and fast-forward through the commercials. So, I’ve managed to miss the bulk of the political ads running. Then, my wife and I play the New York Times Connections together.

How would you spend your ideal weekend?

On Saturday, we usually attend some event: a concert, play, musical, movie, or social gathering. Sunday involves going to church and then talking to my sisters on Zoom.

MUSIC, of course 

Do you listen to podcasts, or mostly just music? What’s your favorite podcast?

I listen to a lot of music, usually seven CDs per day. Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Dr. John, and Neil Young are currently heavily in the rotation. But not many podcasts because I can’t multitask. I have to listen intently. It’s the same reason I can’t listen to audiobooks and do something else, as some people, notably my wife, can. I am utterly incapable. I have to concentrate on the item. So, besides Arthur’s occasional AmeriNZ item, the only podcast I listen to regularly is Coverville, which is mostly music.

Brian Ibbott usually picks covers of artists whose birthdays are divisible by five. So in November, he might select Chris Difford (Squeeze), 70, on the 4th; Bryan Adams, 65, on the 5th; Corey Glover (Living Colour), 60, on the 6th; Rickkie Lee Jones, 70, on the 7th; Bonnie Raitt, 75 on the 7th, etc.
Do you prefer to go to the movies or watch movies at home?

Cinema, always. I saw many movies at home during COVID-19, but it wasn’t the same. I remember going to the Spectrum Theatre when the vaccine was available, but social distancing and masks were the norm, and it was such a treat to see the films on the big screen.

TeeVee

What was your favorite TV show growing up?

The Dick Van Dyke Show. Mark Evanier has linked to his ten favorite episodes. (His #2 may be my #1)

What’s your favorite TV show now?

CBS Sunday Morning, a magazine on the air since 1979.

How would you spend your birthday if money was no object? 

I’d rather throw a surprise party for Kelly with a few dozen of his closest friends and family in Washington, DC.

What’s your favorite season? What do you love most about it?

Spring. It could have snow or 86°F/30°C, but ultimately, it will have new life.

Do you prefer camping or going to the beach? 

I don’t like either. If I had to choose, I’d say go to the beach, but I’d need a huge umbrella to protect me from the sun.

Which phone app do you think you use the most?

I probably use Noom because it can track all my food consumption. After that, I’ll probably use Venmo to send money to my daughter and the CDTA navigator so I can get around on the bus in Albany.

Steppin’ Out

Would you instead cook, order delivery, or go out to eat? 

I would eat out almost every meal, every day. There’s something about other people preparing your food for you and then cleaning up afterward. It’d be different restaurants with a variety of levels of fanciness.

How do you drink your coffee?

I don’t drink coffee. I know it’s unAmerican.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you choose? 

I don’t want another pet. We had two cats this year; one of them died. It’s much easier to go away when you don’t have a creature depending on you. I liked having them and love our remaining cat, but I reckon we won’t have another one.

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