Vox explains the gerrymandering cases before the Supreme Court

While I last mentioned gerrymandering and redistricting in John Oliver and Vox examine gerrymandering, the issue has continued to make news.  The top story on the issue is that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on two lawsuits contesting the gerrymandered districts in North Carolina and Wisconsin.  These cases have different bases, as Vox explains in The difference between racial and partisan gerrymandering.

The Court won't use the same criteria for either case. Here's why.
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In America, voting districts are redrawn every ten years to account for shifts in demographics. Someone has to be in charge of drawing the new lines. And because voting is left to the states, in many jurisidictions this responsibility is left to partisan politicians. This creates an opening for politicians who might want to alter the outcome of an election through a process called gerrymandering.

But not all gerrymandering is the same. There are, in fact, two types: racial, and partisan. It is much more difficult to prove harm as a plaintiff in a partisan gerrymandering case than a racial one. And that distinction has to do with provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The North Carolina example was egregious enough that Vox used it as an example in one of its earlier videos on the subject, Gerrymandering: How politicians rig elections.

Most Americans think elections are rigged, and they're right. Vox editor-in-chief Ezra Klein explains how gerrymandering works, and how to fix it.

As I've written before, I support the idea of nonpartisan, independent redistricting commissions to reduce gerrymandering.  As for the Supreme Court cases, I'm much more optimistic about North Carolina's districts being remedied than Wisconsin's, although I'm hoping that the Supreme Court does find that partisan gerrymandering has gone too far.

That's it for this month.  Stay tuned for more about the Emmy nominees. I'm planning several posts on nominated political shows next month, which begins in a few hours.

More nature and science at the Primetime Emmy Awards

I thought I was done with Nature and science at the Primetime Emmy Awards by posting Vox on 'Planet Earth II'.  It turns out I was wrong.  There are five more nominations of shows on these topics, three of them for Outstanding Narrator.  One of these shows is also nominated at the News and Documentary Emmys, "Wild New Zealand."

Welcome to a place of fabled landscapes, a land which time forgot. Welcome to the lost world of New Zealand.

The quote at the beginning supports my prediction that so long as anyone survives who remembers the Peter Jackson "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" movies, New Zealand will be associated with Middle-Earth.  The show's original BBC title, "Earth's Mythical Islands: New Zealand," fits right in with this idea.

As I indicated above, this series, or, rather, Sam Neill, the actor who played the paleontologist Alan Grant in the "Jurassic Park" movies, is nominated for Outstanding Narrator at the Primetime Emmys.  In the News and Documentary Emmys, the show is nominated for Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary along with four other nature shows, "David Attenborough's Light on Earth," "Desert Warriors: Lions of the Namib," "Forces of Nature," and "Nature: Super Hummingbirds."  I watched the last one at my mom's house in Utah immediately after I watched the Nova episode " Treasures of the Earth: Power."  It deserves its nomination.  As for "Wild New Zealand," its nominations prove it was well-narrated and well-photographed.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the science and nature shows being featured today.

Vox on 'Planet Earth II'

I wasn't done with "Planet Earth II" in Nature and science at the Primetime Emmy Awards.  Vox has a wonderful series of articles and videos on the nature series.  Since Vox also has four News and Documentary Emmy nominations, although not for this series, it allows me to use one Emmy nominee covering another Emmy nominee as a transition from the Primetime Emmy Awards to the News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

I begin with the first video in the series, How the BBC makes Planet Earth look like a Hollywood movie.

The technology behind the cinematic style of the BBC's Planet Earth II.

The accompanying article expands on the themes.

Now, as the BBC releases its latest blue-chip series, Planet Earth II, cameras are smaller than ever, they can shoot at higher frame rates in lower light, and data storage is essentially unlimited.

But each time a technological development threatens to make their jobs easier, the NHU becomes more ambitious. It’s not enough to show a barn owl hunting a harvest mouse — now they want it from the mouse’s point of view. It’s not enough to get footage of snow leopards, one of the hardest animals on the planet to track down — now they want to spy on them from a foot’s distance with motion-detecting cameras.

The result is that Planet Earth II is the most cinematic wildlife film yet.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the series.

Driving update: two years of Pearl as Tesla begins deliveries of Model 3 today

I celebrated one year of Pearl exactly one year ago today.

Sunday was the first anniversary of buying Pearl the Prius.  Yesterday, Pearl turned over 28,000 miles.  Time for a double celebration!

This year, Monday was the second anniversary of buying Pearl the Prius, which turned over 35,000 miles yesterday, exactly one year to the day after it passed 28,000 miles.  That means that I am still driving my car exactly 7,000 miles per year, so I can repeat what I wrote in Driving update for June 2017: Pearl plus Tesla worth more than GM or Ford.

It turned out that Pearl reached multiples of 1,000 miles on February 17 during both 2016 (25.000 miles) and 2017 (32,000 miles) and on April 13 both years as well (26,000 and 33,000 miles, respectively).  In addition, the car passed milestones on June 3 last year (27,000) and June 2 (34,000) this year.  That means I have been driving 7,000 miles per year very consistently since February 2016.  That's an average of 19.18 miles per day and 583.33 miles per (actual not standard) month.  That's almost double the 4,000 miles per year I drove Yuki before I traded her in and then moved.  It's amazing what moving out of a walkable neighborhood does for one's driving!

It's also amazing how consistent my driving habits have become.

The other year-over-year comparison is miles per day since the previous update.  Last July, I made the following calculation and comparison.

Pearl's odometer last turned over on June 3, 2016, 54 days ago.  That translates to 18.52 miles per day or 564.8 miles per standard month.

This year, Pearl rolled over 34,000 miles on Friday, June 2, so it took 55 days to drive 1,000 miles, or 18.18 miles per day and 554.55 miles per standard month.  That's a little less than I drove her during June and July last year and much less than the 20.00 miles per day and 601.00 miles per standard month I drove Pearl between April and June.  At least those comparisons make it look like I'm driving less, even if I have consistently been driving 7,000 miles per year since February.

As for the next update, to roll over 36,000 miles on Pearl on September 21st, a year to the day after the car passed 29,000 miles, might be a challenge, as I'm working three more weeks during August than I worked last year.  I'd have to walk more and run my errands on the way home from work more to keep my driving down enough to make that happen.  Here's to hoping I succeed.

To conclude this report, I'm following up on the Tesla news I posted in June with this news from CNBC: Tesla Model 3 Deliveries Start July 28.

CNBC's Phil LeBeau reports that deliveries for Tesla's Model 3 will begin July 28th as the automaker kicks off production this week.

Yes, that's today.  CNBC repeated that deliveries begin today in Elon Musk Shows Off The First Tesla Model 3 From Assembly Line.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted two photos of the vehicle to Twitter late on Saturday night.

I'm tempted to post Professor Farnsworth, but I don't want to jinx things.  In the meantime, I plan on posting more about the Emmy Awards tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Nature and science at the Primetime Emmy Awards

It's time to follow through on my telling my readers at the end of 'Wild Yellowstone: The Frozen Frontier' to "Stay tuned for more about this year's nominees from both the Primetime and News and Documentary Emmy Awards."  In the previous installment on this year's Primetime Emmys, I talked about science fiction.  Today, I'm looking through the Emmy nomination list for science fact, where I found three shows.

The first was "Planet Earth II" with ten nominations.  Before I list them, I'm sharing its official extended trailer.

10 years ago Planet Earth changed our view of the world. Now we take you closer than ever before. This is life in all its wonder. This is Planet Earth II.

A decade ago, the landmark television series Planet Earth redefined natural history filmmaking, giving us the ultimate portrait of life on Earth. Planet Earth II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, will reveal our planet from a completely new perspective, using significant advances in both filming technology and our understanding of the natural world.

And if you are not excited enough already it features an original score by legendary composer Hans Zimmer.

The series was nominated for its music, but not for its theme song, which is the soundtrack for the trailer.  Instead, composers Jacob Shea and Jasha Klebe were nominated for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score) for the first episode, "Islands."  The other nine nominations include Documentary or Nonfiction Series, two nominations for Directing for a Nonfiction Program (Fredi Devas and Elizabeth White), two nominations for Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program (one each for the teams for "Islands" and "Cities," the final episode), two nominations for Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program (Dave Pearce and Matt Meech), Outstanding Sound Editing For Non Fiction Programming, and Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming.  I'm rooting for it in all categories, although it's competing with "O.J: Made in America" and "13th" in many of them.  The former won an Oscar; the latter was nominated for it.  That's a quality field.

Speaking of quality, two other shows about science and scientists were nominated for Emmys.  Follow over the jump for them.

'Wild Yellowstone: The Frozen Frontier' -- last year's Emmy winner for Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary and Long Form

When I concluded Superheroes and 'Riverdale' -- trailers from San Diego Comic Con with the program note that I am planning to post about the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, I realized that I forgot one of last year's winners and that I'm not comfortable writing about this year's nominees until I correct that oversight.  In addition to "Rise of Animals" and "The Last Orangutan Eden," "The Frozen Frontier," an episode of "Wild Yellowstone" on Nat Geo Wild won the News and Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary and Long Form.  Here are the clips Nat Geo Wild has of the episode on its YouTube channel, beginning with Top Five Ways To Survive (the winter in Yellowstone).

The Yellowstone winters are unforgiving and the animals that call the park home have a variety of strategies they employ in order to survive.

Yes, those scenes are beautifully shot.  Follow over the jump for three more clips from the episode.

Superheroes and 'Riverdale' -- trailers from San Diego Comic Con

Just after I posted the trailer for "Lucifer" in yesterday's Trailers for 'Stranger Things,' 'Westworld,' 'The Walking Dead,' 'Star Trek: Discovery," and more at San Diego Comic Con, I realized I was heading into someplace I wasn't ready to enter.

If I continue down this path, I'll enter true comic book territory.  Archie and the costumed crimefighters deserve their own post, so readers expecting "Arrow" based on the preview image will have to wait.

I then promised to "post more television traliers tomorrow and the movie trailers after that."  My plans have changed slightly.  If I'm going to post superheroes today, I may as well post the two movie trailers for Marvel and DC movies as well.  First, "Thor: Ragnarok" Official Trailer.


That looks like it will be as much dumb fun at the other "Thor" movies, which means I'll watch it when it gets to cable.  However, it's not the superhero movie I'm anticipating more.  That honor goes to Justice League - Comic-Con Sneak Peek [HD].

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Three things about this trailer.  First, it has plenty of in-universe references, including to Green Lantern (he doesn't exist on Earth in this continuity) and The Penguin.  Second, this movie, unlike "Man of Steel" and "Batman v. Superman," has a sense of humor in the right places; having The Flash around helps.  Third, I thought the villain was Darkseid; no, it's his general Steppenwolf.  All of which give me hope that it will be better than either of its predecessors.  Even so, I still think "Wonder Woman" will be the superhero movie of the year.

Enough of the movies.   Follow over the jump for the superhero TV show trailers.

Trailers for 'Stranger Things,' 'Westworld,' 'The Walking Dead,' 'Star Trek: Discovery," and more at San Diego Comic Con

When I wrote "I'll post about fun stuff tomorrow" at the end of WXYZ on the Detroit Riots 50 years later, I wasn't sure what I'd write about.  Then, I saw the following trailer suggested for me on YouTube: Stranger Things | Season 2 Comic Con "Thriller" Trailer [HD] | Netflix.

The first trailer for Stranger Things 2 is here. It’s 1984 and the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana are still reeling from the horrors of the demogorgon and the secrets of Hawkins Lab. Will Byers has been rescued from the Upside Down but a bigger, sinister entity still threatens those who survived.

Season 2 premieres October 27, 2017.

Oh, boy, "Dragon's Lair," "Thriller," and "Ghostbusters" -- I don't need the Reagan/Bush lawn signs to tell me that it's 1984, specifically, Halloween 1984.*  That written, as soon as I watched it, I told my wife she had to as well.  We both loved it and it made us excited for the series' return.  It also convinced me to make today's post about San Diego Comic Con trailers, something I hadn't done here since 2015.  Follow over the jump for trailers from "Westworld," "The Walking Dead," "Star Trek: Discovery," and more television shows.**

WXYZ on the Detroit Riots 50 years later

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Detroit Riot of 1967, a day I knew I'd blog about ever since I first mentioned the riot six years ago.  That day has now arrived.*  Since I was not living here at the time (I was a seven-year-old in Los Angeles then), I'll defer to the locals, especially my favorite local news source on YouTube, WXYZ.  I begin with Detroiters revisit drama of 1967 riots through bus tour, which returns to ground zero of the riot and recounts the story of how it began and spread.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Detroit 1967 riots, we take a look at how Detroiters are revisiting the drama of the riots on a historic bus tour through the city.

WXYZ summarized the effects of the unrest in Detroit 1967: The riots by the numbers.


Wow.  All that is the immediate effect of the riots.  Follow over the jump for what happened over the next 50 years.

A very late celebration of World Population Day

While I was celebrating National Mojito Day with Tipsy Bartender recipes, I was missing another holiday far more worthy of attention on this blog, World Population Day.

World Population Day is an annual observance which occurs on July 11th and is used to raise attention issues concerning global population – mainly, the effects of overpopulation on the world and that our current rate of population growth will not be able to be sustained into the future.

This is what happens when I rely mostly on National Day Calendar and Facebook's "On This Day" feature.  The former's International Days page is under construction and therefore incomplete and missing this day.  Also, I have only mentioned World Population Day once before on this blog in Sustainability news from Michigan's research universities for the week ending July 16, 2011.  Since I never used the name of the holiday in the title of any of my entries, Facebook never successfully reminded me of the day's existence.  Sigh.  It really is time for me to put together a page on this blog with a calendar of all the days I celebrate here.

That written, I first mentioned World Population Day six years ago yesterday, so this is an anniversary of sorts.  In addition, I'm not the only person celebrating it today.  The Mosaic Project/Girls Empowerment Project is holding an event today in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

GEM will be conducting a series of events in partnership with Good Food Brampton and IMPACT Leaders Fund, to connect all Peel youth to learn about local and global sustainable practices.
On July 22nd, 2017, from 1-5 pm in Brampton, we will be hosting a workshop commemorating World Population Day (on July 11th), which aims to increase people's awareness on various population issues. For this workshop, we will talk about how to integrate sustainability into our everyday lives and highlight current environmental issues.

At least I'm not alone in being tardy celebrating the holiday.

Enough meta.  Follow over the jump for three videos about World Population Day.