A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
I just returned from my morning appointment and will drive into the office this afternoon. By the time I return home, Pearl's odometer will have rolled over another 1,000 miles, so it's time for a driving update.
People always hate congestion pricing...until they see how good it is. Whatever you want to call it — "the valley of political death," "the hill of hysteria" — it's a dynamic that goes way beyond congestion pricing. Let's examine.
Gerrymandering, more often than not, is used to disenfranchise people who live in cities and scatter their votes into outlying districts. It doesn't have to be this way.
[T]here have always been embarrassingly bad, nakedly partisan congressional maps, but things went to a whole ‘nother level in 2026. And it’s bad enough that it’s impacting the balance of power in the legislative branch, but what really sticks in my craw is how it stacks the deck against cities.
So today’s video tackles a couple questions: how big should the House of Representatives be, and how should we be drawing districts to make sure city dwellers and rural folk both get legitimate representation?
(Side note: I spent more hours on this video topic than any I’ve ever done, partly because it comes with a companion piece on my site — nerd4cities.com — that also ate up a bunch of hours. The time kind of flew by, though, so...call it a labor of hate)
I find all three formulas converging on one district for every 500,000 people encouraging. It tells me that my support for the "Wyoming Plan," which has the population of every district being the size of the smallest population state, is well founded. It's also why I'm not terribly eager to add the U.S. Virgin Islands; their population would make the Wyoming Plan unwieldy, if not downright impracticable. Fortunately, the last referendum overwhelmingly supported territory status...However, making the population of a district 500,000 and not that of the lowest population state would remove those reservations.
Ray advocating for the Wyoming Plan/Rule bolsters my support.
As for Ray's preference for keeping communities of interest together running afoul of the Voting Rights Act, I think he shouldn't worry too much about it as long as the current Supreme Court justices are serving. As I wrote in Vox and MS NOW explain 'The voting rights case that could set us back 60 years' and repeated in 'Last Week Tonight' examines redistricting, "the conservative majority of the Supreme Court shot multiracial democracy in America in the leg, if not an even more vital part of the body. The bullet is still traveling, injuring tissues and organs on its way." Much, if not most, of the redistricting that Ray is objecting to is the result of that decision.
That's a wrap for today. I have an appointment in the morning and will return to the office tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned for another short evergreen educational entry I can share next month, which begins on Tuesday.
Dolly Parton passed yesterday, and I couldn't ignore it. Instead of posting an obituary from a news program (I'm sure TIME will include her in their end of 2026 list), I'm paying tribute to her my own way, through the mutual interaction between her and marching bands. I begin with Marching.com's tribute, Remembering Dolly Parton: She Was Her Own Parade | Dollywood Opening Day 2024.
Dolly Parton didn't just lead the parade — she was the parade.
Today, we extend our condolences and sympathy to all who are mourning her loss. The world has lost a joyful icon who brought beauty, kindness, and inspiration to countless lives. Her music, generosity, and spirit touched generations and left an immeasurable mark on the world.
Captured by Marching.com during Dollywood’s Opening Day Parade on March 8, 2024, this video shows Dolly riding through the park atop a stunning flower-covered carriage that looked worthy of the Rose Parade itself. Her signature smile and larger-than-life presence turned the parade into a truly unforgettable moment.
Thank you, Dolly, for sharing your light with the world.
Franklin High School Band Contest of Champions Finals performance of the Dolly Parton Tribute "Rags to Rhinestones" 2023 including “Rocky Top” “Shucking the Corn” “9 to 5” “Jolene” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I will always Love You”
Both Dolly and the Franklin band can be proud of that show.
Karoline Leavitt is leaving her role as White House Press Secretary and spokesperson for Donald Trump at the end of this week. So we didn't want to let the moment pass without marking it. We used for our parody the emotional and uplifting ABBA ballad farewell song "Thank You For The Music" - originally released in 1978 and penned by the inimitable Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
I'd say good riddance except that I'm sure her replacement will be worse. They almost always are in Donald "Pervert Hoover" Trump's White House.
The El Niño event that is developing over the Pacific Ocean is likely to be the strongest in living memory, the Met Office has warned.
The powerful natural climate phenomenon pushes up global temperatures and can increase the risks of extreme weather.
Added to the effects of human-induced climate change, the Met Office is warning that it is "very likely" to mean 2027 is the hottest year on record globally.
There is growing evidence that weather patterns around the world.
Hearing about all the effects El Niño is having on food supply and food prices reminds me of two of Commoner's Laws, "There is no free lunch" and "Everything is connected to everything else." I'll try to remember this when I teach Environmental Science one last time beginning next month.
Speaking of stories I tell my students, looking at the graph showing the effects of El Niño and La Niña on global temperature also reminds me of a question I ask in the worksheet for Chasing Ice, "How is increasing greenhouse gases like using performance-enhancing steroids?" They make extreme events more frequent and stronger. While climatechange doesn't make El Niño more frequent, it is making the naturaldisasters it causes more frequent. Also, climate change is making El Niño at least appear stronger and El Niño is definitely increasing temperatures.
The UK's Met Office says this year's El Nino could unleash extreme weather, the likes of which the world has not seen in a century. The results could be record-breaking global temperatures in 2027 and a raft of natural disasters. DW's Sarah Kelly talks about the weather phenomenon with Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society in the UK and President of the European Meteorological Society.
The graph shows that the Pacific sea surface temperatures are already 2oC above normal and could reach between 3 and 4oC higher than average by the end of the year. Will that be stronger than 1877? Maybe.
With El Niño officially here, and predicted to get stronger, let's see how it's going to affect our snow forecast for this winter! Weathered host Maiya May breaks it down.
The pattern predicts less snow here in Michigan and more snow in the mountains of California and the arid Southwest. That's good news for both places, so not everything about El Niño is bad.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for another brief evergreen educational entry tomorrow.
I'm returning to the Emmy Awards for the Sunday entertainment feature with one of only two remaining program categories that I usually cover, Outstanding Television Movie. Here are the nominees at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Movie
Heads of State (Prime Video)
Miss You, Love You (HBO)
People We Meet on Vacation (Netflix)
Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix)
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War (Prime Video)
Remarkably Bright Creatures leads nominations with three, followed by Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War with two, and Heads of State, Miss You, Love You, and People We Meet on Vacation with one each. Gold Derby's prediction page for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards also has Remarkably Bright Creatures leading, as every editor and expert plus 97.9% of users have selected it to win. Heads of State, Miss You, Love You, and People We Meet on Vacation split the remaining user vote with 0.7% each. Despite having two nominations, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War has no users choosing it.
The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie are Claire Danes, Sally Field, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Pidgeon and Sarah Snook.
The prognosticators at Gold Derby see this as a much more competitive contest than for TV Movie. Carey Mulligan leads as the choice of 70% of experts, 50% of editors, and 69.7%, but the professionals and fans differ on the next choice, with 10% of experts, 33.3% of editors, and 7.1% of users picking Sally Fields while 10% of experts and 17.3% of users selecting Sarah Snook. Sarah Pigeon also has the support of 10% of experts along with 16.7% of editors and 4.8% of users. Claire Danes is the choice of the remaining 1% of users.
Back to the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
All Her Fault: "Episode 7" – Jeff Beal (Peacock)
The Beast in Me: "The Beast and Me" – Sean Callery and Sara Barone (Netflix)
Black Rabbit: "Isle of Joy" – Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans (Netflix)
In the Blink of an Eye – Thomas Newman (Hulu)
Washington Black: "If You See My Mama, Whisper Her This..." – Cameron Moody (Hulu)
All Her Fault leads the nominees at Gold Derby with the support of 86.7% of experts, 83.3% of editors, and 92.7% of users, followed by The Beast in Me with 6.7% of experts, 16.7% of editors, and 5.5% of users, with the rest divided between experts and users. In the Blink of an Eye, the sole movie nominee, has the vote of 6.7% of experts, but no users, while Black Rabbit and Washington Black tie with 0.9% of users each.
Follow over the jump for the non-music craft categories.
New CDC data suggests Americans are living longer, with experts pointing to declining overdose deaths, improved cancer survival rates, and continued recovery from the COVID era. Family medicine physician Dr. Jessica Gray explains the latest longevity trends.
PBS NewsHour has another segment on how scientists are fighting the effects of climatechange. Stay tuned to see if I feature it or return to Emmy Awards coverage tomorrow.
At a time when the impact of climate change is undeniable, some researchers suggest we need to start work on far more ambitious approaches for tackling these problems. These proposals are often referred to as geoengineering. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien looks at one such concept to deal with the melting of glaciers and sea ice. It's for our series, Tipping Point.
As for building an underwater barrier to keep out the warm water to slow the melting of Thwaites Glacier to melt it from below, that also strikes me as overly ambitious and impractical, although I think it would have less potential for unintended side effects than other geoengineeringprojects. I've been worried about those since Greenfinger, which I wrote on January 2, 2013. Coincidentally, that's World Science Fiction Day. Sometimes, I stumble over a holiday long before I know about it!
This year is becoming one of the worst for U.S. wildfires in at least a decade. There have been more fires and more acreage burned at this point in the year compared to any in the last ten. With fire seasons growing longer, early detection is critical. Special correspondent Ben Tracy of Climate Central reports on how AI is being used to spot fires faster. It's part of our series, Tipping Point.
Oh, good, a story about how technology in general and AI in particular are helping fight fires and other weather-related disasters! Not everything about AI is bad!
As the country celebrates its 250th anniversary, rising seas and coastal erosion are putting some of America’s most historic places at risk. For our ongoing series, Tipping Point, special correspondent Ben Tracy with Climate Central reports from Jamestown, Virginia, where archaeologists are racing to uncover America’s past before it’s washed away.
I've mentionedseveraltimes that "I worked as a Park Naturalist (the type of Ranger most visitors see) at Channel Islands National Park during the summer of 1986," now 40 years ago, so this story hits close to home. Here's to preserving or at least salvaging as much of our country's natural and historic heritage as we can before it sinks beneath the waves.
PBS NewsHour has more, but I'm stopping here to eat lunch and grade papers. It's final exam time, so stay tuned for more relatively brief entries until next Wednesday.
Mosquitoes impact public health on a global scale and are considered the deadliest creatures on earth due to their spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus, dengue, Zika, and malaria.
It doesn't have sharp teeth or claws, but the mosquito kills more people than any other animal on Earth. As the climate warms, mosquito season is lasting longer, giving them more time to spread dangerous diseases. Ben Tracy with Climate Central reports on why the insects are thriving, and the surprising way scientists are fighting back.
I'm recycling what I wrote last year for my reaction.
"Using one parasite that doesn't affect humans to reduce the ability of an insect to spread a parasite harmful to humans — clever! It's also not forever in the same way genetic modification is. Fine by me"...I think infecting them with Wolbachia is an example of a third law, "Nature knows best."
The technology has advanced so that it runs by mail order. Progress (and convenient, too).
That's a wrap for today's biodiversityholiday. PBS NewsHour has another segment on how scientists are fighting the effects of climatechange. Stay tuned to see if I feature it or return to Emmy Awards coverage tomorrow.
Brass instruments could soon become more expensive as the U.S. Department of Commerce has proposed a 25% tariff on brass-wind musical instruments, parts, and accessories. Brass-wind instruments are among 14 categories of products being considered for Section 232 tariffs on aluminum, steel, and copper.
I take this story personally, as I'm a brass player, having started off on French horn in middle school, switched to tuba in high school, which I also played in college and as an alumnus, and played baritone and contrabass bugle in drum corps, all brass instruments. Unless one thinks the brass instruments in military bands count, I don't consider brass instruments to be a national security issue. Also, it's not as if there is a lot of domestic production of brass instruments to protect, as WJHL mentions in 25% tariff proposal on brass instruments could spike costs for band students.
The U.S. Department of Commerce proposed a 25% tariff on imported brass-wind instruments, drawing negative feedback from local band programs and instrument shops.
U.S. instrument companies have offshored a lot of their production. Maybe these tariffs will bring some instrument manufacturing back to the U.S., but that will take a while. Tariffs will hurt music students now.
The administration declared brass instruments a national security threat. Paula Poundstone has a simpler idea. Today's thing: call your Representative and demand Trump be impeached. 84 days to November 3rd.
HAHAHAHAHA! But seriously, Congress has impeached Donald "Pervert Hoover" Trump twice. Without convicting and removing him, it won't do any good. There aren't the votes to do any of that right now. It would be better to comment against this proposed tariff by August 27th and work to elect Democrats and independents who would provide majorities to impeach and convict Trump and his Cabinet officers next year.
