John Oliver on primaries and caucuses for Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day!  I foreshadowed my plans to celebrate today yesterday.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, when I usually mix science and entertainment to talk about the weather.  This year, I think I'll discuss how John Oliver thinks elections are like Groundhog Day.  Stay tuned.

Yes, John Oliver does think that.  Watch Primaries and Caucuses: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) to see.

Primaries and caucuses are a surprisingly undemocratic part of the democratic process. John Oliver discusses our convoluted system for choosing presidential nominees.

Entertainment Weekly quoted the conclusion of Oliver's segment, including his action item for his viewers in John Oliver criticizes primary, caucus process for rewarding delegates.

“Unfortunately, we only get angry about the primary process during the primary process, when it’s impacting the candidate we care about, but the middle of the game is the worst possible time to change the rules,” Oliver said, prefacing his idea. “So if everyone is as angry as they say they are right now, let’s together pick a date early next year to actually write an email to the chair of each party and remind them politely to fix this. I propose February 2. Now, that will be easy to remember because it’s Groundhog Day, which does seem appropriate. Because unless this primary process is fixed, we are all destined to live through the same nightmare scenario over and over again, until the end of f—ing time.”

The original day to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) was February 2, 2017, as Inverse pointed out last year and for which a Facebook event was created, but, like Groundhog Day, the campaign can repeat itself until the situation is fixed.  To contact the RNC and its chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, the email is ecampaign@gop.com.  To contact the DNC and its chair Tom Perez, the contact page is here, complete with street address, phone number, and an email contact form.  Happy writing!

NASA says 2017 second hottest year on record

I finished the last post of last month by writing "While I'm done with January, I'm not done with DOOM!  Stay tuned for a post about 2017 in climate change to start February at midnight."  With no further ado, here's NASA reporting 2017 Takes Second Place for Hottest Year.

Earth's surface temperatures in 2017 were the second warmest since since 1880, when global estimates first become feasible, NASA scientists found.
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Global temperatures in 2017 were second only to 2016, which still holds the record for the hottest year; however, 2017 was the warmest year on record that did not start with an El Nino weather pattern, as the previous two years did. In a separate, independent analysis, NOAA scientists found that 2017 was the third-warmest year in their record. The minor difference is due to different methods to analyze global temperatures used by the two agencies, although over the long-term the records remain in strong agreement.

Follow over the jump for NASA's press release, Climate Central's video on the subject, and my commentary.

Doomsday Clock advances 30 seconds to two minutes before midnight

I made a prediction of sorts in CDC switches from nuclear war to flu as epidemic declared just before false alarm in Hawaii.

Between this scare and the Trumps' "nuclear button" tweet, I can hardly wait to see how much closer to Midnight the doomsday clock gets moved later this month.  Anyone else think it will be at least 30 seconds?

Last week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced the clock 30 seconds to two minutes to midnight, just as I expected.  NBC News reports The Doomsday Clock Moves Closer To Midnight.

The Doomsday Clock has been moved to 2 minutes to midnight in response to growing nuclear threats and climate change. The last time it was this close to midnight was in 1953 - a time when the U.S and the Soviet Union tested their first nuclear weapons.

FiveThirtyEight also explained the rationale, writing "The group explained its latest move mainly by citing President Trump’s handling of nuclear risks in North Korea and Iran. It also throws in worries about climate change for good measure."  It also traced the time of the Doomsday Clock in the graph below, showing that it is at the same time as it was in 1953 and also the closest it's ever been to midnight.


That graph shows that the Doomsday Clock actually was at 11:58 P.M. all the way from 1953 to 1960, so I was born when the possibility of nuclear war was just as high as the risk of the end of civilization from nuclear war and climate change is now.  That's not reassuring.  What I do find reassuring is that things got better.  This Crazy Eddie hopes that's the case this time, too, and that the biggest worry from the Doomsday Clock is fictional.

While I'm done with January, I'm not done with DOOM!  Stay tuned for a post about 2017 in climate change to start February at midnight.

NASA on the 'Super Blue Blood Moon'

Tomorrow night and morning, three astronomical phenomena involving the Earth's Moon will happen simultaneously, a super moon, a blue moon, and a blood moon.  NASA describes all three in Jan. 31, 2018 Super Blue Blood Moon and Lunar Eclipse.

January 31 brings a lunar trifecta: the super blue blood Moon! Starting at 5:30 a.m. Eastern, NASA TV will offer a livestream of the Moon. This full moon is the third in a series of “supermoons,” when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit -- known as perigee -- and about 14 percent brighter than usual. It’s the second full moon of the month, commonly known as a “blue moon.” The super blue moon will pass through Earth’s shadow to give viewers in the right location a total lunar eclipse. While the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow it will take on a reddish tint, known as a “blood moon.”

This will be the last of a series of three supermoons as NASA explains in ScienceCasts: A Supermoon Trilogy.

A series of three supermoons will appear on the celestial stage on December 3, 2017, January 1, 2018, and January 31, 2018.

Happy viewing to those of my readers who can see the eclipse!

'How Far I'll Go' from 'Moana,' 'The Princess Diarist' and 'The Voyager Golden Record' win at the Grammy Awards

Tonight is the Grammy Awards and I'll report tomorrow on the fate of the speculative fiction and science nominees.  Stay tuned.

That's what I promised my readers to end Speculative fiction sweeps movie categories at the Art Directors Guild Awards and that's what I'm delivering today.

I begin with Gold Derby on the winners of music for visual media.

“La La Land” wins Best Visual Media Compilation and Best Visual Media Score. Both awards go Justin Hurwitz, who also won two Oscars for his musical compositions. But Hurwitz, Pasek, and Paul were upset in the race for Best Visual Media Song: Lin-Manuel Miranda won for “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”; it’s the third Grammy of his career, and he just needs an Oscar to EGOT.

I thought Hurwitz and "La La Land" would sweep, so I'm glad to be wrong about “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana.”  I shouldn't be surprised, as I observed a result like this was possible last December.

I would say "La La Land" is the favorite, but the Emmy [Grammy] electorate is not the Oscar electorate and can vote differently.  For example, John Williams lost at the Oscars but won the Grammy for "The Force Awakens."

I didn't think the Grammy voters would go against the Oscar voters, but, once again, they did.  Congratulations to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Auli'i Cravalho for their victory, the biggest one of the night for speculative fiction.


Gold Derby also reported the other win for speculative fiction.

Carrie Fisher wins a posthumous Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for “The Princess Diarist.”

Her IMDB awards page hasn't been updated yet, but when it is, this will be the most prestigious award she's ever won.  It may not be the last award she'll win, however.  I I fully expect Fisher to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Film at the Saturn Awards, where I think she'll be favored to win.

Speaking of Star Wars, John Williams received a Trustees Award and won Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for "Escapades For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra From Catch Me If You Can."

One of Fisher's fellow nominees for Best Spoken Word Album, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, was one of the presenters, as USA Today noted.

"It's a tie!" Tyson announces for best recording package. He's not joking. A Grammy tie between El Orisha De La Rosa and Pure Comedy (Deuxe Edition).

Only Grammy-nominated astrophysicist presenter Neil deGrasse Tyson could point out that not only are the Grammys turning 60, but so is NASA. He gives the Grammy for best instrumental composition to Arturo O'Farrill for Three Revolutions.

Speaking of NASA, the next winner is one of theirs.


Yes, "The Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition" won Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package.  Score one for science!

Finally, USA Today reported "HBO's The Defiant Ones, about the friendship between music legends Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, wins best music film."  That's the one I expected to win, even though I was rooting for "Long Strange Trip."  By the way, I expect to blog about it again, as it will be eligible for this year's Emmy Awards.

I close with “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana,” which I included in Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 44 at Booman Tribune.

"Moana" was one of two feature films nominated by the Environmental Media Association as having an environmental theme worth recognizing, so I'm considering the Grammy nominated song How Far I'll Go to be from an environmental movie.  Who am I to argue with the EMA?  If nothing else, the CGI scenery is pretty.

Music video by Auli'i Cravalho performing How Far I'll Go. (C) 2016 Walt Disney Records

That's it for fantasy.  Stay tuned for at least three days of reality.

Speculative fiction sweeps movie categories at the Art Directors Guild Awards

It was an outstanding night for speculative fiction at the Art Directors Guild Awards last night.  Speculative fiction films swept all four movie categories and half of the six television catgories as well as capturing the short format category.  That means science fiction, fantasy, and superhero movies, shows, and commercials won eight of the eleven awards.  The most that genre films and shows could have won was nine.

Deadline Hollywood has the names of the winners.

The Shape of Water, Blade Runner 2049, Logan and Coco took top film honors tonight at the 22nd annual ADG Awards. Blade Runner 2049 and The Shape of Water will face off for the Production Design Oscar March 3. Logan was not nominated.

For the first time, the Art Directors Guild included animated feature in its film categories. Coco added to its early awards season wins, taking home the inaugural trophy.
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On the TV side, Game Of Thrones won for One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series, The Handmaid’s Tale’s Julie Berghoff took the trophy for One-Hour Single Camera Series, beating itself. The praised Hulu drama series was nominated twice in the category. Other TV winners were Will & Grace, GLOW, Black Mirror and Portlandia.

ADG Award career honorees tonight included Kathleen Kennedy (Cinematic Imagery Award), Ron Clements and John Musker (William Cameron Menzies Award), guild president Matthew D. Loeb (Leadership Award) and Michael Baugh (Outstanding Creative Achievement Award). Four men will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards –Norm Newberry, James Murikami, John Moffitt and Martin Kline — and Sir Ken Adam and Tyrus Wong were inducted into the ADG Hall of Fame.

In addition, Star Wars Battlefront II: “Rivalry / PS4” won for Short Format: Web Series, Music Video or Commercial.  Even though "The Last Jedi" did not win, the Star Wars franchise still took home a trophy, two when one counts Kathleen Kennedy's Cinematic Imagery Award.

Follow over the jump to see how my wishes and predictions fared.

Driving update for January 2018: Pearl plus hybrid and electric cars at NAIAS

I noted that "Pearl turned over 37,000 miles on Wednesday, November 15" in November 2017 driving update for Pearl plus Tesla Truck and Chevy Bolt news.  She just turned over 38,000 miles on Thursday, January 25, so it's time for a driving update.

From November 15, 2017 to January 25, 2018 is 71 days, which translates into 14.08 miles per day and 429.58 miles per standard month.  That's much less than the exactly 20 miles per day and 610 miles per month.  It's also less than the 16.95 miles per day and 516.95 miles per standard month I drove Pearl between November 2016 and January 2017, the comparable period last year.  In terms of reducing my driving both month over month and year over year, one of the actions in the sustainability dozen, that's good, but I need to examine the reasons for both.

The month-over-month reason is simple; I didn't drive to work for nearly a month.  The year-over-year comparison is more complex.  First, I did not drive to the airport and back as part of a trip to see my mom, sisters, niece, and nephew.  In addition to being diagnosed as a Type I diabetic, I found out I had a deep-vein thrombosis in my calf, which I probably got from flying and precluded my flying until it cleared up.  Second, I drove Snow Bear for a week while my car was snowed in.   Third, I dropped the biweekly meeting I had been attending for the past two years.  Only the last reason is a lasting one; I'd prefer not to repeat the first two as I would rather have been able to see my family and driving the other car only transfers mile to it, so the overall impact is the same or worse, as Snow Bear is less fuel-efficient than Pearl.

The other year-over-year comparison involves how long it took for Pearl to drive 7,000 miles this year versus last year at this time.  It took 384 days from the January 2017 update to today's update to drive 7,000 miles.  This translates to 18.23 miles per day or 6653.65 miles per normal year or 6671.88 miles per leap year (which last year was).  That's closer to the goal of driving 6,500 miles per year that I set for myself in September than the usual almost exactly 7,000 miles per year that I noted first in June and then July 2017.  I failed to reach that in November 2017, but at least I can say that I got close enough now.  Let's see if that trend continues at the next update, which I expect to happen in March.

Since June 2017, I've concluded Pearl's updates with news about Elon Musk and Tesla.  In addition, I usually post about the North American International Auto Show, although I skipped last year.  Follow over the jump as I combine the two with reports from Roadshow on YouTube.

'The Shape of Water' and 'Blade Runner 2049' lead speculative fiction nominees at the Oscars

I did promise a post about the Oscar nominees today.  Tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

That was my footnote to Happy Irish Coffee Day and Happy Birthday to Coffee Party USA!, which was the third time I promised.  May the third time be a charm as I finally follow through.  Here's Oscars 2018: Nominations Announcement.

Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis announce this year's nominees.

That was fun.  I enjoyed both Haddish and Serkis announcing the nominees and the short segments introducing the technical categories.  In particular, I appreciated the diverse selection of actresses featured.

As for the nominees themselves, I think this is a very good showing for speculative fiction films.  "The Shape of Water" earned thirteen nominations, "Blade Runner 2049" earned five, "Get Out" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" each earned four, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Coco" both earned two, and seven other feature films earned one each, eight if one counts "Loving Vincent" as speculative fiction simply because it's animated, for a total of 38 or 39 nominations.  Add in the Animated Short Subjects and the total increases to 41 or 44 nominations for 20 to 23 films (I'm not sure about "Basketball Dreams" or "Negative Space" being speculative fiction simply because they're animated, just as I'm not convinced about "Loving Vincent.").  That's about as many films as last year but half again as many nominations, as the 2017 ceremony had 20 films and 32 nominations for speculative fiction.  It's even better than the 2016 Oscars, which had 15 speculative fiction films nominated with 36 nominations -- and I thought that was a good year for speculative fiction, especially science fiction!  Finally, there are speculative fiction films nominated in every category for scripted feature length movies (including Foreign Language Films, as "Body and Soul" qualifies) except Makeup and Hairstyling and that only because this category has only three nominees.  That's a lot of breadth in the excellence of speculative fiction films this year.

I have more to say over the jump about the nominations and my opinions of the chances of the speculative fiction films in each category.

Happy Irish Coffee Day and Happy Birthday to Coffee Party USA!

Happy Irish Coffee Day!*

Made with strong coffee, Irish whiskey, sugar and topped with a rich layer of cream, Irish coffee is recognized on January 25.

On a cold, wet day in 1942 weary travelers to the small Shannon Airport in southwest Ireland found their way to a restaurant and chef Joe Sheridan. To warm his guests, he served them hot coffee, spiked with whiskey and topped with whipped cream. The passengers asked if the beverage was Brazilian coffee. Sheridan responded that it was Irish coffee.

A travel writer, Stanton Delaplane, brought Irish coffee to the United States after having it at Shannon Airport.

Delaplane brought the idea to the Buena Vista Cafe on November 10, 1952. After much trial and error, sampling and a trip back to Ireland for a taste of the original, Delaplane along with Buena Vista owners Jack Koeppler and George Freeberg were able to replicate the delicious coffee and the method for floating the cream on top of the coffee.

Of course, with any alcoholic beverage, I will post an instruction video from Tipsy Bartender.

Here's the recipe:
IRISH COFFEE
1 1/2 oz. (45ml) Parts Irish Whiskey
3 oz. (90ml) Parts Hot Coffee
1 oz. (30ml) Heavy Cream (Slightly Whipped)
1 Tsp Brown Sugar
PREPARATION
1. Pour hot water into serving glass to heat.
2. Toss hot water, pour in coffee and stir in sugar until dissolved.
3. Add whiskey, stir to combine and float cream on top.
Enjoy responsibly!

Not only is today Irish Coffee Day, tomorrow is the eighth birthday of Coffee Party USA -- two coffee days in a row!


I begin the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the nonprofit for which I'm a director with Broken Peach singing Happy Birthday.



Happy Birthday!
I'll finish the celebration by repeating my appeal for donations in For Giving Tuesday 2017, I recommend some of my favorite nonprofits.

The first nonprofit I recommend is Coffee Party USA.  This should come as no surprise to my longtime readers, as I've blogged a lot about the Coffee Party over the years.  I'm also one of its directors and officers (I'm currently the Interim Secretary as well as Director of Partnerships).  I am also a founding member.  I believe in its mission of "Building, nurturing and connecting communities to reclaim our government for the people."  It fits with my being a Crazy Eddie in other ways.  To become a member, click here.  To donate without becoming a member, click here.  The other directors and I will thank you, even if you won't get a tax deduction (Coffee Party USA is a 501c4 organization under the tax code).

I recommend a donation of $8.00 for the movement's eighth birthday.  The other directors and I will thank you now and democracy in the U.S. will thank you later.

*I did promise a post about the Oscar nominees today.  Tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

R.I.P. Ursula K. LeGuin

I was planning on posting about the Oscar nominees today, but as I did in September with the death of Jerry Pournelle, it is my sad duty to report the death of another great science fiction writer, Ursula K. LeGuin.*  I'll let Wochit News and Wochit Entertainment tell the story for me.

First, Author Ursula K. Le Guin Has Died from Wochit News.

Best-selling Sci-Fi and Fantasy author Ursula K. LeGuin has died at her home in Portland, Oregon. She was 88. Le Guin's books have sold millions of copies worldwide, inspired other authors, and been translated into dozens of languages. Her work often explored themes not seen in other science fiction. Le Guin won awards like the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. In 2003, she became the first woman to be named a Grandmaster of Science Fiction. She is survived by her husband, son, two daughters, two brothers, and four grandchildren.

Next, Fans Mourn Author Ursula K. Le Guin from Wochit Entertainment.

Science Fiction and Fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin passed away on Monday at the age of 88. First published in the 1960s, LeGuin's alternative worlds challenged readers' ideas on politics, gender roles, religion and sexuality. In 2016, The New York Times described her as "America's greatest living science fiction writer." LeGuin won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, each more than once Her work has been adapted to the screen numerous times, including several versions of "The Lathe of Heaven" and and animated Studio Ghibli rendition of "Tales from Earthsea." Fans everywhere have taken to the world wide web, commemorating Le Guin and her profound impact on the world of fiction.

I'm one of those fans.  R.I.P.

*I'll post about the Oscar nominees beginning tomorrow, beginning with the speculative fiction nominees.  Stay tuned.