Johnny Pacheco Dies at 85
From the New York Times: Johnny Pacheco, Who Helped Bring Salsa to the World, Dies at 85 A Dominican-born bandleader and songwriter, he co-founded Fania Records, known as the Motown of Salsa.
Thinking about
The Trump Crew’s Incompetence Lasted to the End
So we never forget, as the reign of the WPE (worst-president-ever) slowly slips into the sunset, we need to remember a few things. David Frum in the Atlantic has written an excellent essay covering some of those things: The Trump Crew’s Incompetence Lasted to the End. The former president’s lawyers were bad—but that was all … [Read more…]
S. Clay Wilson, Taboo-Breaking Underground Cartoonist, Dies at 79
His drawings were so outrageous that, on first encountering them, his fellow cartoonist R. Crumb recalled feeling that “suddenly my own work seemed insipid.” . A NYT obituary of S. Clay Wilson . . Hucklecatt Hawaii 1h ago Sitting in the upstairs rooms of Peter Rich’s “Velo Sport” shop in Berkeley doing windowpane and reading … [Read more…]
‘Invisible killer’: fossil fuels
At the Guardian’s International Edition today, an article titled: ‘Invisible killer’: fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds Pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources accounted for one in five of all deaths that year, more detailed analysis reveals shows a stunning increase in morbidity from fossil fuel pollutants. Oliver Milman … [Read more…]
A Century Ago, White Protestant Extremism Marched on Washington
From the Feb. 7, 2021 New York Times: Kelly J. Baker is a writer and scholar of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. She sees frightening similarities between that culture and the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. A most interesting essay showing how things have not changed in ~100 years, the rhetoric … [Read more…]
What if … A Perfect CME Hit Earth?
On spaceweather.com, a summary of a new paper answering the question: What if … A Perfect CME Hit Earth? is discussed. coronal mass ejection (CME):
Paper Cards and Digital Codes Target Vaccination Chaos
On IEEE Spectrum is an essay describing an initiative by MIT and others to help with the rollout of the vaccines for COVID. It appears both low tech and reasonably data safe for immediate use.
Sharon Begley
From the New York Times obits: Sharon Begley, a Top Science Journalist, Is Dead at 64 Long at Newsweek, she was regarded as one of her generation’s pre-eminent science writers. An “Enlightenment-era figure,” Jon Meacham said. … Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote on Twitter that Ms. Begley would … [Read more…]
“…the worst thing that an American president could ever do.”
The Atlantic’s Peter Nicholas writes in “What I Saw at the White House on Trump’s Last Day” “This is the only president in American history who incited an insurrection against Congress that could have resulted in assassinations and hostage-taking and, conceivably, the cancellation of a free presidential election and the fracturing of a democracy,” Michael … [Read more…]
TMS New Years Card
From my sister Theresa – Tis Time For A FUNDEMIC!