The problem is not just that a mob stormed the Capitol,
it's that as many Republican voters approve as disapprove,
according to a
recent poll.
I am reminded of how, after Tr--p told a room full of police officers back in 2017 that they didn't need to treat detainees professionally, the crowd cheered.
The USA went to war against Iraq in 2003 with about half the country thinking Iraq was involved with the 9/11 attacks. Now a large part of the country thinks an election was stolen.
I've had other things to blog about over the past week but I felt I first had to say something about current events. There's enough going on to warrant posting about politics every day but for a bunch of reasons I'm largely leaving that to other people. Although I may not comment about every dismal bit of news, we are still well and truly fucked.
I am reminded of how, after Tr--p told a room full of police officers back in 2017 that they didn't need to treat detainees professionally, the crowd cheered.
The USA went to war against Iraq in 2003 with about half the country thinking Iraq was involved with the 9/11 attacks. Now a large part of the country thinks an election was stolen.
I've had other things to blog about over the past week but I felt I first had to say something about current events. There's enough going on to warrant posting about politics every day but for a bunch of reasons I'm largely leaving that to other people. Although I may not comment about every dismal bit of news, we are still well and truly fucked.
Robert Fripp, known for (among other things) playing guitar in King Crimson,
hasn't been touring recently because, well, nobody is.
He and his wife have been making the most of a tough time
by (among other things) posting short covers of various popular
rock and roll songs to YouTube.
Although Fripp has played to rock and roll audiences over the years, his music often did not hew to rock and roll conventions. He used scales and rhythms from jazz and twentieth century classical music.
He is well-read, articulate, and composed; one journalist called him the Mr. Spock of rock. The more familiar you are with him and his music, the more entertainment value there is in seeing him play Nirvana and Led Zeppelin songs at 74 years old, wearing a vest and tie, looking more like a banker than a rock musician.
He tunes his guitar to CGDAEG rather than EADGBE, so his chord voicings may vary from those in the original versions. He plays both the guitar and bass parts in the quieter verses of his cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Kurt Cobain cited King Crimson's 1974 album Red as a major influence.
Although Fripp has played to rock and roll audiences over the years, his music often did not hew to rock and roll conventions. He used scales and rhythms from jazz and twentieth century classical music.
He is well-read, articulate, and composed; one journalist called him the Mr. Spock of rock. The more familiar you are with him and his music, the more entertainment value there is in seeing him play Nirvana and Led Zeppelin songs at 74 years old, wearing a vest and tie, looking more like a banker than a rock musician.
He tunes his guitar to CGDAEG rather than EADGBE, so his chord voicings may vary from those in the original versions. He plays both the guitar and bass parts in the quieter verses of his cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Kurt Cobain cited King Crimson's 1974 album Red as a major influence.
 |
|
Snow
creeping off the roof of my garage.
Snow.
This
evening, with a Newtonian telescope.
Saturn and Jupiter
this evening.
I like how four moons of Jupiter are all on one side.
Left to right: Callisto (faint), Ganymede, Europa, Io.
Happy nineteenth, everyone.
I like how four moons of Jupiter are all on one side.
Left to right: Callisto (faint), Ganymede, Europa, Io.
Happy nineteenth, everyone.
John Le Carré died yesterday.
I haven't read his books but I like several movies based on them,
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold being my personal favorite.
I first watched it on DVD about 11 years ago and found it
so many-layered that I watched it again the same day to better
appreciate it (the only movie I've ever done that with).
I like Le Carré's stories for their understatement, for the shades of gray in their politics, for the moral dilemmas characters encounter, and for the authenticity made possible by the author's extensive real-world experience in espionage. And I like movies set during the Cold War.
I like Le Carré's stories for their understatement, for the shades of gray in their politics, for the moral dilemmas characters encounter, and for the authenticity made possible by the author's extensive real-world experience in espionage. And I like movies set during the Cold War.
From Texas's (denied)
motion
asking the Supreme Court to take up its case to block the election:
Another of Dr. Cicchetti's calculations arrives at an even more spectacular number, although he botched the phrasing of it in a footnote:
Charles J. Cicchetti does have a Ph.D. (in Economics) and, I'm guessing, knows how dopey his analysis is. It looks to be offered in deliberate bad faith (as does the whole motion).
The probability of former Vice President Biden winning the popular vote in the four Defendant States—Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—independently given President Trump's early lead in those States as of 3 a.m. on November 4, 2020, is less than one in a quadrillion, or 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000. For former Vice President Biden to win these four States collectively, the odds of that event happening decrease to less than one in a quadrillion to the fourth power (i.e., 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000⁴). See Decl. of Charles J. Cicchetti, Ph.D. ("Cicchetti Decl.") at ¶¶ 14-21, 30-31 (App. 4a-7a, 9a).I'm not sure how Dr. Cicchetti settled on "less than one in a quadrillion". In a footnote to his declaration, he says his estimate "is actually about 1 in 1 with 2,568 zeros". Maybe he thought a quadrillion was about as big a number as Supreme Court justices could grasp.
Another of Dr. Cicchetti's calculations arrives at an even more spectacular number, although he botched the phrasing of it in a footnote:
⁶ This would be 1 divided by more than 775,000 zeros.I was going to write about what's wrong with Dr. Cicchetti's reasoning but I found a good, concise explanation by David Post, to which I refer readers who are interested.
Charles J. Cicchetti does have a Ph.D. (in Economics) and, I'm guessing, knows how dopey his analysis is. It looks to be offered in deliberate bad faith (as does the whole motion).