The Long Road Out

The World Science Festival, which started its 10th year last night in New York City, goes for very high production values…and the 2017 opening night program offered the talents of Pilobolus, Renee Fleming--and Joshua Bell knocking the hell out of the violin.   The previous 9 years of the WSF have looked straight into the cosmos to confront the expansiveness of time and space--so this year added the relatively new knowledge that the universe is expanding at an  accelerating  pace.  The program  ended with a wild version of “The Sound of Silence ” backed by Brian Greene's forward-look into astronomical physics--a universe that's spinning away from us.    Think about that when you think about true silence.  "Hello darkness my old friend," indeed... For example,  soon (in cosmos-time) you won’t be able to see any stars because all the galaxies will be moving away from us at speeds faster than light.  (My partner thinks the...

Apparently the Republican leadership suggested Merrick Garland for Director of the FBI but he turned it down, citing the need for dependable employment.  The Senate Majority Leader described Merrick as a fantastic apolitical choice.   This is the same guy who stopped Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court?   Once again, these guys are knocking the wind out of me... So, fortunately, Hillary accepted with the guarantee that she could not be terminated by the President or any one else as long as Donald is in office. That's good news.   She might be the only lawyer in the country who would have credibility in the position. (I owe this suggestion to my partner Mina.)  And no one else would take the job--how embarrassing to work for a known idiot. And since Trump is within a month or so of being escorted out of the White House in handcuffs anyway, Hillary will be able to get on with her life very quickly--in June, for instance.  She's starting a bipartis...

It's not really a fair fight to pick on the US for not being smart...a core principle at the center of our national identity is anti-intellectualism.   How else can you not observe international law?  Because it's created by smart people.   Deny global warming?   Because scientists have confirmed it.  Continue to eat toxic foods by the pound?   Because some doctors think you need nutrients and should avoid ambient toxins. Consume nothing but pop film and art?   Because the more talented artists are just trying to make us feel inferior--and besides, I never read subtitles. I'm above average, so don't trust me.  And don't trust Andy Borowitz writing in The New Yorker, who makes exactly the same point that the U.S. just came in last .   Again.  I think Borowitz is smart too, from what I hear, so be sure to ignore him. So, 66% of the French were taking a (healthy, relaxing) walk in the park when they elected Emmanuel Macron Sunday. ...

Unless he establishes a military dictatorship (a possibility to be feared but it doesn't seem like the military likes Trump any more than I do), it feels pretty certain to me that we're within 6 months now of seeing him doing the perp walk.   I'm not sure what the cause of arrest will be, since, as a McKinsey consulting friend of mine says, "it's not against the law to be inept."   And I did a lot of research to confirm that "narcissism" and "bullying" are apparently also not actionable at either the state or federal court level.  I didn't check with the international courts in the Hague, since, of course, the US doesn't comply with, recognize, or acknowledge the rules every other country observes. But there are so many other things that clearly are against the law: hiding assets in bankruptcy proceedings impeding law enforcement agencies in their work discrimination  conflict of interest laws aiding known criminals  H...

I was in an airport Thursday afternoon as Trump gathered with the gloating old white men in a setting that looked like a plantation birthday party to celebrate the 217-213 passage of the new health care bill in the House. I mention Logan Airport only because, as you know, it's impossible to turn off the propaganda feed on airport TVs.   They've removed the on-off switches, and submerged the cables and electricity so you can't simply pull the plug.  1984, 24/7. But watching these smarmy motherfuckers celebrating their daily theft was not what really got me.  We already knew that the ruling ideology of the moment is "protect your white tribe first and drive every one else away." What pissed me off the most, at that moment, was that Trump was supposed  to have lunch with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday.   At 1 PM.   Instead, he called for this lawn party, and left Turnbull sitting on his hands until he could meet at 7 PM in the middl...

This film quickly moved to the top immediately after release.   The current three worst films of 2017 are: A Quiet Passion-- The film opens with a vision of 1840's Mt Holyoke College as an opt-out nunnery and then continues to get less and less accurate but equally as boring.   I believe the only research any one did for this Emily Dickinson biopic was to see a high school production of  The Belle of Amherst .  Which is a shame because if there ever was a time when the world could use to be (re)introduced to one of the great philosophical wordsmiths, it's when we have President Trump who can't talk.  Dickinson was a beautiful voice from the utopian spirit of the middle 19th century--but that's not what we get here.   We get Cynthia Nixon imitating electro-shock therapy (I think she watched Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest  as preparation?), caught between the very sacrificial anodes of abolitionism and atheism.   When Dickinson wrote "I am a nobody,"...

I travel a lot.   I've never been dragged kicking and screaming off a plane by United, Delta, American,  Southwest, JetBlue or Alaska (our current big 6?).   Worse. Here are the real crimes committed by the MBA's (shame on you for taking these crappy jobs at corporate) who get hired by these stale transportation companies: Theft--no other industry takes money for services early, won't allow refunds or changes, and then has no obligation to provide the services you signed on for (ever been automatically rebooked for a connecting flight that leaves two days after the late incoming arrival?).   I'd rather be on YouTube crying, which is what the airlines do regularly to their customers. Violence--I fly business class.   I'm an athlete.   I'm 5' 11"  or relatively average height.  I can barely walk up the disembarkation ramp after any flight 2 hours or longer.   This is physical abuse, and while I don't even play a doctor on TV, I think lo...