Monday, October 14, 2024

Blog Comments and Brain Death


This is the kind of stupid shit we get when I open up blog comments to just anyone.  Read this, it was posted two years ago.  




The point is, they may use words like "statistical" but I doubt they know what it means.  My guess is that this could be a Russian troll or an American Republican.  In the latter case, they are just being stupid.  In the former case it is sad that American counter intelligence has failed to protect us.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

The Meaning of Lost (2004-2010)


[update in progress]

I dont always watch a show or movie when it first comes out.  But the ability to download episodes or seasons of important media product (Thunderbirds Are GO!) has transformed my ability to self-medicate chronic insomnia with productive show review.

For the purpose of self-medicating insomnia, I can heartily recommend Lost (2004-2010).  Six seasons of a group of people thrown together seemingly at random on a plane flight from Sydney to LA which goes off course and crashes on a mysterious island.  Indigenous peoples, the struggle for survival, evidence of mysterious scientific projects and ancient cultic influence from thousands of years ago.  It turns out that many of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 may have connections to each other in ways that are slowly revealed.  A struggle for good and evil.  An island with the ability to hide itself and move its position.   A paralyzed man who is healed.  A monster that appears to be black smoke.

But what does it all mean?

That was the question then and that is the question now.  There are many attempts to answer the questions posed by this show Here are my two cents worth.

First, I think we are entitled to ignore what the writers / producers say about the meaning of the show.  The meaning of a great work of art (like Thunderbirds) will necessary evolve as our culture evolves.

Second, there are many little mysteries planted all throughout Lost some of which are answered and many of which are just ignored.  That may be too bad but I dont think it distracts from the bigger picture.  To pick just one example, what do the numbers mean?  It doesnt matter.  Maybe it was just supposed to be entertaining.

Third, I think that there are important story elements that can not be ignored but are there to facilitate the next two points.  The Island is clearly important as a place where these various things happen, it has its own fantastic semi-explanations for its power, pockets of exotic matter for example.  And I dont think that there can be much doubt that Oceanic Flight 815 is iconic and central to the fates of our characters.  Dont get me wrong, these elements are important but they are in a sense details leading up to the primary themes.

And those themes are as follows (4) our interpretation and understanding should be mystical not scientific, (5) our main characters have been brought together to work out issues that need to be resolved before they can go on to the "next place" and finally, therefore, (6) I think that Lost is clearly in that genre of fiction that is loosely described as the journey of the soul on its path from life to the hereafter.   

There is an additional theme that involves our characters involvement in some sort of higher level battle between light and dark, good and evil.  In that, Lost also falls into a genre that we might call Manichean.   The struggle between good and evil.  Maybe even Zoroastrian.

There is also some narrative device ongoing in parallel which suggests that the characters are  experiencing some sort of alternate reality where Oceanic Flight 815 does not crash and where they are not on the island.

The characters work through serious problems as they prepare for transfer for what comes after. Those who are not ready stay on the Island for a while.

Although I am no expert in this, I think that there are various mystical belief systems that Lost is in some sense a variation of. Another cinema example of this is Jacob's Ladder (1991) in which our main character is subjected to a number of end-of-life experiences as he is prepared for his death and the soul's journey to another life/plane/existence or just termination. Ghost (1991) is probably another example of this genre. 

We conclude that Lost is based on the delusion that there is some sort of system / mechanism for life-after-death, in which important issues can be worked out for those who are chosen, for those who are "candidates".  There have always been fantasies, or of religion, that helps us feel better about our horrible fate. 







Saturday, September 21, 2024

Harris is Good but the System Still Doesn't Work

Newton said that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In politics, maybe not so much. Maybe the reaction is less than, or maybe it is much greater than the original. Or maybe it is just lasting trauma and despair. Maybe it is lack of trust. Maybe people will feel that they have learned their lesson, and if those-that-rule want us to shut-up-and-do-as-they-say then maybe people, or some people, will say "No, fix this first or go away". And that is the situation I think we find ourselves in.

I dont think this is totally new. When this country was created, it was done without the consent of the governed as that consent was manufactured. For more information, read about the way our constitution was created and accepted.  And even with that non-consent consent there were unacceptable compromises. Since then, system after system the country put in place have failed. There are many possible reasons for these systems to fail but the one I subscribe to is that certain fundamental requirements for these to work, such as fair elections or a judiciary that that will rule based on law and not to achieve a political goal, are no longer in place.  People in power thought they could get away with it and they were wrong.  Besides, its 2024, its not 1960 anymore.  The old excuses are not acceptable.

Consider.  The supreme court is wildly out of control. There are no plans to fix it. Voting rights? Citizens United? Perjure yourself to the senate to be approved? Wild corruption and failure to obey the law of reporting gifts? A get out of jail free card for Trump?  Abortion no longer "settled law"?  Legislating from the bench? So, no supreme court. 

 The DOJ failed to hold that felon Donald Trump to account. Mobsters take note. Trump killed many more people than Gambino. 

We are being victimized by people with money who are fascists and weirdos. Musk, Murdoch, Koch, Mellon.  Congress cant even pass a budget. The impeachment mechanism has failed.  Sheriffs go around making lists of those who will not support Trump so they can be attacked. Gestapo tactic, sure why not. And nothing is done about this. The FBI and Homeland security does nothing about Russian Influence. They are totally impotent. The Right sucks up to Putin and Orban.

So lets say Harris wins in spite of the Supreme Court.  Does that fix anything?  Does that reassure me that the system is better now so don't worry?  Sure its better than a stick in the eye, but should I be grateful that our system did not put a felon and a mentally disturbed fascist into power?  A person who was impeached twice?  A person who is guilty of what is sometimes called rape?  Really, you are proud that you defeated this weirdo?

No, the system has a long way to go to repair this nonsense and frankly I dont think it is up to it.  That is what I think.

[Because I say these things, my blog is marked as a hate site and blocked by many right wing ISPs apparently.  ]

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Does the NY Times Support Trump?

The question people have wondered for months is whether the NY Times is really a stooge for the Republicans.  From their attacks on Biden to their failure to call Trump out for being senile, to their failure to indicate that trump is a felon, it feels as though the NY Times wants Trump to win.

I can tell you that when the Supreme Court put Bush in power in 2000 in spite of the results which clearly showed that Al Gore had won, that I have always felt that when push came to shove, the NY Times will obey their Wall Street masters.

That is what the evidence shows.




Saturday, August 31, 2024

One Republican Strategy for Containing Kamala and Defeating Democracy


Since Kamala Harris is doing well against her opponent, the convicted felon and known abuser of women, Republicans have been working on strategies in case Trump loses the election and can not steal it, as they are certainly planning to do.

My summary of at least one of their strategies is as follows:

First win a majority in the Senate.  With the resignation of Senator Manchin they believe they have a good chance of either winning a 50-50 position or even a 51-49 position.  If they do the latter, they can tie up any legislation and control senate investigations.  According to a survey prediction by thehill.com, the Republicans are favored to win the Senate.

Second, win a majority in the House.  Again, they are favored to win the House of Representatives.

Third, they overwhelmingly control the Supreme Court which has demonstrate a willingness to violate any standard of law or precedence to support extreme Republican positions.

With these three things, or even two of them, the Republicans are confident they can "contain" Kamala Harris and defeat any attempt to improve the country or act in the nation's interest.  Then they can use this to go for the presidency in 2028.

Therefore, although defeating Trump is obviously the highest priority, winning the House and the Senate are essential if we are to do more than just prevent Trump from destroying the country.  We need both houses in order to move the country forward.  And even then, the nation must deal with the right wing and lawless former Supreme Court, something the Democrats, at least, have proven unwilling to do so far.



Republican zombie horde attempting to climb the Statue of Liberty


Monday, August 26, 2024

The Angel's Celebrate the Arrival of Jill's Album


The vinyl for Jill's new double album, Earthly Pleasures, arrived at the house today.  The album is about the secular use of sacred music, among other things.  

The angels celebrate in heaven!







The images were created with Midjourney.

Monday, August 12, 2024

Final Warning

I have tried to avoid writing about either Ukraine or the Israel/Hamas war.  But if I read one more stupid editorial about either, I will be forced to take action.  You have been warned.





Friday, August 9, 2024

More Rendered Images 08/09/2024

Not that any of this particularly matters, here are some images rendered with Arnold that are going up on Instagram.









Monday, August 5, 2024

SIGGRAPH 2024 and Denver Report


This was perhaps one of my most enjoyable and useful SIGGRAPH's for years.  Here is a synopsis of some of the high points.  

A special thank you to Paul Debevec who invited me to a half dozen parties and encouraged me to go to them, and to the exhibit floor, and to papers that I knew nothing about.

Also special thanks to Julian Gomez who somehow found me a technical pass.  The Technical Program costs about $1,000 these days and without it you can not go to the heart of SIGGRAPH. It was wonderful to have.  Some of its value comes from not feeling less than the other participants.

If people is the heart of a SIGGRAPH then this was an excellent SIGGRAPH.  From NYU there was Ken Perlin, Denis Zorin and Aaron Hertzmann.  From UNC we had Henry Fuchs, Turner Whitted, Mary Whitton, Nick England and Mark LeVoy.  From WETA and the ASWF, Kimball Thurston.  From Autodesk we had Marcel de Jong and Frederic Servant (manages Arnold).  From SCAD we had Gray Marshall and Christos Sfetsios (who had a good theory of alien UFOs).  Briefly sat near Debbie Deas.

I made a point of reading every poster and taking pictures of some of them.  Every third poster had the author standing there and you could ask questions.

The good news and the bad news is that there were at least two papers whose ideas I have had and that furthermore I had done work on, but was told they could never be papers.

From the Pioneer's event we learn that Thad Beier passed away several months ago.  

Finally, I stayed at the Motel 6 downtown for about $80/night.  It was not too bad either.  The Uber cost between the hotel and the convention center was about $15 each way.  There is a great train between Denver International Airport and Union Station.  It takes a long time but that is because DIA is way the heck out there.  It turns out there was a decent little cafe in the back of the Hyatt and one can also get healthy food at Target of all places.  The downtown area was all ripped up because of construction.

Denver has a lot of interesting old construction left over from the mining days, I presume.  Too bad it has been discovered, it would be a good place to buy an old house and fix it up.   The Meow Wolf venue was entertaining.  Denver seems to be a "meat town".  It was hard to find decent healthy food for vegetarians.

I came home, of course, and had COVID.

A proud author

Doug Kay and George Joblove

A happy Poster

Robo Doggy

Meow Wolf

A modern data glove

Sunday, August 4, 2024

COVID Again

Came back from SIGGRAPH, felt lousy, took a COVID test and guess what?