What About "What-About-Ism"?

 
I have recently been accused of using "what about ism" as a rhetorical device and I am told in no uncertain terms that it is an unacceptable technique.  This blog post will discuss some of the issues as I attempt to understand what my position will be on this matter.  I may have to change my position after this exercise.

There are several types of "what about ism", I propose, and each of these deserves their own discussion.

In the first case, someone argues "what about <blah>" where <blah> is an assertion of some fact that turns out not be true.  Someone might excuse Donald Trump's criminal activities by saying "What about Hillary Clinton?  She had non-consensual sex with children in pizza parlors".  Obviously this did not happen and so this kind of "what about ism" is or should be invalid.

The second case might be called "the false equivalency".  In this case, someone might argue that sure, Donald Trump abused women but "Hillary Clinton once got a traffic ticket for speeding.  What about that?".   It may be that Hillary was once caught speeding, I have no idea, but it is irrelevant.  Again, easy to dismiss.

The third situation is more problematic.  In this case, the case is made that whoever is making the accusations are guilty of the same crimes or worse and has no moral right to make the accusations.  I see this kind of problem every day of the week, and it is a variation of the aphoris "Let those who are without sin throw the first stone".

Finally a variation on the above is less about who has created the worst sin but merely to point out that invariably the accusation is made of "the other".  Here one might say something along the lines of "Maybe it would be best if you led by example".

On Valerio Street, They Wait for a Customer

 
God forbid, LA or Van Nuys would do anything to help the women who hook for a living on a cold night.  Maybe a coffee shop where they can wait in warmth and have their customers vetted for VD and other issues.  No, not in LA, LA doesn't give a fuck.

Pictures courtesy of MidJourney

Notes on "The Mind's Eye"

In 1987 I was the Producer of the pioneering computer animated short “Stanley and Stella in Breaking the Ice.” It was a showcase for storytelling in the fledgling medium of computer animation. It also featured the recently developed “boids” model of flocking/schooling, and demonstrated the capabilities of graphics products from Symbolics, Inc. A 2023 remastered video can be seen here (https://archive.org/details/stanley-and-stella-in-breaking-the-ice-original-symbolics-tapes-restored-remastered-1080p).

Our animation premiered at the Electronic Theater of the SIGGRAPH 1987 conference. (This was the same year as “Red's Dream” from PIXAR whose “Toy Story” would come out eight years later.) Narrative computer animation was in its infancy.

Then in 1990, a modified version of our animation appeared in a collection called “The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey.” I was reminded of this by an upcoming 2024 screening and presentation in San Francisco: The Mind’s Eye with Steven Churchill (https://grayarea.org/event/the-minds-eye-with-steven-churchill-screening/).

I recalled being surprised back in the 1990s finding our animation included in “The Mind's Eye”, re-titled, re-scored, and stripped of its credits. To the best of my knowledge (and of the rest of the production crew, and Symbolics’ management) the producers of Mind’s Eye never sought nor received permission to use our animation in their compilation. Tom McMahon, General Manger of Symbolics Graphics Division at the time, and Executive Producer of the animation said: “This is water long under the bridge, but back then, we were all astonished to see that without permission, someone had taken our work, repackaged it, and then resold it.”

If anyone knows of any evidence that Symbolics granted permission to use “Breaking the Ice” in “The Mind's Eye” I would be quite interested in seeing it.

One of the awards our film received:

Collegiate Reunion Redux

I sincerely hope that this post and related emails do not annoy my fellow alumni.  If it does, well accept my apologies.

If you attended Collegiate in Richmond, VA then this post is for you.  If you didn't please do us both a favor and go away. 

The reunion at Collegiate last September was a complete screwup for me because I arrived in Richmond (for the first time in REDACTED years) with COVID.  This is not good because I really wanted closure on this part of my life that would only come from 1 on 1 interaction with people who I havent seen for REDACTED years.  This bums me out not least because the organizers worked so hard and with such diligence.

So what I want to do is as follows:  1. Get in touch with whoever I can via the bold new internet and have some minimal interaction, 2. Maybe even have a zoom call with one or two of you, 3. Try to get some answers about some mysteries / questions that I have, 4. Find out what happened to a bunch of our instructors, and finally 5. At some point come back to Richmond and see a few of you as available.

For those of you who wonder what took so long, when I came back from Richmond I was (a) sick, (b) about to enter a medical disaster because of my incompetent doctors (c) about to move from Santa Barbara to LA to move in with my girlfriend, and (d) processing what had happened and what I thought about it.  At the same time, not everyone was willing to reply to my (pathetic?) emails.  And I started processing the Torch and discovered that I remembered all the guys, did not recognize most of the girls, and was completely baffled by a time skew between the boys and girls classes, and was shocked to see I recognized all the instructors.

What happened to them?  Where are they now?  Are any still alive?  And where are you, my fellow students?  What city(-ies) do you live in?  What do you look like?  Married?  Children?  Dogs?  Anyone still in prison?  What?  

So far I am in touch with Chuck Rogers, Chris Conlon, Janie Katzenberg Asch, Ed Jones, Bob Siff and Mary Ellen.

The tag below marked Reunion should link you to any other posts about this.

Please contact me at michael.wahrman@gmail.com and let me know.

Thank you,

MW

Moderate reunion success: email has been sent to Charles Strauss, Lewis Little, Paul Sikorovsky, Buzzy Northen and of course Bob Siff, Mary Ellen, Ed Jones and Chris Conlon.  More to follow.  Let there be a non official official reunion in september.

Knight's Templar and my Friend Speer

 Not everyone who is a right wing Trump supporter is a nut, but Steve Speer sure is.  Stay away from him is my advice.

This is an image of the Knight's Templar courtesy of Midjourney.  That was our topic of discussion.

Drone and Child in Graveyard

 
I tried to get Midjourney to create a picture of a drone using facial recognition on a statue of a child in a graveyard.  I spent very little time on it and I did not get what I wanted.  Still for the amount of time I spent it is not too bad, I think.

Ancient Roman Frescoes with MidJourney and AI

Here are some examples of "ancient roman frescoes" as created with Midjourney.  One is of an inscription foretelling doom, two are of sea creatures, and one is of a Cthulu-like creature from space.  I find that one is much better off to tell MidJourney what kind of style or artist's work to use as a template than to let it default to its own banal choices.

Doom is foretold

Roman fish of some sort

Cthulu, where are you?

My Friend as a Seat Filler at the Academy Awards (tm)

So you attended the Academy Awards(tm) ?


"Yes. As a seat filler. There must have been 100 of us. So to keep the seats full for the camera. 4 of us were assigned the front row center seats where Jack Nicholson always sat, and watched the awards for hairstyling and makeup. They moved us around during commercials as members would go out for a drink or restrooms. My last seat was in the third row next to DeNiro and his wife, and Scorcese was right behind. I had to say hi to both. Jodi Foster and Annette Bening were 2 rows in front and Tim Robbins was right behind. Across the aisle were Billie Eilish and Ryan Gosling, who switched to a pink sequined outfit for his I am Ken extravaganza where he led like 80 men in a synchronized dance. What a strange and transient experience."

Picture by Midjourney

No More Comments on a Facebook Group

I made some pithy comment on a facebook group about "Virtual Beings".  And my comment was removed by the administrator who didn't like it.  So I removed myself from that group and the lesson is learned.  No more comments on Facebook groups.  Total waste of my time.

From the Special Counsel

Although the US Government has consistently failed to bring Trump to justice for his crimes, there is evidence that some people or groups are at least trying.  Here the Special Counsel replies to Trump's insistence that he was only doing what Joe Biden and others have done with classified documents: 


[T]here has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s. He intentionally took possession of a vast trove of some of the nation’s most sensitive documents—documents so sensitive that they were presented to the President—and stored them in unsecured locations at his heavily trafficked social club. When the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) initially sought their return (before learning that they contained classified national defense information), Trump delayed, obfuscated, and dissembled. Faced with the possibility of legal action, he ostensibly agreed to comply with NARA’s requests but in fact engaged in additional deception, returning only a fraction of the documents in his possession while claiming that his production was complete. Then, when presented with a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of the remaining documents bearing classification markings, Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government. Failing in his effort to corrupt the attorney, Trump enlisted his trusted body man, codefendant Waltine Nauta, in a scheme to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his (Trump’s) continued possession of classified documents. As a result, Trump, through his attorney, again returned only a portion of the classified documents in his possession while falsely claiming that his production was complete. The obstructive conduct even persisted from there. In June 2022, knowing that he had arranged for Nauta to move boxes to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, and knowing that the government had subpoenaed the security video footage that would reveal that surreptitious box movement, Trump, now joined by not only Nauta but also codefendant Carlos De Oliveira, attempted to have the information-technology manager at Mar-aLago delete the video footage that would show the movement of boxes.


Let there be no doubt in your mind, if you or I had done even 10 % of the crimes for which Trump is being prosecuted, we would be spending 20 years to life in solitary confinement.  

Disabled and Devout on Sepulveda Blvd

I drove to Western Bagels.  On the sidewalk down the block was a crippled or deformed person, probably homeless, very dirty, maybe without legs, praying.  Rocking back and forth and prostrated and praying.  To Mecca?

Image by Midjourney.  The actual person was much more crippled and dirty.

What Happened to the Van Nuys Air Show?

Once upon a time, long ago but as recently as 2006, the City and County of Los Angeles had a pretty wonderful air show at the Van Nuys Airport.  It attracted people from all over the city and the region.  It was cross generational and attendance was a tradition for many people and families.

Air shows are a way to see some exotic hardware and learn about the history of aviation.  Los Angeles was and is a center of aviation innovation and history. Many of the pioneers of aerospace such as Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, TRW as well as hundreds of smaller companies were located here.    It is right and proper for the city to host an air show.  

So what happened?  Apparently the city sold out the air show because rich people and corporations wanted more space to store their jets.  The city said it did it for the money but some people believe the real reason was that they wanted to kiss the ass of their masters and show proper deference.   After all who cares about a festival beloved by the citizens of Los Angeles?  Certainly not us, the politicians thought.  

If the city had really wanted money, all it had to do was to lease the space to the rich for 11 months of the year and have the air show during the 12th month when the rich would have to fly their jets somewhere else, perhaps the Bahamas, or the South of France or Bali.  Or the rich people's jets could even be part of the show.  No problem.  But that is not what the city chose to do. 

I have heard that the government of the City and County of Los Angeles is corrupt and there is evidence for that.  But another explanation is that they are just not very good at their job and are indifferent to the lives and well-being of the people who for one reason or another have to live here. Our public servants are not pretending to be shallow and incompetent.  They are shallow and incompetent.  They are true to their values.

A visualization of private jet area of Van Nuys Airport courtesy of MidJourney.

No Response From Our Public Servants

 
Jill and I wrote a letter to our various local city and state representatives asking them if they would not mind looking at and possibly addressing a half dozen or so issues on our street. It was a very nice letter and we sent it to all possible relevant parties.

You know: maybe less prostitutes on the street, take down the overhead power lines, remove the derelict buildings, and modify Sepulveda Blvd so that it appeared that people who were expected to live here could do so with dignity and with some of the amenities that the rich white folk have in other parts of this Ciudad de Los Angeles.

We got one letter returned without forwarding address but no other response.  Not even a form letter or a robocall from a digital assistant.  How rude.  What were we thinking?  That the city of LA cares about its citizens?

Now we get to call their office and see if they even got the letter.  Yes, we know there is very little chance that anything will come of this.  But we think it is worth a little of our time to try and have our elected representatives do their job.

Politicians asleep courtesy of MidJourney

The letter:

Appeals Justices with a Pop Culture Spin

 

Using Midjourney to visualize three appeals court justices as the Joker.  Not exactly what I wanted but not bad for 5 minutes work, either.

Reasons Why the Democrats Will Lose in 2024

 
I am convinced that the Democrats will lose the White House in 2024.  Not everyone agrees with this pessimistic assessment.  But in this post I will go over some of the reasons why I think this is so.  

Of course "prediction is hard, especially about the future" and I could be wrong, and let there be no doubt that a second Trump administration would be the end of democracy in this country.  A right wing fascist society and a great victory for Putin.  Death to NATO and death to Ukraine.  The decline of America accelerated by an order of magnitude.  So Democrats will vote for Biden, right?  Maybe not.

Consider some of the fuckups of the last few years.  The Democratic Party controlled the White House and both houses of Congress but could not be bothered to fix the supreme court because ... because ... oh just because.  They could have passed an amendment to do something about the electoral college or keep the supreme court from throwing elections but they didnt because ... you know.  The Department of Justice threw away two full years to start the process to bring Trump to justice but they failed to even start until they were practically forced to and now its too late.  Trump will be reelected and that will be the end of that.  They knew something was up with the classified documents long before they acted.  They could have passed something to protect abortion rights but they didnt.  They could have reinforced voting rights but they didn't.  They could have started the ball rolling on repealing Citizens United but they didn't.  They could have passed legislation to help protect Europe from insanity by Republicans whether or not Trump gets reelected.  Those traitors are sure to be in the White House one day and Putin will be cheering.

Most of all they refused to listen to their base who begged them to do something, anything, and they refused to act.  So pick your favorite issue that they failed on and ask yourself why people should vote to continue this shitshow when the loyal Democratic base is ignored.  Some people will pick Israel (long before Gaza), some people will pick the Supreme Court, some people will pick the rule of law as it applies to rich people.  The point is, whatever you believe in, the Democrats let you down.  The Democratic Party elite is relying on the Democratic Party base to look beyond all that and keep on voting no matter what because ... well because Trump, and that is not a bad reason, but the fact is that we are tired of that.  How about our representatives do something for a change?  But they have failed to listen in the past, should we believe that will change going forward?  Why?

Poor little Democrat donkey doesnt know what hit it.  

Illustrations by MidJourney.

Why is REDHAT so Awful?

I am not a Debian weenie.  I have been using REDHAT more or less constantly for over a decade.  True, I have been using the Centos variety of REDHAT but nevertheless.  But why oh why does the Redhat site need to be such a bureaucratic mess?  Why so difficult to use?  Why is everything such a pain in the ass.  And good luck getting support.  ChatGPT would be a blessing over what they have now.

Illustrations courtesy of Midjourney.

"Strongmen" by Ben Ghiat

The following book by Ben-Ghiat is an excellent discussion of the history of several prominent autocracies since Mussolini.  In particular it goes over how the Trump administration and playbook resembles Gaddafi, Pinochet, Mussolini, Berlusconi, Putin and so forth.

America may think it is different than the others but this book argues otherwise.

https://www.amazon.com/Strongmen-Mussolini-Present-Ruth-Ben-Ghiat/dp/0393868419/ref=asc_df_0393868419/

LACMA Is Not as Bad as Expected

By all accounts the new LACMA is a train wreck.  We took a trip there and it is a mess but not quite as bad as expected.  Still, they should have done better.

There is no explanation anywhere of the work being done and when it can be expected.  Nothing that I saw.  The visitor is just exposed to a mess of construction with no guidance.  By happenstance we found a worker who would explain things to us.  

The new building is nowhere near done.  It wont be done in 2024, I doubt it will be done in 2025.   It does cross over Wilshire Blvd to make use of the space that LACMA owned across the street.  It looks interesting and contrary to what I was told it must have more exhibition space than the older buildings.  If it doesnt then that is a disaster.  Maybe it will have "better" exhibition space.   

The Bing theatre, site of so many happy memories, is gone and our guide explained there will be a new theatre in the basement of the new building.  That is nice, but no one would know this by inspecting the site.

The plaza is a wreck with no space to sit down not associated with the very pretentious but not very good restaurant.  Expensive.  What happened to the place you could sit down and get a salad or a simple hot entry?  All gone.  We ate outside because the inside smelled of grease.  The outside was subjected to jack hammers.  Not pleasant.

Two exhibition spaces were open.  One in the new building from 30 years ago, and the other in a building where the parking lot for the May Co used to be.  Of course the new old building was presentable and has some of the permanent exhibition.  We did not get to the parking lot building.

The Page Museum is still there and is entertaining for a few hours.  Lots of exhibits are out of order. The Bison is still there.  We did not go to the 3D theatre.  The internal rain forest or whatever it is seemed less interesting than I remembered but better than a stick in the eye. The shop is fun but no more Giant Sloth hand puppets.

The Japanese pavilion is closed and no one knows if it will be reopened.

The neighborhood is a wreck.  The businesses look like a tornado hit them.  The Folk and Craft Art museum is still there with a new paint job.  We did not go in.  "The Egg and Eye" is long gone.

We did not go to the Academy Museum.  After the expensive but unpleasant lunch I just wanted to get out of there.

I can see why people are upset but still it should be a suitable space when it is all done.  It did not make a great impression.

The Concept of the "Continuing Education PhD"

All the people who matter got their PhD at the correct time, in sequence, as approved by society.  Nobody who matters tries to get their PhD later in life as circumstances allowed.  Those people are scum, and are not permitted nor will they ever be respected or accepted.

But there are such people who feel that they need to try and get the information and training necessary to operate at the higher levels and who want the credential.  Of course these people are outsiders and of course these people will not be able to have an academic career and that is a given.  Nevertheless, this is what they see as an essential part of their life and no one can tell them otherwise.  

Since there is no path for such people in our society I propose that we make one.  Lets call it "Continuing Education PhD" which I think cuts to the chase.  Yes they will be treated with contempt but they are trying and society should allow for it.

Homeless person studying