I Have no Faith in the People

At the end of the day there are some things that have happened and its hard to see that the relationship between the people and this country and its government can ever be the same.

No matter what I think or how things turn out with Trump I have to accept that a large number of Americans approve of that pig and dont think that any of the fundamental principles that I keep hearing about matter. The evidence that Trump is a criminal who tried to steal the election and who is undermining faith in this country for his own selfish purposes is as clear as it could be. Yet Americans, many Americans, love it. And they are racist. And they dont mind destroying national security as long as they get their pig and force policies down the throat of the majority of Americans. They dont give a fuck.

The electoral college still exists. It is completely plausible that the pig might win or steal the next election. Biden has done a good job but his numbers dont show it. If Trump becomes president again you can kiss your quasi democracy goodbye.

I have no faith in these people and it can never be forgiven. I am very disappointed.

Preparing for Siggraph 2023

The archaic remnant of a (formerly) important conference about the technology, aesthetics and practice of what was once an experimental form of art and media, so-called computer graphics, starts today.  I have a feeling that this will be a pleasant year.  I am disenfranchised from any contribution to production, to education, and to research in this field that used to be my home.  One could reasonably ask why do I bother to even attend?  

 

There are several plausible answers to this question.  Sentimentality.  A desire to follow through.  The hope that I will meet a new or old collaborator and move forward. But I am probably wasting my time and my energy might be better spent in a totally new direction.

 

Another Old Friend Needs to Be Abandoned

Perhaps I would prefer not to know too much about old friends.  About 1988, NAME REDACTED lent Brad and I a Mitchell Camera for our test for the Abyss.  This was the famous YFS camera.  He went off to work with Rene Daalder, blessed be his name, who was an incredibly talented and self-destructive director who somehow acquired the rights to a variety of Beatles songs and attempted to make a film called "Strawberry Fields".  Lots of time was wasted and no movie got made, and I lost track of my friend. He reappeared just recently because I wanted material to do a memorial web page about Rene.  

 

And that is the problem because now I learn that REDACTED is a supporter of RFK, JR and a believer in a variety of vaccine conspiracy theories.  On top of that he is in business with Steve Churchill of "The Minds Eye" fame.  Well, the Minds Eye stole the Symbolics work and rescored it and did all this without a shred of permission from the creators of that work. 

 

And so, I have blocked my former friend and it makes me sad to know that he has lost his mind and keeps bad company.   The irony is that my former friend made a living for 18 years doing science visualization and yet he is one of the anti-science nuts.

 

I am not sure what the point of this is, beyond the idea that we have all changed by the last 20 years of politics in this country and not all friends from the past make the cut.

Trump, Rape, Republicans, Ethics

 

Which is worse: having a candidate who is a known rapist or failing to act on that knowledge and disqualify the miscreant?  

I was not really aware that Trump is a serial rapist and abuser of women until recently.  I thought he was just an entitled jerk who said stupid things when the microphone was on ("grab them by the pussy").  But no, there are no less than 26 women who have brought complaints against him and the things they complain about is not an off-color comment in the work place. I suppose we should give him credit for being honest about his abuse, i.e. he literally meant "grab them by the pussy" but it makes me very unhappy.

We have a lot of abused women, we have a Republican party that could not be honest or ethical to save their life, we have a jerk who became president of this country because the electorate supported a known rapist, a justice system that couldn't commit justice in even an extreme case, and a news media that could not be bothered to remind people that Trump is a rapist.  

Its extremely clear that our system of government is failing the people and that we have a lot of citizens who are either severely deluded or so blinded by their lust for power that they are willing to ignore the clearest evidence.

Its so boring.

Here is a good article from The New Yorker that goes over the abuse of women in more detail.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/documenting-trumps-abuse-of-women

Trump/Republican Non Stop BS Emitter

I wonder if it would be possible for something to happen around or involving Donald Trump that did not result in some astonishing series of bluster and lies.  I would think he would be tired of this by now, but obviously not.  He received a letter from Jack Smith, the special counsel, saying he was under investigation for activities involving the insurrection of Jan 6.  His response is typically self serving and out of touch with reality.  I wonder when this will ever end? 

“On Sunday night, while I was with my family...HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” said Mr Trump. “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.”

Rent and Salary in California 2023

This post works backwards from the cost of a small 1 bedroom in Santa Barbara to what you would have to make per hour if you were a part time worker.  

It is said that a person should spend approximately 1/3 of their income on housing, be that rent or mortgage.  It isn't all that clear to me whether this recommendation is before or after taxes, so we will examine both.  It is believed that Santa Barbara is expensive and that may be so, but it is only slightly pricey relative to many other parts of coastal California.  And of course California is expensive in various ways but also has a lot of advantages.  So we will work with Santa Barbara and then suggest an adjustment factor if you happen to be living in another state outside of a major metropolitan area.

Rent for a 1 bedroom in Santa Barbara in 2023 starts about $2,500 / month which means you would have to make a salary of $7,500 / month to live here or $90,000 / year.  Now federal and state taxes on $90,000 in California is about $25,861 / year which reduces your net salary to $64,139 or $5,345 / month.  If we take rent out of that it will leave $2,845 / month for all other expenses be they food, medical, savings, education, debt, and so forth.  

But I think when they say 1/3 of your salary on rent, they mean 1/3 of your net salary, which translates to approximately $135,000 / year gross salary.  This will leave the individual $5,000 / month for all other expenses and savings which seems reasonable.  

So lets take these two numbers ($90,000 and $135,000) as the limits of our calculations.  How much must you make per hour to live in Santa Barbara.  Well, if you are full time that would mean 52 weeks of 5 days per week or 40 hours a week.  That would mean 52*40 which is 2080 hours per year.  At 90,000 $US you would need to make approximately $43/hour.  To make $135,000 you would need to make about $65/hour.  

But the reality is that most people who are freelance do not work 40 hours a week all year long so they would need to make more than this per hour when they are working to support themselves.

Therefore we now know what one needs to make to live in a minimum place in Santa Barbara and that is between $43 and $65 per hour.   Maybe you live in Providence, Rhode Island or Eugene, Oregon in which case you might adjust these numbers down by as much as 1/3. 

Last time I checked minimum wage or Walmarts salaries were no where near that amount.  Do the math, government, and tell me what you think people should do.

Arise Ye Believers in Bipartisan Compromise! Your Moment has Arrived!

Perhaps the Republicans have created an opportunity for the great American tradition of bipartisan compromise to create a new synthesis and a happy solution may arise which is not perfect but is not too bad either.

The House of Representatives, controlled by a tiny majority of self-righteous Republicans, has violated yet another tradition of American Governance which has traditionally put national defense before partisan politics.  The House has, it would seem, violated this principle and attached their right wing nuttiness as a rider to the omnibus defense bill. One such rider says that the military can not give leave or support to any woman who wishes an abortion in a state which prohibits it. This is of course a big problem for the US Military who has many women in uniform who are of child bearing age.  You can't be in the Marines and be pregnant even if it is peacetime.  That is ridiculous and would make it impossible for many women to serve their country in this way.  What can be done? 

The answer is obvious to those with eyes to see. The rider should be allowed to stand, but perhaps with a delay of lets say 24 months. This will allow the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard time to move their bases from Red states to Blue states where abortion is permitted.  Of course this will be expensive and sadly the Red states may see *some* financial penalties from all that federal money that formerly was pumped into their economies now transferred to another location.  But you cant make an omelet without breaking eggs and it seems to me that honor on all sides is thus preserved.

Death by Opera at the Hollywood Bowl

We went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Verdi's Requiem as conducted by Gustav Dudamel.  For those of you not up on your classical music snobbery, Dudamel, the acclaimed conductor of the LA Philharmonic has spit on Los Angeles and is moving to NY and the NY Philharmonic.  The political and cultural issues here are mind boggling and you may as well have a subway series between the Mets and the Dodgers for all the hatred and polarization this invokes in certain circles.

As for the Opera, I was determined for once to follow along and one more time, even with English subtitles, I was thwarted.  It seems to be a tradition to give the fake text to the audience and the real text to the singers in order to hide the banality and all the repetitions. Listen, people, I get it. You are trying to spare us but don't spare us.  I could track the Latin for several seconds ("Kyrie Eleison") but that is no great feat.  Also the meaning is usually pretty clear.  

We had a lot of "Lord Have Mercy", in Latin of course, and "Raise them up from the dead, Oh Lord, raise them up from dirt, then judge them and send them to Hell for all Eternity".  Lovely sentiment, and I appreciated hearing that over and over again.  This will probably be the last time I try to endure a classical opera without a fast forward button.  Yes I know, Pearls before Swine, but who is the pearl and who is the swine?  

But it was a lovely night, the bowl is always a great place to hear music, we had box seats (courtesy of composer Jill Fraser), and great company.  The bowl has had a huge upgrade of ancillary amenities.  The gift shop sells recordings in vinyl!  Yes, that fabulous analog LP (long playing) contact technology.   Everything old is new again. 

There has been major audio engineering at the Bowl. I don't know any details but there is massive, exotic hardware above and in front of that stage.  Some of it is for lighting, no doubt, but much of it is for audio.  There are two towers and three audio arrays that can be adjusted in height.  I am sure there are some interesting stories there.

Do we really not have a "no fly" rule over the Greek Theatre and the Hollywood Bowl? I mean, pardon me, but what the fuck?

Maureen Nappi

Unfortunately, I just heard that Maureen Nappi has passed away.

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-maureen-nappi-ph-d-2a1b0511/

Nutty Russian Conspiracy Theory

Russia used to be the home of nutty conspiracy theories. This one comes from a Russian observer who writes for DailyKOS. I think this one is pretty good. 

The idea is that Putin and Mr. Wagner are in cahoots and this is all about establishing Wagner (whose name I can neither pronounce nor spell) as a wildly impulsive nutty guy, who goes to Belarus, seizes the nuclear weapons, and threatens to nuke something unless the US/Nato stops supporting Ukraine. The idea suggests that Mr. Wagners rants were all backstory to this and that they needed to put someone who appears to be nutty into the loop because Putin is considered too rational to do this. 

Unlike many nutty theories, this one can easily be tested because of its predictive nature. Lets see what happens in the next week or two with the nukes in Belarus. 

I hope I have not wasted your time with this but have contributed to your day.