Open thread 6/14/21
“I got the lead because I combined a little bit of John Lennon and a little bit of Bob Dylan”:
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
“I got the lead because I combined a little bit of John Lennon and a little bit of Bob Dylan”:
A small report on post-Covid culture. We visited Mohegan Sun (www.mohegansun.com) Saturday; we usually go about every 2 weeks as it’s only 20 min from the house. They have fully opened: no masks, no temperature checks. The place was almost normal. The Wolf Den had it’s first free live band playing in 14 months, and they have already scheduled big name concerts starting in July for the arena. A lot of people there enjoying themselves. What was missing is some restaurants not at full capacity and they still haven’t opened up all the slots. Employee told us that the reason is that they are having major trouble hiring staff back. Sad, people would rather be on the Covid dole than back to work.
Sub culture: the only people I saw in masks while there were about 90% of the African-Americans. Why? I wish I knew. Sort of like the “why, do American Jews vote Democrat?” A cultural mystery to me.
@physicsguy:
Casinos, casinos… tsk tsk…
Did you ever read the tale of Claude Shannon and Ed Thorpe’s Roulette Adventure?
From anecdotal evidence it seems anything catering to the young, or young at heart is surging back quickly, pandemic-wise. Bars, restaurants, flights to party destinations, concert venues, hotels…
As physicsguy noted, staffing is the main logjam, not attracting paying customers.
Dostoyevsky “The Gambler.” The novella reflects Dostoevsky’s own addiction to roulette, which was in more ways than one the inspiration for the book: Dostoevsky completed the novella in 1866 under a strict deadline to pay off gambling debts.
My wife and I walk our many walking and hiking trails on a daily basis. Over the last 8 weeks or so, the mask wearing we encounter is quite odd. Over a couple days we will see 70 or 80% mask wearing, then a few days later it will be 20 or 30%, then back up to 60 or 70%. Part of it could be the variation btween day-tripping tourists and local people. But I wonder if the frequent and conflicting edicts from Fauci, Biden, the CDC, and the local county health director are driving it.
The Novavax vaccine has bee released to the public. It does not function via any genetic or RNA manipulation. That does not necessarily mean it is safer, and I’ve not studied any of the trials info.
Those opening Roger McGuinn cords are amazing. Also, the changing from a 2/4 to 4/4 signature, with the Phil Spector structure is amazing and a fascinating tidbit.
Zaphod, yes I know about those two.
We go purely for enjoyment of an evening out with dinner etc. And we also know slots are the worst game there, but with the modern video machines can be highly entertaining; at least for us. The odds are always in the house’s favor, though with some trial and error you can find those machines that are in the 93% pay range. Also the minimums on slots are in our range, with minimums on blackjack, craps, roulette starting at $20, a 50 cent to $1.50 bet on a slot provides a much longer playing time. I did walk out with $400 more than I walked in with on Saturday. Obviously doesn’t happen often. The usual evening I come out even, or slightly down.
Zaphod:
More Can Do! for you. Maybe it’s why they can’t be trusted with nice things? 84 miles from Hong Kong as the bat flies.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/06/chinese-nuclear-plant-likely-leaking-near-126-million-people-disaster-possible-us-investigating-reports-say/
I had already memorized Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” while walking late at night on the Florida beach of my hometown. I was electrified by the Byrds’ version.
Aside from Jimi Hendrix’s transcendental “All Along the Watchtower,” no one covered Dylan better than the Byrds.
“Chimes of Freedom”
“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”
“My Back Pages”
“The Times They Are A-Changin'”
“You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
@om:
Fear Not… I’ve got On the Beach queued up on my Kindle. All good.
Love the Byrds, but isn’t there also a story about how Judy Collins had a hit with it about the same time?
@PhysicsGuy:
Once had a fly-in planning / scheming session during which a bunch of us hardly left the Macau Venetian for a fortnight. More than slightly surreal experience which the Late Great Umberto Eco would have labeled Hyper-Real. Later, living in Macau for a bit, found myself socialising with guys who specialised in the interior architecture of casinos — there’s a real art to people flow and getting them to stay right where you want them once they’ve gotten there.
Really interesting places and I miss being unable to head over to Macau once or twice a year with the travel restrictions. Only an hour away by high speed ferry and never got a chance to try the new bridge/tunnel before it all got shut down for the duration.
“that sound” – A semi hollowbody Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar.
Love the Byrds, but isn’t there also a story about how Judy Collins had a hit with it about the same time?
Boatbuilder:
Don’t know if she had a hit with “Mr. Tambourine Man,” but Collins did tell a story about having Bob Dylan as a guest, then waking up in the morning to hear him putting the final touches on the song.
Her version is quite beautiful in the folk vein with that crystal voice of hers. I love that one too.
“Mr. Tambourine Man” grabbed my mind when I was 15 and I never got over it.
Polish MREs are where it’s at:
https://bigcountryexpatoriginal.blogspot.com/2021/06/nother-mre.html
The Social Pathologist Blog has been doing a series on de Gaulle.
Posting the link to the final one:
https://socialpathology.blogspot.com/2021/06/de-gaulle-england-and-eu.html
which explains why it’s worth re-visiting de Gaulle.
As so often the case, what we think we know about History is not all of it. The contrarian/revisionist cases may not be all we need to know either… but it’s important to always keep in mind that Victors get to decide what is history. Truism and trite.. but it’s very instructive to see examples where we don’t really have any deep emotional involvement and which we were not taught about at an impressionable age.
More trivia: Judy Collins was the subject of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” written by Steven Stills of Crosby, Stills And Nash. They were in a relationship, and that song documented their breakup. David Crosby (later of CNS) played guitar and sang on “Mr. Tambourine Man”.
The fundamental connectedness of all things…
Argh… “interconnectedness”
What’s going on? I just signed in this morning (6/15) abd every post between 6/12 and the open thread of 6/14 does not appear. Anyone know what is happening?
I’m seeing a scrambled site also.
One of my sisters and her partner are visiting from CA. We live in Maine. Despite the fact that there is no longer a mask mandate anywhere here these two insist on wearing their masks anytime we are in public or in a store. I explained early on that they were unnecessary – many here are vaccinated and they are too – but they insist. They clearly are in fear of catching the virus still. I suspect they are gullible and trusting of government to the point that they cannot unbelieve that the virus is a major threat.
During one conversation they tried to rationalize away the lack of a full lockdown and the end of mask mandates here in Maine by noting the much lower population of Maine compared to CA. I tried to point out that similarly populous states like FL and TX did not do lockdowns and had voluntary mask programs and yet had lower case and death rates than shutdown and fully masked CA. To no avail.
Government and the media have scared the bejesus out of some people, I’m not sure how long, or if, it will take for them to recover.
T, same here. On the main page, I see RIP to Carla Fracci, and then this post.
As to masks: Most people here in NC are not wearing them any more, but there are a few holdouts. I have talked to some of them. Having been scared out of their minds by a virus they’d probably survive, they’re still terrified, even when vaccinated. One lady, who does have health problems, is afraid of the variants she hears about. And our dictatorial governor is still requiring children in school to wear masks, for no discernible reason, since the teachers have access to the vaccines.
Whatever you call it, “dysgenics” or whatever, “Idiocracy” and other fiction of its type is just making the case that the “idiots” are MORE fit for the environment that favors their reproduction.
There’s more than one way to measure, but any list of the most successful life forms would have to include beetles, who don’t need intelligence for what they do. Neither do the eusocial insects; ants and termites are doing pretty well…
To say that something is “dysgenic” is to say that the environment is rewarding traits we don’t like, i. e. what was better suited to a different environment and is thought to have got us to where we are today. In America we typically look to the Revolution, the frontier days or maybe the Depression and WWII, and we compare ourselves now to what we perceive we were then and say what a falling-off there was and project that into the future and call it “dysgenic”.
The future may well belong to the ADHD-afflicted couch potatoes and their smartphones if we create an environment which favors them a la “Idiocracy” or “Wall-E”. But it’s not obvious that it’s morally right to desire an environment that makes us smarter or tougher or more energetic (however you define), seek to avoid changing the environment in a “dysgenic” way, if the corollary is increased human misery.
Evolution “improves” only the fit of a species to its environment. A better fit may require more slowness and stupidity (consider the koala). The organisms that cause gas gangrene are the best at thriving while causing gas gangrene.
The Greatest Generation that survived depression and global war also enjoyed big cars and air conditioning. They didn’t seek to stay poor and at war just to sharpen themselves up. Even the Spartans couldn’t keep that up forever. The revealed preference of practically every human ever is toward more comfort and convenience.
T; Kate; Tommy Jay:
I saw it too, and I don’t know what’s going on. The posts are still on the back end, plus the comments for them, just as before. But they’re not showing on the front page.
I did a test post for today, and it posted. So I’ll see whether it’s a continuing problem. I’ll also try to fix it, of course, and make the old posts show up again. That could take some time.
I hate glitches like this.
Another thing I noticed is that some of the comments that are showing on this thread are from one of the disappeared threads. I think the clue is in that fact.
The 6/14 open thread is not visible from the front page, but the 6/15 open thread is. However, clicking on the 6/15 open thread comments from the front page takes one here, not the new open thread comments. Clicking on the 6/15 open thread title takes one to a thread without comments. FYI.
And it is not just comments from the 6/14 open thread that are here, but the video from 6/14 at the top. The 6/15 one is not.
Someone might not notice this after clicking “xx Replies”, since that takes you to the comments. It is apparent by scrolling up.
Fixed. Everything should be showing properly now.
“that sound” – A semi hollowbody Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar.
Johann Amadeus Metesky:
From George Harrison to Roger McGuinn to Tom Petty. Here’s a fun comparison of the Byrd’s “I’d Feel a Whole Lot Better’ and Petty’s cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xua_PilOPtU
Love those ringin’ Rickenbacker guitars!