Cavalcade of Mammals

The Hamilton Hustle: Why liberals have embraced our most dangerously reactionary founder by Matt Stoller
GOP Bill Would Let Your Employer Demand to See Your Genetic Information by Eric Levitz

A brief and mundane history of being a woman by El Jones
The geometry of weird-shaped dice
The U.S. Tax Code Actually Doesn’t “Soak the Rich” by Nick Buffie
Unspeakable Realities Block Universal Health Coverage In The US by Chris Ladd
Yes, Your Sleep Schedule Is Making You Sick by Richard A. Friedman

The Crazification Factor

John: Hey, Bush is now at 37% approval. I feel much less like Kevin McCarthy screaming in traffic. But I wonder what his base is —

Tyrone: 27%.

John: … you said that immmediately, and with some authority.

Tyrone: Obama vs. Alan Keyes. Keyes was from out of state, so you can eliminate any established political base; both candidates were black, so you can factor out racism; and Keyes was plainly, obviously, completely crazy. Batshit crazy. Head-trauma crazy. But 27% of the population of Illinois voted for him. They put party identification, personal prejudice, whatever ahead of rational judgement. Hell, even like 5% of Democrats voted for him. That’s crazy behaviour. I think you have to assume a 27% Crazification Factor in any population.

‘Everyone cherry picking’ is not the problem. Those interested in accurate news can get from most newspapers, ABC/NBC/CBS/NPR/BBC/CNN etc. We’re in the third phase of the Republican rejection of reality.

First there was creationism, climate denial, smoking is safe, pollution is harmless reality denial by interested parties, plus entirely fictional stories on the margins–John Birch society news and Ron Paul’s gold buggery newsletter.

Second came the Republican news phenomenon–Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and then a host of web sites hyping or making up stories to keep the Republican base angry and afraid–the Sandy Hook massacre is a hoax by the govt to take your guns, Hillary is a lesbian and her advisors are terrorists, Obama can’t speak without a teleprompter, discrimination against white people is a huge problem, a new manufactured story every week, sometimes every day.

And now Trump is building on this. Just like he attacked every Republican critic during the primaries, now he attacks the press every time they write a critical article in his childish way–saying the stories are deliberate lies, ‘fake news’, written just to personally attack him. And Republican voters, conditioned by years of attacks on every news organizations that doesn’t tailor their reporting to the Republican party’s interests, bob their heads in agreement.

And the wide network of Republican opinion writers and commentators write diligently to support Trump. If Trump lies, they look around for a way to make it sound true. The White House is disorganized, so they write ‘bold change agents’. The White House is ignorant and unprepared becomes ‘breaking the establishment way of doing things’. During the campaign, Trump lied and said he had a ‘secret plan to defeat ISIS’, and Republican commentators wrote in support, yes, he must keep it a secret, and it will surely be better than Obama’s plan.

This is a phenomenon of both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. This is mainly a Republican slide into irrationality and delusion.

This single ‘partisan’ axis doesn’t cover it. Stories in Mother Jones are factually true and written from a left perspective, e.g., higher wages for workers is a good thing. MSNBC writes news stories based on sources and documentation, but their commentators include both liberals and conservatives. Fox News often runs stories that are factually incorrect and support the correctness of conservative aims. The WSJ news operation is conventionally fact-based and conservative, “The market is up today on news of stagnant wages.” while their opinion page makes far right arguments often based on fake statistics and premises. NPR’s stories often include comments by experts–a expert on water pollution, an economist, a expert on trade, someone who studies immigration, but usually also includes a comments by, say, the polluting company or the big bank featured in a story. This gets NPR branded as ‘liberal’. NPR’s economic and business reporting is conventional and conservative.

Stock Grant Sizes In Pre-IPO Tech Companies
Adorable Swedish Tradition Has Its Roots in Human Experimentation
Trump Is the Boss From Hell
Bernie Sanders’ Hack Lets You Call White House, whitehouseinc.org
Keep It Simple and Take Credit by Jack Meserve

Gov. Rauner hires former Comptroller Munger as deputy governor
To my Jewish, Irish, Asian and Italian friends
KKK, American Nazi Party praise Trump’s hiring of Bannon

This Far-Right Tweet About “The Future That Liberals Want” Backfired Into A Huge Meme

Chicago SF clubs and events:
MythInk is a club for fantasy, sci-fi, and horror writers of Columbia College
Might still be local: National Space Society Director, Public Affairs Vice President, and Education & Outreach Chair. Enterprise in Space Technical Adviser, Science & Educational Outreach Director, Lynne F. Zielinsk
Chicago Society’s 2016 Conference Space: Speculation and Exploration
This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains The World

I’ve seen comments that Betsy DeVos (married into the Amway pyramid scheme) is unqualified to be Sec. of Education. This is Republican government–Republicans want to destroy much of the Federal government. They were circumspect about in the past, but the Republican party has become more extreme, gotten more power, and feels less need to mask their objective. When a Republican is elected, the Sec. of Education is tasked with destroying public schools and funneling government support to private Christian schools. This has the dual goals of destroying teacher unions (to cut teacher pay) and funneling public money to for profit school corporations. And recall, the Religious Right, modern white political Christianity, was created in the fight over government subsidies for private whites-only Christians schools started to circumvent desegregation.

A Republican Sec. of the Interior is tasked with giving public lands to mining and lumber companies. A Republican Dept. of Justice shuts down enforcement of Civil Rights laws, anti-trust enforcement, and lets companies cheat their customers. A Republican Labor department is tasked with reducing worker safety and enforcement of honest pay laws. A Republican EPA Administrator is tasked with not enforcing (and eliminating where possible) clean water and clean air laws. The head of the Energy Dept. doles out subsidies to the oil and coal industry, and he works with Interior to give these companies protected Federal lands and works with the EPA to to legalize the industry’s pollution.

A note on Donald Trump. When he takes office tomorrow, he will be in violation of a Constitutional ban on receiving money from foreign interests, “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” Trump still owns his company, and it takes in payments from foreigners in many ways. Since being elected, he has used his status as President-elect multiple times to meet with foreign officials and press them for help with his company’s business deals. Trump will also be in violation of the Constitution in another way. Trump properties in the US receive favorable tax treatment (tax abatements and rebates), these are a common part of real estate deals. The President is banned from receiving payments from the States under the Constitution. Trump has refused to sell his business, and plans to use the Presidency to increase his wealth. This is plain corruption, using the office of the Presidency for illegitimate private gain.

A don’t expect that conservatives will complain about Trump’s violation of the Constitution. Many conservatives have taken to calling themselves ‘Constitutional Conservatives’, but they will not utter a peep about Trump’s violation of these Constitutional anti-corruption measures. ‘Constitutional Conservative’ was always a proud name for shabby blanket opposition to President Obama. It was always about partisanship for them, not law or the Constitution. Trump’s self dealing will not attract the attention of the Republican majority Congress, they will do little or no investigation, nor demand Trump follow the rules laid out in the Constitution. Republicans will retreat to the President Nixon’s “If the President does it, it’s not illegal” excuse.

My Samsung CLP-415NW printer was giving a A1-4111 error. I found a post saying that this can be caused by a toner sensor electromagnet failing to hit the correct position because a foam pad squishes up. After removing the front door (remove black plastic extenders, pull up left side of door to pop out hinge), the front plastic piece, and the right side plastic case, the electromagnet can be uncovered. The electromagnet assembly can be removed with one screw, and pulled out for easier access. I added a 3-4 layers of masking tape to build up the pad. This cleared up the issue.

Meme: Trump learned discipline, respect, and hard work because his father sent him to a military academy.

Trump was such an insufferable a**hole, he failed out of his comfy private school and his dad sent him to a private military school. Because of this, Trump says “I always felt that I was in the military” and that he had “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.”. Trump actually avoided service in Vietnam using 4 education deferments and then a Y-1 medical deferment for “heel spurs”. In college, Trump played football, tennis and squash. Trump has never held a job or done an honest day’s work in his life.

Repairing a Canon EF lens, photos

Rep. Meadows targets campus rape rule
The Republican Congress’s priority is eliminating rules to prevent rape on College campuses. The ‘Freedom Caucus’ is all about the freedom to rape. Republicans, the pro-rape party. Terrible headline–by quoting Rep. Meadows, it affirms his opinion of the rules.

what vichy france can teach us about the normalization of state violence by Aliza Luft
“…in August 1940, even before France and Germany embarked upon an official collaboration, the French Catholic episcopate formally endorsed the Vichy regime’s first anti-Semitic decree, the Statut des Juifs. Shortly thereafter, the State Council, Vichy’s highest judicial body, purged all Jews from public office. Simultaneously, more Catholics were ushered into government appointments than at any time since 1878.”

Leia Organa: A Critical Obituary by Malcolm Sheppard

Nixon’s Vietnam Treachery By JOHN A. FARRELL

To them all, Nixon insisted that he had not sabotaged Johnson’s 1968 peace initiative to bring the war in Vietnam to an early conclusion. “My God. I would never do anything to encourage” South Vietnam “not to come to the table,” Nixon told Johnson, in a conversation captured on the White House taping system.

Now we know Nixon lied. A newfound cache of notes left by H. R. Haldeman, his closest aide, shows that Nixon directed his campaign’s efforts to scuttle the peace talks, which he feared could give his opponent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, an edge in the 1968 election. On Oct. 22, 1968, he ordered Haldeman to “monkey wrench” the initiative.

Science Of Rain-x and Aquapel
Rain-X is more hydrophobic, but wears off. Aquapel (fluorine based) bind covalently but is not as hydophobic.

Leaving Conservatism Behind by Matthew Sitman

Everyday Authoritarianism is Boring and Tolerable by Tom Pepinsky

Spy Agencies Say: Yeah, Russia Did It
The US intelligence agencies’s report is out–Russia hacked the US election to get Trump elected. Republican response–we think Russia is great now! Love Putin, he’s so old man hunky! Remember the good old days, when Republicans preferred America to its long time enemies?

Good for the Heart, Good for the Brain. Despite a growing conviction among researchers that lifestyle choices matter, Americans still view Alzheimer’s as a predominantly inherited disease. by Joshua C. Kendall

10 Discworld Quotes You’ll Desperately Need for the Next Four Years

And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions. – Feet of Clay

Commander Vimes didn’t like the phrase “The innocent have nothing to fear,” believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like “The innocent have nothing to fear.” – Snuff

A supplement maker tried to silence this Harvard doctor — and put academic freedom on trial

2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Dr. Martin Luther King’s Economics: Through Jobs, Freedom

Why Do Republicans Hate Obamacare? by Kevin Drum

Why large dogs live fast—and die young By Elizabeth Pennisi

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA—For most mammals, size matters: Large ones, such as elephants and whales, live far longer than small ones like rodents. But among dogs, that rule is reversed. Tiny Chihuahuas, for example, can live up to 15 years—8 years longer than their much larger cousins, Great Danes. Now, a team of undergraduates may be closer to figuring out why. The most likely culprit? More harmful oxygen free radicals in fast-growing, fuel-burning puppies.
…
In the adult dog cells, energy and free radical production was about equal in the two breed sizes. But in the puppy cells, that balance was off. Adult large and small dogs had about equal amounts of antioxidants, but the cells from large breed puppies had too many excess free radicals for the antioxidants to fight, the undergrads reported here last week at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. That’s likely because large breed puppies have fast metabolisms, growing faster and requiring more energy than smaller breeds, Winward says. Cell damage even at this young age can have long-lasting effects.

The results are preliminary, and there are other ideas about why dogs age the way they do. But if the findings hold up, it might be possible to extend large dogs’ lives with antioxidant supplements for puppies, Winward suggests. These antioxidants could help get rid of those young dogs’ extra free radicals before they do damage.

Antioxidants will not work to extend large dogs lifespans. Antioxidant supplements of many types have been tried in all types of animals with nearly all trials failing. I recall an antioxidant used as a preservative showed a positive effect in house flys where flight was measured as the flys aged. The flight muscles have a high oxygen demand.

2016 is hottest year, breaks records set in 2015, 2014, 2010, 2005!

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

An election fraud fake news masterpiece

How Purdue Pharma created the opioid addiction epidemic

Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill more than 43,000 people annually

Blue Lives Matter by Albert Samaha
BuzzFeed News reviewed 62 incidents of video footage contradicting an officer’s statement in a police report or testimony. From traffic stops to fatal force, these cases reveal how cops are incentivized to lie — and why they get away with it.

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), new Secretary of HHS, is a member of a fringe medical organization. Anti-science Bircher / Ayn Randian nutters.
The Harlan Ellison Books Preservation Project, harlanellisonbooks.com
Lego machine with strain wave gearing
NASA Fractal branching ultra-dexterous robots (Bush robots), 1999
2016 National Popular Vote Tracker
Why Pat McCrory Lost and What It Means in Trump’s America
Republicans like Putin, 45% like/55% dislike Based on YouGov polling.
Bird photo booth
On Pizzagate and conservative delusion by Jim Wright
Report: Chicago cops ignored recommendation to fire officers after Laquan McDonald shooting

Beckman DB-G Grating Spectrophotometer, Cat NO. 1403.

Links: Grating Spectrophotometer DB GT (1961), University of Queensland Physics Museum

Bulbs:
E 871 (3 leads, HID, for UV)
GE 2331 (visible, 5.9V, 4.66A, 25W)

photomultiplier RCA IP28A, 69-04 (Anode supply: 1250V. Voltage between dynode No9 and anode: 250V. D-C anode current: 2.5ma. Ambient temperature: 75 Deg C. Package: 1-5/16″ D x overall length 3-11/16″ long. Seated height 3-1/8″ long. base: 11 pin plug-in with socket and 30″ cable. Note: Specification sheet available. Maybe replaced with 931A, average anode characteristics are the same.)

Photomultiplier board:
Vacuum tubes:
5654
12BH7A

Main board:
Adams and Westlake Mercury Wetted Contact Relay – MWSL-15093-1B
Vacuum tubes (all filaments lighted):
12BH7a
6973
6EM5
6AX5
85A2/0G3
12AX7