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Seeing the Unexpected
Posted by Lois Joy Hofmann under Adventure, Circumnavigation, Culture, Sailing and Cruising, Uncategorized, Writing and Books | Tags: Australia, books, Cheops, coffee table book, Darwin, gift ideas, Jerusalem, Oman, photography, pursue your passions, Pyramids, The Long Way Back, travel, travel blogger, travel photography, travel writing, wanderlust, worldtravel, Yemen |
"What you see is what you get." Not necessarily. Henry David Thoreau said, "The question is not what you look at, but what you see." As a philosopher, I think he was describing what we see internally.
It boils down to this: We only find the world we're looking for. As photographers, we often search for that perfect landscape, the ones we've seen in the photography and travel magazines, only to miss what's right before us. Instead, we should give up our preconceived ideas of what an image should be and open our minds to the unexpected.
I'll give you a few examples from photos published in my new coffee table book called In Search of Adventure and Moments of Bliss: The Long Way Back.
Visitors and residents flock to Darwin's public beaches to view the glorious sunsets. While visiting there, of course, I planned to go there at sunset as well. Imagine my surprise and dismay when I arrived to find hundreds of people with the same idea as mine! Many of them had walked right into the surf to take their photos. Being short, I could never walk though that surf to get in front of them; nor I could I shoot over their heads! I decided to take a photo of everyone else taking a photo, and to describe what the people of Darwin came there to do.
I used another example of this approach when I photographed a crew, Kate, on our catamaran, Pacific Bliss, looking back at the sunset behind her. We readers can then share in her moment of bliss.
When entering the bleachers to see the dancers perform in the Festival of Pacific Arts in Palau, I caught sight of this dancer beneath the stands, putting on his make-up. That photo became one of my favorite pictures of that event.
There was no way I was going to make it up all the way to the top of the pilgrimage to Sri Pada (Adam's Peak) without beginning that climb at 3:30 a.m. so I could photograph the view from the top. I could, however, photograph those who were coming back down. This 82-year-old Sri Lankan guide has been leading pilgrimages there for the past twenty years.
Sometimes, I see someone walking into the scene and I wait patiently until he or she is just in the right spot:
Other times, I want to portray how small people seem in relation to the immensity of the structure.
Truly "seeing" requires that we slow down, wait, and get into a different space in our heads. Try that the next time you take a photograph.
Climbing the Coat Hanger
Posted by Lois Joy Hofmann under Travel and Adventure | Tags: Australia, bridge, Bridge Climb, Sydney Australia, Sydney Harbor Bridge, Sydneysiders, The Long Way Back, The Old Coat Hanger, travel |
This story will be in my forthcoming book, THE LONG WAY BACK.
By now, I thought that we could understand much of the slang down under, but why Sydneysiders call their famous bridge "the old coat hanger" is beyond me. Considered ugly by some, it has always been a popular icon connecting the northern and southern shores. Construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge started in 1923, by building two halves of the arch, supported by cranes, out from each shore. After nine years of work, the mating of the two arches was about to take place: the ends of the arches were only centimeters apart and ready to be bolted together. Unfortunately, a gale blew up and 100 km/hr. (62 mph) winds set them swaying. Dismayed but not defeated, the workers eventually managed to join the two parts. The bridge is the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and it is the tallest steel arch bridge.
Sydney Harbour Bridge entrance from a print I purchased at the Bridge Climb.
Peter, my travel agent, had proposed the bridge climb as the ideal urban adventure. "The Climb gets booked up fast," he warned me, so he included tickets for two in our package.
Now I have to persuade Gunter to go with me! "Why not?" I cajole. "You rock-climbed in the Alps as a kid."
"That was different. I just don't like the thought of climbing up to a pedestrian path that sways above the traffic lane."
"Peter told me they train you first and provide safety harnesses; they must have a good safety record or they wouldn't be allowed to do it."
"If I don't go, would you cancel?"
"Nope. I'd go by myself."
"Okay, I'll go with you then. But you owe me."
We know where to go to begin the climb: down by the Rocks. We saw the entrance marked Bridge Climb yesterday. While we wait in line at Admissions, I read the sign out loud: "The climb up and down is 1439 steps. Three hours total." What the sign doesn't tell us is that the entire first hour is spent preparing for the ascent: We sign safety disclaimers; we take a breath test to ensure that our blood-alcohol levels are beneath the legal limit; we change into grey bridge-suits and remove watches, hair clips, loose jewelry, and anything else that might fall onto the traffic, cycling and pedestrian lanes below; and finally, we don safety harnesses. Our group assembles in a training room where attendants provide us with pouches containing disposable rain jackets, scrunchies for ponytails, cords for glasses, and even handkerchiefs with elastic loops sewn in so that they can't blow away. I'm impressed; they thought of everything! Finally, an attendant hands out radios and earpieces, and introduces our leader. We practice on a stairway. "Any questions?" our leader asks. Total silence. My fellow climbers look like astronauts preparing for a flight from which they may never return. The faces of some look white and peaked.
The start of the climb is the worst. I glance behind me to catch Gunter gritting his teeth, his eyes steely behind his glasses.
What must he be thinking about me right now? I try a tentative smile. He doesn't return it. I focus on the climber in front of me. So far, so good. I glance down. Uff da! (as my mother would say). Only a metal grille prevents us from plunging to the bridge or the sea below! But I guess that's what these harnesses are for. Problem is, every time we reach an abutment, we must unfasten the harness clip and afterwards, refasten it again. Like walking the deck of our sailboat. I glance at the white sails of ships luffing below, wishing I were down there instead. Well, at least the wind is light and fickle today—better for us than for them.
We reach the arch, 134 meters (440 feet) above sea level. The bridge levels off and I exhale. Wow! I realize that during the climb, I was alternately panting and holding my breath. Gunter taps me on the shoulder. "Come closer," he whispers. I notice that the climbers in front of me have stopped.
"Better now?" I ask.
"Perfect. Kiss me." He pulls me close and plants a long, deep kiss. "Look around. We are on top of the world with a 360-degree view."
Sydney Harbour sprawls below in all its glory, a dazzling panoply of coves, harbors and peninsulas. Ahead of us, skyscrapers reach toward the clouds. Behind, the familiar Rocks are back dropped by the Kings Cross intersection. I can see the Sydney Opera House now from an entirely different perspective. Glistening in the sun, the concrete roof structures remind me of rows of translucent sea shells skillfully positioned by a master artist so that they brush against each other, yet barely touch.
Being here on top of Sydney is the highest high one can imagine. Awesome. Incredible. Magnificent. Stunning. Breathtaking… I run out of superlatives. If you go to Sydney, you must do the Bridge Climb!
Bridge at night. Photo courtesy of Google images.
Going down is anti-climactic but it does give me the opportunity to take a closer look at the bridge structure. I would call this bridge majestic rather than beautiful. The stone blocks in the four towers, the strong latticework of girders and metal plates, and the six million hand-driven rivets all say, "Don't mess with me; I'm here to stay."
Back on the pedestrian walk, we pick up our I CLIMBED IT certificates and photos and head directly for the nearest pub. "Time to get that blood-alcohol level up." Gunter lifts his left eyebrow, a feat which never fails to make me laugh. There'll be a good time on the old town tonight!
A Whale of a Tale
Posted by Lois Joy Hofmann under Sailing and Cruising, Writing and Books | Tags: Australia, humpback whales, Keswick, Matt Pallamary, Pacific Bliss, Queensland, SCWC, Southern California Writers Conference, St. Bees, whale song, whales |
It was rewarding to teach a workshop, "Author as Entrepreneur," at the Southern California Writers Conference over Presidents' Day Weekend. I enjoyed answering questions from writers during and after the workshop. After a packed day of general sessions, workshops, and one-on-ones, many attendees manage to brave the evening Rogue Read-and-Critique sessions that begin at 9:00 p.m. and often last until 2 a.m. I attended two "rogues" this year led by Matt Pallamary; they proved an excellent opportunity to read and obtain feedback on parts of the book I'm currently writing: The Long Way Back.
I'd like to share a segment of one of the stories for this week's blog. It takes place off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Pacific Bliss is moored near the channel between two islands, Keswick and St. Bees:
In the cockpit, we watch a pale gold sun set beneath the hills…
As night falls, the real show begins.
Ann is the first to hear the strange primal sound, accompanied by a swoosh, like surf rushing through a small opening in a rock cave. She calls us to the cockpit.
"That must be a blowhole, over on the St. Bee's side," I tell her.
Günter counters, "But there's no surf here, and the winds are not strong."
"Whales!" We all shout. From then on we whisper, listening closely to the whale songs followed by the blow. Each stanza begins with a low moan, like an elephant, followed by a long screech that ranges from a low to a high frequency. The song changes to a long growl-like bark and ends with a monkey-like eee-ee, then the stanza repeats.
First, the haunting whale songs reach us from across the channel. Later, we hear them as the whales make their way south through the pass. We know that the plaintive sounds of the humpback can travel up to 20 miles underwater, but we're so close that we can hear them from the cockpit. Above water. Magical!
While we discuss the route of the humpbacks in hushed tones, the sky turns into a glittering canopy of stars, covering us with nature's glory while grunts, groans, thwops, snorts, and barks continue. Finally, we hear the noises fade toward the center of the channel. The show is over. We turn into bed silently, tired yet awed.
0830: "Whales! I see them coming through the channel!" Günter calls from the bow of Pacific Bliss. He has just untangled the mooring line and Pacific Bliss is now swinging freely, her bow facing ESE toward St Bee's hills.
We all rush to the bow. Now—in the daylight—we can see the whales. We watch, mesmerized, as two humped backs breach simultaneously.
"Beautiful!" Ann says.
"Powerful!" I answer. "I wonder whether they are signaling to the rest of their pod, just having a look around, or shaking off barnacles."
"Maybe they are playing," Jimmy says. "Just having fun."
"They could be the same whales we heard last night," Günter adds. "Coming back through the channel. If so, they might be staying around here for awhile. Probably mating season."
"Or fattening up from all that food on the reef," Jimmy comments.
We hear a few faint blows as the creatures swim out of range and on to the sea. Then nothing.
The show is over.
That's what I love about traveling the natural world: it whets my curiosity; it propels me to learn more. What a wonderful way to begin a new day! And what a whale of a day this is will be.
Have you ever heard a whale's song? If so, I'd love to hear your comments. If not, you can listen to them here:
http://www.great-white-shark.com/whale-sounds.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKeGP-jPB50&list=PL50a2EHouN8FZf49QlSYV2dWKDUvQfgm2
Some humpback whale songs are sung during the in mating and birthing season, but others are sung for other reasons. Researchers now believe that humpbacks learn from one another and sing for complex cultural reasons.
The Challenge of Writing about Australia
Posted by Lois Joy Hofmann under Travel and Adventure | Tags: Aum Shinrikyo, Australia, Ayers Rock, Bill Bryson, blue-ringed octopus, Boomerang Coast, box jellyfish, Captain Cook, cone shell, deadly, Down Under, Great Victoria Desert, In Search of Adventure and Moments of Bliss: The Long Way Back, nautical trilogy, Queensland beach, stinging stonefish, Sydney funnel web, the Great Barrier Reef, travel, Uluru, Western Australia |
One of my new year's resolutions is to complete writing the text for the third book in my nautical trilogy, In Search of Adventure and Moments of Bliss: The Long Way Back. This sailing/travel odyssey covers the final third of our circumnavigation: Australia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian peninsula, the Middle East, and on to Turkey and the other Mediterranean countries we sailed through until we "crossed the line" back in France where it all began.
I spent most of yesterday writing just one of the many sidebars in the book: Did You Know? Australia. And I'm stuck. Australia is awesome! I fell in love with the land and the people. I could write an entire book on the year we spent there. But to give other countries a chance, I must be selective in the stories I tell. As for sidebars, each country in my books gets only one Did You Know of 750 words or so.
HELP! Which part(s) of this list below do you think is either not important or not interesting? I appreciate your comments.
Australia is about the size of the contiguous United States, but with less than ten percent of the population; it is an elliptically-shaped mass about 2500 miles in length from east to west, and 2000 from north to south.
"Australia is the world's sixth largest country and its largest island. It is the only island that is also a continent, and is the only continent that is also a country. It was the first continent conquered from the sea, and the last. It is the only nation that began as a prison," writes Bill Bryson in Down Under.
The Boomerang Coast, the curved southeastern corner of the country, covers 5% of the land surface but contains 80 % of its population of about 23 million. It contains nearly all of its key cities, including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide.
Australia is a land of extremes, from alpine snowfields to searing deserts and lush tropical rainforests. Of the continents, it is the lowest and flattest; it has the oldest soils and fossils. Only Antarctica experiences a lower rainfall.
The largest living thing on earth—the Great Barrier Reef—grows in Australia. This country also contains what I believe to be the most remarkable monolith in the world: Ayers Rock (Uluru).
Australia is quite dangerous to humans, no matter what their station in life. "What other country could just lose a prime minister?" Bryson asks. He reports that in 1967 the Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was just walking along a Victoria beach when he dashed into the surf and disappeared, never to be seen again.
Australia has been called the home of the deadly. It hosts five of the world's ten most poisonous snakes. The country's saltwater crocodile has the most powerful bite of any species. The pain of its stinging stonefish alone can be lethal. The bites of the blue-ringed octopus can cause paralysis within minutes and lead to heart failure. The Sydney funnel web is one of the world's most dangerous spiders. But the box jellyfish is rated the most dangerous threat to visitors, based on the likelihood of encountering one. Be careful! Pick up a cute cone shell on a Queensland beach, and you may be stung by the venomous snail inside. Step into the water and you could be chomped on by a shark. Go to a zoo, and you could get bit by a fierce and aggressive cassowary!
There's no place like Australia. Eighty per cent of the flora and fauna in Australia exists nowhere else. Its creatures evidently did not read the script. Mammals bounce like basketballs across the vast landscape, fish climb trees, foxes (large bats) fly, and crustaceans, like whales, grow large enough to contain a grown man. Termites ingest houses, fences, and electric poles which they regurgitate to form tall, catacombed structures to house their pampered queens. "Darwin, after his visit to Australia, wondered for a while if the country's bizarre flora and fauna pointed to the possibility of two parallel creations," claims Australian-born writer, Peter Conrad. "Had rival gods designed the northern and southern hemispheres? Conrad speculates. "Such creatures must, after all, have a creator, a designer of almost rococo wit and grace."
The Australian outback is so large and remote that only a few lonely souls in the Great Victoria Desert of Western Australia witnessed an explosion that set seismograph needles twitching all over the Pacific region. Yet on May 28, 1993 the seismograph traces did not fit the profile for an earthquake and the blast was 170 times more powerful than any recorded mining explosion. There was no crater showing a meteor strike. The incident remained an unexplained curiosity until in 1995 Aum Shinrikyo gained sudden notoriety when it released huge quantities of the nerve gas sarin into the Tokyo underground, killing 12. Investigators found that Aum owned a 500,000-acre plot in Western Australia near the mystery event. There, they found evidence that the cult members had been mining uranium and had built a sophisticated laboratory staffed with two engineers from the former Soviet Union. The cult's goal was the destruction of the world. The event in the desert may have been a dry run for blowing up Tokyo!
Compounding all the mysteries of Australia are the enigmatic aborigines. When Cook arrived in Australia in 1770, he encountered a race that seemed unrelated to any of their neighbors in the region—the Polynesians, Melanesians, and Micronesians. Could they have invented and mastered ocean-going craft 30,000 years before anyone else, then abandoned all they learned to settle the interior and to forget about the sea?
For more on our Australian adventure, visit the Pacific Bliss website Log & Journal:
http://pacificbliss.com/journal125.html
Pavlova from Heaven? No, Australia.
Posted by Lois Joy Hofmann under Recipes, Travel and Adventure | Tags: Anna Pavlova, Australia, Circumnavigation, culture, dessert recipe, ethnic, food, fruit, geography, Lois Joy Hofmann, Maiden Voyage, New Zealand, Pacific Bliss, Pavlova, recipe, Russia, Sailing, travel, whipped cream |
One of the joys of sailing around the world was shopping at ethnic markets and trying out new recipes. During the time we spent in Australia, I was treated to this marvelous dessert twice. The first time I encountered it was in Bundaberg, Queensland—in a beauty shop, of all places! I was having my hair colored and cut, and while I was there, a lady came in cradling a box from the local bakery. "Pavlova!" my hairdresser shouted.
"Lois, have you ever tasted this?" she asked. I shook my head no. "You must have a piece. It's like manna from heaven!"
Not having any idea what manna would taste like (I always thought it was a kind of bread), of course, I agreed to try it. The soft, sweet meringue melted in my mouth. The fruit provided a tangy contrast. Those tastes—combined with rich whipping cream—indeed tasted like a slice of heaven!
Pavlova is an authentic Australian specialty, so claim the Aussies. This dessert was created in honor of the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, after her tour in 1926 through Australia. But this dessert is also one of the national symbols of New Zealand. Anna toured both countries that year. So was this recipe was created in 1929 in New Zealand or in 1934 in Australia? The two countries have even taken the fight to court. The controversy makes Pavlova all the more mouth-watering.
I made the dessert for "the kids" last Sunday when they came to our house for dinner. My daughter-in-law, Sabine, guessed that it came from Austria. That's where Google comes in! All agreed that my version of Pavlova (see below) was lip-smacking good.
Recipe for Mixed Berry Pavlova
1 Pavlova shell
6 cups mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.) cut as for fruit salad and mixed with a pinch of salt and superfine sugar to taste
2 pints best-quality vanilla ice cream or 1 pint fruit sorbet and 1 pint ice cream (optional; not always included in a Pavlova, but very good)
Whipped Cream Topping:
1 cup very cold heavy cream
Place the Pavlova shell on a cake plate. Soften the ice cream and/or sorbet (if using). Spread first the ice cream and then the whipped cream over the shell and top with the berries. Slice into wedges or just heap into a bowl.
Pavlova Shell
4 room-temperature egg whites
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp. white vinegar
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and draw a heavy 10-inch circle on it. Turn paper over.
2. With the whisk attachment in place, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer set on medium-low speed. When frothy, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the whites form soft peaks.
3. About 2 teaspoons at a time, add sugar while continuing to beat. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat in vanilla, 1 teaspoon white vinegar, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch.
4. Spoon meringue into the traced circle, smooth with a spatula and shape like a shallow bowl.
5. To cook: Place in the middle of the oven and reduce heat to 250 degrees. Bake for 1¼ hours. Turn off the oven. Leave the meringue in the closed oven for at least 4 hours. Leave the meringue in the turned-off oven to cool, preferably overnight. Should end up crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle.
Adding Sorbet
Pavlova with fruit added
Pavlova, Ready to Serve
Cyclone Yasi, Queensland, Australia
Posted by Lois Joy Hofmann under Travel and Adventure, Writing and Books | Tags: Australia, Circumnavigation, Cyclone, Cyclone Yasi, Hurricane, Lois Joy Hofmann, Maiden Voyage, Pacific Bliss, Queensland, Weather |
This may be Australia's worst cyclone ever! Yasi has crossed the north Queensland coast and is starting to unleash the upper range of its violent 290km/h winds. Please pray for these Aussies, for their lives and safety. We love them dearly!
Gunter and I spent an extra year of our circumnavigation in Australia, although most of our coastal cruising was done in Queensland. When in Darwin, preparing for the Sail Asia Rally, we visited the museums there. The worst cyclone in Australian history was Cyclone Tracy. Here is an audio of that disaster: http://media.news.com.au/multimedia/2011/02/yasi/audio/cyclonetracy.mp3
I describe in my book "In Search of Adventure and Moments of Bliss: MAIDEN VOYAGE" how we were delayed in Puerto Vallarta by the first hurricane of the Central American season, Hurricane Adolf, in May of 2001. There, I learned from an expert sailor/weatherman how to track hurricanes on the internet. When it appeared that Adolf was turning out to sea, we decided to head out for the passage to Cabo across the Sea of Cortez, only to find out at the fuel dock that he had changed course yet again! We returned to port (one of the few times we did that during our entire eight-year circumnavigation) and took the Escape Adolf Tour to Tepic instead.
Needless to say, I am now using my skills to track Hurricane Yasi, from the comfort of my San Diego home. (I'm also tracking yet another ferocious storm plying the U.S. Midwest).
As I write this, the eye of the storm is approaching Dunk Island, where Pacific Bliss anchored before heading into Cairns the following morning.
For satellite images, go to http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscol.html
For the latest updates, go to http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
To go to Cyclone Yasi's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cyclone-Yasi-Updates/159989674052293


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Category Archives: Rising Sons
Rising Sons (feat. Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder) – Rising Sons (1966 – 1992)
Posted on December 1, 2018 by allerlei2013riffmaster
Rising Sons was a Los Angeles, California-based band founded in 1964. Their initial career was short-lived, but the group found retrospective fame for launching the careers of singer Taj Mahal and guitarist Ry Cooder.
The original lineup was a 17-year-old Ry Cooder (vocals, six- and 12-string guitar, mandolin, slide and bottleneck guitar, dobro), Taj Mahal (vocals, harmonica, guitar, piano), Gary Marker (bass), Jesse Lee Kincaid (born Nick Gerlach,[1] vocals and guitar) and Ed Cassidy (drums). Cassidy left in 1965 after injuring his wrist playing a monumental version of "Statesboro Blues" with the band.[2] He was replaced by Kevin Kelley.
The group often played at the Los Angeles clubs The Troubadour and The Ash Grove (which burned down in 1973 and was not rebuilt). They were signed by Columbia Records. Their only album, produced by Terry Melcher, was not issued at the time. One single, "Candy Man" backed with "The Devil's Got My Woman", was released. The group disbanded in 1966. They were contemporaries of the famous Los Angeles band the Byrds; fans wondered which band would be the bigger success, until the Byrds' album Mr. Tambourine Man became a hit.
Recordings by Rising Sons were widely bootlegged and nearly three decades later were released by Columbia Records under the title Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder (1992). "We were the problem," remembered Marker later. "We had difficulties distilling our multiple musical agendas down to a product that would sell. We had no actual leader, no clear musical vision…. I think [Melcher] went out of his way to make us happy – within the scope of his knowledge. He tried just about everything he could, including the live, acoustic session that produced '2:10 Train.'"
Mahal went on to become a prominent solo blues and folk performer. Cooder and Marker played with Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. Cooder went on to become a prominent session musician, recorded numerous albums under his own name, and scored several soundtracks. Kincaid attended California Institute of the Arts on a classical guitar scholarship and left the United States for six years in Europe. His music album, Brief Moments Full Measure, and his book, Ibiza Chronicles, were released in 2014. He currently resides in Mill Valley, California. Cassidy founded the band Spirit. Kelley became a member of his cousin Chris Hillman's band the Byrds in 1968, playing on their seminal album Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
Marker retired from the music industry but maintained an active interest (especially in Beefheart-related matters) until he died of a stroke, on December 8, 2015, at the age of 72 (by wikipedia)
Their lone single and unreleased album form the core of this 22-track reissue, which features imaginative rearrangements of standards like "Corrine, Corrina," an obscure Dylan cover ("Walkin' Down the Line"), rocking originals, a confident performance of Goffin/King's "Take a Giant Step" (later Mahal's signature tune), and nifty guitar interplay between Mahal and Cooder throughout. Overall, it sounds a lot more like it belongs in 1967-1968 than 1965-1966. This archival release has value above and beyond historical interest. by Richie Unterberger)
And I got this recordings for the first time as a bootleg in the Eighties …
Ed Cassidy (drums)
Ry Cooder (guitar, vocals)
Jesse Lee Kincaid (vocals)
Taj Mahal (guitar, vocals)
Kevin Kelley (drums)
Gary "Magic" Marker (bass)
The bootleg tracklist
01. Statesboro Blues (McTell) 2.26
02. If The River Was Whiskey (Divin' Duck Blues) (Estes) 2.43
03. By And By (Poor Me) (Patton) 3.34
04. Candy Man (Davis) 2.06
05. 2:10 Train (Albertano) 4.11
06. Let The Good Times Roll (Goodman/Lee) 2.44
07. 44 Blues (Dixon) 3.25
08. 11th Street Overcrossing (Kincaid) 2.14
09. Corrin, Corrina (Traditional) 2.58
10. Tulsa County (Polland) 2.44
11. Walkin' Down The Line (Dylan) 2.15
12. The Girl With Green Eyes (Kincaid) 2.16
13. Sunny's Dream (Kincaid) 3.03
14. Spanish Lace Blues (Kincaid) 2.14
15. The Devil's Got My Woman (James) 3.07
16. Take A Giant Step (Goffin/King) 2.56
17. Flyin' So High (Kincaid) 3.07
18. Dust My Broom (Johnson) 3.06
19. Last Fair Deal Gone Down (Johnson) 2.40
20. Baby, What You Want Me To Do? (Reed) 2.57
21. Statesboro Blues (Version 2) (McTell) 2.26
22. I Got A Little (Kincaid) 3.23
The bootleg label
Press release from 1966
Posted in Blues, Cooder Ry, Mahal Taj, Rising Sons, Year Of Recording: 1966	| Leave a reply

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


With a couple of hours and a couple of dollars, I made a cute $5 DIY Owl Costume for one of my 6-year-old daughters. Even better, this is no-sew!
Halloween doesn't have to be expensive. Just like last year, time and creativity trump money when it comes to costumes.
If you think you're not creative, you can just copy ideas off the internet like I do. Start by finding some inspiration. I went to Pinterest for ideas, but most of the DIY owl costumes I found required sewing.
I had to make it simpler, so I figured I could use a hot glue gun instead. And felt is really easy to cut and work with.
If your child would prefer another bird, just use different colors that are more vibrant.
If I'd had an old shirt of her brother's, I would have used that, but I bought a grey t-shirt at a thrift store for $1 instead.
I don't sew, so using a shirt meant I didn't have to construct anything. You can use a long-sleeved tee or sweatshirt as the basis for many costumes.
I cut a piece of cardboard into a U shape (for feathers) and cut a bunch out of felt. I had some felt already, and I bought a bunch of the .23 sheets at Walmart in owl-y colors.
This technique would work with many kinds of animals; just adapt the shape to whatever animal you're making–feathers, fur, stripes, etc.
I don't sew, but I can glue. I glued the feathers in lines–on both the back and front of the shirt. Then I went back over the collar to make it more round.
I couldn't believe how heavy the shirt was when I was done–at least she'll be nice and warm on Halloween night!
My daughter wore dark grey leggings (that we already had) for the bottom of the costume. Any dark pants or leggings will do.
My inspiration costumes used masks, but I didn't want my daughter to have trouble seeing when we're out trick-or-treating.
I found this fuzzy knitted hat at the thrift store for $1. My daughter and I cut circles out of felt . She chose the buttons from our stash, and we glued them onto the hat with the hot glue gun.
I cut a little beak out of orange felt, too. The hat colors dictated the feather colors for the costume.
My daughter absolutely loves this DIY Owl Costume! She wore it to a Halloween party last weekend, and only one feather came loose, so I just glued it back on.
A couple of hours + a couple of dollars = happy mom and happy child. Yippee!


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    self.country_code.blank? ? "" : CountrySelect::COUNTRIES[self.country_code]
  end

  def full_address(options = {})
    options = options.symbolize_keys.reverse_merge( separator: " ")
    address_attrs = [:first, :second, :city, :state, :post_code, :country]

    raise(I18n.t('models.address.invalid')) unless ((address_attrs | options[:only].to_a) - address_attrs).empty?

    (options[:only] || (address_attrs - options[:except].to_a)).map do |attr_name|
      self.send(attr_name)
    end.select(&:present?).join(options[:separator])
  end

  #TODO Duplicated
  def country_name
    self.country_code.blank? ? nil : CountrySelect::COUNTRIES[self.country_code]
  end

  def downcase_country_code
    self.country_code = self.country_code.try(:downcase)
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
WGAR may refer to:

WGAR-FM, a radio station (99.5 FM) licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States, which has carried the WGAR-FM callsign twice (1952–70, 1984–present)
WHKW, a radio station (1220 AM) licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States, which carried the WGAR callsign from 1930 to 1990

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Opinion: Wicket bad bet
Hulton Archive
The 1983 Cricket World Cup final match between India and West Indies on June 25, 1983, in London.
Build it, and they will come. At least, online.
Police in India have charged four people who set up a cricket pitch in the village of Molipur, with creases, wickets, and stadium lights.
Then they hired more than 20 unemployed local farm laborers and teenagers, for about 400 rupees each, or $5 a game, and put them in jerseys that looked a lot like those of Indian Premier League cricket teams, like the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans. They paid a few more people to pose as umpires. Then they put on a cricket tournament — kind of.
The umpire-pretenders called for certain pitches and plays. The imposter players followed their orders. The scam cricket matches they conjured were streamed over YouTube, sweetened with simulated crowd noise, sound effects, and game commentary by a man doing an impression of one of India's top cricket announcers, Harsha Bhogle.
Several Russian gamblers put down bets over Telegram, the messaging app. They lost their rubles. The tournament made it to the quarter-finals before the police broke it up.
Bhavesh Rathod, an officer investigating the case, told the BBC, "These guys just cleared a patch of land deep inside a village and began playing a match and beaming it on YouTube to make money through gambling."
Cricket is not well-known in Russia. Still, you might think people betting money on matches would know the REAL Indian Premier League had ended three weeks earlier. They might begin to wonder, "Hey! These guys don't LOOK like professional athletes ...."
But that may not be a gambler's frame of mind. I've been to horse tracks where my family members were among the few who stood along the rail for races. Much of the crowd were there to bet, not to watch. They hunched over cold screens inside, to play the ponies from the Meadowlands to Dubai, and ignored the actual sprinting, sweating, equine athletes that galloped by. Serious gamblers are often more interested in the wager than the contest.
It is difficult to feel sorry for hardened Russian gamblers who lose some money on a hoax. And hard not be a little charmed by a scam so cunning, it could wind up in a Hollywood — or Bollywood — heist movie.
And those laborers and teenagers who earned a few rupees for a few days can always say, "Do you know I once played cricket in the Premier League?"
World News Latest from NPR


Hello ShareGrid community! I am a photographer/videographer looking to share my equipment with others. I love working with all my friends producing independent creative media.
Seth Lopez • 2 years ago.
Great experience, smooth as silk. Sweet kit too, the FS5 is an amazing little (so svelte for what it does) camera.


text:
Forum:Bioinformatics vs. the Climate Crisis
sviatoslav.kendall ▴ 840
Over the last few years I've grown increasingly concerned about the overwhelmingly complex set of intersecting problems broadly referred to as "the Climate Crisis". When I first started my career, I was content to simply donate a few dollars to environmental groups and vote for politicians who at least expressed concern about things like greenhouse emissions to feel like I was "doing my part" to help avert disaster. As my concerns grew, I expanded my sense of "doing my part" to include things like: donating to think tanks that do not accept corporate funding (which seems to explain why they're able to publish reports/proposals like this), volunteering for political campaigns, organizing car pools, buying local, etc.
But one thing I have never done is grapple with the question, "What role can bioinformaticians play in averting or at least mitigating the Climate Crisis?" Off the top of my head, I can name two research areas where our skills might be helpful:
Biofuels (which might reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, I guess?)
Weather-Resistant Crops (which might help stabilize societies besieged by extreme weather events)
I'm sure there are many other areas of bioinformatics research that might prove important to dealing with the Climate Crisis so please respond with any thoughts/links/ideas relating to that. Obviously, part of my rationale for posting this is because I am considering a career change so I would be particularly interested in anything that a cancer researcher might easily transition into.
Also, I feel it is extremely important for people like us (scientifically and technologically literate) to think critically about and discuss the myriad and complex issues that make up this crisis in hopes that doing so might make us better positioned to help deal with it. Here's a few questions that I would really like to get this communities' thoughts on:
What are the incentive structures that impede governments, businesses and institutions from taking more aggressive actions to reduce greenhouse emissions?
Which countries/regions are most at risk of becoming uninhabitable and where are the resulting "climate refugees" most likely to seek asylum?
What technologies and proposed solutions actually have potential to alleviate the causes of the Climate Crisis and which ones are misguided and/or scams?
What else can people with a bioinformatician's skill set do to help avert disaster?
Since this post is very open-ended in the responses it invites, I humbly suggest that posting "Answers" that address just one of the various issues I've raised might help make the reply threads easier to read if people responding to the same issue later on post their thoughts as a reply-to-the-answer rather than a reply-to-the-original-post.
RNA-Seq Climate Forum • 3.3k views
ADD COMMENT • link updated 12 months ago by Michael Dondrup 52k • written 3.2 years ago by sviatoslav.kendall ▴ 840
It's not directly about the climate crisis, more about environmentalism in general, but biodiversity genomics could be a field to go into. Projects like Darwin Tree of Life, Vertebrate Genomes Project and Earth Biogenome Project between them aim to sequence the genomes of all eukaryotes on Earth. The aims of these projects are not to directly affect the climate crisis, but there is no doubt that working to preserve biodiversity will have the upshot of maintaining forests etc, which will have a positive impact.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by Emily 23k
I think the biogenome project is especially relevant for another reason, the loss of "in vivo" diversity by accelerated extinction of species. It has been predicted, for example, that ocean acidification threatens coral reefs like the Great Barrier Reef.
We have to capture some of the diversity of genes, genomes, proteins, and enzymes in databases before it is inevitably lost. That makes me sad to be honest.
ADD REPLY • link 12 months ago by Michael Dondrup 52k
May I remind everyone of some important issues:
The question was how bioinformatics can contribute to alleviating the climate crisis (which is a perfectly valid question to ask here as Forum post), not whether there is a crisis or not (which is off-topic both as question or answer)
This is a bioinformatics QA and not a climate science QA, therefore, it is unlikely that anyone here can assume authority over the topic without citing relevant scholarly work. If you want to discuss, whether climate change "is real" or "urgent", this is not an answer to the question, and you can do that in a climatology forum
This is a scientific QA, so peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals must account for something. Please back up your arguments by facts, in particular, if it is not exactly your field.
Please watch your "argumental hygiene", abstain from conspiracy theories ('look at them, ...') and abstain from ad hominem attacks.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by Michael Dondrup 52k
The catch is that it is necessary to distinguish between "science" and "scientology". I have no interest in contributing to a forum that treats these two equally, and will withdraw all my existing contributions and direct all users of my software away from here should that happen here.
The best heuristic I know of is to allow discussion of technical problems and disallow evangelism. Anyone fine with a discussion with almost exactly the same technical content, just with "climate crisis" replaced with the far less controversial "climate change", is welcome here. I don't see how anyone who doesn't find that to be an acceptable compromise belongs on this forum.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by chrchang523 9.9k
Do whatever you please
As I have said in my answer below, the point of this thread it not to convince anyone of the reality of climate change, or its urgency.
If you do not feel there is a climate crisis, you cannot add any meaningful content which addresses the OP, so feel free to move on. As Michael said, this is a Q&A site, and those comments do not address the Q.
If your response to this thread is to direct legitimate bioinformatics questions away from the site, that's pretty immature, and not befitting a community moderator, but feel free to take all the help requests yourself, I can't see myself losing any sleep over that.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by Joe 20k
All meaningful technical content addressing the OP concerns ordinary-scale climate change. There is no technical content addressing the difference between dealing with ordinary-scale climate change and an actual "climate crisis" which starts to spiral out of control. And that's not because the difference is empty (cf. geoengineering).
Since the original poster doesn't seem interested in the difference either, there is no constructive reason to use the term "crisis", and there are very, very strong reasons not to on a public forum in 2019. There are numerous climate-change-related discussions on far-higher-profile forums like Hacker News which have been derailed by people pushing back against apocalyptic language; I am very far from alone in being instinctively offended by religious authority.
I'll acknowledge that some of my direct responses to the original poster could have been more diplomatic, but that doesn't change the fact that public discussion of climate issues has been so poisoned by bogus apocalyptic claims that it is necessary for him to go out of his way to dissociate himself from them to promote constructive progress on the non-apocalyptic but still very real problems in this area. This includes using a title without the word "crisis", which is just asking for a response like Dan D's.
This particular discussion appears to have died down so it can be left untouched, but the above describes how I will moderate similar posts in the future. And if that isn't okay, this is a community that fundamentally does not include me, so I really have no choice but to withdraw (which, as you note, potentially leads to more work for me; I'm okay with that).
I'll acknowledge that some of my direct responses to the original poster could have been more diplomatic,
And I will acknowledge that I also could have been more diplomatic with you. Sorry about that. Despite our disagreements, I'm much more interested fostering a productive discussion that people can learn from (myself included) than I am in "being right" so I propose a compromise:
From now on, I'll use the term "climate change" whenever posting on this forum. I won't use terms like "climate crisis", "climate emergency", etc unless, perhaps, I am specifically discussing the merits of these terms or quoting someone. If you or anyone else convinces me that my sense of urgency is unwarranted, I will change every instance of my using the term "climate crisis" to "climate change" (including the title) except in sentences where I was either discussing the merits of the term or quoting someone.
All I ask in exchange is that you participate in some good faith discussion, share some more of what you know/think and try to be clear/diplomatic in your posts. Science is ultimately a collaborative endeavor; there's obviously a lot about it that is inherently competitive (spirited debate, forum hygiene, etc) but at the end of the day we're all trying to help each other learn more and figure things out. Maybe you could blow some new life into this forum by posting a fresh answer to the original prompt?
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by sviatoslav.kendall ▴ 840
Hi, I can tell you that the discussion has died down in part because people didn't find it worthwhile to discuss nitty-gritty details, about whether there is a crisis or not or to iterate some talking points that you had the chance to make extremely clear. It might also in part be the non-constructive undertone in this discussion that put people off. This is unfortunate because I have some more ideas about how bioinformatics could help to solve climate change or reduction of carbon emissions if you will. And some others might have posted theirs, and so the thread could have become a valuable resource of ideas for new projects. But instead, the thread got totally derailed. I would like you to read my initial comment about some important issues once more and see if it makes more sense to you now.
I hope you will find a good way to contribute in a constructive way to this forum, even though you disagree with someone on this forum about some topics unrelated to bioinformatics, and you will go on to support Pllnk, because it will be useful to many.
speaking seriously - take less flights (which means going to less conferences), don't eat beef, don't litter, sort the garbage, take bike instead of a car. that's what bioinformatics can suggest to the World.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by German.M.Demidov ★ 2.9k
Find out the genes cascade that supports methane eruption from cows into the atmosphere and suggest a way how to fix it.
These genes are mostly known. The methane comes from anaerobic methanogenic archaea (see kegg) in the bowels of the cows. One could feed cattle some anti-methanogenic compounds, but in my mind, we will not get around having fewer cattle globally. And that means consuming less beef.
then the challenge would be to find genes that are responsible for the beef's taste and make a vector injection into e.g. chicken. but this is kinda high-tech approach - not only bioinformatics but also genetic engineering, so does not directly answers the question raised by the author, since it requires not only efforts of bioinformaticians, but also biotechnologists.
then the challenge would be to find genes that are responsible for the beef's taste and make a vector injection into e.g. chicken.
Not sure if you are joking, but just in case: there is no objective determinant - therefore no gene - that determines taste. Beef tastes "better" to us than chicken because it has higher fat content, and our gustatory receptors have evolved to like high-calorie food because back in the day of hunters and gatherers that ensured the survival of our species. Contrary to popular belief, mostly pure protein (chicken, basically) does not taste as good as fat and carbs because it is less preferred source of energy. Now that for some of us the food is readily available it would be much better if we liked the taste of low-calorie foods, but thousands of years of evolution can't be undone just like that.
Here is a more concrete argument: potatoes (starch) and grass (cellulose) have roughly the same nutritional values as they are both polymers of glucose. Yet we can digest starch and not cellulose, which is why potatoes taste "better" to us than grass. Ask the cows, who can digest cellulose, and they will tell you that grass tastes much better than potatoes. Again, there is no such thing as objectively better-tasting types of food, as it all comes down to subjective taste that has been tuned over many years of evolution.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by Mensur Dlakic ★ 22k
then we need genetically modify humans so we could absorb cellulose...
yes, it was a joke, since the overall topic for me looks like "how agriculture can help in astrophysics", but I liked your explanation a lot.
That is not going to be effective, the greenhouse-footprint of poultry is slightly better than beef (It might be a factor of >5x reduction, so that's a step ahead though). I think we need to go for plant-based products and possibly add some leg-hemoglobin-derived heme for improved iron uptake and for the taste.
This is:
leg-hemoglobin-derived heme
a good challenge for bioinformaticians! Model such organisms in silico - sounds interesting.
What if we transfer cow's genes into a potato? We will have potato with the taste of a beef. I'd write a Nature Correspondence with this brave plan.
Yes, please do ;)
What if we transfer cow's genes into a potato? We will have potato with the taste of a beef.
You don't need to move any genes to achieve this. We have been doing the equivalent thing for decades by topping baked potatoes with butter. Or by frying them.
totally reasonable, but butter = cows. nah, we need to find a way of XXIst century.
I think I read about a project last year in Netherlands where they were trying to build a functioning cell in silico. Maybe by UniGroningen? If anyone has any links for this please do post.
That is already something in that direction.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by manaswwm ▴ 320
Inventing a green cow it is done by science, not by bioinformatics.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by zx8754 11k
We definitely need innovative approaches to solve the problem whilst thinking a little outside the box, because I for one, will not be eating any less beef any time soon :P
Is bioinformatics needed for producing lab-grown meat? That's certainly one way to reduce cattle farming and climate change, while keeping the omnivores happy.
please moderators don't ban me from this board
I guess there is a solution - even if it was reported as quite pricey
https://www.foxnews.com/science/japanese-scientists-create-meat-from-poop
A hoax, the entire reporting for this was based on a YouTube video: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2011/07/08/meat-made-from-human-feces-hoax-or-japans-best-new-invention/#2d5a69436d9e
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by markddesimone ▴ 60
then we still need bioinformaticians to fix it...
Potentially, but I think a more practical solution is just to come up with technologies which can help support more sustainable farming practices
Joe 20k
Rather than get bogged down in the pointless discussion about how real or otherwise climate change is, I'll start by answering one of the points I think I have some more tangible information for. Even if you don't believe climate change is real, this thread is necessarily predicated on its existence as a real threat, so that should be the starting point for discussion.
If you don't believe climate change to be real, you don't have anything of material value to add to this thread with that assumption in mind, so feel free to go elsewhere.
With that out of the way:
I think one of the earlier comments hit a very good point. Bioinformaticians (in the broadest possible sense) have a role to play in the green revolution, and particularly in biotechnology.
Despite our best efforts, wetlab science is still horribly slow. Bioinformatics provides a tool for looking much more widely more quickly.
Examples that spring to mind, would be:
Database mining for alternate forms of commercially important enzymes.
Sequence optimisation
Directed evolution
And in a slightly different tack, data centres and server farms are using astronomical amounts of energy, so any advance that improves computational efficiency, or storage efficiency, can have a real tangible, immediate effect on the 'carbon footprint' of bioinformatics.
If we can discover/optimise enzymes for the production of biofuels, the degradation of plastics, cleaning up of oil spills and so on, a real impact can come of this and bioinformatics will be heavily involved.
Environmental meta--omics allows us to examine the environment potentially beneficial microorganisms are functioning in and potentially teaches us about all manner of things. For instance, understanding the micro environment around plant roots can enable improved nitrifying strategies which could offer greater yields for the same farmed area etc.
The knock on effects of any of these things is huge and difficult to predict I think. Improving yields from crops for example means supporting larger populations more efficiently, but it also means less deforestation to clear land to grow on, potentially.
Many of these tasks are 'molecular biology', but in my experience of both wet and dry lab, you don't get very far without bioinformatics.
ADD COMMENT • link 3.2 years ago by Joe 20k
zx8754 11k
Write more efficient code.
ADD COMMENT • link 3.2 years ago by zx8754 11k
Interesting take. Would you mind unpacking that a bit for us in an "Answer"? Maybe provide an example of inefficient code alongside an explanation of how much energy is wasted running it on an input file of size X. Could be a pretty strong motivator for someone to realize, "Oh wow, that job I ran over the weekend had a carbon footprint 10X larger than my commute because of the inefficient way I structured it!"
I don't think this needs any testing, efficient code would burn, obviously, less coal. As a dry bioinformatician the only direct effect I have is the efficient use of computing resources: HPC local and cloud, storage, etc.
Dan D 7.4k
There is no climate crisis. You have thrown your money away.
But if you're concerned about the environment and want to be a good steward (like me) and/or you think "carbon pollution" is actually a thing (unlike me), then you should head directly to India and China and discourage them to stop using and building coal-fired power plants, and especially discourage them from contributing the overwhelming volume of marine plastic pollution. If you're concerned about overpopulation there are plenty of countries outside the relentlessly-badgered Western nations with astronomical birth rates who could perhaps use and may even welcome a sobering lecture.
ADD COMMENT • link 3.2 years ago by Dan D 7.4k
No climate crisis - you are kidding right? https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by Kristoffer Vitting-Seerup ★ 4.0k
I think this is a good example of cognitive effects when it comes to evaluating threat-levels by humans. We are bad at anticipating slowly moving threats. If I am not mistaken, citing just two key figures: the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is as high as it has been 3 mya for the last time, and given the current emissions of greenhouse gasses we are moving towards an increase in the average temperature of 3° by the end of the century. An increase in sea-levels (estimated somewhere above 1 meters), is going to displace millions of people. If that is not a crisis, what is?
There is no climate crisis
Are you saying that the climate is not changing or that the change is not a big deal? Either way, this is a difficult position to hold as there is tons of scientific research supporting the case of the climate crisis.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by dariober 14k
I meant exactly what I said. There is no climate crisis. Of course the climate changes. It's a complex chaotic system. Mile-thick glaciers over North America, anyone? These replies--imagine falling this hard for a malicious psy-op.
Look at the people who have been pushing this for decades. I mean look at the top, not the people standing in traffic. More importantly, look at their actions. Do their actions look like those of someone who actually believes their own doomsaying? Look to whom they're making endless and ridiculous demands, and whom they're completely ignoring.
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by Dan D 7.4k
Look at the data.
You think we're the ones which have fallen for a 'malicious psy-op', whilst you're the one that's apparently fallen for any one of many conspiracy theories.
Ask yourself this: why would governments, corporations, NGOs etc. invest time and money in combating an imagined threat, when instead they could just be rinsing fossil fuels for all the profit they possibly can?
Yes, the climate changes and oscillates, but the point you're missing is that its happening faster now than ever before.
Besides which, even if we're all wrong: Pascal's wager.
I looked at the data and you're completely wrong. There is no climate crisis. LOL at your strawman arguments and the false choice that being a good environmental steward means that one has to fall for massive wealth-transfer schemes.
By all means, open your wallet and pay climate indulgences. It's your money. Don't expect any non-Western country to do the same though.
Sure you did. Putting things in bold doesn't make them true.
Wow. You're going to accuse me of strawman when literally your entire comment is misconstruing everything I said? If you're going to be that disingenuous there's really no point continuing a discussion, but for what its worth:
You are the one that believe everyone else is hoodwinked in to some enormous conspiracy. So, either you are the chosen one and can see something 99% of the scientific community, and the vast majority of the planet cannot, or you might just be wrong.
I haven't had to open my wallet to whatever this wealth transfer scheme you've imagined is, one bit. I don't know what tree you're barking up there, but it doesn't exist.
I did not present you a false choice. Being good stewards of the environment has nothing to do with giving money to whatever this climate change Illuminati you've decided exists, is. You seem to be content with giving your money instead to oil companies?
Sounds to me like you're just a bit bitter that as a Westerner you might be on the hook in any way for the legacy of the Industrial Revolution and the current state of the West. You can't just expect foreign countries to live in mud huts while you drive your car around.
As someone who can't be mistaken as white, and who voluntarily worked in a developing country at local wage levels for several years in this decade, I'm 100% in agreement with Dan D here.
Emissions reduction is worthwhile. Fossil fuel phase-out is worthwhile. Development of defensive geoengineering capabilities is worthwhile. But these are all long-term (half-century+ timeframe) issues. Beachfront properties are not tanking in value because of this. Singapore, which is very close to the equator and has most of its land at elevations less than 15m, has a government that's paying attention to the issue but is in no hurry to act (note that the Singaporean government has one of the best technocratic track records in the world).
If climate change is a "crisis", the lack of a human colony on another planet is a "crisis". It is not consistent with the usual meaning of the term, which implies a higher level of urgency. I respect Elon Musk, but I'm not giving him any sort of political blank check. The same applies to anyone working on the several climate-change-related problems I mentioned above.
Here's an article published in Nature that disagrees with your assertions about urgency. Seems to me the root of the disagreement comes down to how concerned you are about "tipping point" events. Personally, I'm very concerned because I suspect that many of the projections we've seen have been overly-optimistic and I worry that increasingly severe weather events have already started to impede our ability to take corrective actions (ex: scientist in California lost power recently as a consequence of the steady increase in the risk of wildfires they've experienced in recent decades). But I can definitely understand how you might feel more relaxed about things if you're primarily thinking about how many decades it will take for sea levels to rise higher than your hometown.
I don't know how new you are to science, but most serious scientists know that lots of primary claims in top-tier journal articles are wrong. If anything, the top-tier journals are currently less reliable than the next tier below because of selection for notability.
I put far more trust in the behavior of actors with lots of skin in the game and a track record of intelligent behavior. The Singaporean government fulfills both criteria here: again, it stands to suffer MORE than most other countries, rich and poor, if there is a "tipping point".
Meanwhile, your comment about my being "relaxed about things if [I'm] primarily thinking about how many decades it will take for sea levels to rise higher than [my] hometown" is based on multiple misunderstandings of what I wrote (Singapore isn't my hometown). And your comment about California wildfires, which does concern my home state, is also steeped in ignorance: there are lots of places on the planet which are similarly exposed to wildfires, and (thanks to better maintenance practices than PG&E) have not had the same kind of power-availability problems.
It's good to be skeptical of claims made in "top-tier" publications like Nature but I think it only makes sense to base such skepticism on the substance of what they published rather than their "top-tier" status. Are there any claims made in that article about "tipping point events" that you think are particularly deserving of skepticism?
Your comments about Singapore are interesting but utterly unconvincing as an arguments against the "urgency" of the Climate Crisis. Seems to me that a small, tightly controlled country like Singapore has little incentive to show leadership in cutting emissions - particularly if their policy makers suspect that the rest of the world won't follow suit quickly enough to prevent us from reaching one of those tipping points described in that article I linked. Honestly, without the US leading the charge to aggressively cut emissions it's not particularly rational for any other country to do so. Why bother incurring costs for the common good when the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth won't match your efforts?
Regarding California's power outage: I agree with you that PG&E did a terrible job. I think the people arguing that the reason why PG&E did a terrible job is because they were a for-profit company and that is fundamentally incompatible with any entity responsible for providing a public service make some compelling arguments. But that's all separate from the point I was making: the dangers of global warming threaten our ability to counter the threat and they do so in myriad ways. These hurricane-induced chemical fires in Texas underscore this issue.
The Earth has a 4.6 billion year history, and this history includes quite a few abrupt large-scale atmospheric events which dwarf the scale of human activity; just looking at the last three centuries, there's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora . Anything that hasn't actually happened in the turbulent historical record is exceedingly unlikely to happen within a "crisis" timeframe. I am >1000000x more concerned about risks involving self-replicating entities.
Your comments about Singapore are interesting but utterly unconvincing as an arguments against the "urgency" of the Climate Crisis.
If the current global political environment is incompatible with Singapore remaining a livable place, Singapore has every incentive to do what it can to change that. Instead, while they expect some warming and do encourage greater global cooperation, they don't judge any of the truly catastrophic scenarios to be plausible.
But that's all separate from the point I was making: the dangers of global warming threaten our ability to counter the threat and they do so in myriad ways. These hurricane-induced chemical fires in Texas underscore this issue.
Is this a joke, or are you actually innumerate enough to consider this a first-order effect?
I am interested in science. I am not interested in religion.
Thanks for sharing that interesting link about a volcanic repution. Are you sure that eruption "dwarfs" the scale of human activity though? The Wikipedia page you linked cites emissions as high as 120 teragrams which I understand to be equal to 120,000,000 metric tons (or "tonnes" as they're sometimes called). Right now, global CO2 emissions are in the ballpark of 36 billion tonnes.
36,000,000,000 > 120,000,000
Maybe you don't think that's a fair comparison because the 120 teragram figure is actually Sulfur emissions rather than CO2 or because "global CO2 emissions" includes non-human sources. If so, have a look at this article published by the US Government which addresses those issues in some detail.
If you're genuinely interested in science, you might want to do a better job of demonstrating that you're capable of engaging with the evidence being presented rather than your pre-concieved notions about the topic. You've now written two separate posts referring to issues discussed in the Nature article I linked earlier (and here for convenience) in ways that make me doubt you read past the title. You've also failed to address the substance of what I said about Singapore choosing instead to simply re-iterate your original point - that's not what you do in a science discussion aimed at making sense of the world, that's what you do in a shouting match.
After Razborov and Rudich demonstrated that "Natural proofs" could not distinguish P from NP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_proof ), there was no further need to engage "evidence being presented" of that form.
I stated a simple principle about precedented vs. unprecedented variation w.r.t. the history of life on Earth. In another comment, I observed that the scariest widely acknowledged manmade atmospheric near-disaster to date is, as the principle would predict, a consequence of a chemical class--CFCs--that never naturally occurred; and note that our total emitted volume of stable never-naturally-existed chemical compounds is microscopic relative to the volume of ordinary emissions. It both addresses your entire class of evidence, and correctly does not address not-that-different human activity that actually has proven to be nonlinearly dangerous. Your failure to comprehend this is not my problem, or that of the rest of the users of this forum.
the scariest widely acknowledged manmade atmospheric near-disaster to date
What are you referring to? I re-read every comment you've made on this page and I don't see any that answers this question. My best guess is that you're talking about ozone depletion but I'd rather be clear about what you're trying to say.
But the point of the discussion here is precisely this. What is it that means that developing countries, which are playing catch-up with the West just as fast as they are able, are less likely to combat the issues?
As they no doubt see it, the climate crisis is not as high up on their list of immediate priorities, but its quite possible in 50-100 years time, they'll look back and realise it is very much their problem too, and they should also have been acting all along.
Thats not to say that these countries aren't acting though. India, which has some of the worst plastic-polluted waterways in the world has recently seen quite a surge in recyling efforts, but it will take time for it to pervade the culture, and when you're potentially dealing with other more acute issues like rampant cholera, its easy to see the climate issues as not so pressing. We have the luxury of worrying about these things in the West.
Splitting hairs over the semantics of the word 'crisis' is hardly really the point...
Yes it is, because of the political blank check that is being demanded by those most responsible for associating the word 'crisis' with climate change today.
These are fairly normal long-term problems that can be addressed via fairly normal political and other mechanisms. And note that your plastic-polluted waterway example confuses the far broader category of environmental issues in general with the specific issue of climate change.
No one is demanding a blank cheque. People are demanding that goverments take the threat seriously, via practicable solutions, and it still fits the definititon of a crisis because it requires action now to offset the damage already done. The IPCC has already said they believe we have approximately 12 years to make serious reparations to the damage done.
I don't know what your definition of a crisis is, but it fits the word well enough for me.
Your point about the waterways is correct, but I was less making a point about climate change, and more that the general attitudes toward environmental stewardship in all forms is shifting among developing nations, not just climate change specifically. These are all sides of the same coin, and I bring this up because others have mentioned similar things such as preservation of biodiversity (e.g. through minimising ocean plastic/microplastics), which can have consequences of its own.
While we don't have that much experience as a species with large-scale environmental pollution, we do have more than a century's worth. At this point, we've seen lots of environments get quite ugly for a while, and then turn the corner.
It does not "REQUIRE ACTION NOW" (and you should be thankful for that since otherwise we'd already be doomed). Like many long-term problems, it is better accounted for sooner rather than later, but it is within the domain of normal cost/benefit reasoning.
You can't just expect foreign countries to live in mud huts while you drive your car around.
Damn, dude. Racist much?
I don't know, you tell me? You're apparently the one who has a problem with non-Western countries....
I think it's entirely reasonable for you to suggest that we
Look at the people who have been pushing this for decades. I mean look at the top...
and I would love for you to be specific about who you're talking about so we can better evaluate the point you're making. Obviously, I disagree with you about some things (ex: who has the motivation and means to run malicious psy-ops) but I very much appreciate critical thinking and that includes challenging dogmas I happen to subscribe to.
Setting aside the question of psy-ops for now, see my comment about beachfront property values and Singapore for evidence re: lack of urgency. Note that Singapore stands to suffer more than most countries from any sort of extraordinary climate change, and arguably has the most scientifically literate government in the world.
I think you're conflating a 'human' sense of urgency, i.e. is my house going to fall in to the sea in the next 5 years, with a global sense of urgency. That is, we need to at least begin to act now, because it will take us many years to reverse the damage.
It may well be not that urgent for you as an individual, but that says nothing about the need for urgency on a global geopolitical scale.
Basically the same thing can be said about the relation of space colonization to a number of growing existential risks.
I support space colonization efforts; indeed, I think it is one of the most important things someone could be working on right now. But I won't browbeat people more interested in other problems into making extraordinary sacrifices for the sake of space colonization.
That's a false equivalency.
Climate change is something we can at least begin to ameliorate right now. Colonising another planet won't be realistically possible for probably another 50 to 100 years.
Fleeing the planet to find one we might survive on, with a lower quality of life, is not a preferable alternative to trying to ensure we promote the longevity of the one we already have.
I stated at the very outset that I consider emissions reduction, fossil fuel phase-out, and development of defensive geoengineering capabilities to be worthwhile things to work on. And I never made the clueless claim that space colonization takes away the practical value of maintaining the livability of Earth.
But even within the set of global environmental dangers, 21st century climate change just isn't that serious. I'm far more concerned about release of new (relative to the multibillion year history of RNA/DNA-based life on Earth) chemicals into the environment, with CFCs as an especially good cautionary example (microplastics fall under this general category, too), than I am about an increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration that's well within the prehistorical range.
Been super-busy, punching this out as quick as I can because I have to get back to work. I wanted to make sure I replied though, because I really appreciate your genuine curiosity. I was once very involved in climate movements, back in the mid 2000's...then I figured some things out. Please forgive any typos/sloppy writing.
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." - Eric Hoffer
"It's one big ❤🌶❤🌶in club and you ain't in it" - George Carlin
I would start with Maurice Strong. He got his start in international finance and made his wealth in oil and gas. His is a fascinating story. His wiki is actually a good starting point and doesn't leave out the important details. Briefly: he laid the groundwork of using the UN as a vehicle for this scheme, and the core of the template hasn't changed much but has rather become a fractal pattern.
You want specific examples--just look at any leader who's outspoken about this stuff. Look at how they live their lives. Turnbull, Gore, Obama, any European leader who preaches this stuff. Look at how they live day-to-day and tell me they really believe this. Look at real estate prices in Manhattan, which would be eliminated by an actual "climate crisis."
Look up any global bank along with "climate justice" and you'll see where they've committed funding to various climate change efforts. These efforts get tens of billions in private funding per year, not to mention funding from various governments. Plenty of that money will trickle down to hundreds of nonprofits that will stage protests with impunity in and around the offices of those same banks and governments. These protestors are ultimately furthering the goals of these same banks by serving as a political wedge and a distraction. Why was Extinction Rebellion allowed to use a fire engine in an attempt to coat the side of a municipal building with dyed-red water? Where was law enforcement? Do you think if you formed your own grassroots group and tried to do the same thing, for any cause, you would be allowed to do so? You'd be lucky if you weren't disappeared.
This is not a new pattern. Look at the history of the Sierra Club, which accepted millions from Chesapeake Energy executives and attempted to keep it a secret. Before that they received $100 million from David Gelbaum, who stipulated that they must change one of their core principles. That's when they became a racket. 1/2
All of these protests and propaganda ultimately work in their favor. Here's my attempt at a very brief summary: various central banks and international finance organizations (IMF, World Bank, etc) use sovereign debt to transfer money to developing nations, either as outright checks or as earmarked funds. The elite of these countries skims a healthy portion for themselves. They've been doing this for decades under various foreign aid schemes. The rest comes back to global finance via projects which will use firms in Western nations funded and partially owned by the same global financial institutions. Who do you think would manage an international "cap and trade" program?
But climate change is especially convenient. Some of that money is used to fund migration, which is an extremely convenient pressure-relief valve as it removes tens of thousands of unemployed males and provides downstream funding via remittances. Look up "climate refugees", "climate migration", etc. Western nations are being softened up for this, even as it happens. This is a larger version of another scheme known as "microfinance," which gives loans to poor people with land deeds as collateral, confiscates or threatens to confiscate the land, and then gives another loan to facilitate migration. The higher salaries and welfare handouts to the indebted individuals then work to pay off the high-interest loans and late fees. Look up Compartamos for one great example out of many. This larger scheme keeps the elite happy and opens the door to rapacious exploitation, which when identified can simply blamed on those "awful Western people in the global north". Read: you.
You don't feel the effects of this immediately, because it's all through sovereign debt. Like @Michael Dondrup said, "we are bad at anticipating slowly moving threats."
In return, the elite of these countries get a very easy life. When inevitable natural disasters happen and the complete uselessness of these governments is exposed, just declare a "climate emergency" and send a bunch of angry migrants north. The various protest groups in the developed nations in turn are coached to point the finger at the traditional population groups of these destination countries. The countries then pledge a few billion dollars more in indulgences which are printed into existence by central banks, and the feedback loop continues.
You have to realize that everyone involved in this scheme lives at a completely different level of luxury than schlubs like you and me. They have armed security, convoys of SUVs tailing them wherever they go, and property in places you can't hope to set foot near. It's one big club, and you ain't in it. They don't see us as being the same species. They don't care about climate or the environment (outside of their personal spaces) any more than they care about you or me. Climate Change is the best racket they've ever come up with. Meanwhile we sit in the dirt and point fingers at each other.
I was very involved in climate activism in the mid-2000s, until I started paying attention to the people running it. Then I followed the money down the research level. Scientists, like protests, come cheap.
If you want a links dump, let me know. However, it would be like me handing you rocks while we're standing in a gravel pit. Look up terms like "climate justice", "climate migration," "climate reparations". Especially look at those written by officials in developing nations, or those high up in global corporations.
This is really interesting. I agree with a lot of the suspicion and cynicism you've expressed even though I draw some different conclusions than you do. Certainly governments, non-profits and businesses alike have been known to exaggerate and even manufacture crises for the purpose of manipulating the public and furthering some agenda (enriching themselves, harming their opponents, consolidating power, etc). But that obviously doesn't mean that genuine crises do not exist nor does it mean that all entities asserting the existence of a crisis are necessarily acting in bad faith (or being manipulated by an entity that is). I think it's actually really important to think about how one can discern fact from fiction regarding such highly-politicized issues and there are several reasons why bioinformaticians are particularly well suited for this.
Firstly, bioinformaticians have a concrete understanding of data manipulation and how it can impact the signals produced from it. While most people have some general idea that statistics can be misleading, most bioinformaticians have the training to interrogate several different ways a statistic might be misleading (how was it calculated? what's being compared? how was the data collected? is it appropriate? etc). Secondly, bioinformaticians are used to working with messy data and determining how much to trust it. Understanding that FFPE DNA samples are more likely to exhibit certain, predictable types of sequencing errors is akin to recognizing certain, predictable types of media bias; the old adage "Follow the money" is particularly appropriate here - consider the differences in what a crowd-funded outlet will focus on compared to one owned by an oligarch when covering the same story. Similarly, understanding that a set of differentially expressed genes might all compromise a single shared pathway can provides a useful framework for interpreting how public figures respond publicly to news event; varying responses to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi). Perhaps most importantly, analyzing bioinformatics data to produce valuable results typically involves aggregating multiple signals from disparate sources and grappling with all of their collective idiosyncrasies to derive not only some coherent meaning but also a rational confidence in the conclusions drawn. If the Climate Crisis (or anything else) is, in fact, an elaborate deception perpetrated by people powerful enough to purchase authoritative legitimacy and destroy contradictory evidence then the way to deal with that is rationally, rigorously and with a critical eye for how much weight to put onto any piece of evidence. And yes, I want you a links dump from you; my username happens to be the same as my gmail address but I'd like to minimize the time I spend divulging that publicly so don't feel like you need to send me everything all at once if it'll take you some time to compile it.
Ok boomer.
then you should head directly to India and China
List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita
there are plenty of countries outside the relentlessly-badgered Western nations with astronomical birth rates
Gapminder data on birth rates
ADD REPLY • link 3.2 years ago by WouterDeCoster 47k
OK innumerate doomer. I looked at your data and it further proved my point. Besides, there's a lot more and a lot worse pollution outside of "carbon pollution":
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=river+of+trash&page=&utm_source=opensearch


The current focus of my research is to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which polarity proteins, which define the apical-lateral domain in epithelial cells, regulate fate during embryonic development. Using loss and gain of function experiments, I am particularly interested in understanding how these proteins regulate downstream signalling molecules. These include the transcriptional co-regulators YAP and TAZ, which play a key role during the first cell fate decision when the inner cell mass differentiates from the trophectoderm.


text:
Construction worker falls through void in roof
By Greg Nelson April 20, 2016 Accidents in constuction, Construction fallsConstruction falls
A construction company based in Derbyshire has been fined after a worker was seriously injured when he fell through a void.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how a worker employed by a sub-contractor working for Bowmer and Kirkland Limited, was contracted to pour concrete onto the first floor of a building that was under construction at Fort Kinnaird Retail Park, Edinburgh.
The employee was walking across a floor that was under construction when his boot caught and he tripped. He dislodged an unsecured wooden board which had been placed over the void and exposed an opening of 2 x 1 metres.
He fell approximately 4.5metres through a void in the first floor and sustained serious injuries to his back as well as a broken foot. He was off work for twenty-two weeks and suffers continuing pain. He has reduced mobility, finding it difficult to walk or sit for long periods.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 16 May 2014 found that the company failed to take suitable and sufficient measures by not fixing the wooden panels placed on the void to prevent a fall.
Bowmer and Kirkland Limited, of High Edge Court, Church Street, Heage, Belper, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulation 2005 and was fined £6,600.
For further information on work at height visit:http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/workingatheight.htm
Judge rules in favour of CITB levy
Contractors urged to use British steel by Build UK


Acqua Vista is a 382-unit high rise (19 floors) apartment and condominium map project located in the Little Italy submarket of San Diego, California. Acqua Vista was completed in 2004 and subsequently sold to K. Hovnanian as a bulk sale with the expectation that the units would be sold to individual homeowners. The project was structured as a joint venture between Watt Genton and an institutional investor. The $80 million project was acquired, entitled, constructed, and sold by Watt Genton.
The Acqua Vista investment thesis was to capitalize on the healthy demand for high-end rental product in the supply-constrained Little Italy submarket. Assembling the site, obtaining up-zoning in density and obtaining a condominium map created added property value. Acqua Vista was well-positioned to address the market's lack of new product at the time and its low-quality existing rental and for-sale inventory.


text:
Q: What's the point of having a Main class in Python? I have come across examples where people used a Main class, and from there, inside the Main class, write logic that instantiates other classes and calls their functions.
Example:
# ^^^ code containing class OtherClass() ^^^

class Main:
    def __init__(self):
        print("\n **** Main class from which we call other classes **** \n")

        other_object = OtherClass()

        self.plot_graphs(other_object)

    def plot_graphs(self, other_object):
        # plot stuff
        pass

# vvv code containing main code which instantiates main = Main() vvv

Upon implementing this, I see warnings that all of my methods/functions in the Main class (like plot_graphs) are/should be static. In that sense, why have a Main class at all if you could just as well take out those functions outside of the Main?
I know that there are workarounds like adding a decorator like @staticmethod or a macro like #noinspection PyMethodMayBeStatic. But this got me wondering whether it is Pythonic at all to have a Main class if you don't alter it's attributes, or not.

A: There is no point. You're looking at code written by a Java programmer who never bothered to learn Python idioms.
Idiomatic Python scripts will have a main function, but not some top-level class wrapping it. A standard structure would be:
#!/usr/bin/env python3

# imports here

# Globals (usually constants) here

# Non-main functions & classes (possibly for use when imported as a module) here

def main():
    # Parse arguments and do main script things here

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

The Java developer who wrote the code you're looking at is used to Java, where everything must be part of a class (and for that matter, a given source file can have only one public top-level class, so the entry point for a Java program typically sits alone, and relies on utility classes from other files). In Python, the module itself it executable. Even if you needed some class-like behaviors, the module itself acts like one for most basic use cases (e.g. global variables handle the job of instance attributes). About the only conceivable use for such a class would be if you were going to run several executions of the entry point in parallel and wanted them each to have their own separate "globals", but the contortions you'd need to go through, in which you want to do that and simpler functions don't handle the job adequately, would be painful.
Technically, you don't need main or if __name__ == '__main__': for simple scripts that are never imported as modules, but it's a good idea to get in the habit, because some things, e.g. the multiprocessing module running in non-fork mode, assume the main module can be imported to establish state matching the parent process; if you haven't guarded the "script" behaviors properly, they'll get rerun in every worker.

Strictly speaking, the contents of the main function don't need to be in a function; you could just inline them within the if __name__ == '__main__': block. The advantages to putting them in a dedicated function are:

*

*Namespace separation between "script" stuff and "module" stuff. If you don't wrap the script behaviors in a function, you pollute the global namespace, and you may accidentally rely on those global names for the utility functions. When you later try to import the module into another script, those variables aren't defined, and the utility functions don't work

*Performance: When run at global scope, all variables are globally scoped, which, on CPython, means loading or storing to them involves a dict operation. Doing the same work inside a function with locally scoped variables reduces it to a C level array lookup. While both are average case O(1), dict operations have greater variability and higher fixed overhead than directly loading from a C array.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Preston Gralla is a contributing editor for Computerworld, a blogger for ITworld, and the author of more than 45 books, including NOOK Tablet: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly 2012) and How the Internet Works (Que, 2006).
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Welcome to my website. Please enjoy browsing through my gallery of paintings and drawings or shop for available original acrylic landscapes or freehand pen drawings.
Shop for TShirts, Prints & More on my Threadless Shop!
My acrylic paintings reflect what I'm interested in during that moment. Exploring fundamental design elements when first exploring acrylic in 2003, I've found a genuine interest in painting in nature. There is a quietness I find to be very appealing when I'm sitting in a park or nestled next to a cool creak.
I've lived in Nebraska, Texas and Pennsylvania, traveling between them on many occasions. The one thing I've noticed is that mother nature possesses an unlimited amount of creative ideas, and she serves up a variety of beautiful work every day, no matter where you might be.
I've been doodling during a class or meeting for as long as I can remember. It evolved into an art form while living in Pennsylvania at the Himalayan Institute in 2012. Chilly, blue/gray evenings provided a nice setting to sit quietly and focus on making one decision, then the next, over and over. I was hooked!
My pen drawings are all hand drawn with no measurement tools or guidelines. I start in the center and work my way outward to the next element. I work primary work with black ink only, but on occasion, I'll work in colored ink as well.


text:
const RoundRobinEngine = require('./RoundRobinEngine')
const prepareWeights = require('./prepareWeights')
const debug = require('./debug')('WeightedRoundRobinEngine')

class WeightedRoundRobinEngine extends RoundRobinEngine {
	constructor(pool) {
		super(prepareWeights(pool))
		debug('ctor')
	}
}

module.exports = WeightedRoundRobinEngine