Monthly Archives: October 2017

Has anyone seen my cat? It was this big! No one? Gah, you’re all guilty, then!

Albert Finney leaves toothmarks all over the train in Murder On The Orient Express (1974), the classic Agatha Christie cautionary tale of karmic revenge, hosted by the legendary European train. This is a luxuriant retelling of the tale of murder and counter-murder, as the friends and relatives of a family destroyed by a kidnapping-killing gather to exterminate the man responsible for the death of a child, all because of his lust for wealth. This group functions as a proxy for society as a whole, metaphorically thrusting the malefactor, who placed his own position ahead of the good of society, on the edge of a precipice – and then delivering a hearty push. But with detective Hercule Poirot unexpectedly present, their must be adjustments to their plan, and it all makes for a delightful hidden dance as each distortion is delivered with a straight face.

I don’t quite recommend it, as it falls slightly short of compelling, but for a rainy weekend morning, like today, it was comforting to lie on the couch, listen to the rain beat the windows, watch a classic murder mystery unfold – and be reminded that someone who may be beyond the reach of the law may still be within the reach of the determined.

Vacatur:

A vacated judgment [or vacatur] makes a previous legal judgment legally void. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgment of a lower court. An appellate court may also vacate its own decisions. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “Judge denies Arpaio’s motion to erase his criminal contempt conviction,” Megan Cassidy, AZ Central:

“The President’s pardon moots the case, and it warrants an automatic vacatur of all opinions, judgments, and verdicts related to the criminal charge,” Arpaio’s attorneys said in their Aug. 28 motion.

What appears to be the final chapter of the Sheriff Joe Arpaio melodrama is finishing up. From AZCentral:

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on Thursday denied former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s request to vacate his criminal contempt conviction after he was pardoned by President Donald Trump.

In her ruling, Bolton said while Trump’s pardon “undoubtedly spared Defendant from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed. It did not, however, ‘revise the historical facts’ of this case.” …

Though Arpaio will not be penalized for this case, Wilenchik said the conviction could hypothetically be used against him in future legal proceedings.

“At this point what the court has to do is undo it all,” [Jack Wilenchik, one of Arpaio’s attorneys] [sic]. “It’s not saying he’s innocent, not saying he’s guilty, it’s really just a procedural right he’s entitled to.”

Cecillia Wang, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union and plaintiffs’ attorney in the underlying racial-profiling case, said Bolton’s order “gets it exactly right.”

“The court made detailed findings after a bench trial about Joe Arpaio’s criminal conduct,” Wang said. “The court’s findings and documents in the record of the case should stand and now will stand.”

It’s interesting that Arpaio’s attorney’s worry that the conviction could be a problem for Arpaio in the future. It brings into focus the limitations of the pardon power.

I can see the point of an appeal of the judge’s decision, which would be that the conviction is not final, but I think the counter-argument is that the pardon is an acknowledgement of of the guilt of the party involved. Vacatur is inappropriate, as it directly contradicts the will of the Executive.

Abeyance:

1.  :a state of temporary inactivity :suspension —used chiefly in the phrase in abeyance
   • … new contracts on all but one existing mine … are in abeyance pending the outcome of a government inquiry to be carried out into Australia’s role in the nuclear fuel cycle. —Vimala Sarma
   a plan that is currently being held in abeyance
2.  :a lapse in succession during which there is no person in whom a title is vested • an estate in abeyance
   [Merriam-Webster]

Noted in “The nation’s ‘top lawyer’ has no idea how executive privilege works,” Kerry Eleveld, The Daily Kos:

The [Reagan] memo does allow for a period of “abeyance” in which a president can weigh whether she or he wants to actually invoke the privilege. In Sessions world, that apparently means he can suspend congressional inquiry in perpetuity until such time as Trump manages to wrap his mind around the legal questions at hand—which, let’s face it, could take a very long while.

If you’re a star watcher, Idaho may go on your list of places to visit for another reason:

Tourists heading to central Idaho will be in the dark if local officials get their way.

The first International Dark Sky Reserve in the United States would fill a chunk of the state’s sparsely populated region that contains night skies so pristine that interstellar dust clouds are visible in the Milky Way. …

Leaders in the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley, the tiny mountain town of Stanley, other local and federal officials, and a conservation group have been working for several years to apply this fall to designate 1,400 square miles (3,600 square kilometers) as a reserve. A final decision by the association would come about 10 weeks after the application is submitted.

The association also designates International Dark Sky Parks, with nearly 40 in the U.S. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in central Idaho, known as a prime destination among avid stargazers, became one earlier this year.

“There is some astro tourism,” said Ketchum Mayor Nina Jonas, a point driven home last month when thousands descended on the town in the path of the total solar eclipse.

Ketchum officials have applied to become an International Dark Sky Community and join Flagstaff, Arizona, Dripping Springs, Texas, and Beverly Shores, Indiana.

The Idaho city approved a dark sky ordinance requiring residents to install shields on exterior light fixtures to block light from going upward and mandating holiday lighting by businesses and residents be turned off at night. [Phys.org]

Goodness. I wonder how close that is to the Amtrak train line? Courtesy my Arts Editor.

Looks like a bit of a walk, as those towns are down in the south of the state, in the southern section of the Sawtooth National Forest.

Being part of Western culture can mean an eternal comparison to other denizens of the culture in terms of achievement, a savage drive to achieve in terms of novelty: the discovery of the new mammal, the creation of a new technology, etc. Thus we have the Patent Office and scientific journals innumerable. This can induce the feeling of redundancy, if one has completely accepted this culture.

But it’s also possible to explore simply with the intention of the joy of bending one’s mind over and around something. This can be as concrete as the retired guy doing woodworking in the garage, or something more abstract. A lot of my programming has gone down this path – sure, someone has solved what I’m trying to solve, maybe better than I can possibly hope to achieve – and possibly that solution is sitting in that Design Patterns book I can see from chair here at home. I found Design Patterns to be quite the sleeper, which I suppose is a commentary on my professional attitudes^[1]. However, my point is that the pleasure of pursuing a solution is more important to me than knowing the solution itself. And if I come up with a better solution, so much the better.

So in the latter spirit, and because I write this blog to vent all sorts of pressures, I write the following.

Due to a recent article in NewScientist (7 October 2017, paywall) I’ve been musing on the topic of prime numbers. These are critical to encryption, but they’re interesting in and of themselves. First, some terminology.

P is the set of prime numbers, where P_n is the nth member of P. P₀ is 2, P₁ is 3, etc.

_n is the nth member of P.

N is the set of natural numbers > 1.

_m is the mth member of N.

₊ (sub +) means one or more.

One of the mysteries of prime numbers is how to efficiently calculate them. There are formulas for calculation of primes, but they are not efficient – by which I mean they have an algorithmic complexity of O(n²) or worse, where n = the prime desired.

At this juncture I’ll note that my mathematical training is fairly minimal, and my grasp of the technical language, wobbly at best, has degraded markedly over the years.

So I wonder what would happen if we thought of N, of which P‘s contents are members, as, well, a secondary set, and P as a foundational set, a set upon which N depends. How, then, would they be related?

I think it’d be a projection. Think of N as an ordered series of P_n-derivatives, by which I mean that each N_m is ultimately related to P₊. The projection, which I suspect is a set of equations, calculates the value N_m. For N_m which are prime, the selected equation is trivially

P_n * 1

The balance of N will be built from P₊. But what is the relationship between _n and _m? That’s the worldly goal. The next step is understanding the equations involved, and as importantly – no, more so – the proper way to select which equation to use to calculate N_m. Once that is understood, then perhaps a more efficient worldly goal can be realized.

Or not. I’m just bumbling along here without reference to the weighty literature on the subject, nor any particular mathematical skills. Just havin’ fun.

¹Sitting right next to it is Functional Programming: Practice And Theory, Bruce MacLennan, which I think should be on every programmer’s shelf, and yes I’ve read darn near the whole thing. Couldn’t quite stand the highly theoretical material. But for what the future of programming should be, this is part of it.

And the cats don’t want to have a thing to do with them.

Can’t say I blame them.

The Nature Conservancy covers research on how much impact better land management could have on the climate change problem:

The peer-reviewed study, led by scientists from The Nature Conservancy and 15 other institutions, and published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, expanded and refined the scope of land-based climate solutions previously assessed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). The findings are expected to bolster efforts to ensure that large-scale protection, restoration, and improved land management practices needed to stabilize climate change are achieved while meeting the demand for food and fiber from global lands.

Accounting for cost constraints, the researchers calculated that natural climate solutions could reduce emissions by 11.3 billion tonnes per year by 2030—equivalent to halting the burning of oil, and offering 37% of the emissions reductions needed to hold global warming below 2 degrees Celsius by 2030. Without cost constraints, natural climate solutions could deliver emissions reductions of 23.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, close to a third (30%) more than previous estimates.

“Today our impacts on the land cause a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “The way we manage the lands in the future could deliver 37% of the solution to climate change. That is huge potential, so if we are serious about climate change, then we are going to have to get serious about investing in nature, as well as in clean energy and clean transport. We are going to have to increase food and timber production to meet the demand of a growing population, but we know we must do so in a way that addresses climate change.”

A lot of it consists of planting trees. I wonder how much of a battle that’ll turn into. I hope they figure out a way forward, but there’ll be a lot of people who’ll stubbornly say NO!

Montane:

Of or inhabiting mountainous country.
‘montane grasslands’ [Oxford Dictionaries]

Noted in “Dry Montane Forests,” FOREST FIRE IN THE NORTHERN ROCKIES:

Tree species that thrive on sites that are relatively warm and dry (less than 20 inches of rain per year) tend to dominate the dry montane forests. These species include ponderosa pine,Douglas-fir, and western larch.

Both the mildest and coldest of these dry montane forests can support pure stands of Douglas-fir. On the warmest sites, with annual rainfall a meager 11-17 inches, ponderosa pine tends to grow in pure stands. These stands become increasingly open with decreasing elevation or increasingly dry soils, until they are so sparse that they are no longer considered forests. Ponderosa pine “woodlands,” in which trees are so few and widely spaced that none of their crowns touch, are common at lower timberline and typically mark the transition from forest to grassland or shrubland. This transition generally occurs within 1,000 ft of the valley base elevation, or between about 3200-5500 ft in western Montana (Arno 1979).

This report from Oliver Roeder of FiveThirtyEight, a site that lives on Big Data analysis, is disturbing:

For decades, the court has struggled with quantitative evidence of all kinds in a wide variety of cases. Sometimes justices ignore this evidence. Sometimes they misinterpret it. And sometimes they cast it aside in order to hold on to more traditional legal arguments. (And, yes, sometimes they also listen to the numbers.) Yet the world itself is becoming more computationally driven, and some of those computations will need to be adjudicated before long. Some major artificial intelligence case will likely come across the court’s desk in the next decade, for example. By voicing an unwillingness to engage with data-driven empiricism, justices — and thus the court — are at risk of making decisions without fully grappling with the evidence.

This problem was on full display earlier this month, when the Supreme Court heard arguments in Gill v. Whitford, a case that will determine the future of partisan gerrymandering — and the contours of American democracy along with it. As my colleague Galen Druke has reported, the case hinges on math: Is there a way to measure a map’s partisan bias and to create a standard for when a gerrymandered map infringes on voters’ rights? …

Four of the eight justices who regularly speak during oral arguments¹ voiced anxiety about using calculations to answer questions about bias and partisanship. Some said the math was unwieldy, complicated, and newfangled. One justice called it “baloney” and argued that the difficulty the public would have in understanding the test would ultimately erode the legitimacy of the court.

Justice Neil Gorsuch balked at the multifaceted empirical approach that the Democratic team bringing the suit is proposing be used to calculate when partisan gerrymandering has gone too far, comparing the metric to a secret recipe: “It reminds me a little bit of my steak rub. I like some turmeric, I like a few other little ingredients, but I’m not going to tell you how much of each. And so what’s this court supposed to do? A pinch of this, a pinch of that?”

Justice Stephen Breyer said, “I think the hard issue in this case is are there standards manageable by a court, not by some group of social science political ex … you know, computer experts? I understand that, and I am quite sympathetic to that.”

I have to wonder if this has to do with the simplicity of the application of principle vs. the messiness of empirical analysis. A principle is a rule applied to situations which, if a valid principle, should ensure a positive outcome. On the other side, empirical analysis, which is the analysis of the information concerning the specific situation, should be used to affirm or invalidate the principle applied to the situation. The law often consists of discovering and applying the proper principle to the given allegedly illicit activity.

In the specific case concerning alleged gerrymandering, the efficiency gap is the measure of how many votes are wasted. This measurement correlates, according to the complaint, to the theoretical amount of gerrymandering. So, as Oliver writes, the role of the Court should be to determine what value of efficiency gap constitutes an illegal gerrymander.

To my mind, beyond the fact that this simple mathematical measurement is baffling some of the justices, they should be doing what the courts have done for centuries – employ experts to explain the evidence. The possibility “… that the difficulty the public would have in understanding the test would ultimately erode the legitimacy of the court …” is merely a hypothetical concern which could certainly be allayed through public education.

And the important fact on the ground is this: the public perception that gerrymandering is taking place in States such as Wisconsin and North Carolina is already damaging the perception that this is a fairly constituted democracy. If the democracy capsizes and goes down, SCOTUS goes down with it. Both wings of the court need to drop their ideological blinders and their allergies to math and really work on this case and try to understand how to measure gerrymandering – and how to stop it.

I have to wonder if Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, didn’t get the memo that the Russian investigation should be terminated, or if she’s deliberately ignoring it. First, the proxy for the termination memo, from Politico:

Loyalists of President Donald Trump are losing patience with Republican leaders over the wide-ranging Russia probes creeping into his inner circle, saying House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have allowed the investigations to hobble the White House for months.

Congressional investigators, say some lawmakers and state GOP leaders who back Trump, have let the probes — and the media coverage they generate — sidetrack the president as his allies, family members and aides are hauled in for questioning about whether Russians had American help in their quest to tip the 2016 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But Haley, appointed by President Trump, had this to say at a recent panel at the George W. Bush Institute:

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Thursday that Russian cyberinterference in American elections is “warfare.”

Haley was discussing Russian online interference in the 2016 election in the form of the use of fake social media accounts and the spread of misinformation while speaking alongside former secretaries of state Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice at a panel hosted by the George W. Bush Institute in New York City.

“When a country can come interfere in another country’s elections, that is warfare,” she said. “It really is because you’re making sure the democracy shifts from what the people want to giving out that misinformation. And we didn’t just see it here. … They are doing this everywhere and this is their new weapon of choice.” [CNN]

It’s quite interesting, because during the campaign Ambassador Haley was Governor Haley of South Carolina, and not a Trump supporter.

Her relationship with Trump has been contentious: In January, Haley delivered the Republican response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address, and, without mentioning Trump by name, appeared to criticize him and his candidacy: “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”

In response, Trump said Haley was “weak” on immigration.

A month later, during the South Carolina primary (which Trump won), Haley described Trump as “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.” [WaPo]

Rumor had it that Haley’s Lt. Governor, Henry McMaster, an early supporter of Trump, was getting his reward when Haley was appointed UN Ambassador – he moves up and becomes the incumbent Governor at the next election.

So now Haley’s speaking at cross-purposes to the Administration’s desires. Is she seeking to distinguish herself as a true patriot if Trump’s star falls? Or is she really simply doing her duty and pointing out the dangers of outside interference in our elections? She was known to be a shooting star in GOP politics prior to the appointment – she may be looking to salvage something from the current mess.

Speaking of now-Governor McMaster of South Carolina, here’s a Daily Kos post on how he appears to be burning up in an atmosphere of corruption.

Are you a little foggy on the government needs vs private sector (and, implicitly, the mathematical restrictions thereof) encryption debate? So is the government, apparently – it’s not one big topic, but several topics. Matt Tait on Lawfare elucidates:

For example, “device encryption,” used to prevent access to a device without the user’s PIN code, does not operate in a similar way to end-to-end communications encryption applications which prevent active wiretapping of communications. Neither  is similar to the specialist anonymizing software used by criminals to access hidden child pornography and drugs markets on the web. And HTTPS, the encryption used to keep communications with ordinary websites secure, is fundamentally different again.

To be sure, each of these use “encryption,” at some superficial level, and all cause different headaches for law enforcement. Yet each category poses very different challenges to investigations, provides dissimilar security benefits to users, and has surprisingly unrelated options, alternatives and trade-offs for any proposed path forward for law enforcement or technology companies to adapt to their respective challenges.

It’s a good, high level primer on how the government’s lack of technical knowledge results in ineffective legislation.

A reader has an answer to my question about comparative carbon footprints and passenger train travel:

Re: Carbon, you saved about half: https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/plane-train-or-automobile-which-has-the-biggest-footprint

From the link:

According to the National Geographic Green Guide, you roughly double your emissions if you cancel your plane reservations and drive across the country instead. If you take the train, then you’ll cut carbon dioxide (CO2) by half compared to the plane. A key reason is that the train (or the diesel bus) may be a big carbon emitter, but it’s designed to carry a lot of passengers, so the per capita emissions are a lot lower.

Airplanes are about 3 percent of total global climate emissions. A single flight produces three tons of carbon dioxide per passenger, but the amount goes up dramatically if the plane is nearly empty. Further complicating the picture for planes is that they produce vapor trails and emit tropospheric ozone, which have big — but not long-lasting — climate impacts. CO2 from your car’s exhaust, by contrast, will stay in the atmosphere for centuries.

I noticed in the article there are references to just trains, as well as to high speed trains. Our Amtrak travel did not involve a high speed train, or at least it didn’t seem to be moving all that fast to me. It’s not clear to me if this study applies to my trip.

Still, it’s a great encouragement to consider using the train whenever possible. I’m tired of long distance driving in any case.

I snapped this years and years ago while in India. This is probably in Pune. I don’t recall posting it before.

During our visit to Seattle, our host took us through one of the nicer neighborhoods, and we made a random stop on a hillside facing Mount Rainier. While trying to photograph it with my smartphone was a futile exercise, my Arts Editor did approve some other efforts in this venue.

Or these might be the efforts of my Arts Editor herself.

This is possibly the best shot of the ghostly Rainier. Ron commented that Seattle hasn’t seen much precipitation lately, as we can see in the grass here.

These two are also of Rainier. It’s indistinguishable, but I think my Arts Editor liked how the tree came out.

Ever see a snake shed its skin? I think that’s going on here.

You want me to do what to her? Oh, major uncool, dude.

We noticed that Blood Bath (1966) benefited greatly from long commercial breaks. Why? To recover from the incomprehensibilities of this effort.

So who do we have here?

Three artists who are in gullible awe of a fourth artist using a paintgun to create his art. My Arts Editor was soon clutching her head over this fairly wretched portrayal of artists.

Yet another artist, Sordi, the latest in a long line of artists. At one point, he describes an ancestor as being better than Rembrandt and Titian. His ancestor’s fate? Burned at the stake for stealing the souls of his subjects for his paintings. Sordi seems to be romancing a young lady, but later we discover he seems to have a haunted canvas.

Bad art. That is, the paintings. But take it how you will.

And then there’s this weirdo vampire running around. He might be an alternative personality of Sordi, but we’re not sure. And he likes to dip his victims in hot wax. Sadly he’s also a trifle deficient in special powers, as he appears to hoof it everywhere he goes – including the mad chase to catch him which ends on the supports of a bridge, where he just SO cannot fly.

And a bunch of convenient young girls, suitable for gorging on and then, well, turning into execrable art.

OK, so remember what Mom told you? What can we say here?

My Arts Editor did cite the cinematography as being effective. This is a B&W effort, and the shadows are used to good effect.

The climactic scene is not without its creepiness, even if it’s still an unexplained finale, as we have no idea why the wax-encased victims suddenly spring back to life, overwhelm a flaccid artist/vampire, and toss him into the wax. What was the trick there?

And that’s the problem. Things happen, people die, weird illusions occur, but there’s nothing here for the attentive audience member to really hook into, unless said member is a male, ages 15-30, given one lass running about in various bikins. And maybe that’s all this, a hormone-exploitation story.

Bah, humbug.

Looking over the Wikipedia entry is interesting, as Blood Bath has quite the production history to it. I particularly liked this dry quote:

In 1966, [Producer Roger] Corman made another attempt to create a workable film. He hired another director, Stephanie Rothman, to change the story as she saw fit. While retaining much of [Jack] Hill’s footage, she changed the plot from a story about a deranged, murderous artist to a story about a deranged, murderous artist who is also a vampire.

This morning, in response to the bipartisan effort in Congress to supply the CSRs legislatively rather than through executive actions, President Trump tweeted:

I am supportive of [Senator] Lamar [Alexander]as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’Care.

Ah, so it was these immense profits that caused the insurance companies to abandon various markets. Got it. Clever devils.

He’s just brimful of desperate rationalizations, isn’t he?

A reader also wonders about recalibrations of LIGO:

I was about to say “no” because the distortions from gravity waves cause the 2.5 mile LIGO arms to compress and stretch around one-ten-thousandth the diameter of a proton — tiny fractions of femtometers. And after stretching and compressing, you’d be back to normal. But this article (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/gravitational-wave-memory/) mentions that spacetime might be distorted by gravity waves, so normal might not be the same normal again. Maybe that’s why I don’t fit into my old jeans anymore…

Fascinating stuff! I (being a lowly software engineer) had never thought of this:

Now that gravitational-wave detection is likely becoming a regular occurrence—we’ll probably find evidence of many more in the next few years—physicists are again pondering an obscure detail about gravitational waves that was once also thought virtually impossible to observe—gravitational-wave memory, which involves permanent changes in the distance between two objects.

And then that leads to this:

“In the last few years, we have discovered that ‘empty’ space, as described by Einstein’s theory of gravity, is not as empty as we once thought,” [Andrew] Strominger says. “It actually has a lot of hidden structure which can store information. The information is stored at the edges of space such as infinity or the horizon of a black hole. We [c]all this structure ‘soft hair.’ ”

“The gravitational-memory effect measures the soft hair,” Strominger says. “It would be most interesting to directly measure it.”

“This is indeed a very exciting prospect,” [Paul] Lasky says. “It is fantastic that people are thinking about the implications of such a detection, and it is especially wonderful to hear that it could have an influence on such fundamental questions as the black hole information paradox.”

Amazing thoughts. I wonder how all this theorizing impacts the mathematical universe hypothesis – that is, what the hell does the merging of two neutron stars mean in terms of the hypothetical mathematical entities of which we’re merely a reflection? (I think.)

Oh, and maybe this has something to do with virtual particles? Sure wish I hadn’t been such a slowpoke in college….

Ever have a hankering to know just what the legendary Marquis de Lafayette was actually doing in colonial America during the Revolutionary War? Not in the mood for dense academic prose, the passive voice, or French?

Then Lafayette In The Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell may be for you. This is a book written in the current vernacular, full of witty observation, commentary from the 21st century on the denizens of the 18th century, and prose that is staccato – sometimes a bit too staccato.

But it treats the Marquis as the raw young man that he was, noting his virtual abandonment of his new, pregnant wife in his stubborn pursuit of joining the United States in war, as well as the various political winds which nearly blew now-legendary Founding Father George Washington aside. It explores the various challenges faced by the Colonial Army, and how Lafayette worked to ameliorate at least some of the real problems faced by the Colonials, and how the people most likely to benefit from independence from England had to virtually be dunned into paying their due, from the lowliest Colonial farmer to the Louis of France, whose help in the Revolution paid partial revenge for other English victories – but may have contributed to his own demise on the “French razor” several years later.

The interjection of modern viewpoints into the world of 1776 has its drawbacks and its advantages, the latter in some ways as comedic points as well as illuminating the fact that the Revolutionaries were just as capable of hypocrisy as we are today. But it certainly makes it easy to enjoy this book more than the weighty historical tome, full of footnotes and densely argued points; of course, if that’s what you need, then this will not do at all.

But if you just want a light go-over of the Marquis’ fabled role in the American Revolution, this is not a bad book to read.

Continuing this theme, the idea of Trump as a role model makes me absolutely ill, and so I feel very sorry for the citizens of Israel. Ben Caspit on AL Monitor has the comparison. Keeping in mind that Mandelblit is the Israeli Attorney General, and was put in that position by Netanyahu with the expectation that Mandelblit would be a lapdog. Instead, Mandelblit is investigating Netanyahu for corruption:

Netanyahu’s strategy was copied from that of US President Donald Trump, down to the very small details. Netanyahu creates chaos and initiates unremitting attacks on Israel’s gatekeepers and regulators, with the goal of delegitimizing these bodies that will soon determine his fate. The prime minister’s relations with Mandelblit are very tense. On the condition of anonymity, a source within Netanyahu’s inner circle talked about the “betrayal” of Mandelblit and Alsheikh. He also talked about State Comptroller Joseph Shapira’s “crossing of red lines” (referring to Shapira’s report on the government’s decision-making process before and during the 2014 Gaza war). Since Netanyahu believes that all of these people turned their backs on him and betrayed him, he is fighting them with all of his strength: He hopes to draw legitimacy from his popularity, which continues to rise in the Likud and in Israel’s right-wing electorate.

A significant number of Netanyahu’s capricious initiatives will not come to pass; most of them will not even advance to significant stages. Meanwhile, the prime minister achieves his goals: He creates chaos, the perception of disorder and lack of control while masterminding the unfolding events and delivering weekly blows to imaginary enemies, mainly those he labels as left wing. Netanyahu tries to create the impression that shadowy, demonic figures, funded and activated by the left, are trying to bring down a sitting prime minister. “A government can be replaced only at the voting booth,” insisted another associate of Netanyahu, talking on condition of anonymity. In this way they elegantly sidestep the fact that a previous prime minister, Olmert, was deposed due to criminal investigations against him and, ultimately, was even sent to prison.

Notice the reference to a personal betrayal, as if this was a great and horrid crime. Evidently, Netanyahu’s camp is run on a basis of personal loyalty, rather than loyalty to the best interests of Israel. And is this distressing the citizens? The next paragraph suggests that perhaps it doesn’t:

And by the way, Olmert was sentenced to prison for fraud and breach of trust that revolved around 60,000 shekels ($17,000). Netanyahu is under suspicion for fraud, breach of trust and bribery involving much higher sums of money, but he does not let the facts destroy his strategy. In an era of “alternative truth” and “fake news,” there is no need for real evidence or proven facts. Each camp believes what its leaders tell them. Whichever side that is more determined and aggressive will win. At least that’s what Netanyahu believes.

So tribalism is also enveloping Israel, perhaps. A depressing thought, for down that staircase lies fascism and ruin.

Remember the LIGO device, used to detect gravity waves? Now it’s caught two neutron stars in the act. Eric Betz on D-brief has a nice description:

An artist’s illustration of two colliding neutron stars. (Credit: NASA/Swift/Dana Berry)

They were neutron stars — the collapsed cores left behind after giant stars explode into supernovas. Closer and closer they spun, shedding gravitational energy, until the stars traveled at nearly the speed of light, completing an orbit 100 times every second.

By then, dinosaurs reigned on Earth, and the first flowers were just blooming. That’s when, 130 million years ago, the dance ended. 

The collision was fast and violent, likely spawning a black hole. A shudder — a gravitational wave — was sent out across the fabric of space-time. And as the stars’ outer layers launched into space, the force formed a vast cloud of subatomic particles that would cool into many Earths’ worth of gold, platinum and uranium.

Seconds later, a blast of high-energy gamma-rays – the most energetic kind of light – punched through the erupting cloud.

The space-time ripple and the light crossed the cosmos together, and finally arrived at 6:41 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 17. The gravitational wave first reached Italy’s freshly finished detector Advanced Virgo before stretching and squeezing the lasers at America’s two LIGO sites.

Two seconds later, NASA’s gamma-ray detecting Fermi spacecraft caught the blast.

Neat stuff. Including direct confirmation that heavy elements are created in these mergers.

A reader remarks on KRACK and Wi-Fi passwords:

My understanding is that KRACK allows MITM sniffing of traffic, but does NOT decrypt your password, nor does any particularly good or bad password make ANY difference to the attack technique. You might want to research this a bit further. I have a feeling that Mr. Weaver is wrong.

Perhaps. I believe the issues of KRACK and Wi-Fi passwords are unconnected. Concerning the KRACK (Key Reinstallation Attacks – and, no, I don’t know what that means) problem I mentioned earlier, here’s more information from the researchers who discovered the problem:

We discovered serious weaknesses in WPA2, a protocol that secures all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. An attacker within range of a victim can exploit these weaknesses using key reinstallation attacks (KRACKs). Concretely, attackers can use this novel attack technique to read information that was previously assumed to be safely encrypted. This can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos, and so on. The attack works against all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. Depending on the network configuration, it is also possible to inject and manipulate data. For example, an attacker might be able to inject ransomware or other malware into websites.

The weaknesses are in the Wi-Fi standard itself, and not in individual products or implementations. Therefore, any correct implementation of WPA2 is likely affected. To prevent the attack, users must update affected products as soon as security updates become available. Note that if your device supports Wi-Fi, it is most likely affected. During our initial research, we discovered ourselves that Android, Linux, Apple, Windows, OpenBSD, MediaTek, Linksys, and others, are all affected by some variant of the attacks. For more information about specific products, consult the database of CERT/CC, or contact your vendor. …

As a proof-of-concept we executed a key reinstallation attack against an Android smartphone. In this demonstration, the attacker is able to decrypt all data that the victim transmits. For an attacker this is easy to accomplish, because our key reinstallation attack is exceptionally devastating against Linux and Android 6.0 or higher. This is because Android and Linux can be tricked into (re)installing an all-zero encryption key (see below for more info). When attacking other devices, it is harder to decrypt all packets, although a large number of packets can nevertheless be decrypted.

[Bold in the original.] I’ll decline to offer any interpretation or commentary as there are far more competent folks out there than I. I will say that the problem being in the standard is a bit appalling. On the other hand, this sort of thing is notoriously tricky to get right.

Reading Saeid Jafari’s piece in AL Monitor on Iran’s hardline (Principlist) political camp is reminiscent of the United States’ pack of right wingers, where all are supposedly on the same page, yet have that lust to power pushing them along:

[Former President] Ahmadinejad’s attack against the parliament speaker [Larijani] comes as some view Larijani as the symbol of a classic Principlist who in recent years has distanced himself from the camp due to its hard-line activities and instead now enjoys close ties with the Rouhani administration. It should be noted that Larijani ran as a conservative in the 2005 presidential elections, which first brought Ahmadinejad to power. However, he was eliminated in the first round of voting, coming in sixth place after late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad, former parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, Ghalibaf and former Minister of Science Mostafa Moin.

It should also be noted that some Principlist groups don’t even consider Larijani a conservative anymore and have strongly criticized him for his close ties with the current administration. In a recent development, a picture of Larijani next to former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), the leader of the Reform movement, surfaced on Sept. 23, causing a great deal of controversy and harsh criticism from hard-liners. Some even described the photo as an attempt by Larijani to launch his campaign for the 2021 presidential elections.

As such, Iran’s conservative camp today is more divergent than ever. This is perhaps due to a lack of leadership in the camp and the existence of multiple forces who each see themselves as being superior to others. This is not to mention that not all Principlist groups accept Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, the hard-line cleric who is seen by many as the spiritual father of the conservative front. Thus, it seems as if each part of the movement is branching out for itself, with none willing to accept other factions.

Note the Iranian analog to the RINO. I wonder how much that phenomenon has occurred in Iran, until the hardliners are best viewed as extremists? As a theocracy, it shouldn’t be surprising to see a certain over-confidence evident in the various factions, since all of them think they understand best what their Divine Being wants. That same reasoning justifies the ejection of members in good standing from the group – after all, they’re not conforming to the wishes of DB, now are they?

Because, of course, they know the mind of DB.

The importance of separating the roles of public and private sectors (see here for ruminations on this topic) is brightly illuminated in this story about Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) withdrawing his name from consideration as the Administration’s Drug Czar on Maddowblog:

The Post reported that as the opioid crisis intensified, Congress “effectively stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of its most potent weapon against large drug companies suspected of spilling prescription narcotics onto the nation’s streets.” The point of the measure was to “weaken aggressive DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies that were supplying corrupt doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics to the black market.”Leading the way was Tom Marino, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, who was the beneficiary of generous contributions from the drug industry.

And while many members of Congress are responsible for voting Yes, as well as President Obama for signing it, I think it’s important to recognize that, at its point of entry into the Congressional body, this is essentially corruption. By this I don’t mean that Marino was bribed, but he was, to use an old metaphor, carrying water for these drug distribution companies, no doubt in order to ensure future contributions from them.

And that’s not his role.

Look, safeguarding the public, in this case from the consequences of its own ignorance, is the role of Congress; guaranteeing the profits of any particular industry is absolutely not.

But even more importantly, consider the underlying moral topography. Rep. Marino, an avid Trump supporter, or at least obedient to GOP party dictates with a Trump Score as of this writing of 95.3%, is presumably of a conservative religious bent (see here for some info on his civil rights stances, such as being anti-same sex marriage), and yet he chose to introduce a bill that would restrict the government from pursuing those who are indulging in illegal activities. On success, a baffling, tragic epidemic intensifies.

All for the sake of greater industry profits.

This confusion of societal & moral imperatives, or perhaps ignorance of, has real consequences, in this case measured in the lives lost to the drugs that should have been restricted to those with a legitimate need. All because Marino didn’t do his job – he didn’t undertake to study his role seriously.

Perhaps he’ll be restricted from Congress at the next elections.