Monthly Archives: October 2023

Tricoteuses:

Tricoteuse (French pronunciation: [tʁikɔtøz]) is French for a knitting woman. The term is most often used in its historical sense as a nickname for the women in the French Revolution who sat in the gallery supporting the left-wing politicians in the National Convention, attended the meetings in the Jacobin club, the hearings of the Revolutionary Tribunal and sat beside the guillotine during public executions, supposedly continuing to knit. The performances of the Tricoteuses were particularly intense during the Reign of Terror. [Wikipedia]

French? Hell, yeah. A substantial fraction of English words are French extracts. Noted in “A Culture Primed For Indecency,” Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish (paywall):

And indecent gawkers. “It’s good to make fun of people who support criminals when they get murdered by criminals,” commented one on Twitter. “Ryan Carson took the phrase ‘bleeding heart liberal’ way too literally,” said another. (Carson’s actual heart was pierced by the murder weapon.) Other virtual tricoteuses went after the traumatized bystander: “Ryan Carson’s girlfriend is the Douche of the Week. 1. Showed almost no concern as her guy was murdered. 2. Expressed zero concern as he lay on the ground dying. Didn’t even bend down. 3. Refused to give police the murderer’s description. Soulless Marxist.” Another: “WHAT??? Ryan Carson’s girlfriend … started a GoFundMe page to make money off his death. I would tell her to eat trash but that’s cannibalism.” Or this: “She didn’t react when he was stabbed but she sure didn’t hesitate to raise $50k on go fund me. Makes you wonder.”

Culture will coarsen until some incident, linkable to that coarsening, occurs and shocks a large majority of folks into shame. Others, who value their social prestige more than an intellectual honesty, will remain coarse, using various weak excuses for their utterances and sometimes, even, actions. But this coarsening serves to give those being coarse a reason to feel superior not only to the victim, but the victim’s associates and ideological comrades.

In 2019, Andy Beshear (D-KY) became Governor Beshear after upsetting incumbent Governor Matt Bevin (R-KY) in a squeaker, 49.2% to 48.8%. Trading on a famous political name and widespread dismay at Governor Bevin’s performance, more of which can be found at the reader’s discretion, Beshear had moved up from the state’s Attorney General position, which he had won in 2015 in another close election.

Beshear is running for re-election now, and common conservative wisdom might have it that the Kentucky governor’s seat would be a prime candidate to be flipped. With Kentucky running this election in November of 2023, just four weeks away, how close will this race be?

Emerson College Polling, a highly rated pollster by FiveThirtyEight, seems to think it won’t be close.

A new Emerson College Polling survey of Kentucky voters finds incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear with 49% support in the upcoming November gubernatorial election, while a third of voters (33%) plan to support Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Five percent plan to vote for someone else, while 13% are undecided.

Emerson College is not infallible, and there’s still room for Cameron to make a comeback, yes, but it’s a steep hill to climb. Republicans have to be concerned, because, at least using the On The Issues summation, Cameron isn’t the worst conservative in the world. However, the key may be his apparently unapologetic support for anti-abortion laws. While such a position may hearten conservatives, the fact of the matter is that telling women their lives are optional is not a positive approach to politics, no matter how zealously one believes abortion is evil.

If a Democratic governor looks unbeatable in Republican stronghold Kentucky, that’s a big red flag for conservatives. But while some of them may realize those flags are red, those who are in charge, who are most zealous, may also be color-blind when it comes to the flags that are waving.

Democrats had better hope the Republican Party Civil War being waged between the moderates and the far-right extremists does not cease, because it promises to make 2024 a year to remember.

For both Parties.

Nomenclators:

One once-common variant of the substitution cipher is the nomenclator. Named after the public official who announced the titles of visiting dignitaries, this cipher uses a small code sheet containing letter, syllable and word substitution tables, sometimes homophonic, that typically converted symbols into numbers. Originally the code portion was restricted to the names of important people, hence the name of the cipher; in later years, it covered many common words and place names as well. The symbols for whole words (codewords in modern parlance) and letters (cipher in modern parlance) were not distinguished in the ciphertext. The Rossignols‘ Great Cipher used by Louis XIV of France was one. [Wikipedia]

Not quite a match for my example, though, which is in “How scientists are cracking historical codes to reveal lost secrets,” Joshua Howgego, NewScientist (23 September 2023, paywall):

But unless your cipher is very basic, it won’t stop there. Many historical ciphers also contain elements called nomenclators, symbols that represent syllables, whole common words or names. These can be extremely hard to crack unless you have some sense of what the letter is about or who wrote it and can make an educated guess about what the nomenclators mean. Sometimes, these symbols can even be “nulls” – characters that have no meaning and should be discounted – just to throw adversaries off the scent.

Perhaps an example of language changing over time? In any case, a fascinating intro article on the automation of encryption breaking. No mention of everyone’s favorite encrypted, or so at least some speculate, manuscript, the Voynich Manuscript.

The GOP, especially in the House, is approaching a decision point. I don’t know if they are conscious of it, but it’s coming. Greg Sargent of WaPo’s description of the GOP caucus in the House, nominally of a majority party, is illustrative:

I’ve been reading about this research for a decade or two, and I’m glad to see it’s coming to fruition, as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) must be a horrific condition. The title, from NewScientist (23 September 2023, paywall), says it all: MDMA therapy for PTSD expected to get US approval after latest trial.

The latest study involved 104 people in the US and Israel diagnosed with moderate to severe PTSD, of whom 27 per cent identified as Hispanic or Latino and 7 per cent identified as another ethnicity or race other than white. This group is more representative of people with PTSD in the US, so the results can give more confidence that the treatment will work in a wider population, says Mitchell.

In the study, the participants all received three therapy sessions spaced a month apart. Half the group received a dose of MDMA with their therapy sessions, while the other half received a placebo pill.

Following these three therapy sessions, the researchers found that 71.2 per cent of the MDMA group no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared with 47.6 per cent of the placebo group.

Illegal drugs are drugs for which we just haven’t found a use, yet.

Valedictory:

relating to saying goodbye, especially formally [Cambridge Dictionary]

I would have thought I’d know valedictory at this point, but no. Interesting. Noted in “McCarthy became the latest victim of Trump’s extreme GOP revolution,” Stephen Collinson, CNN/Politics:

“I don’t regret standing up for choosing governance over grievance,” McCarthy said, putting a brave face on his humiliation in a valedictory news conference that capped a speakership that had always seemed to be on a short-term lease.

Left scratching like the rest of us.

With the exit of Representative and now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from center-stage, and his vow not to seek the seat again – possibly a lie – who will be stuck with Excedrin headache #9 next?

That’ll depend on the strength of the allegiance of the ordinary House GOP member. If it’s strong enough, the Freedom Caucus which deposed McCarthy, with it must be said the overwhelming support of the House Democrats, can nominate and run one of its own. Indeed, Ringleader Gaetz may wish to consider being the Speaker himself, as that might permit the squelching of an Ethics Committee investigation that endangers his position.

But if that allegiance isn’t strong enough, then either moderate GOP members of the House will need to make common cause with the Democrats, thereby enraging the Freedom Caucus again, or the House will have to limp along, accomplishing virtually nothing, until early January of … 2025. Unless the debt ceiling crisis scheduled for roughly forty days from now really scrambles the power dynamic.

My money’s on nearly a year and a half of being crippled.

Will the entire Freedom Caucus be primaried for the next election? Or will the ordinary citizens of those districts be pleased that their Representatives have crippled the Federal government, thereby endangering national security?

While watching Stephen Colbert’s interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tyson’s commentary on the Mexican aliens presented to their legislative branch, and upon hearing that a locked box containing, allegedly, another alien was presented to the American Congress, my Arts Editor commented:

Ah! It’s Heisenberg’s Alien!

From a couple of days ago:

Tyromancy:

Tyromancy is the ancient practice of fortune-telling through the observation of cheese, and its renaissance is being conjured here in Chicago by local “kitchen witch” Jennifer Billock. [“Reading Between The Rinds: Local Woman Can Read Your Fortune Using Cheese,” Linze Rice, Block Club Chicago]

Ya gotta be kidding.