Russian trolls and bots, post-Russia's internet clampdown

I am absolutely fascinated by a phenomenon.

For years now, I've made it a hobby to notice Russian trolls and bots online (hey we all need our hobbies). It's a verifiable fact that they often peddle American right wing opinions and memes (sometimes with hilarious inaccuracies), and pro-Trump "stolen election" and pro-Putin content in particular.

Since Russia had most of its internet access blocked off, I immediately noticed a huge drop in inflammatory right wing posts online, in pro-Trump/Putin comments in comment sections, in nasty right wing memes being posted. It was honestly an instantaneous difference in the temperature of the internet. I even notice when looking at "reacts" on facebook, that those that mention positives with Biden no longer have the angry face first; they often have the love react first. This trend has been predominant in the last several days, and I am shocked at the instant changes. Obviously there are still angry trump supporters out there, but there is a marked difference in numbers online. I am sure it's not a coincidence. And it's just another fascinating facet of this time.

Also please check back, I’ll be writing my own analysis of this surreal situation with Russia, and the absolutely criminal invasion of Ukraine, later on.

The Last Duel (SPOILER RICH!)

I remember hearing several months ago (or years ago?? Time is so strange during plagues) about a new Ridley Scott movie coming out. I love his movies, and I heard that this one would have sword fighting in it, so I immediately was invested. Then, I believe, the next thing I heard was that Matt Damon would be starring in it, and that he would have a mullet. I don’t remember hearing anything after that.

The rumors were true.

Lo and behold, last week I learned that The Last Duel was available to watch on streaming. I immediately watched it (twice, if you want to get technical). And I loved it. First, my second complaint about the movie besides the mullet, was Matt Damon’s duel helmet.

What in the traumatic brain injury is that.

Now that those are out of the way, I’ll get on to everything else about the movie that I didn’t know. Adam Driver (of Kylo Ran fame), Ben Affleck, and Jodie Comer round out the rest of the main cast. The film immediately started with a duel scene between Adam Driver and Matt Damon’s characters, and then goes into three separate “flashback” sequences. This was a very unique approach, because (and, if you haven’t scene it yourself, PLEASE don’t read further, it has so much more impact if you don’t realize what is coming!) each of these sequences are of the same section of story, from the perspective of the three characters who experienced it. This was an absolutely fascinating way to tell the story.

I’m not going to rely heavily on recapping the plot, because I truly hope you watched it yourself (and, if you didn’t, please DO IT NOW). But essentially it’s the story of Matt Damon and Adam Driver and their battle camaraderie, their struggles with one another and power and pride, and the story of Matt Damon as Sir Jean marrying Jodie Comer’s character Marguerite. The lynchpin of it all is when Adam Driver’s character Le Gris shows up when Jean is away, and rapes Marguerite. She bravely tells Jean when he returns, and he decides to challenge Le Gris to a duel and allow “God to settle it”.

You will become so familiar with this shot.

Going into this movie, I assumed it was a rather typical medieval war movie, and I had high expectations since I think Ridley Scott is incredible at this. Master and Commander is my favorite movie of all time, so I assumed this would be an excellent historic war movie (clearly one of my favorite genres), and in that I was not disappointed. The battle scenes are visceral, intimate, and brutal. They truly didn’t disappoint. Of note is the scene where a volley of arrows launches in a forest in Scotland; I had to rewatch that scene several times just to truly appreciate how terrifying that experience would have been. As in Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator, the grace and glory of hand to hand combat with simple tools is stripped down to its essential and bloody truth: while I am fascinated by it, this is truly an awful and terrifying way to die. The Last Duel achieved this pared-down storytelling with aplomb, as before. He has not lost any of his brutal clarity in telling the stories of battles. In the final duel scene, you truly are left with a sense of what an eternity the microseconds of hand to hand combat truly encompass. It’s an earth shattering feeling that is well communicated.

THEY ARE NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME HERE

All of the above is exactly what I expected, and love, from Ridley Scott Films. I assume that there were many in the audience who were there for those exact reasons, as was I. Here’s what I didn’t expect: A complex and empathetic story of pride, power, and the powerlessness of women in Catholic France. I did not expect an entreaty that would show the perspectives of two empathetic male characters who have their own views and complexities, and the erosions and micro aggressions of their relationships over time. And I definitely did not expect to see the story of a woman doubted, loved but ignored and downtrodden, and her complex emotions in what to sacrifice and what to save, due to her position. I didn’t expect to see the complexity of Le Gris, who was intelligent and empathetic, even going to bat for his friend when his friend had wronged him. We see him viewing a woman that he “loves” through the lens of “woman as property”; a system that he was born into. He doesn’t realize the full horror of what he has done, because he is too blinded by his own position, power, and wants, to see the true impact of what he his actions.

The story of Jean as a less intellectual, but still intelligent and in many ways honorable man, again the product of his times and the systems in place, was equally fascinating. We see as he over time refuses to adapt or learn, but continues to see “wrongs” against him (without his own self at fault, of course). But we are still empathetic; he is built for a simpler world, and doesn’t understand that. We see his perspective as a man who loves his wife, but ultimately still lives in a world that values her as a breeder and property, and on some level, he sees her that way too.

And finally in the third iteration of the story, we see Marguerite’s own view. That of a woman who must bear the shames of the men around her (first her father’s treason, then her husband’s impetuous actions that result in his losses of station), who was raised literate and as an intellectual but lives in a home with an illiterate husband and a hostile mother in law. She is still happy and takes on the duties of the house as much as possible, but over the five years of her marriage that we see, she very much feels the weight of not having born an heir yet. When she has her child but feels the weight of possibly being burned at the stake depending on if her husband loses the duel (and therefore proves that she lied about the rape), she clearly sees how other women chose not to speak out.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie with characters so deeply and well written. In an era in which analysis of current events and others continues to grow flatter by the day, with little room for nuance or empathy, this movie upsets the status quo. It explains a horrific event, without justifying it. It reminds us that humans are ugly, beautiful, good and evil, often within the same skin. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

Destroying Angel

Destroying Angel, one of the most deadly mushrooms in the world. It has an eerie almost glow to it; you can see it in the distance, with a cool white color that is almost irresistible. It's such a pure and attractive white, the name for it is perfect. Since it's part of the amanita family, the toxin is "amatoxin", which in this case it has in lethal amounts. If you were to ingest it, you would feel intense stomach distress in the next several hours; vomiting, diarrhea, severe stomach cramps. If you weren't to realize what you had eaten, that might be where you think it ends. But after that point, in about 8-12 hours, you would then experience liver and/or kidney failure. Over 68% of those who eat this mushroom, die from it. Most who do survive, need liver or kidney transplants. By the time the second set of symptoms show up, the damage has been done.

Eastern American Destroying Angel, benignly plotting your demise.

It looks so deceptively perfect; the telltale signs are the bulbous "vulva" at the bottom, the frail and delicate gills, and the "cape" at the top of the stalk. In the early stages it can look similar to a puffball, but if you cut them open, the inside of a puffball should look smooth, almost with the texture of a marshmallow. If it has any structure, it's not safe. The kids got a good lesson today in Mommy's Mycologia School. ;)

Note the pure, cool white color, and the bulbous “vulva” at the bottom, from which the mushroom emerged. The vulva is often buried so it requires some digging to uncover.

Bioluminescence? Yes please.

I love mushrooms. I think they are fascinating; they aren’t animal, they aren’t plant, they aren’t like anything else. So one of my hobbies is to just sort of find them and learn about them, when I have the chance.

Last night, while driving down the road, I saw these bright orange clusters of mushrooms by a golf course. We pulled over and I took pictures, sure that I had found Jack O’ Lantern mushrooms, and in October, no less. They were gorgeous and vibrant, and I took some photos and we left.

Today I learned that they are bioluminescent. I find bioluminescence to be one of the most beautiful and mysterious things you can find in nature, so tonight we went back to the golf course, and I grabbed a clump of them (I am sure they will be mowed tomorrow). I took them home, not sure if we would see the elusive glow or not. And to the amazement of my kids and I….we did. So I went and got out my camera, and took a few low light photos of the first time I’ve witnessed bioluminescence “in the wild”, if you will (as opposed to in a museum or aquarium). I loved it so much that I wanted to share the experience with you.

Afghanistan

For the last few days, I've been parsing and categorizing my response to seeing the rapid collapse of Afghanistan after our withdrawal. And to me, it's been a bit more rapid than I expected, but absolutely what I've assumed would happen for the last 20 years. I remember when we invaded, saying "I want to know what our exit strategy is, or else this is just another Vietnam." Turns out that's exactly what has happened. Afghanistan has a very long history of being nearly unconquerable. Genghis Khan was successful, but only because his army permanently moved in and never left. In fact the Hazara people literally look different than other tribes, due to their Mongolian heritage. But the Romans, the Russians, Alexander the Great, and the United States, have all been defeated in trying to conquer Afghanistan. If only President Bush would have rewatched the Princess Bride in 2001, and remembered the all important maxim: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia."

I hate that we weren't successful, and the good lives that were lost. But I don't see it as a surprise at all. America is not good at ending wars. I think the ending of World War II gave us hubris for the other conflicts that we entered in the 20th (and beginning of the 21st) century. You cannot force a people to choose what they don't want. And with Afghanistan, though there are many people there who are good people, there still weren't enough to fight against the inertia of thousands of years of tribalism and war lords. Which we should have been well aware of, and many of us were....but the top brass and politicians, chose to deny this.

I've seen people asking why we didn't maintain a force there, like we did with Japan and Germany. The reasons for keeping those bases were strategic, to keep footholds in Europe (against Russia) and in Asia. Afghanistan really doesn't fulfill that need. And with the cost of a place that has NEVER been stable, the maintenance is too high. Japan and Germany had successful economies and stability; Afghanistan doesn't and won't. We would pour far more into the bribes needed to keep the wolves off in that region, in perpetuity, than we would gain strategically. Attacks on the Green Zone never stopped. The prices never stopped being paid by American personnel. The same can't be said of Germany and Japan. I fully believe that if we were to wait ten more years, we would just spend trillions more that could be spent here, with the same result.

At some point, you have to disavow the sunk cost fallacy, and withdraw. Should that have been done at a more measured pace? Sure, of course. At the least we should have had a solid plan on how to get our allies out, who would surely be sacrificed.

But I ultimately believe we were well past the point where we should go. And I've spent my whole career involved in that war, it breaks my heart that we weren't able to save the good people from the bad; I hate how many of our friends and coworkers were lost in the prime of life, for the glory of a politician's lost cause. I hate seeing the equipment that we left to try to do the right thing, get taken by the Taliban (just like what happened when the Russians left). I hate seeing a new vacuum for bad actors come into existence. But I hate even more, that our past leaders thought that the risks of fighting a new war for bad reasons, were worth it. Because, as a 19 year old, I knew how it would end. You can't tell me they didn't see it too. But too many people wanted to get rich at the top, and didn't pay a price. And from the good old adage, Never let a crisis go to waste, they didn't. So I hope that the leaders from 2001 and on get accurately called out for wasting blood, time, and money, for the most predictable end all along. And the death of hope for a people, that was never going to be. As a nation, I hope that we can learn some lessons about fights that are worth the cost, and that you should never enter a room without knowing how to get back out of it again.

How I really feel about billionaire joy rides to “space”

I usually find space and flight among the most inspirational things there are. I love the idea of humanity exploring and learning together, I think it's great that Space X has made using reusable rockets an achievable thing, and that it gives us data we can use in so many ways, and helps advance science and exploration.

That said, the billionaire boys club dick waving contest has been so depressing, I've avoided watching the launches. Here are these jerks that underpay the people that built their companies, racing to get to the very tip of space (technically the outer atmosphere), meanwhile the earth is burning, melting, and flooding, racing to prove that....well, they just can. Jeff Bezos, one of my least favorite humans, literally said he started Blue Origin because he could think of nothing else to do with his money. 😑 No wonder his philanthropist ex left him. I have never seen a better case for taxing rich people than these antics.

How about helping to build the infrastructure of the country that your company has used every single day, Jeff? How about building hospitals? Fighting vaccine disinformation? Building a tool to detect deepfakes? How about paying for childcare for your workers? Making it so they don't pee in bottles at work because of how totalitarian your warehouses are? You could build roads, put ENTIRE cities on new forms of power, help clean plastic out of the oceans! Make desalination plants for the west coast! ORRRR.....make a giant dick that doesn't even really make it to space, spewing an atrocious amount of pollution for no net scientific gain, and look like the biggest dork I've ever seen while doing it. Literally the only good thing about this to me has been seeing Wally Funk finally make it to space. Did you know that to Jeff Bezos, spending $80,000 is the equivalent of you or I spending $1. THAT'S how much money he has. I think it's fine to have millionaires, I still think they should be taxed and we need to close the loopholes that make it so they don't pay taxes at equivalent rates like the rest of us, but I think it's immoral to have billionaires. It's the sign of broken systems and broken people. You really have to have greed to make billions of dollars, and keep it. And I know, Jeff Bezos has given away pittances to people. But he has kept a LOT. And spent billions more on this useless stunt.

The world NEEDS help. America NEEDS moral leaders and business leaders. And this just AIN'T IT. Do better, jackasses. Regular people are the ones whose shoulders you stood on (and, faces, in many cases); why don't you try doing things to help us, instead of making the most ironic and crappy representation of leaving us behind to die in our petty poor people filth that you can.

Mort by Terry Pratchett, and a general reflection on Death

Since I read War of the Worlds when I was in first grade, I’ve been a science fiction and fantasy fan. It doesn’t take much poking around my interests to see that I’m an avid reader. Back around 1999, I read Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s collaboration, Good Omens, and subsequently loved it. I also truly loved the TV show version, which we all know is a dicey gamble at best, when it comes to transferring the written word to the silver screen. It was witty, irreverent yet respectful, and thought provoking about the most serious topics, in the most fun way.

However, it pains me to say, that’s as much Terry Pratchett as I had ever read. I know, I know! I KNOW. This was largely due to the fact that he’d written so much, I just didn’t really know where to start. There are plenty of guides online that told me what to start with, but they all differed, and I was paralyzed by choice. I’ve known this whole time that i was missing out, but hadn’t remedied it.

I finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago, and read Mort. I loved it. It makes Death someone that you would actually not mind meeting, scythe and all. Considering the fact that mortality is inevitable, I find this a very comforting anthropomorphization of an idea that modern Western culture seems to have done its utmost to avoid. I find memento mori to be a thing our current culture lacks, and through Death in Terry Pratchett’s books, and Death in the Sandman books, I think there are two very healthy ways of approaching the unavoidable specter of….well…..Death.

Frontispiece from Folio Society’s beautiful edition of Mort by Terry Pratchett

“THAT’S MORTALS FOR YOU, Death continued. THEY’VE ONLY GOT A FEW YEARS IN THIS WORLD AND THEY SPEND THEM ALL IN MAKING THINGS COMPLICATED FOR THEMSELVES. FASCINATING.” -Death, Mort

I love this quote from my In-Laws: “One out of one dies.”

They say it whenever life is just a bit stressful, or problems are a bit too big, and every time it makes me feel better. I hear that there are attempts to expand the human lifespan to 150+ years, and all I can think is, BLECH who would want that. I certainly wouldn’t. I intend to enjoy life as much as possible while I can, and then embrace the big nap when it’s my turn. I hope that I’ve left a legacy and stories to entertain and make my loved ones proud, but I would have no desire to outlive my natural life. And I think that’s a good thing.

Over the past year, there has been a lot of insanity from a lot of people. In many, many ways. And I think a part of that, has been a primitive reaction to having to stare death in the face. Many people have managed to run from the idea that yes, we all will die. If you buy a certain type of protein shake, or do yoga, or follow the right directions, on a primal level, it seems that we bought off on an idea that we could delay, or entirely ignore, the inevitable. And we couldn’t. And this past year, that came and looked us right in the peepers, and we couldn’t look away. So a lot of people just….lost it. Maybe they flipped out and got themselves banned on airlines when they were asked to wear a mask. Maybe they punched someone over a parking space. Or maybe they just decided that rather than cope in a healthy way, take a vaccine to keep themselves and their loved ones safer, they would….decide that it was all a big plot to implant magnetic microchips or whatever, brought about by….checks notes ….ah yes, satanic baby eating lizard people.

So rather than double down on crazy and decide to jump into the deep end of lunacy to avoid confronting that death comes for us all (though there are certainly ways we can mitigate some of the means, but not the end result), I try to face it. I take the Victorian approach. I like to look for beauty in graveyards. I enjoy watching movies with heartwarming death themes (thank you, Tim Burton); and now, I’ve fallen headlong into Terry Pratchett’s Death representation. I think it’s scary because it’s unknown, but I think it’s futile to fear what we can’t avoid. So we might as well humanize it, since it’s a truly human experience.

Death from the Sandman Comics. She so cute.

I’m just another mortal here, doing a slow shuffle on this coil, but I’m doing the best I can. So much of what motivates us is fear. Not necessarily conscious fear, like “Oh no I’m going to be late if this light doesn’t change” fear. But rather deep seated fears about love, death, judgement, and rejection, that usually wrap themselves up and dress themselves in the clothes of more mundane things. And I think that the more we can drag those deep seated fears out and name them to ourselves, the more we have a chance at happiness, and sanity. So if you’re looking for a way to do that, I highly recommend reading Mort by Terry Pratchett, or the Sandman “Death” comics, because it’s a way of making something we can’t avoid a bit less scary, naming it in a warm caring light, and taking the chill off.

Hard Truth Thursday

The internet, as the internet does, is handwringing about Gina Carano (who played Cara Dune in the Mandalorian) being let go by Disney, for divisive and false public social media posts. This got me thinking in general about some of the current flavor of “Modern Problems”, and I came up with a short list of (possibly) hard to swallow facts.

HARD TRUTH THURSDAY:

1. MLMs are not your "small business", and if you sell for one you don't "own a business".

2. Gina Carano was not a good actress anyway. But she was good at looking badass and standing around, I'll give you that. If she was lead in a series, it would have been a bad series.

3. "Free Speech" means the government can't punish you for expressing your opinion, not that other people have to applaud you for shouting terrible ideas in a public forum, or that companies have to keep you employed when you violate the rules you agreed to when you were hired, against shouting bad ideas in a public forum. Express controversial ideas in private if you don't want repercussions.

4. "Something seems fishy" doesn't discount peer reviewed studies and I won't agree that it does. Your poor instinct doesn't trump facts.

5. We as a species look for patterns where there are none. If you see a bunny in the clouds, that doesn't mean there's a bunny in the clouds. If you think you see a conspiracy with lack of true evidence upon inspection, then you don't really see a conspiracy. Stop guilelessly believing that the world is like the plot of a Dan Brown book because it's a more interesting story and easier to draw on paper.

6. Just because you can put together words and use oxygen talking about something that you don't understand, doesn't mean that the words you say have equal value to an expert who DOES know what they're talking about. Keep your mouth shut if you are trying to discredit things and can't prove it. It's exhausting and the same four people liking and agreeing with you, doesn't mean you're right. It means they are ignorant too.

7. Pick up a book. Turn off reality television. Don't listen to biased talk radio or 24 hour news. It affects your cognitive ability in an obvious way and it shows. ANALYZE.

And with that, have a nice Thursday :)

2020 Retrospective

I've been struggling with what to say about 2020. And I decided I would take it as a way to talk about the things I learned over the year, because ultimately it was a year of learning lessons and adapting.

1. I learned that I need more quiet time. Both from social media noise, and general media noise, and from a busy life in general. I think about how much time I spent running around before, sitting in traffic, shopping unnecessarily....and now that I've had the chance to break routine, I don't miss it. I enjoy a quieter life, with more meaningful interactions, surrounded by those I love most.

2. To be more patient. There are very few things that I need right now, and many things I don't. Those lines are very clear now.

3. To appreciate nature more. I've always loved being outside, noticing plants and animals, and the wind in trees, the way water moves in different conditions. When we lived in Virginia, we were in a very urban environment. It had many beautiful areas, but it was hard to get lost in nature. I enjoyed being close to things to do, but the trade off was being very tightly packed with others. Now that we've moved to a place that is slower, more spread out, and has more breathing space, I love getting to know nature more. That included learning to forage for mushrooms, and cooking them for the family to eat. Identifying new plants and animals, working in the garden, noticing the way things change as the seasons move forward.

4. To focus. With less noise, the chance to focus more on things that matter has presented itself. I've tried to listen. I have spent so much quality time with my kids and husband. I've gotten to spend more time doing the hobbies I love. Reading, making things, playing with my kids, and yes, video games.

5. To realize who matters to me. This has been a double-edged sword. I have learned just how deeply I love some people, near and far. I've been worried for them all, praying for them, trying to give signs that they are in my mind and heart. Waiting, as patiently as I can, to see some people that I just thought I could see whenever I wanted to hop on a plane, or drive. However, this year has also taught me, not all people are worthy of that love and care. It has taught me to focus more on the people that are good humans, who love one another as they want to be loved, who value lives that don't match their own, who are willing to make minor sacrifices to help strangers. Because, I don't have enough of myself to give, where I can continue to give and give and give to everyone. I try to be kind and helpful, but ultimately...I give more to the people who are more likely to give to others. Some of the people I learned weren't in that camp, truly surprised and disappointed me. But the lesson was an important one. As I say, Don't pet every stray dog. Some of them will bite. I can wish the best for people, and pray for good things and clarity in the future....but I no longer take extra effort once I've seen someone's true nature. Like Maya Angelou said, Once someone shows you who they really are, believe them the first time. That's been a very painful lesson, but ultimately a good one.

6. To appreciate. In our disposable and instant culture, it's so easy to sweep along in the current and the noise, and not truly appreciate the things we have. This year has been excellent for teaching me to appreciate. To appreciate warm hugs from friends. To appreciate meeting people in real life for the first time, when you've only been virtual friends. To appreciate the warmth of a good meal, brought by an enthusiastic and happy server, in a good restaurant. To appreciate going to see a movie in a theater, with friends. To appreciate travel, of any kind. To appreciate a shared smile between strangers in public. To appreciate how children flock together like birds when they gather at parks, whether they knew each other or not. To appreciate the chance to browse in a book store, to grab a drink at a bar, to take a spontaneous trip. These are things that I will truly appreciate, when I can do them again.

There's more to say, but that was enough to type. And I hope this year teaches me more and helps me grow more, but I hope with less tears and worry than this one had. I hope you learned and grew too.

A review of "Goldilocks" by Laura Lam (intense spoilers!)

Oh dear. I truly wanted to enjoy this book. I give it three stars, because I found the quality of the writing itself to be really good. Nicely formed sentences, good cadence, intelligent.

But I took away 2 for the plot.

I didn't know what I was getting into with this book. I saw it in the "New Science Fiction" section, read the synopsis, and thought I'd try to support a female science fiction author. When I picked up the book and read a couple pages, I thought the prose was well crafted (I'm getting increasingly picky about that).

SPOILERS AHEAD btw

So when we started off the book by having women thrust out of working by a misogynistic government, I thought that was interesting. When 5 women astronauts who had been cherry-picked to head a mission to the first "Goldilocks" planet, but then were ousted so that men with less training could take over, decided to steal the rocket and do the mission anyway, I thought that was a fun ride.

But as I continued through the book, I found things increasingly improbable. When it was continually implied that random people could "hack the encryption" on various systems, as a software developer, I rolled my eyes. It's the software equivalent of the classic "Enhance!" trope in movies. But all that was okay.

But in chapter 9, at the end, when the lead character discovers she got pregnant the night before launch...by her step brother....that's when I thought in my head, "Oh lord here we go." And yes, it got sillier after that. First of all, I was supposed to have sympathy for what was basically an incestuous relationship. Note: I do NOT have sympathy for that.

Then you get into the parts of a virus being engineered to kill everyone on earth, so the smuggled embryos the female Elon Musk character had managed to smuggle on board can start a "new civilization". So the inevitable mutiny happens, the women who (for pretty undefined reasons, given the risk and vilification they would receive) decided to steal the spaceship, jettison the "cryo" backup crew, and keep pushing forward....decide to TURN BACK, with the space baby and its mysteriously convenient baby spacesuit and space c-section.....well, I'll be honest here.

I felt as though what was clearly meant to be a flag-waving feminist novel, shot itself in the foot. With the silly pregnancy, and all the crazy interpersonal ridiculous drama that overshot any of the interesting science, this was my conclusion: This book made the argument that if the men would have just been allowed to do the mission, they would have gotten it done, instead of having crazy emotional catfights, turning back, abandoning ship and killing 1/3 of the population, and a totally improbable pregnancy. I REALLY doubt that's the point the author wanted to make. But here we are.

I wanted this to be a book about female engineers being equally footed and discovering true life on a another planet. What I was left with was an improbably "Real Housewives of Cape Canaveral: The Crazy Billionaire Science Edition". It was truly a let down. I'd try to read other things by the author, since hopefully they wouldn't go to the plot improbabilities that this one did. But as a STEM female, I felt this made the exact opposite points, and delivered the exact opposite ideas, of the uplifting book I hoped this to be.

One more note: This is an extremely dark and depressing book for the pandemic. The world in it is dying of a pandemic and global warming and misogyny, so if you are looking for any sort of escapism, this is NOT. IT.

COVID-19 update and info dump, part 2

Hello readers. Just figured I’d add a few more things that I’ve learned. The numbers are jumping up, and will continue to do so. But there are still things we can do at home to help this out!

• CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING. This means, stay 6-10 feet away from people you don’t live with! You can carry this disease for days with no signs, so it’s not worth the risk! Still go on walks outside, but if you see someone else, move 6 feet away :)

• Sew cloth masks! These can be used for less critical diseases or other people that are sick, so that the N95 masks can be used for COVID-19 cases. AND in a worst case scenario, they are good for nurses and doctors in the trenches of this disease; they are definitely better than no masks at all. Even the CDC agrees. Also, make some for you and your family! If you’re carrying it now (god forbid, but people are), it will also help you keep from transmitting. And it’s better protection than none at all. Here’s a pattern if you know how to sew. This is one step we can do right now!

• On the note of other cottage-industry measures, if you have a 3d printer, you can print N95 masks that take cotton rounds as filters and can be washed.

• There’s also a very real chance that soon, 3d printers could be helping to make ventilators. In Ireland, an open source ventilator design is getting tested currently to see if it works, and if so, the makers of the world can assist with the sever shortage.

• Plant your own victory garden! As this goes on, a good way to help alleviate the pressures of the shipping chain, and to give you something fulfilling to do at home, is to plant your own vegetable garden. It’s the perfect time of year to get started.

• Order takeout to support a local business! There are ZERO cases of food transmitting COVID. It could potentially be on the packaging (though that hasn’t been known to happen), so the solution is, when you get home with your food, take the food out of the to-go containers and put it on your own plates, and wash your hands. The transmission would be from package, to hands, then if you touched your face. So disrupt that chain and you’ll be fine. If there WAS some of the virus on your food, it would die in your stomach. You would not catch it. If your local restaurant offers curbside delivery, ask them to set the bag on the ground by your car for you to get it, to maintain the six foot distance. If you are paying at the restaurant, bring your own pen to sign the receipt.

• Download folding@home and let it run on your computer! This program studies the composition of the virus (and others), to help learn more about its composition in order to find a treatment. Your computer’s processing power will be chained with that of millions of others around the world to form, essentially a distributed supercomputer. You can leave it to run when it’s idle, just download the client and push start. (Also, if you want to join my team, its identifier is 244329 Here’s the official link

• Finally, if you can’t find hand sanitizer or cleaners, don’t forget, regular soap and water break this virus up! Use a cloth with soap and warm water to wipe down lightswitches, doorknobs, and other frequently touched surfaces. This virus is pretty fragile in the wild and can be easily destroyed with soap and water, thank heavens.

• Give blood!! There’s a big need for blood, and they are being VERY careful. If you go, just socially distance while you are waiting. You can sign up in advance to find a place to donate.

A bit of knowledge that I've gathered, and some tips, about coronavirus

Knowledge is anathema to panic, so I figure I'll share some of the things I've learned as I've been watching this thing grow, and maybe it might help some of you. It's long, but maybe you'll find it useful. I care about you and want us all to do as well as we can. I’m not an expert at all, but I do like to use analysis, be pragmatic, and try to figure out what I can do to help. I know this is far outside what I normally post here, but on the off chance it will help someone, here you go.

1. The virus doesn't like direct sunlight; UV helps kill it. So it doesn't live outdoors very long. The higher the temperature, the faster it dies.

2. It can live on certain solid surfaces (ie glass, metal, plastic) for UP TO 9 days. The average seems to be three.

3. Ethyl alcohol kills it extremely effectively. After one minute of exposure to at least 62% concentration, it kills nearly all traces of the virus.

4. It doesn't live on soft surfaces (like cloth) as long, but still lasts for a few hours. You can use lysol for this.

5. It transmits via droplets from coughing, sneezing, boog-boogs. The spread of a sneeze can be up to 10 feet, but the average is a couple meters. It does not appear to be transmitted via regular respiration (like measles does) so that is very good news. That's why it's important to wash hands a lot, cover your mouth with your elbow when you cough, avoid touching your face.

6. The average time to show symptoms is 5 days, though it can take up to two weeks.

7. It attacks immunocompromised people and the elderly the most, HOWEVER, that doesn't mean everyone else isn't affected. Even if you aren't in a target group, you can spread it to someone vulnerable. So practice good hygiene and keep to yourselves, even if you're a super cool guy who feels like you won't be affected (HA), because we need to watch out for one another.

8. It spreads literally exponentially. The average person spreads it to 2.2 other people. That's why this is so scary.

9. Since it takes so long to infect and become deadly, it also overloads health systems. It takes a LOT of resources to treat people who can't breathe, and with it being a pretty bad flu system, US hospitals are already overtaxed. If we can do something called "flattening the curve". Say an area has 1000 cases. If those all hit in the same two weeks, and 50 of them are critical, the hospital is going to have a very hard time keeping up with all the treatment (personnel will be exhausted, it's likely that they will run out of critical supplies like masks, and they won't have room). However, if the same amount of people catch it over a one month period, that same hospital will have a much better chance of keeping up. When hospitals get overwhelmed by people who can't breathe, people die. This is what's happening in Italy right now. A lot of those people would live, if they could be treated, but there are just too many for the (very good) healthcare system. So we are trying to flatten the curve, and slow the spread of disease, to give EVERYONE a better chance.

So, what can we do?

1. Avoid groups of people! That means, avoid restaurants, theaters, games, big meetings (did you know the growing outbreak in Boston was due to one meeting that infected 70+ people? And it probably could have been an email ;) ). I know we have to work, but cut back on going out wherever you can. Italy wouldn't stop going to cafes or restaurants, and they have a 6% death rate now.

2. Clean yo self. Wash your hands, 20 seconds, hot water, all over. Wash your doorknobs in your home. We've been lysoling shoes whenever we come in the house. Clean, clean, clean!

3. If you can't wash, have hand sanitizer.

4. If you have any symptoms and have masks available, wear them! They keep it from spreading and we need to watch out for one another.

5. Don't buy into stupid conspiracy theories. We are on a planet of 8 billion + people, with a complicated biosphere. This came from nature, and the math makes sense. This isn't political, and you shouldn't allow your fear to overshadow your logic. This is real, it's happening, and we can do a lot to make it better.

6. Watch out for one another! If you know someone who is older or immunocompromised, take them some food. Knock and leave it on the doorstep, back away, and wave nicely from a good distance. Remember, you could be a silent carrier and we are just trying to help!

7. Reach out! This is lonely and scary, but we are still here for each other. Call or text people who are keeping to themselves, particularly the elderly. Maybe play words with friends online with them? Make a movie date, watch the same movie in different places at the same time! Maybe you can both make popcorn. Order surprises for people on amazon. FaceTime. You are not alone!

8. Have a few weeks of nonperishable food, things to do, medicine and tissues. Then you can avoid dealing with the rush, AND contributing to it.

9. If you have symptoms (cough, fever, trouble breathing), CALL your doctor first for instruction. Don't go to a clinic and spread it. The majority of cases are mild, so don't freak out!

10. Boost your own immune system! Try not to stress, do what you can to keep control because that will keep stress down. Stress makes our immune system vulnerable. Take vitamin c and d, and elderberry if you show symptoms (this has been shown to shorten the length of time that other viruses hit us, no official word on if it helps against coronavirus but I'm ready to try it). Hydrate, maybe have powdered gatorade on hand. One of the big things this does is dry people out, so hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Even if you feel you don't have it, your body operates better when well hydrated.

11. Remember that this too shall pass. We can make it a lot better by taking personal steps as early as possible.

12. DON'T PANIC! We have never had such a great chance fighting a pandemic as we do right now. We just need to be logical, acknowledge the problems, and learn the lessons other places are teaching us.

References:

How to build a home kit for emergencies:

https://www.ready.gov/kit

Reference for how long coronavirus lives on surfaces, and what kills it:

https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(20)30046-3/fulltext

Disinfection advice:

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/environmental-services/best-approach-disinfecting-surfaces-amid-novel-coronavirus-outbreak

CDC advice:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

More coverup insights, and a book tie-in for one of my favorites

One of my favorite books of all time is World War Z by Max Brooks. It's a zombie book, yes, but written from the perspective of ten years after, when people have survived and are being interviewed to share their survival stories. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Not only is it entertaining and well written, but it's a great vignette into how different societies and types of people respond to crisis, and I find his interpretations highly plausible.

It was written nearly 15 years ago, and was banned in China. The reason was that he based the outbreak there, and his character blamed the chinese government for covering up and lying about the epidemic, concealing it until it got too late. Today, Max Brooks had an article about the banning of his book, and how he based the response off of China's response to SARS. It's very interesting, and I thought you might enjoy it.

TLDR: Disease flourishes when mismanagement, coverups, and a lack of transparency in authoritarian governments allow it to. See also: Lessons from Chernobyl 101

Link to the original article here.

Security Tip of the Day

Security tip from your saucy security minx: When a website asks you if you'd like to save your credit card information, if at all possible, don't do it! This doesn't apply to your own browser's secure store; rather the option the website itself asks you to use.

When you allow a company to retain your cc data, that's one more potentially exploited server that can make your data compromised. You never know how secure someone else's databases are; you'd be surprised at the large companies that store extremely sensitive data in clear text.

I do trust secure stores that are based on your own computer (apple has one, for example) because that data is held in a pretty secure place. But if you're shopping at www.scubastevesbaittackleandsushi.com, don't allow them to "save data for easier checkout next time". It's just one more way that you can take your data security into your own hands.

Not all security is equal.

Having lots of fun with custom laser projects lately, check out what I’ve been up to.

Today I finished a custom designed and burned cherry wood Dresden Files sign for a friend. Lots of fun in the design process, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. Every project teaches me something new, and commissions give me the chance to make ideas that I wouldn’t have been able to come up with alone.

Dresden Files Accorded Neutral Territory Custom Sign

A few weeks ago I got to make three pieces of a triptych. Ultimately they are going to be used as a Dungeon Master gaming screen. My client had the original artwork; I added a few details and flourishes.

This was also made of cherry wood.

Cherry wood gamer screen.

As a personal project, I made this box to hold sundries for our vacation. Tickets, MagicBands, mouse ears…I wanted a place to consolidate our Disney World necessities before we leave. So I made this maple wood box, with cherry Mickey ears accents. Just sort of a special family keepsake to keep things safe, and help get the kids excited.

Side view of the box.

I’ve really been enjoying these projects. Let me know if you have an idea you’d like to see become reality!

In case you didn’t know I love Disney World…

….now you’ll have no doubt. This winter we will be taking the family on a vacation to Disney World. I am a very big Disney fan (for reasons I’ll go into more depth on in a different post, but to get the idea: I love the stories, I love the family focus, and the engineer part of me loves the efficiency of Disney World. That place is one well-oiled machine, and I love seeing it operate. It really is magical to me!)

One thing the I love to do before a Disney vacation, is to get my kids hyped. So I came up with an idea for a “Magical Memories Box”. It’s where I’ll put our tickets when they arrive, our Mouse Ears, Disney Magical Express tags, the little booklet confirming our resort stay, our MagicBands, and the day we go….the kids will open the box and there will be some Disney candy inside ;)

As the separate surprises arrive, we’ll put them all in the box together (plus, it keeps all the important things together and I don’t have to worry about what I did with them).

So I got the idea for it, and then designed this box up. It’s made of maple; the handles are cherry. I made the mickey handles because the lid fits flush with the rest of the box, and I thought it would be interesting to make them contrast with cherry. I made the design in affinity designer, then cut the pieces and engraved it on my Glowforge. “Welcome Home” is the typical Disney World greeting when you arrive, and I loved the idea of using it on here. The people in the silhouette each represent one of us. All in all, I’m really happy with how this turned out, and I’m already putting it into action.

A view from above

Box with the lid off.

Side view.

A Quick PSA For How To Get Around Email Gateways and Protect Your Data

Ever go to a website to look at a product, only to discover you are REQUIRED to put an email in, before you can even browse?

I think that's aggressive and annoying and pretty shady. So here's a quick tutorial on how to get around it.

The first screenshot is a site that has a stupid email gateway. Just wanting to harvest your data and sell it, methinks…or at the very least subscribe you to a stupid mailing list.

The second is the URL from the top of the page; if you look closely, you see a part that starts with "gateway.php" plus a bunch of gobbledy gook.

Select right after the “g” in gateway.php

Select starting at the "g" in gateway. Then delete from that point on. This removes that stupid gateway overlay, and you should be able to browse the site without giving away your personal information (like in the third picture).

Privacy preserved.

You might want to consider not supporting a business that REQUIRES you to give away your data just to browse. But this is just one way to get around it (at least some of the time).

Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood security and privacy Minx, Phaedra

D-day 75th Anniversary, and what it means to me

75 years ago today, the D-day invasion occurred. Every year on June 6, I try to take time to reflect on the immense sacrifice and valor that were shown by the Allies that day. It’s a sobering exercise, but I try my best to put myself into the shoes of the men who were assigned the duty to attack Normandy.

The logistics of the attack were immense, and the coordination was incredible. Below I’ve included this graphic to give you an idea of just how large all aspects of this single day operation were. 156,000 allied troops were used; we haven’t seen anything on that scale since. The terrain was harsh, the enemy entrenched, and the specter of what loomed was terrifying.

The actual numbers (in a great graphic) of this operation.

There are plenty of articles (and many, many books) that go into the actual planning and execution (even the battle plans themselves) of Operation Overlord. I can’t restate all the facts as well as they can; I’ll include some further reading suggestions at the end and highly suggest that you go and educate yourself about one of the most monumental military engagements in history.

What I’m going to try to do is bring this home on a personal level, from my very removed position of an American woman sitting in comfort and safety, 75 years after this event changed the world. My own life, and that of my children (and you, by extension) could look entirely different if 156,00 troops hadn’t been deployed. If 4,413 of them hadn’t been sacrificed, with full knowledge of the dangers they were facing..

The human impact of being one of the boots-on-the-ground troops assigned to attack Normandy on June 6, 1944 brings tears to my eyes 75 years later. The odds were nearly insurmountable, and the boys who were to face the threat of the Nazis across the channel knew it.

Storming the beach.

They knew it as soon as they got the orders. That they were likely going into a venture that would result in their death, or at the very least the deaths of someone they knew and cared about. And that the death they would have to stare in the face, would be a horrific, terrifying, and painful one. Whether that meant storming the entrenched bunkers of the Nazis built into the very stone of high ground of a foreign shore, or it meant drowning from heavy gear in crashing waves, or being cut down by machine gun fire before they’ve even had the chance to stand to get off the boat. Or, for their airborne brethren, it could be dying in a shot down plane, getting picked off from the ground while they dangled defenselessly mid-drop in their parachute. Perhaps getting stuck in a tree and killed by ground troops; or the actual chance to face battle and engage the enemy face to face, if they were lucky enough to get that far, and pray to make it through.

And those are just a handful of the myriad actual deaths that occurred. And they still went.

Because the character of the boys who were sent to face down the looming terror of a world under Nazi control, meant the sacrifice would be worth it. They swallowed their bile, they powered through the tunnel vision, steadied their shaking hands on their rifles, and they went. They jumped, or they ran, or they swam….and many of them died for it. But they were willing to give it their all, for US.

The face of war.

This wasn’t an abstract idea that motivated them. It was that they knew, they wanted their sweethearts, or wives, or children, and future grandchildren, to live in a world without this threat. And to buy that future for us (I am the proud grandchild of a World War II veteran), they would go and do the most terrifying thing I can imagine.

That’s the kind of commitment to others that is incredible to see. Bravery is being afraid, and doing it anyway. The ultimate illustration of bravery is going into terrible odds, and being scared to do it, but still getting it done. So I try to live my life in a way to show those thousands of young men who sacrificed, that I appreciate what they gave us. I try to show my children, that our world would have been much different if the young men of a hazy and increasingly distant past, hadn’t made an in-the-moment choice to face fear, thousands of them, and give all they had for us. The sacrifices made that day weren’t only deaths; there were horrific woundings, of the body, and of the soul and heart. Some recovered, some didn’t. And I will be eternally grateful for all they gave. For looking into the mouth of a dragon, and charging with their swords right into the maw. Because that’s the kind of decision that takes more bravery than we can fully realize in the abstract. And it’s the kind I pray I would have, if I were faced with that situation.

Look at the resolve on their faces.

I try to remind myself in life, when minor things get me down (and in comparison to Normandy, it’s all minor), that my problems aren’t that bad. That I am privileged to be bothered by minor things, and that so many others in the past have faced true hardship. And I imagine what it would be like, in a sea of flak, seeing other aircraft fall in flames around, and then being told, it’s my turn to jump in the maelstrom. And I say to myself: “This isn’t Normandy. I can handle it.”

So remember that, when you’re stuck in traffic, and someone cuts you off. Or some jerk stabs you in the back at work. Or you argue with your obscure relative on facebook. Or, your wifi doesn’t work. Or, any other problem in our modern American world: “This isn’t Normandy. I can handle it.”

And if you WERE at Normandy, pray that you could have handled that, like our ancestors did.

Further Reading:

If you’d like to read further about the invasion, I very highly recommend www.dday.org They also do incredible outreach; I recommend donating to them if you can.

They have survivor accounts, and very informative articles about the invasion itself. If you ever are in the area of Bedford, Virginia, PLEASE go to the National D-day Memorial. It is a truly awe-inspiring experience Bedford had the largest per-capita deaths at D-day in America of any town, so Bedford is the official site for the memorial. Here’s an article about the human toll of losing 20 men in one day from a small farming town: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Bedford-Virginia-lost-20-men-on-D-Day-13950155.php

Figured out what must be happening with Frozen 2....

I was underwhelmed (to say the least) with the “conclusion” of Game of Thrones (quotemarks are intentional….) but I AM looking forward to Frozen 2. Especially now that I think I have the plot figured out ;)

Totally digging Anna in beast mode.

Chernobyl (warning, spoilers ahead!)

On HBO, there’s a miniseries called Chernobyl. I’ve always been fascinated by that event, and was hesitant to see a dramatization of it, thinking they would miss too many key facets of the story. Little did I know how wrong I would turn out to be.

I didn’t they be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but here we are.

Tonight is the series finale. I’ve been completely enthralled since episode one. Not only is it cinemetically impeccable, the storytelling is just as nuanced as it needed to be to capture not only the direness of the situation, but the aspects that specifically revolve around living behind the iron curtain.

Chernobyl hasn’t once flinched in showing the heavily Soviet problems of burying a problem, at the expense of human life, to avoid being called to task by the Party (and, by extension, the threat of the Gulag and secret police). From the get-go, this has been a theme of the show: people who realize the almost incomprehensible devastation of the Chernobyl core explosion, set against Communist bureaucracy. When pieces of radioactive graphite from the explosion are littering the ground, and the engineers are repeating this fact, their boss immediately tells them that they did not see the graphite on the ground. His fear of the state is so much, that he discounts the concrete and clear cut evidence in front of all of them. It’s a fascinating scene.

The immediate aftermath of the explosion and fire.

The series wastes no time in getting to the heart of the story. It starts with the meltdown, and doesn’t let up. One of the most impactfull features of this series to me, is seeing superb graphics illustrating the effects of the accident. I’d read about it, but it’s one thing to use the abstract imagination of an uninformed mind’s eye, and another to see it perfectly rendered in excruciating detail. The meltdown of the core, through the eyes of firefighters are sent as sheep to the slaughter in an impossible task, shows us full on a nuclear eye of Sauron.

The core on fire.

I really hadn’t understood on such a visceral level what it would have been like as a citizen of Pripyat, before the evacuation was finally ordered. The fact that the sky was glowing, with children allowed to play on a playground in front of the dying plant, is such an illustration of the life of the individual having such little sway over the image of the Mother Russia. It was clear that something was very wrong, but with no guidance, they were trying to continue to live their lives as usual.

The fire at Chernobyl.

The entire series is a cautionary tale of what happens when the state trumps the individual at the most elemental levels. The cost of a lie and cover-up ended up being far worse than the toll of the original accident, and the need to save face to the world is a very present theme. The fact that the accident wasn’t even acknowledged officially until the rest of the world posted imagery that was undeniable, is fascinating and terrible. Intelligent people with answers are ignored in favor of the party line; and clearly it’s systemic. One of the most poignant scenes to me is when nuclear scientists have to communicate in code about the disaster and response. They have a sophisticated system that they clearly have needed to use many times, and their own familiarity with the need to talk around what they are purportedly there to do, is chilling. We don’t see the person that must be listening in on the call, but the unseen KGB agent is the largest person in the room.

To contrast the machine that is the Communist state, we are offered the very human and heroic stories of the proletariat workers who sacrificed so much to staunch the flow of radioactivity. We see the vignettes of the first responders who bravely went into the maw of the beast; the soldiers who assisted with disposing of the graphite on the roof (after the radiation was too much for moon lander robots to penetrate), and the miners who dug beneath the core. These people were the grist in the machine, and their stories are respectfully and truthfully told.

The miners are heroic and human, in the face of disaster.

The stories of these people remind us that ultimately behind every horrible regime, are regular people who try to do their best. I’m glad that this element is so poetically captured.

Chernobyl is not a show for the faint of heart, but it should be required viewing for every citizen. It reminds us of what happens when states have too much power, when lies matter more than facts, and how ultimately it’s the good people who pay the price.