So here's an interesting one from WaPo's really excellent visual data crew: States that produce the most musicians
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/29/states-that-produce-most-musicians-more/
The gist: "States that produce the most musicians include South Carolina, Tennessee and New York. But when you take all of them together, an interesting trend arises. The places in America that produce the most working musicians tend to be the states with the largest Black populations. It’s not always true, but it’s one of the few clues we have.
However, it doesn’t seem to be simply that Black Americans are more likely to become musicians — they’re about as well-represented in U.S. music as Whites. Men are almost always more likely than women to work as musicians, though among Black Americans that gender gap opens even wider. And while more educated folks are more likely to work as musicians, Black Americans defy that trend and show little relationship between education and musical success.
So what’s going on? Perhaps there’s another factor we’re not measuring. Our first guess was that attendance at church, the real musical birthplace of many of the country’s most famous artists, might be related both to musical futures and to Black populations.
After all, we know from previous research that Lutheran churches deserve credit for the Midwest’s robust orchestra tradition. But when we compared musician birthplaces to 2014 church attendance data from the aptly named Pew Research Center, we saw no relationship.
Is it possible we’re seeing what some folks would call the Elvis Effect? Could growing up in proximity to America’s legendary Black musical traditions increase the odds you’ll succeed in music, regardless of race?"
It is telling to me that talking this morning with my friend and contacts that cover congress, and listening to Mitch McConnell and others make their statements, there wasn't anyone in Washington that worked or covered her that didn't personally like her or have bad things to say about their interactions when she was healthy and doing her job. That's rare enough testimony in the halls of the Capitol these days.
This feels like a rather big thing that I want to ruminate on further, but here's the gist of it:
"A viral TikTok account is doxing ordinary and otherwise anonymous people on the internet using off-the-shelf facial recognition technology, creating content and growing a following by taking advantage of a fundamental new truth: privacy is now essentially dead in public spaces.
The 90,000 follower-strong account typically picks targets who appeared in other viral videos, or people suggested to the account in the comments. Many of the account’s videos show the process: screenshotting the video of the target, cropping images of the face, running those photos through facial recognition software, and then revealing the person’s full name, social media profile, and sometimes employer to millions of people who have liked the videos. There’s an entire branch of content on TikTok in which creators show off their OSINT doxing skills—OSINT being open source intelligence, or information that is openly available online. But the vast majority of them do it with the explicit consent of the target. This account is doing the same, without the consent of the people they choose to dox. As a bizarre aside, the account appears to be run by a Taylor Swift fan, with many of the doxing videos including Swift’s music, and including videos of people at the Eras Tour."
Interesting: "California and Florida have become the first states to require later public school start times, a response to reams of research showing significant advantages for high school students who can get more sleep by beginning their day at 8:30 a.m. or later.
But such changes come with difficult ripple effects — upended bus schedules, later starts for extracurriculars and new schedules for teachers and staff — making many other states and localities hesitant to change."
Two points to the funding issue that is relevant to the specific situation here: WVU's state funding is less that 10% of its budget, and the WV legislature just last week outlayed $45M - not coincidentally the exact amount of WVU's "shortfall" out to Marshall University, another in state albeit private school but one with effective, competent leadership. The legislature would write a check, they aren't going to write a check for Gee blaming them for a mess he himself made. And understand, I can't stand this version of the WV legislature on most things.
I forget you coined it or I would give credit, but someone pointed out that a key Tennant of true Trumpism and MAGA is having just enough disposable income to be dangerous...
Yellow has been a dead company walking for years. When I was working in LTL in the mid-2010s it was widely known the company could fold at any minute. The drama with the union this summer was just the last straw, when the strike threat came down you got a "freight run" - just like a bank run - because most customers and bookers had long been expecting and preparing for Yellow's collapse and now it has happend. 30k jobs gone in a few days, 22k of those union Teamster jobs. There is a lot of blame to go around here.
There are accusations that the Teamsters used some maneuvering to push this collapse past the recently announced new contract with UPS two weeks ago. But even if true, Yellow was going to fail, and frankly its amazing it lasted this long.
There is a very old joke about a new arrival to heaven getting a tour and meeting all the groups of people which are listed, the punchline being that the tour ends with all the Baptist in a room together separately with the tag line of "They think they are the only ones here"
I think Barbie and Oppenheimer coming out together is actually helping both films marketing wise, such different movies but a lot of folks want to see both so it has become its own thing online, which is priceless for studios selling in-theater movies now.
Its the same person every day. And I mean every day for years now. I clip them as soon as I can and check a few times a day but I also have an adult life with adult responsibilities they clearly do not have, so sometimes they are up for a minute before I get to them.
Regarding the valid point on fiction writing having been "professionalized": The great fighter Marvin Hagler had one of those great insights into life, that he was referring to boxing but applies to just about anything: "It's hard to get out of bed in the morning to go for a run when you're sleeping in silk sheets.” Not that the struggle is essential for success, but the struggle of dealing with success is a different struggle all together. We like our rags-to-riches stories, or riches-to-rags stories. The market for a rags-to-working middle class story where the protagonist rises from poverty to balance that second car payment against the rising cost of their HMO coverage doesn't make a good pitching blurb, however relatable it might be.
I suspect, since the Jack Smith investigation has been a very tight ship, now that the Miami grand jury has acted we will start seeing leaks of information between now and Tuesday as folks involved get their first look at the materials. And of course, waiting to read the indictment itself.
On “Open Mic for the week of 10/2/2023”
So here's an interesting one from WaPo's really excellent visual data crew: States that produce the most musicians
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/29/states-that-produce-most-musicians-more/
The gist: "States that produce the most musicians include South Carolina, Tennessee and New York. But when you take all of them together, an interesting trend arises. The places in America that produce the most working musicians tend to be the states with the largest Black populations. It’s not always true, but it’s one of the few clues we have.
However, it doesn’t seem to be simply that Black Americans are more likely to become musicians — they’re about as well-represented in U.S. music as Whites. Men are almost always more likely than women to work as musicians, though among Black Americans that gender gap opens even wider. And while more educated folks are more likely to work as musicians, Black Americans defy that trend and show little relationship between education and musical success.
So what’s going on? Perhaps there’s another factor we’re not measuring. Our first guess was that attendance at church, the real musical birthplace of many of the country’s most famous artists, might be related both to musical futures and to Black populations.
After all, we know from previous research that Lutheran churches deserve credit for the Midwest’s robust orchestra tradition. But when we compared musician birthplaces to 2014 church attendance data from the aptly named Pew Research Center, we saw no relationship.
Is it possible we’re seeing what some folks would call the Elvis Effect? Could growing up in proximity to America’s legendary Black musical traditions increase the odds you’ll succeed in music, regardless of race?"
On “From NBC News: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazer in U.S. politics and the longest-serving woman in the Senate, has died at 90.”
It is telling to me that talking this morning with my friend and contacts that cover congress, and listening to Mitch McConnell and others make their statements, there wasn't anyone in Washington that worked or covered her that didn't personally like her or have bad things to say about their interactions when she was healthy and doing her job. That's rare enough testimony in the halls of the Capitol these days.
On “Open Mic for the week of 9/25/2023”
This feels like a rather big thing that I want to ruminate on further, but here's the gist of it:
"A viral TikTok account is doxing ordinary and otherwise anonymous people on the internet using off-the-shelf facial recognition technology, creating content and growing a following by taking advantage of a fundamental new truth: privacy is now essentially dead in public spaces.
The 90,000 follower-strong account typically picks targets who appeared in other viral videos, or people suggested to the account in the comments. Many of the account’s videos show the process: screenshotting the video of the target, cropping images of the face, running those photos through facial recognition software, and then revealing the person’s full name, social media profile, and sometimes employer to millions of people who have liked the videos. There’s an entire branch of content on TikTok in which creators show off their OSINT doxing skills—OSINT being open source intelligence, or information that is openly available online. But the vast majority of them do it with the explicit consent of the target. This account is doing the same, without the consent of the people they choose to dox. As a bizarre aside, the account appears to be run by a Taylor Swift fan, with many of the doxing videos including Swift’s music, and including videos of people at the Eras Tour."
https://www.404media.co/the-end-of-privacy-is-a-taylor-swift-fan-tiktok-account-armed-with-facial-recognition-tech/
On “Open Mic for the week of 9/18/2023”
Everyone should support CROWN Act-type legislation.
"
Interesting: "California and Florida have become the first states to require later public school start times, a response to reams of research showing significant advantages for high school students who can get more sleep by beginning their day at 8:30 a.m. or later.
But such changes come with difficult ripple effects — upended bus schedules, later starts for extracurriculars and new schedules for teachers and staff — making many other states and localities hesitant to change."
https://westvirginiawatch.com/2023/09/18/hit-the-snooze-button-states-debate-later-high-school-start-times/
On “The Maleficent Gordon Gee and His Malfunctioning Money Machine”
Two points to the funding issue that is relevant to the specific situation here: WVU's state funding is less that 10% of its budget, and the WV legislature just last week outlayed $45M - not coincidentally the exact amount of WVU's "shortfall" out to Marshall University, another in state albeit private school but one with effective, competent leadership. The legislature would write a check, they aren't going to write a check for Gee blaming them for a mess he himself made. And understand, I can't stand this version of the WV legislature on most things.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Learning to Tell Them Apart”
it did
On “Does Office Chair Ergonomics Explain The Claremont Strain of Trumpism?”
I forget you coined it or I would give credit, but someone pointed out that a key Tennant of true Trumpism and MAGA is having just enough disposable income to be dangerous...
On “Open Mic for the week of 7/31/2023”
Yellow has been a dead company walking for years. When I was working in LTL in the mid-2010s it was widely known the company could fold at any minute. The drama with the union this summer was just the last straw, when the strike threat came down you got a "freight run" - just like a bank run - because most customers and bookers had long been expecting and preparing for Yellow's collapse and now it has happend. 30k jobs gone in a few days, 22k of those union Teamster jobs. There is a lot of blame to go around here.
There are accusations that the Teamsters used some maneuvering to push this collapse past the recently announced new contract with UPS two weeks ago. But even if true, Yellow was going to fail, and frankly its amazing it lasted this long.
If interested you can hear my comments here you can hear my comments on the topic here
On “Mini-Throughput: Einstein’s Greatest Mistake Edition”
There is a very old joke about a new arrival to heaven getting a tour and meeting all the groups of people which are listed, the punchline being that the tour ends with all the Baptist in a room together separately with the tag line of "They think they are the only ones here"
On “Quibbling Over Nomenclature Regarding the Atomic Bombings”
Unbelievable compliment coming from you, Burt. Thank you
"
Pretty much where I'm at with it.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Dredge”
Just from the screenshots here I really like this graphics styling.
On “Ten Things I Think After Watching Oppenheimer”
I think Barbie and Oppenheimer coming out together is actually helping both films marketing wise, such different movies but a lot of folks want to see both so it has become its own thing online, which is priceless for studios selling in-theater movies now.
"
The daughters already got me Barbie tshirt for when we all go...
On “Meetings, And The Pure, Clean, Unbridled Hatred Thereof”
Air Force. Army and Marine family. Grandfather was Navy
On “SCOTUS Rules in Moore v Harper Election Case: Read It For Yourself”
Its the same person every day. And I mean every day for years now. I clip them as soon as I can and check a few times a day but I also have an adult life with adult responsibilities they clearly do not have, so sometimes they are up for a minute before I get to them.
On “The Unforgiving Sea: OceanGate, Titan, and Unforgiven Hubris”
great quote from Cameron on CNN: "Now we have a wreck beside the wreck, and for the same damn reason"
"
Good to see you sir
On “Asteroid City, In Which Wes Anderson Is Now Just Screwing With Us”
Great that you mention "regarding life, the universe and everything" since that's the recurring line and idea to this particular film.
On “Sunday Morning! “Never Come Morning” by Nelson Algren”
Regarding the valid point on fiction writing having been "professionalized": The great fighter Marvin Hagler had one of those great insights into life, that he was referring to boxing but applies to just about anything: "It's hard to get out of bed in the morning to go for a run when you're sleeping in silk sheets.” Not that the struggle is essential for success, but the struggle of dealing with success is a different struggle all together. We like our rags-to-riches stories, or riches-to-rags stories. The market for a rags-to-working middle class story where the protagonist rises from poverty to balance that second car payment against the rising cost of their HMO coverage doesn't make a good pitching blurb, however relatable it might be.
On “Donald Trump Indicted, Again, According to Donald Trump”
I suspect, since the Jack Smith investigation has been a very tight ship, now that the Miami grand jury has acted we will start seeing leaks of information between now and Tuesday as folks involved get their first look at the materials. And of course, waiting to read the indictment itself.
On “FDR’s D-Day Prayer Still Calls For A Response”
Thank you so much, sir.
On “Oh, It’s A Party All Right”
Same one's we've had for years, actually. Every day for as long as I've been doing it. two-four different IDs a day.
"
I've been busy and took me a while to clean up our usual daily dose of VPN accounts from the usual suspects out of comments.