Paul Krugman: Trump the Intimidator Fails Again (NY Times Column)
International crises often lead, at least initially, to surging support for a country's leadership. And that's clearly happening now. Just weeks ago the nation's leader faced public discontent so intense that his grip on power seemed at risk. Now the assassination of Qassim Suleimani has transformed the situation, generating a wave of patriotism that has greatly bolstered the people in charge. Unfortunately, this patriotic rallying around the flag is happening not in America, where many are (with good reason) deeply suspicious of Donald Trump's motives, but in Iran. In other words, Trump's latest attempt to bully another country has backfired - just like all his previous attempts.
Ken White: David Foster Wallace Was No Coward (The Atlantic)
When you say that the victims of suicide are cowards, you're telling depressed people that they're weak and contemptible for what they feel. You're reinforcing the lies they're already hearing in their head. You're making it less likely, not more, that they'll seek help, and you're not facing responsibility for your actions. That's not brave. That's cowardly. If John Ziegler can feel shame, he ought to.
Halle Kiefer: You Can Go Ahead And Thank Joaquin Phoenix For This Year's Vegan Golden Globes (Vulture)
Plenty of Joaquin Phoenix's Best Actor in a Drama acceptance speech at Sunday's Golden Globes was bleeped out due to obscenity, but at least you heard him sing the praises of the evening's all-vegan meal. "I would like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for recognizing and acknowledging the link between animal agriculture and climate change," he began. "It's a very bold move, making tonight plant-based."
Poppy Noor: Nobel prize winner demonstrates the best way to apologize (The Guardian)
A Nobel prize winner has issued a humble apology when a recent paper of hers was retracted. In a remarkable display of humility, Dr Frances Arnold, who won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2018, came forward herself to let her followers know that a 2019 paper of hers had been retracted. "For my first work-related tweet of 2020, I am totally bummed to announce that we have retracted last year's paper on enzymatic synthesis of beta-lactams," she began, before accepting responsibility. […] Unfortunately there aren't Nobel prizes for good apologies. But Arnold's response should be an example to all of us in 2020: when wrong, admit your mistake, apologise and promise to do better.
Simon & Garfunkel's biggest hit single won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1971 ceremony. What is the title of this song?
Xerox Holdings Corporation (also known as Xerox) is an American global corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Stamford, Connecticut, in October 2007), though its largest population of employees is based around Rochester, New York, the area in which the company was founded. As a large developed company, it is consistently placed in the list of Fortune 500 companies.
Xerox was founded in 1906 in Rochester as The Haloid Photographic Company, which originally manufactured photographic paper and equipment.
In 1938 Chester Carlson, a physicist working independently, invented a process for printing images using an electrically charged photoconductor-coated metal plate and dry powder "toner".
Joseph C. Wilson, credited as the "founder of Xerox", took over Haloid from his father. He saw the promise of Carlson's invention and, in 1946, signed an agreement to develop it as a commercial product.
Looking for a term to differentiate its new system, Haloid coined the term xerography from two Greek roots meaning "dry writing". Haloid subsequently changed its name to Haloid Xerox in 1958 and then Xerox Corporation in 1961.
Source
Randall was first, and correct, with:
Xerox
Mark. said:
Xerox.
Alan J answered:
Xerox.
mj wrote:
Its flagship product
Was lauded in a Paul Simon song used as background in a Conehead movie
transition sequence. Easman Kodak, makers of Kodachrome.
Dave replied:
Xerox. The company eventually developed the first automated copy machine. Later Xerox researchers invented the computer Graphical User Interface (GUI), the Mouse, and desktop computing- although companies like Apple and Microsoft adopted (ripped off) those innovations and took them farther than Xerox did. The company was so successful that "Xerox" is commonly used as a verb for "photocopy," which has caused the company's legal division no end of headaches trying to protect its copyright.
Roy, still True Blue, still in Tyler, TX replied:
The evolution of company names can be fascinating. Not only did I wonder how the heck did they come up with Xerox from Haloid, but what the hell is a Haloid anyway? But even more curious is did the inventors ever imagine the odd, sometimes perverted things their machines would be used for in the coming years?
Cal in Vermont wrote:
Xerox.
Kenn B said:
Kodak
Dave in Tucson answered:
Eastman Kodak?
Billy in Cypress U$A replied:
Xerox
John I from Hawai`i says,
Polaroid
Michelle in AZ wrote:
Kodak
Gary answered:
That would be Xerox - "Copy that"
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame responded:
The answer is Xerox.
Deborah wrote:
Ah, the company bought by Xerox.
Yesterday's answer was hilarious! If I'd just worded my answer a little differently, I would have been right.
DJ Useo said:
I don't know...wait, that was yesterday's answer. Lol. I am guessing today's answer is "Kodak".
Rosemary in Columbus replied:
Xerox
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BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Info: "Deeply inspired by the 'California Culture' of the mid-sixties and the magnificent 'Surf Sound' developed using Fender electric instruments during this era Los Grainders present this EP that contains four original surf instrumentals. Recorded, edited, and mixed by themselves, this 'home brew' EP is proof that Surf Music in Mexico is alive."
Price: $5 (USD) for six-track EP; you can't buy "Convolutions" separately. (The only track you can buy separately is "Tide Ride" for $1 (USD).
• Ronald Searle created cartoons for Punch and other media. As a boy, Gerald Scarfe, who also became a cartoonist, idolized him. Young Gerald found out where Mr. Searle lived, and he rode his bike there to visit him. Unfortunately, he was too shy to actually ring the bell and so he did not then meet the great man. Fortunately, as a married man, Mr. Scarfe was able to meet him. Mr. Scarfe explains, "A few years later, my wife, Jane Asher, organized a secret meal for my birthday at this exclusive restaurant in Provence. When we walked in, the only other people there were Ronald and his wife. It turned out they had lived in this town for years. A beautiful little package sat on the table, all done up with ribbon. I said, 'Oh, is this for me?' And Ronald said, 'Yeah, it's nothing.' So I opened it, and there was a brass doorbell with a note saying, 'Please ring any time.'"
• In 1939, soprano Marjorie Lawrence made a triumphant return to her native Australia. In an interview, she mentioned that while living abroad, she had missed eating a particular Australian dish - rabbit pie. In Melbourne, she was given an enormous rabbit pie that was so artistically wrapped up in cellophane and red ribbon that she was shocked when she opened it up and discovered what it was.
Good Deeds
• During the winter of 1882-1883, conductor Anton Seidl was asked to give a concert in Berlin, Germany, to raise money for the victims of a flood. He did, and some ladies of the aristocracy gave him a very expensive watch decorated with diamonds. The Empress Augusta Victoria also gave him a dedication in her own handwriting. Mr. Seidl said that the dedication was thanks enough to him and would be a family heirloom, but he requested that the watch be sold and the proceeds be added to the funds raised to relieve the victims of the flood. Mr. Seidl did other good deeds as well. He sometimes declined to be paid for his work if he felt that a certain concert had not raised enough money for the managers behind it. At charity concerts, he would conduct for free, but he insisted that the musicians whom he conducted must be paid. According to his wife, Auguste, Mr. Seidl gave away much money and clothing to those in need. For example, a person might tell him that he could get a certain job if he had better clothing, and Mr. Seidl would give that man some of his own clothing. His wife wrote about his clothing, "I was sometimes compelled, when all the half-used clothes had been disposed of, to give away even the new ones."
• Conductor Artur Rodzinski got along very well with the musicians of the New York Philharmonic. When his wife returned from the hospital with their second child, several musicians played Wagner's Seigfred Idyll, which the composer had written for his own wife and their new son, Seigfred.
Husbands and Wives
• After George Orwell's first wife, Eileen, died, he kept her jewels and her jewelry box. Sally, the eight-year-old daughter of Susan Watson, the housekeeper he had hired, asked him what he was going to do with the jewels. Mr. Orwell replied, "I'm saving them for a rainy day." Sally then asked what he would do with them on a rainy day. He thought a moment and said, "Why, I think I'll give them to you, Sally." And he did. By the way, Eileen had standards in her home life. During World War II, Mr. Orwell's bad lungs and a previous injury kept him out of the army, but he did join the Home Guard to protect England. To educate himself, he studied explosives and weapons. Eileen told him, "I can put up with bombs on the mantelpiece, but I will not have a machine gun under the bed."
Was that a Klezmer version of the Jeopardy theme during last night's two final questions of the GOAT series?
Tonight, Wednesday:
CBS starts the night with a FRESH'Undercover Boss', followed by a FRESH'Criminal Minds', then another FRESH'Criminal Minds'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert is Larry David.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 10/29/19) are Hailee Steinfeld, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Mallrat.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH'Chicago Med', followed by a FRESH'Chicago Fire', then a FRESH'Chicago PD'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Quentin Tarantino, Jodie Whittaker, and Nathaniel Rateliff.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Tiffany Haddish, M. Night Shyamalan, SHAED, and Caitlin Kalafus.
Scheduled on a FRESHLilly Singh are Rhett & Link.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'Jeopardy!', followed by a FRESH'Modern Family', then a FRESH'Single Parents', followed by a FRESH'Stumptown'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are John Cena, RuPaul, and Dermot Kennedy.
The CW offers a RERUN'Riverdale', followed by a RERUN'Nancy Drew'.
Faux has a FRESH'Flirty Dancing', followed by a FRESH'Almost Family'.
MY recycles an old 'Dateline', followed by another old 'Dateline'.
A&E has a (F) 'Live PD: Rewind', followed by a FRESH'Live PD', then a FRESH'America's Top Dog', followed by a FRESH'Live PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire', followed by the movie 'I Am Legend', then the movie 'Deep Impact'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Time Squared
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Icarus Factor
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Samaritan Snare
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Up the Long Ladder
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Manhunt
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Emissary
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Peak Performance
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Shades of Gray
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Evolution
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Ensigns of Command
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Survivors
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Who Watches the Watchers
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Bonding
[7:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Booby Trap
[8:00PM] X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009)
[10:30PM] THE LAST STAND (2013)
[1:00AM] TRANSPORTER 3 (2008)
[3:30AM] THE LAST STAND (2013) (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of NJ', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of NJ', then a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Dallas', followed by a FRESH'Watch What Happens: Live'.
FX has the movie 'Avatar', followed by the movie 'Hidden Figures'.
History has 'Forged In Fire', another 'Forged In Fire', followed by a FRESH'Forged In Fire', then a FRESH'Vikings'.
IFC -
[6:00A] 1408
[8:15A] Halloween II
[10:30A] Halloween
[1:00P] The Purge
[3:00P] Underworld
[5:30P] Tropic Thunder
[8:00P] Planes, Trains and Automobiles
[10:00P] Monty Python and the Holy Grail
[12:00A] Toast of London - Match Fit
[12:31A] Toast of London - Desperate Measures
[1:02A] Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Catalina Caper
[3:20A] Monty Python and the Holy Grail
[5:20A] The Three Stooges - Three Missing Links
[5:30A] Planes, Trains and Automobiles (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:10am] The Andy Griffith Show
[6:45am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:20am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:55am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:05am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:40am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:15am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:45am] Bridget Jones's Diary
[1:00pm] Juno
[3:00pm] Criminal Minds
[4:00pm] Criminal Minds
[5:00pm] Criminal Minds
[6:00pm] Criminal Minds
[7:00pm] Criminal Minds
[8:00pm] Criminal Minds
[9:00pm] Criminal Minds
[10:00pm] Criminal Minds
[11:00pm] Criminal Minds
[12:00am] Criminal Minds
[1:00am] Criminal Minds
[2:00am] Criminal Minds
[3:00am] Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter - Directors
[4:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[4:35am] The Andy Griffith Show
[5:10am] The Andy Griffith Show
[5:45am] The Andy Griffith Show (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Ghost In The Shell', followed by the movie 'Troy'.
Congress voted last month to rename the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope as the NSF Vera C. Rubin Observatory, commemorating an astronomer credited with advancing humanity's understanding of dark matter.
The Rubin Observatory will be the most advanced survey of the night sky, recording the stars each night with a car-sized, 3.2-gigapixel digital camera. The survey will hopefully contribute to our understanding of the dark matter that Rubin researched, as well as other hot topics in astronomy.
Astronomer Fritz Zwicky coined the term dark matter in 1933 to try and explain the mysterious source of gravity that was preventing the Coma cluster of galaxies from spreading apart. Later observations deepened the mystery. Among the most important was Vera Rubin's finding that galaxies seem to rotate just as quickly at their outer rim as they do closer to their center, hinting that they contain more mass than what we calculate from their stars alone. She published her work in 1980. Today, more observations have revealed that unaccounted-for mass seems to make up the very scaffolding of the universe, representing around five times more mass than the stuff astronomers can actually see.
Other astronomers have long considered Rubin an overlooked figure in astronomy and a symbol of the challenges women face in the field. For example, when she was pregnant and scheduled to deliver a presentation on her thesis, one of her advisors suggested he present it on her behalf, in his own name. Though recognized for her work, Rubin never received the Nobel Prize, despite receiving nominations. Others have pointed out that the work she presented on dark matter was similar to work on a similar mysterious force, dark energy, that garnered three men the Nobel Prize in 2011.
Charlie Rose acknowledged that he had "inappropriate" workplace relationships and that he flirted with his "CBS This Morning" co-anchors Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, according to a deposition that was unsealed on Monday.
In his testimony, which he gave back in November, Rose was asked about the apology he posted on Twitter back in 2017 when accusations of sexual misconduct against him began to surface. When asked about the "inappropriate behavior" he admitted to in his statement, Rose acknowledged in his testimony that he has since considered his "romantic" and "intimate" relationships to be "inappropriate" because "there was power and balance, and you were in some cases the boss and you had a relationship that was defined within the workplace."
Rose said he was not referring to any specific woman or women he had those relationships with, but he did admit that he flirted with King, O'Donnell, as well as Bianna Golodryga and Chelsea Wei. (Wei is one of the three plaintiffs in the sexual harassment lawsuit against Rose.)
As for his relationships with King and O'Donnell, Rose said they would often hug one another and kiss on the cheek, but he could not recall if he had ever kissed them on the lips.
Once again, the CW has given early renewal to its current slate of scripted series. The network has handed pickups for the 2020-2021 season to all 13 of its current scripted series that are not ending this season, including both of the fall freshmen, Batwoman and Nancy Drew.
The CW has ordered second seasons of Batwoman and Nancy Drew, along with All American (Season 3), Black Lightning (Season 4), Charmed (Season 3), DC'S Legends of Tomorrow (Season 6), Dynasty (Season 4), The Flash (Season 7), In the Dark (Season 3), Legacies (Season 3), Riverdale (Season 5), Roswell, New Mexico (Season 3), and Supergirl (Season 6).
Additionally, Riverdale spinoff series, Katy Keene, which is set to premiere Feb. 6, has received an order for 13 additional scripts.
The renewals for In the Dark, Roswell and Legends of Tomorrow come before their current seasons have premiered, though the series are in production and the CW brass have seen episodes.
For All American, today's news is in stark contrast to last January when it was the only current CW series not to land on the list of the network's early renewals. The drama was eventually picked up in April, in part thanks to strong early streaming results on Netflix.
Place a strand of spaghetti in a pot of boiling water and it will start to sag as it softens, before sinking slowly to the bottom of the pot, where it will curl back on itself to form a U shape. A cursory explanation might be that as the spaghetti softens during cooking, it deforms more easily, and gravity causes the saggy strand to sink. But what accounts for the curling behavior? Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, provide a much more thorough explanation in a new paper in Physical Review E.
There have been a surprisingly large number of scientific papers seeking to understand the various properties of spaghetti, both cooking and eating it-the mechanics of slurping the pasta into one's mouth, for instance, or spitting it out (aka the "reverse spaghetti problem"). The most well-known is the question of how to get dry spaghetti strands to break neatly in two, rather than three or more scattered pieces.
Finally, in 2018, Ars reported on work by two MIT mathematicians who figured out the trick: twist the spaghetti at 270 degrees before slowly bringing the two ends together to snap the spaghetti in two. The twist weakens the snap-back effect discovered in 2006. As the strand twists back and unwinds to its original straightness, it will release pent-up energy in the strand so there aren't any additional breaks.
With that mystery solved, Berkeley scientists have turned their attention to another pressing pasta question: devising an accurate model to predict how a single strand of spaghetti will change shape as it cooks. Spaghetti, like most pasta, is made of semolina flour, which is mixed with water to form a paste and then extruded to create a desired shape (in this case, a thin straight rod). The commercial products are then dried-another active area of research, since it's easy for the strands to crack during the process.
Some Americans could lose Social Security Disability Insurance benefits under a recent Trump administration proposal - a change that could affect thousands of people but that has received little attention since it was first floated in November.
Under the proposed change, the government would look more closely at whether certain disability insurance recipients still qualify as "disabled" after they've already been awarded those benefits. While recipients already have to demonstrate their continuing disability every few years, the proposal would ramp up the examinations, potentially running still-eligible beneficiaries out of the program.
The extra reviews will help "maintain appropriate stewardship of the disability program," the administration said in the proposal, arguing current rules fail to account fully for the possibility of medical improvement.
It's just one of several unilateral moves the Trump administration has made against social programs that make it easier for people to survive without labor market income. The proposals may save the government a few dollars, but they also send a political message that President Trump is cracking down on the "takers" Republicans have vilified for decades.
Susan Finley returned to her job at a Walmart retail store in Grand Junction, Colorado, after having to call in sick because she was recovering from pneumonia.
The day she returned, the 53-year-old received her ten year associate award - and was simultaneously laid off, according to her family. She had taken off one day beyond what is permitted by Walmart's attendance policy.
After losing her job in May 2016, Finley also lost her health insurance coverage and struggled to find a new job. Three months later, Finley was found dead in her apartment after avoiding going to see a doctor for flu-like symptoms.
Finley is one of millions of Americans who avoid medical treatment due to the costs every year.
A December 2019 poll conducted by Gallup found 25% of Americans say they or a family member have delayed medical treatment for a serious illness due to the costs of care, and an additional 8% report delaying medical treatment for less serious illnesses. A study conducted by the American Cancer Society in May 2019 found 56% of adults in America report having at least one medical financial hardship, and researchers warned the problem is likely to worsen unless action is taken.
A mysterious repeating radio signal from space revealed last year is now the fifth fast radio burst to be tracked back to its source galaxy.
It's a location unlike any of the others, and astronomers are having to rethink their previous assumptions about how these signals are generated.
The origin of this repeating signal is a spiral galaxy, located 500 million light-years from Earth, making it the closest known source of what we call fast radio bursts (FRBs) yet.
And the FRBs are emanating specifically from a region just seven light-years across - a region that's alive with star formation.
"This object's location is radically different from that of not only the previously located repeating FRB, but also all previously studied FRBs," said astronomer Kenzie Nimmo of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
About 790,000 years ago, a meteor slammed into Earth with such force that the explosion blanketed about 10% of the planet with shiny black lumps of rocky debris. Known as tektites, these glassy blobs of melted terrestrial rock were strewn from Indochina to eastern Antarctica and from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. For more than a century, scientists searched for evidence of the impact that created these pitted blobs.
Geochemical analysis and local gravity readings told researchers that the crater lay in southern Laos on the Bolaven Plateau; the ancient impact was concealed under a field of cooled volcanic lava spanning nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000 square kilometers), the scientists reported in a new study.
The force of the impact is thought to have created a rim measuring more than 300 feet (100 meters) tall, according to the study. Tektites from the impact were at their biggest and most abundant in the eastern part of central Indochina, but because the tektites were so widespread, previous estimates of the crater's size ranged from 9 miles (15 km) in diameter to 186 miles (300 km), and the feature's precise position remained uncertain even though scientists spent decades searching.
For the new study, the researchers first investigated several promising eroded crater candidates in southern China, northern Cambodia and central Laos, but soon ruled out those spots. In all cases, the suspected crater-like features turned out to be much older and were instead identified as erosion in rocks dating to the Mesozoic era - about 252 million years ago to about 66 million years ago.
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