Monthly Archives: January 2021

General

Fascinating…

Remember ‘Oumuamua?

If you don’t, it was that strange object that entered, then rapidly exited, our solar system back in October of 2017.

The object had a strange shape and seemed to not exhibit the usual movements associated with debris/comets passing through our area.

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid, `Oumuamua. Observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and other observatories around the world show that this unique object was travelling through space for millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. It seems to be a dark red highly-elongated metallic or rocky object, about 400 metres long, and is unlike anything normally found in the Solar System.

The object captured the imagination of scientists as well as the public and some even wondered if what we were seeing might not be a natural phenomena but maybe, just maybe, an artificial object.

An alien spacecraft.

Could it be?

While a few scientists thought it possible, its fair to say many didn’t.

Unfortunately, the object was gone well before more sophisticated measurements/views of the object could be accomplished and, for now, all these scientists can do is go over whatever observations/measurements they managed back in 2017 and speculate.

One scientist, Harvard professor Avi Loeb, has written a novel concerning ‘Oumuamua and it is his opinion that the mysterious object might well be an alien vessel, specifically one which moved through the cosmos using solar sails.

Over on salon.com, Mr. Loeb is interviewed and offers his reasons for thinking this object might be more than just a natural phenomena.

It’s a great read, if you’re interested, so click on the below link!

Why physicist Avi Loeb thinks there’s a “serious possibility” that ‘Oumuamua was an alien spacecraft

Movies

The Last of Shiela (1973) a (very) Belated Review

I saw the clever murder mystery film The Last of Shiela a very long time ago and recalled only one element, the murder of one character (I’ll not say which) but otherwise remembered not much of it. Here’s the film’s trailer:

The Last of Shiela is an interesting curio: It features the only screenplay credits of Stephen Sondheim (known mostly for his work in theater and musicals) and Anthony Perkins (best known as playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho). The two were apparently fond of creating murder mystery games they played with their friends and used this to write the screenplay for this film.

The Last of Shiela is a Hollywood dog-eat-dog story through and through, where the “beautiful” people are revealed to be anything but.

The movie opens with the hit and run death of Shiela (Yvonne Romaine) who leaves a party held by her husband Clinton Green (James Coburn, extremely good as a powerful Hollywood broker and oddball) after getting into an argument with him. As she walks around the Hollywood hills, she’s hit and killed and the driver of the car, after seeing what s/he’s done, drives off.

A year later, Green arranges a party with five of his “friends”, frustrated script re-writer Tom (Richard Benjamin) who’s been out of the game and fears he won’t again get any significant work and his rich wife Lee (Joan Hackett), vicious and nympho Hollywood agent Christine (Dyan Cannon), famous and beautiful “it girl” actress Alice (Rachel Welch) who the paparazzi follow and her rough hued -and far less successful- husband Anthony (Ian McShane) she keeps wrapped around her finger, and veteran director Phillip (James Mason), who may have an unhealthy thing for underage girls.

As in the best of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, while they may outwardly look like beautiful people, its all a mask. None of the characters is particularly noble or nice and they accept Green’s party invitation because each of them hopes that by getting close to Green, they may advance their career.

Thing is, the game Green has planned, which involves getting these five isolated and together on his yacht, seems to be a means of revealing which one of them might have been the one to kill his wife Shiela the year before.

The game, eventually, takes a deadly turn.

The Last of Shiela is a fun, at times nasty murder mystery which rewards those who pay attention to the movie’s details.

While I saw the film before, again, I didn’t recall any details except for the murder of one character. I did, as I watched it again, notice one thing early in the film which revealed to me who the murderer was (I’ll not say what!).

If you catch the details, you’ll figure it out too because the movie doesn’t hide any of its clues and, by the end, reveals all.

This is a pretty great Agatha Christie-like murder mystery. For a film that’s nearly fifty years old, it moves well and is a fun watch.

Recommended!

General

One more weekend…

This is it, folks: Donald Trump’s last weekend as President of these United States.

Next week, on the 20th, Joe Biden officially becomes President and Trump is gone.

Or so we hope.

There have been some who wonder if he’ll try to “stay” in the White House, essentially force the new administration to evict him.

I dunno.

Already there has been movement seen in/around the White House, moving boxes arriving and staff taking their personal (I hope, anyway!) stuff out.

Trump is, if nothing else, a master at bending reality to his warped views but reality has a way of cutting through even the slickest of warped views.

There is talk about him continuing being a force in the Republican party, perhaps even running again in 2024.

Personally, I feel like he’s spent. What happened last week on the Capitol is going to follow him -and his heirs- for the rest of their lives and, I feel, views of it will only grow more and more negative.

They already have, with the many horrifying filmed scenes which reveal the brutal reality of that insurrection.

The most radicalized out there are going to stay that way, sadly. But even now, after Trump’s twitter and other communication devices cancelled out, I’m noting we’re seeing so much less of his insanity… and it feels kinda nice.

I don’t doubt Trump will do some more horrifying things in the next few days before he leaves office -I suspect we’ll see plenty of idiotic pardons, including Trump trying to pardon himself- but at this time next week, we’ll be two full days into Biden’s administration and two full days since Trump has had any power.

I can’t wait.

General

Something in the air…?

Been an interesting past few days, no?

Obviously things have been crazy politically but I’ve also found things really nuts these past few days personally/close to home as well.

I’m exhausted, mentally and physically but if there is one source of hope its that these dark days seem to come in waves and even if things may be …complicated… right now, they usually get better.

Hope they do so.

Soon.

Really soon.

General

Second Impeachment? 25th Amendment?

Friday the 8th, 2021, and I’m reading that using the 25th Amendment to throw Trump out of office seems like it might not happen because Vice President Pence doesn’t want to use it. I suppose they need him to agree with this to use it.

On the other hand, a second impeachment seems to be building steam and, according to this article by Quint Forgey and presented on msn.com…

Rep. Clark: House could vote on impeachment by “mid-next week”

One would think this doesn’t have much of a chance to happen as we have to have the House of Representatives first pass this -which is likely to happen- but then it has to move to the Senate and they didn’t convict and remove him the last time around…

…however…

Here’s the thing: There is plenty of anger directed at Trump and his flunkies for what happened in the Capitol and the fact that he basically encouraged the riot. Worse, there is also news coming out that they dragged their feet in getting the National Guard in to put down/stop the terrorists who stormed the Capitol.

Several members of Trump’s staff are quitting and, though we’re less than two weeks from the end of his Presidency, clearly they are sending messages.

Further to this, there are several Republicans in the Senate who are probably making this cold calculation: If Trump is impeached, he cannot run for office again.

Yeah, I know, cynical calculation as it is, it is a factor. If Trump is impeached, the Republican party no longer has to worry about him trying to run for office again in 2024 and, at this point, many of them would likely be very happy to never see him as their candidate again. Not to mention the fact that several of them would rather not compete against him for the nomination.

So will it happen?

Who knows.

By January 20th, twelve days from now, Trump leaves office. Given what happened two days ago, there are plenty of things that could happen between now and they could be very bad news not only for the U.S. but for the world itself.

As with so many things, we’ll see what happens.

General

Dawn of a New Day…

Things are so damn dark -understandably!- the last couple of days and especially yesterday, with the terrorist action on the Capitol.

Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but it seems to me that maybe, just maybe, the actions yesterday may be what finally pushes this country to clean up its messes and fix things that, to this point, either they didn’t realize were broken or now understand they are.

It will start with arrests, which I suspect will come quickly in the next few days, of the terrorists who stormed the Capitol. Not all of them will be caught, I’m sure, but plenty of these MENSA candidates filmed themselves committing their terrorist actions and posted them to their social media accounts.

I’m noticing, by the way, that many of them today must have realized they are in legal jeopardy. To this moment, a little after 12 noon on the 7th of January, there doesn’t seem to be any marchers/protesters in Washington. If there are, they are a small group and they’re being held very far away from the Capitol.

Certainly I have yet to see any news footage of anyone from the MAGA group anywhere. (Next day Postscript: Nope, didn’t see any crowds the next day, though I recall one reporter saying they saw a truck drive by with a Trump flag on it)

A focus -proper and needed- will now fall upon the security forces/police that should have been protecting the Capitol. There are going to be plenty of heads that will roll, people who didn’t do their job or, worse, might have even participated in the terrorist act, if only by passively allowing the group to pass by.

They will be dealt with and, looking at things optimistically, the weaknesses, now exposed, will be dealt with. What happened yesterday very likely will not happen again.

Though Trump is still in power, I wonder if he’s finally come to realize he pushed things too far. Its possible -maybe even likely- he hasn’t.

But his friends -those with at least some ties to reality- are bailing on him after what happened yesterday. There are even Republicans -at least one so far- openly suggesting invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from the Presidency.

Yeah, I know… real profiles in courage a grand total of less than two weeks from when Trump’s presidency is up, but I suppose its better late than never and its got to sting.

Things will change by January 20th. They have to, and provided the Biden administration shows a modicum of competence, perhaps these last four years will rapidly slip into some kind of weird nightmare we collectively shared and will not see its like again.

Or maybe I’m being too optimistic.

General

The Morning After The Day…

Yesterday, January 6th, was a painful, frightening, bewildering, infuriating day.

I couldn’t not watch as the terrorists descended upon the Capitol and managed -how?!- to make their way into the building.

Where were the police? Where were the National Guards?

Even worse were images of what appeared to be at least one police officer… taking selfies with these terrorists?!

VIDEO: Cop took selfie with rioters as police let them in | Morning Bulletin

What. The. Hell.

I mean, he’s not holding the camera, its the idiot terrorist taking the picture, but what is the Officer doing there?!

Anyway, the terrorists were eventually pushed away. There were four people who died from this terrorist action (read about that here), three from medical issues and a woman who was part of the mob was shot and died from the wound. The details of how she was shot hasn’t been, at least that I’m aware of, revealed yet.

All of this, all of this, in my opinion rests with Donald Trump and his enablers. Donald Trump is, sadly, only the latest result of too many years of right wing media propaganda/brain-washing.

Sadly, the end results are people believing alarming lies.

Even more sadly, too many people I know, some very close to me, believe these lies.

Donald Trump couldn’t have lost the election, they say. He was robbed, he insists, just as he insisted President Obama wasn’t born in the United States (reality check: Yes, he was).

If people believe a string of alarming lies and somehow feel like nefarious things are going on and their rights are being trampled by evil socialist/liberals…

…then it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise when these people, those who swallow these lies whole, feel empowered to do something about it.

I’m absolutely not excusing the terrorists’ actions, only trying in my own way to explain them.

They’re grown ass men and women and they should know better.

Which is why its so damn alarming that while Trump lost the election by an overwhelming 7 million votes, there were still so many people who voted for him.

Some, I’m certain, held their noses when they voted. Many, sadly, did so happily, enthusiastically.

Those who committed those actions yesterday need to be brought to justice. Those who encouraged them -including Donald Trump himself- need to be brought to justice.

Late last night the Senate and House of Representative formally affirmed Joe BIden’s election. At some point last night President Trump finally –finally!– acknowledged his loss (even with his usual lies about having the election stolen) and spoke of a “peaceful transition”.

Too little, too late.

Today there is talk -and I hope it amounts to more than that- of serious consideration to invoke the 25 Amendment and remove Donald Trump from office.

I hope it happens.

Thought Trump only has 13 days to go, that’s an awful long time and, as we saw yesterday, things can go bad awfully quickly.

Let’s see what this new day brings.

General

Terrific Tuesday And Terrifying Wednesday

Yesterday, Tuesday the 5th the run-off elections in Georgia for their two Senate seats occurred and Raphael Warnock (D) has been declared the winner over Kelly Loeffler (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) currently has the lead -and considering where the remaining votes lay this lead will likely grow- over David Purdue (R).

Assuming Mr. Ossoff also wins, which seems very likely, it means the Senate will be split exactly 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans… which means that with the Vice President as a tie-breaker, and the Vice President being Kamala Harris, that means that by a slim margin the Democrats will lead the Senate along with the House of Representative and, of course, the Presidency.

Whew!

Today we also have what should be a formality: The Senate and House formally counting the electoral votes and declaring Joe Biden the President of the United States come January 20th.

Of course, this “formality” looks like it won’t be and there are many in the House planning to protest the election and a smaller number of Senators who also plan to protest. They are Trumpistas, no doubt, and while they will huff and puff, there is no realistic way for them to do anything more than delay the inevitable.

So instead of Joe Biden being formally given the Presidency relatively quickly, it may take until later today or earlier tomorrow to be given the power.

If you’ve read my posts, you should be very aware by now that I have little love for Trump and his chaotic governance and am more than happy to see him gone.

I also know that everything won’t magically become good once Trump is gone.

The entire world, thanks to this pandemic, is in a world of hurt and it is going to take several months -maybe even another year- before things get back to “normal”.

But with Democrats in control of all three branches of government and a President who seems to be more engaged with what is needed to be done to deal with this pandemic -versus a President who seems to think the way to deal with it is to ignore it almost completely- then maybe we can make some real headway in bumping up the number of vaccinations given to people.

When the pandemic is finally dealt with, I further suspect we’re going to see a burst of joy and activity the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years.

That day can’t come soon enough.

POSTSCRIPT:

It’s now 2:44 pm, Wednesday the 6th, and things around the Capitol have gotten way out of control, thanks once again to Donald Trump himself.

He incited the mob and now they’re trying to… what exactly? They’re breaching places they shouldn’t be in, supposedly smashing glass and doors… all for a degenerate who will be, I’m certain, viewed as the worst President we’ve ever had.

There will certainly be arrests and I hope many of them. I also hope this doesn’t go beyond this point.

President Trump incited this violence and he needs to be held accountable.

Inevitability we’ll see footage of many of these rioters in court, crying like babies, as their sentences are handed down.

Good riddance to bad trash.

Books/Literature

On Writing… Cracking The Story…

While I’m certain it’s different for authors, for me a book really starts to work when I’ve got both the start and, especially, ending worked out.

Before reaching that point, there’s plenty of thought put into my novels, working with situations I’d like to present or bits of dialogue that appeal to me.

But once I have that ending, I have something to work toward and that, in turn, allows me to more sharply focus on the stuff leading up to that ending.

I’ve often tried to put into words what writing is like.

It’s like creating a jigsaw puzzle from scratch, creating each individual piece and getting them to fit together -or throw them away- until you have a picture.

Or perhaps its like painting in oils, first creating a rough image then slapping on the oils, mixing them and creating more and more delicate shades and a more solid overall picture.

The part that can get frustrating -and, paradoxically, invigorating!- is that, at least for me, the final product is in flux, usually through the first two or three drafts at least. Its frustrating because sometimes one worries when and, more importantly if the whole thing will come together. So far, I’ve never encountered a situation where I’ve written over 20,000 words or more and then have felt the need to go back to the beginning and start all over.

But I’ve come close!

There have been works where I’ve written this amount of words and, while I still completed the novel I was working at, wound up discarding hard work in that word count range because it simply wasn’t necessary for the book as it evolved in my head and on the page.

Invigorating because with each “failure”, if one wants to look at the early pecking away at the book, you close in on what makes the story work and, like a dull blade, you’re banging away at it and sharpening it with each new passage/page.

So it is with the book I’m currently writing.

But yesterday I had a pretty big breakthrough: I kinda/sorta have figured out the novel’s ending -finally!- and now all the other pieces are falling into place.

I’ve been writing this book for something like two or three months now and have reached, roughly, the 1/4th point or a little past it, and now with the ending, things should move a little quicker.

We’ll see!