Month: April 2018

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Monday/ Karl Marx and the zero euro

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the southern German town of Trier (at the time Trier was in the Kingdom of Prussia).  To celebrate the bicentennial of his birthday, the town issued a souvenir zero euro bill, that proved to be very popular.  (I am tempted to buy one on E-bay).

I also need to brush up on my understanding of Marxism.  The Wikipedia entry is probably a good start:  Marxism holds that human societies develop through class struggle. In capitalism, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes (known as the bourgeoisie) that control the means of production and the working classes (known as the proletariat) that enable these means by selling their labor power in return for wages.  .. Marx predicted that, like previous socio-economic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism.

Here in the United States socialism is a toxic word, but man! since the 1980s, the forces of capitalism have resulted in a very unequal sharing of prosperity (no real wage increases for middle class worker, and spectacular riches for the one-percenters at the top). Something will have to give.

The ‘Zero Euro’ is a souvenir banknote with authorized printing by the European Central Bank (ECB). The first zero euros were issued in 2015 in France, to promote tourism, and several other countries and cities have followed suit. Karl Marx appears on the one to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth in Germany. The front of the notes are all the same, featuring the Brandenburg Gate, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, Sagrada Familia, Manneken Pis and the Mona Lisa.
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Sunday/ ‘Clipper Round the World’ bids Seattle good-bye

Cruise ship season is starting up here in Seattle. We saw the Norwegian Pearl from Norwegian Cruise Lines at the pier today.  She was scheduled to leave at 4 pm.

Also departing Seattle, were a line-up of yachts taking part in the Clipper Round the World race.  The yachts are heading out to Panama, and will make their way up the East Coast to New York.  It will take an estimated 26 days to reach Panama, and another 12 to get to New York City from there. Bon voyage!

The Clipper Round the World route: Leg 1 (33 days)– Liverpool, UK > Punta Del Este, Uruguay | Leg 2 (18 days) Punta Del Este> Cape Town, South Africa | Leg 3 (23 days) Cape Town > Fremantle, Australia | Leg 4 (28 Days) Fremantle > Hobart > Sydney > Whitsundays (Australia) | Leg 5 (37 days) Whitsundays > Sanya, China > Qingdao, China | Leg 6 (33 days) Qingdao > Seattle, USA | Leg 7 (38 days) Seattle > Panama Canal > New York City
Here are the yachts in the ‘Parade of Sail’, leaving the Port of Seattle’s Bell Harbor Marina. After a week in its home city, the Visit Seattle team had the honor of leading the Parade, with the boats showing off their team colours. This farewell celebration included a water cannon guard of honour by the Seattle Fire Department, just visible in the distance on the left with its water cannons spraying water.
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Saturday/ Jeff Bezo’s (very) long view

Check out this interview that Mathias Döpfner had with Jeff Bezos in Berlin. They cover a lot of ground, and towards the end (skip ahead to 38:00), Jeff reveals why it is so important that humans (eventually) colonize other planets.

Picture tweeted on Sunday by Bezos, after another successful New Shepard reusable launch system. It uses a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL), suborbital crewed rocket that is being developed by Blue Origin as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism.

In a nutshell: as the animals that we are, our bodies burn energy at a rate of a 100W (of which 60W is for our brains). So: we need 100 W just to be alive. But a modern, civilized human – living in a climate-controlled house, and traveling, and working – easily burns 10 times that 100W, in terms of his or her energy usage. On Earth, the number of humans will keep increasing, as will their energy needs, as civilization progresses. We have become more efficient at harnessing resources from Earth and our sun for energy, but it will not be enough. We have to find extraterrestrial resources to harness, and to generate energy from, to ensure that humans can survive another 1,000 years and more.

Still from businessinsider.com, from the interview that Mathias Döpfner had with Jeff Bezos in Berlin.
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Friday/ a week packed with news

Prince Louis | Bill Cosby guilty | Trump & Macron meeting: a bromance | Trump & Merkel meeting: frosty | Trump’s phone-in rant to Fox News | Dust storms, rain storms, floods in Middle East | Rain in Cape Town | North Korea & South Korea summit .. is it for real? | Don Trump Jr colluded with Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya in June 2016 & her connection to the Kremlin is now confirmed | Donald Trump Sr again denies collusion, citing a House Intelligence Committee report (which is somewhat of a sham) | Marvel Studios’ Avengers $350 million Infinity War movie starts (but I have no plans to see it) .. and I will leave it at that.

Graphic from Bloomberg Businessweek. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s diplomacy is largely credited for making the summit possible. Meanwhile, President Trump declared it a win for himself – before the real negotiations have really started. Hopefully new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (that met Kim Jung-un recently), brought back insights that can help prepare Trump for his meeting with Kim Jung-un.
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Thursday/ that was the high, for now

The day temperature got up to 82 °F (28°C) on Thursday, tying the calendar day record for Seattle set back in 1947.  But now our little Indian summer is over, and we will drop back to 66°F (18°C) on Friday, and even lower over the weekend.

These tulips around the corner of my house make for bright splashes of color. We should all plant more flowers in our gardens, the scientists say: it will help honey bees everywhere to survive. There is still no single proposal for the cause of the collapse of bee colonies, that has gained widespread acceptance in the scientific community.
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Wednesday/ Trump’s ‘Best People’

From today’s New York Times, in an opinion piece by it editorial board, called ‘Trump’s ‘Best People*’ Are the Worst‘ :
Consider the Trump appointees who have been in the news lately.
Let’s start with Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician whom President Trump nominated to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides health care to more than nine million vets and is the second-largest federal department, after the Pentagon. More than 20 people who have worked with Dr. Jackson told senators either that he was drunk on the job, handed out sleeping pills, and even opioids, like Skittles, or screamed at his staff. The latest allegation is that he reportedly got drunk and wrecked a government car.

*Trump, ever the snake oil salesman on the campaign trail, repeatedly boasted that he will hire only the ‘best people’.

And here is the Washington Post weighing in, quoted by cable news channel MSNBC. Trump does not know what government officials do – and should do. And he does not care.
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Tuesday/ how now with the Dow?

‘Investors are grumpy, and have nothing to look forward to’ says the New York Times.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost steam since its high point in late January.

Today Caterpillar (construction machinery and equipment company) spooked everyone on a conference call, saying the first quarter ‘may have been the high-water mark for business for the year’.  Apple analysts worry openly about sagging iPhone X sales. Bigger picture, interest rates are going up, and the cloud of trade tariffs still hangs over all of the market as well.

Graph from Bloomberg Businessweek (I added the ‘How Now Brown Cow’/ Down Dow’).   I hope we stay afloat, and will be at or above the 24,000 mark by year-end.  It is useful to look back, and see that we are still far above the 21,000 mark from just a year ago.
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Monday/ it’s warming up

It was a beautiful Monday here in Seattle, and there is more sunshine ahead in the next few days, say the meteorologists.

This picture is from Sunday afternoon (quiet in downtown). New bike lanes are still getting added; this one runs along 7th Ave. The new white building that is reflected off the glass of the US District Court Building, is the new Hyatt Regency Seattle. It will have 45 floors and 1,260 rooms, making it the city’s largest hotel.
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Sunday/ I loved ‘Love, Simon’

I went to see Love, Simon, on the spur of the moment today. It is a coming-of-age film, a romantic comedy-drama about a closeted gay high schooler called Simon. (He is forced to come out of the closet – of course. He makes mistakes in the process, hurts people, but his parents and friends are supportive).

I see some film critics wonder if the movie is already too little, too late, for today’s kids for whom being gay is – finally – O.K.  So they don’t need this movie.  Well, I think I disagree.  The movie will be watched by old guys like me, and by parents, and by gay kids that have a rough time where they grow up. And it will mean an awful lot to them.

Picture from the movie, and comment from the New Yorker magazine. From left to right the characters and friends Nick, Simon (actor Nick Robinson, a Seattle native), Abby and Leah. The film is hailed as a first: a major studio backing a gay director making a gay-themed movie. (Robinson is straight). The movie is based on Becky Albertalli’s 2015 book ‘Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda’.
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Saturday/ Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day.  Let’s all pledge to 1. make more use of public transport where possible, and 2. to make our next car an electric one. Electric cars still make up less than 1% of global sales. Yikes.

Here’s a red Tesla Model 3 on display at the Bellevue Square shopping mall today. The sales rep says the wait is 12 months. Business Insider reports that Tesla is now nearing 2,500 in weekly Model 3 production: a BIG improvement over the low ‘production hell’ numbers at the end of last year.
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It’s Friday 4/20

Today marked the annual, unofficial international pot smoking day. (April 20 is written as 4/20 here in the States. 420 in all its forms, is code for smoking pot).

And where did the use of 420 (say ‘four-twenty’) come from? The term was coined in 1971 by a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos, by virtue of their meeting time of 4:20 pm to smoke pot.  Not long after that, 420 became a general code word for smoking pot.

Recreational pot is legal on the West Coast and a handful of other states (9 total).  In 30 more states, it is only legal for medical use, and in 16 more states only the marijuana-derived compound cannabidiol (CBD) is legal. CBD appears to be helpful for many health conditions, including epilepsy, anxiety, chronic pain, and more. [Source: CNN Money]
This is the Uncle Ike’s (cannabis store) here on Capitol Hill, just two blocks from my house. ‘Score at the front door’ says the sign at the top left. They do a good job of keeping it tidy around the store, nice bike racks and all. (No, I have not been in there to sample their products!).

 

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Thursday/ there is a terrible lizard in my backyard

I did not buy the big T-Rex I saw at Toys-R-Us (my post a few days ago), but this red one at Walmart was on sale for just $1.97.  Besides, the dinosaur – the terrible lizard * – goes nicely with the garage that I added to my Lego house.  It’s all just for fun. I will eventually box up these toys and donate all of it to Goodwill.

*Dinosaur comes from ancient Greek δεινός (deinos), meaning ‘terrible, potent or fearfully great’, and σαῦρος (sauros), meaning ‘lizard or reptile’.

 

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Wednesday/ Devil’s Tower

The restaurant where my friends and I had our Wednesday beers & a bite, has old car licence plates for the covers of the menus. I was not sure what the rock image on the Wyoming plate was called, and had to look it up.
It’s Devil’s Tower, located in the north-eastern corner of Wyoming.  Geologists still debate exactly how the structure was formed, described as a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock.  In plain English: an isolated hill with steep sides and a small, relatively flat top, formed by magma pressed into sedimentary layers and then pushed upwards.

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Tuesday/ blue sky and .. ‘U SUCK’

An electronic signboard here on highway I-5 showed displayed a cheeky (rude?) ‘U SUCK’ message for some time today. Was it real? Yes, because Washington State DOT later tweeted ‘This was an inappropriate message and we apologize if anyone was offended. This was due to a training error and clearly a mistake. We are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again’.

People did not seem too offended. Here are some snarky comments posted on Reddit –

  • It’s part of WSDOT’s new initiative to reduce traffic. The idea is to insult people who drive so they are more likely to take other forms of transportation.
  • It’s kind of like congestion pricing, but with emotions instead of money.
  • No, you are right WSDOT, I do suck and I am sorry for that.
  • Amateur hour. You have to try harder to insult me .. no really, try harder. Please.
A Reddit user called BruceInc posted this dashcam picture of the electronic signboard by the Sea-Tac Airport exit today. (And yes: there was that much blue sky today, after many days of clouds and rain).
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Monday/ my house, in Lego bricks

What would my actual house look like in Lego* bricks? I wondered.  Well, only one way to find out, I thought: build it – and so I did.  I’m pleased with the result.  I had to scavenge bricks and roof tiles from my 2004 Lego Designer House kit, destroying it in the process – but that’s OK.  The roof was a lot of fun to build.

*Lego is short for leg godt, Danish words that translate to ‘play well’.

That’s the Lego ‘me’ on the porch, with the blue shirt and cap (Front). The real house is green with a grey roof! but hey, the white walls and red roof will have to do instead. If I were really determined, I could special-order green wall bricks and grey roof tiles, on   bricklink.com. It’s an online catalog that lists thousands of sellers and thousands of types of bricks. Lego has produced 400 billion bricks since 1958, in almost any square, round and triangular shape, and color, imaginable.
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Sunday/ this mall is not dead

It was the last day of spring break for public schools here, and the Westfield Southcenter mall here in the Seattle area was packed with visitors today.  It’s a great mall, and I’m sure it will survive the mall armageddon that all the experts predict, with Amazon and all.
I bought some clothes, and while I was there I checked in on the Toys-R-Us store, to see if their Lego blocks were on sale.  Not really: the stock was still only marked down 5%. So they are trying hard to get as much as they can from liquidating the inventory.

Look! I made a friend at the Toys-R-Us store. (Watch out for those teeth, though. He goes by T. Rex and his live ancestors roamed on Earth some 80 million – 66 million years ago).
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Friday/ targeted strikes in Syria

Finally, at 9 pm Eastern Time on Friday, President Trump announced that targeted strikes will be made against Syria by the United States, joined by Britain and France. Yes, the use of chemical weapons is evil, and a red line. (Dozens of people died in a suburb of Damascus in the latest such attack). But surely we can all agree that war is evil, too. The last comprehensive number of casualties, widely accepted internationally — 470,000 dead — was issued by the Syrian Center for Policy Research in 2016.

This map is from the New York Times. Defense Secretary James Mattis said at a press conference the military will do their utmost to limit the risk of civilian casualties in the strikes. It was not immediately clear specifically what was targeted, though.
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Thursday/ what action in Syria? nobody knows

The New York Times today: ‘Defense Secretary Jim Mattis took pains on Thursday to walk back President Trump’s threats of an imminent strike on Syria’.  And: ‘President Trump’s fusillade of tweets about Syria, Russia and China this week set a new standard for contradictory and inconsistent positions in Mr. Trump’s approach to war, trade and relations with adversaries’.

Map by the WSJ of the US military assets in and around Syria. After 7 years of war, one wonders if anything but rubble, is found in those cities marked in red. (The country between Syria and the Mediterranean Sea is Lebanon).
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Wednesday/ robot in the parking lot

I spotted a Knightscope security robot today, in a shopping mall parking lot in Bellevue. These are autonomous 6-ft high, 400-lb machines, filled with sensors.  The robot scans the environment around it to create 3D images, and to check for unusual situations. I am sure they can already capture car registration numbers. Hmm .. and eventually, recognize the ‘FBI’s Most Wanted’ humans through face recognition?

It appeared to me this Knightscope robot in a Bellevue parking lot was doing a test run. They can upload their data to the cloud, but this one was tethered to the car behind it (thin blue cable). The Microsoft campus nearby is said to have a few of these roaming around already. 
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Tuesday/ promises from Facebook, again

Wall Street cheerleader CNBC put the FB ticker up for a long time while Zuckerberg testified. FB stock ended up 4% for the day, so I guess that means the stock market thought he did well. At least he wore a suit this time, and not a hoodie, the way he did for the Facebook IPO in May 2012!

‘We will deploy AI, we now have 20,000 content reviewers, we now ban fake accounts by the thousand, we support the Honest Ads Act’, testified Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today.  (I’m paraphrasing).  Well – let’s just say the road to another Facebook-assisted election catastrophe (such as the one we had in 2016), is paved with good intentions.

There were some sharp questions from Senators today, but Zuckerberg did a mea culpa in his opening statement, and could generally stick to his talking points (we messed up, we’re working on it, it’s complicated). He did leave the door open for supporting legislation from Congress, and admitted that the Europeans are doing some things right, when it comes to privacy protections.

Whether Congress can come up with legislation that will make a dent in better protecting data privacy, and rooting out fake news and hate speech – that also remains to be seen.