Why Democrats can't regain control of the House

Even if a Democrat wins the presidency -

Why not put another beloved, big story in play and consider whether the House might flip? There is one very good reason: It is not going to happen.

One hesitates to call anything impossible during a campaign season that has upended so much historical wisdom. Nevertheless, this is impossible. But if we’re going to have seven more months of debating whether the Democrats have even the tiniest chance of capturing the House, it is important to understand all the politics and recent history which explains why it’s off the table, even if Trump leads the GOP into an epic rout at the presidential level...

...how sophisticated the GOP redistricting operation was in 2010 and 2011 — and how it has made our politics more extreme both in the House and in many state legislatures. It was different, perhaps historically so, thanks to driven GOP strategists determined to take full advantage of redistricting, new mapping and demographic technologies that made it easier than ever to craft unbeatable GOP majorities, and the wave of post-Citizens United dark money which helped fund it. They called it REDMAP, for Redistricting Majority Project, and did it ever live up to its name...

This Pennsylvania district, the 7th [inset at right], explains a lot if you want to understand just how precisely mapmakers did their work after 2010. Every one of these lines — described by some as Donald Duck kicking Goofy — exists to draw specific Republicans into this district, and to make as many surrounding districts as Republican as possible. Then, mapmakers packed so many Democrats into Chaka Fattah’s Philadelphia district that he won with more votes than any congressman in the country in 2012...

Let’s keep all of these numbers and the reality of these maps in mind when talking about the prospect of Democratic control over the next few months. Any piece or cable news discussion on this topic that does not include REDMAP or understand how the 2011 redistricting was different and more advanced than any that came before isn’t just missing part of the story. It’s missing the entire story, and engaging in punditry as fantasy.

High school basketball as it should be played

YouTube link.

"The Gainesville Tornadoes - a basketball team from a correctional facility - often play in front of empty bleachers since students aren't allowed to attend the games. But, as Steve Hartman reports, that all changed thanks to one team's selfless act."

Space archaeology reveals potential new Viking site in North America

The site, found using open-source Google Earth satellite images and briefly examined this past year, is "definitely not indigenous" and "definitely not historic."

“Either it’s … an entirely new culture that looks exactly like the Norse and we don’t know what it is,” she told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “Or it’s the westernmost Norse site that’s ever been discovered.”..

But when they uncovered turf structures and a shallow hearth littered with bits of cooked bog iron, they knew they’d found something important. There is only one other pre-Columbian iron processing site in all of North America — at L’Anse Aux Meadows. What’s more, they found no trace of either indigenous Canadians or later European colonists at the site — no scraps of flint, pottery or iron nails...

And very few other artifacts have been found at Point Rosee (which is pretty typical of the Vikings — their settlements tended to be “ephemeral,” Parcak said). The site could have been a lone outpost for iron smelting, or part of a larger settlement. It might be the southern and westernmost place the Vikings ever reached, or it could be just a stopping point on their explorations to other settlements still to be uncovered.

If her faith is borne out, researchers say that the discovery, which is the subject of a 2-hour documentary that will air on PBS next week, has the potential to rewrite the history of the Vikings in North America. It might confirm the belief that the Norse presence here was fleeting — just another short-lived expedition by a seafaring society. Or it could touch off a wave of discoveries of other Norse settlements in the region, proving that the Vikings strayed farther and stayed longer in the New World than anyone realized.

My local PBS station will be airing a program entitled "Vikings Unearthed" as part of the NOVA series on April 6.  Presumably that's the program referred to in the article.

Political mitosis in the United States

"Political Polarization in the U.S. Congress has been a topic of much discussion recently. We show the party polarization of the House of Representatives through time, with a focus on which members continue to participate across party lines...

Each member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 - 2012 is drawn as a single node. Republican (R) representatives are in red and Democrat (D) representatives are in blue... Edges between nodes are drawn if each member agrees with another member more often than the "threshold value" of votes specific to that particular Congress... Each node is made bigger or smaller based on the number of connections it has. Edges are thicker if the pair agrees on more votes. The starting year of each 2-year Congress is written above the network. The network is drawn using a linear-attraction linear-repulsion model with Barnes Hut optimization.

Thirty-two networks are available, for every Congress from 1949 to the present. 

An atmosphere composed of 99.9% pure oxygen

And it's a star - not a planet:

A newly discovered star is unlike any ever found. With an outermost layer of 99.9 percent pure oxygen, its atmosphere is the most oxygen-rich in the known universe... The strange stellar oddity is a radically new type of white dwarf star, and was discovered by a team of Brazilian astronomers led by Kepler de Souza Oliveira at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The star is unique in the known pool of 32,000 white dwarf stars, and is the only known star of any kind with an almost pure oxygen atmosphere... The discovery was reported today in a paper in the journal Science.

I had to refrain from posting this on April Fools' Day.

Is there anyone who doesn't enjoy watching marble machines?

YouTube link.

"Marble Mountain is a large marble machine still under construction. It consists of 25 sections that mesh together to form one kinetic sculpture. Every element is themed (or will be upon completion) to an aspect of my life or to something that I find interesting. Some of the elements include a roller coaster, ski jump, Times Square, Lombard Street, and a skatepark. It took 3 years to get to this point of being able to turn it on and watch it go, and I will continue to work on it and get it fully completed."

More here.  And discussion thread with the creator here.

Was Cinderella a slut?

Apparently so.

After having been recently reminded of the illustrations of Edmund Dulac, I decided to read a book of children's fairy tales illustrated by him.  In a Cinderella story "retold by Edmund Quiller-Couch" (1910, I think) I found this passage when she was being verbally abused by her step-sisters:

"Look at your hands--faugh!  How can you suppose we should allow you to touch a ribbon, or even come near us, with such hands?  Run downstairs, slut, and put yourself under the kitchen pump..."

Moments later the narrator explains:

"When she had done her work she used to creep away to the chimney-corner and seat herself among the cinders, and from this the household name for her came to be Cinder-slut; but the younger sister, who was not so ill-tempered as the elder, called her Cinderella."

Quiller-Couch is obviously using the term in the sense of "slattern."  And that's how the OED defines "slut." The first definition is "A woman of dirty, slovenly, or untidy habits or appearance," and the secondary ones include "a kitchen maid" and "a woman of low or loose character; a bold or impudent girl."  That last one comes closest to the sexual connotations of modern usage.

So the next time you encounter a girl who is besmirched from sliding head-first into third base or changing the oil in the car, you can say "you need to clean yourself up, slut" and the OED will back you up.  But make sure she isn't still holding the wrench.

Reposted from 2010.

Sad - but true

Via imgur.

Queen Elizabeth does not lay 2,000 eggs a day

Gaffes like the one highlighted above occur when a style guide (in this case Reuters news service) requires that references to "the queen" be capitalized and her name given in full, and when a 'bot proceeds to check and autocorrect styles before publication.

A tip of the blogging hat to John Farrier who found this and posted it at Neatorama.

The Judaism of Bernie Sanders

I'm trying to minimize coverage of politics during this election cycle, but I thought this article in The Village Voice offers some insight into both a candidate and a religion:

Commentators who had previously criticized Sanders for downplaying his Judaism were underwhelmed by his mostly secular response. "Sanders may be focused on uniting Americans for a better future," argued the Jewish Telegraphic Agency newswire, "but some Jews would clearly like to hear him acknowledge his past."

Those Jews were eventually given voice through the unlikely agency of Anderson Cooper, who, during a March debate in Michigan, referred to Jewish leaders who were "disappointed" that Sanders keeps his Judaism "in the background." "Look, my father's family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust," came Sanders's reply. "I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being." Finally, Sanders was giving commentators what they seemed to want to hear from a Jewish candidate — a reference to the Holocaust. Vox's Zack Beauchamp said the response "nearly brought me to tears."

We shouldn't be surprised by this insistence that Bernie invoke the Holocaust: Museums, school curricula, and the culture generally have so diligently cultivated the image of Jews as primarily survivors or victims of the Holocaust that we've learned to see this, and not all that solidarity talk, as properly Jewish. But Sanders carries on a Jewish tradition much longer, and more sacred, than merely paying lip service to the Holocaust. His every utterance about universal health care, economic inequality, and social justice relentlessly embraces Judaism; it's just a Judaism many people no longer recognize. Bernie Sanders is a Jew of a different era — the kind of Jew that Zionists would very much like us to forget...

When pundits complain that Sanders is not being publicly Jewish enough, what they are really complaining about is his refusal to fall in line with the philosophy that has come to define Jewish life in America. They are disappointed that Sanders has not aligned himself with Zionism...

And yet it is the non-Zionist Sanders who is criticized for insufficient faith, even as wealthy right-wing Zionists ostentatiously parade their donations to Holocaust Museums and prestigious congregations. These gestures are supposed to fulfill the sort of public obligation Judaism imposes, but next to Bernie Sanders's dogged agitation for universal equality and justice, decade in and decade out, Zionist chest-thumping looks like a cheap substitute.

This contrast was at its starkest when Sanders declined the opportunity to join every other presidential candidate in addressing Zionism's most exalted assembly: the annual convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Instead, he addressed the question of Israel at a high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, in a speech that included such taboo-breaking observations as "There is too much suffering in Gaza to be ignored."

Such heresy reminds us of an earlier Judaism. When Sanders says, "We are living in a world which worships not love of brothers and sisters, not love of the poor and the sick, but worships the acquisition of money," he is not hiding his religion, but espousing it. He is evangelizing. And if his gospel is going to catch, it will most likely be among the young people who have flocked to his campaign.

More at the link.

Divertimento

A happy camel is a bouncy camel.

Birds are typically depicted inaccurately in Hollywood movies.  There is a legal reason for that: "Casting native species is against the law. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, federal law since 1918, prohibits the possession of migratory birds for commercial purposes, and that includes keeping domestic bird species for use as animal actors." (so tropical or foreign birds are used instead)

How to manage mail for the deceased.  Not explained at the link is that if the deceased was a resident in a care facility (group home etc) that did not have individual mailboxes for each resident, you cannot submit a change of address form to the USPS.  You have to contact each sender individually.

"Tracy Warshal, 39, noticed the man behind her in line at an Aldi supermarket was shuffling around looking for his wallet, she told ABC News. Realizing he'd forgotten it, Warshal offered to pay for his $7 grocery bill." (with an interesting result...)

An alternative explanation for the Biblical virgin birth predicates a mistranslation.

"...former corporate raider Asher Edelman says Bernie Sanders is the strongest presidential candidate. Appearing on CNBC’s “Fast Money” this morning, Edelman responded immediately when asked who he thought the best candidate for the economy would be. “Bernie Sanders,” Edelman said, without missing a beat. “No question.”" (video at the link)

"In a not-at-fault automobile accident, you are entitled to a check for the value that your car lost due to the collision. But you'll ONLY get it if you ask for it."

"LPT: When purchasing a used car, make sure the check engine light turns on when you first start the car. A lot of people rip out the bulb so you don't know that the car needs repairs!"

If you are lost in the woods and need to start a fire, use a lemon...

A woman disappears during a live television broadcast.

"In May of 1940, as French forces crumpled in the face of the Nazi onslaught and the British anxiously scanned the skies for signs of the dreaded invasion, the newly installed prime minister was preoccupied with another pressing problem. Where would he get the money to pay his bill from the shirtmaker? Britain’s predicament was dire, but so was Winston Churchill’s. He owed not just the shirtmaker, but the watchmaker, the wine merchants, and the printers as well. He was overdrawn at the bank, he owed interest payments on his debts, his taxes were conspicuously late, and his publishers were clamoring for an overdue book on which he had taken a large advance. Churchill would lead Britain through the Blitz a few months later, but first he needed money..."

The history of "night soil" management in major cities.

"Since November, 54 people in Wisconsin have one by one fallen ill with an obscure kind of bacteria called Elizabethkingia. Fifteen have died from the infection."  And now it's in Michigan.

A mashup of Pink Floyd and Donald Trump.

The history of tattoo removal.

An op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times posits that doctors and clinics shouldn't sell drugs: "The way Medicare pays for prescription drugs gives doctors an incentive to choose the most expensive alternatives, and gives drug makers an incentive to raise prices relentlessly. In other words, the system works for doctors and pharmaceutical companies at the expense of everyone else. Eliminating such perverse incentives without reducing the quality of care is crucial to slowing the unsustainable growth of health care costs...."

A cartoon about spaceflight.

How to use a hair pick to help you slice an onion.

Plagues that might have contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire.

Here's the best article I've read this year about the recent evolution of the Republican Party.  It was published a couple months ago when there were more contenders, but that's not important.  The author has a good grasp of recent Republican party developments, because he was formerly a speechwriter for George W. Bush.  The article isn't written in favor of (or against) any particular current candidate.

Fabulous Oldies is a website that collects and preserves biographical snippets about older people.

"Eggs on a cloud" are visually attractive eggs.

A group of New York millionaires sign an open letter to the governor and legislature saying "please raise our taxes."

The Netherlands is closing prisons because they don't have enough convicted criminals to use the space.  They may accept some Norwegian malefactors.

Fluoroscopy of cracking knuckles.

There is an actor who appeared in five films.  Only five films.  But each one of them was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Then he died.

Impressive video of how to cut down a large tree without damaging structures underneath (the severed limbs swing off to the side).

A man asks his girlfriend to hold their dog while he sets up a camera for a photo.  He sets it to record video while he proposes marriage to her...

The absence of climate change discussion in the Republican presidential candidate debates.

Kroger's logical policy about unisex bathrooms.

A puppy decides he's going to sleep.... right... here...

Today's images come from "The Stunning Beaury of Braided Rivers" - a gallery at Amusing Planet. 

Linguistic humor

This passage comes from Molière's 1670 play, "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" :

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: ... I'm in love with a lady of great quality, and I wish that you would help me write something to her in a little note that I will let fall at her feet...PHILOSOPHY MASTER: Is it verse that you wish to write her?
M.J. : No, no. No verse.
PH. M: Do you want only prose?
M.J. : No, I don't want either prose or verse.
PH. M: It must be one or the other.
M.J. : Why?
PH. M: Because, sir, there is no other way to express oneself than with prose or verse.
M.J. : There is nothing but prose or verse?
PH. M: No, sir, everything that is not prose is verse, and everything that is not verse is prose.
M.J. : And when one speaks, what is that then?
PH. M: Prose.
M.J. : What! When I say, "Nicole, bring me my slippers, and give me my nightcap," that's prose?
PH. M: Yes, Sir.
M.J. : By my faith! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing anything about it, and I am much obliged to you for having taught me that. 

Voltaire, writing to Catherine the Great: 

"I am not like a lady of the court of Versailles who said 'what a dreadful pity that the bother at the Tower of Babel should have got language all mixed up; but for that, everyone would always have spoken French'."

And this from The Onion:

Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia

Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients

Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A,E,I,O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more pronounceable. 

"For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhr and Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world," Clinton said. "Today, the United States must finally stand up and say 'Enough.' It is time the people of Bosnia finally had some vowels in their incomprehensible words...

The deployment, dubbed Operation Vowel Storm by the State Department, is set for early next week, with the Adriatic port cities of Sjlbvdnzv and Grzny slated to be the first recipients...

Citizens of Grzny and Sjlbvdnzv eagerly await the arrival of the vowels. "My God, I do not think we can last another day," Trszg Grzdnjkln, 44, said. "I have six children and none of them has a name that is understandable to me or to anyone else...

Said Sjlbvdnzv resident Grg Hmphrs, 67: "With just a few key letters, I could be George Humphries. This is my dream."

The airdrop represents the largest deployment of any letter to a foreign country since 1984. During the summer of that year, the US shipped 92,000 consonants to Ethiopia, providing cities like Ouaouoaua, Eaoiiuae, and Aao with vital, life-giving supplies of L's, S's and T's.

I found these three anecdotes while skimming through Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language.

Drone footage of salmon migration

YouTube link.

Wow.

Originally posted at Vimeo.

Promoting math literacy

The Romanian national football team wears special training jackets as an encouragement to their fans. 

Via.

Potoooooooo

Potoooooooo or Pot-8-Os... was a famous 18th-century Thoroughbred racehorse, known for his defeat of some of the greatest racehorses of the time and his later life as an influential sire...

Pot-8-Os acquired the strange spelling of his nickname through a transliteration error, when a stable lad was asked to write the original name, "Potatoes", on a feed bin. The lad's version, Potoooooooo, was said to amuse his lordship so he kept it, and it appears in the General Stud Book.

There must be other names that could be reconfigured in a similar manner.  CCCPO (or would it be CPPPO?) comes to mind.  Readers can undoubtedly come up with others.


Today I learned:  "The term [Thoroughbred] is a proper noun referring to this specific breed, though often not capitalized, especially in non-specialist publications, and outside the US."