Thursday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Sleeping Dog says:

    A few weeks ago, @James had a contentious thread on Dave Chappelle, well here he is again as the king of NIMBYism

    The village and Oberer had worked together to produce a plan that would include duplexes and affordable housing along with single-family homes in a 53-acre area along Spillan Road at the south edge of town.

    The village initially asked for the development to advance affordable housing in the village, including an area that the village would later be able to develop into affordable housing, as well as more duplexes and townhomes.

    But Monday night, after complaints from numerous residents, including comedian Dave Chappelle, village council voted 2-2 with one abstention on the revised “planned unit development” zoning.

    The village and Oberer had worked together to produce a plan that would include duplexes and affordable housing along with single-family homes in a 53-acre area along Spillan Road at the south edge of town.

    The village initially asked for the development to advance affordable housing in the village, including an area that the village would later be able to develop into affordable housing, as well as more duplexes and townhomes.

    But Monday night, after complaints from numerous residents, including comedian Dave Chappelle, village council voted 2-2 with one abstention on the revised “planned unit development” zoning.

    ———————-

    Multiple Yellow Springs villagers, including entertainer Dave Chappelle, lobbied against the project. Chappelle even threatened to pull his business interests from the village, which include a plan for a restaurant called “Firehouse Eatery” and comedy club called “Live from YS.”

    Chappelle’s company, Iron Table Holdings LLC, bought the former Miami Twp. fire station at 225 Corry St. in December.

    Chappelle repeated his threat again on Monday night in the village council meeting.

    “I am not bluffing,” he said. “I will take it all off the table.”

    Seems he can’t stand having them poor people around.

    5
  2. Kylopod says:

    @Sleeping Dog: Just a reminder that there are lower sections of Standup Hell. Chappelle at least is a fallen angel.

  3. Stormy Dragon says:

    @Sleeping Dog:

    Prediction: within 10 years, Chapelle runs for Congress as a Republican

    6
  4. CSK says:

    Speaking of the Republican Party, this from NPR is interesting.

    http://www.npr.org/2022/02/08/1079191067/how-did-the-republican-party-become-the-party-of-trump

    It reiterates what I’ve said before: that the party moved from Pat Buchanan to Sarah Palin to Trump, in logical progression.

    3
  5. Jim Brown 32 says:

    I spent a considerable amount of time at Wright-Patterson AFB which is near this area so Im familiar with the neighborhood. Its actually pretty nice by Dayton standards. Im still confused why DC even calls this area home–its bereft of anything that caters to the fractional Black middle class (and by default the handful of black people with money) there.

    Honestly, can’t say I blame the guy. He probably doesn’t want a bunch of Trumpers in his neighborhood. Because I’ll be honest–the black community in Dayton aint got a whole lot going for them…so this affordable housing sure as hell isn’t being built because Montgomery County gives a damn about them. I say this having experienced the feeling of being outside the “approved” tourist areas and black neighborhoods as I ventured out to entertain myself after work…including a verbal altercation on a golf course.

    Bottom line is this is why people complain about media bias–journalists feel a certain type of way about DCs comments and last comedy special–so now they are going continue a fight against him via headlines. Before its over with–DC will be a infant cannibal.

    6
  6. Jim Brown 32 says:

    Ref the Dave Chappelle story:

    I actually went and read the coverage of the run up to this vote. There is more to this than “residents axe affordable housing cause—NIMBY” What the community objected to–which I completely understand–Is a developer cutting a deal with a town to drop hundreds or thousands of cheap housing (with high profit margin for the developer) and do NONE of the infrastructure to development to support the influx of people and traffic. The people that are currently living in the community DO matter as well. This is a giveaway to developers being hidden behind: “where helping the middle class”.

    The town then gets left to pay for the infrastructure development and it will take 10 years for them to catch up. Rick Scott dropped these requirements for Developers in Florida when he was governor. COMPLETE SHITSHOW– Gridlocked traffic and overcrowded schools for 10 years while towns collected enough revenue on the back end to fund roads, schools, police, and fire service extensions, etc

    Sorry–the minuses outweigh the pluses here. BTW the housing proposed averaged 300K–hardly “affordable” for Dayton, Ohio

    14
  7. CSK says:
  8. gVOR08 says:

    @CSK: Do we want jokes about TFG or Haberman? Both are deserving of ridicule in my mind.

    1
  9. CSK says:

    @gVOR08:
    It’s laugh or cry.

  10. Scott F. says:

    @Stormy Dragon:
    With all the candidates available, why populate your enemies list with someone like Dave Chapelle?

  11. Dude Kembro says:

    @Scott F.: Chappelle has long since morphed from a funny, edgy young black outsider to another cranky old rich dude with nothing do to but whine about wokeness, the gays, and CAncEL cULtUrE (see Bill Maher, Joe Rogan, and other comedians angry that meme culture is now the center of comedy).

    Black millennials got suspicious once middle aged establishment types starting blowing smoke up Chappelle’s ass constantly. That typically means you’ve stopped truth-telling and become just another tool of the status quo.

    They’re never going to hype the (now-funnier) Wanda Sykes like this. She still makes the privileged too uncomfortable.

    7
  12. Kathy says:

    It’s odd where some very common terms come from.

    A good example I just learned about is the word “money,” and related terms like “monetary” and “mint.” The word comes from the fact that Romans first minted coins next to the temple of Juno Moneta.

    So what does “moneta” means if it didn’t mean money? According to Cicero, the epithet derives from “monere,” which means “to warn.” This may not be correct, as the epithets of deities could equally refer to an aspect of a god or denote syncretism of two deities. Think of Athena Parthenos for the first and Herakles Melkart for the latter. There was a goddess named Moneta outside of Rome, who got merged with Juno at some point.

    3
  13. Scott F. says:

    @Dude Kembro, hate on Chapelle all you want. I’ve got a whole political party trying to destroy democracy and destructive misinformation-mongers are everywhere. I get no mileage from being disappointed that DC or JK aren’t the people I wish they would be.

    6
  14. senyordave says:

    @Jim Brown 32: You might have misread the part of the story about the $300k homes. That is what will happen since the proposal was voted down. From the article:
    Yellow Springs City Council voted 2-2 on Monday against its own planned proposal that would have expanded affordable housing, the Dayton Daily News reported. The proposed development on the 53-acre area would have included 64 single-family homes, 52 duplexes and 24 townhomes. Instead, the area will feature 143 single-family homes with a starting price of $300,000, according to the Dayton Daily News.
    It is safe too assume that the proposal would have had housing available for considerably less than $300k.
    Chappelle might have great reasons for his opposition but the article doesn’t give any other than he doesn’t want it. He comes off looking like a rich shit who doesn’t want “those people” living near his business interests.

    2
  15. Kylopod says:

    @Scott F.:

    I’ve got a whole political party trying to destroy democracy and destructive misinformation-mongers are everywhere. I get no mileage from being disappointed that DC or JK aren’t the people I wish they would be.

    The fact that Chappelle isn’t as bad as Trump or his supporters, and previously had a reputation of being somewhat left-leaning, is part of the issue. It’s like the conversation from the other day about how Joe Rogan has praised Obama and Bernie Sanders. When a public figure is not clearly a right-wing ideologue, that can potentially make them more effective as an enabler of bad ideas, because audiences who might be quicker to dismiss someone like, say, Tucker Carlson, are likelier to have their guard down.

    7
  16. Jon says:

    @Kylopod: Also the whole “you’re not doing it right unless you only focus on the exact things I find important” wears a bit thin. Being disappointed in Dave Chapelle is not a full time gig; folks can do that and still fight the bigger battles.

    4
  17. Scott says:

    @Jim Brown 32: I also spent time at Wright-Pat. My home was in Fairborn so we went to Yellow Springs a lot, mostly by cycling. My wife got her degree from the Antioch evening program before it went belly-up (now reborn).

    Chappelle’s relationship to Yellow Springs? His father was a professor at Antioch. Relationship to black community? Deep history. Active in abolition, part of the underground railway. Two historically black colleges, Wilberforce and Central State Universities just south of town. And more.

    It has been more than 20 years since I’ve been there so I’m not sure what economic development has spread east from Dayton but I can see why NIMBYism is strong there despite their progressive ideals. Everybody hates change, both left and right.

    1
  18. CSK says:

    Republican Mayor Craig Shubert of Hudson, Ohio believes that ice fishing on a local pond will lead to…prostitution. It’s those shacks the fishermen build.

    As someone said on Twitter: “Put your poles away, boys.”

    2
  19. Jay L Gischer says:

    So, I didn’t watch the controversial special. As you all know, I am quite trans positive. Certain posters here (ones who seem to me mostly black) and some offline friends (not black) have convinced me that Chapelle was less about “trans is bad” than he was about “black people can’t catch a break”. So Ima lettin it be.

    This particular “news” story strikes me as hate-click bait. Would we have heard about this at all if not both for Chapelle’s involvement AND his earlier thing that people got wound up about? I don’t really think so. If its hate-clickbait, how likely is it that the story deals with the issues fairly? It’s not that I think that there are lies in the story, just that I expect there are details missing, perhaps important details. Development issues are always about the details.

    And then I ask myself, of the people clicking on this story and sharing it, how many of them are white?

    I take a backseat to nobody on being trans positive. I keep my eyes on the prize. What I want is more acceptance and yeah, more love. Spreading around resentment and accusation doesn’t seem like a good way to do that.

    3
  20. Mu Yixiao says:

    @CSK:

    Ninja’d by CSK.

    Here’s the quotes:

    Hudson, Ohio, is considering opening up the town’s Hudson Springs Lake to ice fishing. Mayor Craig Shubert has an unusual reason for being opposed. Opening up the lake to ice fishing would lead to prostitution, Shubert says.

    In a city council video that reads like sketch comedy—Shubert’s comic delivery would be perfect, if this were comedy—the mayor warns that if you open up the lake to ice fishing, ice shantytowns will follow, and the​​n commercial sex. (Doesn’t everyone know that ice shanties are irresistible to sex workers? Nothing like the feeling of fish guts and freezing water to get someone in the mood!)

    “If you open this up to ice fishing, while on the surface it sounds good, then what happens next year—does someone come back and say I want an ice shanty?” asked Shubert. “And if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem: prostitution.”

    “Just data points to consider,” he added.

  21. Neil Hudelson says:

    @Jim Brown 32:

    Is a developer cutting a deal with a town to drop hundreds or thousands of cheap housing (with high profit margin for the developer)

    With all due respect, I question your sources of information. According to reports following the city council meeting ,the entire project consisted of about 125 buildings, with a third being duplexes. That’s completely opposite of what you just described in structure, and no where close to “thousands” of cheap homes.

    Indeed, I’m not sure how one could judge the homes are going to be cheap, nor what the profit margin would be. I do know–having gone through two building processes in the last year–that profit margins are incredibly, incredibly tight right now due to material costs. I’m not sure how one would even have a high profit margin.

    do NONE of the infrastructure to development to support the influx of people and traffic.

    This is again incredibly specific information. Can you share a source?

    BTW the housing proposed averaged 300K–hardly “affordable” for Dayton, Ohio

    This appears to be the alternative proposal. The one that will presumably go forward now, or at least be up for a vote next.

    ETA: Ah, sorry, this has been addressed. Sorry for piling on.

    3
  22. Scott F. says:

    @Jon:
    One person’s “you’re not doing it right unless you only focus on the exact things I find important” is another person’s “choose your battles as you can’t fight them all.” As with Dude, I’m not saying you can’t be disappointed in DC or anyone else. It’s your time – do with it what you will. To demonstrate, I‘ll let you all have the last word on this squabble I didn‘t intend to initiate.

    1
  23. Scott says:

    I’ve been saying this for a long time. You cannot understand right wing politics without understanding and following right wing churches, especially mega churches.

    I live among them.

    New report details the influence of Christian nationalism on the insurrection

    A team of scholars, faith leaders and advocates unveiled an exhaustive new report Wednesday (Feb. 9) that documents in painstaking detail the role Christian nationalism played in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and calling it an unsettling preview of things to come.

    Christian nationalism was used to “bolster, justify and intensify the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” said Amanda Tyler, head of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, which sponsored the report along with the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Tyler’s group is behind an initiative called Christians Against Christian Nationalism.

    Christian nationalist symbols and references, Seidel writes, were ubiquitous at those gatherings, as well as the insurrection itself: flags with superimposed American flags over Christian symbols; “An Appeal to Heaven” banners; prayers recited by members of the extremist group Proud Boys shortly before the attack or by others as they stormed the Capitol.

    Christian nationalism is a “cultural framework” bolstered by “mutually reinforcing” elements that spurred the violence at the Capitol, such as the QAnon movement and the erroneous belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.

    BTW, Putin in Russia is aligned with Russian Orthodox hierarchy. Modi pushed Hindu nationalism in India. Orban in Hungary, etc.

    Just follow the Supreme Court rulings on “freedom of religion” . It is a recipe for continual atomization of this country.

    Be afraid.

    8
  24. DK says:

    @Scott F.:

    hate on Chapelle all you want.

    At least for this year, I fully intend to hate on whiny celebrities — inclusive of Dave Chapelle, both Joe and Throw Rogan, and any other filthy rich bro crying about censorship while constantly running their mouths. I’m going to do so while also hating on the Republican Party, and counting the days till I never have to think about Manchin or $inema, and doing my work, hitting the gym, enjoying my social life, traveling to multiple countries etc etc.

    A year has over 500,000 minutes in it, I can do more than one thing.

    (Heck, I might even join Nancy Pelosi’s Gazpacho Police. Sky’s the limit.)

    9
  25. Neil Hudelson says:

    For the record, I really don’t care about Dave Chappelle, but I do care about affordable housing.

    @Jay L Gischer:

    Would we have heard about this at all if not both for Chapelle’s involvement AND his earlier thing that people got wound up about? I don’t really think so. If its hate-clickbait, how likely is it that the story deals with the issues fairly? And then I ask myself, of the people clicking on this story and sharing it, how many of them are white?

    That’s a good question. In considering the racial aspect, my first instinct was “no, there have definitely been other stories expressing outrage when a celebrity uses his/her power to be a NIMBY.” But, the only other example I could think of was when Hannibal Burress revealed himself to be a really shitty landlord on twitter, and tweeted out approval of anti-housing proposals in Chicago.

    That said, I do think there’s a time honored tradition of Americans being outraged by celebrities being bad neighbors. I remember quite a few headlines about Tom Selleck stealing water for his avocado farms, but that’s actually lawbreaking rather than just using his celebrity to push for favored policies.

    3
  26. Kathy says:

    @DK:

    (Heck, I might even join Nancy Pelosi’s Gazpacho Police. Sky’s the limit.)

    I’m not clear whether they are supposed to enforce cold soup or prevent it.

    4
  27. Jen says:

    @DK: The Gazpacho police comment has led to some of the funniest puns on Twitter:

    “It’s the work of Anti-Phở”
    “They will stew about this for days”
    “Wait until France’s Vichyssoise government hears about this”

    And on, and on. It’s a welcome bit of levity.

    7
  28. DK says:

    @Kathy: No soup for Q?

    9
  29. Kylopod says:

    @Jay L Gischer:

    As you all know, I am quite trans positive. Certain posters here (ones who seem to me mostly black) and some offline friends (not black) have convinced me that Chapelle was less about “trans is bad” than he was about “black people can’t catch a break”.

    He defended JK Rowling. He claimed she was “canceled” because she said “gender is a fact.” He said he was on “Team TERF.”

    Just because he didn’t come right out and say trans people are bad doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing the whole weaselly insinuation game that bigots have always hidden behind.

    9
  30. CSK says:

    @Jen:
    Minestrone Madmen
    Bouillabaisse Bruisers
    Chowder Champions
    Vichyssoise Vixens
    Tomato Tornadoes

    All right, I’ll stop.

  31. inhumans99 says:

    @Stormy Dragon:

    Hah, I will not take that bet as I suspect it may be well before 10 years. He would join a growing list of comedians who are already right-wing individuals or quickly drifted to the right, perhaps because they felt aggrieved that they could not get away with certain comedy routines in the here and now.

    A lot of comedians fall into a class of individuals who seem not to have got the memo that every one else has, that the times are a changing.

    1
  32. Sleeping Dog says:

    This is too awful not to share here.

    A guy hears about a novel that sounds interesting. He can’t remember the title or author, but remembers the plot involves Pavlov’s dog and Schrodinger’s cat going on a car tour of the United States.

    He asks about it at the library. The librarian tells him “That does ring a bell, but I am not sure if it’s here or not.”

    File under bad taste is timeless.

    6
  33. Jay L Gischer says:

    @Kylopod: I’m not going to get into this with you. I haven’t seen it.

    And, I think that what I’ve done here in this comment space has done at least as much to advance trans acceptance as all the yelling at DC, though it definitely won’t get me tons of likes and reshares on Twitter. (For one thing, it isn’t on Twitter).

    I feel that if I can change even one person’s mind per year, that’s amazing progress. Think what would happen if we all focused on that.

    It’s quite true that I’m swimming against the tide of human nature. I’m well aware of that, which is why I have given up scolding people for doing sort of the “normal” thing. I do want to try to issue a call to people who maybe have the inclination and resources to do something else, though.

    3
  34. charon says:
  35. Mimai says:

    @Jay L Gischer:
    One of my students successfully defended her dissertation last week. It hasn’t been easy for her. Or me for that matter.

    But (sorry, not sorry) she’s shown a remarkable level of resilience. And an unwavering willingness to approach when avoidance would have been so much easier. And less painful.

    I’m proud of her. And she’s proud of herself.

    I thought you’d like to know. 😉

    6
  36. charon says:

    From the linky posted here earlier:

    https://www.npr.org/2022/02/08/1079191067/how-did-the-republican-party-become-the-party-of-trump

    GROSS: What do you mean when you say Republicans lost their party but got everything they ever wanted? What do you mean by they got everything they ever wanted?

    PETERS: So I thought that that was a really important way to think about why so many Republicans – Republicans who had opposed Donald Trump, insisted that they would never vote for him, came along in the end. And that’s because Trump very strategically cut deals with his most important constituency, and that’s the religious right. And if you look at the endgame of the Trump presidency, it’s kind of hard not to see that the religious right and social conservatives got basically everything that they wanted. We’re looking at a Supreme Court right now with three Trump nominees who are poised to strike down Roe v. Wade. And there has been no more galvanizing political effort for conservatives over the last 40 years than striking down Roe v. Wade.

    1
  37. charon says:

    @charon:

    In my view, contemporary American politics is primarily a religious war –

    On one side, religious proselytizers and bullies

    versus people who do not want to be subjected to religious bullying and proselyzation.

    That’s really all the so-called culture wars amount to.

    3
  38. senyordave says:

    @Mimai: In an ocean of crappy news (inflation, Ukraine, endless TFG crimes) it is nice to hear about something positive. Congrats to her (and you for supporting her)!

    3
  39. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Kathy: Perhaps this will help.A Raid by Nancy Pelosi’s Gazpacho Police.

    3
  40. Kathy says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    My favorite soup is cream of tomato, done my way. I don’t do it often, because it’s a major undertaking that involves peeling, coring, and seeding a lot of tomatoes. I can’t imagine making it cold and uncooked.

  41. Jax says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: ROFL, that was hilarious, thanks! 😛

    1
  42. Kurtz says:

    @Scott:

    BTW, Putin in Russia is aligned with Russian Orthodox hierarchy. Modi pushed Hindu nationalism in India.

    It’s more than just the Russian Orthodox hierarchy.

    It was probably smart to keep as much secrecy as possible. Whether you call yourself The Fellowship or The Family, you seem sinister. It’s amazing to me how many of these people–public-facing heads of megachurches and creepy zealots lurking in shadows–so clearly resemble false prophets and the High Priests who allied themselves with occupying Romans and used holy traditions to enrich themselves.

    This police officer in Modi’s India seems strikingly familiar to police in PNW and Kenosha.

    The police officer arrived at the Hindu temple here with a warning to the monks: Don’t repeat your hate speech.

    Ten days earlier, before a packed audience and thousands watching online, the monks had called for violence against the country’s minority Muslims. Their speeches, in one of India’s holiest cities, promoted a genocidal campaign to “kill two million of them” and urged an ethnic cleansing of the kind that targeted Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
    When videos of the event provoked national outrage, the police came. The saffron-clad preachers questioned whether the officer could be objective.

    Yati Narsinghanand, the event’s firebrand organizer known for his violent rhetoric, assuaged their concerns.

    “Biased?” Mr. Narsinghanand said, according to a video of the interaction. “He will be on our side,” he added, as the monks and the officer broke into laughter.

  43. charon says:

    @Kathy:

    My recollection of gazpacho is not really tomato soup – many vegetables, tomatoes just a small fraction of the total.

    1
  44. charon says:

    @charon:

    It is not a cream soup, just a cold vegetable soup.

  45. Monala says:

    @Sleeping Dog: asshole. People complain about unhoused people, but if we don’t provide affordable housing, where are they supposed to go?

    2
  46. Monala says:

    @Jim Brown 32: okay, it makes more sense now.

  47. gVOR08 says:

    We had a little discussion yesterday of Paul Campos’ observation that mortality rates for younger people are up worse then for the elderly. He followed up today at LGM. He dug into the numbers for the 25-34 cohort. Found it’s some of everything with “unintentional injury” and drug overdose being the prominent items. (Unintentional injury would perhaps tie to the unanticipated increase in traffic deaths we discussed a week or so ago.)

    So the pandemic has been terrible for young adults in terms of increasing mortality, but apparently not primarily because of COVID directly, but because of secondary effects of the pandemic, especially in regard to drug overdoses and homicide, i.e., categories that somewhat overlap with Case’s and Deaton’s concept of “deaths of despair.”

  48. Kathy says:

    @charon:

    I’ve never had it, but have looked it up. Most recipes are like 70% tomato, with cucumbers, bell pepper, and other things (and apparently it’s sinful to use red bell peppers). It’s not cooked, just liquefied and blended together, in whatever appliance can get a liquid enough consistency.

    My tomato soup is 90% tomato, with just some onion and garlic. plus a little milk and cottage cheese (the cream part). One time I tried making tomato and carrot soup, after I’d made carrot and ginger soup to good effect.

    Big mistake.

    This weekend’s experiment is decidedly tame: adding sauteed bell pepper to the chicken broth mix.

  49. Joe says:

    @Kathy:
    Be careful as charon is setting herself up as the Gazpacho Gestapo. You make whatever you want however you want.

    And it may not be a cream soup, but I like my Gazpacho with a little Creme Fraiche.

  50. JohnSF says:

    Some science news from Europe/UK:
    J.E. Torus fusion research facility at Culham, Oxfordshire achieves 59 megajoule thermal output sustained for 5 seconds.
    Doubles previous sustained output, and indicates that the design could be viable at scale.
    Maybe.

    As one researcher said on the radio (paraphrase): “It’s initial proof of concept at small scale. Doesn’t definitively prove it will work practically, but if it had failed it would have been clear we’re gone down a dead end.”

    4
  51. CSK says:

    @Kathy: @charon: @Joe:

    There’s white gazpacho, which involves chicken or vegetable stock, ground almonds, stale white bread, cucumbers, cider vinegar, and green grapes.

    2
  52. just nutha says:

    @Monala: Someplace else, not here, elsewhere, to somebody else’s neighborhood, down the road, another city/county/state. Lots of places for the unhoused to go.

    2
  53. just nutha says:

    While I’m thinking about it, I wanted to thank MR yesterday for his statement (in part) “But I have no patience with performative virtue…” It’s been a long time since anyone has accused me of being virtuous in anyway, let alone performatively. Thank you! I’m deeply touched.

    2
  54. senyordave says:

    @just nutha: Lots of places for the unhoused to go.
    Maybe Chappelle can lobby for vigorous enforcement of enforcement. Then he can invest his money in some modern-day workhouses for the poor.

  55. senyordave says:

    @senyordave: Meant to say enforcement of vagrancy laws.

  56. Kathy says:

    We keep hearing that low Earth orbit is already crowded, and full of dead satellites, empty rocket stages, and assorted debris. And now Elon wants to loft 30,000 more starlink satellites.

    There are tons of useful satellites in orbit, most of which do things possible only from orbit, like GPS or weather satellites. That’s why it¡s getting crowded up there, and why it’s a big deal.

    Thinking about it, my mind cast back to the pre-Sputnik days when space travel enthusiasts were busy popularizing their ideas for space travel, and what could be done up there. Many of these predictions were correct, including things like GPS and weather satellites.

    One item from that era was a notion from Arthur C. Clarke to the effect that such functions would require large space stations, staffed with lots of people. His experience with electronics at RAF radar stations during WWII, convinced him you’d need people to both operate and maintain the equipment in orbit. Alas, electronics were far more capable and reliable than that by the 1960s. And a good thing too, considering how expensive dozens or scores of space stations would ahve turned out to be.

    Still, as room up there dries up, and there are no real plans to clean things up, there will have to be some way to ration it. Given how international cooperation goes, more so seeing how many satellites are privately owned and operated as well, things could get messy.

    So how about consolidating many satellites, or rather their functions, which now share orbits or occupy similar orbits, into dozens or scores of space stations, staffed with people to operate and maintain the equipment, and to maneuver the stations as needed (not least to avoid debris).

    Yes, this would undoubtedly cost a lot of money, and I’m not suggesting we start doing it now, but it’s one possible way things might end up. As a bonus for space enthusiasts (why are you looking at me?), we’d have a continuous habitation of space by lots of regular people, not just trained astronauts and a few billionaires out for a joyride.

    This then, naturally , evolves into space manufacturing, and someone realizing that would be cheaper if we could use materials from sources with shallower gravity wells, like the Moon or the asteroid belt.

    There’s only one hitch: it will never happen in a million years.

    1
  57. charon says:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2018/07/11/the-only-gazpacho-recipe-you-need-right-now/?utm_campaign=wp_food&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

    Gazpacho is a quintessential Spanish summertime soup. It is not cooked and can vary in composition and ingredients, but it typically includes tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, olive oil, vinegar and garlic.

    For a classic version, I’ve turned to one of the foremost ambassadors of Spanish food in America: José Andrés, the Washington chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and, lately, humanitarian. WaPoFood originally featured the recipe more than a decade ago, but I’ve streamlined it for even simpler dining. The biggest tweak was omitting the straining step. If you prefer a thinner, smooth soup, then go for it. Otherwise, we preferred the body and flavor — not to mention, it makes less of a mess.

    ..,

    FOR THE GAZPACHO

    2 pounds plum or Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters

    1 medium cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks (seeded or seedless) cucumber

    1⁄2 green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

    1 clove garlic

    2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, or more as needed (see headnote)

    1⁄2 cup water

    3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

    1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt

    FOR OPTIONAL GARNISH

    Rustic white bread, griddled in a skillet with olive oil or brushed with olive oil and broiled (whole or torn into croutons)

    12 cherry tomatoes, each cut into halves or quarters

    1 medium cucumber, preferably seedless, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

    2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion or shallot

    1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

    3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

    Coarse sea salt

  58. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Kathy:

    So how about consolidating many satellites, or rather their functions, which now share orbits or occupy similar orbits, into dozens or scores of space stations,

    A few reasons that I can think of:

    1) A lot of the functionality of LEO satellites is based on networks or “mesh” set-ups. Starlink needs coverage. Same with GPS. Those that don’t need it, are generally in GSO, much higher up.

    2) Economy of scale and redundancy. Satellites are moving more and more towards small, multiple units rather than one big unit. This allows a portion of them to fail while still maintaining service.

    3) It’s easier to deorbit (or put into a parking orbit) smaller units than bigger ones.

    4) Politics. Putting everything into the hands of a small crew means that everyone has to depend on that crew and their allegiances (national, corporate, etc.) to make sure things keep functioning.

  59. dazedandconfused says:
  60. Kathy says:

    @Mu Yixiao:

    You couldn’t replace all satellites with stations, but a respectable fraction of them.

    Still, as I noted, it will never happen.

  61. dazedandconfused says:

    @charon:

    It’s an attempted soup?

    1
  62. Kathy says:

    @charon:

    To my stubborn mind, soup can be cold provided it’s cooked first. I think gazpacho qualifies more as a vegetable smoothie.

    And, sorry but:

    1 clove garlic

    That’s just wrong. One clove of garlic is not enough for anything that requires garlic.

    2
  63. Stormy Dragon says:

    @Neil Hudelson:

    “no, there have definitely been other stories expressing outrage when a celebrity uses his/her power to be a NIMBY.”

    Don’t forget the whole story that led to the term “The Streisand Effect” existing was Barbara Streisand trying to NIMBY public beach access near her mansion.

    2
  64. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Sleeping Dog: That is so bad you get 40 lashes with a wet noodle.

  65. just nutha says:

    @senyordave: Alas, if the problem was only limited to vagrancy still. 🙁

  66. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Monala: Under the bridges, silly.

  67. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @gVOR08: Pretty much what I expected.

  68. Sleeping Dog says:

    @dazedandconfused:

    It’s from the NY Post, a Murdoch property, so it can only be fake news. 😉

  69. CSK says:

    @Sleeping Dog:
    All news is fake news unless it comes from The Gateway Pundit or the Conservative Tree House.

  70. Mu Yixiao says:

    Tolkien TV show gets “backlash” for casting non-white people.

    Just once, I would love to see a studio reply to this sort of shit with:

    We have heard the dissatisfaction expressed by some over the choice of casting for this production. With the utmost sincerity, we say : Too fucking bad! This is 2022, and we’re not beholden to your 1920’s racist sensibilities. What’s that? You’re going to cause a fuss on social media and arrange a boycott? Oh please do! Pretty please?? Do you know what that’s worth to us as free marketing? Screw the Superbowl ad, we’ll just hire a dozen kids with Twitter accounts to prod you when ever you stop talking, and we’ll have every tech/film/and pop-culture site writing about us from now to opening night.

    P.S. We can probably arrange for you to meet Ms. Streisand in person. 😀

    2
  71. Jax says:

    @Mu Yixiao: In a fantasy world consisting of elves, dwarves, orcs, hobbits, dragons, they’re mad about people of color?! Sometimes I wonder when we’re going to reach “peak stupid”. I’m nervous about how high the peak might go.

    3
  72. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @senyordave: I stand corrected–thank you. He only comes off looking that way because how the headline is written. The headline could have been: “Comedian Dave Chapelle blasts City Council for ill-planned development scheme”

    But that’s not the narrative being sought about DC. Smerconish played some of his comments at the Board meeting this morning and he was talking of schools and things that will attract younger families to that community to prevent it from decaying in 15-20 years.

    @Neil Hudelson: I was referring to the broader concept of how Developers do business with townships not this specific case. I live within 10 miles of 2 super developments in central florida that are 1000+ planned communities–planted in the middle of cow pasture on the outskirts of suburbs–no infrastructure. Spanning those developments are dozens of 50-100+ communities. Its a nightmare–lines everywhere for everything for 5-7 years until commercial developers come in to expand entertainment and service capacity.

    1
  73. Kylopod says:

    @Mu Yixiao: @Jax: Remember when they were beginning production of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy and a casting director was fired for specifying that he was looking only for white actors?

    2
  74. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @dazedandconfused: Having lived through unplanned, ad hoc and piecemeal development in Florida for 20+ years–

    I absolutely do not blame them–there is a way to do these things and Developers and City governments are not doing the right things by their constituents. Develop away–but it should be part of a broader plan that makes sense for the people that live in the town. As it stands now–developers walk away with money–city governments get property taxes–residents get a 1 hour commute to go 30 miles with toll roads planned to ease the traffic congestion.

    2
  75. Kathy says:

    @Mu Yixiao:
    @Jax:

    I’m trying to work up outrage that Amazon would waste money on a fantasy property that already has blockbuster movies to its name, instead of investing in science fiction, at a time when there are only three Star Trek series in the horizon, and books like The Integral Trees, or Rendezvous with Rama remain unfilmed.

    But I just can’t find the necessary rage.

    2
  76. @Jim Brown 32:

    I was referring to the broader concept of how Developers do business with townships not this specific case. I live within 10 miles of 2 super developments in central florida that are 1000+ planned communities–planted in the middle of cow pasture on the outskirts of suburbs–no infrastructure.

    I am watching this phenomenon in the town right outside of Montgomery where I live–several large new subdivisions being built but no commensurate increase in infrastructure. Indeed the main road through town has needed expandion to four lanes for a decade (and there have been some plans to do so, but no money). We are about to see two major new developments one on that roadm and another jut off it–plus I noticed yesterday that several cow pastures (speaking of which) have “sold” signs on them–and they, too, will almost certainly be new neighborhoods.

    1
  77. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Jim Brown 32: @Steven L. Taylor:

    You can blame “PROGRESS!!!” Town councils often equate “investment” with “progress” regardless of whether it makes sense or not, or who is paying for it.

    1
  78. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: Buckle up–when the houses are sold the traffic snarls and long lines for everything are not far behind. If I don’t hit the dunkin donut drive-thru by 7:30—Im the 9th car in line. And Ive given up on trying to get a nice late morning breakfast on the weekends–regular 50 minute waits after 9:30

  79. Mister Bluster says:

    I have lived in Jackson County, Illinois for all but 8 of the past 53+ years. Back in the mid ’90s I got a license to work as a Real Estate Sales Agent and gave it a go. For reasons unrelated to Real Estate Sales it just didn’t work out. Even before I tried to sell dirt and hovels I knew that zoning in the county was non existant and very unpopular with county residents outside city limits. The issue came up at County Board meeting on occasion but zoning was always voted down. Then one day there was a sold sign at a large parcel of land in the County that the owner had been operating as a duffer’s driving range. The buyer was Walmart. The neighbors went ballistic! They showed up at County board meetings and demanded that the county DO SOMETHING! It was too late. Plans were already in the works for the adjacent City of Murphysboro to annex the land so they could collect sales tax receipts.
    DO SOMETHING! Those county residents had years to come up with a zoning plan that would have given them some control over the situation but the sentiment was always “we don’t want the gummint telling us what to do.” HA!

    duffer |ˈdəfər|
    noun informal
    an incompetent or stupid person, especially an elderly one: he’s the most worthless old duffer.
    • a person inexperienced at something, especially at playing golf.

    I confess. The few times I walked the links other than as a caddy I was definitely a divot duffer.

    1
  80. senyordave says:

    @Jim Brown 32: OTH, you and others want it framed so DC looks like the reasonable, level-headed adult in the room. The bottom line is that he said my way or the highway. And that is his right. But it still ends up that affordable housing is off the table, and I’m guessing that an alternative affordable housing plan is not something that DC particularly cares about. Once again, that is his right. Just as it his right to punch down and go after trans people at a time when half the governors and state legislatures in the country are using them to score political points.

    3
  81. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @senyordave: Actually, I just want the news reported without sensationalism. Reading more into this story, it turns out that only 1.75 acres of the project was apportioned for affordable housing and that plot was not even connected to the main development. Chappelle’s people say the plot was for 3 homes…using Florida-sized budget lots of .25 acres…they could ring 7 homes out that plot. 7 “affordable” homes out of 140 home project conveniently sequested away from the velvet rope homes. Either way, the whole DC against affordable housing narrative is clearly bullshit once you look into the details.

    This aint about how I want him portrayed. I dont even know the guy. Hes probably an asshole in real life…but I can see bullshit in this narrative.

    Nothing about this specific story is relevant to DCs views about biology, gender, or sex. The only relevance is reporters and editors know DCs views….despise them…and in retaliation will make him a villian in the most mundane of stories.

    Its not just RW media that has a cancer.

  82. DrDaveT says:

    @Kathy: FWIW, gazpacho isn’t a tomato soup. The key and required ingredients of gazpacho are bread (the thickener) and olive oil. Everything else is optional, or variants. The tomato-cucumber-capsicum version was the first introduced to the US, so it’s the one Americans are most familiar with. My favorite gazpachos have been white gazpacho made with cucumber, anchovy, and cooked potato.

    1
  83. SC_Birdflyte says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: Personally, I liked the area occupied by The Villages in central FL much better in 74-75, when I drove a delivery truck through there on the night shift. The citrus groves gave off a lovely fragrance.

  84. Les says:

    @Scott: Not all nationalism is bad. The Hungary situation for example is unique because they have been entirely losing their cultural identity to non-refugee illegals. They are not racist.