Bizarro world

In his stupidity, the gov'na of Florida hates everything he considers woke. The definition varies a lot, but always includes anything in the lgbtq space.

He and the legislature decided that there can be no rainbows displayed anywhere that he can control. (And I while I think he means related to pride, I suspect he's against rainbows because they signify happiness).

Anyway, outside the pulse nightclub in Orlando where there was the shooting, there was a tribute added by the city: a rainbow crosswalk.

Dingleberry didn't like that and had his henchmen tell the city and club that it had to be removed.

They said no. He sent a team one night and just painted over it in black (like his soul).

But locals turned out to simply repainted it. In broad daylight. With the media in tow. 

And here we are. 

I'm sure he'll paint over it again and then start threatening people who defy him.

African Union backs campaign to replace Mercator map that distorts Africa's size

This is an intriguing problem. The way we create two dimensional maps distorts the sizes of some areas. Especially a continent that spans across the equator. 

And as a result, we tend to think of Africa as "small" which clearly isn't right. 

Food for thought. 

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/21/nx-s1-5508358/mercator-map-africa

Scientists may have found a powerful new space object: 'It doesn't fit comfortably into any known category'

While studying a nearby galaxy, astronomers noted a peculiar object that they couldn't identify. The called it punctum (or "point") and continue to study it. It's some kind of light source, but isn't like other light sources we've seen before.  

"At the moment, Punctum truly stands apart — it doesn't fit comfortably into any known category, and honestly, nothing like this has appeared in any previous millimeter surveys, largely because, until recently, we didn't have anything as sensitive and high-resolution as ALMA."

Ooooohhhh. Something new that was discovered using higher tech / more sensitive equipment. Gotta love it!

https://www.space.com/astronomy/scientists-may-have-found-a-powerful-new-space-object-it-doesnt-fit-comfortably-into-any-known-category

NASA’s acting chief calls for the end of Earth science at the space agency

Oh sure. The tool who holds another cabinet position unrelated to space or science was asked to *also* head up nasa because that's an easy job. 

And he just announces that there will be no more earth science conducted. Even though it's in their constitutionally mandated charter. 

I'm getting so tired of shining a light on the stupidity. Its insanity. 

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/nasas-acting-chief-calls-for-the-end-of-earth-science-at-the-space-agency/

Plant based cuisine.

I listened to a really interesting podcast about the Eleven Madison Park Restaurant in New York City

The gist of the story is that the restaurant is a fine dining establishment and around five years ago, it was awarded three Michelin stars. It was heralded as one of the best restaurants in the world. 

The chef/owner realized he had nothing else to accomplish; he had reached the summit and had done as much as he could.  And that's when he decided to challenge himself to achieve something new. 

It was sort of an existential personal crisis, and his solution was to change the menu completely, to think about sustainability and long-term health of the planet. And so he closed, and re-opened a while later as a plant-based restaurant.  In his own words, this was not based on anything related to animal rights or about applying labels like being vegan, or any of those words that are associated with it. This was simply about sustainability and challenging himself to do some good for the planet.

Of course there were the very, very many naysayers. People told him he wouldn't succeed. People told him he was excluding long-term patrons. People told him that he really needed to have meat on the menu because that's just the way things are.  But he persisted because he felt it was the right thing to do.

He re-trained his staff, learned new techniques that were outside of his "comfort zone," and started a small farm in upstate New York.  And he opened his new plant-based dining concept to some fanfare. 

Naturally, other chefs were upset with him because he had changed the paradigm - because he wasn't cooking with any animal products and that upset them. That's how they're all trained and we are conditioned.  Diners were upset because it really didn't work for them and they used words like "woke" to describe the transition.  But, he persisted. 

About a year after he reopened, he was informed he retained that three Michelin star rating!  He had achieved a lot.  He had an exquisite array of things that he put on the menu that really defined what plant-based cuisine could be, and yet it was still about fine dining. He had a surprising number of people come in and say how amazing it was, even though they were meat eaters.  He gave an example of someone who ran a cattle ranch who came in and said it was one of the best meals he'd ever had.

And here's where things get interesting.  His restaurant is small (maybe 40 seats). It has thin margins, and the price of food was quite high. Preparation takes longer.  Sustainability, it seems, has a cost.  

He also noted that the bar tabs - especially on wine - were much higher when he served animal products. People weren't buying alcohol; it could be a reflection of the time to some degree, but it was affecting his bottom line in any case. Restaurants remain profitable in part by selling alcohol.

And that gave him pause.  He has over 200 employees between the farms, the restaurant, and his business.  He wants to keep them employed.  

And that's when he decided that his menu (by his own admission) is non-inclusive by some measure, and the answer was to make a change and add back some animal products.  

He remains steadfast in his belief about sustainability, and 90% of his menu remains plant based. Full stop. 

He's adding some very specific things to the menu.  But it's deliberate, and only for ingredients that he really feels are special, and which fit in the realm of a "high-end."  These are things that are really worthwhile putting on his menu, that may be appealing to a slightly different audience.

It's prepared in a way that's separate from all of his plant-based things, and he has no plans to change anything about the plant-based options. For example, if he were to find a cheese that inspired him, it wouldn't suddenly be mixed in with the potatoes.

To be clear, the reason he did this was primarily for the long-term health of his restaurant. He realized that from a sustainability perspective, his own restaurant may not survive if he didn't try to do something different.

He thinks he can have a lot more success this way, and he still views himself as thinking about sustainability.   Even if he pissed off some of his staff and some diners that were plant-based people, he realizes it's a balance in some way. 

I just found the whole thing really interesting because it's about trend-setting and doing something bigger than yourself for the reasons that make sense, but realizing there's a limit to how much you can do.

You can't change the world with one restaurant, but you can challenge people to think differently and be that sort of disruptive influence that may help other people to realize they don't have to cook with animal products exclusively. 

While he doesn't want to be the leader, he realizes that maybe other restaurants will be inspired for similar reasons.  They, too, can create these plant-based, luxurious, and wonderful dishes that could be enjoyed by their diners. 

hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Somewhere in my education as an engineer, a professor said the title of this post.  And its true in life these days.

Every day, we see news that is worse than the day before.  The lies. The gaslighting.  The The stupidity of it all.  It's kind of astounding how it's happening, mostly unchecked. It's hard to focus on any single thing, or even a couple of issues, because it just keeps going. 

Things may look bad.  But, I try to be a little philosophical and channel my inner Yoda on this and remind myself that the future is uncertain.

Remain hopeful that tomorrow will be better.  And take small actions to make that a reality in our lives.

But bigger picture,  I think its important to turn off the constant news, and stay off of social media as much as possible (doom scrolling is never a good thing!)

Be a true skeptic of everything you consume. Remember that often "influencers" whether on TV, the radio, or on the interwebs are in it for clicks, fame, or money.

But with that said, the "plan for the worst part" is that we should all have options in our lives. If things were to go wildly wrong, and "we" felt the need to leave, where would we go? This is the time to be considering that eventuality. 

If you're considering leaving the country, there are places that offer citizenship by investment, have a golden visa of some kind, have a residency program, offer some kind of option for retirees to live there, etc. 

Or you could look at citizenship requirements for a place you like, maybe thriugh residency or a work visa. Or maybe you have an ancester (like a grandparent) who came to the US, and that country of origin offers citizenship.

Step one is to come up with a list of some options for yourself and people you care about. And do a little research (haha the irony!) on citizenship or residency in those places. 

It never hurts to have options. Even if things suddenly look better (I can dream!)

Job hunting, ageism, and the world of automation

Companies (large and small) tend to outsource their HR front end, relying on third parties to handle the voluminous applications that come into a job (in some cases it could literally be tens of thousands of applicants for a single job). 

But these third parties may not be playing fair. 

I read an article about a lawsuit against the "Workday company," who offer this service. The suit alleges that workday use some kind of automation (they refer to as AI, but I'm skeptical) to immediately (like within seconds) weed out candidates who the system determines are over 40 (based on years worked or degree dates or whatever).

The company defends itself by saying that it's legitimate automation and it's looking at skills and experience for a job, and the kicker is that since there's no human involved it can't be age discrimination! 

And in today's world, who knows? They may be "correct" in that assessment. 

But the bigger picture is that the companies that use these services (which is pretty much all of them) are complicit in their discrimnatory hiring practices.  The suit is about age, but the HR company builds their automation around what the hiring company wants, which may include other things beyond age.  And because they're just a front end, it leaves the hiring company's "hands clean." 

But that means that for the average person - especially an older worker looking for a job - it's literally impossible that any application they submit would EVER be considered.

The only real options to stand a chance are to network or use a headhunter.  But then, of course, you have little control over the situation, or type of job that may be available.  "The man" has control over all of it, and you have no choices.

Its all an elaborate illusion of work.

That's totally screwed up.