Cowboy Who?

Dallas-based gallerist Daisha Board, founder and curator of Daisha Board Gallery, was the guest juror for Artspace111’s 9th Annual Texas Juried Exhibition. While the show features a diverse grouping of artists working in a variety of mediums and styles, one theme that stands out in the exhibition is that of tenderness. From compassionate renderings of individuals to touching moments between pairs and groups of people, many works from this year’s show radiate care in a way that contemporary art often does not. 

Yasuyo Maruyama’s portrait Catherine 2 is a continuation of her signature style of close-cropped portraits. While her earlier work (c. 2014) uses a flatter style (similar to Alex Katz), the subjects’ faces in her newer works have an added, yet still subtle depth. Through shadows, Maruyama softens the hard edges she uses for some facial features, like the tip of a nose and lines around the eyes and lips.

Barbara Hack’s painting, Hesitation, captures her subject in a vulnerable emotional state. The figure, who appears to be nude, hides her body and part of her face behind a thin tulle-like fabric. Rather than a flowing, loose form, the fabric is made up of tension-filled angular folds. The juxtaposition between the crimped fabric and the smoothness of the figure’s skin adds to the feeling of a delicate rendering of the figure.

Drew Gaines’ Yucatan Barbershop features two older men, a barber and his client, in a blue-walled interior. While the client’s face expresses rest and ease, the barber is in deep concentration as he works. This scene of an everyday moment reveals the care and attention inherent in the service industry, which can easily go overlooked. It is rare that we get glimpses of care between men, so I appreciate how this simple act is elevated as a moment worthy of being captured in oil paint.

In his print Baby Edgar, Alex Zapata shows another moment of care featuring male figures: a new father holds his young son and leans his head down, his nose touching his son’s head. The loving gesture is rendered in vibrant colors, which adds a playfulness that the scene wouldn’t otherwise embody.

Raul Rene Gonzalez’s painting Multi-Tasking depicts artist Julia Barbosa Landois in the studio with her children. It shows the little-seen reality of artists who are also parents and how the two worlds are interconnected. As Barbosa Landois cuts paper for a work in progress, her daughter stands behind her braiding her hair. Rather than feeling like a chaotic moment of juggling parenting and making artwork, the piece maintains a tranquility where everyone seems at ease and content. 

These sentimental works were all created within the last two years. It appears that living through a worldwide pandemic has given people a new perspective on the importance of relationships, self-care, and living in the moment. Many of the works selected for Artspace111’s 9th Annual Texas Juried Exhibition (on view through August 27, 2022) capture these lessons.

The post Taking Care: Works from Artspace111’s 9th Annual Juried Exhibition appeared first on Glasstire.

C3 Presents, the Austin-based event production company, has announced that Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation will be on view at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin this fall.

The installation, which uses optical fiber, glass, acrylic, and light, was inspired by Mr. Munro’s travels through the Red Desert in central Australia. Mr. Munro has said, “I wanted to create an illuminated field of stems that, like the dormant seed in a dry desert, would burst into bloom at dusk with gentle rhythms of light under a blazing blanket of stars.”

Since 2008, Mr. Munro has installed the work in locations across the world including at the Festival Simbionte in Mexico City, the Hans Christian Andersen Haven in Denmark, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Georgia, and twice at Discovery Green in Houston. The installation at the Wildflower Center will illuminate 16 acres with 28,000 stemmed spheres lit by solar power. 

In a press release announcing the upcoming installation, Mr. Munro remarked, “Austin is such a unique destination that embodies many of the core values of this installation. My hope is that the Field of Light installation will inspire visitors to contemplate a kinder and more connected world. The Wildflower Center is the ideal venue for this exhibition simply because it brings people, art and nature together.”

Lee Clippard, Executive Director of the Wildflower Center, added, “We’re thrilled to host Munro’s Field of Light in collaboration with C3 Presents and share this world-renowned exhibition with our community. The shifts of color and light will be a unique and provocative way to celebrate our Central Texas landscape.”

Field of Light will be on view from September through December 2022. To learn more about the installation and to plan your visit, go to the Field of Light Austin website.

The post Large-Scale Light Installation by Bruce Munro Comes to Austin this Fall appeared first on Glasstire.

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If you were an unsuspecting late-night Cartoon Network viewer in 2001, you likely witnessed the birth of "Adult Swim." And, if you were there, then it is safe to say that one of your formative introductions to anime involved some loud horns blaring at the stroke of midnight, followed by the funkiest bass strings you'd ever heard. That's when you knew, deep down, that something different was happening. 

"Cowboy Bebop" is, without question, one of the most highly regarded anime series of all time. With its rugged, quirky characters, fantastic animation, and epic score, the show has served as a welcome introduction to anime for many fans. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, "Cowboy Bebop" follows a crew of intergalactic bounty hunters as they travel across the galaxy aboard their ship, the Bebop, collecting bounties for the Inter Solar System Police. These assignments frequently land the team in chaotic situations that see their pasts coming back to haunt them, often with lethal results. 

This eclectic fusion of noir, sci-fi, and westerns has even charmed Keanu Reeves, and that man is John Wick! There are just so many things to love about "Cowboy Bebop" — if you want more of them, the following anime series should help all you space cowboys scratch that itch. Okay, three, two, one ... let's jam!

Samurai Champloo

Shinichiro Watanabe's follow-up to "Cowboy Bebop," "Samurai Champloo," both harmonizes with and diverges from the high-octane space opera. This show tells a very different story, going back to the Edo period of Japanese history instead of the future. However, in spite of the drastically different settings, the series still follows a group of political outcasts who explore a fantastically dangerous world. "Samurai Champloo" tells the stories of Fuu, a tea waitress, Mugen, a rugged outlaw, and Jin, a lone samurai. This unlikely squad is formed under chaotic circumstances and ends up traveling across Japan on a quest to find "a samurai who smells of flowers." 

"Samurai Champloo" is fantastical for a reason. While the setting may be an actual place and time, historical accuracy is deliberately thrown out the window. Why? Well, as Wanatabe explained in the "Cowboy Bebop" artbook "The Jazz Messengers" (via The Verge), he's interested in creating worlds where cultural minorities are accepted, thereby rejecting the nationalistic ideas that he sees as dangerous. The characters of "Cowboy Bebop" were also created with this concern in mind. 

It's not a stretch to say that the relationship between these two series is emblematic of the relationship between jazz and hip-hop. The storytelling in "Samurai Champloo" is both incredibly distinct and yet so, so familiar. Even the choice of music in both shows directly mirrors not only how the two genres influenced each other, but how they are both emblematic of the counterculture. Stylistically, the two shows also challenge historical narratives in the same ways as some recent Hollywood films.

Space Dandy

On the other hand, if you still want to go on an adventure through space under the guidance of Shinichiro Watanabe's clever direction, "Space Dandy" might be the show for you. While the show's tone is much more comedic than that of "Cowboy Bebop," the stories are equally as outlandish and enjoyable. The anime follows Dandy, an alien bounty hunter who's joined on his missions by a cat-like alien named Meow and a quirky robot assistant called QT. 

As a comedy, "Space Dandy" is quite episodic. At any given moment, one of the protagonists could wind up trapped in some sort of peril that ought to be inescapable. That said, this structure also allows the show to be incredibly expansive with its narrative ideas. "Cowboy Bebop" is similarly episodic, although the stakes are a little higher. Interestingly, fans of both shows have compiled quite a bit of evidence that they take place in the same cinematic universe.

Carole & Tuesday

If you are interested in how Watanabe would tell a story with a smaller scope, look no further than "Carole & Tuesday." This musical adventure follows Carole Stanley, a refugee from Earth, and Tuesday Simmons, a politician's daughter who has run away from home, as the two start a band on Mars in hopes of making it big. If you enjoyed the stunning sci-fi visuals of "Cowboy Bebop," you will be glad to know that the entirety of "Carole & Tuesday" takes place in Alba City, which also appears in "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie." 

Unlike "Cowboy Bebop" and "Space Dandy," the plot of "Carole & Tuesday" is extremely serialized. For viewers who enjoy the crisp and fluid animation of "Cowboy Bebop" and "Space Dandy," but do not necessarily enjoy those shows' episodic structure, "Carole & Tuesday" could be a perfect fit.

Terror In Resonance

The final Watanabe-led production I'm including on this list is "Terror in Resonance," a thriller about the hunt for two teenage boys who steal an atomic bomb and threaten to destroy Tokyo unless their cryptic riddle is solved. Compounding this threat, these terrorists are also the products of a secret government experiment to develop human weapons. Throw in the unplanned involvement of Lisa, a schoolgirl who befriends the two teens, and this show has all the makings of a nail-biting thriller with many twists and turns. 

Scored by Yoko Kanno, this gem captures the action and suspense that often lies just beneath the surface in "Cowboy Bebop." Additionally, its strict adherence to the crime thriller genre requires "Terror in Resonance" to follow a much more straightforward narrative path than "Cowboy Bebop." If "Carole & Tuesday" is a little too light-hearted for your taste but you still want to see what a Watanabe production looks like with a more serialized storyline, "Terror in Resonance" could be the show for you. It's been called one of the best anime series of the decade for a reason.

Black Lagoon

Moving on from Wanatabe's other projects, "Black Lagoon" provides the same kind of high-stakes, machine-gun-slinging criminal chaos found in "Cowboy Bebop." It follows the Lagoon Company, a motley crew of deadly mercenaries, over the course of their many misadventures in Roanapur, Thailand, which here is home to pirates, bandits, and all kinds of nefarious criminal enterprises. 

On the team, you'll find Revy, a master gunfighter with a bad attitude, Benny, an expert computer scientist and researcher, and Rock, the group's face and its primary negotiator. Needless to say, moving goods in crime-infested Roanapur is not an easy job, especially when the "products" being transported range from drugs to weapons to hostages. If the nail-biting action and morally gray attitude towards the law is what attracted you to "Cowboy Bebop," check this out. "Black Lagoon" has both in droves.

Outlaw Star

"Outlaw Star" mirrors "Cowboy Bebop" in so many ways. It's definitely a space opera, complete with pirates, assassins, and bandits who wreak havoc across the galaxy in an unpredictable, lawless frenzy. Gene Starwind and James Hawking are two friends who operate a successful small business performing odd jobs. However, everything changes after a simple bodyguarding gig lands them inside a stolen spaceship. After naming this vessel Outlaw Star, the two head off in search of the Galactic Leyline, a "universal library" that the craft was specifically designed to search for. 

It is no surprise key elements of "Outlaw Star" are so similar to those of "Cowboy Bebop" — "Outlaw Star" was released by the same production company, in the same year. Like "Bebop," it has a quirky crew of space travelers, as well as vast space empires that compete for limited resources. Arguably, this is as close to "Cowboy Bebop" as one can get without watching the real thing.

Desert Punk

If you're looking for a futuristic adventure comedy, "Desert Punk" is a solid option, even though it takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, not outer space. In the wake of a nuclear catastrophe, Kanata Mizuno, better known as the mercenary Desert Punk, gets involved in various misadventures as he wanders the harsh landscape.

While the event that resulted in this lawless future may be fundamentally different from the intergalactic politics of "Cowboy Bebop," the show's protagonist is still attempting to navigate a world populated by corrupt governments and rugged individuals. The only real difference is that, in "Cowboy Bebop," humanity has expanded, while "Desert Punk" focuses on what's left of the human race. If you like "Cowboy Bebop," it's a good bet that you'll enjoy what this show has to offer, too. Be warned though — "Desert Punk" isn't afraid to get raunchy with its humor.

Trigun

Vash the Stampede is a famous deep-space gunman who resides on a planet named No Man's Land. He has a mysterious past, thanks to a case of retrograde amnesia resulting from a childhood trauma, and is constantly pursued by bounty hunters. As we get glimpses into Vash's past, it becomes increasingly clear that the source of his misfortunes doesn't only carry significant implications for our protagonist, but for the planet Gunsmoke itself. 

What is perhaps most interesting about Vash is his pacifism. That's right! Vash is a notorious criminal who refuses to kill. The setting and action of "Trigun" evokes "Cowboy Bebop," and its style is especially notable for its futuristic mechanical designs. If "Cowboy Bebop" had more of the energy of a western, I think it would look a lot like "Trigun."

GetBackers

At first glance, "GetBackers" seems wildly different from "Cowboy Bebop." The main characters rely on superpowers more than guns. There is no cross-galaxy travel. The closest thing to a futuristic wasteland is a large cluster of condemned buildings. However, at the top of the Limitless Fortress lies a secret that challenges the characters' very perceptions of reality.

So many elements of this story mirror those of "Cowboy Bebop." "GetBackers" follows Ban Mido and Ginji Amano, who call themselves the GetBackers, as they run a freelance repossession service. The jobs that the two friends take are often unexpectedly perilous, and as the series goes on, viewers discover their mysterious pasts and get a feel for how lawless the world they operate in truly is. Like "Cowboy Bebop," an eclectic supporting cast quickly joins this quirky duo; there's even a jazz-inspired score, just like Wanatabe's space opera.

Psycho-Pass

Now that we've covered some shows that share the rugged energy of "Cowboy Bebop," let's look at series with the same noir vibes, starting with "Psycho-Pass." This anime takes place in a futuristic Japan and follows Akane Tsukemori, a rookie law-enforcement officer. Akane is an Inspector, or someone who evaluates crime scenes under the protection of the Enforcers, who are tasked with carrying out the Inspectors' instructions, and who are at risk of becoming criminals themselves. 

Those who enjoy "Cowboy Bebop" for its sci-fi elements are sure to enjoy "Psycho-Pass." In this future, every individual's potential for committing crimes is decided by an algorithm, which law enforcement officials use to apprehend crooks before they cause damage. As is normal with this kind of premise, the series is ripe for an analysis of not only how the law is enforced, but also of who, exactly, is having their rights infringed on. Like"Cowboy Bebop," "Psycho-Pass" is provocative, thrilling, and philosophically deep.

Monster

Speaking of philosophical depth, let's go even deeper with our next recommendation, which happens to be one of the best-selling manga series of all time. At first glance, "Monster" seems like the exact opposite of "Cowboy Bebop," but over time the story becomes just as nail-biting and morally challenging. In it, we follow Kenzo Tenma, a brain surgeon who's disgraced after he saves the life of a young boy instead of the mayor. When the doctors who urged him to ditch the child are mysteriously murdered, Tenma finds himself in the center of a chilling mystery. 

Emotionally, this thriller about the medical industry is notably understated, but "Monster" has gained so much notoriety as a crime thriller that even A-list filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro are itching to adapt it to live-action. But why is it on this list? Well, "Cowboy Bebop" fans who enjoy analyzing the series' meaning may find the same thrills here. Both series have been praised for their psychological depth; the shows' genres are different, but the experience of watching them is very similar.

Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo

Stick with me on this one. At first, "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo" feels like it couldn't be more different from "Cowboy Bebop." It doesn't have the coolest animation. It didn't receive critical acclaim. Attempts at genuine and thorough analysis of its characters would likely be met with relentless ridicule.

In this series, we follow Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo on his quest to stop the tyrannical Chrome Dome Empire and their evil head-shaving practices. To do so, Bo-bobo teams up with the stereotypical heroine Beauty, rowdy teen Gasser, and insufferable narcissist Don Patch, and makes spectacular use of his nose-hair-based martial arts.

Thematically, "Cowboy Bebop" and "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo" are nothing alike. "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo" is a parody of every genre of anime, and never strays from its breakneck pace. However, the cast is similarly quirky, and its chaotic lawlessness reaches levels so extreme that the entire concept of narrative itself seems about to burst at the seams. If you pushed the comedic elements of "Cowboy Bebop" to their furthest limits, you'd get "Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo."

Read this next: 10 Anime Movies That Deserved To Win The Oscar For Best Animated Feature

The post Anime Shows Like Cowboy Bebop That Are Worth Your Time appeared first on /Film.

Here’s some amazingly good news amidst all of the nonsense of late. On Thursday, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House announced that they were updating policy guidance to mandate that all taxpayer-supported research should be immediately available to the public at no cost. According to the actual policy guidelines, US departments and agencies have until the end of 2025 to make this change (though, it’s not clear that there’s any remedy if they don’t). This is really huge — and it seems to have come out of nowhere.

Long term Techdirt readers know this is an issue that we’ve talked about for ages. All the way back in 2008, we wrote about how research journals were locking up publicly funded research. And, that’s kind of crazy, because if the public funded it, then the public should have access to it. There has been a back and forth in the government over the years, with a general movement towards making more government funded research open-access, but often after an embargo period (usually, private journals can publish it for a period of 12 months, and then it goes open).

Some in Congress (at the behest of the academic publishers) have tried to pass legislation that would go in the other direction and lock up more federally funded research.

But, with this move today, the government is going fully open. And — this part is incredibly refreshing — they talk up how this should actually lead to much greater innovation:

This policy will likely yield significant benefits on a number of key priorities for the American people, from environmental justice to cancer breakthroughs, and from game-changing clean energy technologies to protecting civil liberties in an automated world.

This is a nice rebuke for all the people who insist that locking up ideas and research is necessary for innovation. It’s great to see this White House recognize otherwise.

“When research is widely available to other researchers and the public, it can save lives, provide policymakers with the tools to make critical decisions, and drive more equitable outcomes across every sector of society,” said Dr. Alondra Nelson, head of OSTP. “The American people fund tens of billions of dollars of cutting-edge research annually. There should be no delay or barrier between the American public and the returns on their investments in research.”

This is really big. And really good. And should help innovation tremendously, and provide more access to useful ideas and data that the American public has been funding.

In the actual guidance document, OSTP notes that part of the reason for this is what was learned during the early part of the COVID pandemic, when open and free access to research proved tremendous helpful:

Americans were offered a window into the great benefits of immediate public access to federally funded research at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of the public health crisis, government, industry, and scientists voluntarily worked together to adopt an immediate public access policy, which yielded powerful results: research and data flowed effectively, new accessible insights super-charged the rate of discovery, and translation of science soared. The shift in practice during COVID-19 demonstrated how delivering immediate public access to federally funded research publications and data can provide near real-time returns on American taxpayer investments in science and technology. Immediate public access to COVID-19 research is a powerful case study on the benefits of delivering research results and data rapidly to the people. The insights of new and cutting-edge research stemming from the support of federal agencies should be immediately available—not 3 just in moments of crisis, but in every moment. Not only to fight a pandemic, but to advance all areas of study, including urgent issues such as cancer, clean energy, economic disparities, and climate change. American investment in such research is essential to the health, economic prosperity, and well-being of the Nation. There should be no delay between taxpayers and the returns on their investments in research.

This is both unexpected and… wonderful?

Next up: hey OSTP, can we do the same for federally funded patents too?

Of course, it also wouldn’t surprise me if Congress comes back with bills to lock up such research again — or a future administration flip flops on this. But… for now… good news!

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

The internet is a mess. Ignore the algorithm, and distill the web down to the things you actually care about.

This article contains spoilers for the season 3 premiere of "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

What a time to be alive as a "Star Trek" fan. Just when it seemed as if nothing could fill the gap left by the extraordinary first season of "Strange New Worlds" -- one of the most universally adored installments of the franchise in recent memory -- "Star Trek: Lower Decks" returns to make it all better. The animated series brings a much more lighthearted and irreverent tone to the exploration-heavy material, all while remaining quintessentially "Trek" -- a balancing act that's much tougher to pull off than it might seem on the surface.

With season 3 now upon us, all the deep-cut references, bawdy humor, and some of the most lovable characters in all of "Trek" canon (looking at you, Tendi and Rutherford!) are back and better than ever. All of this is present and accounted for in the season 3 premiere alone, titled "Grounded." The season-opening storyline picks up where the season 2 cliffhanger left off, with Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) arrested and under investigation for the attempted destruction of the Pakled home world (named, fittingly, Pakled Planet). With the USS Cerritos impounded in Earth-orbiting drydock, Ensigns Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and D' Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) take the most reckless course of action to exonerate their captain of all charges, taking them to one notably unexpected place.

Longtime fans will need no refresher on the significance of Bozeman, Montana as the site of Earth's official first contact with Vulcans. What is surprising, however, is just how much this location has changed since the events of 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact."

Even In A Utopia, Nothing Is Sacred

After "Star Trek: First Contact" depicted the dramatic, stirring, and rather epic events of humanity's first contact with extraterrestrials -- ushering our species into a new age of interstellar travel and mutual prosperity with other beings in the vast universe -- leave it to "Lower Decks" to lovingly lampoon such self-serious storylines and bring such grandiosity down to its level. With our overlooked heroes on an abrupt shore leave and at odds over how exactly to proceed to save their captain, the answer to all their problems comes from Tendi, whose intentions were to do some sightseeing during their rare visit to Earth.

At the top of her list? The otherwise mundane locale of historic Bozeman, which has since been turned into the place to be for space nerds across the globe. In a dramatic departure from prior depictions, "Lower Decks" reinterprets the site of first contact hundreds of years later as a hilariously tacky and wildly exploited tourist destination complete with "reenactors," a magnificent statue built in pioneer Zefram Cochrane's (James Cromwall) honor (paying off what a time-traveling Geordi La Forge once told him about his future), and even a musical arrangement echoing the sweeping score of "First Contact."

While it's been established in canon that the site of Cochrane's launch of humanity's first warp-capable engine (an important prerequisite before any member of the Federation reveals itself to a new species) has been preserved as an historical monument to one of the human race's greatest collective achievements, it's safe to say that viewers didn't quite expect the full extent of what this "Lower Decks" premiere unleashed.

All The Old Familiar Places

Of the many, many Easter eggs and references that fans will no doubt notice during this portion of the "Lower Decks" season 3 premiere, chief among them has to be the return (in a voice role, at least) of James Cromwell as Cochrane -- although, this time, as a hologram spouting out theme park clichés like "Make a first contact ... with fun!" or piloting the "Ride the Phoenix" attraction. Meanwhile, his rundown bar (and jukebox!) that hosted the "Next Generation" characters during "Star Trek: First Contact" has been restored to all its former, ah, "glory," the Vulcan's distinctive spacecraft used to initiate first contact has been turned into a glorified playground, and, most importantly, Cochrane's legendary ship, the Phoenix, now functions as a theme park ride that brings adventurers into orbit ... which is exactly where our "Lower Decks" crew needs to go in order to reconvene with the Cerritos and hopefully find the evidence needed to save Captain Freeman.

As a frequent stand-in for audiences, it makes perfect sense that Tendi sets herself apart as the most wide-eyed and passionate fan of the world-famous locale, though even her crewmembers (okay, maybe not Mariner) seem awed by the opportunity to stand on such meaningful ground. Luckily, the notion of these new additions to "Trek" lore crossing paths with some of the most famous moments in the entire franchise remains just as much of a treat for them as it is for us.

"Star Trek: Lower Decks" is finally back, boldly going where no one has gone before ... and, sometimes, where others have gone.

Read this next: Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Reveals the Bizarre Future of a Key Trek Location appeared first on /Film.

The premiere of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 3 arrived on Paramount+ today, which is exciting twofold for Trekkies. Not only is one of the better "Trek" shows back, but "Lower Decks" in particular gives detail-obsessed nerds a chance to take out their notepads and go reference hunting. The "Lower Decks" writers clearly know "Star Trek" quite well, and their references from previous episodes run from the obvious to the downright oblique. One needs to look closely to see some of the clever in-jokes snuck into the background. 

These kinds of references are cute, yes, but it's worth noting that callbacks and canonical mapping have long been a "Star Trek" birthright. In terms of sci-fi TV, the notion of a larger, expanded universe that is operating somewhere far beyond the events of the central show -- a universe that can be periodically visited -- is something that "Star Trek" helped pioneer. Between "Star Trek" and "Doctor Who," the notion of pop culture TV canon was essentially born. 

(You literature nerds can stop writing in angry letters about how Honoré de Balzac was inventing a literary version of interconnected supernarratives with his "La Comédie Humaine" back in 1829. We all know that.)

That said, let us trek into "Grounded," the premiere episode of "Lower Decks," season three, and see what fun references we can spot.

Boimler's Vinyard

The premise of "Grounded" is that the U.S.S. Cerritos is currently under impound after Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) was accused of an act of terrorism. The four main ensigns of "Lower Decks" find themselves back on Earth, tending to their individual concerns. Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and Tendi (Noël Wells) are taking the opportunity to catch up on Earth tourist spots, Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is determined to prove that her captain, also her mother, is innocent, and Boimler (Jack Quaid) has returned to his family vineyard to tend to the grapes. But the Boimler family does not make wine. The Boimler family makes raisins. 

Boimler being found on a vineyard, wearing a large straw sunhat no less, is a direct parallel to Captain Picard and his frequent visitations to the Picard family vineyard, first seen in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Family" (October 1, 1990). The same vineyard would be the opening location of "All Good Things..." (May 23, 1994), the final episode of "The Next Generation," as well as Picard's eventual home in "Star Trek: Picard." Because of Picard, Boimler's presence on a vineyard feels natural and expected; this is simply what "Star Trek" characters do on their time off. They tend to the grapes. 

Rutherford's Sweater

Trekkies, perhaps more than other fandoms, are openly willing to point out when their beloved object of affection does something wrong. The bungling of way-too-slow-walked queer representation has always been a sticking point on "Trek," as has notably bad episodes; no Trekkie, however devout, will leap to the defense of the notorious "Spock's Brain," William Shatner's "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," or the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Profit and Lace." 

One of the more embarrassing details of "Trek," however, has to be the weird fashions worn by civilians on Deep Space Nine. The costumes, designed by Robert Blackman, featured bizarre puffy accents, weird colors, chrome patches, and other ugly accoutrements that looks like ... well, they look like multiple alien fashion trends haphazardly mashed together, so perhaps it was completely appropriate. Regardless, one must feel sorry for actor Cirroc Lofton, as he was asked to wear many strange jumpsuits and sweaters playing Jake Sisko. 

The makers of "Lower Decks" know those ugly Jake Sisko sweaters, however, and were whimsical enough to dress Ensign Rutherford in Jake Sisko's trademark purple/calico number. What a fun, deep cut.

Sisko's Creole Kitchen

And speaking of the Sisko family, fans of "Deep Space Nine" might also know that Captain Sisko's father Joseph (Brock Peters) had remained on Earth to run his very own restaurant. Indeed, it was mentioned in dialogue that Joseph was a Master Chef, having mastered the art of creole cooking. His restraurant, Sisko's Creole Kitchen was first seen in the "Deep Space Nine" episode "Homefront" (January 1, 1996), a two-part episode wherein Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) returned to Earth to consult with Starfleet about a dastardly scheme to militarize the organization. Sisko's Creole Kitchen would return in dialogue multiple times, and a sad, late-in-the-series turn of events would find both Ben and Jake Sisko working there for a few months. 

The four protagonists of "Lower Decks" reconnoiter in "Grounded" sharing bowls of gumbo around a table at Sisko's. Ensign Mariner finds the food to be wonderful. Ensign Boimler gets a little too burnt by the heat. 

And speaking of heat ...

Ketracel White Hot Sauce

Of the condiments on the table at Sisko's Creole Kitchen, the Ketracel White Hot hot sauce may stand out. Savvy "Deep Space Nine" fans will recognize the name Ketracel White as the drug that the Dominion -- the central antagonists of the show -- manufactured for their ultraviolent soldiers the Jem'Hadar. Jem'Hadar soldiers were manufactured in labs for years, eventually reaching the point where their systems would be unable to survive without the infusion of a methamphetamine-like narcotic. A constant infusion of the drug kept them eager to fight. A threat of taking it away kept them loyal. It was a perfect way to run an army, if you were a sociopathic sadist. 

It may be mildly tasteless to name a hot sauce after a narcotic openly known as a pacifying device utilized by an evil military power, but given some of the names one might find for hot sauces on the market today (buy some Ass In Hell today!) it may be appropriate. 

A close-up of the label reveals that Ketracel White Hot sauce has 17,000,000 SHU, a reference to the sauce's heat in Scoville units. For context, an ordinary bell pepper has zero SHU, a jalapeño can have as many as 2,500 SHU, a habanero can run as much as 350,000 SHU, and the notorious Carolina Reaper can run over 1.5 million SHU. That's also the SHU of most police pepper sprays. Ketracel White, with its 17 million SHU, would most assuredly be enough to melt human intestines. Mariner eats some with ease. 

Bozeman, Montana

In "Grounded," the show's four protagonists need a means to travel into space where the empty Cerritos awaits, perhaps containing evidence of Captain Freeman's innocence. When their attempt to access an off-the-grid transporter fails, they are forced to visit Bozeman, Montana, a significant site in "Star Trek" lore. Bozeman was, as viewers of "Star Trek: First Contact" might recall, the community where Zefram Cochran (James Cromwell) launched Earth's very first faster-than-light spacecraft, the Phoenix. While flying around the solar system, Cochran attracted the attention of some passing Vulcans, instigating a planet-wide realization that humans are not alone in the galaxy. In the timeline of "Trek," this moment is what kickstarted Roddenberry's utopian future. 

In "First Contact," several members of the Enterprise crew -- having gone back in time to the fateful event in question -- mention that the site had been turned into a museum in the 24th century. In "Lower Decks," we see that Bozeman is more of a tourism-geared theme park with snacks and rides and playgrounds. The Vulcan ship that landed there serves as the design for swings and slides for kids. One can wear souvenir Zefram Cochran hats, and one can ride an automated recreation of the Phoenix. On the automated ride, a holographic recreation of Cochran (also played by Cromwell) narrates, and, just like in "First Contact," Cochran plays Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" as he blasts his passengers into space. 

Oblique Engineering Tools

Only quick eyed nerds might spot them, but a series of engineering tools seen on "Lower Decks" might look familiar. When the show's protagonists attempt to access the off-the-grid transporter, aiming to knock out the operator and steal a quick beam up to the Cerritos, they are greeted by a kind, grandfatherly transporter chief who, gosh darn it, is too sweet to render unconscious. He finds out their plan, and the ensigns break down in apologetic tears. 

On the table behind the chief, one might see scattered Trek tools of varying origins. Some of those tools will be recognized by fans of the "Deep Space Nine" episode "Hard Time" (April 15, 1996), the episode in which Chief O'Brien (Colm Meany) is arrested and forced to virtually live out a lifelong prison sentence in his mind ... over the course of only a few minutes. An early scene shows O'Brien rifling through a tool case, and wouldn't you know it, those tools are on a table on "Lower Decks."

The News Chyron

"Grounded" opens with a news report to catch viewers up on the events of season 2. The newscaster reads the exposition while the scrolling chyron along the bottom of the screen drops reference after reference. The chyron is distracting to all Trekkies, and one can rest assured that many fans will be running the episode back to read all the shout-outs. 

There is a reference to the Zebulon Sisters, a pop act last seen in the "Lower Decks" episode "Terminal Provocations" (September 10, 2020), and how they had been banned from starships by Captain Jellico, a character played by Ronny Cox in the two-part "Next Generation" episode "Chain of Command" (December 1992). There is also a news story about a Zakdorn 6-year-old who had become the youngest stratagema grandmaster in history. Zakdorn was the species of Sirna Kolrami (Roy Brocksmith), a master strategist who was hired to beef up the Enterprise's military standing in the NextGen episode "Peak Performance" (July 10, 1989). Kolrami was also fond of a holographic strategy-based board game called stratagema, a game that both Riker and Data lost.

There was also a news story about how a Sonny Clemonds concert had inspired riots. L.Q. "Sonny" Clemonds (Leon Rippy) was a 20th-century cryogenics enthusiast who was discovered and unfrozen in the NextGen episode "The Neutral Zone" (May 16, 1988). He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to continue his career as a country musician. It seems, according to the chyron, that he not only achieved a career, but became big enough to inspire riots. 

Read this next: Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

The post The 7 Best Easter Eggs and References in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 1 appeared first on /Film.

John and Sally Sweek, a young married couple living in east Dallas, were known by friends—a lively party crowd—to sell cocaine out of their apartment. Two of those friends found their bodies there in 1987: The Sweeks had been stabbed to death.

The bloody crime scene was teeming with what investigators considered to be excellent forensic evidence. John appeared to have a bite mark on his left forearm. Sally had hair under her fingernails, presumably from fighting off her attacker. There were two pairs of bloody shoe prints.

Police initially suspected a gang member, then a tip led them to Steven Mark Chaney, a friend who owed the Sweeks $500. It turned out the couple often sold drugs to friends on credit.

Years later, Chaney became attorney M. Chris Fabricant’s first client at the Innocence Project. 

Fabricant, now the nonprofit’s Director of Strategic Litigation, quickly learned that Chaney had an alibi corroborated by multiple witnesses. His conviction rested on what Fabricant saw as flawed evidence—bits of forensic gold in the 1980s that turned out to be worthless junk in the decades that followed. One shoe print appeared to match a pair Chaney owned. And the chief dental consultant for the Dallas Medical Examiner had visited Chaney in jail, examined his teeth and determined Chaney couldn’t be ruled out as the person who made the bite mark. 

But by the 2010s, bite marks and shoe prints were considered junk science. Another seemingly solid piece of evidence against Chaney—a latent fingerprint—confirmed Chaney had visited the apartment, but that could be easily explained: He had partied with the Sweeks before their deaths.

Fabricant’s new book, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System (published by Akashic Books in April) tells Chaney’s story and those of other innocent people convicted with unsound forensic evidence. Chaney was released in 2015—after nearly 30 years in prison.

Fabricant expertly delves into now-discredited forensic tactics, including bite mark analysis and outmoded methods used in arson investigations, to show how investigators and prosecutors often used pseudo science to put innocent people in prison for decades. He chronicles several key Texas figures, including infamous Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade, whose ultra-high conviction rate defined his career and led to multiple wrongful convictions. 

The Texas Observer spoke with Fabricant about his mission to “change the narrative around the infallibility of forensics,” as well as Texas’ place in the national discourse around junk science and the ongoing fight to keep it out of courtrooms. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Your first case with the Innocence Project was in Texas. What were the things you had to contend with that were specific to the state?

Texas is the most paradoxical state to litigate forensic science in in the country. There’s a long and egregious history of the use of junk science … There are examples of wrongful executions that include Cameron Todd Willingham, Tommy Lee Walker, and David Wayne Spence, all of which rested at least in part on junk science. At the same time, Texas has some of the most progressive laws [regarding post-conviction innocence claims] and some of the most innovative District Attorneys Offices in the country as well. There’s an interesting history out of the Dallas District Attorney’s Office in particular, which is where my client Steven Mark Chaney was wrongfully convicted of a homicide and spent decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. 

Texas has a long history with the use of unreliable evidence. [It also has made] unique efforts to address that searing history, including passage of the first junk science writ in the country, the first conviction integrity unit at the Dallas District Attorney’s Office … And the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is the most important and innovative and transparent forensic science commissions in the country, if not the world.

Dallas has become a poster child for overturning convictions, many of which were passed down during Henry Wade’s tenure as the DA from 1951 to 1987. Wade is best known as the prosecutor in Roe v. Wade. But what does his career tell us about Texas’s historical stance on forensics?

Everything you need to know about the criminal justice system in Texas can be learned through studying the history of the Dallas District Attorney’s Office. Indeed, everything that you really need to know about our justice system and the country as a whole.

You begin with the harnessing of our criminal legal system to enforce Jim Crow laws and the transition away from Jim Crow to mass incarceration policies to control marginalized communities. That was run through so-called “tough on crime” shops like Henry Wade’s. History shows that led to the wrongful prosecutions and executions of innocent by and large men and disproportionately Black and brown people. 

As we see some progress made in this area, Craig Watkins [one of Texas’ first Black elected DAs] ushers in this incredible period of change that was really largely responsible for unraveling Henry Wade’s legacy—that and his own evidence retention policies.

When you have inarguable wrongful convictions, and what I argue are wrongful executions, it really forced Texas and Dallas in particular to take a hard look at what we’re doing in our criminal courts and try to put in some prophylactic measures to avoid this happening again: things like the Michael Morton Act, and some retrospective measures including the junk science writ. The Forensic Science Commission is important both in terms of past cases … but also in preventing future crime lab scandals and to assure, to the extent possible, that valid and reliable science is being used in Texas criminal courts. 

“Everything you need to know about the criminal justice system in Texas can be learned through studying the history of the Dallas District Attorney’s Office.”

Several well-known forensics have been discredited in recent years. Your book even points out some issues with fingerprints, which are often imperfect in a crime scene setting. Can we trust anything but DNA testing?

I’m asked that question a fair amount, and it’s hard to answer it categorically. If I were to answer it categorically, my answer would be no. 

But to be a little bit more specific … you can take a reliable technique and make it pretty unreliable, depending on the quality of evidence. If you don’t have enough information from a crime scene sample—and we don’t really have any objective thresholds about how much information one actually needs to come to a reliable conclusion—then we can take a reliable technique and make it pretty junky. We see that in fingerprints, when we don’t have high quality latent fingerprints, it’s much more susceptible to cognitive bias, it’s much more likely to have random potential matches, and it’s much more likely to have a higher error rate. This is true to a certain degree with DNA evidence, too. Then there’s things like bite marks, which can never be done reliably under any circumstance. 

This is why it’s so important that courts take seriously not only their role in excluding junk science—things like microscopic hair comparison evidence, bite mark analysis, tire treads, and Shaken Baby Syndrome cases—but to also take seriously their role in excluding an unreliable application of an otherwise reliable technique, which we see very, very often. And that is as common as any other type of junk science.

Your book notes that for most felonies, DNA exonerations aren’t an option. Crimes like robberies, arson, drive-by shootings, or even assaults often don’t include the transfer of any genetic material. Even in Steven Chaney’s case, the DNA under the victim’s fingernails was found to belong to someone else, but that wasn’t enough to convince the courts—they assumed there had just been an accomplice. Is there any recourse for wrongfully convicted people who are sitting in prison with no hope of a DNA exoneration? 

One of the reasons that I focused on Steven Chaney’s case is it really demonstrates that even with some DNA evidence what a Herculean struggle it is to overturn a conviction—let alone demonstrate innocence without the power of forensic DNA analysis. And it becomes harder and harder every time the Supreme Court reinterprets the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, to further saw off avenues of post conviction review of state court convictions, which is where the overwhelming majority of wrongful convictions occur. 

We are often in a fight against time, and we are often also in this frustrating position of scientific reality having overruled legal precedents but that not being acknowledged in criminal courts … I think that the continued use of junk science and other unreliable forensic techniques, is whistling past the graveyard or creating clients for the Innocence Project and making it harder and harder to free the innocent.

The post A Brief History of Junk Science and Bad Forensics appeared first on The Texas Observer.

This post, how do I weigh the risks of staying where I am vs. changing fields? , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes:

I am an elder millennial who graduated college on the verge of the 2008 Great Recession. I entered grad school on the promise that everyone in my industry (libraries) was going to retire soon and there were going to be so many jobs … unfortunately that became not the case. I then spent the better part of a decade fighting tooth and nail to get a full-time job in my industry. I finally got what I thought was my dream job (now I am learning, no such thing, right?) … yay!

Then along came a baby. Then Covid. Then another baby. It was a really really rough winter with daycare sickness policies, like many of your readers with young kids experienced, and I received no support and some hostility from my boss and some colleagues. Now I’m looking at my “dream job” with fresh eyes, and the relatively low pay, long commute, inflexible work environment and lack of growth potential are making me want to look elsewhere. My industry has permanently shrunk and there are not many (full-time, well-paid) library jobs in my area (and very few remote), let alone in my specific niche (corporate/medical, with a focus on procurement).

I am interested in exploring other fields (especially ones that are hopefully more stable and relatively recession-proof, as I constantly fear losing my job after so many years in an industry which constantly needs to defend itself). However, I’m so afraid that I’ll make an industry change and regret it. That I’ll leave libraries, realize what a good thing I had, and won’t be able to get another job like the one I have now. That there are negatives to every job and I’m being a semi-bored millennial job-hopper and I need to just be okay with settling down in a good-enough job.

Because the thing is, there are some things I do love about my current job, including specific tasks that I do, good benefits, very low stress, and the ability to leave my work at work (very important with two young kids and a spouse with a more demanding job). I’m also afraid of getting a new job with a potential recession looming and possibly being the first to be laid off (more Great Recession trauma rearing its head?).

I’m sorry for the ramble, I guess my question is … how do I know when it’s time to move on, when you’ve invested so much to get where you are now? How do you weigh the risks and the fear of the unknown against concrete positives and negatives?

Readers, what’s your advice?

This post, updates: the problem manager, the ghosting job candidate, and more , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

Here are three updates from past letter-writers.

1. Is my manager the problem … or am I?

After being fired, my job search was hard, but about six weeks and four interviews with different companies later, I was hired in a new role!

The new role has a 20% raise, fewer hours a week, more vacation, and better benefits. The company culture is much more friendly and warm, is entirely remote, and my new manager is wonderful. There’s also a healthy mix of men and women. While things are obviously still new, I feel like I know what I’m doing and have the room to make mistakes without having my head bitten off. When I broke a repository, I was panicking and anxious and called my new manager to apologize—but she laughed and told me that I shouldn’t’ve been able to edit it in the first place and I should put in an ticket. It could not have been more different from my previous manager’s reaction to me daring to use dark mode. I’ve also already been told I’m a valuable asset by both my manager and boss. I feel happy, valued, respected, and like I can really develop as a person.

As for my old manager… as I’m not a fan of LinkedIn, I leave my profile largely empty. I was, however, using it to job hunt when I was contacted by a recruiter. It was to fill my former job! As it turns out, they’d already been looking to replace me two weeks before they fired me! It doesn’t sting, now; it’s just funny. Even luckier for me—as they’re still trying to fill the job I can find the listing all over the internet. Out of a sense of schadenfreude-like glee I have the job bookmarked, and the closing date keeps jumping forward month on month. Ha ha.

I also mentioned in the comments on the previous post that I had a (male) colleague who my manager adored. Well, he was quit or fired too, because when I looked him up on LinkedIn he’s in a new role. I have the sneaking suspicion he started at the old company, worked out it was terrible, and basically immediately began to look for a new job. Equally, two other male developers who also started the same week I did with my HR induction have new jobs in other companies too. The company’s Glassdoor rating is currently hovering around a two, especially as when I wrote a scathing review, a dozen more flooded in also criticizing the company. Basically, you either stay for fifteen years or six months.

You (and plenty of commenters) were right. While terrible, this wasn’t the end of my career—or life! Now, comfortably on the other side of things, I can say it was just a bad time in my life where I got to play lots of videogames. Job searching was hard but I was very lucky to find somewhere quickly, and am infinitely grateful for my emergency fund. I’m not going to lie and say it was easy, but I’m much, much happier. My ex-manager was a terrible jerk and now I know what excellent managing feels like, my standards have definitely been raised.

2. Should I report my abusive former boss to her current employer?

First off, I don’t think I was quite as out there as many commenters did. Keep in mind that I’ve never contacted her and didn’t even want to at all. I know you read Carolyn Hax, and a couple of people have written in the past few weeks about telling their ex’s new partner about the ex’s abuse. I consider this to be the workplace equivalent of that. I’m pretty sure that people have thought about this same thing. They just never voiced it before. Plus, my boss was such a monster to me and really took every opportunity to undermine/complain/destroy me at such a foundational time in my career. Lastly, show me someone who never Googles people from their past, and I’ll show either a liar or someone who just doesn’t care about others at all. I also am not obsessed with her. I just always felt some comfort knowing (or at least knowing from what you can glean from online descriptions, which admittedly don’t provide a complete picture) that she wasn’t managing others.

In the end, I didn’t end up contacting her employer. I decided it was too much trouble and ultimately not my responsibility. Thank you for the clarity there. Don’t get me wrong: I’m still freaked out knowing she’s out there and is probably mistreating others. But that’s that, I guess. I did have a situation with someone that helped put everything in perspective. I was managing a project and found out one of the freelancers was mistreating my colleagues by harassing them, being condescending, unprofessional and being way too entitled. I was able to criticize and ultimately fire her. I was glad I was able to do the right thing–even in just a tiny way–has helped me put my former boss’ bad behavior to rest somewhat. Thank you for your advice! I’ve been reading you for years, and I think you do great work.

3. Job candidate ghosted us when we called with an offer … we think? (#4 at the link)

I wanted to provide a quick update on what happened with this candidate. After two phone calls, two e-mails, and about a week and a half of waiting for a response, we called it a day and moved on from her. We had a second candidate who we wanted to offer the position to, but she ended up accepting another job offer before we could get to her. We didn’t really have any other candidates in the pipeline, so we unfortunately had to start over from square one.

About two weeks ago, we were connected with an absolutely amazing new candidate! I knew within 10 minutes of our interview that she was *the* person for this role. I really didn’t want to lose her, so I worked with our HR manager to expedite the interviewing process. The applicant spoke to several other teammates over the course of about a week, and everyone loved her and raved about her. We offered her the job last Friday, and she accepted. She starts this coming Monday and I am so excited to have her on board!

I was legitimately worried about our original #1 candidate, so I had been keeping an eye on her LinkedIn profile just in case there was any new activity. I noticed she recently changed her profile picture and has been commenting on other posts, so it appears she’s okay. She hasn’t added a new job to her profile yet, and I’m still pretty stumped about what happened. At the end of the day, I think the person who accepted the role is a better fit, so I suppose it all worked out for the best!

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Quantum mechanics gets weirder as you go to smaller sizes and higher energies. It’s strange enough for atoms, but positively bizarre when we get to the atomic nucleus. And today we’re going nuclear, as we dive into the weird world of quantum chromodynamics and the strong force.

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Good morning. The focus for moderate to heavy rainfall has shifted to the coast and offshore this morning, putting down a considerable amount of rain in locations near Matagorda Bay. The Houston metro area will continue to see healthy rain chances through at least the middle of next week, but accumulations do not look all that significant, such that we should be worried about flooding. We also need to keep an eye on the tropics, which may start to blossom as we approach Labor Day Weekend. We’ll discuss all of this below.

Thursday

With a weak boundary set up along the coast today, that’s where the bulk of the precipitation will lie. If you live north of Interstate 10, skies should be partly to mostly sunny, with highs in the low 90s, and low rain chances. The closer you get to the coast, the greater the chance of clouds and rains, and accordingly highs should only reach the upper 80s to 90 degrees. Right along the coast, accumulations of 1 to 3 inches of rain are possible, but amounts will be much lower for areas just a bit inland. Winds will generally be light, out of the north. Lows tonight will be in the upper 70s.

Friday

Houston’s atmosphere will remain in an unsettled pattern on Friday, and for the next several days, due to the absence of high pressure and fairly high atmospheric moisture levels. However, there appear to be no triggers for rainfall, so we’re looking at a pattern where showers and thunderstorms are likely during the afternoon and evening hours, along with daytime heating and the sea breeze. Accordingly, expect highs in the low 90s on Friday, with partly sunny skies, and about a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening.

Saturday and Sunday

This forecast should more or less hold for the weekend. If you have morning plans outdoors, they should be fine. Things may become a little more challenging during the afternoons and evenings, with the potential for a passing shower or thunderstorm. Expect highs in the vicinity of 90 to 95 degrees.

Next week

As we head into September, don’t expect too much of a pattern change. We’ll continue to see highs in the low 90s, for the most part, with a healthy chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms. These conditions will probably hold until the second half of next week, as we approach Labor Day weekend. After that time our weather may be influenced by the tropics.

Tropics

So far it has been an exceptionally quiet August for the Atlantic tropics, but we continue to see signs that is going to change. Moreover, one of the systems we’re watching has a decent chance of moving into the Gulf of Mexico in about a week or so from now.

To illustrate this let’s take a look at an ensemble forecast from the European model, which runs a few dozen variants of the main model to provide a range of outcomes. This is useful because if a lot of ensemble members have similar forecasts, then we can have a reasonable amount of confidence in such a forecast coming to pass. Below, in the ensemble model’s forecast for one week from this morning, we can see the European model pinpointing three different areas for development.

Of most concern to us is the blob I’ve marked “1.” Both the European and US GFS models have been highlighting this potential for a couple of days, and I’d say there’s a pretty good chance that some sort of tropical system, whether it be a disorganized area of thunderstorms or a tropical storm, will reach the northwestern Caribbean Sea by Wednesday or Thursday of next week. After that, it probably would move into the Gulf of Mexico. It could really go anywhere after that, but the most likely locations would be Mexico, Texas, or Louisiana. The bottom line is that we’re looking at the possibility of a tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico as we head into Labor Day weekend.

This is not something you should panic about, by any means. The storm must overcome wind shear and a host of other obstacles. But as we get into late August and early September, we’re going to be watching all of these waves closely, because the next month is prime time for Gulf of Mexico hurricanes.

A message from Reliant, our sponsor

As Eric and Matt closely watch the tropics for us, Reliant wants to encourage Texans along the coast to start preparing – even before a storm is brewing. The first 72 hours after a storm hits are the most crucial to save lives. Supplies like bottled water, backup power, shelf-stable food, first aid kits, emergency blankets, waterproof protection for documents, signaling glow sticks and whistles are important to have gathered in advance. You can find a helpful storm prep checklist at the Reliant Storm Center.

If you live in Fort Bend County, Reliant is teaming up with its parent company, NRG, and nonprofit Attack Poverty to distribute 2,500 emergency preparedness buckets that come with many of these supplies. The next distribution is on Saturday, August 27. Location and timing details are released 24-48 hours before and can be found at https://attackpoverty.org/response/preparedness/.

Satan’s Mark Exposed
Kirban
1981

Submitter: This book is one of many from Kirban that outlines the ways in which the world will ‘soon’ come to an end. This particular title is full of outlandish predictions that include cannibal worms, laser identification beams, and of course the word computer (when assigned the proper alphanumeric code) adding up to 666. Not only are we treated to ranting speculations, but also some alarmist images and comics, depicting the doomed direction the world is heading. It’s hard to believe that there are more of these, but as the back of the book claims “Salem Kirban is well qualified to write on future events. He is the author of more than 30 books on the subject.”

Holly: He was prolific, that’s for sure! My favorite title from his bibliography is “How to Live Above and Beyond Your Circumstances.” Any libraries out there have that little gem to share with us?

The post Satan’s Mark Exposed appeared first on Awful Library Books.

The following health code violations were observed during a recent inspection at the Fisher-Price kitchen in Miss Carol’s preschool classroom at Little Wonders Childcare Center in Scottsdale, Arizona:

• No thermometers, timers, or food rotation system in place. Chefs apparently just yell “ding!” when they believe food is ready
• Kitchen workers repeatedly touching their eyes, ears, and private parts. Multiple instances of employees putting fingers in their mouths, and occasionally in each other’s mouths
• Noted a chef wearing shoes on wrong feet (and also a floor-length Disney’s Frozen 2 cape for some reason), which poses potential safety hazard. When asked to remove cape, employee cried and threw Beanie Baby at oven
• No gloves or tongs used to handle food. Witnessed chefs frequently dropping food on floor, retrieving items with bare hands, and immediately serving food to customers
• Hair should be neatly pulled back from face or covered with a hairnet. When asked to tie hair back, chef became belligerent and screamed that it was her “Elsa Braid”
• Plastic spatula was used to serve spaghetti, cherry pie, and hamburgers, with no cleaning or sanitizing between uses. Later observed same plastic spatula being used as weapon
• Sous chef sneezed directly onto food and wiped snot onto sleeve of sweater. Possible pink eye. Recommendation to send chef home and advise her to stop touching other chef’s faces
• Observed employee standing on a plate of eggs
• A brief list of unauthorized personal items present in kitchen at time of inspection: open box of Hello Kitty Band-Aids, hairbrush, crayons, several wads of Play-Doh, Doc McStuffins doctor kit, sippy cups, pop-up books, magic wand, LEGOs, two pacifiers, and a handful of loose Uno cards
• Multiple instances of improper food storage noted, including fish stored directly above grapes and pickles, pineapples stored under salami, and pork chops stored above blocks of cheese. High likelihood of cross-contamination and salmonella present
• Unauthorized personnel allowed in kitchen. Witnessed patron wander in and throw a stuffed bear at prep line cook for no reason, resulting in a brief altercation. Line cook was promptly removed from food service area and placed in library for short break
• Restaurant operating with non-functioning sink. Oven apparently being used as storage space and employees make whirring and sizzling sounds to make food
• Rodents present in establishment. Class guinea pig briefly observed in food prep area where worker attempted to feed him corn on the cob
• Prep line cook observed picking nose for significant portion of inspection. When asked to stop, cook launched into long story about going on an airplane to visit his grandma one time and she took him to the movies and they bought Gummi Bears, but she fell asleep during the movie

Staff will be verbally reprimanded once they have woken from their scheduled nap. No county legal action will result from this visit. The inspection report was printed and left at the establishment where it was promptly colored on with markers and covered in glue.

Good morning. Houston’s wet pattern will persist for awhile, but today and Thursday offer the best chances for widespread and heavy rainfall before the precipitation eases back just a bit. Overall we don’t have any real concerns for significant flooding, but we should continue to see the potential for some street flooding beneath the stronger storms. Additionally, we will need to monitor the tropics over the next month, as there are indications that the Atlantic is waking from its long slumber.

Wednesday

Showers will be likely today across the region, with the potential for more widespread rainfall closer to the coast, south of Interstate 10, where the most atmospheric moisture will be. I think much of the region will pick up between 0.25 and 1 inch of rain today, with totals greater the further south one goes. Some isolated areas could pick up 2 to 4 inches within the stronger and slower moving storms. Mostly cloudy skies should help to limit high temperatures to the upper 80s to 90 degrees, and winds will generally be light out of the southwest. Basically, this is a day when you want to check the radar before heading out of doors, just to make sure nothing too intense is headed your way. Rain chances will slacken this evening, with the loss of daytime heating.

Thursday

This should be a day similar to Wednesday in terms of the overall setup, I just don’t expect showers to be quite as widespread, nor the rainfall quite as heavy. The focus should again be closer to the coast for the stronger showers. For now, I’m thinking ‘Wednesday lite’ in terms of stormy weather, with highs for most of the region reaching about 90 degrees.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Overall, Houston will remain in a pattern favorable for additional rain through the weekend. What should change is that some of the factors that favor heavy rainfall should start to wane, so that we enter a situation where showers spin up and then quickly move along. So for this weekend I think we’re probably looking at partly sunny skies, highs in the 90 to 95-degree range, and perhaps 50 to 70 percent chance of rain. Again I don’t think these won’t be all-day kinds of rains, but you should at least be planning for the potential of a passing shower.

Next week

We’re unlikely to see the return of high pressure next week, so we should see see temperatures continue in the 90 to 95-degree range, with a decent chance of showers during the daytime, and less so at night. It now looks as if this pattern will persist into early September. If you’re wondering whether there’s any hint of fall’s first real front in the medium-range models, the answer is, alas, no. I’ll be a summer bummer and say it is not time for fall yet.

Tropics

It is time, however, to start watching the tropics. While there is a tropical wave in the deep Atlantic showing signs of life, for the Gulf of Mexico our focus should be on a low pressure system that will move into the Caribbean Sea later this week. There is now a decent amount of support in the ensembles of the GFS and European models for this to potentially develop into a tropical storm next week. The obvious question is, where will it go after that? Expect to see some social media noise during the next couple of days because the operational run of the GFS model, for the last few runs, has been bringing a fairly strong tropical system to the northern Gulf of Mexico coast late next week. However there are a very, very broad range of outcomes here, and the scenario with the most support right now would see a weaker tropical system that tracks more westward, into the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico. So really, anything can happen.

The bottom line is that this is a system for us to watch at this point, and that should come as no surprise as we’re in the midst of the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. For now, as usual, be wary but not worried.

This post, my coworker is using paid paternity leave to work a second job instead of taking care of his baby , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

My company recently expanded its parental leave policy so that anyone, regardless of gender, gets the same, generous leave of six months fully paid. It’s called “bonding leave” so the intent is pretty clear. One of my male colleagues told me very matter of factly that he is intending to take his full leave after his wife’s paid maternity leave is up. But, instead of caring for the baby, he is going to get a “second” job for 6 months and his wife is going to stay home with the baby and take unpaid leave from her job. In effect, he will have two salaries (but work one job), and she will have no salary. They will actually net out ahead financially because he earns more than her. He is actually going to make tremendously more money during those 6 months, because he is going to do an hourly contractor job, since his benefits are paid for by our company.

I’m appalled but can’t put my finger on why this bothers me so much. His point is that our company – a Fortune 500 company with tens of thousands of employees and plenty of money – is not paying a penny more than they would otherwise; he doesn’t want to care for the baby full-time and his wife desperately does, so they are “maximizing utility.” I didn’t want to ask too many questions because it would have been clear I disapprove. Part of it is, I’m a new mom myself but had my baby before the new policy was announced so was only able to take 18 weeks (still generous, but I’m definitely jealous and kind of mad my baby didn’t “count” in the new policy).

I think my issue is, he is ruining it for those of us who have fought for expanded childcare coverage. Is this an HR violation or just someone smartly taking advantage of the system?

Whether it’s an HR violation depends on how your company’s policy is written. If the wording makes clear that the leave is provided specifically to care for a child, then it should indeed be a violation. Even if not written that clearly, though, if it’s obvious that that’s the spirit of the policy, your company could still consider it a violation.

But I think the reason you’re so bothered isn’t that it’s an HR violation. Rather, it’s exactly what you wrote in your last paragraph: Many, many people — mostly women — have fought long and hard for better parental leave because the amount of time most American companies provide is shamefully low and a genuine hardship for families. To see this dude using a good parental leave policy in a way that it clearly wasn’t intended — not to take care of his kid but to earn more money, and being so flagrant about it — feels like a kick in the face to everyone who has fought for this and to everyone who still doesn’t have it.

I’m not as worried as you are that he’s gong to ruin it for everyone else; it’s more likely that your employer would tighten up their systems rather than revoke the benefit altogether. But it’s certainly a concern too. You get the feeling this guy is operating with a complete disregard for the impact his actions might have on people who really need the leave to actually care for new babies.

The fact that he’s a man doing this makes it burn a lot more — because it’s a pretty safe assumption that he hasn’t been out there pushing for better maternity leave and more support for breast-feeding moms and an end to the wage gap — and yet he’s perfectly happy to rip off (and maybe jeopardize) the work of the women who are still fighting those battles.

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#therock #90s #shorts

Marzipan forms a band with Strong Mad and The Cheat while Homestar reconnects with Dripping Yellow Madness.

Original publish date: August 15, 2005

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This post, my boss and I share an office with a volatile jerk , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

My boss, Ned, shares office space with his partner, Peter, in another business. It was made clear to me in the interview and repeatedly since then that I do not work for Peter, but to help Ned focus on our work I sometimes step in and assist with technology assistance and personal help (think setting up online banking, or helping balance his checkbook). Ned is very grateful and makes sure that if I am uncomfortable with a requested task, I can let him know and he will step in and stop Peter from bugging me. Now on the the actual reason for my letter.

Peter is volatile, throws temper tantrums, gets angry at perceived slights, and doesn’t listen in conversations, only listens for his next chance to speak. It is uncomfortable but Ned has told me to ignore it as much as possible. Sometimes Peter starts screaming and threatening Ned with physical violence. When this happens I have permission to leave the office and only return when I feel comfortable. The final straw happened today. Peter accused Ned of not answering a question, Ned did and I heard him but Peter was not paying attention. In the past, Ned has told me not to step in because he would never want me to have to take any heat and has told Peter to never bring me into their disputes. Today Peter demanded my side of things, I told him that Ned did answer him and I heard it and he needed to remember they were friends first and take a breath. This set him off further and I responded in kind, which I am not proud of. I have since apologized to Ned, who told me he should be apologizing to me for putting me in this position.

My question now is, once Peter starts asking for help from me again, how should I proceed? I am unsure how to handle this level of contention. I can currently hear Peter through his office wall talking badly about Ned and me to anyone who will take his calls. I am confrontation-averse by nature and have not gotten involved in their disputes in the almost four years I have worked here.

I want to be clear that Ned is the kindest, best boss I have ever worked for. He pays me well, provides benefits, cares about my family and home life and works with me through any situation, including setting up special work from home options when my husband has surgery later this month. The majority of my work needs to be in the office, so this is a big favor he has done for me. I do not want to leave here, I love Ned and my job and they are not the issue. But I do have to share space with someone who makes me feel in constant fight-or-flight mode and brings the office down based on his moods. There is added complexity for Ned because he also shares a home with Peter so he is never away from this and it feels like an abusive relationship, and I want to be here for Ned should he choose to end this partnership/friendship.

Whoa, you buried the lede at the end there — are Ned and Peter romantic parters as well as business ones, or do they just live together?

Either way, it doesn’t change the advice that much, which is that if you’re going to stay in this job, you need much stronger barriers up between you and Peter. Peter is abusive to you and to Ned, and since you don’t work for him there’s no absolutely reason you should be helping him with technology or banking. Stop that entirely. Ask Ned to let Peter know that you’re not going to be helping him further and that he shouldn’t ask.

But even with a complete firewall between you and Peter (which frankly doesn’t sound possible, given the shared space), I’m concerned about you staying in this situation. Peter is angry and volatile and even if you don’t interact with him, you’re still going to hear him yelling at Ned, having temper tantrums, calling people to badmouth both of you, and threatening physical violence. No wonder you’re constantly in fight-or-flight mode; this is scary stuff that would keep anyone on edge. It’s all well and good for Ned to tell you that you can leave the office anytime it happens, but that does nothing to address the fact that you’re stuck being constantly on guard, wondering what will happen next and trying to assess if things are about to get bad enough that you need to gather up your things and leave.

It’s horribly unhealthy to spend months/years in fight-or-flight mode! Maintaining that kind of prolonged stress response can have long-term physical health effects, to say nothing of your mental health.

Given what you wrote about Ned, I can understand why you’re hoping to find a way to make this work. But Ned has an enormous flaw as a manager, which is that working for him requires exposing yourself to Peter’s volatility and rage long-term. That’s a big, big deal. It’s not a reasonable price to pay for even the kindest, most flexible boss.

One more thing, especially since you clearly care about what Ned is going through: It is possible that by staying in this situation with him, you are normalizing Peter’s behavior and allowing Ned to believe it’s not that bad. Ideally, by seeing someone else subjected to Peter’s rage, he would realize that it’s not okay … but so far he’s just been looking for ways to make you okay with it (like giving you permission to leave the office). It might be more helpful to Ned to hear you say, “This is not okay, and neither of us should be treated like this. I can’t decide that for you, but I am deciding it for me.”

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