So, not only do we know exactly where the asteroid hit, we can also see the consequences of it in the K-Pg boundary in the sedimentary all over the globe.
It’s one thing to have a theory, an explanation, a story (e.g. “a giant asteroid killed the dinosaurs“).
It’s quite another to definitively say;
“Oh, right there – that crater on the tip of the Yucatán that’s where it hit.”
and
“Oh, that line of silvery-chalk on that cliff – then. Lots of dinosaurs below, none above – anywhere in the world.”
It’s powerfully humbling for two reasons.
- Mortal human scientists confidently unwound time 66 million years just from looking closely at rocks around us
- And, if you’re reading this, you’re related to something that survived the impact.
And every world-shaking event in-between.
As are each of your neighbors.
As is whomever you’re currently in a Twitter-war with.
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An Autonomous Zone has been declared within the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone.
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RIP Christo.
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Last weekend, one of the teenagers and I set up a RetroPie. $130 (including a pair of SNES-compatible controllers) and a day of fiddling around gets you console emulators from the 1980s and 1990s.
Of the dozens of games we’ve been introducing the kids to, Pac-Man, Mario Bros, Tetris, Pole Position have seen frequent play. Despite their giant pixels and their tinny MIDI soundtracks.
There’s also been tears and deep frustration with how fragile and unreliable bringing the past into the future can be.
For example;
- Space Invaders doesn’t recognize any of the buttons on the controller as red fire button on the classic Atari joysticks. Thus, making it almost as unfun as the hacked version of Donkey Kong I found where no barrels are thrown at Mario.
- Star Wars Pod Racer doesn’t recognize the controller’s D-pad, which means you’re reliant on walls & cliffs to keep you on course. There’s not enough of them to do so.
- The teenager doesn’t recognize any of the players in any of the versions of Madden. It’s not been played since this realization. Really makes me consider the different layers fandom can live at; sport-level, team-level, coach-level, player-level.
- There’s already been a family-wide Mortal Kombat II tournament. The parents, despite familiarity, did not fare well. The 6yr old, surprisingly well.
- The coarse pixels in Pole Position are so large on today’s HDTVs you can barely recognize the shapes as race cars.
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Sometimes we get lucky and the past continues to be compelling and engaging well into the future.
Other times, the world changes enough over time, the past no longer fits.
In my current household, Ole & Lena jokes, nor any joke with a punchline deriding the Polish has ever been spoken. Despite them being a regular feature of my childhood home, along with even less acceptable variations (and far more subtle insensitivities).
Yes, just as we’ve stopped repeating these jokes (cultural artifacts), and other subtly disrespectful phrases (e.g. anything with the descriptors ‘Dutch’ or ‘left-handed’), statues (also cultural artifacts) of figures promoting division and exploitation need to be taken down.
Their coarseness no longer represents our cultural aspirations.
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On the Media is doing a fantastic job covering the cultural implications of police these last couple weeks.
I highly recommend these two segments:
Both resonated highly with me, as did this proposal to unbundle the police.
I’m much more comfortable having the roles currently fulfilled by the police fall under Health and Human Services than Public Safety.
It feels like this change makes for a more prevention-oriented approach (less reactive, less violent) leading with trust and collaboration rather than with mistrust and conflict.
If the only way to make black lives matter is abolishing the policing as we know it, it’s long over due.
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