Diary

We are about at peak fall colors now. Some leaves have fallen, but there is still a long way to go. Technically we are still in a drought, but it has been raining, and there is more rain in the forecast. I've put away the lawn tractor for the winter and the snow blower is ready for action. It probably won't snow for a few weeks. There is a gigantic harvest of acorns this year, probably because of the wet spring. With the dry summer, the bears may not have found enough berries, and they were in the yard during the day eating acorns. I also saw a bear on one of my hikes. Fortunately, black bears are not normally dangerous to humans. Currently there are no longer any mice hanging around outside the house at night, since this is no longer their domicile, but there may be a mouse population explosion next year because of all the acorns. The squirrels are also having a feast. I've done a little stargazing, with Saturn and Jupiter visible now. I can see the Orion Nebula lying in bed, but I haven't felt like getting up at 3:00 A.M. to look at it through the telescope. I plan to wait until it rises earlier, and after that I'll put away the telescope for the winter.

I've been reading a couple of different books. One I didn't like much, and I've given up on it. Another is somewhat interesting to me, but it's on an obscure subject that wouldn't interest most others, so I'm not going to write about it. The popularity of this blog is of some concern to me because it keeps growing. Originally, I thought that I might have a few regulars and have some low-key discussions. Since the pandemic there has been a steady rise in pageviews, and I'm currently up to about forty thousand pageviews per month, according to the data provided. Strangely, in the last month the blog has been more popular in China than in the U.S. And almost as many pageviews came from Singapore as the U.S. I had been sort of avoiding catchy titles for my posts, but I slipped up with "Brain Death by Technological Innovation," and it became one of my most popular posts almost immediately. That may be because it seems to be a popular topic now, and I've seen other articles on it since then.

As usual, I have been trying to limit my exposure to the Trump phenomenon. One of my favorite news sources is currently The Contrarian, and although they tend to focus on legal issues, it is one of the best places to find straightforward assessments of the pitfalls of the Trump administration. I still usually watch part of PBS NewsHour, where I find the news coverage uneven. The new blonde on the staff, Liz Landers, isn't too bad actually. It is probably a tactical advantage to have a blonde female cover the White House. Laura Barrón-López was probably discriminated against at the White House. Some of the NewsHour staff probably also got on her nerves because of their inappropriate neutrality on Trump. Fortunately, many news outlets now aren't afraid to report accurately on Donald Trump: he is a stupid, egocentric, unprincipled liar. He doesn't do anything systematically, and at best he may produce a random assortment of bad outcomes and good outcomes. In the long term, I don't see how he could benefit the Republican Party. He isn't going to make America great, and others will probably have to clean up after him – perhaps for decades. Trump may appeal to Nazi types, but the probable percentage of the population that would convert to Naziism now in the U.S. is tiny compared to Germany in the 1930's. Furthermore, much of Trump's appeal is based on promises that he will probably be unable to keep. He will be known for creating chaos rather than leading a disciplined movement.

I was glad that I came across the poet Jemma Borg. I like poems that describe human lives in the context of the natural world, without the usual filters imposed by transient styles or cultural norms. It is probably relevant that Borg studied zoology and evolutionary genetics. I think that science writers can make good poets. In other news, I was glad to see that László Krasznahorkai was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. I have found him talented and original, and I like the fact that his motivation isn't entirely pecuniary. In his case, his sales may go up a little, but he won't be the next Stephen King.