(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing 10/3/2023: Salmagundi [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-03 Arthur Wesley Dow: Boats at Rest (1895) Good evening, Kibitzers! After days of making threats, the summer-temperature weather that’s been sitting in the middle of the country has finally gotten to the east coast; it was back above 80 here today. That’s too hot for October, but I do realize that it’s downright chilly compared with what other places have, and have had, and also with what we’ll get in the future. So I am not complaining, even though I’m in fact complaining. I see the current weather looks fairly clear in most of the country right now, but then, “clear” is not what’s needed in places with droughts (but they do not need floods, please, Universe). I’m hoping for all the weather to even out, and then everyone should get the kind they like best for a while. That seems fair — plenty of weather to go around, right? I had quite a Monday at work, so I don’t have any sort of coherent theme for this diary, as so often happens. I did collect some random things that might entertain you, though. Let’s look! Abbie Richards is a “misinformation educator and environmental activist”, according to her Wikipedia entry, and seems both smart and likable. Here, she digs into the “Great Reset” conspiracy and its kin, so we don’t have to. [12:22] The background for this video is, restaurants in Japan, and sometimes elsewhere in Asia, have a tradition of displaying artificial models of their food (shokuhin sampuru). At one time, they acted as menus. Today’s models are generally made from PVC plastic, but they are still often custom-made by hand to match the restaurant’s own food. This video shows Mr. Takeuchi, a 71-year-old master of the craft, at work on some of these models. He has been a food-model maker for 53 years, is quite good at it, and seems to have fun at it as well. There are closed captions available that identify the items he’s making. It’s kind of amazing. [14:47] Jackson Veigel is a cinematographer who has taken to YouTube to create animated visual art, space being a specialty. Here, he shows us where some Star Trek and other popular science fiction tales take place relative to earth. [6:40] Okay, we’re wandering into actual-science territory now. This SciShow episode explains what “rogue planets” are and why it’s starting to look like there may be more of them than of planets like ours that orbit stars. [10:25] This looks like a National Park Service video, but it’s actually a NASA one. It’s a quick look at how satellite data helps the NPS manage national parks, with some beautiful scenery as a bonus. [2:13] Here’s an animation showing a hypothetical sea level rise of 4,000 meters(!), depicting the areas of the continental US being submerged at each point. Elevations of cities disappearing beneath the waves are listed as a crawl along the bottom. I hasten to add that, as noted on the YT page, melting all the ice on earth would raise sea level “only” 70 meters. They’ve just gone to 4,000 so as to watch everything including the last little tippy-top of the Rockies disappear. [11:02] From Minute Earth, a discussion of monkeys on the move. We know they got from Africa to South America, and we know when. It’s just not obvious how they did it, because they could not have walked there. [4:00] Author and YouTuber Hank Green was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma earlier this year, and since he learns all about everything that comes to his attention, he’s been making videos about aspects of cancer and its treatment. This one is entitled “Chemo Sucks”, and it discusses how chemo works and how it’s evolving and improving. [9:05] Wired presents this video of physical anthropologist/evolutionary biologist Dr. Jeffrey Laitman, who offers a survey of all our seemingly useless body parts and explains what they’re doing there. [10:59] Okay, now it’s time for oatmeal cookies. The ladies at America’s Test Kitchen were not quite satisfied with the ones from the recipe on the Quaker box, so they tinkered until they got it perfect. [8:31] For our musical almost-finish, I’d like to feature Thinking Fella’s real, actual wife, Diana Krall. Mrs. Fella performs Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over, from the same performance we sampled a couple of weeks ago, live on Le Grand Studio RTL, a program on popular French radio network RTL, in March 2015. [3:43] [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/3/2196774/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-10-3-2023-Salmagundi?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/