Snow shoeing outfit
Flicker in a tree
My snow shoes
Video of the flicker
Video of the spring snow
Another video of the spring snow
Combined videos from April 9
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Eclipse 4/8/2024
Scanning the scenery during the eclipse
Traffic jam on I 93 at 10:30pm
Just before exit 40
Horizon during eclipse
Eclipse (not too clear with Cell phone)
My eclipse viewing outfit
Parking near the Bly Hill Cemetery on route 105
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
journaling about art
I finished this piece during an online meeting for worship (Quaker) today.
can drawing be a ministry? Am I drawing something important?
big bang
fwo Jupiters in a binary emitting radio waves
Could there be meaningful signals in those waves?
Did the universe begin in a big bang, or is this just an illusory part of something else?
are we inside the event horizon of a black hole?
What expands from the center?
Lies? Gossip? Rumors?
The truth? Love? Charity?
Hamas is surprisingly resilient?
Why are you surprised when they have no place to go?
Their backs are against the wall.
Gang leaders trying to form a government?
Could they do a good job?
Any job would be better than what’s going on now.
We cannot impose nation building from the outside.
It has to come from them.
Are there such voices from inside this drawing?
Are there voices trying to come out?
Can truth come out of the maze of disinformation?
From the overload of any information?
Can there come order?
Can there come peace?
Monday, April 1, 2024
Forward Party -- e-mail from Andrew Yang
I am interested in the Forward Party, currently being spear-headed by Dean Phillips and Andrew Yang, two dynamic, idealistic entrepreneurs.
Andrew Yang recently sent me an e-mail asking me to focus on 3 candidates that the Forward Party is supporting currently: John Avlon, John Curtis, and Dave Min.
This was my response. NB the letter started out by thanking me for reading.
#ForwardParty #DeanPhillips #AndrewYang #WinnerTakesAll #PluralityTakesAll #Runoff #JunglePrimary #RankedChoice #ThirdPartiI hope *you* will read my response.
I feel we need to focus on eliminating plurality takes all elections. In 2016, Trump won by 70k votes in swing states. Out of 13 states that I looked at that year that were designated as swing states, there was no majority winner in 12 of them. It seems very likely that if there were a runoff between the two top candidates Hillary would have won at least some of the states that she lost.
The plurality takes all system is what has ossified the two party system. Intelligent people are afraid to vote for 3rd party candidates out of fear of throwing the election to the person they most fear. It is also possible that, without that fear, a third party candidate might have won some of those swing states.
The fact that the current election will be between two white men who are both too old to be president, one of whom is a dangerous criminal and totalitarian and the other of whom is a dangerous hawk, is a clear indication that the major parties have become dysfunctional. The main path to eliminating these dysfunctional, ossified parties is to eliminate plurality takes all voting.
There are two main avenues that have been attempted to avoid electing someone who has not been voted for by a majority of voters. One is the jungle primary and the other is ranked choice voting. I personally favor the jungle primary. I think ranked choice voting is confusing for many voters -- so that they don't trust it. Also, the jungle primary allows an election where voters are really focusing on the 2 remaining candidates, without other distractions.
Focusing on individual races, rather than the overall problem, is, imho, not the best policy.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
My name in letters to the editor
Well, this is cool! I suddenly found my name in the letters to the editor of a recent issue of Science News. They hadn't told me that my question got published. I decided to go back & search for recent mentions of my name in letters to the editor. I found the following
NY Times
Jan 22, 2022 -- about end of life care
Sept 10, 2022 -- about use of boxes for grocery delivery at my local CTown
Science News
May 2, 2005 -- about solar cookers being superior to cooking with petroleum
March 20, 2022 -- How do we know that kunga were the result of human breeding?
March 17, 2024 -- about cause and effect v correlation in marijuana/depression studies
I know I got published a number of times in The Journal News, but I haven't subscribed for a while, so I don't know if I can go back & find those.
Monday, March 18, 2024
FB & X comments regarding Biden, the Ukraine, and Haiti 3/18/24
Comment I wrote on FB 3/18/24
Trump is so awful that most Democratic voters have been willing to ignore that Biden is a dangerous hawk. This has allowed the military industrial complex to keep issues focused on domestic policies rather than our international military behavior. Both parties continue to vote larger budgets to the Pentagon every year -- larger even than the Pentagon requests. Pence had a platform item that that budget should be increased even more. Hillary was also a hawk.
I notice that Niger is kicking us out. Countries in Africa are listening to Russia.
Even the New York Times, generally supportive of Biden, has recently run an article indicating that, prior to the latest conflict, the CIA had been cooperating with Ukraine to spy on Russia -- confirming Putin's opinion that control of Ukraine is critical to his national security.
While I don't necessarily buy into the Republican concern that Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine were indicative of direct corruption, the whole thing is odd. Why was the junior Biden in Ukraine in the first place? Prior to the recent war, this was a rather obscure place from the USA perspective. Where did the Republican concern come from? Russian manipulation of social media was likely involved, but there is something definitely peculiar about the whole picture there.
African countries see that and remember that the USA has been a bad actor in the past.
#Biden #HunterBiden #BidenUkraine #Ukraine #Niger #BidenHawk
Comment I wrote on twitter/X 3/18/24
Is anyone noticing that Biden and the media are hyper-focused on white wars? Has anyone noticed that genocides going on in Africa are actually larger than what's going on in Gaza?
— AnneBarschall (@AnneBarschall) March 18, 2024
Another twitter/X post 3/18/24
crew, not grew
Monday, February 19, 2024
2021 updates
removed from primary log and put in a separate blog
News from 2021
Performances/Shoots
- 12/13/21 filming "Trip to the Moon"
- 9/19/21 filming "Derailer" playing "clerk" d Andrew Simpson & Evan Scott Moore
- 9/18/21 Story Workshop with Caledonia Curry
- 7/17/21 issuing commercial reel with material from 7 different ads blog about commercial reel
- 5/6/21 Ad that I'm in appears on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ez2JllN5hE
- 4/1/21 -- Filming Tee Public Ad
- 3/29/21 -- got in photos from a photoshoot last year medical patient photoshoot
- 3/13/21 filming NY Project Hope ad in my driveway! First gig after vaccination!
- 3/6/21 Wham Fest -- virtual improv show with Lady Cherub Improv
- Songs I am working on (these are all excerpts) Poor Unfortunate Souls Grinch Fable Send in the Clowns
- Recent audition videos Musical Theatre Audition for the A1s Actor Pre-screen for the A1s (Puck uncut Agnes uncut)
- Working on some animations Multiple gradient birds Single gradient bird
- Class show, on Zoom, Improv level 3, Magnet Theatre 2/14/21
Courses (ongoing)
Certificate in 3D animation at SUNY WCC, Peekskill
Courses completed
- 11/7-9/21 Stanford Neurodiversity Summit (virtual)
- 9/25/21 Chat with a Virologist -- Powell House (virtual)
- 8/30/21 Anti-harassment training for Central Casting
- Java Programming for 3D animation -- Lehman College (July 19-Aug 12)
- NYIPLA Annual Trademark & Copyright Series (July 13, 20, 22, 27, 28)
- 310625 Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Mediation for Lawyers, IIPS
- JPPCLE 2021 (June 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10)
- 210413 Diversity, Inclusion and the Elimination of Implicit Bias, IIPS
- Working on learning Adobe Illustrator blog about this
- Musical Theater class with Bob Cline until March 3
- Improv 3, Magnet Theatre with Ross Taylor
- Ned Lott, voiceover for animation, Actors Connection
Media Consumed
- albums purchased: "Cinderella" (Andrew Lloyd Webber), "Stand by Me" Mat & Savana Shaw, "Incantations I&II" Heather Dale, "After Silence" Voces8, "Harmony" Josh Groban, "Picture This" Mat & Savanna Shaw; "Wilted" Paris Jackson; Hauser performs Morrione
- Livestreams: Mat & Savanna Shaw 5/21/21 & 12/18/21;Josh Groban's Valentine's Day livestream, Adam Lambert Livestream (1/29); Dimash Concert; David Bowie Memorial Concert; Virtual Cities Inaugural
- Getting addicted to Lester Holt
CLE
- 12/9/21 Jack B Weinstein: Pioneering Judging & Justice -- Columbia
- 12/2/21 Diversity Roundtable -- NYIPLA
- 11/18/21 Artificial Intelligence and the USPTO -- NYIPLA
- 11/18/21 How Not to Destroy Your Trade Secrets -- NYIPLA
- 11/16/21 "Legislative Developments" -- NYIPLA
- 11/16/21 "Preparing an Amicus Brief" -- NYIPLA
- 11/10/21 "Litigating Patents in the COVID Era" -- NYIPLA
- 11/10/21 "Foreign Updates in Patent Law" -- NYIPLA
- 11/9/21 "Fireside Chat with Chief Administrative Judge" --NYIPLA
- 11/9/21 "Recent Litigation Trends" -- NYIPLA
- 11/2/21 "PTAB Committee to Examine Constitutionality..." -- NYIPLA
- 7/28/21 "TTAB Update" -- NYIPLA
- 7/27/21 "Google v Oracle" -- NYIPLA
- 7/22/21 "Punny and Functional..." -- NYIPLA
- 7/20/21 "Legislative Initiatives: Digital Copyright ...." NYIPLA
- 7/13/21 "Trademark Case Decisions..." -- NYIPLA
- June 2, 3, 6, 9, & 10 JPPCLE
- 6/25/21 "Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Mediation for Lawyers" IIPS
- 4/23/21 "Diversity, Inclusion ..." IIPS
Other
- Attended Friends General Conference Gathering
- Attended part of NY Yearly Meeting
- Started a store on Tee Public for selling my art https://www.teepublic.com/user/barschall
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