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Social Science Friday

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 Today is not fun. With the Cornell rapists in the news, women have been sharing their horrible stories, and I was reminded of how, as a young girl, I was taught to yell "Fire!" if I was being assaulted.  People won't respond to a rape. And then I was reminded of Kitty Genovese.  The story we were taught in Social Psychology about the Bystander effect, and what I assumed at the time, a "Not my problem" effect. Turns out, the 1964 story was distorted in the newspaper, but educators have continued to rely on it. Psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane did independently prove the bystander effect, and it was worth learning - but I'm pretty pissed to find out that my reference point is wrong. Calls were made to police, people did shout out at the perpetrator, and one woman held Kitty in her arms as she died. So today is just about correcting a lesson. Podcast
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Book Club - October

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  Today I will start Chapter 16. The one before was a paranoid fever dream, and it was a reminder of what the book is actually satirizing.   Stalinist Moscow: full of arbitrary arrests, disappearances, surveillance, and punishment of personal wealth. But even without knowing the background, it's a wild story, and I'm enjoying it very much.   One of my favorite scenes so far was after the "Parisian boutique" performance.  The way the devil toys with their greed, in many ways.... For those reading along, share your thoughts from whatever point you're at, or let us know what else you've been reading!
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This Day in History

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  On this day in 1947, the World Series was broadcast on television for the first time. This year, we're just into the postseason - the Yankees are fighting for a wild card, and the now Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their division. Hopefully, it's not a rematch of this, though that did happen just a couple years ago. In 1947, there were about 44,000 television sets in the US, but the game aired in just four markets - New York, Philadelphia, Albany, and Washington. Bob Stanton announced Game 1 for NBC. Notably, it was Jackie Robinson's first World Series. Radio had higher ratings still, and the cameramen had a lot to learn about sunlight and shadows. By 1955, the World Series was in color.
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Music Tasting 59

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  Yesterday we had some red carpet from the event, and then I came across many posts about a particular performance. Incredible choreography. Yung Lean is a Swedish rapper, and GENER8ION is an electronic project of French producer, Surkin, and the video director, Romain Gavras. "Storm" is actually a two-part musical short film. His breakout was back in 2013. Followed by his debut album in 2014. Per the topic, it was Cardi B who won for Best Hip Hop Video. Madonna won for Best Choreography, but that included Damien Jalet, who had also been nominated for the "Storm" video.
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Best Dressed!

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  Starting with the VMAs, that's what Lisa wore to win. Here's the red carpet. Taylor Swift Normani Bob the Drag Queen And elsewhere: Fan Bingbing Naomi Campbell Princess Catherine Angela Bassett Florence Pugh And a magazine bonus.
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Science is Fun Fridays!

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  Francis Tully found this fossil in the Mazon Creek area of Illinois back in 1955. He took it to the Field Museum of Natural History, but paleontologists were stumped about what it was. It remains an ongoing debate to this day. A 2016 study determined it may be closely related to modern lampreys.  They referred to the presence of a primitive stiffened support rod, called a notochord, and concluded it must be a vertebrate. McCoy et al studied again in 2020 and found that samples from the body contain the decay products of chordate tissues, as opposed to the chitin found in arthropods. But Mikami et al, in 2023, found segmentation extending to the preoptic region, which is very different from vertebrates.  And so, the Tully monster is a genus of one.  Phylum: Incertae sedis, or problematica. An enigma.
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Bollywood Day

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  Dance is the heartbeat of Bollywood, serving as a powerful tool for storytelling, emotional expression, and cultural celebration. I found this lovely number from Devdas. The first Bollywood film was released in 1913. Director Dhundiraj Govind Phalke is considered the father of Indian cinema. The story is based on the mythological Hindu king, Harishchandra. But Sholay, from 1975, is considered the most defining movie in Bollywood history. I might need to check out some Hindi horror movies.
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