Comma comma comma conspiracy, You come and go, you come and go

I wish he would go. About 5 or 6 years ago, this wackaloon named Terry Dean, Nemmers decided I was part of a conspiracy and started dunning me, the university, random county officials, etc. with demands that I submit to him the proof that I was a perfidious scofflaw, which I’m not, making it rather difficult to hand him the evidence he wanted, since it doesn’t exist. I nick-named him Comma because of his weird punctuation, which is apparently some sovereign citizen gimmick to make him immune to legal action. I could have named him Question Mark because of his affectation of arranging all of his sentences to turn them into questions.

Anyway, he hasn’t gone away. He still cc’s me all of these demands. Conspiracy nuts just can’t let it go.

The latest incoherent screed is below the fold, just in case you wanted to marvel at his persistence. I’ve removed addresses and phone numbers — he loves to dump all that kind of information into his complaints.

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The word from on high: WEAR A MASK

Our chancellor has confirmed what I thought was obvious. We’re going to be masked up on campus from now on.

As we make plans for our fall return to campus, there have been many questions concerning the use of masks and other face coverings. In my June 5 message I shared initial guidance on this topic. Over the last several weeks, however, the research, guidance, and advice we have received from medical experts and public health officials has evolved.

We now know a simple face covering provides valuable protection against the spread of COVID-19. We know that it’s possible to carry COVID-19 with no apparent symptoms and unknowingly infect others; face coverings reduce the chance that individuals might unknowingly infect others. We also know masks and face coverings send strong visual cues reminding us all to take precautions to protect our health and the health of our neighbors, colleagues, and friends. Together, the physical protection and visual reminders provided by masks and face coverings can help us all support our community as we come back together on campus.

We know, too, that extra precautions may be appropriate in communities that have higher levels of COVID-19 spread, or risk of spread, due to larger populations, shared living environments, and other factors. We have such communities on campus and must exercise caution accordingly.

Given these developments, I am updating our earlier recommendation on the use of masks.

Effective July 1 and continuing until rescinded, all University of Minnesota students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors, service providers, vendors, and suppliers) are required to use a face covering at all times when in any enclosed or indoor space on University campuses and properties with the following exceptions:

  • When eating or drinking; however, physical distancing must be practiced.
  • In your assigned on-campus apartment or residence hall room.
  • When you are alone in a room or where a posted and official University notice indicates masks are not needed.
  • When you are alone in a motor vehicle.
  • If you are unable to wear a face covering while exercising at the Cougar Sports Center or Regional Fitness Center.
  • In labs or other places that instead require use of a respirator.
  • If you require accommodations for health or disability reasons. On the Morris campus, the Disability Resource Center and Human Resources can help identify needed accommodations.

The full face covering protocol can be found at the Return to Campus website. An extensive FAQ is also available online.

I take exception to some of the exceptions, though. There’s no reason not to wear a mask while exercising; if you have a serious respiratory problem that prevent you from wearing one, exercise outdoors. Otherwise, the fitness center is going to be a major source of problems, especially given that it is a community resource and I’ve often seen older people using, for instance, the indoor track. The “health or disability” reason is just a gaping loophole, given that so many healthy people are trying to argue that they get to be exempt from the rules. Be specific: you need an official accommodation from our health center.

Randy Rainbow was much more entertaining with the same message.

At least Mothman never owned slaves

I would support the effort by West Virginians to replace Confederate monuments with statues of Mothman.

Now Minnesota, though — we need to rethink those giant statues honoring Paul Bunyan before the environmentalists notice. I recommend more statues celebrating spiders, in every town.

Dreaming about mushrooms all night long

Yesterday, for dinner, we had mushrooms. I like mushrooms, and growing up my father was into gathering chanterelles in the cathedral-like forests of the Pacific Northwest, but I’d always sort of taken them for granted and put little thought into using them in our meals. But yesterday, on a whim, I decided to try portobello caps as yet another meat substitute, and I was blown away. I ended up having dreams about more mushrooms, which may be a weird sign that the fungus is taking over my brain.

Anyway, they were perfect, savory and with a light texture, and it’s more likely that they just tasted so darned good rather than that hyphae are infiltrating my brain stem. My recipe is easy: get some big ol’ portobello caps, put them lamellae side up on a baking sheet, and pour in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and garlic. Let ’em soak for a half hour, then bake at 450°F for half an hour. For the last 5 minutes of that, add some shredded cheese, let it get all melty, and serve directly from the oven.

Wow. It was so good. I limit my trips to the grocery store (Remember? COVID-19? It’s not over) which means I can’t go again until next weekend, but I’m definitely stocking up on more mushrooms next time.

Officer Karen was victimized by the Hamburglar

Oh, dear. I read the intro to this video and was concerned about what horrific abuse this officer of the law experienced.

Stacey who has been a cop for 15 yrs went to @McDonalds
She paid for it in advance and this is how she gets treated for being a cop. Come on America. We are better than this.

Given that cops have been pepper spraying and shooting rubber bullets with wild abandon, and have been murdering black people for years, I braced myself for some terrible and nearly equivalent atrocity experienced by this woman.

It’s a bit of a letdown.

She breaks down in tears because her Egg McMuffin was late! They didn’t get part of her order to her in a timely fashion! OH THE HUMANITY!

Conservative wackaloons are all over this example of gross injustice. “We are better than this”, sure…then have some sympathy for the minimum wage, stressed out service worker who didn’t get a McMuffin to a cop fast enough.

By the way, you always pay for it in advance. That’s the way the drive up window works at McDonalds: first you pay at one window, then you drive up to a second window to get your food. If there’s a delay in your order they send you to a spot to park for a bit so you don’t hold up the line. That’s not a special punishment for cops only.

Snowflakes. They’re all snowflakes.

A baffling philosophical question

A reader asks me a philosophy question. I’m not a philosopher, and if I were, I’d probably be a bad one.

I am aware from your blog Pharyngula that you are a materialist when it comes to the issue of consciousness, and that you feel that neuroscience and physIcal processes are enough to explain consciousness. But I have a question for you about your views regarding this.

There is one very puzzling aspect of consciousness which I have always puzzled over; and that is the very perplexing question of why, out of the numerous consciousnesses existing in the universe at all places and all time periods, the consciousness of this particular individual is the only one that is actually ME. A common way this question is often phrased is “Why am I me and not someone else?” The philosopher Benj Hellie calls it the vertiginous question, and he puts it like this: “Of all the subjects of experience out there, why is this one — the one corresponding to the human being referred to as Benj Hellie (substitute yourself for him) — the one whose experiences are actually live (i.e., present, or available, or currently being experienced).

It seems to me like this is a perplexing question regardless of whether materialism or dualism is true, because either way, it seems equally irresolvable. If materialism is true, you can ask “Why am I this brain and not some other brain?”, and if dualism is true, you can ask “Why am I this soul and not some other soul?” Neither option provides any more of an answer than the other. So it seems this question is separate from, and neutral with regard to, the whole materialism vs. dualism question.

So do you have any ideas on how this very puzzling mystery could possibly be explained?

Thank you, and good luck with your blog and everything else!

I know nothing of Benj Hellie and have never read anything by him. I don’t even understand the question, which may be why I don’t find it “puzzling” or “perplexing”. As a materialist, my consciousness and sense of self is entirely local, a product of the physical properties of my brain. I wouldn’t hold up a rock and ask, “Why is this rock this rock, and not that other rock?” I don’t think objects are interchangeable, therefore selves are not interchangeable.

I must be missing something, because the question just looks stupid to a materialist and doesn’t seem to resolve anything about dualism. Maybe someone out there can find something that makes sense of it.

Lazy day on the Pomme de Terre

After making a bunch of spider cages, I spent the rest of the day slackin’. The sun was shining! There was a nice breeze! We looked for spiders! Also, I dusted off the ol’ drone and tried to remember how to fly the stupid thing, so I threw together a few clips of Pomme de Terre park. Yes, it’s a real river. Yes, it’s French for “potato”. It’s pretty!

It’s centered on the Gazebo, and I buzzed a few pelicans. Mainly, you can see what my part of the country looks like.

Work!!?!

We’re in the midst of spider season, and Mary has been finding every Parasteatoda that pokes its adorable little fangs out in the garage, so I’m running out of spider cages. I’m going to have to spend a few hours this morning with a glue gun building more, so I guess I’m going to have to go into work for a while this morning executing my weirdly specific and not at all marketable skills building happy wooden climbing structures for spiders. I’ll be back later this morning!