Automated updates: 2021-11-25

2021-11-25 17:25:05 -05:00 · 2021-11-25 17:25:05 -05:00 · 0c2c26ba95
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@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ tags: [history, philosophy, politics]
 summary: Insufficient thoughts on a critical issue
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-Fair warning, my original plan for this post was to talk about the tensions between the Enlightenment intellectual movement and the Romantic artistic movement, how the world jumped from taking totalitarianism as an article of faith (sometimes literally) to a world that scoffs at royalty in a couple hundred years, and why it feels like we keep sliding back to the Dark Ages even though things are getting better.
+Fair warning, my original plan for this post was to talk about the tensions between the Enlightenment intellectual movement and the Romantic artistic movement, how the world jumped from taking totalitarianism as an article of faith (sometimes literally) to a world that largely scoffs at royalty in just a couple of centuries, and why it feels like we keep sliding back to the Dark Ages even though things are getting better.
 Then a digression started taking over the direction, and it made much more sense to postpone the original plan to go in a direction that's more current.
@ -19,15 +20,15 @@ So be aware before we get going, here:  This post is going to need to deal with
 The brief digression was about Thomas Jefferson's support for slavery getting lumped in with his talk about equality, and that hypocrisy wasn't just him and hasn't ended with him, as [just](https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/28/cops-hold-black-man-gunpoint-shove-grandmother-traffic-stop-12771665/) [this](https://www.vox.com/2020/5/26/21270699/amy-cooper-franklin-templeton-christian-central-park) [week](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/19/think-trump-and-republicans-wouldnt-try-cancel-election-look-what-gop-georgia-just) [has](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/20/he-doesnt-want-you-vote-trump-threatens-block-funding-michigan-sending-absentee) [made](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/22/yet-another-dogwhistle-white-nationalists-jewish-advocacy-group-denounces-good) [abundantly](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/26/they-killed-man-video-shows-minneapolis-cop-kneeling-black-mans-neck-onlookers-warn) [clear](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/27/disgusting-display-police-fire-rubber-bullets-stun-grenades-and-tear-gas).  (Apologies that the articles couldn't all be under Free Culture licenses.)  And once I re-read those stories, I realized that there was a more important conversation to have.
-That ignores the older---but still ongoing---stories of Ahmaud Arbery's murder in Georgia, Stephon Scott's brutal arrest in Brooklyn for not wearing a mask and threatening observers, and EMT Breonna Taylor shot eight times in Kentucky during a no-knock warrant while her boyfriend Kenneth Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer for trying to stop them.  It ignores any stories that might have transpired since Thursday, since the reports are starting to blend together.  It's just a sampling of the stories that have gained national attention because the victims' families or lawyers were media savvy, rather than a complete picture.  And ignores the ongoing nightmare of how we treat asylum-seekers that's made worse by a pandemic.  It also ignores both LGBT issues ([Pride Month](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_Pride_Month) starts tomorrow) and anyplace that isn't the United States.
+That ignores the older---but still ongoing---stories of Ahmaud Arbery's murder in Georgia, Stephon Scott's brutal arrest in Brooklyn for not wearing a mask and threatening observers, and EMT Breonna Taylor shot eight times in Kentucky during a no-knock warrant while her boyfriend Kenneth Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer for trying to stop them.  It ignores any stories that might have transpired since Thursday, since the reports are starting to blend together.  It's just a sampling of the stories that have gained national attention because the victims' families or lawyers were media savvy, rather than a complete picture.  And it ignores the ongoing nightmare of how we treat asylum-seekers that's made worse by a pandemic.  It also ignores both LGBT issues ([Pride Month](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_Pride_Month) starts tomorrow) and anyplace that isn't the United States.
-In other words, it's a lot.  But it's only a lot of *news*, I realize, and for a lot of communities, the difference between this week and other weeks is only that people like me see and hear enough to say "that's a shame" before going back to arguing over our favorite movie directors or whatever it is normal people do.
+In other words, it's a lot.  But it's only a lot of *news*, I realize, and for a lot of communities, the difference between this week and other weeks is only that people like me see and hear enough to say "that's a shame" before going back to arguing over our favorite movie directors or whatever it is that normal people do.
 The upshot is that I want to talk about the problems with policing, how it got that way, and what we *might* be able to---ideally---fix it.
 ## Disclaimer
-As I mentioned when I talked about gathering [African American literature]({% post_url 2020-02-09-afam-lit %}) in the public domain back in February, I'm *just* a white guy with a lot of privilege and not much power.  So, I'm going to put my foot in my mouth.  I'm not asking any of my black friends and acquaintances to validate this, partly because we (white people) need to start standing on our own on these issues and partly because they have enough on their emotional plates, just now, that they shouldn't be asked to set me straight.
+As I mentioned when I talked about gathering [African American literature]({% post_url 2020-02-09-afam-lit %}) in the public domain back in February, I'm *just* a white guy with a lot of privilege and not much power.  So, I'm going to put my foot in my mouth.  I'm not asking any of my black friends and acquaintances to validate this, partly because we (white people) need to start standing on our own on these issues, and partly because they have enough on their emotional plates, just now, that they shouldn't be called on to set me straight.
 Which is all to say that I apologize now for anything that I will inevitably overlook.  Especially if I enter territory that intersects with your life and get it wrong and have the capacity for it, I invite you correct me as strenuously as you please.  But if you don't have the capacity for it now, please forgive the error, if not me.
@ -37,21 +38,21 @@ However, if you want to tell me about "black on black crime" or some big company
 To get a sense of how we got to where we are, we're going to need to quickly review the background.  Modern policing, particularly in the United States, has no fewer than *three* origin stories, all terrible on a level that would be hilarious if it wasn't killing people.
-The version most histories like to use is [Patrick Colquhoun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Colquhoun) spending a small fortune to protect West Indies merchants from robberies in the face of a population decrying police officers as a foreign idea, because that sounds reasonable and legitimate, and Patrick doesn't sound like a danger to society.  However, taking a step back and actually thinking about the terms used, this is a worry about the fruits of slave labor being taken from exploiters by poor people.  Also, one of his goals was "preventive policing," which basically means being as intimidating as possible so that criminals just go elsewhere, bringing us to "[banana in your ear]({% post_url 2020-03-15-banana %})" territory.  So, as stories go, it's not spectacular, since it means that Colquhoun spent money to keep two groups of people oppressed.
+The version most histories like to use is [Patrick Colquhoun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Colquhoun) spending a small fortune to protect West Indies merchants from robberies in the face of a population decrying police officers as a foreign idea, because that sounds reasonable and legitimate, and Patrick doesn't sound like a danger to society.  However, taking a step back and actually thinking about the terms used, this is a worry about the fruits of slave labor being taken from wealthy exploiters by poor people.  Also, one of his goals was "preventive policing," which basically means being as intimidating as possible so that criminals just go elsewhere, bringing us to "[banana in your ear]({% post_url 2020-03-15-banana %})" territory.  So, as stories go, it's not spectacular, since it means that Colquhoun spent money to keep two groups of people oppressed.
 {% pull an arm of the occupation of Ireland whose primary goal was to suppress uprisings|left %}
-Next, we get to [Robert Peel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peel), whose name is *far* easier to type (and is where the British get the term "Bobby"), and is often credited as the father of modern policing.  Peel created his vision of a police force in the [Royal Irish Constabulary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Irish_Constabulary), an arm of the occupation of Ireland whose primary goal was to suppress uprisings, and was largely considered to free up the military to fight overseas.  Back in London, he changed his tune to recommend what are now called the nine [Peelian principles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles) for the new metropolitan force there, but never showed an interest for extending those principles to the Irish force.
+Next, we get to [Robert Peel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peel), whose name is *far* easier to type---it's allegedly where the British get the term "Bobby"---and who is often credited as the father of modern policing.  Peel created his vision of a police force in the [Royal Irish Constabulary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Irish_Constabulary), an arm of the occupation of Ireland whose primary goal was to suppress uprisings, and was largely developed in order to free up the military to fight overseas.  Back in London, he changed his tune to recommend what are now called the nine [Peelian principles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles) for the new metropolitan force there, but never showed an interest for extending those principles to the Irish force.
-And then we get to the United States, which took another decade or two to start formalizing police operations.  Here, we used local conscription systems to form neighborhood watches, with rich people often hiring criminals to take their places in the rotations.  The United States also had large numbers of [slave patrols](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_patrol) organized along similar lines to recapture escaped slaves, and the [Mounted Guards](https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/history) (and their predecessors)---who would eventually become the Border Patrol---were mostly-official groups whose goals were to stop Chinese people from immigrating into the country.  Those threads converged on what are now modern police forces.  (Non-Free Culture reading with other references can be found at [this Snopes article](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-origins-of-policing-in-the-united-states/).
+And then we get to the United States, which took another decade or two to start formalizing police operations.  Here, we used local conscription systems to form neighborhood watches, with rich people often hiring criminals to take their places in the rotations.  The United States also had large numbers of [slave patrols](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_patrol) organized along similar lines to recapture escaped slaves, and the [Mounted Guards](https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/history) and their predecessors---who would eventually become the Border Patrol---were mostly-official groups whose goals were to stop Chinese people from immigrating into the country.  Those threads converged on what are now modern police forces.  Non-Free Culture reading with other references can be found at [this Snopes article](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-origins-of-policing-in-the-united-states/).
 And one of the most famous uses of American police forces in the early days?  [Preventing the formation of unions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the_United_States#Union_busting_with_police_and_military_force) and other physical attacks on people striking for better conditions.
 {% pull protecting the exploitation of black and poor people, violently putting down protests...and preventing our ancestors from being able to work in safe environments %}
-So, the forerunners of the ex-officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes on camera and the current officers who sprayed tear gas on crowds who wanted to express their dissatisfaction with not treating that as obvious murder include groups dedicated to protecting the exploitation of black and poor people, violently putting down protests, hunting down black men who opted not to be property, preventing Chinese people from seeking a better life, and violently preventing our ancestors from being able to work in safe environments, not to mention the corrupt neighborhood watches.
+So, the forerunners of the ex-officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes on camera, and the current officers who sprayed tear gas on crowds who wanted to express their dissatisfaction with not treating that as obvious murder, include groups dedicated to protecting the exploitation of black and poor people, violently putting down protests, hunting down black men who opted not to be property, preventing Chinese people from seeking a better life, and violently preventing our ancestors from being able to work in safe environments, not to mention the corrupt neighborhood watches.
-Gosh, however could we have *possibly* ended up in this position?  Who could have predicted that policing might treat poor people as an enemy to be defeated? 🤷 If only there were signs...
+Gosh, however could we have *possibly* ended up in this position?  Who could have predicted that policing might treat disadvantaged people as an enemy to be defeated? 🤷 If only there were signs...
 ## Today
@ -103,15 +104,15 @@ That all assumes that you must call these "riots" at all.  The word "riot" impli
 So, I'm willing to call the destroyed retail outlets "collateral damage"---all covered by insurance, to boot---since these protesters (*particularly* the black people out there) are facing overwhelming risks just to petition the government to take the taking of a black man's life seriously.
-Anything less is saying that "black lives matter, but not as much as Wells Fargo's profit margins."  And don't even get me started on Wells Fargo's years of non-stop scandals!
+Anything less is saying that "black lives matter, but not as much as Wells Fargo's profit margins."  And don't even get me started on [Wells Fargo's years of non-stop scandals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Fargo#Lawsuits,_fines_and_controversies), which often includes an attempt to target Black people!
-Speaking of people who think lives matter less than inanimate objects, Louis de Bourbon, Duc d’Anjou, heir to [Louis XVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI_of_France)---whose half-hearted liberalization of France led to a backlash by the aristocracy, precipitating the French Revolution---took to Twitter [yesterday](https://twitter.com/louisducdanjou/status/1266578058452054016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) to...complain that his ancestor's statue was vandalized by protesters.
+Speaking of people who think lives matter less than inanimate objects, Louis de Bourbon, Duc d’Anjou, heir to [Louis XVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI_of_France)---whose half-hearted liberalization of France led to a backlash by the aristocracy, in turn precipitating the French Revolution---took to Twitter [yesterday](https://twitter.com/louisducdanjou/status/1266578058452054016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) to...complain that his ancestor's statue was vandalized by protesters.
 My point is that, sure, rioting is bad, but the property damage is by far the least-significant issue, here.  The damage done to the Target store will be forgotten in a month, but people will absolutely remember whether the officers who allowed George Floyd to be killed were brought to justice for years to come.
 {% pull also disputed the existence of the novel coronavirus even though it's also a National Emergency, the "two big words" %}
-Also, at the current time, it looks a lot like most of the violence came from [white supremacists](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/george-floyd-death-minneapolis-protests-live-updates-n1217886/ncrd1219396#blogHeader) deciding to use the protests to spark a [second civil war](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/they-want-their-civil-war-far-right-boogaloo-militants-embedded-themselves-in-the-george-floyd-protests-in-minneapolis/).  Republicans are disputing this and blaming anti-Fascist groups, of course, but these are the same people who also disputed the existence of the [novel coronavirus](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/trump-says-the-coronavirus-is-the-democrats-new-hoax.html) (even though it's also a National Emergency, the "two big words"), impeachment, and [Russia's interference in the 2016 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections), but keep insisting there's widespread voter fraud despite [never finding any](https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud), so...they're *probably* incorrect, here.
+Also, at the current time, it looks a lot like most of the violence came from [white supremacists](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/george-floyd-death-minneapolis-protests-live-updates-n1217886/ncrd1219396#blogHeader) deciding to use the protests to spark a [second civil war](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/they-want-their-civil-war-far-right-boogaloo-militants-embedded-themselves-in-the-george-floyd-protests-in-minneapolis/).  Republicans dispute this, of course, and blame anti-Fascist groups, of course, but these are the same people who also disputed the existence of the [novel coronavirus](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/trump-says-the-coronavirus-is-the-democrats-new-hoax.html)---even though it's also a National Emergency, the "two big words"---impeachment, and [Russia's interference in the 2016 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections), but keep insisting there's widespread voter fraud despite [never finding any](https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud), so...they're *probably* incorrect, here, too.
 ## OK, So What...?
@ -123,10 +124,10 @@ Keeping in mind that there's no chance whatsoever of actually "fixing" policing
 To try to get anywhere on this, I'm going to make the assumption that what we *want* out of policing is to:
- * Minimize violent crime and other actions that pose a risk to others, such as driving while intoxicated,
+ * Minimize violent crime and other actions that pose a risk to others, such as driving while intoxicated, and
- * Get the accused to trial in a way that is safe for both the defendant and the public,
+ * Deliver the accused to trial in a way that is safe for both the defendant and the public.
-I realize that it *might* be controversial to not include theft or property damage, but I'm going to imagine for now that those are a matter of civil law, and mostly handled by insurance and private security, depending on the nature of the property.  But more importantly, property-related crimes are inherently less important, so figuring out what to do with them later seems justified.
+I realize that it *might* be controversial to not include theft or property damage, but I'm going to imagine for now that those are a matter of civil law, and mostly handled by insurance and private security---just like the legal system handles such issues in the corporate world---depending on the nature of the property.  But more importantly, property-related crimes are inherently less important, so figuring out what to do with them later seems justified.
 We might also think about what we *don't* want police officers to do.
@ -173,13 +174,13 @@ Off the top, we can chop apart the Peelian Principles, since some of them are ou
 {% pull authoritarians often imagine that aggressive use of power is mutual respect %}
-The first, for example, in stating that policing is an alternative to legal punishment, suggests that it is the job of the police to either dish out punishment or merely intimidate potential criminals into doing something else with their time.  So, we can probably strike that out and just take for granted that a civilian police force isn't the military.  The "secure and maintain public respect" items are ambiguous, since authoritarians often imagine that aggressive use of power is mutual respect.  Those of you with abusive people in your lives will probably notice that they rant about whether people respect them frequently.
+The first, for example, in stating that policing is an alternative to legal punishment, suggests that it is the job of the police to either mete out punishment or merely intimidate potential criminals into doing something else with their time.  So, we can probably strike that out and just take for granted that a civilian police force isn't the military.  The "secure and maintain public respect" items are ambiguous, since authoritarians often imagine that aggressive use of power is mutual respect.  Those of you with abusive people in your lives will probably notice that they rant about whether people respect them, frequently.
 The fifth principle is somewhat useful (the path to respect), but by explicitly decoupling policing from justice, it fails.  And the remaining four principles are really the core improvements.  What we're left with is a vision of a force that prioritizes interceding in crimes and potentially offering the accused an opportunity to make the victim whole, which is at least a start.
 {% pull limit violence and isolation|left %}
-We can extend this to deal with some of the root causes of crime.  Through decriminalization and mandatory deescalation, we can reduce the impact of shame.  Deescalation would also limit violence and isolation.  The same goes for over-policing of non-white neighborhoods, so let's imagine a space where everybody's neighborhood is policed like mine, going hand-in-hand with decriminalization.
+We can extend this to deal at least partly with the root causes of crime.  Through decriminalization and mandatory deescalation, we can reduce the impact of shame.  Deescalation would also limit violence and isolation.  The same goes for over-policing of non-white neighborhoods, so let's imagine a space where everybody's neighborhood is policed like mine, going hand-in-hand with decriminalization.
 However, we can also go a few steps further.
@ -189,15 +190,15 @@ Right now, most police academies measure their training duration in weeks.  That
 Oh, but one thing that absolutely needs to happen?  When an officer kills an unarmed suspect, the department needs to arrest that officer immediately, making every step of the investigation and (if it gets there) trial public, to show the community that the police protect them *even from fellow officers*.  Every refusal to do so---or worse, waiting for nationwide protests to do so---loses the respect of the community and shows that the department has no interest in applying the law equally.
-Like I said, these are just thoughts to build on.  If I had answers (apart from that last one, that seems obvious), I'd be out building a lobbying organization instead of just blogging.
+Like I said, these are just thoughts to build on.  If I had answers---apart from that last one, which seems obvious---I'd be out building a lobbying organization instead of just blogging about the topic.
 ## Beyond Policing
 Law enforcement is obviously only a small part of this problem.  We need a social safety net that makes poverty more of an administrative difference than a matter of life and death.  We need to change the prosecutorial system to keep the courts from steamrolling vulnerable people who merely "seem" guilty.  We need a more open society, where people don't need to feel shame for their abused backgrounds, homelessness, mental illness, psychological impairments, poverty, or pretty much anything that isn't a desire to see people harmed.  We need to stop glorifying violence, too.
-All of those will reduce crime, lightening the load on the police force, so that they don't feel as if they're under siege and can focus on helping their communities.
+All of those will reduce crime, in turn lightening the load on the police force, so that they don't feel as if they're under siege and can focus on helping their communities.
-It's all an intimidating amount of work, but the alternative is living in a world where policies are dictated by the needs of slave-owners, strike-busters, and oppressive regimes, and that's not acceptable.
+It's all an intimidating amount of work, but the alternative is living in a world where policies are dictated by the needs of slave-owners, strike-busters, and oppressive regimes from more than a century ago, and that's just not acceptable.
 * * *
--- a/2020-12-26-biodigital.md
+++ b/2020-12-26-biodigital.md
@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ tags: [freeculture, bookclub]
 summary: Discussing Biodigital
 thumbnail: /blog/assets/biodigital-cover.png
 offset: -31%
 proofed: true
 ---
 This week, our [Free Culture Book Club]({% post_url 2020-05-02-freeculture %}) reads **Biodigital**, a novel.
@ -74,8 +75,8 @@ In other words, just because the author is proud of his "Dijjy-Mike" nickname do
 Next week, we'll continue reading **Biodigital**, chapters 14 through 26.
-While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about **Pepper & Carrot**?
+While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about this first chunk of **Biodigital**?
 * * *
-**Credits**:  The header image extracted from the book's cover.
+**Credits**:  The header image has been extracted from the book's cover.
--- a/2021-01-02-biodigital2.md
+++ b/2021-01-02-biodigital2.md
@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ summary: Continuing the discussion of Biodigital
 thumbnail: /blog/assets/biodigital-cover.png
 offset: -31%
 update: 2020-12-26-biodigital.md
 proofed: true
 ---
 This week, our [Free Culture Book Club]({% post_url 2020-05-02-freeculture %}) continues to read **Biodigital**, a novel.
@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ The most straightforward support would be to kick in a couple of dollars [at ung
 It was mentioned in the first part, obviously, but Hoff-Zeigy, the shady multinational pharmaceutical corporation that's making inroads in broader biotechnology is probably useful, somewhere.
-Bartlett also invented a mouse-USB port that...cures diseases?  And a fake museum of one-off technology.
+Bartlett also invented a rodent-to-USB port that...cures diseases?  And a fake museum of one-off technology.
 There are new characters, of course, but they strike me as just tools to move the plot forward, rather than personalities.  However, we are starting to see the shape of the transhumanist cult.
@ -81,4 +82,4 @@ While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about this section of **B
 * * *
-**Credits**:  The header image was extracted from the book's cover.
+**Credits**:  The header image has been extracted from the book's cover.
--- a/2021-01-09-biodigital3.md
+++ b/2021-01-09-biodigital3.md
@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ update: [
  2020-12-26-biodigital.md,
  2021-01-02-biodigital2.md
 ]
 proofed: true
 ---
 This week, our [Free Culture Book Club]({% post_url 2020-05-02-freeculture %}) continues to read **Biodigital**, a novel.
@ -50,11 +51,11 @@ I started out the book not hating Bartlett, since she was the only one not compl
 > He exuded an unadorned masculinity that she found---contrary to her wishes, if not her expectation---to be almost overpoweringly sexually attractive.
-Even her sexual fantasies are just about complimenting the man.  Compare that pseudo-sexuality to Nick getting paragraphs to muse on the size of his erection or his sexual satisfaction.  And speaking of *that* incident, I mention it in the content advisories at the top, but the "have sex with me or I'll have you arrested for sexual assault" plot and then spending time trying to make that sexy and fun should be unacceptable.
+Even her sexual fantasies are just about complimenting the man.  Compare that pseudo-sexuality to Nick getting paragraphs to muse on the size of his erection or his sexual satisfaction.  And speaking of *that* incident, I mention it in the content advisories at the top, but the "have sex with me, or I'll have you arrested for sexual assault" plot, and then spending time trying to make that sexy and fun should be unacceptable.
-The introduction of Jake means a return to the "managers are gross and the only people who can be trusted to *real work*" rhetoric (followed immediately by the *real workers* jumping to follow unethical orders) and technobabble.  Along similar lines, Nick undermines any claims about his massive expertise in his dismissal of [*As We May Think*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_We_May_Think).
+The introduction of Jake means a return to the "managers are gross and the only people who can be trusted to *real work* are *real workers*" rhetoric (followed immediately by the *real workers* jumping to follow unethical orders) and technobabble.  Along similar lines, Nick undermines any claims about his massive expertise in his dismissal of [*As We May Think*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_We_May_Think).
-We also have several lengthy chapters, in this section, where people catch up on everything they've learned, so that the other person can pretend to not be interested.  Similarly, plenty of characters die off-screen, where we're informed with a phone call, and an extended action scene that seems more inspired by Looney Tunes than a real fight or action movies, not helped by the sudden obsession with the offensive term "she-bitch."
+We also have several lengthy chapters, in this section, where people catch up on everything they've learned, so that the other person can pretend to not be interested.  Similarly, plenty of characters die off-screen, where we're informed with a phone call, and an extended action scene that seems more inspired by Looney Tunes than a real fight or action movies, not helped by the sudden obsession with the misogynist term "she-bitch."
 And Nick...I think I finally figured out my problem with Nick.  He and the overall narrative are convinced that he's the hero, but he's really just stumbling through the obstacle course set up in front of him.  There's no reason to care about his success, because he doesn't care enough to take any actions to further any goals.
@ -78,4 +79,4 @@ While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about this section of **B
 * * *
-**Credits**:  The header image extracted from the book's cover.
+**Credits**:  The header image has been extracted from the book's cover.
--- a/2021-01-16-biodigital4.md
+++ b/2021-01-16-biodigital4.md
@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ update: [
  2021-01-02-biodigital2.md,
  2021-01-09-biodigital3.md
 ]
 proofed: true
 ---
 This week, our [Free Culture Book Club]({% post_url 2020-05-02-freeculture %}) continues to read **Biodigital**, a novel.
@ -49,9 +50,9 @@ As I've mentioned seemingly too many times, this book is definitely not written
 I dislike Nick enough that even the vague promise of eliminating him---even a promise that almost certainly won't be fulfilled, since the author clearly has a personal attachment to the character---is pleasing.
-More seriously, though, as we near the end of the book, we finally explicitly have the plot.  And as Millennialist science fiction plots go, the creation of a hive mind with a tech company CEO controlling everything is basically credible, in that it doesn't take much to imagine a Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk letting it slip in an interview.  And the protagonists actually put together something resembling a plan to stop it.
+More seriously, though, as we near the end of the book, we finally explicitly have the plot.  And as Millennialist science fiction plots go, the creation of a hive mind with a tech company CEO controlling everything is basically credible, in that it doesn't take much to imagine someone with the cultural status of a Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk letting it slip in an interview.  And the protagonists actually put together something resembling a plan to stop it.
-More than the other sections---and yes, I'm including this as positive---these chapters could probably benefit most from a rewrite.  The structure of a good story is there, and I think shifting around what's shown versus what's simply relayed, while allowing certain other aspects to be inferred by the reader, could make this more of a thriller.  In particular, the teen science camp is central to the story, but we never *experience* it, just get several descriptions of it, decades later.
+More than the other sections---and yes, I'm including this as positive---these chapters could probably benefit most from a rewrite.  The structure of a compelling story is here, and I think shifting around what's shown versus what's simply relayed, while allowing certain other aspects to be inferred by the reader, could make this more of a thriller.  In particular, the teen science camp is central to the story, but we never *experience* it, just get several descriptions of it, decades later.
 And back to pettiness, I'm extremely happy that I can't remember one "Dijjy-Mike" stuffed into the text for thirteen chapters.  Small favors, and all that...
@ -63,13 +64,13 @@ And again, we're subjected to entire chapters of information that we've already
 > Killed kali. So, they didn’t kill Casey, but they did kill Kali. Presumably she meant the chip in the Bonehead Computer Museum.
-It's not the great detective work it might sound like, to have a character figure out that "Kali" might mean the *only* Kali actually mentioned in and mentioned repeatedly throughout the book and that Casey is obsessed with, including showing its destruction.  And while I mentioned earlier that the plot finally comes together, it comes together entirely through lengthy exposition from Judith Knight---a character who seems to only exist to deliver this exposition---often reviewing scenes we've already read, and most of it (like the example cited above) seems to just be for Nick to have an opportunity to repeat a fact that he *also* learned in a previous chapter.  The repeated exposition might not be so bad, except that we also have chapters events (usually involving Casey) are skipped with a note that they were interesting.
+It's not the great detective work it might sound like, to have a character figure out that "Kali" might mean the *only* Kali actually mentioned in and mentioned repeatedly throughout the book and that Casey is obsessed with, including showing its destruction.  And while I mentioned earlier that the plot finally comes together, it comes together entirely through lengthy exposition from Judith Knight---a character who seems to only exist to deliver this exposition---often reviewing scenes we've already read, and most of it (like the example cited above) seems to just be for Nick to have an opportunity to repeat a fact that he *also* learned in a previous chapter.  The repeated exposition might not be so bad, except that we also have chapters where events (usually involving Casey) are skipped with a note that they were interesting.
 This may be a matter of taste, but I find it implausible that the first scene of the book was Nick renovating a cabin at his childhood Bible camp with the Second Swedish Baptist Church of Oneonta, just sitting abandoned for him to use.  He also prides himself on sealing "his" cabin against intruders...then goes on to open it with a crowbar---sorry, with "brute force and intelligent use of the fulcrum principle," which I'm sure is much more sophisticated.  Everything there is also "impossibly" this or "miraculously" that, as we hit peak-adverb.
 This is also a scene where Nick keeps interrupting to mansplain things to Judith that she definitely already knows, then turns around to lecture Casey (Todd's maybe-girlfriend and former work-partner) about it being bad for her to interrupt with information.  And I don't *think* it's meant to be ironic in any way, since Nick is just allowed to be right.  It doesn't help that Casey is actually right (even if several of her snide remarks are open bigotry) that Judith is taking too long with the extremely obvious history lesson when lives are literally at stake.
-Bartlett also suddenly reveals herself to be a complete buffoon, in this section.  She's still pining for Nick and Paul, of course, and endlessly regrets leaving Nick, somehow.  But she also takes three paragraphs to muse on how she couldn't ever have possibly known that the brain-controlling device that she has been developing (the mouse with the USB port) could be used to control brains...and then goes through the list of people who outright warned her.  And then she goes back to hating herself for leaving Nick, and I'm increasingly convinced that Aubrey is the fantasy version of someone in the author's life who he wishes wanted him back.  Her company doesn't have off-site backups of their word-changing science, either, so I assume not thinking things through is a valued trait in an employee.  And unlike Casey's "I assure you that breaking into the building was exciting" scene, we go through every tedious step of Bartlett destroying material, even repeating the freezer temperature.
+Bartlett also suddenly reveals herself to be a complete buffoon, in this section.  She's still pining for Nick and Paul, of course, and endlessly regrets leaving Nick, somehow.  But she also takes three paragraphs to muse on how she couldn't ever have possibly known that the brain-controlling device that she has been developing (the mouse with the USB port) could be used to control brains...and then goes through the list of people who outright warned her.  And then she goes back to hating herself for leaving Nick, and I'm increasingly convinced that Aubrey is the fantasy version of someone in the author's life who he wishes wanted him back.  Her company doesn't have off-site backups of their world-changing science, either, so I assume not thinking things through is a valued trait in an employee.  And unlike Casey's "I assure you that breaking into the building was exciting" scene, we go through every tedious step of Bartlett destroying material, even repeating the freezer temperature.
 ## Opportunities
@ -91,4 +92,4 @@ While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about this section of **B
 * * *
-**Credits**:  The header image extracted from the book's cover.
+**Credits**:  The header image has been extracted from the book's cover.
--- a/2021-01-23-biodigital5.md
+++ b/2021-01-23-biodigital5.md
@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ update: [
  2021-01-09-biodigital3.md,
  2021-01-16-biodigital4.md
 ]
 proofed: true
 ---
 This week, our [Free Culture Book Club]({% post_url 2020-05-02-freeculture %}) continues to read **Biodigital**, a novel.
@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ If you haven't read it, you can download the ePub or Mobi editions at the Unglue
 In the hind end of the book, I'll make one last charitable comparison to Stephenson's **The Cryptonomicon**:  If you liked the extensive discussion of an encryption cipher based on a deck of cards there, you'll probably love Todd writing his microprocessor notes in code based on an old album, here.
-I appreciate the mention that the Digital Microsystems chip fabricators, being unionized, are "sane," and unlikely to get in their way after hours.  It's a nice enough shout-out to unions that I'm not even going to figure out how likely it would be for a large company to use organized labor in Boston for microprocessor fabrication when the book is taking place.
+I appreciate the mention that the Digital Microsystems chip fabricators, being unionized, are "sane," and unlikely to get in their way after hours.  It's a nice enough shout-out to unions that I'm not even going to investigate how likely it would be for a large company to use organized labor in Boston for microprocessor fabrication when the book takes place.
 The big win, here, is almost certainly that the story has finally become relatively brisk, with far fewer redundancies or what have amounted to being meaningless digressions.
@ -56,13 +57,13 @@ Bartlett starts this section with---I kid you not---"confusion in her addled nog
 Less racist, but just as artificial and pointlessly overwrought, is the "banter" between Nick and Jake, trying to convince us of their masculinity.  It's obviously supposed to be the moment where we realize how great Jake is, but the whole thing is just posturing by "commando" cosplayers, which turns into more annoying posturing with Casey...after he successfully hides from "hardcore spooks" for hours by standing in a chemical toilet booth, because I guess that's not someplace they'd look.
-Speaking of Casey, we also have a repeat of "some great stuff happened, but Casey was involved, so it doesn't really matter, except to tell us that they're dumb enough to strip their clothes off before wearing clean-room suits, decided to do so inches from each other, and find a nipple brushing forearm hair to be sexy.  I'm still trying to figure out why anybody (other than the author) is interested in Nick, though, so maybe I'm also out of the loop on the nipple-on-forearm fetish.
+Speaking of Casey, we also have a repeat of "some great stuff happened, but Casey was involved, so it doesn't really matter," except to tell us that they're dumb enough to strip their clothes off before wearing clean-room suits, decided to do so inches from each other, and find a nipple brushing forearm hair to be sexy.  I'm still trying to figure out why anybody (other than the author) is interested in Nick, though, so maybe I'm also out of the loop on the nipple-on-forearm fetish.
 A lot in this book has (obviously) annoyed me, and I was *going* to quip, at some point, that the people who insist on awkwardly referring to "Dijjy-Mike" are probably the same sorts of self-satisfied pundits who think it's *hilarious* to talk about "Micro$oft Windoze," and then we get a reference to a "clunky Windoze machine" and another reference to "Dijjy-Mike" in the same chapter.  I shouldn't be spotting the joke dozens of chapters away.  We get another run on criticizing someone's ability to tell a story concisely, too, which...was the book written with *no* self-awareness?  It seems unfair to have a character complain about having to read forty pages, when this book would come out to more than ten times that to tell *exactly the same story*.
 Then, the ending basically becomes a cartoon, with Nick acting like a sociopath, trying out stock one-liners to threaten people, until Monty "mutates" into an animalistic form, as if altering DNA---in a book that seems to pride itself on being written for people in science and technology jobs, no less---retroactively changes the body that was built.
-Finally, the epilogue is a mess of colonialist tropes, Nick being given the identity of a Black man, so that he can be a millionaire running a farm with Bartlett, because nobody thinks he might need to face the consequences of multiple murders or clear his name of the other nonsense.  It's all basically in service to a "the software industry is too stressful" punchline, because they want life to be better in "primitive" surroundings, which is more than a bit offensive.  And that's kind of a weird stereotype to pin the story on, since Senegal has been growing as a technology center for a while.
+Finally, the epilogue is a mess of colonialist tropes, Nick being given the identity of a Black man, so that he can be a millionaire running a farm with Bartlett, because nobody thinks he might need to face the consequences of multiple murders or clear his name of the other nonsense.  It's all basically in service to a "the software industry is too stressful" punchline, because they want life to be better in "primitive" surroundings, which is more than a bit offensive.  And that's kind of a weird stereotype to pin the story on, since Senegal in particular has been growing as a technology center for a while.
 ## Opportunities
@ -78,8 +79,8 @@ It's a reach, but there's potentially also the emerging hive mind without Monty
 Now that we're done with **Biodigital**, we'll read **Continuity Drift**, a science-fiction web comic.
-While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about this section of **Biodigital**?
+While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about the ending of **Biodigital**?
 * * *
-**Credits**:  The header image extracted from the book's cover.
+**Credits**:  The header image has been extracted from the book's cover.
--- a/2021-09-05-roe.md
+++ b/2021-09-05-roe.md
@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ tags: [rant, harm]
 summary: Two wrong Supreme Court decisions don't make a right
 thumbnail: /blog/assets/animal-cute-pet-fur-fluffy-kitten-1221758-pxhere.com.png
 offset: -26%
 proofed: true
 ---
 As a quick note, I originally intended to just sneak this in to the upcoming [**Entropy Arbitrage** newsletter](https://entropy-arbitrage.mailchimpsites.com/) for September.  However, the timeliness and the length made saving it for e-mail seem like a waste.  Plus, I wrote an entire post about how those of us with platforms need to [use those platforms to speak out]({% post_url 2021-06-06-do-work %}) about this exact issue.  That all probably also explains why it's not an early morning post, like on most Sundays.
@ -45,22 +46,22 @@ We can look at this right-wing obsession with controlling women from two angles.
 The first angle is ancient.  When people began to settle down into homes, those homes were divided by family.  And this is where we start to see indications of women being pushed out of normal society and subject to inane restrictions, because men---who like everybody else were once just part of a communal tribe or clan---suddenly didn't want to be caught raising a child who wasn't a direct relative.  You can solve that problem the easy way---teaching men that genetics doesn't make a family---or you can solve it the dumb way of turning women's reproductive system into a puzzle to be solved.
-This choice explains society's weird obsession with virginity (which has no accepted definition), prostitution,
+This choice explains society's weird obsession with virginity (which has no accepted definition), prostitution, birth control, and abortion:  Once you insist that men have a right to a family with constrained genetics, any hint that any woman might have sex for any other purpose but benefiting the man who "claims" her is suspect.  Thus, society can justify policing a woman's entire sexual history.
-This choice has also caused society no end of grief, of course.  We lost access to approximately half of all ideas of how to solve problems, because women's ideas are presumed to be inferior.  Men are far more likely to die on the job, because women are refused for or harassed from dangerous jobs.  And misogyny spills over into racism---oppressing to protect the "purity" of women---homophobia, and transphobia.
+This choice has also caused society no end of grief, of course.  We lost access to approximately half of all ideas of how to solve problems, because women's ideas are presumed to be inferior to justify discouraging them from entering the workforce where they might meet men.  Men are far more likely to die on the job, because women are refused for or harassed from dangerous jobs.  And misogyny spills over into racism---oppressing to protect the "purity" of women---homophobia, and transphobia.
 The other angle is that organized anti-abortion activism didn't exist---anywhere---until after 1970.  In the United States, there were occasional anti-abortion laws, but there was no movement until after *Roe v Wade* was decided.  It's the exact definition of [wedge politics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_issue), in this case demonizing feminism and women in general to galvanize voters.  And, because we have thousands of years' worth of practice at imagining women as lower beings that need to be controlled---consider the origins of terms like [bitch](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bitch) or [feisty](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/feist)---the wedge works to separate out people who think that men need to have authority over women's reproductive systems in order for society to function.
 ## Six Weeks from *When*, Exactly?
-Getting back on track, the new Texas law effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.  That sounds reasonable enough, because they'll happily show you what an embryo looks like after six weeks.  How they interpret that picture isn't entirely accurate, but it seems like a reasonable position.
+Getting back on track, the new Texas law effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.  That sounds reasonable enough, because they'll happily show you what an embryo looks like after six weeks.  How they interpret that picture is deliberately, but it seems like a reasonable position.
-However, the clock on the six weeks doesn't start from *conception*, like they claim and as the pictures would lead a person to believe.  No, the clock starts from the last menstruation ("period") that the pregnant person had.  When people say that six weeks is before many women (or assorted transgender folks who might have a uterus) know their pregnant, they're talking about the following potential timeline.
+Specifically, the clock on the six weeks doesn't start from *conception*, like they claim and as the pictures would lead a person to believe.  No, the clock starts from the last menstruation ("period") that the pregnant person had.  When people say that six weeks is before many women (or assorted transgender folks who might have a uterus) know they're pregnant, they're talking about the following potential timeline.
 * 0 days:  The person has their period.
 * Anywhere from 1 to 27 days:  The person has sex, maybe---since the Texas law has no exceptions to the restriction---even under duress, by force, or otherwise not voluntarily.
 * 28 days:  The person might expect their next period, if they're keeping track, assuming that they typically come regularly.
-   * Despite the common term, periods aren't necessarily regular, and how regular they can easily change based on stress, nutrition, and other factors, so the next step is to wait a few days to make sure it's not happening, maybe a week.
+   * Despite the common term, periods aren't necessarily regular, and how regular they are can easily change based on stress, nutrition, and other factors, so the next step is to wait a few days to make sure it's not happening, maybe a week.
 * 35 days:  Since their period has probably been missed, the person now gets a pregnancy test.
   * An over-the-counter test is a start, but they're not reliable enough to be sure, when the stakes are this high.
 * 36 days:  With a positive convenience-store pregnancy test, the person schedules an appointment with their doctor.
@ -69,13 +70,13 @@ We've gone through more than five out of the six weeks, you'll notice, and the p
 This timeline also assumes that all human menstruation happens on a strict 28-day cycle, with no people stretching to over 35 days, as actually does happen.  So, adjust the schedule accordingly.  If a person is generally on the high side of the time between periods, *and* the person is sick or under stress, delaying their period, it's not a huge stretch to imagine a person being considered six weeks pregnant before they even *become* pregnant at all; it's an edge case, sure, but it's not impossible.
-So, this is bad law, based on a complete ignorance of how women's bodies work.
+So, this is bad law, based on a complete ignorance of---or disinterest in---how women's bodies work.
 ## The Rest of the Iceberg
 Just to be clear, the law is worse than that.  The entire legal structure around it *basically* insists that the Constitution isn't relevant, if authorities can find the right way to phrase things.  Their claim is that, because they're only paying random volunteer civilians to sue everybody involved, that they don't have any responsibility for the program, even though it's obviously their money and direction.
-Comic book fans have debated this sort of goofy legal framework for decades:  If Batman visits police administrators to exchange information, and leaves the criminals that he finds for the Gotham City Police Department to process, then the GCPD is *probably* on the hook every time that Batman violates somebody's civil liberties.  He's an agent of the state.  The department has to be, otherwise the city could just disband its police department and pay former officers bounties, and then they can keep their income while beating false confessions out of innocent people...and that makes no sense on any level.
+Comic book fans have debated this sort of goofy legal framework for decades:  If Batman visits police administrators to exchange information, and leaves the criminals that he finds for the Gotham City Police Department to process, then the GCPD is *probably* on the hook every time that Batman violates somebody's civil liberties.  He's an agent of the state.  The department has to be liable, otherwise the city council could just disband its police department and pay former officers bounties, and then they can keep their income while beating false confessions out of innocent people...and that makes no sense on any level.
 Likewise, none of these vigilantes who are bringing the lawsuits to get the bounty have any *standing* in such a case.  How is "Texan Bruce Wayne" harmed by the Uber driver who brought the patient home from the clinic?  Unless it's their baby, and he needs an heir to maintain the continuity of his empire or whatever high-fantasy prophecy nonsense we feel like spinning, here, how is a random vigilante harmed by any abortion at all?  I mean, sure, maybe you've come from the future to prevent your mother from aborting you, but...that's an edge case, and...you should probably talk to a doctor.
@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ My point is that this has *always* been a shaky foundation, that has always been
 How do we get that right?  There are two parts to making this happen.
-The obvious side is to make sure that people are registered to vote, and voting in *every* election to get every right-wing loser and their supporters out of office.  Deprive them of power, and they can't cause dramatic problems.
+The obvious side is to make sure that people are registered to vote, and voting in *every* election to get every right-wing loser and their supporters out of office.  Deprive them of power, and they can't cause dramatic problems.  They are a party that represents a shrinking minority, kept in power through voter suppression tactics and the voter suppression embedded in the Constitution via the Senate.
 Less obvious, but equally important, is to make nuisances of ourselves.  Write letters, on paper, mailed with stamps.  Join protests and strikes.  Put on your mask, get your friends together, and visit your representatives at their office...but schedule an appointment.  Make demands that Congress pass an actual law that explicitly grants reproductive rights, in ways that can't be ignored.
@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ The people to target are:
 * Your governor, and
 * The state legislators who represent your part of your state.
-The first two are relevant, because they're needed to pass the laws.  The latter two are relevant, because they can put more pressure on the first two than you can.
+The first two are relevant, because they're needed to pass the laws.  The latter two are relevant, because they can put more direct pressure on the first two than you can.
 And again, this needs to be done in ways that can't be ignored.  Filling out the form on your representative's website is more convenient, but databases sometimes crash, summaries often overlook important details, and your input can be erased with no paper trail.  Calling is more convenient, but voicemail fills up.  Letters, protests, strikes, and meetings don't care about clutter.  In fact, an overflowing mailbox makes a *far* stronger statement than full voicemail ever could.
--- a/2021-11-25-slaver-2.md
+++ b/2021-11-25-slaver-2.md
@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
 ---
 layout: post
 title: Real Life in Star Trek, The Slaver Weapon, part 2
 date: 2021-11-25 17:22:08-0500
 categories:
 tags: [scifi, startrek, closereading]
 summary: <i class="far fa-hand-spock"></i> The outside world in Star Trek
 thumbnail: /blog/assets/kitten-cat-mammal-fauna-vertebrate-rush-918620-pxhere.com.png
 proofed: true
 ---
 For those who celebrate, I hope you are having or have had a happy Thanksgiving, today. 🦃
 ![Five kittens on a lawn](/blog/assets/kitten-cat-mammal-fauna-vertebrate-rush-918620-pxhere.com.png "The story isn't NOT like this")
 ## Disclaimer
 This is a discussion of a non-"Free as in Freedom" popular culture franchise property with references to a part of that franchise behind a paywall.  My discussion and conclusions are free, but nothing about the discussion or conclusions implies any attack on the ownership of the properties.  All the big names are trademarks of the owners and so forth and everything here should be well within the bounds of [Fair Use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use).
 ## Previously...
 The project was outlined [in this post]({% post_url 2020-01-02-trek-00 %}), for those falling into this from somewhere else.  In short, this is an attempt to use the details presented in *Star Trek* to assemble a view of what life looks like in the Federation.
 This is neither recap nor review; those have both been done to death over fifty-plus years.  It *is* a catalog of information we learn from each episode, though, so expect everything to be a potential "spoiler," if that's an [irrational fear](https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/aug/17/spoilers-enhance-enjoyment-psychologists) you have.
 Rather than list every post in the series here, you can easily find them all on [the *startrek* tag page](/blog/tag/startrek/).
 ## Killkenny Caitians
 As I mentioned [last week]({% post_url 2021-11-18-slaver %}), I'm covering the individual stories in Foster's final *Star Trek Log* books as if they were meant as separate episodes.  This relaxes my schedule, makes it easier to identify the sources of cultural features in the series summary post, and doesn't overwhelm the posts.
 Of course, *Killkenny Caitians* isn't Foster's title for the story---he doesn't name them beyond using *The Slaver Weapon* title for the whole book---but to have something to call it when it comes time to write up what we've learned watching **The Animated Series**, I went with a riff on the story of the [Killkenny cats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkenny_cats).
 In short, the story---occurring concurrent with the main story of [*The Slaver Weapon*]({% post_url 2021-11-18-slaver %}), back on the *Enterprise*---is that the Caitin officers aboard the ship report feeling ill, vanish, then attempt to take over the ship.  Kirk and the remaining crew race to figure out what's wrong and how to stop them.
 ## Foster Adaptation
 We find this story in **Star Trek Log Ten**, its chapters alternating with those covering [the main story]({% post_url 2021-11-18-slaver %}).
 The opening chapter is about Uhura's family, which I won't quote, because it's too information-dense to make me comfortable calling it Fair Use.  So, in summary:  Her parents are Kenyan farmers near [Kitui](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitui).  She has a brother---David---who's a doctor at a local hospital.  She grew up with the training of a [Maasai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people) warrior, a culture whose traditions have become gender-neutral and make use of simulated lions in hunting, with Uhura's grandfather having noted the centuries of progress to get them to that point.
 We then get back to the *Enterprise*.
 > "Captain Kirk," said the man in the diplomatic attire, "I am Joseph Laigner, personal envoy and ambassador plenipotentiary to the systems of Briamos.  I suggest a moment to familiarize yourself with the basic details of Briamos as supplied to all Starfleet vessels.
 There doesn't seem to be any prior reference in the "Briamos" name, though there seem to be plenty of people named Brian or Brianna Amos who use that as their online handles.
 > "Almost.  If this is a ruse, it's an elaborate one.  Just one question," she went on rapidly.  "Who won the Federation tridimensional hockey championship three years ago in the double-overtime final game, and who was named most valuable player?"
 >
 > ...
 >
 > "I'm dead serious, Captain," she replied.  "That information isn't likely to be in an enemy's computer banks."
 >
 > ...
 >
 > "That's not necessary, Mr. Spock."  The helmsman put himself on the pickup.  "The Eridani Gryfalcons," he said.  "Most valuable player was center-forward-up Shawn Ge-Yrmis."
 A semi-significant sport in the Federation is "tridimensional hockey," which---much like baseball was considered in the United States during the world wars---is presumed to be considered trivial among enemy nations.
 One team that has seen some success is the "Gryfalcons," presumably a portmanteau of [gryphon/griffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin) and [falcon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon).  This implies that teams are named for things that would be recognizable to humans, and that there are more teams than simple names, so that teams have been given combination names.  On the other hand, it could have also been a typo for [Gryfalcons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrfalcon), a large, Arctic breed of falcon.
 Then, there's the fact that their "home space" refers to [Eridanus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridanus_%28constellation%29), suggesting that professional sports teams base themselves in star clusters, as opposed to planets or solar systems.  Eridanus itself has been mentioned three times.  In the adaptations for [*Balance of Terror*]({% post_url 2020-04-16-trek-balance %}) and [*Amok Time*]({% post_url 2020-08-13-amok %}), we were told that [40 Eridani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_Eridani) is the solar system where we find the planet Vulcan.  In [*Wolf in the Fold*]({% post_url 2020-11-12-wolf %}), we're told about an unsolved string of murders that fit the profile of Jack the Ripper.
 > "Our expedition isn't large or permanent enough to qualify for outpost status," she explained.  "That's why we're not listed in your computer.  I'm in charge of Federation Archaeological Expedition Four-Six-Two, investigating the remnants of a dead civilization on Gruyakin's ninth planet."
 I wasn't even going to mention Gruyakin, since I can't find a reference to it that doesn't lead back to this episode.  But the important bit, here, is that expeditions aren't recorded until they reach a certain size or put down roots.
 > "It doesn't sound like a headache, Jim.  I could be wrong.  I hope I **am** wrong.  I'll check our Caitian references.  The important thing is to find her.  If she's lying unconscious in a corridor somewhere...Let's hope she's just sitting somewhere in a daze."
 This is surprising concern and apparent expertise from McCoy about a non-human member of the crew being ill.  However, you'll note that he effectively *prolongs* the crisis by avoiding telling the Captain what could be wrong.  A few paragraphs later, though, he also dismisses the missing member of the crew as "probably not serious."  So, I guess that his concern was only temporary.
 > "Obviously, we're dealing with a Caitian racial malady, then," Kirk announced.  "But what?  Some kind of disease, maybe, but how could they all be affected so fast?  None was near the others when they were stricken.  How could a disease be communicated so quickly throughout the ship?  Unless Caitians are subject to periodic attacks of madness.  But I've never heard of anything like that affecting them."
 It's difficult to overstate how racist this is, assuming that three missing members of the crew---two more are listed in passing---go missing and are of the same species, that either they're vulnerable to some undetected disease or they're all just mentally disabled.  As it turns out, M'Ress *does* attack a colleague trying to help her, but Kirk doesn't know about that, at this point, so the fact that he raises these possibilities rather than imagining an attack or emergency cultural observance seems telling.  In fact, speaking of the attack, her victim whines to Kirk and McCoy about how his life was in so much danger, before Kirk points out that he didn't fight her off and obviously survived.  *Then*, he grudgingly admits that she backed off.
 > "That's right, two more.  From different decks.  One thinks he was attacked by Lieutenant M'ress.  The other identifies his attacker as Ensign M'viore."
 While we're talking about anti-Caitian racism, I might as well add the line where we find out that some members of the crew can't distinguish between the three Caitian officers onboard.
 > "Maybe so, Jim, but I'm going to bring something of my own along.  It's more powerful than a phaser, but no more lethal.  Ke'eloveen.  It's a general tranquilizer that can be adjusted specifically for several different kinds of mammalian metabolism.  It won't take long to concoct a batch gauged specifically for Caitian physiology."
 That's *definitely* a brand name and not generic.  Notably, it hints at an explanation that I've suggested might be in previous posts, that the "drugs" are actually recipes, which local doctors presumably license and fabricate.
 > It was as silent as a Klingon consulate on Federation Day.
 I haven't spent any time at consulates, so I don't know if that's a sensible simile, but the Federation apparently does have a holiday celebrating itself.
 > "Apparently," McCoy continued, "the pheraligen is programmed into their diets in innocuous-tasting supplements, Jim.  They're so used to receiving it without having to think about it, they didn't realize what was happening to them.  Since the regiment is in no way treatment for a disorder, I didn't know about it.  Programming it becomes the responsibility of the science life-support section, not medical."
 Again, pheraligen isn't a generic drug name.  More importantly, though, you'll notice the casual way that McCoy explains how the Federation---both Starfleet and random worlds---slip drugs into the food supply, explicitly to keep the population docile without their knowledge.  You'll notice that it's not even considered a medical issue, where you would presumably have some form of [informed consent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent).
 > The engineer looked embarrassed.  "From a costume ball I went to, Captain, several years ago.  I went dressed as a Fiorellian and a real female Fiorellian mistook me for a male of her species.  To complicate matters, **she** was costumed as a human female.  So it was doubly disconcertin'."
 Here's Scott---after volunteering to dress up as a cat in order to knock out a female colleague, I might add, which definitely seems on brand---talking about that party he went to, where everybody was dressed in the interstellar equivalent of [blackface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface).  Also, ever the misogynist, he isn't aware of a more concise term for "a human female," such as *woman*.
 ## Conclusions
 It's not really related to anything else that happens, but we get a general sense of what the (apparently overlapping) Swahili/Kenyan/Maasai culture looks like in the future, suggesting that society has gone to great pains to use advanced technology to simulate the trappings of ancient rituals.
 We also get a sense of the importance of sports to Federation culture, particularly something called tridimensional hockey.  Teams appear to be based out of groupings of stars, given portmanteau names.
 We also hear about Federation Day, implied to be a significant holiday.
 ### The Bad
 Expeditions and settlements aren't registered until they have a foothold on their planets, strongly implying that they're effectively expected to die.
 McCoy completely fumbles his job, here.  While he voices some concern for M'Ress early in the story, that dries up quickly, and he can't be bothered to tell Kirk what the problem might be, and doesn't even find what should be obvious research until it's dramatically appropriate.
 Similarly, Kirk immediately leaps to a conclusion that Caitians might just be crazy or especially susceptible to disease.  There seems to be a systemic problem, too, since an injured member of the crew exaggerates the danger posed by the Caitians, until Kirk presses him on it.  Another member of the crew can't tell the few Caitian colleagues apart.
 We continue to get the impression that Federation medicine relies entirely on brand-name drugs, with the twist that they are manufactured by local doctors.  More importantly, we find out that the Federation routinely drugs food supplies to keep people docile without their knowledge.  Doing do is *not* considered a medical issue.
 At least in some parts of the Federation, it's considered normal to go to costume parties dressed like a person of another species.
 ## Next
 Next week, we finish *The Slaver Weapon*'s adaptation, by following the stasis box to Briamos.  Foster doesn't name his story, so I'll call it *The Thorny Point of Bare Distress*.
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 **Credits**: The header image is [Untitled](https://pxhere.com/en/photo/918620) by an uncredited PxHere photographer, released under the terms of the [Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).