Daily Slow Chat

6 comments

1. Today is election day in Denmark. Based on the polling, I think the outcome can end up being such a mess and we might see a bit of a Danish take on a “hung parliament”, where no coalition can gain enough support for a majority. We have a tradition for so-called minority governments (where the actual coalition doesn’t represent a majority, but had a majority support the initial formation), but I don’t know if the parties needed to form the necessary support one way or the other will get those votes. Essentially, neither of the two traditional blocs seem to get the necessary 90 MPs (83 MPs to the left and 80 to the right), and neither does the cursed cross-centre coalition we currently have (61 MPs, or maybe 70). Of course some unorthodox deals may be struck, but still

   In less serious news, I’m looking forward to the weather getting nice and mild for spring. If time and energy allows, I might take a night or two in a camping shelter at some point. That’s so relaxing

2. I watched Operation Hail Mary which was a movie based on a book where a human scientist was sent unwillingly a suicide mission to Tau Ceti with 2 others to find anwers on how to stop an interstellar bacteria from consuming all the sunlight. He eventually managed to save everyone on earth in collaboration with an alien scientist sent on there for the same reason and lives to tell the tale.

   The biggest thing that stuck out to me was why does the writer think that you need to be a one in a million genius to operate some lab equipment. I’m pretty sure there’s got to be someone on earth that can operate the equipment that’d be willing to volunteer. I also think some of the research lab scenes don’t represent real life labs very well. There’s a lot of focus on individual genius whereas pretty much every research or monitoring lab I came across required a decent amount of manpower to do pretty unsexy mundane stuff. It’s usually a large collaborative effort.

3. Very important referendum in Italy yesterday (and Sunday), and the turnout was high by Italian referendum standards.

   It was a good result for the opposition parties,as the government’s attempt to weaken judicial independence was defeated.

   Perhaps there’s actually some hope now that the anti-Meloni parties will be able to oppose the right at the next election, though she and her governing coalition are still strong favourites.

4. I saw Ray Chen yesterday! They always say he’s a good performer, and I can really see why. He has this super involved, immersive playing style that holds the audience in the palm of his hand. Like, you can’t look away. It was really cool. I’d see him again in a heartbeat. Besides, yeah, he is very, very hot. I read a while ago that someone tossed a bra at him in a concert in Munich, I think (he had said before on Reddit that he wouldn’t mind that happening). I rummaged through my undie drawer before the concert but couldn’t find a piece that was nice enough to throw and I was also willing to part with. Besides I was kind of far from the stage. Next time.

   The Devil’s Trill sonata by Tartini is super famous, and for a reason. It is pretty dramatic, and a cool story (apparently he had dreamed that the devil had appeared to him and had asked to be Tartini’s servant and teacher. At the end of the lesson, Tartini handed the devil his violin to test his skill and he played this piece. Something like that). The nickname comes from a passage where the violinist trills while simultaneously playing arpeggiated triads. It sounds very difficult, and it is, but this was also revamped in the late 19th Century by the legendary violinist Kreisler to be even more difficult. This is the version that was the only widely known and played version until the old music movement in the recent decades.

   The original is a sonata (so, violin+continuo). According to a few violinists specialized in historical performance such as Andrew Manze, Tartini suggested it can also be played solo (which was pretty much not done back then and I didn’t find any primary sources for this, but Manze is convinced and he knows his stuff). If I am honest, although the Kreisler version is flashier and has a fancy cadenza and everything I kind of prefer the solo version. It’s so creepy. In case you’d like to decide for yourself, here is the [og version with continuo played by Hadelich](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIm3h5ykSlE), [the solo version by Manze](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFRL6zsxTyQ) and the [arr. Kreisler version by Ray Chen himself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orWePX13N3M).

5. Remember Donut Lab? The company that has a ton of marketing expertise, a marginal touch to battery technology, and claims to have solved half a dozen battery technology issues?

   Their battery was tested in the Technical Research Center of Finland, first in a way the company asked them to initially (with what can be described as slightly promising results), and now more thoroughly, revealing the whole thing is a hoax: “Solid-state is just a marketing department fantasy with this battery”, as a staff member mentioned.

   Just 50 recharge cycles were enough to reduce the battery’s capacity from 25 to 11 ampere hours.

   Now the question arises: how happy are the investers who have given this company some money?

6. To combat our current unemployment problem one politician suggested that we should allow companies to hire young adults to unpaid positions for a month, letting the companies see if the hire works out, and letting the unemployed person show what they can do. The politician called it a “win-win” situation, saying nobody loses out.

   All the suggestion does is show how little this politician values poor people, lmao. Nobody loses, except the person who has to give their time, which they have a finite amount of, for free. How do you even say shit like that?