There are no bad ideas: June 2020

Monday, June 29, 2020

That's Your Pitch?

This isn't really a problem for you, but our refrigerator has it in for us. Years ago it decided that it just wasn't going to make ice anymore. We had it fixed once and then the same thing happened again and as if it was a stubborn teenager Mrs. TANBI and I decided that ice wasn't the hill we wanted to go to war over. Recently it has decided it isn't going to close. I mean, it is closed, but it is going to insist it isn't closed. This would be swell except that it has an alert to tell you if it isn't closed and it is a persistent alert. It doesn't stop, and it can't be turned off (plus it goes from intermittent to constant). So far we've been able to get it to believe it was closed, but it feels like it is just a matter of time.

So, at some point not too far in the future either we're going to have to put some resources into this fridge or get a new one.

In that frame I have been interested to note that the company that sold us this fridge is having a 4th of July sale with refrigerators up to 40% off. This company is the vendor that sold us all the major appliances in our kitchen from our original reno long, long ago. We didn't spend as much as some of their customers must, but we did buy a fridge and an oven and a range and a hood and a dishwasher. I kinda like these folks and they are a local business and all things being equal I would probably go back to them.

The other day I sent them an email through their website asking which of the refrigerators on the website that would fit in the space occupied by our previous purchase from them would be part of this sale. Here's the answer I got:

But really, what I hear in my head when I read that is: "You know, we really don't care if we make this sale."

I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of...

"I pulled your prior receipt and here's a link to a list of the units that will fit your space. This is the one I would recommend, this one is the one that has the highest customer rating, and here's the one that is the best deal. We also have this one which is a floor model and this one which has been discontinued - those are both really good deals. Also, it occurs to me that I should ask if you are having difficulty with your current fridge. I can set you up with a rep from our service department. Let me know."

But alas not. Well, maybe we should go to Lowe's after all. They did just authorize a whole bunch of very impressive socially motivated business loans.

Have you seen Boiler Room? Whole thing made me think of this:

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

'The Simpsons' to Recast Characters of Color

Hollywood Reporter: In a big shift, the producers of The Simpsons say they'll no longer use white actors to play characters of color on the long-running animated series. Additionally, one of the principal voice actors on Family Guy says he'll stop playing the show's main Black character.
Posted by David at 6/27/2020 10:11:00 AM

On Broadway, Black artists push for racial equity

PBS NewsHour: As the Black Lives Matter movement strengthens nationwide, calls are increasing for equity in all sectors of American life -- including on Broadway. An all-star cast of Black theater artists has launched a new effort, Black Theatre United, that aims to elevate Black voices within the arts and beyond. Jeffrey Brown reports for our ongoing coverage of Race Matters and arts and culture, Canvas.
Posted by David at 6/27/2020 10:08:00 AM

What Does a Social Justice Curator Do? The Bronx Museum's Jasmine Wahi on Why Every Museum Should Have One

news.artnet.com: I discovered the work of curator Jasmine Wahi on Instagram, where she posts powerful meditations on politics, art, and the intersections between the two as @browngirlcurator. Since February, Wahi has served as the social justice curator at the Bronx Museum, which I found particularly intriguing at a time when questions about the role of social justice in museums have been amplified in the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests.
Posted by David at 6/27/2020 10:05:00 AM

We Need to Talk About Harassment in Geek Spaces. Again.

The Mary Sue: This kind of article is hard to write, not just because the topic is upsetting, but because the amount of content and allegations that need to be discussed are overwhelming. In just the past week the accusations of grooming, expecting sex in return for advancement, harassment, unwanted touching, and endless other types of creepy behavior from influential men in comics, gaming, fiction (and other geek spaces I’m sure I’ve missed) have been too numerous to count. There are so many new reports and confessions every day that it’s pointless to talk about just one or even a few specifically.
Posted by David at 6/26/2020 10:23:00 AM

CMU Prepares for Return to Campus

www.cmu.edu: Daryl Weinert, chief of staff and vice president for strategic initiatives, was appointed to serve as CMU’s COVID-19 Coordinator. In this role, Weinert has been working with university leadership, subject matter experts and CMU’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Team to organize a phased return this summer and prepare for the fall semester. He said he is pleased with the preventative efforts that have been made thus far, with many putting in countless hours and contributing to the campus-wide effort.
Posted by David at 6/26/2020 10:41:00 AM

Friday, June 26, 2020

DP Weekly Round Up

STAGE & PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/next-phase-beyond-protocols-guidelines.html

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/one-of-many-things-that-worry-me-most.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/actors-equity-association-commemorates.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/eventbrite-launches-covid-19-safety.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/kate-shindle-re-elected-president-of.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/kate-shindle-voted-to-remain-president.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/uncharted-supply-co-triage-kit.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/plasa-launches-wemakeevents-to-support.html

SOUND DESIGN

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/ask-jonah-clearing-up-misconceptions.html

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/electric-hum-causes-solutions.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/l-acoustics-syva-resolves-audio.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/introducing-neve-8424-console.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/national-theatre-of-iceland-chooses.html

TECHNICAL DIRECTION

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/milwaukee-vs-dewalt-which-tool-brand-is.html

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/prepping-scenic-shop-to-return.html

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/hart-20v-circular-saw-review-hpcs01.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/flyhouse-training-online-and-on-demand.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/nightshift-gear.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/todays-leatherman-classics-set-2.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/todays-leatherman-classics-set-1.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/prolyte-traceability.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/todays-leatherman-hunting-set.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/we-need-to-talk-about-sexual-harassment.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/todays-leatherman-keychain-set.html

COSTUME PRODUCTION

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/behind-curtain-interview-with-darcy.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/nycs-custom-costume-industry-launches.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/costume-industry-coalition-launches-to.html

LIGHTING DESIGN

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-art-of-online-teaching-with-peter.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/project-interview-josephine-dimalibot_19.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/droneberger-showtechnik-dresses.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-silent-powerhouse-chauvet.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/zero-88-and-ilight-at-coca-cola-arena.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/project-interview-vannapa-pimviriyakul.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/etc-announces-colorsource-spot-jr.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/project-interview-wendy-mak.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/etc-supports-night-of-lights-call-to.html

VMD

http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2020/06/materie-event-production-creates-drive.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/visulize-projects-history-with-pixera.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/creative-conversations-jorge-toro.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/puy-du-fou-theme-park-upgrades-with.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/christie-introduces-new-free-software.html

SCENE DESIGN

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/from-she-loves-me-to-hairspray-david.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/theatre-puppets-through-ages.html

http://greenpagesod.blogspot.com/2020/06/live-design-introduces-design.html

STAY HOME – STOP THE SPREAD – SAVE LIVES

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Maybe Relax a Little

There's this phenomenon online in the technical production world called the "Scary Rigging Photo." This is the theatre version of the kind of photos that home inspectors post from time to time under "Home Inspection Nightmares" The idea being that while in the course of working in a theatre that you stumble upon some rigging that really ought not be the way it happens to be. The photo finds its way online and then dozens if not hundreds of people that purport to know what they are talking about proceed to dissect every possible thing that might be wrong with what we're looking at.

Here's one from today:

This was posted in a Theatre Educators group I follow on Facebook. The poster was using the photo as an opportunity to recommend rigging inspections for high schools. Those inspections are a good idea - with or without these pictures, and FWIW not necessarily limited to high schools: any school, church, community center; anyplace there's rigging without riggers ought to have inspections.

(OK, actually, anyplace with rigging, riggers not withstanding.)

Here's the thing though, while that picture might look scary it might not really be all that dangerous. There's an ANSI approved detail for this connection. Making that chain connection is something that has had lots of discussion over the years. The critical bit that often gets missed is that the chain is supposed to create a dual load path below the thimble. Often the chain goes around the pipe and then fastens back to itself rather than to the thimble. They don't get that right here, but they might not get it as wrong as they could get it. This is sort of a dual load path, sorta, kinda. One end of the chain is hard connected in the thimble and then the other sort of chokes the cable around the thimble.

Don't get me wrong, this is 1000% the wrong way to make this termination. Neither the thimble people or the shackle people (or the chain people or the batten people) would advise you to terminate this connection in this manner. It is definitely wrong and it is definitely not a clean installation.

I am curious though about how much it would hold before it would fail.

The initial failure would likely be crushing the thimble. It looks like if that happened there might be enough space in the shackle bell for it to drop down onto the first chain link. I guess it also might be possible that all the chain would pull through the shackle until is was simply choked around the pipe. Maybe not though. It is difficult to see if the chain could pass through the shackle.

In either of those cases though I'm not sure there would be a catastrophic failure. Partly it depends on the position of this pick on the batten. If it is in the middle someplace at some point in the failure the pick would essentially go slack as the beam would carry the load to the adjacent picks.

A worse case would be that rather than the thimble being crushed that the shackle bell would crack. That might mean that this particular pick would break catastrophically. But again, depending on where it is along the pipe the batten might be ok.

There is, I guess, the possibility of some kind of shock loading failure that could zipper down all the picks - especially if they all look like this one. That would be scary.

Really though, in normal use, this connection would probably just sit there looking scary until someone undid it and brought it up to spec.

As part of work we do this Tumblr where we collect pictures of things we're doing in the shop while they're in process. The site is called In Process. Pretty much I don't curate what the students put up there, but one of the rules we do have is that I don't want them to post rigging photos. My reasoning isn't that we're doing anything wrong or that would be unfortunate for the world to see. It is more about not wanting to go a dozen rounds online with commenters insisting that instead of an outside Bowline we really should have used an inside Bowline.

Maybe we could all just be a little less enthusiastic.

Last week I joked with a rigger friend that I couldn't post the photo below as folks would want to make sure I knew that Sabian's lanyard was improperly terminated.

Perhaps. But it isn't a failure mode. Sometimes it is. Often it isn't.

Ellipses...

Keeping after the writing is a lot of work. We'll have to make do with a lot of Ellipses... Justice shut down the prosecution of Micheal Flynn today. Congratulations, we now live in a Banana Republic. Laws don't apply to the President's Men... People are protesting in the street over loss of lives and the administration is detailing guards to watch over endangered statues. That might be a good definition of tone deaf... Today I found out that what I had been told "rule of thumb" came from, it didn't. But it doesn't matter because it somehow got codified as being about that anyway... We're making real progress on the fit out of the basement in the house. It is certainly coming along nicely... Do you know anyone that wants a treadmill? How about an exercise bike? We might have a couple of spares... I'm pushing through House of Lies for the second time. It is a really well done show, but some of it doesn't hold up too well culturally... Sitting at this machine late into the night - to do the blog or to do anything else - is dangerous to my wallet. Online shopping is really a curse, just way, way too easy to spend money... There are 16 post-its on my desk with ideas for posts on this site. For reasons I don't understand it is really difficult to get from post idea to post... Today as a result of a selfish complaint at work the whole group can dispense with what was clearly an unreasonable ask. Just goes to show, if you don't ask, you don't get... The social distancing protocols have me thinking about buying an ultra-small desktop TV to be part of our entertainment center - pretty much exclusively for use doing Zoom sessions. The next thing on the list of things we really probably don't need... Gib5on and Sabian both had house call visits from their doc today. Both seemed to be doing ok. Nice to have professional confirmation... The new bike has been sitting in a box in the garage for a couple of days now. It isn't doing anyone any good in there. Got to do something about that... We're working on what to do about shows in the fall. All things being equal the discussion seems to be moving backward. Probably will make a leap forward in a day or two. Here's hoping... Allegheny County COVID cases were up this week. People aren't taking the mitigations seriously. There were people at the store today without masks (which is just slightly worse than the masks not covering their nose). Gonna get worse before it gets better I'm afraid...

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Course Idea

I've had this idea for a while now. These days it seems a little more timely.

What if we took a semester and each week watched a popular movie that features a fictional police officer. We then step through the actions of that character as they go through the movie and evaluate their actions based on the governing rules of conduct.

John McClane blows up a building in Die Hard. He blows up a plane in Die Hard 2. The one I remember most from Die Hard 3 was where he's walking up the aqueduct tunnel, about to encounter one of the drivers and shoots him and takes the truck:

There's a real body count in that line. I went a long way along with Die Hard before I started to wonder about the justification of some of the shoots (among other interventions).

I know it is just entertainment, but I do wonder about where the center of gravity is on the thing. We've come a long way from Dirty Harry to John McClane - and McClane was more than 20 years ago.

It does seem different when it is fantasy or science fiction. Trinity and Neo kill a lot of people too - although they are revolutionaries not law enforcement. Die Hard and Lethal Weapon ostensibly take place in the real world. Does it make any sense to have them have to function in a way we would expect from real police?

Maybe it isn't a course. Maybe it is a TV show. There used to be this show Ethics in America. I would love to see films critiqued by a learned panel, not with regard to if they were good or bad films but rather with regard to if the behavior of the characters was legal. The panel would need police, government, legal scholars, all the people that govern what the proper application of force is supposed to be.

Like it or not, the impression that many people have of what real police work looks like is from movies and TV. Maybe we would be better off if movie and TV police work was less sensationalized.

Monday, June 22, 2020

Ellipses...

After a few days of really diminished case numbers, Pittsburgh bounced back to 45 new cases today. Let's hop that was just because folks decided to wait until Monday to go to the doc... Sabian has the bruise on her cheek. Waiting for it to heal really makes us anxious... My summer classes are like 2 weeks away. Somehow June always just slips by without notice. It really highlights the need to actually go away while I'm off. Oh, wait... There are lots of really interesting proposals for innovative curriculum for the fall. I wonder if people will enroll in it given the choice... I keep getting emails from Senate candidates in Kentucky as if they already have the nomination. For the record, my donations are really about the general, not the primary... The fine folks at Uncles Sam's have made me violently ill twice in a row now. Since the business isn't being closed by the health department I am left to wonder what they have changed in their process that has uncovered a food allergy for me... We're still waiting for the HBOMAX app on the Roku. It is almost enough to get us to buy an AppleTV device... It looks like we're going to have some work done on the house this week. We'd discovered something they messed up on the bathroom renovation last spring. Only just now getting to the repair. I guess it is nice that it didn't turn out to be an emergency... Today was a soup day and I am so, so, so hungry. I hope that being hungry is a sign that the diet is working. No reason to assume so though. I was pretty much never hungry the first time around... Do you have recommendations on a reasonably priced office chair? Now that Mrs. TANBI and I are working from home and spending so much time in these seats we are considering making an upgrade... Kentucky has an election tomorrow and one of their polling sites covers 600,000 voters. The KY Secretary of State should have to man that election desk... I stayed in all day today, except for like 30 minutes. During that 30 minutes there was a torrential downpour. That was not the most beneficial scheduling of my day... Gib5on likes to cheat while playing Pokemon. If you are playing cards with him I advise you to have him shuffle the cards in your view. He's a crafty one... My bike came today. I was too laid up to assemble it. Soon...

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Fathers Day 2020

This year. Pittsburgh, PA

And a few BLASTS from the PAST...

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Stage Union Concedes Responsibility For Lack Of BIPOC Broadway Jobs

Deadline: Ten years ago, only two black stage directors – and no black choreographers – were hired on Broadway under the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society’s contract. During the last Broadway season, the union says, only one black director was hired under its Broadway contract, and no black choreographers.
Posted by David at 6/19/2020 09:13:00 AM

'The Safe Way Forward’ Joint Report from the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and Teamsters

IATSE Cares: In the next major step toward the resumption of film and television production, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the Basic Crafts, and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) today released “The Safe Way Forward,” a Multi-Union Report on Covid-19 Safety Guidelines. The Guidelines set forth a detailed set of science-based protocols serving as a path for Employers to uphold their responsibility of providing safe workplaces in a pre-vaccine, Covid-19 world. The Guidelines serve as an essential and necessary element of a return to work for the Unions and Guilds representing film and television casts and crews.
Posted by David at 6/15/2020 04:43:00 PM

Going Broke in Hollywood: TV Assistants Reel From Pandemic Pay Cuts

Vanity Fair: “Isobbed on the phone with my showrunner—our pay was already too low.”

That’s a Hollywood assistant describing her reaction when her boss let her know that the studio was jeopardizing her income in ways she found “cruel.” This assistant, one of more than 20 sources that Vanity Fair interviewed for this story, is an LGBTQ woman of color who works in TV. She doesn’t blame the showrunner for the kind of reductions that assistants all over the industry have been forced to accept in the wake of the pandemic. But she and many of her peers are furious at the studios that employ them.
Posted by David at 6/18/2020 12:57:00 PM

Language In Production

SoundGirls.org: Microaggression is a form of bias that can occur in everyday language, often subtle and said inadvertently. Language can be problematic when it’s a common phrase or saying and people avoid understanding its origins or implications. We use language to express ourselves, and even when we have the best intentions some phrases, wording, and terms, in general, are no longer applicable or widely accepted.
Posted by David at 6/16/2020 10:27:00 AM

How Liberal Arts Theatre Programs Are Failing Their Students of Color

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Many liberal arts theatre programs have predominantly white faculties as well as declared majors. This homogeneity is often reflected in the syllabi and programming. Whenever the mainstage season was announced at my school, the playwrights skewed mostly white and male, the plays lauded as “the canon.” Little space was made for writers of color, and the few glimmers of representation were advocated by the few professors of color.
Posted by David at 6/17/2020 03:43:00 PM

Saturday, June 20, 2020

I Am Not Depressed

Part of life these days is video calls with docs and in at least one of those interactions the doc inquired about my mood. They let me know that if I found myself depressed there would probably be something they could do medically for me to help out. I was curiously unconflicted:

I am not depressed.

Today the family went out for a stroll. My wife, myself and my son donned masks and weathered withering looks from people not wearing masks. We listened to people complain about how the bus drivers insisted on masks. Gib5on and I went into a store to look around and maintained our spacing and cleansed off with hand sanitizer afterward.

But I am not depressed.

This last week it came out that the President's campaign booked online ads leveraging Nazi code words and images. Facebook finally acted and took them down, but not without a run first. It has been reported a little bit in media that reaches me through my feeds, but not through anything I see on TV - and I watch lefty, batshit media (at least according to righty batshit critics).

But I am not depressed.

There are people protesting for their lives in the streets. This last week those protests reached my front yard. I took Gib5on out to witness the protest and tried to explain what was going on and why those people were there and what it was they were trying to say and to do. Gib5on is 6, but we can't stand by and let this go without at least trying to contextualize events for him.

But I am not depressed.

For the last two years we've been in a slow moving process of rebuilding curriculum at work. Top to bottom changes take a very long time to line up and secure buy in, and that's in an environment of strong leadership whereas we're trying to get it done in a period of leadership transition. Now we're trying to work it through incorporating all of the above, and do it by the end of August.

But I am not depressed.

It is difficult to grapple with emergent public health, politics, and racial inequity issues without realizing that although at the moment they are acute that none of these things are new. A pandemic wasn't ever an if but rather a when, and we were not prepared. The politics have become more and more brazen, but the goals aren't really new and we've allowed it to fester. I don't think anyone would argue that racial problems started a couple of weeks ago. At least I hope there wouldn't be anyone that thought that. None of this is new.

But I am not depressed.

Nothing getting our attention today is making any of the other things any better. Economic inequality is out of control. The education system in the US is not nearly what it should be. As a group we are not the shepherds of the environment we ought to be. We're doggedly holding onto old solutions at the expense of better solutions. Even when it seems like there's a step forward it is often obscured by something that saps energy like a stride in the sand.

But... I am not depressed.

When you are in care at Mayo they have you fill out this questionnaire every time you check in (and with 2 to 3 appointments every day I used to check in a whole lot). There are two questions and you answer each on a four point scale:

I used to have a running argument with docs that it seemed wrong to answer "0" to the second question. My reasoning was that if as a person you were even a little aware of what was going on in the world that you wouldn't be able to talk about "being down" as being "not at all." I spent a lot of time putting an "X" next to the 0 but not in the box - on the other side of the zero as if to say: "I'm not unhappy, but I'm not oblivious." Sometime a little while back I just gave up on the argument and started marking the zero box.

It does seem though that if you have your head up and you are looking around that you have plenty of reasons to be depressed.

But I am not depressed.