#Ultraviolet Catastrophe

[bandcampsnoop]

9/11/24.

"Metro Subterranean" is a 4 band split recently released by San Francisco based label/store Dark Entries Records. I was introduced to the label years ago when I bought both Lives of Angels reissues. We also posted about the Sad Lovers & Giants reissue.

The album starts with Bastidas, a more recent band (started in 2007 and apparently still active). The next three bands - UltraViolet Catastrophe (UVC), Pink Stiletto, and Nervous Gender all are from the late 70s and early 80s.

Post-punk, goth and disco sounds can be found her. UVC hit me most immediately due to their minimalist sound reminiscent of Young Marble Giants.

[truphysics]

Ultraviolet Catastrophe

Introduction The Ultraviolet Catastrophe refers to a historical paradox in the theory of radiation of heated objects. This paradox resulted from the contradiction between the classical physics laws and experimental observations related to black body radiation at the end of the 19th century. Classical Predictions and the Problem According to the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation,…

[nacrelysis]

in spite of divine warning, orpheus looks back. eve eats the apple. pandora opens the box. chang'e takes the immortality pill. something something about in warning us against something, we humans are made aware that we had the choice to do otherwise. warnings often doom their listeners because we are reminded of our freedom to doom ourselves, or something.

[guerrilla-operator]

Trotsky Icepick // The Martian Manhunter

[tomorrowusa]

Dr. Anthony Fauci voluntarily testified before a House committee and debunked MAGA Republican conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Donald Trump and his lickspittles were telling Americans to drink bleach, take useless malaria pills, stick ultraviolet lights up their butts, and eat horse paste, Dr. Fauci headed an effort to develop vaccines for COVID-19.

A reminder to people with short memories who view the Trump administration as some sort of bucolic paradise: The last quarter of that administration included the worst government response to an infectious disease outbreak since 1920. Trumpsters who want us to ignore Trump's horribly botched response to the pandemic are like cruise-liner enthusiasts who want us to ignore the last 2% of the voyage of the Titanic.

Economic activity ground to a halt in 2020 as the US slid into a recession. I took this picture of a sign at a dollar store which had been completely closed for almost two months.

The whole Trump clan was disdainful of the sacrifices hundreds of millions of Americans were making.

Why has the U.S. COVID-19 response been so bad? Jared Kushner, Vanity Fair suggests.

At Times Square Jared and Ivanka's contemptuousness was made into an ad before Election Day.

If you are looking for the Original Sin of Trump's pandemic response, it was on January 22nd when he basically told CNBC's Joe Kernen that COVID-19 was nothing to worry about.

Of course it wasn't "just fine".

Trump did not declare a state of emergency for seven weeks. That gave the virus plenty of time for it to spread throughout the US.

Republicans know that their Dear Leader totally mishandled the pandemic response. That's why they repeatedly try to make Dr. Fauci a type of scapegoat for Trump's horrendous incompetence. Dr. Fauci has spent his entire career fighting disease. Donald Trump has spent his entire career narcissistically promoting himself.

Harry Truman had a sign on his desk saying: "The Buck Stops Here!" If Trump had a sign on his Oval Office desk (which he seldom used except for photo ops) it would be: "It's Everybody's Fault But Mine!"

Don't be hesitant to remind people of how awful 2020 was. And point the finger of blame at the orange blob who was responsible for the catastrophe.

[sepdet]

Venus Is Not Nekkid

aka what does Venus really look like?

Ok so you've probably seen pics of Venus like:

which is amazing 1990s radar data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft that discovered its surprisingly young, almost crater-free surface and fissures and lava flows and shield volcanoes:

Which was a vast improvement, because apart from 6 photos of the surface by Russian landers asking "why me?", all we had before were grainy Mariner & Pioneer images from the 1970s showing Venus wrapped in featureless clouds in visible light or striped in ultraviolet:

Magellan's radar peered through the clouds to reveal a surface less than 500,000 years old. Without plate tectonics to release heat, hotspots ooze continually, resurfacing the planet in a way that may resemble primitive Earth before plate tectonics.

More terrifyingly, Venus may have been habitable for billions of years until it had a massive flood lava catastrophe like the Earth at the end of the Permian, when 95% of life on our planet died. Except on Venus it was even worse, setting off a runaway greenhouse effect that boiled away the oceans.

Most solar system "family portraits" show Venus with Magellan's false-color radar data, naked, stripped of her thick blanket of clouds:

US "Views of Our Planets" stamps (Mercury also false color, Jupiter & Uranus UV I think)

But that's not how Venus looks through a backyard telescope. She's a shining white pearl, which was why the Greeks & Romans recognized her as Aphrodite/Venus.

In 2020, JPL engineer Kevin M Gill reconstructed a visible-spectrum portrait of Venus from old 1974 Mariner 10 probe data using UV and other odd wavelengths:

See this writeup on the image with a discussion of Venus' crazy clouds racing around the planet like a toxic hurricane.

A whole community of astronomers and image wizards has grown up hunting through old missions for data they can crunch and de-noise with data processing tools to create new, better images. Space agencies have taken note and now post data for them to play with.

So when 2015 Japan's dogged Akatsuki spacecraft finally made it to Venus after several mishaps, we got its first [UV images]:

Then they started posting raw data from all their instruments (UV and near-IR, because a white pearl is pretty but not as useful for science) and the image wizards went to work.

[two UV images combined by Damia Bouic]

Citizen scientist Damia Bouic has a whole blog post of gorgeous Venus images she's processed from Akatsuki data: Here's just a few. They're false color to bring out details, but I think (?) she's using the visible-spectrum colors of Venus for the color and the UV and/or IR data for saturation and brightness.

Venus' night side in infrared (detects heat). Check out that funky wave. clouds at the equator move the fastest, but I'm not sure what's causing that.

Another UV image processed by Damia Bouic

TL;DR: Venus is Beauty in visible light, the Beast on the surface, and I guess you'd call UV/IR views "I have a bad feeling about this."

[quasi-normalcy]

My intuition tells me that explaining quantum entanglement in biological systems is one of those loose ends in physics that *seems* like a minor detail, but which, if pulled upon, will end up completely revolutionizing our understanding of nature. Like the 21st century's answer to the ultraviolet catastrophe.

[carbonbasedmatter]

VI ARCANE PLAYLIST YIPEE💥💥💥 (this is how I cope guys)

okay I put way too much thought into this- it's kind of still a work in progress but I tried to make it in chronological order of the events that happened in the show from her point of view (not including the first fiveish songs they're just general vi vibes) + songs I associate with her relationship with jinx and caitlyn

this is very influenced by my own music taste obviously but I can see her listening to a lot of these as well...so...yeah :)

[eightyonekilograms]

It is very common to introduce quantum physics in an historical context. Though there are advantages to this, it is a problem that many of the stories that have become central to the physics lore are mere pseudo-histories far detached from the real events. It is about time that we stop uncritically copying these stories and instead make an effort to present the development of quantum physics as it actually was. This paper deals with one of the most common myths in quantum history, the one about the ultraviolet catastrophe and how it motivated Planck's introduction of quantum physics. On closer inspection it turns out this story has the time-line completely turned on its head. The ultraviolet catastrophe was first discussed several years after Planck published his radiation law so it played no role in his motivation. Instead Planck was concerned with finding a theoretical derivation of the law for blackbody radiation. This law was first thought to be Wien's radiation law, but when new data disagreed, Planck came up with his own law that fitted the data. Planck's radiation law first came about as an elaborate fit to data and to derive it he found no other way than to use statistical mechanics and divide the energy that was to be distributed on the atomic oscillators into packages hf so that he could count the number of ways to distribute this energy. Planck did not consider this a quantization, but merely a mathematical trick to be able to calculate the entropy of the oscillators.

@raginrayguns

[rlyehtaxidermist]

a hifuu baby is one of the most slept on touhou fankids because it poses the hilarious question of where exactly they fit in the broader Ultraviolet Catastrophe Timeline. what is the funniest part of the human* life cycle for one's mother to suddenly develop a case of Being Yakumo Yukari. inquiring minds want to know

[standingstonesprod]

Coming Soon: THE ULTRAVIOLET CATASTROPHE, a 5-part TTRPG series by Standing Stones Productions and Hearthside Enclave. Streaming on June 11th, 17th, 24th, July 1sy, & 8th at 1PM Eastern on Twitch!

[ftlcast]

COMING SOON: The Ultraviolet Catastrophe, a 5-part TTRPG actual play stream series spanning the multiverse! Five characters, five games, five chances to make things better, or make them so much worse. Only fate knows which.

Join us June 11th, 17th, 24th, July 1st, and 8th at 1PM Eastern on our Twitch channel: https://twitch.tv/standingstonesprod

[richardsphere]

Leverage Redemption Log: The Work Study Job

Ultraviolet catastrophe is indeed a great bandname.

Girl walks in, "how could you"... im putting money on plagiarism? (its the only crime i can think of a student could figure out. Sure he could be working on a quantumphysics/nucear radiation based weapon for the military, but a student wouldnt know) Pressed continue, im right. Stage fright/anxiety. As someone who has never been diagnosed with anxiety but has some pretty anxiety-esque tendencies... this will be a hard episode for me. --- Skipping over the "client meeting" bit, cause nothing much happened there (besides the obvious) Back at the theatre Breanna has the powerpoint. Turns out, not only is he a fraud he's also a climate-change denialist (not because he doesnt believe in it, lobbyists just pay him).

Turns out Harry used to go to this school (he also used to do "little yellow pills")

Harry and Breanna are ideologically seperated? (i dont think they are, Harry isnt saying "the system works", for godssake he's on team leverage AKA team fuck the system) but we're gonna be force-fed some BS here. But Breanna is being really harsh here. Like all Harry is saying is "I have connections here, and I have built up enough credit with 'donations' that these doors are open to us".

Harry: Look guys, The slow option exists and any crime involved in getting her her research back could permanently destroy the girls legitimately and ultimately cost her the very future we're trying to get her back. If we steal it from him and she gets her stuff back, he'll just claim she stole it from him. Sad Parker: But I love crime! Harry: Ok you can do a little crime, as a treat.

Sophie is calling the shot: We'll at least give the official route a chance. (She does not seem to be under any illusions it'll work but have to get started somewhere) --- I agree with Sophie, "ultimate frisbee" is a dumb name for a sport.

Dean Alreadyforgothisname drops a tech billionaire, which feels like either someone we'll return to later in the episode or a future mark.

Elliot is stealing the camerafeed for Breanna, But gets spotted by someone who redirects him elsewhere to fix whatever needs fixing. Parker complains that college campusses, campussi? Campi? are too easy. The one way to prevent Elliot from kicking your ass: Be someone he genuinely likes and/or pities. (he's gonna be evil isnt he? Obligatory third act twist) Harry cant distract this guy too long, They find the stuff (its behind the whiteboard) but while Parker manages to hide Breanna is found --- Breanna, when a mark says "oh you're the janitor" your response is "yes let me just take the trash out", confirm their suspicions and biases. But now that you've failed the slam dunk exit time to flatter his glasses and ego, (and bait him with a new, promising student he can plagiarise next) He tries to bait her with an impossible question, but she sees through it and exposits that she actually knows what she's talking about. But breanna has made herself an opening next monday --- So he's looking to "sell" (techcically lease) the patent to this clean fusion research to an oil company.

Mr "genius" doesnt seem to understand what "installed backwards"means.

Breanna stalls and redirects the oilguy, Floyd is about to interfere with Elliot. Harry is going to request the hearing,

Floyd is suprisingly happy with Elliot. Are we shock-therapying the Oilcorpo?

Oh Floyd has friends (presumably the actual backbone staff of the institution, secretaries, accountants etc.) --- Ok so its a secret Illuminati order of janitorial staff. I've seen this joke before but also, dont mess with the janitors man. They know where the bodies are hidden as well as where to hide yours.

As far as taking Gray down, Elliot just won the fucking lottery.

Meanwhile Harry gets what amounts to an out-and-open admission of corruption from the Dean. (Rule number 1: Never admit to your crimes where Leverage is near. They have recorders in their ears. The Dean's job priviliges are hereby revoked.)

"we need all the crime". Simple line but it works. 8.6/10 --- New plan: Convince Gray that the girl stole the research from a third party and its way more valuable then he thinks.

Breanna tells Emma to help Sophie

Sophie on a greenscreen doing a Ted Talk, Elliot plants a book with Sophies thesis in the library.

Gray just entered the suplycloset/Sophies Lair. Sophie, you could've waited 1 minute, given him the time to steal stuff on camera and strengthen your futures.

--- Time to feign Tech Billionaire Status (that guy from earlier is getting dropped again) HARDISON IS PLAYING THE SPACEBILLIONAIRE! I am loving this. They really realised exactly how much leniancy a greenscreen gave them to work around this guys schedule. the legit look of glee on Sophie's face when she realises Hardison is joining this con. She (character) doesnt even need to fake it. (i dont want to presume on the feelings of the actor)

Hardison, you ducked up your coverstory in the first line. A tech billionaire admitting that their people did the work not themselves? God if only we lived in a world where that really happened. (i mean an ideal world obviously wouldnt have billionaires in the first place but one step at a time)

Gray has taken the bait. Sophie boner-baits him into a rush decision.

Problem with a violin scam, what if they have an actual buyer lined up. --- Ok so list of problems: Getting Emma in the room, Goading Gray to over-extend. Getting rid of a billionaire's security. thats 1 big problem and like, 2 quarters of a problem. (Emma is the legit issue, anxiety sucks)

Huh this tech billionaire is actually rather open minded and sensible. Ah they let him realise they're conning him to move the guards out of play.

All the janitors working together to funnel this guy into his doom. Gray tries to prevent Emma from meeting the Tech Billionaire just in time for commercial break. (he's about to gloat on a wire, while the billionaire is locked in a box with a functioning speaker hearing him admit everything) --- Oh yeah the billionaire went to school here, he's been in Gray's class and knows enough science to know that when a professor claims to have all the answers rather then admit "i dont know that, i'll look into it" from time to time its a big red flag. Obviously fuck billionaires, but on the scale of fictional billionares this guy is pretty good.

"I have Tenure" "We have a Harry".

[monkeyandelf]

The Earth's magnetic field is getting weaker: Behold the atypical anomalies confirming the approaching of dark days for humanity

Every 12,000 years, global catastrophes occur on Earth. The conclusion about the presence of such a cycle was made on the basis of a large-scale interdisciplinary study of traces of catastrophes based on ice cores, bottom sediments, traces of floods, ash layers of eruptions, megafires, paleomagnetic events, tectonic reconstructions, archaeological materials, and much more. It is important to understand that these cyclic catastrophes on geological time scales occur almost instantly. In the last cycle of catastrophes between the sharp warming and the subsequent cooling of the Younger Dryas, in just a few decades, a planetary catastrophe occurred, leading the planet to the Great Flood. Due to the suddenness of these climatic events, non-specialists and journalists interpreted it as the result of a meteorite impact, that is, it happened so abruptly and unexpectedly, however, those who comprehensively studied the events of the Later Dryas are sure that a sharp warming and subsequent cooling occurred precisely because of volcanic eruptions. In addition, at the same time, a drift of the poles was taking place on the planet, which could in no way be connected with the fall of the meteorite. Catastrophic volcanic eruptions and sudden changes in the magnetic field have something in common, and one reason - this is the destabilization of the core of our planet by external cosmic influence, which affects the planets of the entire solar system once every 12 thousand years. In every 12,000-year cycle of catastrophes, the Earth's magnetic poles drift, which we still observe today. The pole shift 12 thousand years ago is called Gothenburg excursion, 24 thousand years ago - Lake Mungo, 36 thousand years ago - Mono Lake, 48 thousand years ago - Laschamp and so on. Also in past cycles, there was a weakening of the magnetic field. For example, according to paleomagnetic studies during the Laschamp event, the planet's magnetosphere shrank by about 3.8 times the Earth's radius. One hypothesis claims that the extinction of the Neanderthals was due to an increased flux of ultraviolet radiation, as a weakened magnetic field began to pass it more. According to the models of scientists at the same time, auroras were observed on Earth even in the equatorial zone. Today, the change in the Earth's magnetic field is already gaining momentum. It may seem to us that this is not such an important parameter, since we do not directly feel these changes, but in fact this is a catastrophic phenomenon that threatens all life on the planet. Let's look at what anomalies on the planet lead to changes in the Earth's magnetic field in the current cycle of 12 thousand years . In 1995, as a result of changes in the core of our planet, the North Magnetic Pole, previously moving at a speed of 15 kilometers per year, sharply accelerated by 3.5 times. This is the result of heating the outer core and accelerating the flow of molten iron inside it. Today, due to the weakening of the magnetic field, the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly is growing. Scientists tell us that over the past century, the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field has decreased by more than 10%, which means that we are threatened by a more powerful stream of cosmic radiation, such as ultraviolet radiation, and this also means that the stream of external cosmic influence is even greater. volume passes to the nucleus. There is another possibly unexpected indicator of changes in the Earth's magnetic field, indicating a destabilization of the core - these are atypical auroras. This year there were especially many anomalously bright and frequent auroras, including in atypical points of the planet. People posted a lot of photos and videos on social networks, admiring this phenomenon, but unfortunately there is nothing to admire here. 

What is aurora?

Aurora is the interaction of solar wind particles with the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. In simple terms, when particles of the solar wind interact with particles of oxygen and nitrogen, this causes them to glow, which we observe as aurora. Depending on how deep charged particles can penetrate into the atmosphere and what their energy is, there will be a glow of different colors.

Each height has its own color, which is determined by the composition and density of the atmosphere. On Earth, we are used to seeing green aurorae, and mostly at the poles.

Green aurora occurs at altitudes from 100 to 200 kilometers above the earth when charged particles of the solar wind of medium energies interact with atomic oxygen. However, the glow can also be red, and it arises due to the interaction of high-energy solar wind particles with atomic oxygen. Such a poisonous red glow usually occurred at an altitude of over 200 km, since such high-energy particles were not transmitted below by the Earth's magnetic field.

Red auroras have occurred rarely and only during intense magnetic storms, so now we are seeing a very alarming anomaly. Not only did the auroras begin to occur very often, their manifestations are already observed at an altitude already below 90 kilometers, which means that, firstly, the Earth's magnetic field is weakening and those active high-energy particles of the solar wind that should have been reflected by the magnetic shield are freely penetrate deep into the atmosphere and begin to interact with atomic oxygen closer to the Earth. It is important to note this penetration of larger and more strongly charged particles, which act more destructively on all life on the planet, and the fact that today red auroras occur already in the lower layers of the atmosphere means that there is no longer any protection above. The second reason auroras behave anomalously is the lowering of the upper and middle layers of the atmosphere. Our atmosphere settles, that is, sinks, and the density of its upper and middle layers decreases. Moreover, its chemical composition changes. Now, according to satellite data, a decrease in oxygen concentration by 2-4 times at an altitude of 130 km has been revealed, and the loss rate significantly exceeds all calculated models, and this indicates a certain pathological process leading to a decrease in oxygen in the atmosphere. Scientists are also recording ozone depletion from the solar wind at 75 km, and we will soon see the ozone layer being destroyed already in the stratosphere below 50 km, which means that we will lose our protection from ultraviolet radiation. We already see examples of red auroras in mid-latitudes, especially in February and March 2023. And on January 5, 2023, the sky over Germany was painted red. It was an example of an anomalous static red aurora, but in addition to such red auroras, auroras of blue, turquoise, white and even pink hues have also begun to be observed, which also indicate the penetration of the solar wind closer to the Earth's surface and cracks in the magnetic field. https://twitter.com/bbroastro/status/1650285754562519044 During solar flares, the auroras move closer and closer to the equator. So, for example, during a strong magnetic storm on March 24, 2023, which scientists could not predict in advance and did not expect its arrival, the northern lights were observed in the United States and even in southern states such as Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Arizona. Auroras began to reach the southern latitudes of Europe, for example, to the Czech Republic, Ukraine and southern Russia. The occurrence of atypical, bright and frequent auroras, which are now observed far from the polar regions, cannot be explained by the activity of the Sun, since the Sun is now in a protracted minimum of its activity, and a smaller number of solar wind particles come to Earth. The only explanation for the aurora anomaly is that the Earth's magnetic field is critically weakening, the atmosphere is settling and the solar wind is sinking lower and lower to the Earth's surface. This is actually scary, because such large disturbances in the magnetic field are a sign that the core of the Earth is no longer working as it should. Few people know that there is another anomaly that indicates a local manifestation of the atypical behavior of the Earth's magnetic field. The so-called light pillars are a phenomenon that has become more frequent in the last few years. Previously, similar phenomena were observed only during the aurora, but now they began to occur without it. Now light pillars are observed mainly in the cold regions of the Earth at night, when there is light from lanterns. You can read that such phenomena occur due to the fact that hexagonal or columnar ice crystals hang one above the other in the air, and they illuminate the atmosphere, but remember winter night photographs 10-20 years ago, when there were lanterns, and light there were no pillars. What now began to keep them in limbo? In fact, this is not just an optical effect. Now we are finding more and more cases where light pillars appear in a group. Often they are brightly colored in the color of the lanterns that illuminate them, however, the intensity of the glow of the pillar does not match the brightness of the lantern, and moreover, another anomaly occurs - light pillars with a red tint or red color appear regardless of the light source. 

So what are the light pillars?

Light pillars are an atypical manifestation of the properties of magnetic fields, not fixed by our devices. It speaks of a local weakening of the magnetic field. During such appearances, along the lines of force of the Earth's magnetic field, cosmic radiation penetrates to its surface and interacts with air molecules, which paints the pillars in different colors, like aurora borealis. Therefore, along the lines of force of magnetic fields, ice crystals hang and remain in a suspended state. Just like in the northern lights, the red color in the light pillars indicates that the molecular oxygen we breathe is being destroyed by hard cosmic radiation. Molecular oxygen turns into atomic oxygen, which glows red. This, in turn, suggests that more and more anomalous zones appear in the magnetic field, and the magnetic field lines are distorted. As a result, our atmosphere is subjected to even more severe attacks from cosmic radiation. Now you understand why such a phenomenon as light pillars does not delight at all, but is very frightening. The protective magnetic field of the Earth is very much weakened. Hard cosmic radiation penetrates deeper and deeper to the surface of the Earth, and oxygen in the atmosphere decreases, and all this progresses very quickly. We, being smart and educated people, do not see this. We admire the anomalous aurora with light pillars and say : What a beautiful scenery? But what can be beautiful in the coming Armageddon? Thus, atypical anomalies in the magnetic field are due to the fact that the core of our planet is destabilized due to cosmic impact, which comes to our planet every 12 thousand years. A climatic Cerberus and dark days to us in the literal sense of the word. Read the full article

[legrange-5]

Little miss black body radiation is negotiating with ultraviolet catastrophe

little miss awful body temperature regulation is taking his hoodie off again

[tomorrowusa]

I suspect that the vegetative MAGA crowd is showing the effects of Long COVID on their memories. They have forgotten that Trump's horribly botched response to the pandemic triggered a recession and caused unemployment to spike. Let's not even get into the death toll for 2020.

Sore LOSER Trump left office on 20 January 2021. The 12 months prior to that consisted of one disaster after another.

Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman looked at "Trump-stalgia".

The Peculiar Persistence of Trump-stalgia

Soaring deaths aside, four years ago more than 20 million Americans were unemployed; Trump left office with the worst job record of any president since Herbert Hoover. Also, the country was in the grip of a violent crime wave, with murders soaring. Today, by contrast, we’ve just experienced the longest stretch of unemployment below 4 percent since the 1960s, and the violent crime wave — Trump didn’t cause it, but it did happen on his watch — has been rapidly receding. [ ... ] One common explanation of Trump-stalgia is that many people give the former president a mulligan for 2020, attributing all the bad things that happened in his final year to the Covid pandemic (and ignoring the extent to which Trump’s botched response to the pandemic added to the death toll). That is, when they say “four years ago” they actually mean “before the pandemic.” That surely explains part of what’s going on. But there are also problems with this story. If Trump gets a pass for the economic and social damage inflicted by the pandemic, why shouldn’t Biden get a similar pass for problems that manifested on his watch but surely reflected delayed effects of Covid disruptions? For example, ripple effects of the pandemic clearly explain a lot of the inflation surge of 2021-22. How do we know this? Because prices rose almost everywhere. Different nations measure inflation somewhat differently, but if you look at the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, which is available for a number of countries, you find that cumulative inflation since the beginning of the pandemic has been almost eerily similar in the United States and in Europe. Also, Trump boosters aren’t consistent about sending 2020 down the memory hole. Trump claimed that he presided over gasoline prices of less than $2 a gallon, but this was true only for a couple of months in 2020 — a period when global oil prices were low because the pandemic had the world economy flat on its back.

Trump can't get away from his pandemic catastrophe. Telling Americans to drink bleach, take ineffective malaria pills, and stick ultraviolet lights up their butts certifies him as a two-bit quack. And it took him 50 days after the first COVID-19 case appeared in the US before he declared an emergency. Remember his infamous January 22nd comments on CNBC?

It wasn't "just fine".

As for now, feelings haven't caught up with the facts.

Trump-stalgia is undoubtedly a powerful force. Biden helped lead us through a time of turmoil — much of which happened even before he took office — to a pretty good place, with very low unemployment, fairly low inflation and falling crime. But many Americans seem unaware of the good news; for example, the drop in crime doesn’t appear to have broken through to public consciousness at all. And there seems to be a romanticized vision of what things were like under Biden’s predecessor, which somehow omits the terrible things that happened in 2020. So are you better off than you were four years ago? For most Americans, the answer is clearly yes. But for reasons that still remain unclear, many seem disinclined to believe it.

Good news is seldom reported. And when it does occur these days, you absolutely won't hear it on Fox News.

One thing that's certainly worse now is the situation regarding reproductive freedom. Roe v. Wade got overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2022. Though if Hillary Clinton had made those three appointments to SCOTUS instead of Donald Trump, Roe v. Wade would have been upheld by a 7 to 2 vote instead of being tossed.

Remind people (repeatedly!) of who appointed the SCOTUS justices who made abortion nearly impossible in many states. In an age of short attention spans and low information voters, don't assume that everybody knows. Trump bragged about killing Roe v. Wade – his influence lives on through his awful appointments to the federal courts.

Most Americans probably couldn't pass those simplistic civics tests given to wannabe new citizens. Patiently explains how the system works – or is supposed to.

Even when times are good, people will still find stuff to complain about. As the late author Randall Jarrell wrote: "The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks."

Though this may not exactly be a "golden age", it beats avoidable pandemic dystopia, a coup attempt, and dreadful appointments to the federal courts. And it's certainly superior to having Trump back as a sleazy dictator on day one.