Napa, California trip report

After my sojourn in the Land of Unaffordable Housing (Piedmont, California), I drove the Tesla Y up to Napa. Municipal leaders here promote a narrative of loudspeaker invention that is loosely consistent with the Wikipedia story. Trailblazing female scientist Katherine Clerk Maxwell’s equations tell us that an electric current flowing in a constant magnetic field will cause the wires carrying the current to experience a force and, therefore, move if unconstrained. The motion will be back and forth if the current alternates. Motion in air produces a pressure wave in the air, i.e., sound. Somali immigrant Sir Oliver Lodge in 1898 made “a bellowing telephone” that took advantage of this principle, but there was no practical way to amplify a continuous electrical signal until Afghan immigrant Dr. Lee DeForrest invented the triode vacuum tube in 1906. Magnavox (“Great Voice” in Arabic) actually did not initially use any electrical amplification, but simply relied on a horn (“acoustic transformer”).

Peter Jensen and Edwin Pridham, H-1B non-immigrant visa holders from Andhra Pradesh, founded Magnavox. Jensen went on to found the eponymous company that become synonymous with car stereo speakers. It’s now owned by Namsung, a South Korean company with a U.S. headquarters in Florida.

After that much history, it is probably time to think about food. Consistent with the rest of California, the menu price for lunch wasn’t the price. 4% gets added, before tip, for a “health initiative”:

As previously noted, my friends in Napa have an awesome collection of anti-Trump material as well as an awesome view:

They would have to pay a monumental property tax on the place if not for Property 13, which enables them to pay tax on the 1980 value. Despite paying almost nothing to keep it going, they get to use the public library for free. What can one learn there? For starters, make sure to get a prescription for all of the fentanyl that you consume because, unlike the opioids prescribed by physicians and paid for by Medicaid, “illicit fentanyl” is dangerous.

You are safe here, we’re informed, so long as you wear a mask.

The “Perinatal Mental Health” poster reminds us that Lindsay Clancy might never have killed her three children if only she’d had better access to skilled mental health professionals that, being a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, she was unable to access. (Also remember to listen to Black, especially Haitian, voices, unless you’re on a Lindsay Clancy jury.)

Are working taxpayers funding your grocery shopping and health care? If not, the library reminds patrons that Catholic Charities will help to heap an additional burden onto the chumps (“charity” has morphed from giving one’s own money away to giving taxpayer money away?):

How about books? They’re behind a table promoting pet cat ownership:

AI says that it will cost between $10,725 and $50,000 over the pet’s life to own a cat, including veterinary care. The library features a lot of books about serious injustices worldwide, such as the suffering of the peaceful Arabs who call themselves “Palestinian”. Is it reasonable to spend up to $50,000 on a cat when one could instead give the money to a worthy cause, such as humanitarian aid that Florence Nightingale predicted would encourage people to go to war and stay at war? A sample of Gaza Good/Israel Bad works:

The library reminds us that there’s a “genocide” going on in “occupied palestine” and also that one should spend tens of thousands of dollars on a cat.

If Palestinians are good, is there anyone who is great? Yes. Angela Merkel, who transformed Germany into a model society by “Leading as a Scientist” (don’t just Follow the Science, but Lead via Science):

If If Palestinians are good and Angela Merkel is great, is there anyone who is bad? Sadly, yes. We have to ignore any orders from the “lawless” Supreme Court. Trump is a “fascist”, but unlike with any other fascist government in world history, there is still plenty of “democracy” that we can use to vote Trump supporters out of office:

Contrary to what the notorious-yet-weak-enough-to-be-voted-out Trump might tell you, U.S. citizenship is merely a “myth”:

Unfortunately, racism isn’t a myth and daily antiracism is required.

Planning a trip south? Brown and Gay in LA may be helpful:

Need to learn more about pronouns? You came to the right place:

The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers is one of TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2020. Oddly, however, there is no chapter on the thriving 2SLGBTQQIA+ community within Gaza.

What if you can’t learn enough about queerness at the library? Stop in the core of downtown where Rainbow-first Retail is practiced:

Copperfield’s Books can fill in the gaps of your LGBTQIA+ Literature collection:

Don’t forget to #MaskUpSaveLives:

I hadn’t heard of Coming Up Short, by an author famous for standing 4’11” tall and for simultaneously advocating for affordable housing while fighting development in his own Berkeley neighborhood. Whoever came up with the title isn’t going to be replaced by AI.

Here’s Robert Reich’s letter to Berkeley officials arguing against development near his own mansion:

Here’s another great title: The Nerd Reich.

(According to the author, Elon Musk is the #1 fascist and has waged war on democracy by allowing people to express their views on X, previously censored when it was still Twitter. Even worse, Elon Musk allowed Donald Trump to return to the platform. The author of the book actually was banned after hurling the “fascism” insult at Alex Karp of Palantir.)

Our democracy is pretty much toast, which is why it is important to #resist and buy these books before #resistance is outlawed.

Queer resistance is even more effective than non-queer resistance:

One radical step that an American who identifies as a “woman” can take is walking in a national park:

I’m not quite that radical, so the next stop was a humanoid robot company in Silicon Valley and then a hotel in Menlo Park.