[U: No. 1 Seed Illini — GONE!] O/T: Sister Jean’s Blazing Fire, And Still Unfolding… Legacy: A Last Dance?

I grew up in a very high-altitude Rocky Mountains parochial elementary school (long-since shuttered; serving back then as an altar boy) but went to public middle school, high school, and the state’s land-grant university — and then returned to a Jesuit institution for law school. So I come with some pre-conceived viewpoints, or biases, if one prefers. I was both a lector and communion minister for most of that time.

On top of all of this, as I’ve written repeatedly elsewhere, I no longer generally adhere to the central covenants of that faith — especially so, insofar as its teachings roundly contradict a woman’s primary agency over her own body. And the right of women to be full priests of the faith, should they feel that calling.

All of that said, there are literally hundreds of millions of very fine people who still closely follow the faith. They truly intend to be the best humans they can be, and to be excellent to one another. And nearly chief among those, in my view, is Loyola of Chicago’s Basketball Chaplain Sister Jean.

I am feeling Sister Jean, in the purest sense. She is 101 years young now, having played Catholic high school roundball herself last, in 1936, at St. Paul’s High in San Francisco (while FDR was still President). She is obviously a very fine human being. Someone we should all laud, for now nearly eighty-five years of Godly and charitable service.

Now, the rub: most of this year’s Rambler round-ball team will graduate after this tourney run — and it is not likely that the program will return enough younger fire-power to reach the field of 64 next year. As such, the biological reality is that Sister Jean is likely watching her boys, in what is her final time at the Big Dance.

If anyone ever deserved the gift of seeing an improbable upset (again!), it is this fine woman of God. And I am certain she will be satisfied either way, when she meets her Maker, with just having witnessed it — after a life given to the the civil rights movement of the 1960s, among other endeavors… but it would sure be… cool, if she could see just one more win (or maybe even… four more, and a national championship).

UPDATED: Loyola just simply routed the Midwest’s No. 1 seed — Illinois. That they won by so much is perhaps the most shocking part of it — and they never gave up the lead after the first bucket. Illinois is a greatly-gifted, and very athletic team. Much more athletic than Loyola position by position, and deeper on the bench than the Ramblers. But Loyola just played fundamentally perfect team basketball, back-cutting, and solid pick and rolls all day, against the over eager Illini. Well-done! End, update.

So… way to go you Jesuits. you set the world ablaze, again, at 11 AM CDT this morning — right after Mass, and Sister Jean’s pre-game prayer…. [Perhaps immodestly, as a footnote — my most sober brackets are now ahead of Mr. Obama’s by three full games — as we enter Sunday. Smile….]

नमस्ते

Excellent Long Time Commenter’s Find, Here…

Without additional ado, I’ll just run the latest comment from a long-term, multi-handle, but single commenter — with a sincere expression of gratitude:

…Interesting from FTC Commissioner Slaughter’s prepared remarks, yesterday:

“There also may be instances where Section 5’s prohibition on unfair or deceptive acts and practices could be used in competition cases. For example, I believe Section 5 provides the basis for additional counts in the Commission’s pending litigation against Martin Shkreli and Vyera Pharmaceuticals to challenge an off-patent drug price spike….”

I noted in reply that the same Commissioner expressed these views the day the FTC suit was filed as well, thus (in green):

That is in line with her views at the time the suit was filed, and though it is presently the minority view on the Commission, it is emerging as the more solidly reasoned one.

Personally… if I were Martin’s counsel, I’d be concerned about new criminal charges under the Sherman and Clayton Act rules — once all the unsealed evidence is laid out at this civil trial.

That has the potential to keep Martin locked up past 2030, if an indictment based on his own calls and emails were ever handed down….

We shall see — and great find, man!

And, just to keep a more robust record of the actual law and legislative history, here — this is from a footnote, in her earlier remarks — at the time of the filing of the suit, in January 2020:

“…Fed. Trade Comm’n v. Colgate-Palmolive, 380 U.S. 374, 385 (1965) (“It is important to note the generality of the [unfairness] standards of illegality; the proscriptions in § 5 are flexible, to be defined with particularity by the myriad of cases from the field of business….”).

Onward, grinning — c’mon now, Loyola! (today @ 3 PM local — beat Georgia Tech!)….

Namaste….

[U X2: First Four Results] Head To Head, Against “Barack-etology” — For The First Time In Several Years, We Are Significantly Different, In The Middle Rounds.

This (at right — click to enlarge) means one of us will be a runaway winner against the other.

There is very little chance that our errors (inter se) will cancel each other out, even though we both have Gonzaga to win it all.

And in my most sober brackets, at right, I am truly-saddened not to have Loyola going deeper; and saddened that Illinois doesn’t win it all. They are as good as they’ve ever been in 30 years, at least compared to the rest of the Big Ten talent.

Finally, my Buffs drew a tough bracket — just as Loyola did — and so they don’t go very far. [But if the Buffs even go as far as I’ve predicted, that may be my margin of victory over our 44^th President, since he has them losing in the first round. We shall see.]

I think he’s wrong about Michigan State, too — that’s his sentimental side getting the best of him, again this year. He often flames out expecting the Spartans to do better than they generally do. UPDATE: Michigan State is out. UCLA beats them in overtime. Sorry, Mr. President.

Ah… such is life.

It should be clear that Mr. Obama’s picks are hand written, and unless I disagree with him — there is no green name. But where a green name appears, those would be my picks which disagree with his. Now we wait for the proper first round action, tomorrow. Grinning… ever grinning — be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते

Before Midday Thursday, I’ll Post Complete Final Brackets — Condor Vs. Obama… As We Have Ever Since 2012…

But since he has left public life, his aren’t online yet (and probably won’t be, until noon on Thursday) — so I’ll post a few partials, from my alternate… “for fun” bracket pools with my bros and friends… why? Well, because the Irish is risin’, in me — this fine morning… and long-shots rule this day of… climbin’ Croagh Pádraic.

It turns out that Sister Jean has been vaccinated, and at 101 years young she will travel to Indy to see her team. That alone means Final Four. Grin… and now, courtesy of the late Billy Kerrigan (all delivered in a thick, deeply resonant Irish brogue):

…May those that love us… love us.

May the good Lord turn the hearts — of those that do not…

And if He canna’ turn their hearts — then…

Let Him turn their… ankles,

That we might know them — by their limpin’…

Do be excellent to one another, and know that these green eyes are crinkling at the corners, smiling at all of you of good will. Erin Go Brah.

Onward, with full side by side official brackets — if Mr. Obama puts one out — by Thursday around 11 AM EDT.

नमस्ते

Pi Day 2021 Answer Key — From NASA/JPL…

Here you go! Below this is the simplest approach to an answer, as a graphic for this poser, from our multi-topic Selection Sunday/Pi Day post — of yesterday — but one could also derive the actual values for each using this formula: where L is the path loss in decibels, λ (or lambda) is the wavelength and d is the transmitter-receiver distance in the same units as the wavelength. Note the power density in space has no dependency on λ; The variable λ exists in the formula to account for the effective capture area of the isotropic receiving antenna.

And the area of each disk of the antenna may be had using π times r².

And, the problem itself:

Be excellent to one another — don’t let the signals, between one another, fade out….

नमस्ते

Pi Day 2021, With A NASA Quiz, To Test Your Applied Math Skills As A Bonus!

See at right. Very tasty; and see below.

Before we solve the puzzle, here’s a story of a Juno discovery the team wasn’t expecting to make. We now know, thanks to Juno — the true source of the so-called “Zodiacal Light” seen at dawn and dusk here on Earth.

…A team of Juno scientists argues that Mars may be the culprit. They first published their finding online on Nov. 11, 2020, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, with a final peer-reviewed paper published on March 9, 2021.

An instrument aboard the Juno spacecraft serendipitously detected dust particles slamming into the spacecraft during its journey from Earth to Jupiter. The impacts provided important clues to the origin and orbital evolution of the dust, resolving some mysterious variations of the zodiacal light.

Though their discovery has big implications, the scientists who spent years studying cosmic debris did not set out to do so. “I never thought we’d be looking for interplanetary dust,” said John Leif Jørgensen, a professor at the Technical University of Denmark….

Finally, see if you can solve this, one of the quizzes NASA has put up (click it to embiggify), to help us all appreciate 3.14159.

And… here at about 1 p.m. Eastern, on Pi Day 2021 — is a solid formulaic hint, if you need it — to solve the above, over your OJ, coffee, cinnamon roll, banana and cherry yogurt.

[Full answers on Monday afternoon. Grinning….]

नमस्ते

Tangent Alert! — Courtesy Billy The Kid — Elizabeth Holmes Is Now About Five Months Pregnant.

The central reason this private medical information is now relevant is that she has moved to delay her trial to August 31, 2021 — around two months after her delivery date.

I likely would have missed this entirely, had not Billy made mention of it, in comments — so a hat tip, to him! Here’s the moving papers, just filed in northern California, and the bit:

“…On March 2, 2021, counsel for Defendant advised the government that Defendant is pregnant, with an expected due date in July 2021. The parties have met and conferred, and both parties agree that, in light of this development, it is not feasible to begin the trial on July 13, 2021, as currently scheduled.

In light of Defendant’s pregnancy, the parties stipulate and agree, and respectfully request that the Court order, that the trial begin with jury selection on August 31, 2021….”

This must also suggest that — at least during COVID — she remained of the belief she would see no jail time. [I’ll suffer no such delusion, on her account.]

After all, what sort of a couple would decide to bring an innocent child into the middle of all of this — if one knew one was going to be incarcerated for up to 20 years?

Realistically, I think she’ll get around ten… which means her son or daughter will be nearing middle school, before they get to spend more than minutes every few months with her.

This woman is… a narcissist, to the core, in my humble opinion. I realize I am judging her here — and she is not (yet) a convicted felon — but what sort of a mom chooses this, for her innocent child?

Only one who wants yet another “trophy,” to remind her she lived on this Earth.

I will stop there, before I say something… truly unkind.

We Are Allowed Pure Joy, Even In A Pandemic — With Another Run In The NCAAs From Cinderella Loyola Chicago (Echoing 2018)…

While Franklin D. Roosevelt was still President, she played a killer-competitive brand of varsity high school Catholic League b-ball, for St. Paul’s in San Francisco.

Sister Jean is 101 this year — 102, come August. I’m told she no longer travels with the team, nor always even attended home games (pre-COVID-19)… but she (I will bet) does tune in — and will, on Sunday. Sister Jean moved from California to teach at Mundelein College in Chicago in 1961. During the mid-1960s, she was active in the civil rights movement. She was hired by Loyola in 1991 when Mundelein was merged into Loyola. She has worked as the team chaplain for the Ramblers men’s basketball team since 1994. . . . [That graphic at right is from the 2018 Final Four run.]

Here’s the latest college b-ball pundits’ guess — the Ramblers might be a Six or Seven seed… but could also rise — to a Four seed… grinning, leprechaun-like:

…I don’t think anyone can confidently predict where the selection committee will slot 24-4 Loyola Chicago on Sunday. Some predictive metrics love this team. Loyola Chicago is No. 9 at KenPom, No. 10 in the NET and No. 18 at BPI. Meantime, KPI has it 30th, Sagarin 40th and Strength of Record 43rd.

It’s unusual to have a team rank in the top 10 of multiple computers yet still have so much metric disparity. Will the selection committee mostly rely on what the Ramblers have done from a résumé perspective? If so, a 6-4 mark vs. the top two quadrants with potentially zero wins against the field (if Drake doesn’t get in) could put them in No. 10-seed territory.

But a robust record — and other metrics suggesting this team is No. 4 seed-good — suggests the committee might try to split the difference….

No — you would be correct — this has nothing to do with life science, space science or human rights. But I do enjoy it, so here it is. I’ll publish a bracket next week… grinning, indeed.

नमस्ते

[Tangent Alert:] What Might Be The Purpose Of Being Able To Self-Decapitate, And Regrow A Body — In Three Weeks?

The researchers in Japan suspect that it might allow the slug to shed the occasional parasite infestation.

I cannot help but wonder if regeneration of other cell tissue — eventually in humans — might be possible (and might actually be what the Japanese research is more directly. . . about). Entire organs, in fact? Hearts? In any event, here is the latest, from C|net:

. . .The regenerating sea slugs were younger individuals. It took about a week to regrow the heart and they had completely regenerated their bodies within three weeks. The researchers suggest there may be “stem-like cells” where the neck severs that allow for the regrowth. . . .

The ability to regrow a body isn’t unheard of. Some species of jellyfish can regenerate after an injury. The self-decapitation part of the sea slugs’ process adds to the mystery though. The researchers suggest the action may be a way to get rid of internal parasites, but the impetus is unclear.

The surprising body regeneration process is already giving scientists ideas for further studies. Said Mitoh, “As the shed body is often active for months, we may be able to study the mechanism and functions of kleptoplasty using living organs, tissues, or even cells. . . .”

Fascinating; but the misuse of this sort of learning. . . seems both plausible (due to the vast riches a human version would engender) — and obvious, as a therapeutic / target approach, in humans. So, it would seem self-evident, that very close tabs ought to be kept on its progress. Perhaps we will, here. . . almost Mary Wollenscraft Shelley-esque, at that.

And as I close tonight, I must admit that it seems the Oprah / Sussexes‘ interview has rocked British society to its core. Who knows what comes next? Who, indeed. . . but Harry and Meghan were courageous to speak up, that much is certain.

When the Queen passes, it is my hunch that the status of the Royals will be greatly diminished, as it seems she is the last of that dying breed of monarchs who commanded both fear and respect. By earning it. Not so, Charles, apparently — won’t take his son’s phone calls? After how he treated Diana? Disgusting. Signing off now. . . before I type something. . . truly unkind. Regrowing a heart, indeed. Smile.

नमस्ते