I can't be bothered working out a position to take on the French attempting to enforce smaller swimwear on women, except to remind people that the country has a history of being very prescriptive about swimwear in a way that leads to foreign men, at least in public pools, also being forced to wear less than they otherwise might in their own country. And, as I noted not so long ago, up until about the 1960's, many boys and teenage guys in many parts of the US were forced by their State school system -or if they were learning at a YMCA - to take swimming lessons nude. Go back further, and England had to ban men bathing nude - at the beach - in the 1860's, and this coincided with bans on mixed bathing, as well.
Yes, I know, both of the first two examples are about alleged hygiene concerns in pools, not the ocean. But just wanted to note that the history of regulation of bathing suits has taken many peculiar turns, in many countries, one way or the other over the years...
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Paging Dr Nick
One of the more amusing things to come out of the Trump/alt right conspiracy mongering about Hillary's health is a re-examination of the Trumpian sounding letter from Trump's doctor.
As I said in comments recently, the letter put me in mind of Dr Nick from the Simpsons (and I bet I'm not the first to think that), and as it turns out, the doctor does at least look a little unconventional. (See story at the link.) The funniest suggestion in the WAPO story is that a "positive" medical test often means something bad..was Trump's doctor trying to tell us something? It's logic worthy of the alt right itself, but pretty funny.
As I said in comments recently, the letter put me in mind of Dr Nick from the Simpsons (and I bet I'm not the first to think that), and as it turns out, the doctor does at least look a little unconventional. (See story at the link.) The funniest suggestion in the WAPO story is that a "positive" medical test often means something bad..was Trump's doctor trying to tell us something? It's logic worthy of the alt right itself, but pretty funny.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Sensitive Tim and gay marriage
Oh, so newly elected walking selfie Tim "Send in the water cannon" Wilson is now taking to re-tweeting rude tweets from lefties? To show up the intolerant Left? Seems a bit rich...
As to the whole same sex marriage plebiscite - what a mess this issue is. While I think a plebiscite is actually not a bad idea for everyone for a major social and legal change, I would expect it to be conducted conveniently (and economically) with an election day vote. But this seemed to have been beyond Turnbull's ken to get going in time for the last election. Do we blame deals with his conservative Coalition base for that? I'm not sure.
Now with the Greens going all "principled" again (they manage to delay a lot of useful things to their side of politics by doing this) it seems there won't be one for years. Actually, I wonder if it's more likely now that we won't have one at all, and gay marriage will just come in via a new Labor government. But I could be wrong.
It's one of those issues where everyone's annoying - gay activists by carrying on too much about how dire it will be for gay teens to hear rhetoric against it; conservatives for going on about how it will be a cultural disaster that will see people locked up for refusing to marry same sex couples. And Tim Wilson for criticising the Greens, when members of his own party are interested in delaying the inevitable, including undertaking not to be bound by the result anyway.
And for the record, again: I would favour civil unions over gay marriage. If the plebiscite had been held at the last election, I would have likely have voted "no", but with the expectation that the "yes" vote would win, and without any great concern that it would end Western civilisation. (Or perhaps, I would just have voted informal on this - that's probably the better line for someone like me to take, given my preferred option is not on the table.) Give it another couple of years of listening to argument about it, though, I might be persuaded to vote "yes" for gay marriage, just so I can stop hearing about it....
As to the whole same sex marriage plebiscite - what a mess this issue is. While I think a plebiscite is actually not a bad idea for everyone for a major social and legal change, I would expect it to be conducted conveniently (and economically) with an election day vote. But this seemed to have been beyond Turnbull's ken to get going in time for the last election. Do we blame deals with his conservative Coalition base for that? I'm not sure.
Now with the Greens going all "principled" again (they manage to delay a lot of useful things to their side of politics by doing this) it seems there won't be one for years. Actually, I wonder if it's more likely now that we won't have one at all, and gay marriage will just come in via a new Labor government. But I could be wrong.
It's one of those issues where everyone's annoying - gay activists by carrying on too much about how dire it will be for gay teens to hear rhetoric against it; conservatives for going on about how it will be a cultural disaster that will see people locked up for refusing to marry same sex couples. And Tim Wilson for criticising the Greens, when members of his own party are interested in delaying the inevitable, including undertaking not to be bound by the result anyway.
And for the record, again: I would favour civil unions over gay marriage. If the plebiscite had been held at the last election, I would have likely have voted "no", but with the expectation that the "yes" vote would win, and without any great concern that it would end Western civilisation. (Or perhaps, I would just have voted informal on this - that's probably the better line for someone like me to take, given my preferred option is not on the table.) Give it another couple of years of listening to argument about it, though, I might be persuaded to vote "yes" for gay marriage, just so I can stop hearing about it....
A funny line about Coulter
The Great Ann Coulter Immigration Bamboozle
From The Federalist, of all places:
From The Federalist, of all places:
“I don’t care if @realDonaldTrump wants to perform abortions in the White House after this immigration policy paper,” Coulter tweeted last August, calling Trump’s immigration plan “the greatest political document since the Magna Carta.” At the time, due to my longtime understanding that Coulter is 85 percent ratings-and-book-sales-related shtick and 15
percent the amalgamated ghosts of old cigarettes, I shrugged and rolled my eyes.
Robot babies
I see that an evaluation of one of those "here, look after this demanding, crying, robot baby and see what a pain baby care is, so you'll know not to get pregnant" programs with teenagers in WA actually ended up with more of the robot carers getting pregnant.
I'm a little puzzled by this. Haven't these programs been tried in the US for many, many years? They've featured in some sitcoms for a long time, I'm sure. Were those programs properly evaluated? Or does it depend on the location of the teenage population (with, for example, teenagers in remote towns with little to do finding that even caring for a robot or real baby is better than being bored?)
I'm a little puzzled by this. Haven't these programs been tried in the US for many, many years? They've featured in some sitcoms for a long time, I'm sure. Were those programs properly evaluated? Or does it depend on the location of the teenage population (with, for example, teenagers in remote towns with little to do finding that even caring for a robot or real baby is better than being bored?)
The Hillary health campaign
The Trump/Guiliani/nutty Right wing conspiracist reliance on ridiculously concocted "evidence" of Hillary Clinton being seriously frail just goes to show what intense gullibility has swallowed up significant sections of the Right in the US, as well as the dearth of genuine good policy they have on which to run. Just as they would prefer to believe that climate change is a self serving fabrication of money hungry scientists and/or socialists of the UN, rather than believe the hundreds of professional science bodies and the evidence of record temperatures before their eyes, they show little in the way of common sense, let alone good policy judgement, and swallow the silliest suggestions whole. I am still inclined to blame the internet for this - I just don't think conspiracies used to get the hold on as large a part of the Western public in the pre-internet decades as they do now.
And it seems to me that the Trump campaign is probably facing a backlash for this - with one poll now showing a 10 point lead for Clinton, and ridicule of the health conspiracy finally making news. Or maybe it's the Trump flip flopping on his populist immigration policy. Who knows.
And why haven't those in the GOP who want their party to have a skerrick of credibility been calling out Trump on this health conspiracy issue? Are they just figuring that the only way the party can rise again is to see it first burn to the ground when the nutty element takes control?
And it seems to me that the Trump campaign is probably facing a backlash for this - with one poll now showing a 10 point lead for Clinton, and ridicule of the health conspiracy finally making news. Or maybe it's the Trump flip flopping on his populist immigration policy. Who knows.
And why haven't those in the GOP who want their party to have a skerrick of credibility been calling out Trump on this health conspiracy issue? Are they just figuring that the only way the party can rise again is to see it first burn to the ground when the nutty element takes control?
Thursday, August 25, 2016
More comedy stylings from the escapee from 1950
Spotted at Catallaxy, from someone who has become the walking definition of hysteria about homosexuality and the matter of gay marriage:
The video, incidentally, shows the weakest "firestorm" of violence since, well, I dunno, readers can up with their own comparison for wannabe violent confrontations that weren't anything to write home about.
The video, incidentally, shows the weakest "firestorm" of violence since, well, I dunno, readers can up with their own comparison for wannabe violent confrontations that weren't anything to write home about.
Providing for the dead
China's ghost weddings and why they can be deadly - BBC News: Police in north-west China have charged a man with murdering two women with mental disabilities, alleging that he wanted to sell their corpses to be used in so-called "ghost weddings".Read the whole thing - it's fascinating.
It has put a spotlight on the ancient shadowy ritual, still practised in certain parts of China, which aims to provide spouses for people who die unmarried.
Yet more on (very odd) Japanese management ideas
The ‘handsome weeping boys’ paid to wipe away your tears - BBC News
This will, no doubt, be the oddest story about Japan you will read today.
This will, no doubt, be the oddest story about Japan you will read today.
Putin and the Noosphere
What is the Mysterious “Nooscope”? Let’s Ask Putin’s New Chief of Staff | Mysterious Universe
Russia has long been the home of crank-ish spirituality; although, as it happens, I'm quite fond of the idea of the Noosphere myself. The possibility of an orbiting nooscope, though? Sounds like something out of Philip K Dick.
What it means for Putin to be elevating someone who seems to take these ideas very seriously is anyone's guess.
Russia has long been the home of crank-ish spirituality; although, as it happens, I'm quite fond of the idea of the Noosphere myself. The possibility of an orbiting nooscope, though? Sounds like something out of Philip K Dick.
What it means for Putin to be elevating someone who seems to take these ideas very seriously is anyone's guess.
More about "Japanese Schindler"
Documentary sheds light on Japanese who helped Jews escape Holocaust | The Japan Times
I've mentioned him before on this blog, way back in 2008.
I've mentioned him before on this blog, way back in 2008.
The problem of regional predictions
Global climate models do not easily downscale for regional predictions | EurekAlert! Science NewsThe problem has been well known for some time, but I guess this is putting some more specific details into it. Also, it makes it clear what nonsense it was for the head of the CSIRO to suggest we could afford to move on from climate modelling work.
Zhang and Michael Mann, Distinguished professor of atmospheric
science and director, Earth System Science Center, were concerned that
the direct use of climate model output at local or even regional scales
could produce inaccurate information. They focused on two key climate
variables, temperature and precipitation.
They found that projections of temperature changes with global
climate models became increasingly uncertain at scales below roughly 600
horizontal miles, a distance equivalent to the combined widths of
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. While climate models might provide
useful information about the overall warming expected for, say, the
Midwest, predicting the difference between the warming of Indianapolis
and Pittsburgh might prove futile.
Regional changes in precipitation were even more challenging to
predict, with estimates becoming highly uncertain at scales below
roughly 1200 miles, equivalent to the combined width of all the states
from the Atlantic Ocean through New Jersey across Nebraska. The
difference between changing rainfall totals in Philadelphia and Omaha
due to global warming, for example, would be difficult to assess. The
researchers report the results of their study in the August issue of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.
Things you probably didn't know about airplane tires
Airplane Tires Don’t Explode on Landing Because They Are Pumped! | WIRED
The article ends by noting that it's really hard to make an airplane tire explode by overinflating, because they are designed to be so strong. I presume they are better now than tires on Orions in the 1980's - as I am aware that an airman lost his legs due to an accidental overinflation explosion in Adelaide in that decade.
The article ends by noting that it's really hard to make an airplane tire explode by overinflating, because they are designed to be so strong. I presume they are better now than tires on Orions in the 1980's - as I am aware that an airman lost his legs due to an accidental overinflation explosion in Adelaide in that decade.
In other natural disaster news
Giant, deadly ice slide baffles researchers : Nature News & Comment: One of the world's largest documented ice avalanches is flummoxing researchers. But they suspect that glacier fluctuations caused by a changing climate may be to blame.
About 100 million cubic metres of ice and rocks gushed down a narrow valley in Rutog county in the west of the Tibet Autonomous Region on 17 July, killing nine herders and hundreds of sheep and yaks.
The debris covered nearly 10 square kilometres at a thickness of up to 30 metres, says Zong Jibiao, a glaciologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITPR) in Beijing, who completed a field investigation of the site last week. The only other known incident comparable in scale is the 2002 ice avalanche from the Kolka Glacier1, 2
in the Caucasus Mountains in Russia, says Andreas Kääb, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo in Norway. That catastrophic event killed 140 people.
I hadn't even heard of these, until now...
Roman earthquakes
Can an Earthquake Bring About the Fall of Rome? - TIME
With news of the deadly Italian earthquake, not all that far from Rome, I was curious about whether Rome itself has ever suffered a lot of damage from a major quake. The answer appears in that Time article from 2012. Seems from historical precedent that the city is not all that likely to ever be reduced to rubble; but sure, it has had some earthquake damage, and could get a moderately large shake again.
With news of the deadly Italian earthquake, not all that far from Rome, I was curious about whether Rome itself has ever suffered a lot of damage from a major quake. The answer appears in that Time article from 2012. Seems from historical precedent that the city is not all that likely to ever be reduced to rubble; but sure, it has had some earthquake damage, and could get a moderately large shake again.
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