Guardian Australia has made a difference – with your help, it can do more | Media | The Guardian
I see that The Guardian Australia is asking for subscribers (or donors, if you will) and suggesting $10 a month or $100 a year.
I think this would be well deserved support for a great paper and website. (I already subscribe to the SMH too.)
Get our your credit cards.
Thursday, August 04, 2016
The drop out option
Would Donald Trump really consider dropping out?
A good consideration here of what would happen if Trump dropped out, and why he probably won't. (Although I still suspect he might if enough Republicans continue to repudiate him.)
Update: and here's Vox on what the party can do to try to get him out of the race. (They can't force him.)
A good consideration here of what would happen if Trump dropped out, and why he probably won't. (Although I still suspect he might if enough Republicans continue to repudiate him.)
Update: and here's Vox on what the party can do to try to get him out of the race. (They can't force him.)
Wednesday, August 03, 2016
My suggestion for the next James Bond
He's dark haired; darker skinned (for a bit of character variety); good with gadgets; knows his way around Europe; and the ladies love him. [OK, so 4 out of 5 is not bad.] :)
Anyway, he would make an excellent Q, at the very least.
An amusing comment about Friedman
Noahpinion: How are Milton Friedman's ideas holding up? Part 1: For some reason, Friedman is treated a bit like a secular saint in policy discussions. If you criticize "Idea X", fine. We can have an argument. But if you criticize "Milton Friedman's Idea X", then WHO ARE YOU, LOWLY WORM, to criticize the great FRIEDMAN?? If you say government is a lot more useful and important than Reagan and Thatcher and Art Laffer and Friedrich Hayek and Ed Prescott and Greg Mankiw think, well, fine, that's your opinion. But if you say government is a lot more useful and important than Milton Friedman thought, then you're wrong wrong wrong and don't you know that Friedman proved government was bad in the 70s?? Etc.
OK, I might be exaggerating as an excuse to use lots of capital letters and italics, but Friedman is such a towering intellectual that criticizing him does feel a bit like tipping a sacred cow. Fortunately I'm from Texas, where cow-tipping is a way of life.
Any suggestions?
Ridiculing Trump has become a bit like shooting a fish in a barrel for everyone, so I'm getting a bit bored with that. Seems to me the only thing providing any real tension in the Presidential election is what's in emails that Julian Assange is determined to try to take down Clinton with, and when they'll be released. I can't dismiss the possibility that there might be real problems for her in this - but Assange is going to be winning no friends on the Left by playing games with the timing of release, and he has no friends already on the Right. He's stuffed either way, then.
I wonder, though, whether Trump might do something really unprecedented - such as pulling the pin himself on his run if enough Republican figures say they can't endorse him. His musing about a possible rigged election seems potentially on the path to something like that, and he obviously is worried about how he'll cope with one on one debates with Clinton. Let's see...
I haven't even been posting much science lately - I think most scientists must be enjoying the NH summer holidays, because I don't think that much of interest has been in the media recently.
Oh - here's something: Brian Cox's new series from the BBC started last night - Forces of Nature - and as with his previous similar shows, it's beautiful to look at, and I find it rather endearing watching a man who seems continually blissed out about science and nature. Could be a bit better edited - there seemed to be a little bit of unnecessary repetition in last night's episode - but overall, it's highly recommended.
Apart from that, I feel like calling for suggestions as to what I might find interesting on the 'net at the moment...
I wonder, though, whether Trump might do something really unprecedented - such as pulling the pin himself on his run if enough Republican figures say they can't endorse him. His musing about a possible rigged election seems potentially on the path to something like that, and he obviously is worried about how he'll cope with one on one debates with Clinton. Let's see...
I haven't even been posting much science lately - I think most scientists must be enjoying the NH summer holidays, because I don't think that much of interest has been in the media recently.
Oh - here's something: Brian Cox's new series from the BBC started last night - Forces of Nature - and as with his previous similar shows, it's beautiful to look at, and I find it rather endearing watching a man who seems continually blissed out about science and nature. Could be a bit better edited - there seemed to be a little bit of unnecessary repetition in last night's episode - but overall, it's highly recommended.
Apart from that, I feel like calling for suggestions as to what I might find interesting on the 'net at the moment...
Tuesday, August 02, 2016
When any publicity is not good publicity
Some would say this is hardly surprising, given the source, but I am still amused to see this group of headlines re Trump on the Washington Post website today:
A very odd thing to say
Gee, for a man who has a long association with the IPA, with its transgender staffer Mikayla Novak and its past high profile gay spokes-ego Tim Wilson, Sinclair Davidson sure likes to buy into moral panic about high school students and sexuality. And he has done so today in a truly spectacularly oddball way.
This is the post in question, about a scholarship body that has started asking teenage applicants if they identify a gay/transgender etc, apparently with the intention of specifically offering money to some in that category. SD notes, however, that the applicants will often be below the age of consent, which leads to his ending his post with this:
"...perhaps this is a matter for the police and not reporters from The Australian."
Now look, I have long, long argued in this blog that sexuality of school students is something best dealt with at school as a matter of emphasising privacy and respect for all (and therefore don't particularly care for teenagers in high school who go out of their way to be "out"), and I would agree that gay identity politics influencing sex education may have gone so far as to advertently or inadvertently put inappropriate pressure on students to categorise themselves in ways they should not need to. So do I think it makes much sense in principle to be offering scholarships based on sexuality? Of course not.
But do I think that they're aren't some teenagers who have a pretty good understanding of their sexuality as not being heterosexual? Of course not.
Everyone who has read anything by, or talked to, gay adults knows that a great many do feel sure fairly soon into puberty that their sexuality is at least different, and (even before the modern Western openness to discussing homosexuality) recognized it as homosexuality, or at least bisexuality. And in most cases, this is prior to any actual sexual experience at all.
Therefore, it is obvious that asking a 15 or 16 year old if he or she identifies as gay, etc, (and leaving it open for them to decline to answer) carries no necessary implication about whether they are or have ever been sexually active, or will be before it becomes "legal" by virtue of their age. So in what implausible way does SD think asking this question on a piece of paper could induce an underage teenager to have gay sex? A scholarship possibility means they'll just go and try out the gay stuff to make sure they can honestly answer the question? Yeah, sure. Is it meant to be just be like how detailed sex education encourages straight students to have sex early (when in fact, if anything, it probably has the opposite effect)?
Even when asked to clarify in comments what he could possibly mean about police looking into this, the Professor does not retract at all, and seems to make his concern sound even more like extreme conservative, moral panic, ridiculousness. People who work in a body offering scholarships to a gay identifying 15 or 16 year old are "grooming"?? The police should look into this instead of pursuing George Pell?? In fact, we all know the police would be rolling their eyes and writing "just plain nuts" in their notebooks.
It's remarkable how SD can take a matter on which moderate conservatives might agree (do we really need scholarships based on sexuality?) and take the argument to such an unjustified extreme that makes it immediately dismiss-able not just by Lefties, but by any sensible social conservative too.
This is the post in question, about a scholarship body that has started asking teenage applicants if they identify a gay/transgender etc, apparently with the intention of specifically offering money to some in that category. SD notes, however, that the applicants will often be below the age of consent, which leads to his ending his post with this:
"...perhaps this is a matter for the police and not reporters from The Australian."
Now look, I have long, long argued in this blog that sexuality of school students is something best dealt with at school as a matter of emphasising privacy and respect for all (and therefore don't particularly care for teenagers in high school who go out of their way to be "out"), and I would agree that gay identity politics influencing sex education may have gone so far as to advertently or inadvertently put inappropriate pressure on students to categorise themselves in ways they should not need to. So do I think it makes much sense in principle to be offering scholarships based on sexuality? Of course not.
But do I think that they're aren't some teenagers who have a pretty good understanding of their sexuality as not being heterosexual? Of course not.
Everyone who has read anything by, or talked to, gay adults knows that a great many do feel sure fairly soon into puberty that their sexuality is at least different, and (even before the modern Western openness to discussing homosexuality) recognized it as homosexuality, or at least bisexuality. And in most cases, this is prior to any actual sexual experience at all.
Therefore, it is obvious that asking a 15 or 16 year old if he or she identifies as gay, etc, (and leaving it open for them to decline to answer) carries no necessary implication about whether they are or have ever been sexually active, or will be before it becomes "legal" by virtue of their age. So in what implausible way does SD think asking this question on a piece of paper could induce an underage teenager to have gay sex? A scholarship possibility means they'll just go and try out the gay stuff to make sure they can honestly answer the question? Yeah, sure. Is it meant to be just be like how detailed sex education encourages straight students to have sex early (when in fact, if anything, it probably has the opposite effect)?
Even when asked to clarify in comments what he could possibly mean about police looking into this, the Professor does not retract at all, and seems to make his concern sound even more like extreme conservative, moral panic, ridiculousness. People who work in a body offering scholarships to a gay identifying 15 or 16 year old are "grooming"?? The police should look into this instead of pursuing George Pell?? In fact, we all know the police would be rolling their eyes and writing "just plain nuts" in their notebooks.
It's remarkable how SD can take a matter on which moderate conservatives might agree (do we really need scholarships based on sexuality?) and take the argument to such an unjustified extreme that makes it immediately dismiss-able not just by Lefties, but by any sensible social conservative too.
Trump-ism of the day
Trump says he hopes Ivanka would quit if she got harassed: Kirsten Powers
Apparently, from a telephone interview with Trump:
Apparently, from a telephone interview with Trump:
What if someone had treated Ivanka in the way Ailes allegedly behaved?
His reply was startling, even by Trumpian standards. “I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case,” he said.
But most women don’t have the financial resources of Ivanka. They can’t afford to quit their job without another in hand, something that is impossible to do when you are under contract and forbidden to speak to competitors. Most importantly, why should a woman be expected to upend her career just because she ended up in the crosshairs of some harasser?
Hand cleaning considered
Health Check: should we be using alcohol-based hand sanitisers?
Here's something I didn't know about alcohol based hand cleaners:
Here's something I didn't know about alcohol based hand cleaners:
In a hospital setting, health-care workers use medicated soap and water
wash or alcohol-based hand rub to remove germs and kill pathogens.
Alcohol-based hand rub has the added bonus of providing an additional 20
minutes of residual action on the surface of the health workers’ hands
to keep pathogens from multiplying to a level that can cause infection
in vulnerable patients.
Monday, August 01, 2016
Milling about in the dark
Tokyo’s surreal and shadowy world of Pokemon Go after dark - The Washington Post
The photos aren't that special really; but yes, I can just imagine how incredibly popular this game will be there.
The photos aren't that special really; but yes, I can just imagine how incredibly popular this game will be there.
The Apollo astronaut I saw
Mike Collins Talks About Mars, and How to Handle Apollo Hoaxers | Daily Planet | Air & Space Magazine
I have mentioned here before, but I saw Michael Collins in the late 1970's in the bookshop of the Air & Space Museum, when he ran the place. (I thought it was the 1980's, but I was also there in either '78 or '79, and he was the director up to 1978, apparently.)
He's 85 now, and recently gave an interview (linked above) which has a few funny parts, including this:
I have mentioned here before, but I saw Michael Collins in the late 1970's in the bookshop of the Air & Space Museum, when he ran the place. (I thought it was the 1980's, but I was also there in either '78 or '79, and he was the director up to 1978, apparently.)
He's 85 now, and recently gave an interview (linked above) which has a few funny parts, including this:
Is there anything particular that provokes memories of the Apollo days?
Well, the moon kind of surprises me sometimes. I’ll be out at night and I’ll see a nice moon, and say, “Hey, that looks good.” Then I’ll say, “Oh shit, I went up there one time!” Kind of surprises me. It’s like there are two Moons, you know—the one that’s usually around, and then that one.
Trump and the Russians, continued
Trump: Don’t worry, Putin won’t go into Ukraine � Hot Air
When even Hot Air keeps noting how Trump is making a complete mess with his media appearances, you know he's in trouble...
When even Hot Air keeps noting how Trump is making a complete mess with his media appearances, you know he's in trouble...
Heh
Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context
It's a few days old now, from The Onion, but it's pretty funny.
It's a few days old now, from The Onion, but it's pretty funny.
Some skepticism called for
Computers will require more energy than the world generates by 2040 - ScienceAlert
Oh, and by the way:
YES, BAN THAT MILITARY GRADE FLASHLIGHT - IF THAT WILL STOP IT APPEARING AS AN ADVERTISEMENT EVERYWHERE I GO ON THE NET.
Oh, and by the way:
YES, BAN THAT MILITARY GRADE FLASHLIGHT - IF THAT WILL STOP IT APPEARING AS AN ADVERTISEMENT EVERYWHERE I GO ON THE NET.
Evolving interpretations of ancient sexuality
TLS Greek homosexuality
This (sort of) review of a re-published important book about Greek homosexuality takes a broader look at how its ideas were received, and it's pretty interesting. The author of the book - KJ Dover - also sounds like quite a strange character.
This (sort of) review of a re-published important book about Greek homosexuality takes a broader look at how its ideas were received, and it's pretty interesting. The author of the book - KJ Dover - also sounds like quite a strange character.
Getting mileage from your toilet
An interesting story has appeared at the LA Times about Japanese (and American) progress with hydrogen powered fuel cell cars. (The Japanese are using sewerage to make the gas.)
It sounds like there is more work going on with this technology than I realised.
It sounds like there is more work going on with this technology than I realised.
Trump's wrath with Khan (sorry...)
No doubt someone else has already made that pun somewhere, but never mind.
Everyone except the stupidest, and those who comment at Catallaxy (what a Venn diagram that would make) can see that Trump badly hurt himself with his inane comment on the Muslim parent's appearance at the DNC. I thought this Vox commentary really got to the heart of it:
Update: sorry monty, had you done the "wrath of Khan" reference already?
Everyone except the stupidest, and those who comment at Catallaxy (what a Venn diagram that would make) can see that Trump badly hurt himself with his inane comment on the Muslim parent's appearance at the DNC. I thought this Vox commentary really got to the heart of it:
The second thing, as Salam says at the end of his argument, is that Trump is easily baited. He couldn’t swallow his hurt and anger over the Khan’s speech, he had to lash out, to fight back, to smear them in response. This doesn’t make sense if you understand the goal of an election as getting elected, but it does make sense if you understand the goal of an election as playing out an endless series of dominance games.
This is a point TPM’s Josh Marshall has repeatedly made about Trump. A need for dominance, Marshall writes, "is the key to understanding virtually everything Trump does. Whatever is actually happening he tries to refashion it into a dominance ritual or at least will not engage before performing one. You saw that in those numerous examples where he said he would participate in a debate but only after the other party wrote a major check to charity. It's primal."
The Khans’ speech hurt Trump. He watched it. He read the coverage of it. He felt slighted, inferior, humiliated. And so he needed to rebalance the scales. He needed to regain his dominance. He seems confused that anyone faults him for this — isn’t it obvious that they attacked him, and so he should get to attack them back?
This is the logic of a schoolyard bully, which Trump is. But it’s a dangerous mindset for a president.
Putting Trump in the Oval Office would open a huge vulnerability in our national security. It’s much easier to bait Trump than it is to attack the United States. Our enemies’ aim is often to provoke us into overreacting and overcommitting abroad because they can’t hope to seriously hurt us here. With Trump in control of the armed forces, the path to manipulating us into that kind of overreaction would be clear.
By the way, monty, if you're reading. Could you pass on a message over at an open thread that this piece made me realise why CL has such sympathy towards Trump - he's psychologically the same in this key respect.
Update: sorry monty, had you done the "wrath of Khan" reference already?
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Meanwhile, in Siberia...
There's been an anthrax outbreak, with a possible global warming connection:
Russian army biological protection troops called in amid warnings 'utmost care' needed to stop deadly infection spreading.
The concern among experts is that global warming thawed a diseased animal carcass at least 75 years old, buried in the melting permafrost, so unleashing the disease.
A total of 40 people, the majority of them children, from nomadic herder families in northern Siberia are under observation in hospital amid fears they may have contracted the anthrax. Doctors stress that so far there are NO confirmed cases.
Up to 1,200 reindeer were killed either by anthrax or a heatwave in the Arctic district where the infection spread.
Specialists from the Chemical, Radioactive and Biological Protection Corps were rushed to regional capital Salekhard on a military Il-76 aircraft.
They were deployed by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to carry laboratory tests on the ground, detect and eliminate the focal point of the infection, and to dispose safely of dead animals.
The move confirmed the seriousness with which the authorities view the anthrax outbreak, the first in this region since 1941.
Nearly spring
I usually post some photos from the garden at this time of year; and the type of flower hasn't changed much recently. But some - like this daisy - even if you've seen similar before, I just like the strong contrast with the black behind it:
And this bee may not be perfectly lined up against a contrasting background, but you try taking photos of bees and see how often they stay still for a shot:
And there's always a scruffy dog to try to get to stay still, too:
And finally for now: nothing too spectacular, but nice enough:
And this bee may not be perfectly lined up against a contrasting background, but you try taking photos of bees and see how often they stay still for a shot:
And there's always a scruffy dog to try to get to stay still, too:
And finally for now: nothing too spectacular, but nice enough:
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