Funny

Interesting talkback call

I don't know the politics of James O'Brien - never heard of him before, to be honest - but the takedown in a calm manner of someone who rang him to defend "Tommy Robinson's" role in starting riots in England on the basis of a lie is something pretty awesome to listen to.  (Also pretty rare that the caller would keep his cool and keep on the line while he continously loses credibility in his initial position:  

Walz seems a good choice for VP

Of course, all I know about him is what I have learnt in about 12 hours, but he certainly presents as a likeable "regular guy", with good experience in life and politics.

Not weird at all.

A gruesome way to die

When I hear of someone being taken by a crocodile in North Australia, my initial reaction is usually to think they were probably doing something dangeroous that they shouldn't have been doing.  Going for a swim in a dangerous spot, fishing close to the murky water's edge - something like that.

But the latest victim - wow, I feel for his wife - and it's like it's out of a movie:

Police say Newcastle man and GP David Hogbin, 40, was with family members when he fell into the Annan River near Cooktown and failed to resurface on Saturday.

A police spokesperson said it was understood Mr Hogbin was not fishing at the time of his disappearance.

Friend Alex Ward, who started a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family, wrote that the family was walking on an "established path" on the riverbank when it gave way under Dr Hobkin.

He said his wife Jane heard the splash and tried to help him out.

"Due to the steepness and slipperiness of the bank Jane was able to grab his arm but began slipping into the river herself," the post reads.

"Dave's final, decisive act was to let go of Jane's arm when he realised she was slipping in, an act that likely saved her life."

It was then he was taken by the crocodile.

"One small consolation is that none of Dave's children witnessed this event," the post reads.

 

 

Extreme weirdness

Even apart from the weird original story - what the hell is he doing talking to Roseanne Barr on the video??

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate, confessed on Sunday that he had left a dead bear cub in Central Park in Manhattan in 2014 because he thought it would be “amusing.”

Mr. Kennedy posted a video detailing the bizarre story on social media apparently ahead of an article in The New Yorker.

“Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one,” he said, tagging the magazine.

In the video, Mr. Kennedy appears to be seated in a kitchen as he casually tells the actress Roseanne Barr about the ordeal. He says that he was driving through the Hudson Valley when he saw a woman in a van hit and kill a young bear.

Full story from the NY Times here (gift linked.)

Update:

Ceramics noted

I have always liked this noodle/soup bowl, which I am sure was purchased after I was married, and while my wife may remember where we bought it, I have forgotten. Must ask her. (It wasn't expensive, but I just like these sort of colours and patterns on bowls and plates. I did post before about how much I like Peranakan examples.) 

I took this photo for no particular reason yesterday, then Youtube came up with this interesting story about China recovering nice ceramics, many with a not dissimilar look, from a 500 year old shipwreck. I had the feeling that China's interest in this (and the reference to where the wreck was found) has a subtle tie in with their ridiculous expansionist claims of territorial rights in the ocean, but I was still impressed with the quality of some of the ceramic pieces. Here's the video: 

 

Longevity does not run in the Waugh genes

This is a surprise:  I went to Quadrant on the off chance of finding some laughable fanboying of Donald Trump, and instead found something well written and not cringeworthy - an obituary for Alexander Waugh: grandson of Evelyn, son of Auberon.  He recently died at the age of 60 (prostate cancer - ugh), and as the article notes:

Alexander’s death on July 22 sadly mirrors the early demise of Evelyn at 62, and Auberon at 61.

It's written by Mark McGinness, a name which sounds a bit familiar but maybe I'm imagining it.  It reads like it was for a better publication than Quadrant, but there is no attribution, so I don't know.

Anyway, eccentricity and writing talent seems to have been in his genes, if not longevity.   It's an interesting read.

Be Perplexed

Nearly a year ago, I posted about how I was very impressed with the AI tool Perplexity - and since then I have seen it increasingly mentioned on line as what a lot of people use instead of, or combined with, Google for searching the internet now.

(There was an interesting thread on Twitter yesterday started by Noah Smith about how the internet has become a lot worse for finding certain information - he blamed it on people and institutions now not putting stuff up on simple web pages like they used to.   Many people agreed, complaining about how bad Google search has become, and how you sometimes find an answer faster by searching Youtube or Reddit.  But of the AI search tools that got mentioned most often, I think Perplexity was the top one.) 

I have used Perplexity at work a few times recently, and yes, the results were startlingly good and accurate.  I also used it on (what I thought) a rather obscure matter local to Brisbane and someone I know who lives here, and the detailed answer was, once again, just great. 

Once again, therefore, I recommend it to any reader.   I usually use just the "quick" search but there is a "pro" search available that I haven't tried.   There are limits on the number of pro searches you can make in a day, but you can subscribe (not so cheap - about $34 a month) to get a lot more Pro searches per day.  

I have told both of my university educated kids about it, and neither had heard of it.   Yeah, the ageing Dad felt boastful about knowing something new and valuable in the online world that they didn't.  

Krugman on the puzzling world of crypto

Good to see that Krugman is still a complete cryptocurrency skeptic, but he admits being surprised at the fact it is still a thing.  

I really hope that the rumours I have seen sometimes on Twitter are not true:  that someone acting on behalf of Harris have been making approaches to crypto world to try to convince them that Democrats can support their vapourware idea just as Republicans can.

What a deliciously bad week for Trump

After the pathetic performance at that black journalist forum, and an increasing number of polls showing Harris already beating him in some of the key swing states, the cherry on top is his best mate Putin deciding to do a deal with the supposedly lame duck Biden (that makes Biden look good).  

It's impossible for Trump not to be furious about that.

At this point, although it may be tempting fate to say so, I remind readers that I have always said Trump would not win re-election.

He speaks from first hand experience

 

Amusing tweet of the day

Aaron Rupar does a fine job in watching and tweeting the Trump rallies so we all know the nuttiest things he is saying.

Family support that may be impossible where it's most needed?

I must have grumbled here before about the constant stream of complaint about the high rate of indigenous child family removal by child safety authorities - largely because I find it incredibly hard to believe that Australian social workers, being for decades now the career choice for the Lefty-ist of progressives on any university campus, aren't highly sensitive to the racial issues when they reluctantly remove a child.

Therefore, I was interested in this story on 730 this week, which showed an apparent success story in a modest sized indigenous run support service in Sydney that has helped kids stay in their troubled homes, while their parent/s got their act together (apparently):

 

It was obviously slanted to show this as a "way forward" - basically an argument for higher funding for such services. 

But, my skeptical take on it came up with these thoughts while watching it:

*  this looks like such a time intensive way of helping the families, the cost must be enormous.   I mean, were they actually qualified social workers making the visits to the house to do such mundane things as checking the parent is doing the washing, knows how to cook a decent meal, and has a timetable on the wall so as to remember when the kids have to go to school?   I think so, but it wasn't made 100% clear.  I mean, I have no doubt that some people with long standing addiction issues may need a lot of help working out how to do things the average non-drug addled person manages to work out for themselves, but the cost of such one-on-one support must be high.

*  The charity/support featured seemed to have several staff, but was obviously located in suburban Sydney.  (Indeed, the residence of the mother who was being assisted by them looked pretty comfortable and well appointed, especially if it was social housing - which I presume it probably was?)   OK, so finding the (apparently) aboriginal background people of suitable qualification to work with "at risk" families is one thing in Sydney - but how many child removals are from regional parts of the country, and how hard is it to get workers to live there and supply the same kind of support these women provided?   My guess - extremely hard indeed.   In other words, I would not be surprised if the high rate of indigenous child removal is to a large extent explained by the practical impossibility of getting enough people to work in this field in the regions with the highest rate of problems.   If that is true, what else can be done but take the children out of the home?

*  Finally - how to put this without sounding like a Bolt-lite? - the clear change in the approach to indigenous activism in the last 20 or 30 years to a more radical and grievance based approach is one with some dubious consequences for encouraging personal responsibility.   I don't doubt that bad treatment of some indigenous can have had generational effects - but I'm also pretty sure that well intended social workers who continually endorse the attitude that all problems are rooted in racist or unfair treatment of the past are not sending the best message to some of their clients.     

  

Today's depressing read on the future of Gaza

Last month, I posted about the depressing fact that no one seemed to have any good ideas regarding the future governance of Gaza - just a bleak picture of a hopeless place gradually being re-built while its youth will still be taught that the ultimate violent triumph over Israel is just around the corner, despite the lessons of history.

I see that my pessimistic musings are pretty much confirmed in this article in Foreign Affairs headed "Can anyone govern Gaza" that pretty much comes up with the answer "nope".   But it does think there is one (slightly?) least worst option:

All options for Gaza’s future are bad, but to prevent outright chaos, it is worth focusing sharply on the least bad scenario—the return of the PA to Gaza. It is a more plausible solution than imposing a government controlled by an international trustee or by unaffiliated Palestinians and a less disastrous option than a failed state or the return to Hamas rule, whether outright or covert. Although the PA is unpopular among Palestinians, they prefer a PA-run Gaza to a direct occupation by Israel. In the long term, it might also be preferable to Israelis—after all, there is a reason Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

The United States can do much more to ensure the PA beats the odds and governs Gaza. To help the PA, Washington must provide more training and aid. The Department of Defense and intelligence agencies should also step up efforts to train and equip the PA’s security forces to fight insurgencies. Yet technical training is only the first step. The bigger problem, as the United States learned the hard way in Afghanistan, is that security forces must have a government that inspires confidence. Right now, the PA is not worth fighting for. The PA will need to help itself by changing its leadership. Abbas is too old, inept, and unpopular to run Gaza, or even to continue running the West Bank. The United States should coordinate with international and Arab donors to the PA to identify younger, more qualified Palestinians to play leadership roles. Donors should restrict some aid if Abbas resists change and increase it if new leadership is brought in.

To further add to the depressing endless cycle of no end to the problem, I see from a 2007 post about the civil war-ish situation in Gaza at that time, I quoted this from Slate:

It's no wonder that everyone involved in this issue is now madly seeking "new ideas." A state in the West Bank only, leaving Gaza to its fate? (Would that state be viable, and who would take care of Gaza?) A three-state solution? (Why give Hamas a base from which it could cause trouble?) A return to the Jordanian-Egyptian solution? (Let them deal with the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, respectively. There's one problem: They aren't interested.) An international force? (Hamas promised to treat such a force as an "occupying power." Any volunteers?) Start talking to Hamas? (This won't solve the internal Palestinian problems.) Keep fighting for Gaza? (Fatah seems to be losing its appetite for conflict, and, even with the support it has received from the West, doesn't have enough muscle to stay in the fight.)

 In an effort to try to end on less than a completely depressing note, someone in this lengthy article from October last year (Arab Perspectives on the Middle East Crisis) writes:

 The history of the region has taught us that, out of crises of this magnitude, political breakthroughs can be achieved. The 1973 October War led to peace between Egypt and Israel. The first intifada, followed by the first Gulf War, led to the Madrid peace conference.

But then follows that with this:

But this time, the situation is different. The international community is faced with a radical Israeli government that is not interested in any compromise, an ineffective Palestinian leadership that has been further weakened by the current events, and a U.S. administration that is preoccupied with presidential elections next year.

The stars are not aligned for a political initiative. Such an initiative needs the willingness of both parties to seriously engage, as well as the leadership of a U.S. administration that has so far been disinterested. Yet the longer the world continues to focus only on the here and now, the more it has to deal with casualties on both sides.

Great...

Rogan's absurd nuttiness continues

 

More on Australian universities and the overseas student issue

Remember, I like universities and don't have any issue with them being attractive to overseas students.  But they will harm their reputation if they don't get on top of the serious problem of passing students who effectively cheat by use of AI or other assistance.

This is from the second part of a series in The Guardian:

Guardian Australia spoke to multiple academics and students, who described wholesale use of genAI going largely unchecked at many institutions.

A humanities tutor at a leading sandstone university said she was “distressed” to find more than half of her students were flagged to have used AI in their first assignment for all or part of their work this year – a “huge increase” on 2023.

She believed the real number was much higher. But any repercussions were minimal.

“We’re not holding students to a standard,” she said. “It’s not fair on anyone who thinks a degree is worthwhile – a lot are not at the moment. It’s just proof they’ve been paid for.”

She has worked at a number of universities over three decades and said she had seen a “huge dependence” on the international market in recent years, so much so that tutors felt under pressure to pass students in order to keep the revenue coming.

“Nobody is blind to it,” she said. “It’s not a social or educational environment; it’s a box-checking exercise. A master’s degree is not worth what a bachelor’s used to be.”

Up to 80% of her courses were composed of full fee-paying overseas students, she said. Many struggled with English language skills in classes and meetings yet produced perfectly written essays.

It certainly sounds like it causing a lot of consternation amongst staff:

Academics told Guardian Australia they often felt unsupported or discouraged when they spoke up about alleged cheating.

A science tutor at a sandstone university alleged they faced repercussions last year when raising concerns over papers during the first wave of AI.

“There was a near mutiny among the teaching staff when we were told that we had to mark [apparently] bot-written papers as if they had been written by students,” they said.

I almost lost my job raising our common concerns about this to the subject coordinators. About one-fifth of the papers were plagiarised that year. I don’t think many people, if any, got seriously disciplined in the end.

“Far from discouraging AI use, they’re doubling down.”

“Our current directives are not to report them without a smoking gun,” they said.

The Guardian goes there...

I mean, if it was the Daily Mail, I would have more doubts, but when it's The Guardian deciding to run a series on this issue:

Australian universities accused of awarding degrees to students with no grasp of ‘basic’ English

I do pay attention.

Mind you, I also don't have any doubt that Universities can harbour right wingers on staff who may well exaggerate this problem.  (I wouldn't be surprised, for example, if UQ's pro-Trumper James Allen was one of the anonymous academics for the article.   But then again, he's in the law school, and I expect that not too many non English speaking overseas students pick that as their subject.)  

I think all of us suspect that there are cases of overseas students unfairly sailing through to a degree with very little useful english by relying on the myriad ways that technology (and capitalism) can help.  But the question is how often it happens and how seriously the universities treat the issue.

Hank says things I wish more people would say

The guy has always seemed basically likeable, but how I wish more people would be as blunt as this about crypto:

 

The old Olympics

An article like this probably gets published every modern Olympics, but this version had a couple of details I don't recall reading before:

...competing in the games could be dangerous.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 50 BC-c. 40 AD) describes how a father lost both sons in the “pancration”, a type of combat sport that was a violent mixture of boxing and wrestling:

A man trained his two sons as pancratists, and presented them to compete at the Olympic games. They were paired off to fight each other. The youths were both killed together and had divine honours decreed to them.

Gee - I wonder if the father ever got over that, or if he was satisfied with the "divine honours".

Also, venue facilities were not great for a long time:

As the contest was held in the middle of summer, it was usually extremely hot. According to Claudius Aelian, some people thought watching the Olympics under “the baking heat of the sun” was a “much more severe penalty” than having to do manual labour such as grinding grain.

The site at Olympia also had problems with freshwater supply. According to the writer Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD), visitors to the games sometimes died of thirst. This problem was fixed when Herodes Atticus built an aqueduct to the site in the middle of the 2nd century AD.

And I didn't know "the famous story" about Plato attending: 

There is a famous story about what happened when the philosopher Plato (428/427-348/347 BC) stayed at Olympia for the games.

Plato lived there with others who did not realise he was the celebrated philosopher and he made a good impression on them, as the Roman writer Claudius Aelian (2nd/3rd century AD) recalled:

The strangers were delighted by their chance encounter […] he had behaved towards them with modesty and simplicity and had proved himself able to win the confidence of anyone in his company.

Later on, Plato invited his new friends to Athens and they were amazed to find out he was in fact the famous philosopher who was the student of Socrates.

It’s unclear how many people actually visited the ancient games each time they were held, although some modern scholars think the number could have been as high as 50,000 in some years.

Of course, there is also the minor point that it was a (nearly) all male audience watching male athletes compete in the nude, which I mainly find amusing by imagining how MAGA would deal with that scenario today.

 

The best doctors on Youtube

These two Canadian doctors (both orthopaedic surgeons, but they get guest specialists on to talk about other subjects) are easily the most likeable and reasonable sounding doctors who pump out content on Youtube.   Yet they have less than a million followers.  😕 They deserve more.

Anyway, I learnt a lot about "holes in the heart" by watching their last video.  I just didn't know any of this, which makes me feel a bit dumb: