Archive for 2018
November 6, 2018
IT’S 2018, AFTER ALL: William Shatner has made a Christmas album with Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop.
TO BE FAIR, IT WAS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE WOULD BE NO MATH: Professor attacked for reporting that liberal administrators outnumber conservative ones.
While you’re waiting for the results, the PJM Live Blog is being regularly updated, and here is Monty Python’s classic election night sketch. I wonder what the numbers are like in Harpenden Southeast?
NO. NEXT QUESTION? Are you ready for a chip implant?
You walk into a grocery store and pick up eggs. No smartphone? No problem. You swipe your hand across a reader, and the amount is deducted from your bank account.
If that sounds far-fetched, you obviously haven’t been to Sweden recently, where thousands of people have reportedly had chips implanted in their bodies.
A company called Biohax has already “installed” around 4,000 chips in customers, inserted just below the thumb. They can use the implant to open secure doors, pay for tickets, and share emergency information with medical personnel. The chip is about the size of a Tylenol pill, and the procedure — which costs $180 — is similar to getting a tetanus shot.
As a famous cyborg once said, “DO NOT WANT.”
LEFTY YOUNG-ADULT INFOTAINMENT SITE VOX STAYS TRUE TO FORM: Essentially, back in 1845, Congress set up Election day on a Tuesday in November to accommodate a bunch of (white, male) farmers’ working, traveling, and religious practices.
BLAME MODERN LIFE FOR POLITICAL STRIFE:
Perceptions, false or otherwise, have an insidious habit of determining reality. In this case, Americans are convinced that they are locked in a political grudge match against a homogeneous tribe of outsiders.
As a result, Republicans and Democrats are increasingly unwilling to get married, be friends, or live beside one another. In 1960, only 5% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats disapproved of their child marrying outside their party. In 2014, 30% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats disapproved of inter-party marriage. Compare this to interracial marriage, a former taboo. According to Gallup, 87% of Americans now favor interracial marriage, up from 4% in 1958.
Along the same lines, 63% of Republicans and 49% of Democrats report being friends primarily with those sharing their political views. Another nationally representative study found that 20% of Democrats and 15% of Republicans believe that their country would be better off if large numbers of people in the other party died. We’ve traded one prejudice for another.
Read the whole thing.
HE CHOSE . . . POORLY: An Australian Man Has Died 8 Years After Eating a Garden Slug on a Dare.
AT AMAZON, Save on High-Speed HDMI Cables.
HA! I DID THIS FOR MSNBC ON ELECTION NIGHT 2004: Team to Provide Social Media Monitoring During Election. That was back when I had a blog on their site, before they went hard-left.
I SUSPECT THE ANSWER IS NO, IF YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT “POWER PROJECTION,” AND YES IF YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT ALL-OUT WARFIGHTING WITH A PEER OR NEAR-PEER NATION. As It Begins Its Second Century, Is the Aircraft Carrier Obsolete?
BOTTOM STORY OF ALL TIME: Here’s What Nutritionists Really Think About Bacon.
OKAY, SERIOUSLY: Get Out And Vote For the Bozo, It’s Important!
WINNING (OBAMA ERA DEFINITION): 9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination Up.
IT DIDN”T TAKE LONG: Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of Proposition 209’s passage. That means today is the anniversary of the litigation that tied up its implementation for almost a year. Once the initiative was implemented, however, it did exactly what I had been hoping for: It improved the academic performance of minority students.
For example, prior to the initiative’s implementation, the University of California at San Diego had only one African American honor student out of a class of 3,268. At the same time, 15% of African American students and 17% of American Indian students were in academic jeopardy (defined as a GPA of 2.0 or less). That should be compared to only 4% of white students.
Proposition 209 made a big difference. In the very first year of its implementation, a full 20% of African American freshman had GPA of 3.5 or better—higher than the Asian rate (16%) and almost as high as the white rate (22%) for that year. (Part of the reason for the difference between the Asian and the white rates is that more Asians major in STEM, which traditionally results in lower grades).
At the same time, the academic jeopardy rate for African Americans and American Indians collapsed to just 6%. Not bad for a voter initiative.
VIDEO: Louis Farrakhan Leads ‘Death to America’ Chant, Calls U.S. ‘The Great Satan.’ “Will Democrats disavow him now?”
No. Next question?
NEVER TELL ANYONE OUTSIDE THE FAMILY WHAT YOU ARE THINKING AGAIN: Michigan paper fires reporter for bias against GOP Senate candidate John James.
