Archive for 2020
August 31, 2020
XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: NBA’s New Social Justice Coalition Silent On China’s Voter Suppression.
OUT IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS FROM MY FRIEND JOE PAPPALARDO: Inferno: The True Story of a B-17 Gunner’s Heroism and the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History.
ISN’T IT WEIRD, THOUGH?
And yes, this “political protection” does indicate deep corruption affecting law enforcement.
OPEN THREAD: It’s whispered that soon, if we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason.
IS TEAM TRUMP LISTENING? I’ve posted this elsewhere, but cannot stress enough how powerful and resonant this ad was in 1968.
Ben Rhodes was right: The young reporters in the MSM don’t know anything, and I’d add neither do their readers. This ad could run today and still be effective. If you support Trump, you should be demanding that they start producing ads like this.
DISPATCHES FROM THE “IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN WE DO IT” PARTY: The MTV Video Music Awards and New York’s COVID hypocrisy. The show must go on:
The last few months have been a painful and consistent example of the way rules shift depending on the whim of our elected officials. Protests were OK for months before the beaches finally opened in NYC. In terms of COVID transmission, the former, with chants, songs and shouting is far more dangerous than the latter. But science ceased to matter long ago.
Lady Gaga gyrated with a bevy of back-up dancers at the VMAs, but even when gyms open, group exercise classes, which would be very similar to a choreographed dance routine, won’t be allowed. Gaga wore a mask, that’s true, but New Yorkers who aren’t multimillionaires haven’t even had that option yet.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others, so goes the famous George Orwell line. In New York City during the time of COVID, those in charge are not even trying to hide that fact anymore.
NOT FOR THE LAST TIME: NASA increases cost estimate for SLS development.
CTRL-F NOT FOUND: “RIOT” “PROTEST” “LOOTING.” New Yorkers Are Fleeing to the Suburbs: ‘The Demand Is Insane.’
PLANT OWNERS ARE NOT “PLANT PARENTS.”
MICHIGAN, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON? Family members of COVID-19 victim sue Michigan nursing home that didn’t allow staff to wear masks.
THE PEOPLE DEFENDING THE LOOTERS HAVE NEVER BUILT ANYTHING WORTHWHILE, SO OF COURSE THEY SIDE WITH THE DESTROYERS. Seen on Facebook:
Destroying a small business is akin to destroying an artist’s studio, a scholar’s library, or a chef’s kitchen. It is not just a matter of the loss of material goods, and insurance isn’t the point. It’s a loss of the space in which they make meaning in their lives and for others, and in which their life projects are pursued.
It is primarily the critics, and not the defenders, of markets who can only see economic activity in material terms, and that is one of their great failings.
Not their greatest, though.
I’M HOLDING OUT FOR A DAMAGED BULLET EXTRACTOR: How to Remove a Bullet Stuck in a Firearm Barrel.
HEH: Snopes Rates Biden’s Claim That 2+2=5 As ‘Mostly True.’ “The website’s 6,000-word defense/fact-check of Biden’s claim further pointed out that 80% of the answer was correct, and it’s only the one additional number that was a mixture of truth and falsehood.”
UPDATE: 2+2 Wars Explained.
Cathy Young — though lacking Cathy “mathbabe” O’Neil’s math credentials — takes a decent stab at explaining the 2+2 twitter flamewar, still going strong. Allow PTT condense it to the bare minimum for you: It’s all about the power. Dovlatov had noted that while the Soviet regime had no reservations about bringing down its iron fist on dissidents, what provoked particular butthurt was attempting to go on as though it weren’t there: “The Soviet government is a touchy lady. It is bad for the one who offends her. But it is much worse for the one who ignores her”.
2+2=5 is about power in the classic, banal, Orwellian sense. Those who followed the wave of retractions (and even pre-tractions!) could see where this was going, but somehow hope had lingered that integer arithmetic would remain safe. Not content with taking over the math organizations, the jackbooted goons had to go after math itself. In this regard, the present-day woke mob is more totalitarian and less pragmatic than their Soviet predecessors, who were content to leave mathematics (if not individual mathematicians) alone.
Much of the 2+2=5 power grab is being driven by a “Harvard-trained data analyst“, whose contribution to mathematical knowledge is exactly zero. To say that he plays the race card would be an understatement on the level of “that pimp can be an abusive boyfriend”. To see him humored and feted by prominent mathematicians is more than disheartening. And he’s not even the worst actor, by far.
Indeed.
MY LATEST TECH PIECE FOR THE PJ MEDIA MOTHERSHIP: Apple Silicon and the End of Intel as We Know It. “Apple Silicon’s performance has implications far outside the comparatively tiny world of Mac buyers.”
This one is just for our PJMedia/Townhall VIP members. If you’ve been thinking of becoming a member, you can do so here — and don’t forget to use that VODKAPUNDIT discount code.
PLAYING IT SMART, OR IS THIS CHEATING? The Secret Adjustment Factor Tesla Uses to Get Its Big EPA Range Numbers. “This is all within the regulatory rules. Among EV makers, Tesla has been at this game longer than most, so it’s not surprising that it has figured out the tricks to maximizing its EPA numbers.”
“What’s ‘gaslighting’, Mommy?“:
“It’s when a politician relies on your blind loyalty to forget history and facts, dear.”
BRUSH UP YOUR COBOL: Inside the Hidden World of Legacy IT Systems. “British historian David Edgerton claims that although maintenance and repair are central to our relationship with technology, they are ‘matters we would rather not think about.'” Yeah, I bought a house from a woman like that.
SPACE: SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday that was historic for two reasons. “The company required seven years to go from its first to its tenth launch. In seven more years SpaceX has gone from its 10th launch to its 100th.”