WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: AI finds formula for how to predict monster waves by using 700 years’ worth of data. “Stories about monster waves, called rogue waves, have been the lore of sailors for centuries. But when a 26-meter-high rogue wave slammed into the Norwegian oil platform Draupner in 1995, digital instruments were there to capture and measure the North Sea monster. It was the first time that a rogue had been measured and provided scientific evidence that abnormal ocean waves really do exist.”

I love how eyewitness reports of rogue waves from sailors were dismissed until there was a digital record. Sort of like sprites and pilots. “Although sporadically reported for years by airline pilots, only in the past decade or two has there been enough evidence to convince atmospheric scientists to investigate the phenomenon.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, ANTI-SEMITIC PRIVILEGE EDITION: Columbia Administrators Stand By as Anti-Israel Protesters Overrun Law School. “Administrators at Columbia Law School stood by for hours on Thursday as anti-Israel protesters took over the law school’s lobby, refusing to shut down an unauthorized demonstration that disrupted nearby classes for nearly three hours and violated several school policies. The law school has said nothing about whether the demonstrators will suffer any consequences.”

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Best Buy cuts sales forecast, as holiday shoppers hunt for deals. “CEO Corie Barry said consumer demand ‘has been even more uneven and difficult to predict.'”

I’M PRETTY SURE THE WACHOWSKIS DIDN’T INTEND FOR THE MATRIX TO BE A HOW-TO GUIDE:

This video envisioning EctoLife, the world’s first concept of artificial womb facility.

[📹 Hashem Al-Ghaili]pic.twitter.com/qJcltcMpsk

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 19, 2023

THE TOWERING TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Joe Biden’s birthday conflagration.

On Monday evening, President Joe Biden’s X account posted a photo of the president sitting before a birthday cake with what appeared to be a million candles on it. Well, not a million candles, but 81, in honor of Biden’s 81st birthday. Having so many flaming candles gave the impression of one large fire atop the cake, with flames licking toward the ceiling. As birthday cakes go, it was an inferno, a firestorm, a conflagration. The fire appeared big enough to set off smoke detectors and send Secret Service agents scrambling to ensure the president’s safety. It was, in all, an amazing picture.

Could there be any more effective statement that the president is very, very old? The photo was such a powerful expression of Biden’s age that outsiders immediately wondered how in the world the White House came to release it. After all, polls show majorities of voters, Democrats and Republicans, believe the president is too old to serve a second term, even as Biden gears up his reelection bid. Nevertheless, the White House posted the picture. Who knows? Maybe David Axelrod or the Republican National Committee got temporary control of the Biden X account. In any event, the phrase “campaign malpractice” does not even begin to describe what the White House did.

Joe’s death grip on the table isn’t helping his case:

ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC: Did a Democrat Congressman Call for Donald Trump to Be Assassinated?

PRIORITIES: U.S. government offers new round of free COVID-19 tests.

FASTER, PLEASE: Gamechanging eye drops could replace reading glasses, study finds.

MARK PULLIAM: The “Insurrectionist” Smear.

BREAKING NEWS FROM 1348: PLAGUE HITS LONDON; WOMEN, MINORITIES HARDEST HIT! BBC: Black women most likely to die in medieval London plague. But there’s a slight problem with the story, revealed in the second to last paragraph:

Dr Rebecca Redfern, from the Museum of London, said: “We have no primary written sources from people of colour and those of black African descent during the Great Pestilence of the 14th Century, so archaeological research is essential to understanding more about their lives and experiences.

On the other hand:

So if the black population of London was not statistically significant in the 14th century, then of course it affected them “at a higher rate.” If you have 50 black women in London and 45 of them died of the plague, that is definitely a higher percentage than how many white men or women died of the plague when their numbers were insanely higher.

But the other problem with their conclusion is that it’s a scientific conclusion you can’t test or challenge. There isn’t going to be a massive outbreak of Bubonic Plague in London in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-three, and the last pandemic we had (the COVID-19 one) wasn’t a racist one either, despite what the social scientists would like to say. Co-morbidities, socioeconomic status, and access to healthcare were bigger factors (when you look at the actual data), but it’s easier to blame “modern structural racism” than those factors.

Again, though, one point needs to be made clear: Plagues, bacteria, and fleas are incapable of being racist. That didn’t stop these researchers — from Michigan and Colorado, by the way — from claiming that they are.

In 2023, isn’t everything?

IT’S A PARTY LED BY STRULDBRUGS, WHOSE FOOTSOLDIERS ARE MONSTERS: Democrats Have a Youth Problem. “The people at the top seem helpless to do anything about it. In the tradition of the newsrooms where radical reporters demand that management do their ideological bidding, young activists in the Democrat Party (same thing, really) refuse to follow policy.”

BREAKING: Elon Musk Just Detonated His ‘Thermonuclear’ Lawsuit.

TWO GOOD NEWS STORIES MSM IGNORED: Ben Johnson at The Washington Stand points to two positive news stories on the right-to-life issue in North Carolina and Wyoming, both of which were utterly ignored by the Mainstream Media.

DECOUPLING: EU Parliament set to back exclusion of Chinese renewables’ manufacturers.

SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BE SAID BUT IT DOES: Believe it or not, the Social Justice Gospel is attracting adherents among evangelicals. That’s why they need reminding that Christians should support limited government (and show backbone in doing so). It’s an important installment in The Stream’s Foundations Series on HillFaith.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Comrade Xi Made a Shǎguā Out of Biden Over ‘Clean’ Energy. “I’ve got the receipts to show what a sucker — or perhaps “stooge” might be the better word — Biden is for Xi’s ‘green’ agenda.”

EARLY BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: RFICUH Flashlight High Lumens Rechargeable. #CommissionEarned

JOE BIDEN, WAGING MORE OF HIS PATENTED PERSONAL DIPLOMACY: Indo-Pacific trade pillar stumbles, US faces setback in countering China. “President Biden and leaders from 13 nations, including a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping, signed agreements focusing on communication and cooperation. Still, the contentious trade negotiations have raised concerns among Asia-Pacific allies, fearing a repetition of the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s fate. The situation underlines challenges for the Biden administration, especially as China actively expands its trade agreements in the region, potentially influencing US allies’ economic preferences.”

USC SIDES WITH TERROR: USC professor banished from campus after anti-Hamas comments go viral. “An economics professor from the University of Southern California is required to teach via zoom for the rest of the fall semester after a heated exchange with a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, prompting an academic freedom group to demand his full reinstatement. Tenured Professor John Strauss, who is Jewish, ‘will be teaching his two classes remotely for the rest of the semester,’ USC said in a statement to The College Fix.”

Of course there are what, like two weeks left in the semester?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: UW-Madison DEI forum ‘triggered’ black woman during racism discussion: Another session discussed ‘Christian privilege.’

IT’S NOTHING BUT A LIE TO DISTRACT FROM ACTUAL ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUS: Alan Dershowitz: Alleged Rise of Islamophobia at Universities ‘Fake.’

MAYBE WE SHOULD REMOVE ALL TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR UNIVERSITIES WITH ENDOWMENTS OVER ONE BILLION DOLLARS: Cornell needs to pay ‘fair share,’ prof writes: David Bateman, an associate professor of government at Cornell, called out his employer for not paying its ‘fair share’ of fees to the city of Ithaca in a recent article.

MAKE THEM PAY: Doctor Sues Mayo Clinic Claiming Retaliation For His Public Comments On Transgender Sports. Complaint: “Mayo . . . warned [Joyner] that going forward he must ‘discuss approved topics only and stick to prescribed messaging,’ a demand anathema to both academic freedom and to the scientific process itself.”

PAR FOR THE COURSE: FBI Miami Field Office Chief ‘Vocally Anti-Trump.’

The whistleblower disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee, obtained by The Washington Times, said FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, and Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore ordered Veltri to scrub his “adamantly and vocally anti-Trump” remarks from his social media accounts in order to get a promotion.

“The home of President Donald Trump is located in the area of responsibility of the Miami Field Office,” the disclosure obtained by the Times read. “It was well known that Veltri was adamantly and vocally Anti-Trump.”

Sure, that’s why he got the job. They just don’t want you to know it.

Flashback: Majority see FBI as Biden’s ‘personal Gestapo’ after Trump raid.

HMM: Commercial Flights Are Experiencing ‘Unthinkable’ GPS Attacks and Nobody Knows What to Do.