Oct 202022
 

So some European protestors – never mind what they’re protesting or why, because it hardly matters – decided that the thing to do was glue themselves to the floor of a VW dealership in Germany. The dealerships response? Close the doors, turn off the lights, turn off the furnace.

That’s a good response. I imagine their maintenance and cleaning staff will be able to clean up the inevitable yellow and brown stains and freshen the air. Keep the doors locked. Don’t let anyone in to provide the protestors food or drink or solvents; let them peel themselves up and seek their own medical attention.

 

 

 

 Posted by at 6:05 pm
Oct 182022
 

From the long irrelevant ACLU, dated June 11, 2020:

Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer

So how’s that going? Let’s check in with CNN (September 25, 2022):

Once nicknamed ‘Murderapolis,’ the city that became the center of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement is grappling with heightened violent crime

Shocking. Who, I ask you, who could have possibly foreseen that defunding, abusing, disparaging the police would embolden the criminals?

 Posted by at 8:52 pm
Oct 162022
 

So “Halloween Ends” opened this weekend. On a budget of $20 million, it has made an estimated $41.25 million domestically in the opening weekend, pushing itself to profitability in a handful of days.

The low budget –  $17 million – horror movie “Smile” has, in just a bit over two weeks, made $71.2 million, making it a rampaging success.

That’s nice. How is this newsworthy? Compare that performance to “The Woman King.” On a budget of $50 million, after a month it has made $59.7 million domestically. D’oh.

It seems the strategies of glorifying the actual villains while accusing the potential customers of being bad people didn’t work so great.

Snerk.

One of these days Hollywood types *might* figure out that hating the audience is not a good plan. In the mean time… keep hemorrhaging dollars, dorks.

 Posted by at 5:34 pm
Oct 152022
 

From the BBC:

Overcrowding: School doesn’t understand why I fall asleep in class

The argument is made that a 16-year-old falls asleep in class because his house is too small and is over-crowded, and that his family has been unable to find a bigger one. But… nowhere in the story does it say that the family is trying to *buy* a bigger house. All references are to trading houses, or asking to be *given* a house. A point is made that new houses are constantly being built, but the question is raised as to who is getting them. The question goes unanswered. Further, the family doesn’t immediately seem to actually be British, though the children were born there… born into a family that is in a small house with no apparent means of buying a larger one.

Left unsaid and unanswered: Britain is being flooded with foreign immigrants who seem to *immediately* get free houses, but who don’t actually seem to contribute to the economy, certainly not to the level of being able to afford said house. So Britain has a housing crisis… not just a lack of houses, but people seem to think they are *owed* a house, and one to their liking, simply because they showed up. These people then go on to create yet more kids who are effectively supported not by the family but by the tax payers.

I’m sure this seems like a good idea to *somebody.*

 Posted by at 7:42 am
Oct 122022
 

Russia’s ‘irrecoverable losses’ in Ukraine: more than 90,000 troops dead, disabled, or AWOL

This estimate appears to come from the FSB. Normally you’d expect them to underestimate the losses in order to try to make things look not quite so bad. So… is this an underestimate? Is it reasonably accurate? Or is it in the FSB’s interests to try to make things look *worse?* If the latter… one might think they’re doing it to make Ukraine look like enough of a threat to retroactively justify the invasion. or maybe they’re doing it to make the invasion look like enough of an unmitigated disaster to help spur on some home-grown regime change. Shrug.

In any event: good job, Vlad.

 Posted by at 8:29 pm
Oct 112022
 

A political test in any science other than “political science” is an abomination. So, of course, here comes the United States Federal Government instituting political tests: you have to pledge allegiance to a scientifically irrelevant political ideology *and* do a performative written struggle session explaining just how much you love Dear Leaders wise policies and how you, yes, YOU, plan on instituting them rather than doing, you know, science.

From the Department of Energy, which has apparently solved all our energy problems (did they finally crack fusion? Do the neighborhood-scale fusion powerplants start shipping next week?), comes this nightmare:

Everyone Has a Role to Play in Making Science More Equitable and Inclusive

That is why, beginning in FY 2023, the Office of Science is adding a new requirement to our solicitation processes: applicants must now submit a plan for Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research, or PIER Plan, along with their research proposals. PIER Plans should describe the activities and strategies that investigators and research personnel will incorporate to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in their research projects. The complexity and detail of a PIER Plan is expected to increase with the size of the research team and the number of personnel to be supported. This will be a requirement for proposals submitted to all Office of Science solicitations, as well as invited proposals from the DOE national laboratories. The PIER Plans will be evaluated under a new merit review criterion as part of the peer review process.  

 

I have high hopes of lawsuits galore.  And I would have hopes that, if the FBI was actually up to the task of doing its job, they’d be investigating the people pushing this crap. I would not be at all surprised to find some foreign involvement here. Why do the hard work of competing against aggressive and enthusiastic science when you can convince the gullible chuckleheads on the other side to eat themselves and corrupt their own science with pseudo-religious garbage?

 Posted by at 6:42 pm
Oct 112022
 

This happens in both the UK and the USA (and elsewhere): people with some sort of cause decide that they way to get their point across is to block traffic. This isn’t merely an inconvenience; this can cost people jobs and, in the case below, doctors appointments, and quite possibly worse.. In the US, it is perfectly legal to protest: the Constitution by way of the 1st Amendment guarantees it:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Note, though, two important points:

  • the right of the people peaceably to assemble
  • to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

Blocking traffic is not petitioning the Government. And when you intentionally piss off the public, you’re hardly “peaceably assembling.” For people trapped in their cars, I don’t see why it’s not considered kidnapping or at least unlawful arrest.

The British police are seen here doing *nothing.* They are in effect enabling the protestors in their efforts to ruin the lives of regular folk. But they also don’t seem to be doing much to stop the few decent citizens who are dragging the jackholes out of the road. So how would they respond if someone were to reasonably gently drag someone off a road and zip-tip them to a pole? Rifle through their pockets? Relieve them of their shoes and other apparel? Bundle them into unmarked vans and drive off with them?

 Posted by at 10:32 am