Political tests in science

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, news, politics, science, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
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

How is this legal?

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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

We’ve killed ourselves

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Oct 102022
 

Study links in utero ‘forever chemical’ exposure to low sperm count and mobility

The Danish study shows a link between PFAS chemicals, often used in plastic products including food packaging, and now found in *rain,* and drastically reduced sperm counts. This is a possible explanation for why the developed world’s sperm counts have crashed while the undeveloped world’s sperm counts remain fairly high.

It is unlikely that reduced sperm counts are the sole result of these chemicals, which mess with hormones. It would not surprise me that they also trash testosterone levels, another problem in considerable evidence these days. This would not be the first time that science has shown widespread problems due to chemicals in consumer products: tetra-ethyl lead in gasoline and lead in paint led to whole generations of kids being stupider and more violent than they should have been. And then there’s tobacco.

So what will be done about this? If the link can be firmly established, PFAS chemicals *should* be removed from the market. But I wonder about pushback: not so much from the chemical and plastics industries… but from the Alphabet People. If it is scientifically shown that the existence of everything from bog-standard homosexuals to low-testosterone “soyboys” to dangerhaired weirdos to a large fraction of those  feeling the need to transition are all influenced to an important degree by the existence of PFAS… then deleting the chemicals might be seen as anti-Alphabet People. If nothing else, the following generations should presumably have fewer Alphabet People. I suspect this won’t go over all that well.

The alternative seems to be a population crash in the developed world, followed by a complete takeover by the undeveloped world. I suspect that this, too, might be something that some people want to have happen.

 Posted by at 7:43 pm

9/11 remastered in 4K

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Oct 062022
 

It baffles and distresses me to know that people who were born *after* the religious attacks of 9/11 are old enough to vote and join the military and be screwed over by the tax system. I didn’t see this now nearly year-old remastering of the Jules Naudet video of the first airplane impact until just now. This was one of the most astonishing things ever caught on video, now clearer than ever before.

Never forget. Never forgive.

 Posted by at 10:44 am

Blog Backup

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Oct 042022
 

As promised, I’ve set up a backup blog, using Bluehost. While it is also a WordPress blog, irritatingly, the same “theme” isn’t available so the other blog looks different from this one, as well as having a different blog-creation interface. Grrr. There also seems to be a fair gap between blog posting and the post actually appearing. Sigh. But, at least it seems to work.

So, for now, *this* blog will remain the “official” blog, with the backup blog being used as just a backup in the event that *this* one goes down again. Feel free to bookmark the backup.

*This* blog could go down again at any time due to Mystery Technical Issues. And there is always politics.

 

http://unwantedblog.com/

 Posted by at 8:31 am

And we’re back. But for how long?

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Oct 022022
 

The blog was out for a day for Unexplainable Tech Reasons. Tech support gave up and said they couldn’t fix the problem – I couldn’t log in to either of my blogs, so I couldn’t edit posts, couldn’t make new ones. They gave no hope of the problem being fixed. And yet… here we are. Yay. They work now.

That said, I’m rather sick of the problems popping up with irritating regularity. So I want to examine options. One clear problem is that both blogs (the other being https://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/) are on the same host, so if something mysteriously appears to plague one blog, it often plagues the other. I need to separate them.

I’ve tried – and hate – Discord, Facebook and Twitter. I *like* the WordPress blog, if for no other reason than I’ve grown accustomed to it. So what I might do is get new “Unwanted Blog” and “Aerospace Projects Review Blog” WordPress blogs, hosted elsewhere, then simply park a “this blog is now over yonder” post at the top of each of the legacy blogs. If someone has suggestions along those lines, by all means drop a comment.

Mood: annoyed.

 Posted by at 10:59 pm
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