Some Questions on Warming

Some Questions on Warming

What considerations for global warming did Putin make before his mugging of Ukraine? Can we expect nations in the future to sacrifice their nationalistic ambitions in the face of the global warming thesis?

The earth seems to be warming. But a static temperature would be unnatural for the earth. So the question is not change, it is the degree of change. And the factors. Are we sure of the factors in the earth's temperature and their interactions?

What temperature rise would be normally expected after the Little Ice Age in Europe from 1300 and 1850?

The Little Ice Age was regional, not global, and presumably easier to explain with fewer factors. What were they?

Some Notes

 

Some Notes

Psaki was asked about the relative risk to Covid and death based upon age. She said, "We don't know that." Does she mean that the administration doesn't know that because everyone else does?

"After careful consideration, we have decided to reinstate our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions cycles. Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants, and also help us identify socioeconomically disadvantaged students who lack access to advanced coursework or other enrichment opportunities that would otherwise demonstrate their readiness for MIT."--part of a press release from MIT regarding reinstating entrance exams

Ticket sales for Chris Rock’s comedy shows have reportedly spiked since Sunday night.
Live event ticketing site TickPick sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than it had in the past month combined, according to a tweet from the company Monday.
Rock is set to perform standup at Boston’s Wilbur Theater on Wednesday. On March 18, the cheapest tickets were sold for $46, but had increased to $411 by Monday, according to TickPick’s public relations representative Kyle Zorn.

A detailed analysis of several data files, with various metrics, for the UK confirms that men now are happier than women.

In California, three years into the era of legalization under the Proposition 64 ballot initiative, data indicate that only about one-quarter of weed sold and consumed in the state is legally licensed and that the remaining three-quarters is produced outside legal market channels.

Studies on online effects. This is not a zero negative effect, stronger than usual for girls 12-14, and for men 26-29, but overall not consistent with the doomsaying accounts. From the NYT: ““There’s been absolutely hundreds of these studies, almost all showing pretty small effects,” said Jeff Hancock, a behavioral psychologist at Stanford University who has conducted a meta-analysis of 226 such studies.”

On average, Peru's president, Pedro Castillo has changed a minister every nine days.

Questions 52

Questions 52

James Madison said the powers delegated by the Constitution to the federal government “are few and defined.”

During the Nagorno-Karabakh war in September, Turkish drones intervening for Azerbaijan against Armenia destroyed an estimated 200 tanks, 90 other armored vehicles, and 182 artillery pieces, forcing the latter to withdraw from the territory.

Remember that war?

Starting in 2024, producers will be required to submit a summation of the race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status of members of their movie’s cast and crew. If a particular movie does not have enough people of color or disabled people or gays or lesbians working on the set—and what is “enough” will be determined by a knotty tangle of byzantine formularies—then that movie will no longer be eligible for an Oscar.

A longtime police station located in a Harvard University residence hall is now closed due to students and faculty felt it was both “violent” and “intimidating.”

A large insurance company called BKK ProVita, shared this data with Die Welt:
They analyzed the medical data of 10.9 million insured individuals, looking for potential COVID jab side effects. To their horror, they found 400,000 doctors’ visits could be realistically attributed to the jab. According to Schöfbeck, extrapolated to the total population of Germany, the total number of doctors’ visits attributable to jab side effects would be 3 million.

You may govern by force, but you cannot at the same time hold by both physical and moral means.--acton

The Symptoms of the Dreaded Whiteness

 

The Symptoms of the Dreaded Whiteness

Warning. Some may find very stupid content offensive.

Objectivity, a strong work ethic, individualism, respect for the written word, perfectionism, and promptness: would any society discourage such virtues? Would every parent encourage the development of these traits in their children? Do such characteristics facilitate success or, at least, survival In this hostile world?

Your first response would be wrong.

These characteristics are among the “white norms” that diversity and social-justice theory seek to deconstruct. These are appearing as targets to attack in schools and workshops as these malignant qualities are being run to ground.

The National Museum of African American History & Culture wants to make you aware of certain signs of whiteness: Individualism, hard work, objectivity, the nuclear family, progress, respect for authority, delayed gratification, and more.

From The Smithsonian Institute:

 

Sunday/Freedom

 

Sunday/Freedom

Today's gospel is The Prodigal Son, a lost-and-found gospel where two sons do wrong--one spectacularly--but both significantly. Despite his love for the prodigal, the father allows him his leash and lets him err. He does not intervene to prevent the mistake. The spiritual creature has free will.

He is his own man, for better or worse.

 

Stats

Interesting charts, if it works.

Back and forth over gas prices.

"Oil prices are decreasing, gas prices should too," the president tweeted. "Last time oil was $96 a barrel, gas was $3.62 a gallon. Now it's $4.31. Oil and gas companies shouldn't pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans."

"I see the White House chart is sourced to Bloomberg LP data. As a public service, I'm going to suggest a different chart. Mine has some of the same elements (WTI oil and retail US gasoline price), but instead, I normalized it, and use Dec 1, 2021, = 100," Blas tweeted.
  

Quote Tweet

President Biden

@POTUS

United States government official

· 10h

Oil prices are decreasing, gas prices should too. Last time oil was $96 a barrel, gas was $3.62 a gallon. Now it’s $4.31. Oil and gas companies shouldn’t pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans.

8:57 AM · Mar 2022·Twitter Web App

Mr. Blas's chart shows the opposite, that oil companies failed to pass on the cost of the crude price increase to customers at the gas pump.

According to most recent data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), 56% of the cost of gasoline is the hard cost of crude oil that the refiners have to pay. The chart shows that the price increase at the pump failed to keep up with the incredible jump in crude oil prices. It also shows that oil companies were making less money, not more on the way up.

Lessons From the Supreme Court Hearings

 Lessons From the Supreme Court Hearings

A candidate for the Supreme Court can decline to give an answer to a senator's question.

The key point is not that a candidate can not define a woman, the key point is that she is qualified and can't define a woman.

While the Supreme Court is supposed to be above the political fray, a candidate will fear the political implications of an obvious question so much she will risk looking like a fool by declining to answer it.

The power of a political subset is not related to its size or its importance to the culture.

Politically motivated savagery at the Supreme Court nomination hearings is limited to one party.

Brown Jackson signed a brief accusing George Bush of being a war criminal. This is not a comment on her legal abilities but is a comment on her associations and political mindset which do influence her legal abilities.

These hearings are revealing about the politics of the nation and these lessons are obvious to the average guy.