On cul-de-sacs:

Almost every house has an ‘indoor cul-de-sac’–a room at the end of a hallway that you don’t pass-by on the way to another room. And in every one of these houses, the cul-de-sac room held either a bunch of useless junk or an unkempt, moody teenager.

Scaling back, I feel the same way about our cul-de-sac states: Florida–derelicts and dregs–it’s as though someone grabbed all the other states, shook them vigorously and collected all the rubbish in a swampy sack; Maine–musty relics that pop into view once a decade; Alaska–a locked cellar with one locked entry point somewhere in the backyard. It holds something—but you just don’t know what, and it’s been too long anyways so you just ignore it.

Liking Paul Thomas Anderson has a virtue signalling vibe to it. Sophistication signalling. “Oh, I find this amusing because I get it. The quirkiness is so delightful. A sophisticated quirkiness. Just adorable.”

Puke.

In the same vein, enjoying Anderson’s films is like watching a movie with a bunch of progressives. They laugh, not because something actually hit their funny bone, but rather to show proper sensibilities. Clapter-esque if you will.

If people watched Anderson in a vacuum (ie not around other people, or unable to let others know they took in an Anderson film), there would be nothing but frustration culminating in sneering contempt.

The worst sort of lie is being purposefully misled by facts. [Or, it’s the best if you’re the one doing the lying.]

Which reminds me: If you can be good at anything, be good at lying. This way, you can be awesome at everything.

I’m thinking that would be Naked Capitalism back in 2011. I remember you back there.

Naked Capitalism cracks me up. One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of hubris coupled with mind-numbing stupidity. It truly is an awesome display of the Progressive Mind.

“I’m a polymath and a poet too. MMT will save us all. Did I mention that I’m a polymath?”

From theoretical physics to genetic sequencing…the good folks at Naked Cap are experts. At all of it.

So where would one go to find ‘deep lyrics’? [Whatever that means…]

I love the lyrics of country music. Haven’t a clue if they’re deep or not–but the simplicity hits home.

May not be as good as I once was.
But I’m as good once as I ever was.

Every middle aged dude can relate. Is it deep? Of course not. But really, who cares? It works. I don’t need depth for resonance. I am pretty shallow, though. So, there’s that.

Anyways…where to go for deep lyrics?

Your problem may just be that you don’t like lyrics. Nothing wrong with that, of course. You’re just too smart for stupid rock and roll.

For your soul yearns for a fecund of profundity in the still of the night. Ir cries out in the wilderness with the lament that‘We are all, like you know, dust in the wind.’

The best place to ride out the apocalypse is at the mall with 3 of your best buds, and 5 hot chicks. [The extra hot chick keeps things balanced. No jealousy amongst your buds, and it ensures that none of the babes gets attitudinal. ]

Testing protocol. The CDC recently abandoned the fraudulent PCR testing –which is guaranteed to jack up false positives–for a more reasonable Covid testing protocol. As a result, ‘covid infections’ may well plummet. [The Dems have Midterm elections, after all.]

You might be able to look forward to falling infections, an opening of society, and the realization that so much of Covid fear was a steaming pile of shit. Also, the Delta variant is not as virulent as the original covid from 2020. Really, it’s more like a bad cold.

There’s no mention of re-targeting or attribution–which makes the analysis suspect. Are we talking a one-and-done ad, or an ad-campaign that can track the viewer, follow him around the Internet and pepper him with more ads? Adding more nuance to the analysis makes all the difference here.

Google’s paid search can be wildly effective for the right type of product. Same goes for Facebook.

Also, with respect to Google–let’s say you’re advertising for some dog food. There are HUGE differences in ROI between advertising for the search term-‘dog food’ and ‘best dog food for poodles’. So much so, that we might as well be talking about two different products all together. ‘Dog food’ will bleed money, but a more precise ‘best dog food for…’ has potential.

Also, Google charges different rates for different advertisers—which also makes a huge difference.

On FB–all you have to do is spend time researching the herculean lengths some sophisticated advertisers go to beat its algorithm and peddle dating, porn, work-from-home, weight loss, etc, to know it works. But FB, being filled with the losers who love FB, tends to only really work with the aforementioned garbage. Advertising Crest on FB is nothing but an awareness campaign. But figure out how to peddle smut and pipe-dreams without getting banned on that stupid network…and you will rake it in.

Looks like a buddy flick with Curtis Yarvin and Steve Sailer.

Michael Crichton’s Disclosure comes close. The problem, of course, is that this book explores the role-reversal of sexual harassment from woman to man (not exactly woke). But the notion of a large tech corporation consumed by the intrigues of an unwanted advance has a distinct dystopia vibe.

Too bad Crichton’s not around anymore. He was one of the first voices calling out the academic/scientism crowd for the phenomenon of “Consensus Science”–which seems pretty damn relevant in 2021. [Imagine walking into Caltech and giving this speech called ‘Aliens Cause Global Warming’ in today’s environment. Even doing it in 2003 took stones. It’s well worth the read here: http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/Crichton2003.pdf%5D

He was an interesting man who was decidedly anti-PC at a very PC time in this culture.

Wokeness won’t go away until something bad–really bad–happens. And no, an illness with a 99.5% survival rate ain’t that thing.

Only abject, profound suffering will wipe away this pestilence. Only then, will true virtue be recognized, and appreciated. Until then, fake virtue rules the day.

I pray the societal descent into hell does not happen in my lifetime. I’m too soft, and decadent. I hate to admit it, but it’s true. Probably, almost all of us are.

Think about it: “My Side” is having an extremely difficult time combating these pathetic woke losers who long ago traded whiny self-indulgence for personal growth and accomplishment. Do you think we’ll be ready for The Battle For Survival when it really comes? Do you think we’ll be able to handle the mental, emotional and physical demands of any sort of meaningful hardship? I sure as hell don’t.

Of course the nauseating woke losers won’t make it either. But it won’t be like that joke where if you and I are being chased by a lion, I don’t need to run faster than the lion; I just need to run faster than you. The Suffering, when it comes, won’t work that way. Almost all of us will go down with just a few hardy souls remaining. However this plays out—be it war, a real pandemic, or an asteriod—it’s not something any sane person should wish for or want to be a part of.

It’s safe to say, though: The survivors won’t be woke. So there’s that.

Your friend is an idiot. Sorry, but he is. He spent all this time ‘analyzing’ the stats but he failed to consider context.

People don’t deny Covid so much as they are skeptical of the response. Since the Covid skeptics are deluged with so much Covid hysteria bullshit, is only natural for many to (possibly) overcompensate and ‘deny’ Covid at every turn.

But let’s get real, the Covid denial is strictly a response to the insane response. Your friend knows this–but he doesn’t address it. Instead, he concocts all this analysis to argue against the Covid Denying Strawman.

If the Covid response was little more than PSAs about washing your hands and common sense health precautions, ‘Covid Denial’ would be nonexistent. People would treat it like they treated Swine flus, and the Hong Kong flu. And it would pass…like every other damned influenza-spectrum malady.

Did the insane response to Covid actually help? That’s the issue of the day.

Our ‘denial’ of Covid is semantics. Our ‘denial of Covid’ is nothing more than a denial of this insane response. It is perfectly rational and far from being bullshit. Tell your friend to get a hobby.

After giving the first season an honest go of it, all I can say is:

Heavy are the eyelids that watch The Crown.

269-269 in 2020

My prelim electoral college map comes in with Trump ahead by 249-233. I’m left with four toss-ups—MI, MN, PA, WI.

At this point I have Arizona going Dem, [The unctuous Mark Kelly appears to be the favorite over McCain’s replacement.] I have Ohio going Red.

VA is Dem, and NC is GOP–again a fair and I believe most likely split.

So, we’re left with mu toss-ups.

Michigan goes Biden—so add its 16 to the 233 Biden tally. We’re at 249 to 249.

I reasonably have PA (20) going Trump and the ten each from both MN and WI going Biden.

We are deadlocked. 269 to 269 in 2020!

[I got my prelim Electoral College map from the following article in The Federalist touting MN as the most important state. All in all, I thought it was a good prelim map. I just don’t agree that MN goes Trump, so here we are.]

https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/29/minnesota-could-be-the-surprise-upset-that-hands-trump-a-second-term/

It is likely that the attacker didn’t know who he was attacking

A classic ‘de dicto vs de re’ problem. [Also called the masked man fallacy, but there was no fallacy on your part, so I’m left with the awkward ‘de dicto v. de re’.]

You’re using a ‘de re’ interpretation–which is specific about the person of Rick Moranis. And in that case, it is likely the attacker did NOT know who he was attacking.

I prefer a ‘f*ck that, this de dicto all day, every day‘ interpretation. This interpretation takes the view that this racially motivated attacker did know who he was attacking: An older, white dude peacefully walking down the street.

[PS–I know you actually feel the same way, which is why you were fighting the good fight at 4chan. The ambiguity of language, and the frequency with which it trips us up can sometimes be interesting.]

And then there is this headline from WaPo describing the horrific attack on that man in Portland a few nights ago. [He’s still unconscious, btw).

F*cking outrageous.

Man seriously injured in attack after crashing his truck during Black Lives Matter protest in Portland

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/17/truck-crash-protest-assault/

I don’t like math, and I lack both the education, discipline, and attention span required for a career in any hard science.

But goddamn, I am really good at quickly scanning my eyes over each paragraph of diversity-ilicious essays written in a prestige-journal whose sole purpose of existence has been reduced to being being a great way for people like me to telegraph to people like you that you are nothing more than a mindless, social-media consuming lowbrow Deplorable in the presence of an extremely serious thinker.

If blind auditions are insufficient for solving classical music’s problematic systemic racism problem, perhaps they should hold deaf auditions as well.

Apologies if you already covered Stephen Hsu and his forced resignation. His Thought Crime was this statement on Cesario’s study:

“Cesario’s work…is essential to understanding deadly force and how to improve policing,”

https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/06/resignation.html

Get Some Doxxing Insurance.

Start gathering up any exploitable information you can about where you work. Nothing should be off-limits. [Obviously, don’t violate laws in the process. Or do, it’s up to you…although I would advise against it.]

Basically, the previous paragraph applies to anyone with anything to lose these days. One might be wise to consider expanding said insurance policy beyond employment as needed.

Sure it’s sneaky and certainly crappy if compiled against those with integrity who would do you no harm. I wouldn’t do it against friends or family.

Past that, I didn’t make up this stupid game; I’m just playing by its rules.

“Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, it doesn’t go away.” Philip K. Dick

If I stop believing in the fact that every antibody test indicates a death rate closer to .2%, I don’t think it’s going to go away.

Conversely, if Covid-mongers stop believing in the notion that Covid will kill all but the most vulnerable, it will go away. Just sayin’.

The only PSA needed is one that says,

‘Sorry folks. We were wrong about everything. We were completely overwhelmed by the moment and overreacted. Go back about your business, and use common sense–which of course means you should ignore us going forward.’

If there was an ‘Inner Party’–what end result is it trying to accomplish by inflicting this debacle onto the world?

If there is no Inner Party, and this debacle is borne out of incompetence and greed—again– what can we expect from that end result?

Finally, if there is no Inner Party, and this debacle is a necessary consequence of rational fear and flattening the curve, what is that end result?

It turns out they all converge on the same outcome: A ‘Fourth Worlding‘. This is where the 3rd world invades advanced economies (kinda like the virus). The connected, good thinkers, tech wizards and government employees/pensioners continue to enjoy First World living, while Deplorables, small business owners, middle-class gets relegated to the ghetto living and a 3rd world lifestyle.

‘Intent’s got nothin to do with it’.

OR, we could say–

Our models were wrong. Sorry.

So…If you’re younger than 60 and not a diabetic/overweight/high blood pressure person, get back to work–because the chances of you dying from this are really, REALLY low. Like, lightening strike low.

If you’re over 60, or in a high risk group, take measures to isolate yourselves. We have government programs to assist you.

Risk and Reward.

Instead of applying Risk/Reward analysis to re-opening the economy–why don’t we begin applying it to ‘Flatten the Curve’?

Thus far, we’ve blindly pursued a ‘Flatten The Curve At All Costs, No Matter What Because No Other Deaths Matter Besides COVID-19‘ strategy.

Maybe there are worse things than COVID. Maybe ‘Stop COVID At All Costs‘–actually costs too much.

Of course, accepting this new reality means more deaths from COVID–and this is truly a sad thing. But, it also would mean less deaths from suicide, despair, societal-breakdown, crime, hunger, all the other maladies and illnesses which currently are being ignored–‘because COVID, stupid’…among so many others.

Now, what I just wrote may seem callous with respect to COVID sufferers. I don’t mean it that way. I just don’t think we can snuff out COVID without incurring even worse outcomes in doing so.

And on that subject of being callous—I’m starting to get the impression that the COVID-Flat-Curvers don’t really give a flying f*ck about the suffering being imposed from treating COVID like it’s The Black Plague. So, maybe it’s the COVID-Flat-Curvers who are actually being callous here.

Great call.

I had @HBDchick on my twitter feed. I think her strategy in protecting herself against COVID-19 is to hyperventilate–A LOT—into a paper bag.

This is starting to remind me of a book by Leon Festinger, ‘When Prophecy Fails’.

This book gave an inside account of belief persistence in members of a UFO doomsday cult, and documented the increased proselytization they exhibited after the leader’s “end of the world” prophecy failed to come true. The prediction of the Earth’s destruction, supposedly sent by aliens to the leader of the group, became a disconfirmed expectancy that caused dissonance between the cognitions, “the world is going to end” and “the world did not end.” Although some members abandoned the group when the prophecy failed, most of the members lessened their dissonance by accepting a new belief, that the planet was spared because of the faith of the group.

I’m not being cynical, either. Two weeks ago, we were told that 500k – 2 million US deaths were imminent. Now, it’s maybe 80k with over 90% being elderly ot with pre-existing conditions. This is no end-of-world pandemic. And for the love of God–it’s not ‘our WWII’. [STFU] It’s a once in a decade flu. Terrible for sure, but nothing close to what we were told.

In the meantime, civil freedoms are being ripped away as we paved the way for a new style of governance called the ‘Emergency State’. We don’t even bother increasing the base number to our debt, now we just subtly jack up that weird, little exponential number at the top. And many of our livelihoods are getting torched.

Odder still, the majority of people still support the response. Social Media companies even go out of their way to nuke dissenting facts–‘out of a concern for the welfare of others’.

But maybe there’s a silver lining –once it becomes apparent that the response to COVID-19 was a shocking over-reaction, every journo, social media ‘influencer’, and government bureaucrat will be ridiculed and mocked mercilessly for willful buffoonery.

Mark these words, BlueChecks: A tsunami of seething contempt is headed your way.

OT: Malaria and Covid.

I’m sure many have heard that anti-malaria meds are being used to fight Covid. This brief paper shows the negative correlation b/w countries that suffer from malaria and their Covid rates. It’s interesting to see it depicted visually.

For those interested in going further down the rat hole–cuz, face it, you got the time—do some searches on bats and malaria. It’s an interesting relationship through history.

Quite ironic (and I don’t write that ironically), that scientists have been researching a connection b/w bats and vaccines for quite some time:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bat-immunity-over-malaria-parasites-could-could-be-key-to-human-vaccines-says-top-scientist-8864829.html

SHUT UP NASSIM TALEB. STFU!!!! YOU ARE A BUFFOON AND A CHARLATAN. SHUT YOUR F*ING MOUTH. NOW!!!!!!!!

This Public Service Overreaction was brought to you by Bitfu. According to Taleb, my reaction is philanthropic and beneficial to all of mankind.

You’re Welcome.

The argument for Strict Controls implies that once people emerge from the lockdowns, the virus will have magically disappeared.

But, what if the infections just start all over again? Of course, none of know–but that possibility has to be factored into the Pros/Cons of a Strict Controls strategy. To me, the worst possible outcome is Strict Controls, torching of the world economy, people emerge from lockdowns, and the madness starts all over again.

You can’t just assume that with Strict Controls, the pandemic is over and done with in September.

As for data out of China: Utterly and completely untrustworthy. Discard all of it, and start over.

The crisis happened because financial institutions backed by corrupt credit reporting agencies and corrupt insurance companies (ie AIG) were then able to develop novel ways of combining mortgages (into tranches) and selling them off to pensions, foreign governments, etc. The key point to remember is that originators of these underlying mortgages not only received handsome compensation for selling them off, but they also were able to unburden themselves of the risk, so they could turn around and do it all over again. Of course, this created perverse incentives to originate even more dubious loans as they were destined to be ‘Somebody Else’s Problem’.

The phenomenon just described created a whole new ‘secondary’ market for the largest economic segment in the world — the US real estate market. And don’t get fooled by the word ‘secondary’ as this new market of derived real estate credit was exponentially larger and more lucrative than the primary market on which it stood.

With obscene supply of new mortgage products and insatiable demand for ‘safe returns’ came the free for all of 2005-2008.

Giving crappy loans to low income blacks was just one cog in the wheel. It was a plausible way backed by the government to conjure up toxic –but profitable–mortgages that were going to be Somebody Else’s Problem.

These low-income loans to blacks were joined by Liar Loans (typically to white self-employed who worked in profitable, but less stable careers like commission sales, strippers, newer small businesses, etc.). Home improvements and 2nd mortgages and equity lines (not typically black borrowers) were also huge at this time. [‘Extract 125% of your home’s equity!’] Jumbo loans…also a large segment.

The point here is that while granting loans to low income blacks was part of the crisis, it was far from being a dominant theme. And if you talk about the Mortgage Crisis without an appreciation of mortgage derivatives, credit swaps, CDOs, AIG, S&P/Moody’s, etc., etc….then you should stop because you don’t know what you’re talking about.

OK, LaQuanda.

Dear UNZ Blog

I had a similar experience with a TSA agent. I was in Orlando on a mercifully slow travel day. [I’m Copier Repairman/Pizza Delivery guy and I had just finished attending one of those Copier-Repair-Pizza-Delivery conferences held at the Orlando Hampton’s Inn.]

Even though the terminal was basically empty, this TSA agent–a woman who also was unusually attractive if I’m allowed to note such things — really ran me through the ringer. Of course, she gets the handheld scanning device and runs it over every inch of my personal real estate. Then, after she completes a session of aggressive groping, she finally says, ‘Sir, you need to come with me.’

SO…she takes me to some deserted area to a back room with nothing but a copy machine in it. Once inside, she locks the door turns around and proceeds to unbutton her blouse and ….

BUMP-ba-ba-BOW-WOW…ba-ba-BOW-WOW

Kudos to the Yale academic for taking such a courageous stand against ‘white dude walls’. I feel the exact same way when I hear someone talk about ‘evolution’.

Since when has any scientist incorporated LGBTQ+ awareness into ‘evolution’? NEVER. I find myself unable to control my rage at the way biologists continue to normalize cisgender and heterosexual dogma. This repugnant, regressive ignorance must be stopped.

Science needs to be more inclusive. I refuse to accept ‘evolution’ or any derivation until biologists begin to respect the inherent dignity of the LGBTQ+ community. And not just with humans, either. I’m talking about birds, mollusks, giant tortoises, etc.

The accuser admitted to having sex with another dude (whom she also had just met) less than 24 hours after voluntarily going up to Kobe’s hotel room. Instead of being relevant to Kobe’s defense, you call that a ‘horrendous smearing’? Hilarious.

Basically, you’re just an SJW moron without a home. You might try VOX.

Parasite deserves credit for taking an empty plot with subtitles, and presenting it to an English speaking audience in such a way that they will actually sit, and see it through. Other than that, it really was a stupid, stupid movie.

I know it’s supposed to be some sort of biting satire on inequality. But once again, the hive-mind gets it all wrong. In order to be a satire, it has to be specific to the society/culture being satirized. But inequality isn’t ‘societal’, it’s universal—across time and across all species. It’s just the way it is. Satirizing inequality is like satirizing old age. It’s not interesting and it sure as hell isn’t insightful.

Past that, the underlying theme seems to be: If you’re on the ass-end of inequality, anything goes. It’s not your fault, and even if it is–THEY made you do it, so it’s not.

It’s been said that if God is dead, anything goes. The message of Parasite is the same: If the Equality God is dead, anything goes.

In worshiping both the gods of Diversity and Equality, the modern left walks a perilous tightrope: Celebrating our differences while insisting that any difference between us is some sort of crime. ‘Diversity is our Strength, and Equality is our Cudgel.’

You might enjoy a book that’s been around a while–The Lucifer Principle. Even though I didn’t agree with everything, it was thought provoking all the way through.

The Lucifer Principle is a book by Howard Bloom, in which the author argues that social groups, not individuals, are the primary “unit of selection” on genes and human psychological development. He states that both competition between groups and competition between individuals shape the evolution of the genome. Bloom “explores the intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture” and argues that “evil is a by-product of nature’s strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric”.[1] It sees selection (i.e. through violent competition) as central to the creation of the ‘superorganism'[2] of society. It also focuses on competition between individuals for position in the ‘pecking order’ and competition between groups for standing in pecking orders of groups. The Lucifer Principle shows how ideas are vital in creating cohesion and cooperation in these pecking order battles. Says The Lucifer Principle: “Superorganism, ideas and the pecking order…these are the primary forces behind much of human creativity and earthly good.”

I was just about to post a link to your original comment as well. I still remember that one about diversity being a weak and stupid god. It was excellent.

Daylight Savings is a gentle reminder to the plebs that someone else is in charge.

It used to be that people would create a foolish strawman in order to attack it. But the script has flipped in a rather bizarre manner: Now, the strawman is created in order to defend it. [Or, rather–daring others to attack it.]

When you can look people in the eye and with a straight face declare that a grown man with hair on his back and his penis in his hand is capable of lactating AND those same people are fearful of contesting you…you have power. Kim Jong-un power in your own little microverse.

We laugh when the North Korean Press reports Kim played 18 holes of golf, and shot 12 holes-in-one. But he laughs when the western press reports that our men need tampons. Power dynamics often look absurd to those outside its sphere of influence.

Steve wrote that we live in an age where the best defense is a good offense. That phenomenon is even more pronounced socially—where flaunting a personal and ludicrous strawman in order to vaporize foolish opponents who dare to make eye-contact with the strawman is a surefire way to achieve social dominance.

I’ve yet to see an xkcd comic that wasn’t achingly stupid. Sure enough, that link didn’t disappoint. xkcd is like the Vox of comic strips.

Enough already! We need a diverse cohort of inclusive multi-cultural heroes to combat the evil Trumpian forces of misogyny, fascism, racism, election theft and sexual orientation ostracism. And climate change. Obviously. Come on Hollywood–you can do this!

‘…the standard White Power”, but you can’t prove that’s what I mean, hur hur stunt…’

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read today—and that’s after I checked out the achingly stupid Twitter feed.

At worst (or best, imo) one could reasonably find that the ‘OK’ sign was an act of defiance. But not in the way that simpletons like you describe. The real (and refreshing) defiance is towards a culture that continually redefines innocuous words and gestures as ‘racist’–not because the culture actually cares about racism–but because it is hell bent on delineating new boundaries of power. In this way, our woke culture is not some Racism Watchdog, but rather a mangy mutt capriciously pissing all over the neighborhood to let everyone to he ‘was here.’

At worst (or best imo) the kid was flipping the middle finger at the Establishment for concocting a stupid and arbitrary standard that the ‘OK’ sign is now racist.

Try this: Go watch ‘Scent of a Woman’. Idiots whining about the ‘OK’ sign as racist are like prep school’s headmaster (AKA The Establishment). The kids flashing ‘OK’ at the game are like ‘Colonel Frank’ (Al Pacino) and ‘Charlie’.

Saying those cadets were flashing support of ‘White Power’ is like saying ‘Scent of A Woman’ supported conspiracy and cover-ups.

Taylor Swift and her 160+ IQ. What gives you that impression–her lyrics? [I’m embarrassed to even be associated with such a question–but I gotta know where this guy is coming from.]

Is it her success? So, Beyonce is right there with theoretical physicists then…

Latin America, home to 1/12th of the world’s population is responsible for 1/3rd of world homicides. That’s an amazing, and under-reported statistic.

Thank goodness Mexico has such restrictive gun laws. Think how bad things would be if it had a 2nd Amendment.

The Mexican constitution allows for legal possession of one small-caliber firearm with several important caveats: the owner must be a Mexican citizen, or a foreigner with legal residency status; the firearm must be of small caliber as specifically cited by the regulations; it must be registered with the army and; critically, the firearm is not to be carried in the street.

Whatever. I’m just happy our leaders are pushing for more diversity. I just love the gritty experience of their menace. If I even make eye contact with the wild-eyed hoodlum rocking the neon-yellow-low-ride-honda-civic as we jockey for a parking spot–I could end up riddled with bullet holes. Personally, I love the fact that the little jackal before me knows that I know that this simple social interaction might result in my death. Think about how empowering it must be for them. I, for one, love being a part of the experience. Thanks Diversity!

I think there’s something profound to the symbolism of duct-taping a big, phat banana to the middle of Debbie Grossman’s queer love photos.

These SJWs are going straight to classic logic for their reasoning–specifically the Paradox of Entailment (or Principle of Explosion).

Classic logic says inconsistent premises always make an argument valid. As such, inconsistent premises imply any conclusion you want.

A simple example from Wikipedia:

Validity is defined in classical logic as follows:

An argument (consisting of premises and a conclusion) is valid if and only if there is no possible situation in which all the premises are true and the conclusion is false.
For example a valid argument might run:

If it is raining, water exists (1st premise)
It is raining (2nd premise)
Water exists (Conclusion)
In this example there is no possible situation in which the premises are true while the conclusion is false. Since there is no counterexample, the argument is valid.

But one could construct an argument in which the premises are inconsistent. This would satisfy the test for a valid argument since there would be no possible situation in which all the premises are true and therefore no possible situation in which all the premises are true and the conclusion is false.

For example an argument with inconsistent premises might run:

It is definitely raining (1st premise; true)
It is not raining (2nd premise; false)
George Washington is made of rakes (Conclusion)
As there is no possible situation where both premises could be true, then there is certainly no possible situation in which the premises could be true while the conclusion was false. So the argument is valid whatever the conclusion is; inconsistent premises imply all conclusions.

1. The concept of ‘woman’ is fake.
2. A trans woman is a woman.

3. I am a World Champion Cyclist!

If one sincerely believes that life begins at some point in the womb, why ‘give it a rest’? F*ck that noise. If you believe that an innocent life is getting murdered, then you’re a punk if you ‘give it a rest’.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how a woman could give birth and still not believe that an abortion constitutes a murder. From fetal organ development to all the internal movements and kicking, to the mind-body connection, to the profound sadness women suffer upon miscarriage–I don’t get the ‘it’s not really a life argument’.

I understand that a woman, after going through the process, would find pregnancy brutal. And therefore, she would want to have the option to terminate. I don’t agree, but I understand. What I don’t understand is how that same woman–who actually gave birth –could claim that it’s not really a life until they cut the cord. I think it’s a lie.

If we discuss abortion strictly in terms of 1st trimester of Day-after pills, at least it strikes me as an honest debate. But we’re in a world that celebrates late term abortion. Again, F*ck That Noise.

As a man–I’m not supposed to comment on these things. OK, whatever. But, following that logic, it seems that the opinion of women who have actually gone through the process of giving birth should matter more than those who haven’t. I think most women who’ve gone through the process are mortified by abortion.

Of course, many are also mortified by the prospect of having to go through a pregnancy alone as well as raising a child alone. That certainly does suck.

But, mid-to-late-term-abortion is murder. Everyone who’s been through the process knows it too.

How’s that for ‘giving it a rest’?

Reductio Ad Traumanym: I suffered a trauma. Therefore, ALL of my views on this subject are correct.

I did scroll through that twitter feed, and it’s exactly what I thought. What awful people.

Asians should simply apply as ‘Native American’. If pressed, they should invoke the Bering Land Bridge, and claim that ‘we were Native American before Native American’.

Hispanics should too, as in—‘I’m a Native South American’

Blacks should not have to demean themselves by answering such questions. Their non-answer will demonstrate their blackness bonafides.

Trans can go Native American, because Trans always gets to be whatever a Trans wants to be.

Whites can go Native American, but with an asterisk. The asterisk being a commitment to Prog causes.

For the first time my adult life, I am not ‘ down wit O.P.P.’.

America has enormous strengths: hopefully, we will get beyond the present insanity.

You need to get back to your training, Physicist Dave. In assessing whether America will get beyond the present insanity, let’s do an Einstein-ian Thought Experiment:

It’s 1940, and you’re on the shores of Puget Sound. A storm is a brewin’, and the winds are really gusting. You look up at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge admiring this bulwark of engineering prowess.

But something seems amiss. Did you just notice an unnatural movement in the suspension bride’s concrete? Perhaps….seconds pass…and this anomaly reveals itself as full-scale undulation. At this point, the bridge is no longer a solid structure. No, it’s a wave—a wave of undulating concrete.

FULL STOP.

We’re back in 2019 now, and we’re at the same inflection point. We ARE that undulating wave of concrete. How would a physicist with super-hero powers have saved that bridge at that moment in time? Since physics is so fundamental, it’s oft used and abused as a metaphor. I’ll take the risk: Can you extend those bridge-saving principles to 2019?

Unfortunately, I think undulating concrete passes some critical threshold for remediation. I don’t think any power (or principle) in the universe would have been able to save that bridge.

But there is an upside to this doom and gloom. Once the bridge fell, sanity returned Puget Sound.

As I read this post on my Apple MacBook Pro, I found myself nauseated (Tums is really good for this, btw) and fatigued. Not not just ‘tired’…but fatigued. I was overcome by a Ta-Nehisi Coates level of weariness. [His latest book at Amazon discusses this in great detail. I LOVE this book–buy it today!]

At this point, I have no choice but to reach for an Extra-Strength 5-Hour Energy drink (no sugar, only 4 calories! And the Grape flavor is so tasty too!) and get away from all this nonsense. Think I’ll just relax with some Netflix on my 60 inch HDTV I got last week at Best Buy for only $479 (plus tax and handling fees as may be applied depending on your state and VAT requirements).

The content on Netflix is devoid of ALL advertising, and I for one love, love, LOVE it.

SPLC => APSA

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Hmm, doesn’t Neil’s ‘logic’ then entail something like the following:

The Africa to the World Slavery Patch

Not just black Africans were slaves
When black Africans were slaves, they were often sold by black African slave sellers
Not just an American flag

In that regard, black slavery is not unique among the scourges of human slavery.

Affirmation that human slavery is not a sin to be borne exclusively by the whites in Appalachia. Slavery is a failing of the human species to be shared by all.

Who will be the first woman on the moon? Um, so am I to understand that the LA Times doesn’t give a sh*t about the trans community?

And, if the LA Times is really concerned about getting women to the moon, it should also ensure that NASA rids itself of toxic, violent, micro-aggressive ‘mansplaining’.

I was at that Thanksgiving Potluck! I’m not kidding, either.

Her son –a nice kid, btw–did read something to that effect. I don’t know if her quote is exact, but it’s a fair account. [Her son stood out because his response was different from the others.]

What she leaves out in her Times article, though, is that’s not all he had to say.

Her 3rd grade son also said the following:

Furthermore, once my parents have concluded the arduous task of tackling the antiquated jurisprudence of English Common Law, they shall endeavor to rid the world of the ravages of anthropomorphic apocalyptic climate change. Their intrepid selflessness provides me with the ethical sustenance I need to further the LGBQT fight for inclusion, diversity and tolerance.’

It was an astonishing. I could say so much more—obviously. We all could. But, I’m moved to tears just thinking about it, so I must go.

And reflect.

I don’t know what killed second-wave feminism, but the Malleus Maleficarum aka Hammer of Witches is a fascinating backstory.

It was written by a priest–Heinrich Kramer– in the late 1400s, and it was the 2nd best selling book behind only the Bible for over 200 years.

From Wikipedia

The Malleus elevates sorcery to the criminal status of heresy and prescribes inquisitorial practices for secular courts in order to extirpate witches. The recommended procedures include torture to effectively obtain confessions and the death penalty as the only sure remedy against the evils of witchcraft. At that time, it was typical to burn heretics alive at the stake and the Malleus encouraged the same treatment of witches. The book had a strong influence on culture for several centuries.

The ironies here are that the Malleus relationship with Gutenberg’s press is a damn fine distant mirror of SJW’s on the Internet. Additionally, the Malleus now reads like a guidebook for SJWs. Simply replace witches in the book with non-woke, and voila! You’ll get your SJW recipe for dealing with Thought Criminals going forward. The parallels are eerie.

The Malleus Maleficarum is divided into three sections. The first section is aimed at clergy and tries to refute critics who deny the reality of witchcraft, thereby hindering its prosecution. The second lays the foundation for the next section by describing the actual forms of witchcraft and its remedies. The third section is to assist judges confronting and combating witchcraft, and to aid the inquisitors by removing the burden from them. However, each of these three sections has the prevailing themes of what is witchcraft and who is a witch.

Kramer wrote the Malleus following his expulsion from Innsbruck by the local bishop, due to charges of illegal behavior against Kramer himself, and because of Kramer’s obsession with the sexual habits of one of the accused, Helena Scheuberin, which led the other tribunal members to suspend the trial.

It was later used by royal courts during the Renaissance, and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Do you think that either Aamna Mohdin and Mattha Busby (who teamed up to write the Guardian article) are embarrassed by the fact that it took their combined efforts to address a single twitter tweet?

Think about this:

Cleese tweets…

Mohdin reads and is overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all. Calls in Busby for assistance and they actually form a Cleese Tweet Taskforce.

Woodward and Bernstein 2.0. Pulitzer’s abound. Hollywood rushes in with Deep Tweet–The Movie.

These comments are literally taking this metaphor way too literally. It’s a f*ing metaphor. You get the idea, and can either accept or reject without the need for think comments on Nocturnally Audible Dark Forest Theory.

You know what comes next? A brooding NYT Opinion writer will see this thread, note an obsession with ‘darkness’. Then, he’ll ‘connect the dots’ with a think piece on how ‘their whiteness compels them to fear my darkness’. Hell, the damn thing writes itself.

Does NYT pay these writers? I might just submit it myself…Ta’ NeBitfu has a good ring to it.

Kudos to Ta-Nehisi & AOC for taking the lead on Reparations. It’s long overdue.

Thankfully, we have the incredibly effective and successful Obamacare legislation to serve as a template. As such, remember that Reparations (like Obamacare) shall not apply to Government employees or Fortune 500 employees. They get to opt out.

SO—-If you work for the government, you’re already doing God’s work in making reparations a reality. As such, you get to opt out.

AND—If you work for a large company like a huge media outlet, or a university–obviously, or Big Tech, etc., etc–your employer already has meaningful Wokeness Initiatives in place, so you’re opted out as well.

The people who need to shoulder the burden for reparations are white, self-employed scumbags who try to run their businesses independently….and the dumb, deplorable, racist losers who work for them.

And remember, anyone who pays reparations with any resentment is just showing their true colors. They resent this equitable and ethical initiative because they are racist…and dumb.

These replies are so stupid. Sorry, but they are. You act as if this one snap shot captures the entirety of their emotions. In other words, what you see is all there is.

The teacher was horrified at the treatment of this child. She fought for the child when it appeared nobody else cared. Imagine her reaction upon hearing the child was tortured. Her sadness—her frustration–her deep anger.

And, no doubt these somber, smoldering emotions lasted for quite some time—all through the lengthy trial. A trial at which the teacher testified!

Finally, it all culminates and she’s reflecting back with her support group. Probably they shed plenty of tears. Probably there was also some sense of relief that this was finally over. Don’t you think?

Believe it or not—at moments like these a bout of laughter is a healthy, normal reaction. It’s a break in the tension. Comic relief (if you will) happens at funerals and in the trenches of war across cultures throughout history.

But, if you’re an idiot, with no sense of context–this relief might look inappropriate, and must be commented upon.

So–what do you think here. Do you really think these ladies spent the bulk of this occasion reveling in mirth and jocularity–OR—do you think this one photo was a single, unrepresentative break at the culmination of a long, dreary, heartbreaking tragedy?

But you saw a picture of her smiling—therefore that’s who this woman is. So stupid. Sorry, but it is.

Back in the day, civil workers would compensate for the soul-crushing monotony of their jobs by engaging in petty power displays that demanded the strictest conformity to The Rules.

I believe the Brits would call these types a ‘Jobsworth‘.

Now, that same power display is demonstrated by an impudent slovenliness that somehow manages to be mangy, yet prideful.

How much artistry and achievement is the result of guys who just want to get laid? [Gay or straight.] Quite a bit, I’d say.
Of course, there are many exceptions, but the rule still holds. Most creativity and achievement comes from younger men who happen to be at peak-testosterone. Additionally, said creativity & achievement tends to wane as testosterone decreases. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but common sense suggests it’s not.

I’m not saying testosterone is the only driver. And of course, there are exceptions from women and older men. But, for whatever reason, they are exceptions.

Maybe this explains why so little in the way of art and achievement seems to come out of the of Arab world these days. Islam has a retrograde relationship with women, and so there’s little to be gained from channeling testosterone in a socially advantageous.

Reductive and unfalsifiable stuff, I know.

No doubt! Who can forget all those Buddhist terrorists and their wanton atrocities against Easter Worshipers?

BTW: What are the Buddhist words for ‘Infidel’ and ‘Jihad’?

I thought the same thing. But then I thought about Michelle. I am no longer thinking the same thing.

Michelle Obama—that’s just a long, difficult day right there.

Love, love, LOVE this list! I don’t know about you, but I always feels so warm and snuggly knowing that my leaders are looking out for my best interests! Also enhancing my ‘All is right with the world’ feeling of contentment is the fact that these types of benevolent initiatives have always work out for the best.

Kudos Comrade Lot!

You know something’s rotten when the ‘prosecutor’ resorts to The Chewbacca Defense…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKi92j6eLE

I understand why the SPLC accepts all that money, but I don’t understand why anyone would give it all that money. Does anyone know the largest donors to the SPLC? Maybe if I knew the ‘who’, I’d have a better understanding of the ‘why’.

Full Stop. Esquire says, ‘Hold your applause on the Brooks article.’

Because of this, any series of programs, payments, or efforts at retributions that earn the name reparations need to be truly substantial and capable of reshaping the trajectory of the most disenfranchised black people in America. It wouldn’t look like a bit of easy centrism, symbolism wrapped in handshakes and promises of slow change. Economists calculate the cost of just reparations at estimates that range between one and 14 trillion dollars. For reference, the federal budget for 2019 is 4.407 trillions.

So let’s put it at a cool $15 trill–because Native Americans, LGBTQers, are definitely going to get in on that action.

Couple that with AOC’s* Green Deal, and
Free College for All, and
Free Childcare for All, and
Free Health Care for All.

A lot of naysayers claim that our ability to fund this is unrealistic. That’s just another Trump Trope. With an effective tax rate slightly above 1,200%, it gets done in less than 600 years. Sure, it gets tougher to collect the taxes over and above 100% of a person’s income, but we can just roll-over the remaining 1,100%, and compound that amount accordingly. Vox is coming out with an important article that will explain this entire plan in more detail.

Make no mistake–this is doable.

White guy punches random black guy in the face. Hate Crime.
Black guy punches random white guy in the face….And?

Shoot. I tried to get this one before reading on, and I failed.

I thought the message was–‘If you voted Trump, we’re not for you.’

But I think that’s because I was too dumb to get it in the first place. And, sooooo I was mad! This made me lash out at the creators of this logo–I even called them ‘pretentious assholes’ while trying to figure this out.

But they anticipated this reaction from MAGA country–and they are telling me to stay away.

Maybe Steve’s construction and mine are the same thing, so maybe I’m correct after all. What a cool, and creative logo this is!

Art.

I know there’s been a lot of talk about IQ lately. Let me just say–as a Double-Digiter–I’m just not able to figure this stuff out.

For example, is a trans-gender ex-man now a man? Work with me here: He was a man, hence the ex-man, but he is also transgendered, so that would return him from being a transitioned woman back into a man, right?

Is the person above considered a Double-Transitioner or a Cancelled-Out Transitioner?

Besides profound mental illness, what do you have when you have a transgendered non-binary person with multiple personality disorder? Sounds like the beginning of a joke, but for me–it’s not. This is serious stuff and I’m confused. At least it will make more sense when I refer to this person as ‘they’.

PS

I never saw those X Men movies–as I just thought they were comic book flicks. Was I wrong to assume the title was written as ‘X Men’? Am I to understand that these films are actually entitled ‘Ex-Men’? Perhaps they are documentaries that might clear things up for me. [Can’t wait to meet this Wolverine character. I always thought Ex-men were simply now transitioned women– but to think we may have some transitioned wolverines among us, well that’s just exciting!]

Industrial Disease– by Dire Straits– also functions quite nicely as a competent economics case-study.

If you follow this post to its conclusion, doesn’t it support Taleb’s position that a single IQ test isn’t predictive (in any useful sense) of future success?

As good literature gives interesting, but often fuzzy insights into the ‘human condition’ that are open to interpretation, so runs Freud. He was a great literary critic, and would have been a lot of fun to have in your book club. As a therapist, though…think I’ll stick with my bartender.

My guess:

A lot of transplants with different loyalties + MLB has no real tradition in FLA (other than spring training).

Idiots! You just don’t get it, and it’s all so simple: Convexity at a lower bound (~13.4-65%) means asymetrical variance with a log-normal delta. Gabbish?

The sign I put up reads as follows:

It’s not a violation to fail to be a non-person-of-no-color.

Of course, they are offended. But, as they explain why they won’t tolerate the message–it’s so easy to feign confusion and outrage in return.

Me: ‘Wait, you want to take this sign down because you’re saying it’s NOT OK to be a Person of Color?’
SJW: ‘No–that’s not what the sign says. I’m saying it’s not OK to say it’s OK to be white–which is really what the sign says’
Me: ‘White? Where do you get white? The sign never says white.’
And off we go…

Very quickly, we’re into Abbot and Costello territory. But, instead of ‘Who’s On First?’, we’re discussing ‘Who’s It Not OK To Be?’

Then, as I grow weary of the whole affair, I can summarily announce that I’m dealing with a fascist. Since I beat the SJW to the punch of fascist-labeling, it is now OK for me me to smash the SJW in the face with my fist. I probably won’t–but I know I could. And this makes me feel empowered.

Warren may have a point here. Take Affirmative Action, for example. It’s existence allows whites to keep blacks down with the psychological ravages of Stereotype Threats.

Narrative is another of these types of words. Ostensibly, they mean ‘story’ but ‘narrative’ signals ‘college educated’; therefore it gets crammed into sentences instead.

Of course, my use of ‘ostensibly’ ostensibly just means ‘apparently’. I just wanted to signal that I’m not jealous of college graduates for I went to college myself. And, even if you take issue with my misuse of ‘ostensibly’–you have to admit–it’s a damn impressive word. And besides, if you’re not careful I might just come over the top and hit you with a ‘pedantic’ blast. So be careful.

Full Disclosure–I am middle aged. But I think it’s great what these kids are doing.

Thanks to this generation, there has never been a better time to be past one’s prime. Think about it–at all other times in history, being in 40s and 50s was kind of sad. You’d be getting older and looking at all the fun the younger crowd was having. It would inspire all kinds of feelings of jealousy, and regret.

But now? Looking at 22 year olds with micro-aggressions and hyper-political correctness? F-f-fuck That. Treating young adults who should be pushing boundaries like 8 year olds with milk and cookies –and safe spaces. It’s bizarre and quite pathetic. No cool movies (must be politically correct), no edgy music (little boy bands panzies and Lana Del Ray skanks)…always posing on social media (22 year-old dudes men air-brushing selfies for Christ sake!)

And look at the losers on all those smartphone ads. Hilarious. Grown ass men getting giddy over some app with a talking turd. L-O-S-E-R-S.

Title IX sexual harassment cases for consensual acts that occurred years ago…that require no due-process…no wonder these young men panzies just sit around with video games.

A bunch of fragile punks staring into stupid iPhones with absolutely nothing going on. Little workout apps (yeah, I got an app to help me do deadlifts…idiot!)…Self-Esteem Daily affirmation apps…apps to tell you if it’s raining?!?!?!?!?

Sure, I sound like a lunatic old man yelling at the kids to ‘get off my lawn’…whatever. Old my Ass. I’m a regular semi-washed middle-aged man….and yet I’m cooler, and I’m edgier than these twits. It really is quite pathetic.

Now, don’t get me wrong–I don’t hate them (even though I sound like I do). I just hate the way the culture has run amok an entire generation. Just awful.

Just imagine Keats writing Ode To a Grecian Urn looking at these losers. Ridiculous.

Speaking of crackups—this is great. Lubos Motl: Do they really believe in a black model who is an achieved iOS coder?

https://motls.blogspot.com/2018/11/do-they-really-believe-in-black-model.html

Go back 10-20 years…and the cutting-edge experts were touting ‘complex carbs’, and the notion of grazing throughout the day on 6-8 meals. [They touted grazing because it would speed up the metabolism.]

Now the cutting edge guys are all about the notion that insulin is deadly. As such, we all need low-carb keto/paleo and intermittent fasting.

Go forward 10-20 years and I suspect the cutting edge experts will then be touting the dangers of cortisol. Cortisol at elevated levels will decrease immunity, libido, and leads to slower metabolism and fatty deposits in neck and face. And what kind of diet elevates cortisol? Keto/Paleo.

It’s a trader’s market, not an investor’s market. As such, the stock market is not really a prediction of what a company is really worth. Rather, the market now functions as a a prediction of what participants predict of a company’s worth. That’s why the market cap can vanish so quickly.

Imagine if the got this algorithm and used it on Rap/Hip-Hop…an entire ‘genre’ wiped clean.

It’s a bad thing because of birds and bees.

Oikophobia. Essentially an inversion of Xenophobia. Looked at from a slightly different angle, and one gets quite close to the matter of leapfrogging loyalties (or whatever).

James Taranto used this term quite effectively.

By JAMES TARANTO
The Wall Street Journal
Friday, August 27, 2010

The Ground Zero mosque is an affront to the sensibilities of ordinary Americans. … That Americans would find this offensive is a matter of simple common sense. The liberal elites cannot comprehend common sense, and, incredibly, they think that’s a virtue. After all, common sense is so common.

The British philosopher Roger Scruton has coined a term to describe this attitude: oikophobia. Xenophobia is fear of the alien; oikophobia is fear of the familiar: “the disposition, in any conflict, to side with ‘them’ against ‘us’, and the felt need to denigrate the customs, culture and institutions that are identifiably ‘ours.’ ” …

Scruton was writing in 2004, and his focus was on Britain and Europe, not America. But his warning about the danger of oikophobes–whom he amusingly dubs “oiks”–is very pertinent on this side of the Atlantic today …:

[quote]The oik repudiates national loyalties and defines his goals and ideals against the nation, promoting transnational institutions over national governments, accepting and endorsing laws that are imposed on us from on high by the EU or the UN … and defining his political vision in terms of universal values that have been purified of all reference to the particular attachments of a real historical community.

The oik is, in his own eyes, a defender of enlightened universalism against local chauvinism. And it is the rise of the oik that has led to the growing crisis of legitimacy in the nation states of Europe.
[/quote]
A look at liberals’ national self-hatred.

And, from Wikipedia:

In psychiatry, oikophobia (synonymous with domatophobia and ecophobia)[1] is an aversion to home surroundings. It can also be used more generally to mean an abnormal fear (a phobia) of the home, or of the contents of a house (“fear of household appliances, equipment, bathtubs, household chemicals, and other common objects in the home”).[2] The term derives from the Greek words oikos, meaning household, house, or family, and phobia, meaning “fear”.

In 1808 the poet and essayist Robert Southey used the word to describe a desire (particularly by the English) to leave home and travel.[3] Southey’s usage as a synonym for wanderlust was picked up by other nineteenth century writers.

The term has also been used in political contexts to refer critically to political ideologies that repudiate one’s own culture and laud others. The first such usage was by Roger Scruton in a 2004 book.

Time to dust off my Malleus Maleficarum

Interesting background on this book here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum

This book was a best-seller (trailing only the Bible) for 200 years. Both men and women are susceptible to becoming witches (which explains today’s beta SJW).

Of course, it was written by a demented lunatic. To me, the most interesting part about the synopsis is that it reads as a Modern Day Guide for the way progressives and SJWs persecute anyone who makes the catastrophic mistake of not being properly woke.

A homer all the way. The fan’s hands were chest high when he touched the ball. What’s more, he was trying to catch that ball with alligator arms–there was no extension whatsoever.

If the fan did not make a move, do you really think that ball would have landed in the field of play (or Betts’ glove no less)? Absolutely not–that ball would have hit the fan in the chest, and would have been a home-run.

So silly. The world is not becoming more ‘objectively measurable’ because of tech. Hell. we can’t even obtain and agree on weather temperatures. Not even mentioning all the statistical manipulations once said data is obtained.

Where are these amazing objective insights?
Can’t find if for economic data, nor academic performance. Hell, you couldn’t even tell me the number of Twitter followers you have (assuming you’re on Twitter). After bots, spam accounts, inactive members–you really don’t know. But yet, you’re confident tech has made beauty (of all things!) objectively measurable.

Maybe…maybe you can find it objective measurements on your FitBit app (something tells me you have one). But wait–comparisons between fitness tracking apps show they aren’t reliable either. Tech can’t even get pedometers done right.

What you miss–what all of Big Tech missses–with all this ‘measurability’ nonsense I think has something to do with the Coastline Paradox.

The measured length of the coastline depends on the method used to measure it and the degree of cartographic generalization. Since a landmass has features at all scales, from hundreds of kilometers in size to tiny fractions of a millimeter and below, there is no obvious size of the smallest feature that should be measured around, and hence no single well-defined perimeter to the landmass. Various approximations exist when specific assumptions are made about minimum feature size.

Tech misses–badly, with impunity and so much nauseating arrogance–the implications of the importance of ‘when specific assumptions are made’.

I guess it’s time to hit the library and dust off my old friend Malleus Maleficarum.

Normally, these kind of comments about the US annoy me–especially when the commenter just happens to leave out any mention to his/her own country (you know, ‘glass houses’ and all).

But, after this week’s display in the Senate, I can’t help but go full-on Libtard SJW and say I’m embarrassed and ashamed of my country.