A mixed bag

All posts in the A mixed bag category

Too much going on

Published July 17, 2024 by Nan Mykel

J.D. Vance’s Mysterious Change of Heart –  Keith Wilson reminds us of the mysterious change of heart of  Trump’s vp choice.  What could possibly have motivated it? :

  • “I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy.  I never liked him.”
  • “My God, what an idiot.”
  • “Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”
  • “I think there’s a chance, if I feel like Trump has a really good chance of winning, that I might have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton.”
  • “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?”
  • “But I think that I’m going to vote third party because I can’t stomach Trump. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.”
  • “Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us.”
  • “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.”

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The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists  on  three understandable, but mistaken,  beliefs about A.I.:

1.  Other issues are more important?  Any credible existential threat is one too many and all must be engaged in parallel. If you accept that AI might pose an existential threat, then it should be a societal priority to address this threat, even if you are more concerned about another issue.

2. The chance of humanity being made extinct by A.I. is only 5%?   A five percent  chance of causing human extinction is unacceptably high. (How would you feel about boarding a plane with a                5% chance of surviving?)

3.  AI is not yet an extinction risk?   NOT YET: As Stephen Hawking put it, ignoring the possibility that AI could be catastrophic for humanity “would be a mistake, and potentially our  worst mistake ever.” (VOX, 2018)

The author of the Bulletin article is  Jack Kelly who writes:

In 2022 a “survey of thousands of AI researchers found that the median guess for the date when AI would be at least 50 percent likely to overtake human intelligence in all possible tasks was 2060. A year later, that timeline had dropped to 2047. There is now broad expert consensus that human-level artificial intelligence is probable within the lifetimes of most people alive today. Expert predictions should be used to alert us to potential future threats—just as the climate movement has rallied in response to warnings from scientists about carbon dioxide emissions. The world’s collective failure to heed climate warnings offers a painful lesson that should not be repeated. Regardless of the exact timeline, the hard problem of how to properly regulate and control this extremely powerful technology (both technically and politically) is one that must be tackled now, rather than waiting until we are faced with a crisis.”

“Treating AI regulation as a tradeoff in which government can either regulate existing misuse cases such as deepfakes or regulate development of potentially dangerous future models ignores the fact that it is critical to do both. The October 2023 White House AI regulation executive order does exactly that: It addresses existing harms like bias and discrimination, data privacy, and worker’s rights—and also institutes forward-looking principles to reduce existential risk by testing and evaluating models for dangerous capabilities. This is a clear example of how near-term and longer-term concerns can be addressed together.”

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QUOTE OF THE DAY – Dayen:  “In our messy reality, political violence exists as a background hum.”

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Great metaphor for Joe Biden:  go to Goggle:  turtle on skateboard

JUST A DAMN MINUTE!!

Published July 16, 2024 by Nan Mykel

As though it was not sufficient to take Woke away, and support charter schools and halt affirmative action funds–many of which have been continuing from the past (as at O.U.)–and snip at universities’  freedom of speech and lower teachers’ standards and threaten to wipe out the national Board of Education  (see Trump’s plans) and move toward putting chaplains in some public schools [see Florida] but a number of colleges are closing, nationwide.  Higher education was experiencing financial challenges  even before the pandemic, from dwindling enrollment to rising tuition to doubts about the value of a degree. Colleges are losing room and board revenue and associated fees, and even facing lawsuits from angry families demanding tuition refunds. The core product — teaching and learning — has come under attack for dubious quality  (and more recently for attacks on student’s and   professors’s freedom of speech).  –See at least Ohio’s manipulative actions.  Higher education is indeed in crisis, 

According to surveys, nearly half (45%) of US companies plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles in 2024. This follows a significant trend in 2023, where 55% of companies already did away with degree requirements. According to surveys, nearly half (45%) of US companies plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles in 2024. This follows a significant trend in 2023, where 55% of companies already did away with degree requirements.

About one university or college per week so far this year, on average, has announced that it will close or merge. That’s up from a little more than two a month last year, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO.  Recently closed or planning to close colleges and universities, plus cutting back positions or merging, include: Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, Fontbonne University in St. Louis and Eastern Gateway Community College in Ohio all announced that they would close — Birmingham-Southern in May, Fontbonne next year and Eastern Gateway by June, unless it gets a financial bailout. The private, for-profit University of Antelope Valley in California was ordered by the state in late February to shut down because of financial shortfalls. Lincoln Christian University in Illinois and Magdalen College in New Hampshire will close in May, Johnson University of Florida in June and Hodges University in Florida by August. The College of Saint Rose in New York, Cabrini University in Pennsylvania, Oak Point University in Illinois, Goddard College in Vermont and the Staten Island campus of St. John’s University will all be shuttered by the end of this semester. Notre Dame College in Ohio will also close its doors at the end of this semester, stranding for a second time students who transferred there from Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia, which shut down just days before classes were scheduled to begin the year before. —
AND…Maybe it sounded like a good idea to some, but after Florida’s governor moved to allow chaplains in Florida’s public schools, the Satanic Temple asked to be included….(Miami Herald).

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ANNOUNCEMENT:  I am seven years older than Biden.  Personally, I can’t understand why he wants the job.  I don’t, thank you very much.

A chat with my plants

Published July 15, 2024 by Nan Mykel

Botanical research has revealed that plants are capable of reacting to a broad range of stimuli, including chemicals, gravity, light, moisture, infections, temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations, parasite infestation, disease, physical disruption, sound, and touch.  But what about thoughts?  Maybe if thoughts are turned into sound?  Wouldn’t it be great if under SOUND was a dictionary!  Then I could really talk to my plants, which bloom in a sunny corner of my bedroom.   (At that point, imagining creeps in, that bottomless state where grand icebergs nestle among majestic clouds.)

Two plants in my bedroom appear determined to survive me:

TO MY TWO

I see you morning and night–often

twice during the night, my dear popinjays.

(Popinjays sounds affectionate, but

apparently that word selection

is in error.)  You head for the light,

which is right, in all situations.

No tantrums; no runny nose–rather

an exemplary example of

evolution’s creation, doing

your  best while counting  upon the less

dependable me that I see in

the mirror of my  focus-impaired

human brain.  I reckon we should have

called it quits before igniting our

planet. You would be outside in the

fresh air and I would be just a dream.

But by whom?  As they said at my old

school: Who, What, When, Where, and How?

But please–don’t let me interrupt

your blooming. 

Nan

 

Whatever Happened to the Lie Detector Machine?

Published July 5, 2024 by Nan Mykel
I know, I know–liars got too good at out-maneuvering them.  But wouldn’t it be great if fact-checking could be speed of lightning, during debates?
BIDEN DID GET THROUGH three different points in discussing most topics in the Debate, but the childish faces made by the ex-president posed great difficulty in attending to President Biden’s words. The distraction was incredible. Trump must have prepped long hours for the debate in front of a mirror–Or has his face just grown that way, as mothers often warn.?_______________
DEAR HEARTS — It was earlier known that Navy Seals who died of suicide had brain damage,  but the results were not shared with the Seals.
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Supreme Court upholds ban on sleeping outdoors in homelessness case:  nothing new there: LOCK EM UP!  LOCK EM UP!
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WHERE do elephants most likely get their apparent names from?  Google, in reporting: “their Moms.”
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ALTHOUGH NOT MY FAVORITE ENDEAVOR…
Our two stranded…hopefully temporarily…spacepersons pull at my heartstrings.  No, the powers that be say they’re not stranded, only…”What was supposed to be roughly a week-long test flight to the ISS is now probably going to last months, as NASA and Boeing continue to delay Starliner’s return to Earth. They say they want to better understand a series of technical issues the spacecraft experienced since launching June 5 on its first crewed test flight to space.
–Bloomberg
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SIMILAR EMPATHIC EMOTIONS are felt regarding the Biden Democratic election situation.   And as for the Supreme Court, my recent experience on almost all fronts with dishonesty has me shamefully wondering if a Supreme Court judge has hopes of running as Trump’s vice president.
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LIBERTY?
The cries for Liberty by those against covid mask wearing appear to be inaccurate.  As discussed in a Time article this month, The “modern fixation on ‘give me liberty’ as a license for unbounded personal freedom is a historic lie, and symptomatic of a broader problem. The freedom that patriots fought for was not a ticket to do whatever one wanted, but the right to participate in a community that governed itself.”  –The True Meaning of “Give Me Liberty” by John Ragosta:Time 7/15/24
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A NEW CLIMATE CHANGE WORRY?
Severe turbulence on an Air Europa flight to Uruguay from Spain on Monday injured more than two dozen passengers, officials said, leaving several with neck and skull fractures, in at least the second case of severe injuries from turbulence worldwide in two months. —

My Limits

Published June 27, 2024 by Nan Mykel
  • My silence on weapons of mass destruction is only because  I am so frightened.
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  • More than 1,300 people have died during the hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage, in Saudi Arabia’s heat. The temperature there recently passed 120 degrees.
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    • If I were moderating the upcoming presidential debate, I would make climate a major part of the questioning—that and the future of democracy. Both are, in fact, intertwined because, in each case, the Republican candidate for president and large swaths of the party he has molded to his will all deny basic, undeniable truths. 

      Climate and democracy are the most significant threats we face because if we don’t fearlessly tackle them, we will cease to have the means to address all else that ails us. The repercussions will echo for generations to come. 

    • Thanks to Jill Dennison for the referral to…lost it.
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  • LGBTQ+ veterans who were discharged from the military due to their sexuality got a win this week when a judge denied the Department of Defense’s motion to dismiss the case.The lawsuit represents gay and bi veterans who were discharged because of rules like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that barred them from serving in the military. The federal complaint, which was filed last year, said that 35,081 veterans were discharged or otherwise separated from the military “because of real or perceived homosexuality, homosexual conduct, sexual perversion or any other related reason” from 1980 to 2011.
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  • MAJOR FLOODS IN THREE MIDWEST STATES–Hey, I live in the midwest!  Enough’s enough.
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LIFE IN SMALL TOWNS TODAY:  No traffick crush.  You meet folks you know at the farmer’s market, the Scottish dance class, and my daughter’s doctor’s brother used to live in my basement when he was a student.

GOOD NEWS

Published June 24, 2024 by Nan Mykel
TAKE NOTE of 50 things President Biden has done to combat Climate Change as  listed by  3chickspolitico  and chris evans (@notcapnamerica)                                                                        

1. Rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement

2. Hosted the Leaders Summit on Climate

3. Committed to reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030

4. Pledged to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050

5. Established the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy

6. Appointed John Kerry as the first-ever U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

7. Directed federal agencies to procure carbon-free electricity and zero-emission vehicles

8. Launched the American Jobs Plan with significant investments in clean energy and infrastructure

9. Proposed the Build Back Better plan with substantial climate and environmental provisions

10. Paused new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters

11. Directed federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies

12. Restored and strengthened vehicle fuel efficiency standards

13. Set a goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030

14. Committed to conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030

15. Restored protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monuments

16. Revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline

17. Halted oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

18. Reversed rollbacks to the National Environmental Policy Act

19. Reinstated the ban on logging and road construction in the Tongass National Forest

20. Proposed stronger standards for methane emissions from oil and gas operations

21. Initiated the process to reverse rollbacks of the Clean Water Act

22. Supported the PFAS Action Act to address “forever chemicals”

23. Proposed funding for clean energy research and development

24. Directed agencies to incorporate climate change into national security considerations

25. Reestablished the federal flood risk management standard

26. Reinstated California’s authority to set stricter vehicle emission standards

27. Committed to electrifying the federal vehicle fleet

28. Proposed plans to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations

29. Accelerated the permitting of clean energy projects on federal lands

30. Launched a government-wide environmental justice initiative

31. Established the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council

32. Pledged to deliver 40% of clean energy investment benefits to disadvantaged communities

33. Proposed funding for energy efficiency and clean energy in low-income households

34. Launched the Justice40 initiative

35. Signed an executive order on tackling the climate crisis domestically and abroad

36. Established the Civilian Climate Corps

37. Initiated development of new emissions standards for cars, light trucks, and heavy-duty vehicles

38. Directed U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to prioritize climate in investments

39. Committed to ending international financing of carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy

40. Pledged to work with Congress to eliminate fossil fuel tax preferences

41. Directed agencies to identify new opportunities to spur innovation in clean energy technologies

42. Established an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities

43. Launched the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act to phase down hydrofluorocarbons

44. Reversed Trump-era rollbacks to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protections

45. Initiated the process to establish national limits on PFAS in drinking water

46. Proposed the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan

47. Launched a government-wide strategy for advancing nature-based solutions to climate change

48. Committed to creating a new multi-agency scientific integrity task force

49. Started development of new energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances

50. Established the first-ever White House Office of Climate Policy

Posted in  2024 ElectionsBreaking NewsEnvironmentOpen ThreadPolitics| Tagged,
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On his first day in office, Biden also ordered federal agencies to reinstate or strengthen over 100 environmental regulations that Trump rolled back.

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The Supreme Court said a Texas man under a domestic violence order may be disarmed, narrowing a key 2022 ruling that vastly expanded gun rights.

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Your Weather Today is…

In 2010, the National Science Foundation and George Mason University started a program called Climate Matters. The goal of the effort was to bring data-driven climate news to local audiences, and the appetite for such material has been tremendous.

Climate Matters is now in more than 245 cities and media markets and is working with thousands of reporters and editors around the country.

Bernadette Woods Placky, who runs the program, said that, across the board, more TV meteorologists are talking about global warming in their reporting.

“Our weather has so fundamentally changed because of climate change that it is now part of the story,” she said.

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  • Two beluga whales were rescued from an aquarium under bombardment in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and flown to Spain.  (I love whales, but more valuable than people?)

 

 

Consciousness in animals?

Published June 3, 2024 by Nan Mykel

A sensible history and current news/discussion of the topic from 3 Quarks Daily:

Has Science Discovered Animal Consciousness?

 

From https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2024/05/has-science-discovered-animal-consciousness.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who’s Manning the Golden Gate?

Published May 27, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW MANY gateways are there to Heaven?

WHAT’S on the other side of each one?

WHO has the best chance of admittance?

CAN WE mingle there without threat?

WILL the jig saw pieces ever fit together?

WHAT’S the password(s) at the Gate?

WILL good atheists be admitted?  And is there such a thing?

WILL the Happy Hunting Ground admit pit bulls?

CAN Grandfather God keep all the uncles together up there?

WHAT if we lie at the Golden Gate and make threats?

CAN we choose mid-terms instead of finals at the Golden Gate?

 

OLD NEWS

Published May 25, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

A FAMILY MAN and…WHAT DOES HE THINK OF YOU?

What he thinks of us, from The Week via Google:

“It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” [2005]

“Look at her ass”

“26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military — only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” [May 7, 2013]

“You never get to the face because the body’s so good.” [Sept. 23, 2004]

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I hate to discard tid bits that haven’t made it to my blog, and since I’ve been on an ignorance hiatus, I thought–lazily–that I’d just catch up a little:

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(For years, studies have found that undocumented immigrants have much lower crime rates than citizens born in the United States and legal immigrants across a variety of offenses, including violent crimes, drug crimes and property crimes.)

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On the other side of the chamber, Mr. Santos was greeted more warmly than he ever had been when he was a member of Congress, back when his colleagues wanted nothing to do with him. Before the speech, he sat and chuckled with Representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida…..  It was fair to say that Mr. Santos, who is scheduled to go on trial in September on federal fraud charges that include accusations of stealing money from campaign donors for personal expenses, was holding court. From <https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/us/politics/biden-state-of-the-union-rowdy.html>

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Energy: Companies like Shell are expanding offshore oil and gas drilling into deeper and deeper waters, especially in the Gulf of Mexico.  What will it take? 

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May 1, 2024 —  Starting today, the window in which a person can get an abortion in Florida was reduced from 15 weeks to six.  Critics of the ban channeled their efforts into gathering petition signatures to put an amendment on the ballot that would directly ask Floridians if they wanted to expand abortion access, and bring it back up to about 24 weeks. They had begun that effort after the 15-week ban was enacted, but it really ramped up after the six-week ban was signed. They were successful, and that question will appear on the ballot in November.  https://kffhealthnews.org › morning-breakout › floridas…

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AWAKENING FROM THE NIGHTMARE

Published May 8, 2024 by Nan Mykel

It couldn’t be real.  Maybe it’s just a nightmare that’s lasted too long.  Student protests indicate that the young are thinking, feeling and energized.  I am encouraged by those who speak out in their local papers and radio for national sanity to return.  I was especially encouraged by author Luman Slade’s letter in the local Athens News this week. Sorry, I believe I said I wouldn’t mention the T word any more, but hey, I’m just quoting someone else.  What do you think?

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

To the Editor:

We Americans, probably due to our Christian upbringing, have been too polite and too tolerant when it somes to would-be-tyrants, such as Donald Trump. We have sat back and allowed him to remove  civility from our discourse. We have allowed him to divide us and pit us, one against the other.

We have allowed him to set new standards as to the use of vulgar language, slander, insults, and lies. We have allowed him to upset customs and morality. We have allowed him to  impede and threaten our judicial and legislative bodies. We have allowed him to weaken our honorable world standing. Finally, we have allowed him to misguide our children  into believing that bullying is OK, that people who are different are inferior, and that cheating and lying are normal behavior.

Isn’t it about time  to begin taking a stronger and more meaningful stand for what is true, what is right, and what is good? Isn’t it about time for us to become less compliant to the ugly messages of Trumpism? Isn’t it about time to begin using our voting rights and our voices to take this unscrupulous predator and false prophet out of the picture before he does unreparable damages?

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