Shiba Inu Named ‘Professor Akira’ Learns Math Through Flashcards, Is Possibly a Doggie Genius Daily Paws (David L). But is this just another Clever Hans?
Bearing gifts: the camels bringing books to Pakistan’s poorest children Guardian (resilc)
The guards caring for Chernobyl’s abandoned dogs BBC (resilc)
Canadian beavers chomp down town’s internet BBC (resilc, David L). Sorry for the heavy dose of BBC, but our regulars found them on a roll!
Breathtaking New Hubble Image Shows a Giant Star on The Brink of Annihilation Science Alert (David L)
This Interstellar Probe Would Go Deeper Into Space Than Anything Before it Gizmodo (Kevin W)
Analysis: Why utilities aren’t doing more with renewable natural gas Energy News (UserFriendly)
A Midwest pipeline promises to return carbon dioxide to the ground Grist. UserFriendly: “This is so obvious I can’t believe it isn’t being done already.”
The salmon you buy in the future may be farmed on land BBC (resilc). Eeek.
It should be OK for parents to express regret about having children Psyche Ideas (Dr. Kevin). I can’t agree with this, except they do anyhow even if they don’t verbalize it.
#COVID-19
Despite a few rich countries doing well, global COVID-19 cases are the highest they’ve ever been Business Insider (David L)
Sanctions-battered Iran faces worst coronavirus wave Al Jazeera (guurst)
Vile and disgusting. https://t.co/l4x5PBc4eu
— Dr. Faris Durmo Biber MD., BSc. (@Dr_FarrisD) April 25, 2021
Science/Medicine
Quebec schools without air purifiers have 3 to 4 times more COVID-19 cases, says dad running citizen count Montreal CTV News (SES)
Over 100 Drug Lobbyists Working to Block Generic Covid-19 Vaccines Intercept
??Sao Paolo's health secretary informing the public it is mainly younger people that are being admitted and at ICU.
In ??Italy in total until this month 54.28 % admitted to hosp were under 50 years. 5 % were 0-9 years old. https://t.co/PMzNHdPCtq
— Dr. Faris Durmo Biber MD., BSc. (@Dr_FarrisD) April 24, 2021
Asia
Indians on Twitter Are Desperate for COVID Help. They’re Getting Censored. Vice
Two die and more than 100 test positive in coronavirus outbreak among US diplomatic staff in India CNN. Resilc: “Worldwide roll out very slow at Dept of State, even close locations.”
Europe/UK
US
US to share up to 60m doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine Financial Times. Remember this: Therefore, the FHI would drop the AstraZeneca vaccine: Everyone in Norway will have a greater risk of illness and death by choosing the AstraZeneca vaccine than waiting for another, FHI states. Verdens Gang (via Google Translate, original here)
Time to Say Goodbye to Some Insurers’ Waivers for Covid Treatment Fees Kaiser Health News
A private school in Miami, citing false claims, bars vaccinated teachers from contact with students. New York Times. This is what happens when public health officials ignore real stories and real concerns about some women having whacked out menstrual periods after getting the shots. From what I can tell, the effects don’t seem to be lasting. But given how some women find it difficult to conceive, many women aren’t willing to do anything they perceive might lower their odds. And then the silence leads the speculation to become wilder and wilder.
Undercounting of Covid-19 deaths is greatest in pro-Trump areas, analysis shows STAT
It’s time for handcuffs for corporate executives who cheat us. pic.twitter.com/2Yk36axui8
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 26, 2021
Brexit
Brexit: Sales of milk and cream to EU down 96% and chicken and beef by almost 80% Independent (guurst)
Old Blighty
Boris Johnson ‘isolated and at risk of becoming uncontrollable’ Guardian. The idea the Johnson was every controllable seems at odds with observable facts.
Does anyone doubt Boris’s leaked ‘bodies’ comment? Spectator
New Cold War
Relations between Russia & US have shifted from ‘rivalry’ to ‘confrontation’ & are back to Cold War level – ex-president Medvedev Defend Democracy
U.S. Navy will build airport infrastructure in northern Norway to meet upped Russian submarine presence Barents Observer (guurst). From last week, still germane.
Syraqistan
Israel and Iran Are Pulling the United States Toward Conflict Foreign Affairs (resilc)
The Saudis Need More than a Scolding on Yemen National Interest (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
ACLU says it shares user data with Facebook, a frequent target of criticism Axios (Paul R)
Apple Launches Major New Privacy Protections For iPhones And iPads NPR (David L)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Did They Miss Yet Another F-35 Cost Overrun? CounterPunch
CENTCOM Commander: Drones Dropping Explosives ‘Probably Concerns Me the Most’ Homeland Security Today
It's strange how many westerners who grew up watching Star Wars still side with the evil empire on every foreign conflict.
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) April 27, 2021
Biden
Biden’s care economy Bad News (UserFriendly)
The Targets of Biden’s War on “Domestic Extremists” May Not Be Who You Think Leighton Akira Woodhouse
White House gears up for political fight over tax rises on wealthy Financial Times (Kevin W)
Biden’s new stimulus plan is all about infrastructure, and China has lessons to share South China Morning Post
CODEPINK Gives Biden a Grade of D on Foreign Policy in First 100 Days CodePink
Redefining Swing Voters Cook Political Report (UserFriendly)
Census shifts House seats: Five takeaways The Hill
Shocking US census results: New York was 89 people short of keeping Congress seat, California down for first time EVER RT (Kevin W). One of the few times my vote would have made a difference! I left NYC just before the census.
Republican Civll War
Liz Cheney Isn’t Ruling Out A 2024 Presidential Bid Forbes (resilc)
Democrats en déshabillé
Democrats Play ‘Moneyball’ for Long-Term Success Cook Political Report
Black Injustice Tipping Point
DOJ launches probe of Louisville police after fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor The Hill
Police State Watch
Colorado officers who violently arrested 73-year-old with dementia laughed incident after, video shows Denver Post (Chuck L)
Google orders Roku to change their interface and chipset Axios (Kevin W)
Enterprise Products sues Texas municipal utility over $100 mln gas bill Nasdaq (resilc)
Tesla Posts Record Earnings Wall Street Journal
Woven Planet, a subsidiary of Toyota, to acquire Lyft’s self-driving car division Lyft (David L)
What Became of Atheism, Part One: Wearing the Uniform Freddie deBoer (UserFriendly)
Class Warfare
Economic news reporting suffers from bias toward richest Americans Academic Times. Underlying study: Whose News? Class-Biased Economic Reporting in the United States American Political Science Review (HJR)
Column: Elon Musk is giving $150 million to charity. What a cheapskate https://t.co/SCJ1PZukWI
— Michael Hiltzik (@hiltzikm) April 26, 2021
Maine contractors fear labor agreement will shut them out of offshore wind work Portland Press Herald (UserFriendly)
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “Another of our family members: Jaques Pierre”:
And a bonus (guurst):
I present to you 'Stoat on a Trampoline' pic.twitter.com/8lrCZBCCa9
— Pete Wharmby (@commaficionado) January 17, 2021
A second bonus from guurst, and more proof that cats aren’t selfish:
Real happiness doesn’t come from getting everything you want.
It comes from sharing what you have with the people who matter. pic.twitter.com/jk6JFkwj20— Ramblings (@ramblingsloa) April 17, 2021
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
124 comments
Comments are closed.
Working link for “Bearing gifts: the camels bringing books to Pakistan’s poorest children” article at-
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/26/bearing-gifts-the-camels-bringing-books-to-pakistans-poorest-children
Tracie H’s cat “Jaques Pierre” looks a lot like a cat that we had for many years. But Pierre has a tail instead.
Fixed, thanks!
Colorado officers who violently arrested 73-year-old with dementia laughed incident after, video shows Denver Post (Chuck L)
Hopp approached Garner on June 26 after Walmart employees called police to report that Garner tried to walk out of the store with $13 worth of merchandise. Store employees made Garner leave the merchandise at the store. Garner’s family said they believe Garner forgot to pay for the items and was confused.
Hopp found Garner walking home on a nearby road and took her to the ground within 30 seconds of contacting her after she refused to stop walking, body camera footage of the interaction shows. He then handcuffed her, forced her against his police cruiser and later used a hobble to restrain her feet.
….
The video footage from inside the police station also showed Hopp and Jalali discussing submitting the incident to BlueTeam, the use-of-force reporting system the department uses. Loveland police Chief Bob Ticer previously told the Loveland Reporter-Herald that department officials were not aware that Garner had been injured in the arrest until the lawsuit was filed, though both officers on scene and a responding sergeant acknowledged she was hurt.
======================================
Not to get all tin foily, but I find it remarkable the prohibition on police misconduct toward white people. Are women beaten by police forbidden by MSNBC and CNN? Are old people not in the demographic that will attract advertisers? Is dementia something that can’t be mentioned on TVee???
And the police chief was not aware of the injuries….PURPOSEFUL ignorance? Hard not to conclude the police oversight system is carefully designed and crafted to not find out things.
A 73-year-old with dementia who “tried” to walk out with $13 worth of merchandise which she was not allowed to take.
Why call the police at all? This falls squarely into the no harm, no foul category IMNSHO.
People in this country have lost their minds.
Unless this was a case of employees calling the Police the because the employees noticed she was mentally impaired and in need of assistance. People need to know not to do that. The police take everything as a personal slight and the culture is sicker than that poor woman with dementia.
There should be other options for getting help in dealing with this situation than calling in roided up, armed to the teeth pitbulls itching for a confrontation. This is the actual meaning of defunding the police: removing them from this kind of encounter and providing alternate, community based options. You do this by taking money from the police and giving it to agencies more appropriate for dealing with non violent, non criminal and other non life threatening situations.
I still think “defunding the police” was a slogan invented by one of the (many?) police agents provocateur in BLM. Same way they break windows during otherwise peaceful protests to make the organization look bad, scare the civilians. Somebody with PR skills needs to change that.
Nah I think it originally comes more from activist groups like this, which have been talking about this stuff for years before George Floyd died. And yes they are talking about abolishing the police, but understand that is a long term goal, obviously not something that could happen today.
What a cruel callous countrymen we live in. Whole story is rotten. The Walmart employees who called the cops over $13 bucks that didn’t even get stolen like good little Eichmanns. The cops whose egos apparently just couldn’t stand an old person walking away from them. None of these people thought “I have better things to do today”, let alone “maybe this person needs help or their family to come pick them up”. Whole country is sick.
Whole country is sick.
A lot of people helped each other in the US yesterday. It didn’t get reported.
Yes. But today they went back to work at their job. Where if they don’t report shoplifters, they get fired.
depends if you know where to look
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
I like the idea. Underlying motives? This is one of the lead articles:
Amazon, Unilever, and Nestlé join the UK, US and Norway in New $1Billion Initiative to Preserve Tropical Rainforests
This week, during the international Climate Summit, three governments and nine giant corporations announced a groundbreaking coalition, called LEAF, which is mobilizing to raise at least $1 billion this year, alone, for large-scale forest protection and sustainable development.
There’s that term again. To reiterate: there is no such thing as sustainable development. Not the way we moderns develop things, anyway.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/leaf-coalition-introduction/
The only “sustainable development” I believe in is those Native American “forest gardens” linked to a few days ago. I am sorry about that–that site used to be about individuals doing good things. Ah well, another one bites the dust. Or maybe it was this site I was remembering
https://www.sunnyskyz.com/positive-good-news.php?week=pastweek
If anyone cares to watch the video, the cop twisted and dislocated her shoulder and injured her lower arm as well. After they’d properly hog-tied her or whatever to “subdue” her, one cop ask another if she’s okay, and her response is “a little bloody, a little muddy.” “Your blood?” “No, hers (laugh)” “OK good.”
I didn’t care to rewatch this sociopathic conversation so may not have it down exactly verbatim.
Sick country, maybe, callous, oh yes.
OTOH ACAB is not helpful or accurate, needless to say, but videos like this make me truly wonder if MCAB. It appears that from their perspective, blue lives matter much more than those of “civilians” (the fact that cops differentiate themselves from us civvies when they are too–only active military aren’t–is itself telling).
It’s almost as if “Defund the Police” is there to deligitimize the whole idea of reigning them in, which would start with demilitarizing, both in terms of equipment and maybe more importantly mindset.
I like how the goodnews network gets unmasked as a probable corporate shill within one comment.
Demilitarizing is part of defunding initiatives, as is using diverted funds to implement alternatives to calling the cops for situations like this so that this encounter never happens. Reform doesn’t work, “reigning them in” doesn’t work. Police unions and lobbies control the parameters and the ultimate result of all reforms, and nothing really changes. We’ve seen this over and over again. Police budgets only ever get bigger, both in monetary value and percent of of local budgets. Why is it so outrageous to suggest that police budgets be reduced? Yes, defund the police! Money talks, and bullshit walks. The conversation has been sidetracked by “law and order” propaganda. Don’t buy into it.
Increasingly, it seems like having your groceries delivered to your house isn’t just a matter of class, but also a matter of survival.
Please also remember that it was 5 hours before Karen Gardner received any medical attention. If you have seen the more recently posted booking video, these cops mocked and laughed at her, and kept her in handcuffs in spite of her injuries. I’m so angry about this I’ve emailed the Loveland Police to let them know that I support abolishment in part because of their abuse of Gardner.
Thanks so much for stoat on a trampoline. I saw that before I watched and I was wondering how those short little legs were going to manage that. So much fun.
Wondered if he was trying to clean himself! Hilarious video.
>What Became of Atheism, Part One: Wearing the Uniform – Freddie deBoer
I am an atheist. I think all metaphysical claims of religious are false. I think religion on balance has been a detriment to human life and human flourishing. And I think the gradual attrition of believers into nonbelievers, through apathy and distraction more than anything else, would be good for the world.
I’m not sure the author understands much about metaphysics or religion. Religion is not based on “metaphysical claims.” I think he understands “truth” in the same way that John Searle or Karl Popper (“falsifiable principle”) do, or maybe someone who approaches the subject the same way you would the physical sciences. If you are going to talk about religion then you should be careful about the words you use and how you are using them, something that deBoer fails to do in this article.
Dr. E. Michael Jones is correct on this point, that if you are going to talk about God in a serious way, at least in the Christian tradition, you should start with John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This first sentence in John’s Gospel isn’t something you read and fully appreciate or immediately grasp, at least I didn’t. It took EMJ 784 pages in his book Logos Rising: A History of Ultimate Reality to begin to draw out the full meaning of what John meant by this. Bishop Barron, the popular YTuber, also has a serious of lectures on this topic where he takes on the four horsemen of atheism head on.
I also would like to know how the “truth claim” that religion has on the whole been a net “detriment to human life and human flourishing” was arrived at. How would you prove the negative? We might all be plugged into some kind battery plugged into the Matrix without the notion of the sacred. And what does it say that the author suggest that “apathy” is a good thing. This reminds me of Dante’s Inferno where and he and his guide, Virgil, arrive outside the gates of hell. There they see the fallen angels who stood by to see how the game was going to be played out without taking a side, for God or Satan. In Dante’s portrayal these fallen angels are not even worth a mention, they are less than Satan and his fallowers who at least had the conviction to take part in the “dubious battle” (Milton).
Chard carrying pantheist chiming in…
Heaven is right here on this good orb, the only one we’ll ever know and chock full of symbiotic relationships between everything living attached to one another, all of it real-not imagined or in need of invisible means of support
Mystical bowing leagues are man made and cater to only us, what about the rest of the planet and Mother Nature’s other clients?
A Pure Land enthusiast myself.
A Pagan here.
Druid – patron Saint Sylvan, protector of the wild fields and woodlands and those who work therein.
Brotherhood of the tree.
I’m Gaian. The creation is my cathedral; Gaia is my scripture.
I don’t think the author understands how thoroughly his upbringing in that “hippy dippy Congregationalist” church had on his concept of religion.
There’s been a lot of what most people consider religious thought through human history that has not been focused on divine lawgivers. The author is searching for certainty and equating that with religion, but some human-created religions (and all religions are human-created just as logic and the scientific method are human creations) recognize that uncertainty goes with being a living but finite being in such a vast and complex universe.
If we define religious thought (can’t use “theology” unless we go with that transcendent, anthropomorphic god) as occupied with the question of how we humans respond to the cosmos, uncertainty is no deal breaker, and religion is more of an eternal search for who we are and what our place is rather than following a rulebook dropped from the sky.
On a rainy day in heaven we can sit around the fire and ask god why the leaves are green. Her answer: because of the chlorophyll. Oh well. Maybe we can grab a flight on the wings of an angel down to the fiery depths of hell, where at least there’s some signs of life.
Jones does a nice job unpacking many of the darker aspects of judaism. But he doesn’t apply the same principles to his own catholicism. If I did it (unpacked my catholicism), so can he.
I haven’t quite reconciled myself with, nor have I fully been able to accept, his views on Judaism and Homosexuality. Nevertheless, his ability to synthesize so many disparate lines of thought, philosophy, politics, economics (“Barren Metal” I think is his latest book), music (he is a musician that plays traditional Irish tunes at a bar in South Bend and also thoroughly versed in the classics – there are good YT clips of him discussing Wagner) and religion is truly remarkable.
Freddie deBoer asserts that PZ Meyers is a “deeply unpleasant person.” I met PZ almost 20 years ago after frequent online interactions (he’s easily the most successful Minnesota-based blogger). PZ is a self-effacing biology professor, and is quite charming in person. I will grant that he has fallen into bad company in recent years (his political takes are now invariably pro-neoliberal, although I’m not sure he’s aware of it).
After reading that drive-by take down, it was hard for me to take deBoer seriously.
I will say, however, that I told PZ from the start that organizing atheists was as pointless as trying to herd cats. Unbelief is not something you can organize around. Not believing in gods is not something you can have in common with others because there’s nothing to discuss unless you add anti-religion into the mix which to me is like protesting Christianity by becoming a Satanist.
I think what some atheists organize around is proselytizing. They don’t understand that they are adhering to a baseless faith as much as any bishop.
As an atheist I find it hard to read the ramblings of many other atheists. (Note: I didn’t read the article discussed here for that reason). Far too often it is an exercise in proving a negative and complaining about various tidbits of formal religion. Personally, I prefer to strive for the path of Buddha toward whatever sort of enlightenment I can find in this unfathomable existence:
It is said that soon after his enlightenment, the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the extraordinary radiance and peacefulness of his presence. The man stopped and asked, “My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a God?”
“No,” said the Buddha.
“Well, then, are you some sort of magician or wizard?”
Again the Buddha answered, “No.”
“Are you a man?”
“No.”
“Well my friend, what are you then?”
“I am awake.”
As a zen Buddhist might say, “Those who have found zen do not feel the need to tell others they have found zen,” an atheist shouldn’t feel the need to tell others they have found meaning without theism.
To share one’s journey on the path toward personal enlightenment can be helpful, but explaining how one form of enlightenment is better than another does no one any good and just builds barriers.
Yes, I heard it described this way: Thich Nhat Hanh
You can get to zen from anywhere, as long as you do not get stuck.
Wittgenstein, Tractatus 6.54:
My Propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands me eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them — as steps — to climb beyond them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up it.)
He must overcome these propositions, and then he will see the world aright.
This is probably why ‘religion’ is the much later fallout, and what springs from what can basically be called ‘schools for waking up’ or ‘schools of consciousness’. The message is of course that we are all in a kind of hypnotic, waking sleep, but that is is possible to wake up- through discipline; through practice; through the teaching. The outer trappings are in a way not necessary and always come later. Thus has it always been. Yes the Buddha literally means ‘one who is awake’. And Christ? Peter can’t stay awake , ‘they are not dead but only sleeping’, ‘watch’. In the epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim would tell Gilgamesh the secret of life if he could ‘stay awake for 6 days and 7 nights’ (which of course he cannot do, and in fact, doesn’t even suspect that he has fallen asleep. He is us.). This is the origin (mostly unsuspected) of the ‘religions’. So much more could be said, but I think we are not clear about where and how we actually are and always tend toward reaching for the big questions like the ‘meaning’ The Word/Logos, but we can’t even remember where we put the car keys
It seems to me as if the author is conflating a particular kind of Christianity with religion. And sure, there are particular kinds of Christianity that are dominant in the U.S., but to reduce “religion” to one or even several of them is just lazy thinking. I think it’s a tell that the author uses very few actual quotes and lots of made up quotes. For example: “Progressive Christians, for their part, often did essentially the same thing: they would constantly preannounce that they would not consider theological questions in these fights because those questions were not the real issue at hand. ‘We’ll never see eye to eye enough to argue!'” Who has actually said this?
It’s my experience that very, very few people have any thing like a fully worked out, or even partially worked out, theology. And yet this article assumes that most people do. I’m guessing even atheist don’t have fully formed ideas about the nature of the universe and our place within it. Which doesn’t mean that discussions about ultimate reality are useful until we’ve got it all figured out. But I think we all need to approach this with a kind of humility.
I used to tell people, I lived is the Deep South then, that I was an atheist. Which I think I did mostly to piss people off. Later when folks would say that they believed in god, I started to ask well what do you mean by god. At that point most people would have nothing to say. Now I’m part of a religious community and most everyone in that community points to the community as the most important aspect for them. And yet deBoer just waves that away. Why? Because it doesn’t fit with his thesis? Or maybe there’s something to religion that he doesn’t get. I suggest he look up the etymology of the word “religion” to get a clue.
Best religious quote ever IMHO came from the best Prime Minister the UK ever had – Clement Attlee.
“Would you say you are an agnostic?”
Attlee: “I don’t know.”
What in the world is going on in Brazil? First they reject the Sputnik vaccine, then that picture in today’s links.
Is Bolsonaro simply evil? Anyone on the ground down there care to comment?
Yeah i don’t speak Portuguese and I’m too lazy to translate tons of Twitter threads.
Maybe I’m being naive but I think there must be more context to that photo than “yay people died!”
Perhaps Lula being out of jail and possibly wanting to make a run for power again?
From everything we’ve seen from world health and political “leaders” from the virus’s first appearance, I would say they would have done nothing differently if they wanted as many of us dead or dibilitated as possible.
Maybe he’s just saying the quiet part out loud?
Bolsonaro has always been upfront about his desire to eliminate the undesirables. He first came to prominence as a congressman in the late 90s when he was publicly quoted stating that a military coup that killed 30k people or so including then president Fernando Henrique Cardoso would be great for the country.
Later on the floor of congress he told a female colleague that he’d never rape her, because she didn’t deserve it.
This is who he is.
He obviously likes saying outrageous things and then reaping the attention it gets him, not unlike a certain other demagogue we know.
From the comments, he was apparently celebrating the end of the CFP card for criminals that had died (not Covid victims) which is still quite clumsy anyway.
I can’t be alone in having thought of this, but the tiny margin by which NY lost a seat in the House is swamped by the excess mortality that can be confidently attributed to the state’s governor’s decisions taken in the early phases of the CV epidemic last year.
One can hope that the political heat on the man only intensifies.
Yeah the Hill article says that 2,000 people had died by the time of the Census data collection, which makes the 89 person miss a little misleading.
Either way, these census results are pretty wild. Huge changes going on in America that I don’t think we’re ready to face.
At 89, a less cruel set of policies towards the homeless could have been the difference maker.
These census trends are 50 years old, as old as the Rust Belt, all that’s new is California losing rather than gaining multiple seats. The US population center moves relentlessly West, and drifted South with the advent of air conditioning. And we do see southern states purpling.
The Rising had a good segment on this, but I am thinking about what happens when climate change really gets going. Parts of the Southwest and the coastal South are going to be not just unpleasant, but become almost unlivable.
Excellent point!
The commenters and moderators here are why I start my day off right here every morning.
One thing about that news article that has me wondering. Remember when New York City had 200,000 voters be purged through an ‘error’? And when caught, said sorry about that chief – and did it again? Could it be that the missing votes that they needed to keep that seat were to be found among those people who were purged but who then gave up on voting anywhere in New York? Sweet irony if it is-
https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/campaigns-elections/new-york-city-purged-voters-2016-it-wasnt-mistake.html
Representation in congress is based on census counts not voting rolls. The expunged voters have nothing to do with the loss of the seat.
Cats may not all be selfish, but the second bonus video is a clip of a longer video that was reversed to make it seem like the cats are sharing.
That altered video is thus an apt metaphor for how the institutional press has handled the Biden administration.
I hated to not believe that video, but my myriad rescue cats all did the opposite of sharing their food and treats in ways sneaky and obvious. However, when one caught a rabbit outside, they all shared in turn like little lions. The hunter ate their fill, and left the rest for whoever wanted it.
Blackie: who looks like the antidote’s doppelgänger, is the smallest of the five felines who rule the roost here, and quite the food bully who’ll poach others Temptations if allowed the chance in our cat eat cat’s treats world.
“Indians on Twitter Are Desperate for COVID Help. They’re Getting Censored.”
Because this is what happens in the world’s largest democracy – a Modi democracy that is. Just had a thought a little while ago about India and how they are under the gun right now. Now the population of India is 1,366,000,000 people, right? So would the implication be that to reach ‘herd immunity’, that they would need to have over 1 billion people who had the virus or who have been vaccinated? All I can see is this virus pin-balling its way across the subcontinent hitting those States that do not have an adequate healthcare system extra hard but leading to more variations arising simply because of the number of people infected.
an aside: latest c19 stats from India.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/
> It should be OK for parents to express regret about having children
Express to whom?
My mother didn’t hold back about what she gave up in order to have children. She was an unusually talented applied mathematician and computer programmer who in the early 60s gave up a career in atomic energy research to start a family, a choice she said came under pressure from her and my father’s parents.
I get it. Looking back it must have been hard. But it was her decision (albeit under some pressure) and not mine. Being made to feel like, as a child, I was to blame for her lost opportunities and disappointments didn’t really accomplish much positive for any of us.
Yeah that sounds harsh, lordy. For both you and your mom. She was smacked down, quite painfully no doubt by the full patriarchy and was unfortunately too immature to shield you from her hurt. If there is any excuse to be made, “unusually talented applied mathematician and computer programmer” is pretty much considered one side of a coin where the other says “not real slick at inter-personal relationships”.
For the people that write stuff like this (and seem to live on a different planet from the rest of us), “whom” means your $100/hr professional psychotherapist – everybody has one, doncha’ know? – not actual people in your life.
So it doesn’t even occur to them that somebody might do what your mom did.
$100/hour for a psychotherapist? That is 1990s rates.
Express to other adult people about to make the decision. A young married woman gets a million Hallmark comments about the joys of having kids, does not hear enough from people who said, yeah, it didn’t work out the way we hoped, so live your own life.
I’m sorry she laid that on you as a child, that wasn’t fair or good for you.
She may have prevented child abuse in other families by expressing herself to adults in hearing. Lots of people aren’t suited to raise kids but are encouraged to do so anyway and disaster ensues.
My mother often mentioned in chit-chat with pregnant neighbors etc. that she sworn she’d never have a second child. I don’t think she really thought about what was coming out of her mouth—within earshot of her second child, no less. But I’m reasonably sure that my childhood and adolescent dread of being any kind of burden on anyone, ever, had more than a few roots in those memories.
It may be “OK” for parents to express regret about having children. But such regret should be understood as a moral failure (i.e. a failure with respect to love, a “betrayal of charity”) that it would be “OK” to confess (to someone who is not your child!) . . . i.e., “expressed” with a view to seeing it resolved rather than allowing it to fester. But our culture teaches us to see (1) any hint of failure or the confession thereof as worse than death, and (2) “having kids” as a life stage and the kids themselves as accessories to one’s personal identity and “story.” So this path is unlikely.
Yeah, your father did not have to give a career up to be a father, or did he? I felt that confusion your Mother felt and was guilted into marriage twice when I would have been much better off cohabiting, then parting. I never had kids because I was so miserable myself, and came of age in the late 60s when it was easier to just slide out of it. Children can never understand they are not to blame for circumstances beyond their control, so I am sorry you were subjected to your mom’s frustration.
Re. giving up a career — that wasn’t it. These are complicated issues. My mother had a love-hate relationship with both of her children because her marriage was, to say the least, toxic. That relationship only began to change after (1) her daughter died and (2) she filed for divorce using the life insurance maturity (because poverty is a prison in more ways than one, especially when you have been a housewife for 2+ decades). In her words today, the only good things to come out of her marriage were her two children.
It’s difficult to make clear in writing (especially without more intimate details) that I don’t feel any resentment towards my mother on any account. Even during my childhood years, my feelings tended more towards despair than anger. It just took time to understand: So did hers.
And that’s my point: a “failure” like this shouldn’t be about guilt, shame, fantasy worlds, or anything of the sort, but very specifically about finding a way to live with it as best you can. Because if you are a parent, you are stuck with your child, and your child is stuck with you, and the only way out is through. Best accept this before it’s too late.
Unable to edit, but: apologies for the confusion, Alfred. Mismatched your reply to my own.
no worries!
Feeling trapped makes us thrash around some. My family was a hot mess and I did the best I could, as everyone else did. The hardest thing for me to learn was not to blame my parents and brothers (this I am saying about myself, not you). Our beginnings bring us all to different places, and I wish you all the best.
About one-third of all children are unwanted, and one hopes that most of their parents grow to like them. When they don’t, the child very often unconsciously inculcates the message that they are not good enough and never will be. The Warner Smith longittudinal study of children on Maui showed that about one-third of them grow beyond such a condition, but the other two-thirds very often wind up treating their own children the way their parents treated them, since to them it’s the normal way to raise children.
Satan does not roam the world seeking souls to devour; it’s family values that do that.
+ 100
Reminds me of a couple of Quentin Crisp quotes:
“As soon as I stepped out of my mother’s womb I knew I’d made a mistake.”
“My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.”
I was thankfully spared such sentiments from my mom – as a child.
As an adult, we watched my older sibling struggle with multiple divorces and kids. I’ve never been married and am childless. My mom basically said in so many words that she thought I’d made the right decision, and that she and my dad had kids because when they were younger, that was just what people did. She expressed just a bit of thinly-veiled envy at me having avoided the whole business.
I wasn’t insulted. I’m sure I was just as much of a pain in the butt as any kid. We’re a pretty unsentimental bunch so we just had a laugh about it together.
As a teen I was on a small road trip with my father in our rickety old minivan when a sparkly new red corvette passed us by. I joked, “If you hadn’t had me you could’ve had that.” He was silent for a moment and just said “Yeah.”
It was a small thing (nothing compared to your experience) but has often gone through my mind when pondering how often parents might have regrets about family life. Also wonder how much such things have impacted my avoidance of long term relationships and having children.
I don’t begrudge my parents their occasional moments of insinuation at the life that could have been (again, they were rare and mild) but do use it as a motivator to make the most of my own life and passions. Both for myself, and for their seeming vicarious enjoyment of it.
I’m male, married with a grown son. I’m not a hermit (much) and was never very interested in “playing the field”, but I don’t particularly enjoy family life, and looking back would probably have been just as content living alone in some sort of long-term relationship. But for a lot of men after a certain age, marriage and family are the price of having any sort of intimacy in their lives at all. And if you’re not emotionally/financially/whatever suited for it, your alternative is a life of loneliness.
No it shouldn’t be ok. But some parents engage in it “passively-aggressively” via phenomena like “stage-mom syndrome” etc. Allegedly. Which can lead to personality disorders in children as they struggle to achieve/rebel against parental expectations. Allegedly….in certain psychiatrist reports…
The salmon you buy in the future may be farmed on land,
aquaponics: fish and different types of indoor lettuce farms in Wisconsin for over a decade. Some raise Salmon, some tilapia, etc.
Some cheese factories are also using fish to clean the liquid waste from cheese making before releasing the liquid back into the environment. Don’t know if they sell those particular fish yet.
Here are two semi-recent links:
https://madison.com/wsj/business/salmon-in-tanks-lettuce-under-glass-disrupt-the-food-chain/article_168be30e-f2c7-5b71-9d80-35aee25d8df3.html
https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/fish-lettuce-farm-gets-ok-in-somers/article_1032229e-e988-57f5-a25f-d046bb1f8160.html
I think I preferred my vision of grass fed salmon roaming the plains. :)
And cattle grazed on seaweed.
see 2.1.1.3
http://www.fao.org/3/x5820e/x5820e03.htm#TopOfPage
2.1.1.2 sounds interesting:
“Chondrus crispus, dried and bleached, is boiled in milk. As it cools, it jellifies and is similar to flan or custard.”
PS. Considering the pfas contamination issues and factory farm runoff happening in multiple areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan in both municipal water systems and individual wells, one has to wonder what’s type of filtering would be necessary to build massive food systems based basically on water. And whether or not A) it’s being done and B) how cost effective it is v. its environment impact.
On the other hand, perhaps the “industry” figures out how to filter water given how other industries seemed determine to contaminate said water resources.
Cities like Munich and Kolkata use fish ponds for sewage treatment, though development around their edges are reducing the ponds and their capacity.
Thanks for this!
“U.S. Navy will build airport infrastructure in northern Norway to meet upped Russian submarine presence”
‘The text in the agreement underlines that no nuclear weapons can be on board navy ships making port calls to Norway, or aircraft landing at airports in the country.’
The agreement also says that the US Navy is not allowed to try to shoot down Santa Clause as he flies overhead in December as he is not a ‘threat’ nor is he trying to mount an intrusive reconnaissance mission. In spite of this, Santa Cause seen to be ordering his elves to install Doppler radars and decoy flare guns on his sleigh at his polar workshop.
Norway is signing away its soul. The Norwegian constitution bans the permanent stationing of foreign troops in Norway in peacetime (a legacy of the Nazi occupation in WW2) but the 2018 US military budget allocated 10.3 million dollars to build the airbase at Rygge for F35s, for example. All these bases are under US control and not subject to Norwegian supervision. They would turn a blind eye if the US did bring nuclear weapons but could not go in and check in any case. Plus the US submarines are nuclear powered.
According to Norwegian media, USA wants to build a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) pad for fighter aircraft. This will then be available for use by all Nato countries, if there is a need for a greater presence in Norway or northern Europe.
Last time I checked the US Navy refuses to confirm or deny whether nuclear weapons are onboard any particular ship or aircraft at any particular time so the agreement is meaningless. Denmark publicly had a “no nuclear weapons agreement” with the US too and it didn’t stop Strategic Air Command during Operation Chrome Dome leading to the splashing four thermonuclear bombs on Greenland during the Thule B-52 crash.
The US Navy ‘confirmed’ that only the SSBN’s would carry nuclear weapons going forward back in 1992. However they do still stick by their policy of not confirming or denying when asked about a specific ship.
It was a big hassle to carry nuclear weapons. Extra security, paperwork and procedures. And an extra color to memorize the meaning of.
This is getting ridiculous, and not in a funny way.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fox-news-anchor-corrects-false-231126579.html
“It seems that Roberts and the Fox team just skimmed an article from the U.K.-based Daily Mail” — yeah maybe.
But everybody knows “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets it’s boots on” and this stuff is looking more and more deliberate every time. We are screwed if this keeps up, and I think we are because I think it will.
Yeah, it’s not funny–McConnell made this campaign blurb that the Dems were going to tell Kentuckians how many hamburgers they could eat if elected. It’s telling that it’s about food, and beef, to me. Stupid tropes.
“A private school in Miami, citing false claims, bars vaccinated teachers from contact with students.”
I saw something related to this in the news today though I cannot find it again. So there is a couple that lives in News South Wales, Australia whose married daughter and kids lived up north. The couple wanted to go visit them as there is no Coronavirus about at the moment and the daughter absolutely refused. Said that as they had just been vaccinated that they would have to wait at least two months before they would be allowed to go visit them. I wonder if this is going to be a thing moving forward.
In general, people who have been vaccinated do not suffer the symptoms of covid, should they contract it. They don’t suffer the debilitating symptoms of the disease.
The vaccinated can show high viral loads with a PCR cycle as low as 19 repetitions, but feel fine and go about their daily lives. An unvaccinated person with a viral load as high would be flat on their back.
Since they have been vaccinated, people often go out more, associate with people, often not wearing a mask, but they are a vector of covid. That may be the thought process of the school leaders.
Shiba Inu Named ‘Professor Akira’ Learns Math Through Flashcards, Is Possibly a Doggie Genius Daily Paws
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hair’m here wasn’t hep to the potential until Einstein (the brains of the outfit) got into cryptos in a big way, and luckily you don’t need to know anything in regards to math when it comes to ponzi schemes, as it isn’t his long suit.
All of those times he sat on my shoulder purring contentedly was merely a chimera ruse to get my password & credit card #, and off to the races he went, but i’ll never know how he could use a keyboard with those way too close to one another paws?
Utilizing a numismatrix trading scheme, he bought into all cryptocurrencies with the exception of dogecoin (its a cats versus dogs thing-you wouldn’t understand), which in the end hounded him by being the best performer of the lot, not that it matters as he’s sitting on seven figures of gain since he started a few years ago.
I don’t get it though, if you sleep 17 hours a day, what do you need money for, what is the motivation?
A comfy bed, regular treat deliveries, and an endless supply of catnip…
Very funny Wuk. If the video in that article showed cats doing math, I might actually believe it….
As it is, I don’t believe that dog is recognizing numbers or doing math. As a kid, I had a had a dog who knew the names of most of her toys (ball, ring, football, etc.), there was a list of maybe 20 words, including, walk, leash, dinner, treat, she clearly understood. We do know that they have some vocabulary. But most of the time, what dogs understand is our body language, they are very sensitive to it. We might not be able to see and she may not even be doing it on purpose, but somehow the trainer is telegraphing the correct flash card to the dog. To be convinced that the dog actually knew the correct answers, I’d need to see the dog pick from cards placed on floor with his human out of sight or for the woman to be handed the cards in such a way that she didn’t know which one was right.
I have to agree with the article that accompanied the video, the smart dog is the one getting the treats for just nothing.
My cats figured out all kinds of things that astonished me, like DST. They have no profit motive however, so it’s harmless.
With the set up shown in the article and on the Professor Akira website, I agree that it is impossible to tell what the dog actually knows. That the website sells merchandise makes me a bit suspicious…
The noted trainer Ken Ramirez worked a dog in what he calls quantity recognition instead of counting. During the process, he presented his work at conferences of scientists and trainers and modified his methods in response to their suggestions. The set ups were very well controlled to prevent inadvertent cueing or pattern recognition.
These links are the best I can find without a paywall:
https://www.clickertraining.com/node/5002 (Ramirez description from 2015)
https://www.kenramireztraining.com/media/ (with a couple of video clips)
The female dog did remarkably well in looking at a number of objects in a tray, or a subset of matching items, and matching that number to a board with the same number of dots and other shapes. In a video conference that Ramirez gave last spring on concept training (no public link), which included his quantity recognition training, Ramirez wondered whether quantity recognition was important evolutionarily for keeping track of a litter of puppies.
Thanks for this anonymous. My slow internet tonight won’t let me view the videos in the links you sent but reading the site, it seems like these are much more ‘scientific’ methods. Akira’s human makes no provision for bias or inadvertent communication to the dog. Also ‘quantity recognition’ is different from just pointing to the numbers. And it totally makes sense that a female would need to know if all of her pups are accounted for. Not addition as humans do math but ‘numbers’ knowledge nonetheless. Looking forward to checking out the videos when the ‘net speeds up,
Maine contractors fear labor agreement will shut them out of offshore wind work Portland Press Herald (UserFriendly)
Insightful on a number of points.
Both of the Non Union Const. Co.’s refered to in the article are both described as “Employee Owned” without any context of the Ownership Arrangement employees have–is it just Shares or is it Board Seats and everything in between?
This set up–without that context– implies another ‘Blue Collar Owners-v-Union Arm Twisters trope, as expressed by about half of those commenting to the Herald.
JEEEZ—-It’s a PLA-Project Labor Agreement–a pretty standard pre-Contract Document–both Employers and Employees benefit in pre start discovery of Wages and Working Conditions before submitting the bid.
Both AGC and ABC (both remnants of the Builders Roundtable componant of the Business Roundtable–set up pre WW2 to counterweigh FDR’s New Deal Initiatives on Organized labor–IIRC) have Boiler Plate non-union PLAs they provide their Anti-Union Members regularly.
So I just Googl#d:
https://www.google.com/search?q=project+labor+agreements+federal+construction+projects&source=hp&ei=NBmIYNi6BrvPwbkP852jqAY&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYIg
and WOW–the “People also Ask” drop down is Toxic with anti-Union Links–one stop talking points Union dissing infect almost every Query.
Is this Google being Vindictive??
Oh, and here is the way the Article ends after fanning all these flames:
“Every contractor who bids knows the terms before the bid and has to agree to live up to them,” Cuddy said. “But PLAs do not limit participation to union contractors or unionized employees.”
AGC is the older of the Organizations and is ‘Double Vested’ of necessity not desire(at least w/o significant benefits to itself) while ABC is staunchly Anti-Union(hence its split from AGC).
imo, of over 40years in the Construction Industry– starting in an Apprenticeship– both really choke on this(from the above)
Developers count on partnerships with unions to set up training programs that can provide a reliable supply of skilled workers. That helps close the so-called labor gap,
because it costs to train–and then its the Tradesman that owns the Knowledge, not the Company.
https://www.pressherald.com/2021/04/25/maine-contractors-fear-labor-agreement-will-shut-them-out-of-offshore-wind-work/
because it costs to train–and then its the Tradesman that owns the Knowledge, not the Company.
Contractors in Construction need Skilled Workers (because, well, building stuff well gets complicated)
Construction Skills were Formally Learned in Union Apprenticeships
or in Public and Private Trade Schools and Community and Technical Schools
or on the Job(where you can learn to do it as wrong as right-depending on who is showing you thinks is right/wrong/or easiest)
Anyway, that Labor stream had issues so about 20 years ago, the Open Shop Crowd birthed this Alternative (with a lot of Money and your US Gov’ts Assistance) to get your Open Shop Credentials.
https://www.nccer.org/
Ironically–NCEER has very limited training facilities itself and relies on contracted Facilities/Instuctors provided through Public Local Tech Schools and Community Colleges.
And, ummmm, unlike Union Apprenticeship, you– the Trainee– may have to pay for it yourself(reimbursement optional)
from ABC Maine’s Web Page NewsLine:
https://www.abc.org/News-Media/Newsline/entryid/18657/biden-infrastructure-plan-rife-with-abc-opposed-labor-policies
Importantly, the Biden plan calls on Congress “to ensure all workers have a free and fair choice to join a union by passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, and guarantee union and bargaining rights for public service workers.” The ABC-opposed PRO Act threatens the fundamental rights of workers and job creators while putting the recovery of our economy at risk.
Biden’s plan also urges Congress to tie infrastructure investments funded under this plan to ABC-opposed government-mandated project labor agreements/community workforce agreements, prevailing wage regulations via the archaic Davis-Bacon Act and registered apprenticeship programs. All of these policies are likely to increase costs, reduce job creation, decrease the number of infrastructure projects and discourage ABC members and their skilled local workforce from competing for taxpayer-funded construction projects to rebuild their own communities.
The Cianbro Companies have finger prints and hands all over the Maine ABC Boards–whos Mission Statement is simply this:
ABC and the Merit Shop Philosophy
Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. is the voice of the merit shop in the construction industry. We accept the responsibility for making that voice heard. We believe the merit shop movement is a movement for the betterment of the individual… the construction industry… and the nation.
We believe in the system of free enterprise and open competition.
We believe employees and employers should have the right to determine wages and working conditions through either individual or collective bargaining, as they choose, within the boundaries of the law.
Etc, Etc.
Looked at the Glassdoor of Cianbro, the “Employee Owned Company” quoted.
They are a low wage, low benefit contractor, and the employee owned bit appears to be a fig leaf.
No sympathy.
re: https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/25/undercounting-covid-19-deaths-greatest-in-pro-trump-areas-analysis-shows/
Hard for me to take that article seriously. Big assumption made at the outset.
“Liz Cheney Isn’t Ruling Out A 2024 Presidential Bid”
She could do it you know. She really could. If not the Presidency, then the Vice Presidency. As proof of this, I offer the example of Kamala Harris. A women who flamed out badly during the debates, especially when Tulsi Gabbard hauled her over the coals over her record. Who could not carry her own State and whose campaign went nowhere. But then she went on the party circuit in the Hamptons and they liked her very much. And when these very same people chose old Joe to be their Presidential candidate, they gifted him Kamala. So watch in 2024 if you see Liz Cheney making the rounds of the Hamptons as that will be a big tell that.
I don’t know. She was openly opposed to Trump at times, and he didn’t lose with the aura of breaking a Conservative commandment like 41 did in 1992 (read my lips no new taxes and then whoops). I’m not sure she has any kind of cachet to get on the ticket. If she has a Shrub like candidate around, maybe, but is she connected to someone like DeSantis? I presume he’s linked to the Bush family through Jeb, so it’s possible. I don’t know enough about DeSantis other than predictions he’ll come out of the primary. If he’s type A, they will go for the usual VP choice of, “here is proof it could be worse.” Lynn Cheney as bad as she is doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would lose to Wolf Blitzer in Celebrity Jeopardy.
I don’t think the Hamptons is where you go to get on the Republican ticket, although Mike Pence in the Hamptons is a funny thought.
Don’t be confused by the class that merely vacations in the Hamptons. The owners still run the GOP ticket. Bush family loyalists in the media circles griped, but the GOP. Hillary, the inevitable, resulted in making safe bets, but the GOP is going to be swamped with cash again. Pence is couch surfing in the Hamptons for a reason.
To be clear about AstraZeneca in Norway, this only applies to the situation in Norway where we have had no excess mortality (in fact there has been a slight mortality deficit). For countries like the UK and the US, AstraZeneca will save more lives. The dilemma lies in the problem of side effects in individuals with otherwise higher life expectancy. In other words, the people who are saved are probably different than the ones who die from the side effects. But this applies for all vaccines.
Yes, the same vaccines have a very different risk/reward tradeoff in Norway where the good public health response meant the virus never got out of control. Here in the US, where rates of community transmission are so high, the adverse effects of the vaccines seem more acceptable–hence the decision to resume using the J&J vaccine.
After Norway stopped the use of AstraZeneca, the government decided to LEND the warehoused doses (216,000 doses) to Iceland and Sweden with the proviso that we would get that number back if it was decided at a future date that the benefits outweighed the risks.
VG 22nd April (not Google translated):
https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/EprEMP/norge-laaner-ut-astrazeneca-doser-til-sverige-og-island
Incidentally I have a ex-colleague who got the first dose of AstraZenica and was due to get the second dose in mid-May but has just learned that the second will now be one the mRNA vaccines. She’s concerned because the previous recommendation was not to mix vaccines. So she’s wondering why is it OK now?
More of that condescension (Guess what!):
That’ll get them!
“If you’re not vaccinated, you’re still a danger.”
Here it comes.
BOHICA!
Economic news reporting suffers from bias toward richest Americans Academic Times…is behind a paywall, because of course it is. Fortunately, I don’t need to read the article to be able to confirm the headline.
Oops. My bad. It only looked like a paywall. There is, in fact, a “no thanks” link. My conditioning went a little haywire for a second there.
You say “Eeek” about salmon farmed on land but… 1st, we need to eat lower on the food chain so eat less fish but…
Most wild fish are very over-exploited and the current farming (net pens in the water) is a huge polluter (of wasted fish food and antibiotics) and disease spreader. The new technology is giant fish tanks (one is going in near me and I have been to several presentations) on land. They are isolated from the water so any waste water is treated and they claim they will be isolated from disease so no antibiotics are needed (perhaps).
From an environmental point of view eating those fish will be far better than eating any industrial meat product aside from clams and oysters. Because they are cold blooded Salmon are far more efficient at protein conversion than Cows, Pigs etc. A pound of soymeal, fishmeal or other food protein makes almost a pound of Fish. If all the ghouls who insist on a meat centered diet ate that sort of fish instead of land animals or the current fish options the world will be less polluted. One attendee at a presentation noted that the amount of feed they will consume to produce 22,700 metric tons in a year consumed as much feed (and therefore as much poop) as 1 mid-sized local dairy.
So, please eat less meat and fish but (especially in light of all the fraud in the fish supply chain) the Salmon (and they will probably also raise yellow tail Hamachi too) from these sort of facilities will be less destructive of the planet than most other options.
Cows eat grass. They don’t need grain based feed. You’re doing it wrong.
Salmon need a plentiful diet of smaller sea creatures and a lot of exercise. Farmed salmon is grossly inferior to wild and to get the pink colour, without shrimp larvae, they add dyes to their feed. There is a pantone range to select the colour: Europeans like pale, Asia likes lurid orange.
I will stick to grass fed beef.
If we need to adjust our diets, we should just eat less, not fish in tanks
I agree 100% with your last statement. I won’t be eating the farmed fish but I would rather unknowing, uncaring consumers buy the tank fish instead of the other options.
Same goes for beef. I eat basically none of the small amount of sustainable (not counting water pollution, soil compaction, over grazing, burps and predator control) beef produced around me but I am glad it eliminates a smidgen of demand for feedlot beef. Of course most of the beef in meadows around here is finished on grain in feedlots. The local dairies are grain fed in the barns but wander the fields too, so the comparison to the fish farm should have taken that into account. I do eat some very local pork, yum!
Yeah, that article about the Marine general head of CENTCOM, the nest of vipers that stirs up so much of the vileness of the Empire while “keeping the terrists from attacking American interests:
So his big fear is little drones carrying a pound or three of TNT or plastique and dropping those explosives on his beloved Imperial troops? Read down the article to see that it really is a War Department advert for why the US must keep on keeping on in Notagainistan and Syria and Iraq to keep the pressure on the ISIS and al Quaeda (no mention of Taliban, today? Oh yeah, “ The caliphate no longer holds ground in Syria. They are moving small bands, what we call at the insurgent level. And our partners there have been very effective in getting after that,” McKenzie said. “We will continue those operations.”
McKenzie said that al-Qaeda and ISIS “will be able to regenerate if pressure is not kept on them” in Afghanistan, but with impending withdrawal of U.S. forces that will fall to the Afghan government even as “we don’t know the exact composition of what the future government of Afghanistan is going to look like.”
And while the Taliban have claimed that they won’t allow ISIS nor their ally al-Qaeda to base out of Afghanistan, the Taliban have been absent from ongoing peace talks and “have never stopped fighting” with a pace of attacks “as high as any during the entire history of our war in Afghanistan.”
[I would love to see the data the General relies on for this bit about the pace of Taliban attacks — suspect it is carefully crafted bullsh!t.]
“Everyone has a vested interest in a stable Afghanistan,” Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday. “Everyone has a vested interest in an Afghanistan that does not harbor terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS that have an apocalyptic vision of a future world.”
No mention of Imperial support for both ISIS and al Quaeda of course. Not worth a mention, because hey, it’s old news and just part of the state of play. https://medium.com/dan-sanchez/the-us-government-s-not-so-secret-support-for-al-qaeda-and-isis-f547b8593b0b
So I guess maybe since the General knows ‘drone warfare is the future of warfare’ [maybe like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ipkq-BASaM at one scale of conflict or as the video points out, social control, or like your worst “Terminator” nightmare at the largest scale] he might be in the avant-garde of warfighters (who are doing their best to ‘make it happen, of course.) But if you read, and read between the lines, and pay attention to the key phrases in his speech, looks like the “professionals” in the state security/Homeland Protection/power projection racket are doing their best, like the General and his troops, to carry out the pledge that “nothing fundamentally will change.” Whatever the Commander in Chief (note how infrequently that phrase appears any more) might “direct.”
“Everyone has a vested interest in a stable Afghanistan,” Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters” Well… people like the General and others high up in the MIC don’t have an interest in that.
I think it’s hilarious that no one ever mentions poppies.
this link isn’t working, is there one that does work?
http://www.defenddemocracy.press/relations-between-russia-us-have-shifted-from-rivalry-to-confrontation-are-back-to-cold-war-level-ex-president-medvedev/
Re: Colorado officers who violently arrested 73-year-old with dementia laughed incident after, video shows Denver Post (Chuck L)
According to this earlier piece (which appears to include a compilation of two other local newspapers and the family’s representing attorney statements and evidence) 04/15/21 By Andrew Court Cop is suspended after ‘dislocating a 73-year-old dementia sufferer’s shoulder’ when she forgot to pay $13 for Wal-Mart groceries:
The Greeley Times reported that the Wal-Mart employees refused payment when they retrieved the items from her.
A little muddy, a little bloody, that’s how it works!™, thank you officer Daria Jalali, I guess this is something many elderly folks™ can look forward to in their senior years in the UZ (emphasis mine):
Given this, I suspect that Officer Daria Jalali’s quoted words in that Denver Post piece:
had far more to do with Officer Jalali being quicker to realize that her audio videoed utterances and actions may end up rightfully condemning her than any concern over the pain and horror she inflicted. The facial photo of the victim in the police vehicle shows sheer confusion and terror in her eyes, while the facial photo of Officer Jalali (both still shots, in that Daily Mail piece) shows no remorse (in my opinion).
gotta run
Is it just me, or is the only effective opposition to Boris Johnson the conservative party people who want to be PM?
As Yves might say Keir Starmer is doing a remarkable impersonation of a potted plant. I mean the SNP is putting up more of a fight than Labor.
Is it because the press won’t report on what Labor says, or is it because Keir really isn’t as effective as a potted plant.
He’s on the right wing of the Labour party, and doesn’t want to advocate anything to anything that might upset more conservative (small c intended) Labour voters. However this had led to him not opposing egregious policies relating to human rights issues, and not discussing the negative effects of Brexit. He doesn’t appear to have a sense of humour either. So at the moment he is as useless as a chocolate teapot. I don’t think he will be any more effective over time, either.