Monday morning links

I was working in Indonesia about 20 years ago and sanctioned-but-illegal fishing was very common. In an area where entirely new species are regularly discovered (Papua) the Chinese factory ships would roll in, deploy their worker net boats, and scour the entire bays with gill nets; All life in the water column, stripped right out, turtles, marine mammals, all of it. The worker boats pull back to the factory ship, all the fish are sorted out for human consumption, the rest of the catch goes straight into animal feed. It has hard to watch. Glad to see the government is finally starting to crack down on these practices, it also implies that they are doing the same on the localized corruption that allowed it. Here's hoping.

#1 Aggie on 2019-04-29 09:20 (Reply)

Another history rewrite has begun.

The Atlantic has a hit piece on Robert E. Lee. Very shallow and one-sided, but it is a window on Leftist thinking on the topic.

The Myth of the Kindly General Lee

The legend of the Confederate leader’s heroism and decency is based in the fiction of a person who never existed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/

#2 feeblemind on 2019-04-29 09:28 (Reply)

I don't trust The ATLANTIC (nor the NYT and WaPoo, as well.)

#2.1 Sam L. on 2019-04-29 11:53 (Reply)

The article on cultured meat is typical global warming BS. Global warming is a hoax. However, the treatment of animals is a real issue. So is the fact that animal husbandry is inherently less efficient, in terms of land use, than agriculture. It is for these latter two reasons that cultured meat is worth pursuing.

#3 Abelard Lindsey on 2019-04-29 11:29 (Reply)

re So is the fact that animal husbandry is inherently less efficient, in terms of land use, than agriculture

That is generally true, but not all ground is created equal.

Practically all the grazing done in this country is done on acres unsuitable for growing food. It's either to rough, too rocky, and/or too dry for mechanized agriculture, so cows and sheep are sent out to harvest the grass instead. Otherwise no food could be raised on this ground.

It doesn't take many acres to raise hogs. It is all done in barns.

At the end of the day, lab meat will have to convert nutrients to meat for less money than swine or bovines can. I don't know how big that challenge is but if it can be accomplished with no drop in product quality then lab grown meat has a real chance of catching on.

#3.1 feeblemind on 2019-04-29 12:00 (Reply)

Thats a good point. Hogs and chickens do not require much land for feeding, compared to cattle. Cattle and sheep raised on land that is not suitable for agriculture is good too.

I prefer poultry and pork to beef anyways.

The costs associated with cultured meat have a ways to drop before it can compete with meat from animals. If the world population goes up a lot more (which it may or may not) then cultured meat and other efforts to produce synthetic food may be worthwhile.

#3.1.1 Abelard Lindsey on 2019-04-29 15:07 (Reply)

College loyalty oaths are secular religion's confessions of faith.

#4 Basil (Link) on 2019-04-29 11:38 (Reply)

NYT for Ilhan: Just ONE MORE (unnecessary) reason for me to despise, detest, and distrust the NYT. I keep saying this, because the NYT keeps giving me the opening.

#5 Sam L. on 2019-04-29 12:07 (Reply)

That cat article is odd. The argument is basically, cats kill millions of birds. We must save birds because because. Therefore, all cats must be kept inside but it's not their fault; humans have ruined cats and ruined the planet.

#6 Uncle Max on 2019-04-29 12:19 (Reply)

Yes, the article is anti-human as well as anti-cat. If you want to save birds, get rid of windmills. If you want to kill off feral cats, kill off feral cats.

Billions of people on this planet. Wild animals are going to be pushed out of the way. I don't understand why this is so confusing to some people.

#6.1 California on 2019-04-29 13:11 (Reply)

I was going to suggest the same thing. The windmills are killing a huge number of birds, but that is alright with the leftists , because...........

#6.1.1 JC on 2019-04-29 15:07 (Reply)

Windmills are natural.

Cats aren't.

Umm... Never mind. I need coffee.

#6.1.1.1 JLawson on 2019-04-29 16:40 (Reply)

The numbers of bird killed is an estimate — and here's the shocker: even if true, it's still a tiny fraction of the bird population worldwide.

And as someone with bird feeders around the house, anything that takes out mourning doves — AKA "pigs with wings" — is fine with me.

Also, long experience with the Left has taught me that an author's general rantiness — this guy ranks high on that scope — is a pretty good indicator of suspect politics.

#6.2 PubliusII on 2019-04-29 14:04 (Reply)

"pigs with wings"

I have always been partial to the mourning dove, it is the damn grackles and pigeons (rat with wings) that I can't stand.

I'm a bird lover, I don't have bird feeders because I have a cat. The cat came with the fiancée. Never was a cat person, but the cat has grown on me. The cat mostly stays indoors, and gets more field mice than birds.

Lefty environmentalists worship 'mother nature' and hate humanity - except themselves, they are gaia saints.

#6.2.1 B. Hammer on 2019-04-29 14:18 (Reply)

For me it’s blue jays. Hate those selfish, noisy jerks.

#6.2.1.1 Yj on 2019-04-30 08:34 (Reply)

From the cows killing the planet article;

"There are also additional gases from fertiliser application to land, from the conversion of land for pasture or feed production."

So if we're not eating protein from livestock, what WOULD we be eating? One would think it's replacement is grains/vegs/fruits raised on same land, not? So how many tons of plant source food is needed to be raised to feed 330 Million (just in the US) people?
How much land? Have any of these people (urban dwelling I'm guessing ) ever seen how many acres of arable land there is in this country?

Without livestock sources (and you know this is what they are getting at ) that's less organic fertilizer applied to the land (the whole cycle of life thing) and more petroleum based fertilizer applied. Which even the farming community admits wrecks the biosphere of the soil from too many years without rotation or growing green manures.

Never mind the whole 100 or so products that are produced from cattle rendering. Like hydraulic oils, plastics and medical products. What is going to replace them?

We should just go back to living in caves. So much cleaner.
//

#7 fjord on 2019-04-29 13:01 (Reply)

I invite the people who come up with this thinking to kill themselves and thereby help the earth.

#7.1 mary on 2019-04-29 13:24 (Reply)

The "Coloradoan", a Fort Collins CO newspaper, recently published an article from Colorado State University touting cookies made from "high protein cricket flour" as a way to help heal the planet.

#7.2 annieoakley on 2019-04-29 14:42 (Reply)

re We Have to Do Something About Outdoor Cats

I'll take feral cats over feral rodents. In my experience they do far less damage.

#8 feeblemind on 2019-04-29 13:36 (Reply)

Neighbor's car has clobbered the vole problem I have. Rarely see evidence of them anymore. He originally made a very nice dent in the ground squirrel (aka chipmunk) problem but seems to have let up on them recently. Never saw evidence he's taken a bird. In my experience only youngish cats get birds regularly.

Now, if only I could find some critter that would take out the moles. I wanted a snake but The Better Two Thirds nixed that idea.

#8.1 Knucklehead (Link) on 2019-04-29 16:29 (Reply)

"Student Activists Outraged as Williams College Tries to Adopt Pro-Free Speech Policy"

Remember, selective schools expend great effort and demand exemptions from anti-discrimination laws so that they can curate each class of students they admit.

So either these students were selected for their anti-free speech, and definitely anti-free thought beliefs. Or they were inculcated with these values by the Williams College faculty and admin.

#9 JK Brown on 2019-04-29 13:40 (Reply)

Can you hear it?

The steady drip . . .drip . . .drip. . .

#10 Apple Pie on 2019-04-29 13:57 (Reply)

"Many University Campuses Are Playgrounds For Insanity"

QUOTE:

But Ms McRae is also concerned that programmes like Lambda School, though well-meaning, risk undermining existing educational institutions by offering a quicker route to work.

Sentences to ponder from an Economist article on a school that focuses on preparing students for getting to work.

What kind of "educational institution" wants to their students to graduate in the least amount of time and get paying work? Madness!

#11 JK Brown on 2019-04-29 14:10 (Reply)

"Where are all the grown-ups? ... Retired. We blew it.

#12 Papa Buckland (Link) on 2019-04-29 15:17 (Reply)

You can say that again. Look at all the crap arguments in this thread alone.

#12.1 Meh on 2019-04-30 10:31 (Reply)

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Monday, April 29. 2019

Monday morning links