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Monday, February 17. 2020

George Washington was an 'illiterate LIAR who cheated his way to the top, wore dentures made from hippo ivory, beat his slaves and lied about freeing them', new biography claims

Did coronavirus originate in Chinese government laboratory? Scientists believe killer disease may have begun in research facility 300 yards from Wuhan wet fish market

Exercise can make you happier

Romantic or disgusting? Passionate kissing is not a human universal

How Did Architecture Get To Be A Left/Right Political Issue?

Frequent fliers side with woman in seat-reclining beef: ‘We have a right to lean back’

"In 1920, Americans spent more than half their income on food (38 percent) and clothing (17 percent)..."

Skills Development, Not Education, Is Key To Workforce Transformation

Harvey Weinstein’s case might be too weak to convict: Devine

The views of Woketopia

My Former Life as a Radical

UK Judge Compares Police To Gestapo Over Probe Into ‘Transphobic’ Tweets

San Francisco Mayor Just Admitted To Having Relationship, Accepting Money From City Worker Under FBI Investigation For Public Corruption

San Francisco Middle School Descends Into ‘Lord Of The Flies’ Environment

Emissions Accomplished -- Trump Wins on Fracking

Trump makes the 62nd Daytona 500 something special as media heads explode

Democrats’ 2020 race turned tragic because they can’t face the truth about 2016

There Is No One To Stop Trump Now

Author Lee Smith: “We Knew the Clinton Campaign was Giving Information to FBI – It Now Appears FBI was Giving Information to Clinton Campaign as Well”

EU Is Now Deaf To Their Coming Defeat

Angela Merkel and the Destruction of German Democracy

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:44 | Comments (33) | Trackbacks (0)

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I read the article about Aptos Middle School and was reminded of Experiment House from The Silver Chair, "a 'mixed' school ... but not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it."
Also, "[o]wing to the curious methods of teaching at Experiment House, one did not learn much French or Maths or Latin or things of that sort; but one did learn about getting away quickly when They were looking for one."

#1 Korora on 2020-02-17 07:49 (Reply)

An excellent example.

#1.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2020-02-17 09:45 (Reply)

Canada is not far behind the UK in their loss of free speech. Ironically the protected groups are pretty much allowed to say whatever they want to.

#2 Anon on 2020-02-17 08:21 (Reply)

nCOV: I dont know, if it was this paper, but a paper making similar claims has been withdrawn. There is a YouTube channel called MedCram that has been presenting clear and practical updates on the coronavirus. Based on what I am seeing, this novel virus is serious because it is new to the immune system and can penetrate deep into the lung, but it doesn't appear to be 1918 redux. Still, be vigilant and disciplined about hygiene and get enough sleep.The

#3 Exasperated on 2020-02-17 08:24 (Reply)

"China accuses US of spreading fear..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-accuses-us-of-spreading-fear-as-coronavirus-death-toll-rises/ar-BBZBNWp

It must be the US fault for anything that happens!

#3.1 mary on 2020-02-17 09:49 (Reply)

Different paper. It is significant because it is a faction with in China accusing a lab in China. It's been out there for several days and the author has not been "quarantined" and the paper has not been withdrawn. Could signal something political or be a soft step towards admitting an accident eventually. That said, it's been extraordinary watching twitter clips of what's going on over there. Extreme quarantine, extreme disinfection. Hope it works.

#3.2 Karen on 2020-02-17 10:25 (Reply)

I have always been grateful that Communism, if it had to exist, was busy existing somewhere else, far away. But this is the first time I was ever sneakily grateful that it existed anywhere at all. Sickness in the neighborhood brings out the worst in everyone. It's hard to process witnessing totalitarian actions in plain sight at the same time as hoping they work.

#3.2.1 Aggie on 2020-02-17 10:31 (Reply)

Totally agree with you! Extreme military quarantine better work, but I can't imagine replicating it in India or Africa or many major cities outside China. Maybe Russia?

#3.2.1.1 Karen on 2020-02-17 10:50 (Reply)

It's important to note what the paper is claiming and what it is not.
Abstract for the paper with link is here , so one can read the abstract and doesn't need to read Lucianne's summary of Daily Mail's summary of what the paper said.

If I'm following it correctly, there are 2 virus labs near the Wuhan wet-market working on Bat CoV ZC45 coronavirus, a virus which has similar DNA sequences to the COVID-19 that's become a problem in humans.

Wild bats that would carry CoV ZC45 aren't found "in the wild" in the area, which makes it strange that a Bat virus would transfer to humans via Bat >> ??? >> Fish Market. Pointing out that there are labs in the vicinity of the fish market, and that there may have been occasions of humans in the lab having unfortunate encounters with bat body-fluids from research-bats gives us a plausible sequence of events.

They aren't saying that the virus was invented or created in the lab.

#3.2.2 Douglas2/Unknown on 2020-02-17 14:27 (Reply)

Agree that it's better to actually read papers than external summaries. Actually he kind of hints at it when he talks about one of several very interesting, on point papers "The principle investigator participated in a project which generated a chimeric virus using the SARSCoV reverse genetics system, and reported the potential for human emergence 10. A direct speculation was that SARSCoV or its derivative might leak from the laboratory.

In summary, somebody was entangled with the evolution of 2019nCoV coronavirus. In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high risk biohazardous laboratories. Regulations may be taken to relocate these laboratories far away from city center and other densely populated places."

He is very close to saying we made it and it leaked. My read of that paper on ACE2 receptors was - hey we engineered this bat virus that can now invade ACE2 receptors - a known human infection pathway, by modifying the spike code, yay. But unlike other papers he doesn't compare sequences to known wild virus and talk about the part that is new (which is associated with the spike) and give the math on natural mutation probability vs fabrication. He doesn't talk about interesting patent applications associated with the lab and he doesn't talk about patented bio-engineering signature for insertion showing up in the code as some others have. As for the Indian paper - I saw zero science based reviews to refute it but a lot of angry, emotional hand waving. I'd wager that after this is over, and it's emotionally safe to explore the space, it will turn out to be man made and an accident. I think that's why this paper came out. Because other world scientists have kinda noticed things about the sequence and patents and published papers. sorry had to edit out hyphens to get past spam filter

#3.2.2.1 Karen on 2020-02-17 17:03 (Reply)

The Teenage Girl Gang That Seduced and Killed Nazis

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/578187/teenage-girl-gang-seduced-and-killed-nazis

#4 feeblemind on 2020-02-17 08:57 (Reply)

The left. Saul Alinsky, Joseph Goebbels, Stalin, etc. all used the same tactic to defeat their enemies so they could gain power. They publicly accused them off bad things (often the very things they themselves were doing) and demanded that they be removed from office and or jailed. You can tell who the left is most afraid of by their efforts to erase them. This includes Trump, Bill Barr, civil war statues, and now President Washington.

To what end? Why Washington? Part of this effort is to demoralize the common people. Those of us old enough to have learned civics in school and too American history (both of these course are being expunged from public schools to be replaced by homosexual and trans sexual studies). If you can confuse and upset that large voting block of mostly silent older Americans "maybe" you can actually seize power and take America right out from under it's citizens.

So the plan is to demoralize and hopefully prevent the large body of middle class Americans from voting AND bring in massive amounts of immigrants legal and illegal whose vote can be bought by promising them free stuff and eliminating our borders. The plan is working. Within a decade your vote won't be worth shit. Trump is just a speed bump in their plans.

#5 OneGuy on 2020-02-17 09:33 (Reply)

Re: The American Workforce

"Much of the U.S. workforce is facing a future in which their current roles will almost certainly give way to automation, artificial intelligence and other innovations."

That's not true. Our social systems will completely break down before automation becomes prevalent. There won't be any customers. I'll tell you a little story about the failure of American diplomacy. A hundred years ago, being sent to another country as an Ambassador was a very important job.
Years of training, and experience, and good judgement were required to qualify for that position. But then the Telex machine was invented. This allowed bureaucrats in Washington to send very complex instructions to each foreign Ambassador. So they no longer thought it important to send a smart person. They could send anybody, who will simply follow instructions.

And that's what they did. The job of Ambassador changed from an expert in foreign affairs; to a toady job that any jerk can do.
So now, Ambassadors are chosen for how much money that they have donated, or how friendly they are. It's a mess. We have the worst foreign service in the world. All because "automation" was supposed to grant Washington D.C. a new level of control. In reality, there is no substitute for a truly qualified foreign Ambassador, one who is authorized to make his own decisions, based upon local concerns.

The slow-motion disaster of our Ambassador Corp is just another example of how power hungry bureaucrats will always try to use technology, in an attempt to gain more control over events. Automation of human networks always causes confusion and anger. It should never be done.

#6 Ron Lieberman on 2020-02-17 10:06 (Reply)

"A hundred years ago, being sent to another country as an Ambassador was a very important job.
Years of training, and experience, and good judgement were required to qualify for that position. But then the Telex machine was invented. This allowed bureaucrats in Washington to send very complex instructions to each foreign Ambassador. So they no longer thought it important to send a smart person. They could send anybody, who will simply follow instructions.

And that's what they did. The job of Ambassador changed from an expert in foreign affairs; to a toady job that any jerk can do.
So now, Ambassadors are chosen for how much money that they have donated, or how friendly they are. It's a mess. We have the worst foreign service in the world."

It's true that fast communications greatly reduced the autonomy of ambassadors...this goes back further than the Telex machine, all the way back to the telegraph and the undersea cable. But it's hard to see how this would make us have the worst foreign service in the world, given that all countries have access to this technology.

Basically, decentralization was once forced by limitations of communications technology; now, it requires conscious choice. For example: does a chain store allow its store managers to have any input into inventory carrying and restocking, or it everything edicted from HQ by a 'push' inventory system?

With the latter, you get things like the store with snowblowers in south Florida.

#6.1 David Foster (Link) on 2020-02-17 17:49 (Reply)

If I have this right, everything I have ever read about George Washington is wrong? The hundreds of thousands of pages written about the man, all wrong? It it took a woke feminist, to give us the unvarnished truth? How one can command a regiment, much less an entire arm, while being illiterate, is one for the ages. The claim is preposterous. Is she going to tell us the Thomas Jefferson was illarate? John Adam knew nothing of the law? It really doesn't take much to be called an historian.

#7 B. Hammer on 2020-02-17 10:13 (Reply)

The common thread is that she has written for the NYT and has prepared other biographies of historical people of note. Since there is a NYT connection, I conclude (a) lying and purposeful misdirection is involved, and (b) fact-checking will probably reveal serious problems with the story line, and (c) it's probably an addition to the 1619 project, since treatment of slaves is addressed. The Daily Mail often carries American news that isn't published by our own rags, but this time I'm disappointed to see that they have written the story in a way that implies these new-found 'facts' are deemed true. Maybe they can't get over 1776.

#7.1 Aggie on 2020-02-17 10:39 (Reply)

Thanks for the reminder about our First President. The Indispensable Man. Thank G-d he was our first president and not many of the later ones otherwise the second would have been a king. If the History Channel is publishing that new bio for their program I'll save some time sounds like it will be modern correct garbage. Good day to dig up one of the older excellent biographies of Washington.

#7.2 grant1863 on 2020-02-17 10:43 (Reply)

Was Washington the smartest guy in the room when he was with Franklin, Adams, Adams, or Jefferson? No.

But
There's Jefferson, possibly the greatest political theorist on the subject of Democracy the world has yet seen. Franklin, who, if such things existed then, would have likely at least been in consideration for two Nobel Prizes for his work in physics even before the Revolution (plus along with Jefferson one for Peace for the Treaty of Paris). John Adams, the guy who could take the theoretical frameworks of a Jefferson or Locke and reduce them to a statutory framework that could be implemented on a practical basis, and Sam
Adams, who could take all of this and make it understandable to the butcher, the baker, and the bricklayer.

What Washington had that these others lacked was the ability to lead and the humility to know when to stand out of the way.

#7.3 Another Guy named Dan on 2020-02-17 10:46 (Reply)

Historian has been redefined to mean the ability to produce a politically correct narrative.

#7.4 indyjonesouthere on 2020-02-17 14:06 (Reply)

That Washington was an accomplished surveyor and mapmaker speaks to his required 'literacy'.

#8 Richard Lynes on 2020-02-17 10:22 (Reply)

Re: George Washington the liar

That book is a waste of paper. Apparently the author thinks his enemies are good sources for the truth about him. Jefferson and Madison both worked to subvert Washington's policies while Jefferson was Secretary of State and Madison was in Congress. Jefferson even spent tax-payer money to have a reporter spread rumors and half truths about Washington to weaken him politically.

As for slaves, Washington was a stern taskmaster but I was told that at a visit to Mount Vernon that he allowed his slaves to work for money if they got their work done. He abhorred the sale of slaves that split up a family and never did it. And among all the Founding Fathers who owned slaves, he was the only one who freed his (George freed them in his will at Martha's death but Martha freed them at his partially for security reasons).

It could be argued that he angled for the head of the armed forces during the Revolutionary War, but he was a reluctant president.

He was probably the world's first rock star. He was mobbed almost everywhere he went and often took evasive measures so as to travel more efficiently.

During his presidency, he was aware that he was setting precedents and so was careful about what he did and how.

He was the "indispensable man" of all the Founding Fathers." There was no one remotely capable of playing the roles he played in our founding, with the possible exception of Hamilton.

My guess is that the author doesn't get into much of this.

#9 mudbug on 2020-02-17 10:43 (Reply)

If left/right means an ongoing disagreement about the size and reach of government, then it shouldn't surprise us that the larger government gets, the more areas of our lives will become battlegrounds for what the government wants to do there.

If government is building most of the buildings, people will argue over the best architecture for them. If the government were choosing our clothing, we'd be fighting more over dress codes--as anyone can attest whose kids attend a school with a dress code.

#10 Texan99 on 2020-02-17 11:39 (Reply)

Other than the White House, Congressional building, and the SCOTUS building, all facility buildings in DC should be mud huts without air conditioning and should be heating by burning cow and bull dung.

#10.1 indyjonesouthere on 2020-02-17 14:10 (Reply)

Give it time.

#10.1.1 Aggie on 2020-02-17 14:48 (Reply)

When it comes to Angela Merkel, once in the Stasi, always in the Stasi.

#11 RebeccaH on 2020-02-17 14:00 (Reply)

Angela Merkel has just about clinched the title of second-worst chancellor in German history.

#11.1 PubliusII on 2020-02-17 17:52 (Reply)

Re: Democrats not learning from 2016

Goldberg is correct as far as he goes but I don't think there is anything that could have saved the Democrats in 2020. The progressive wing is taking over and there is enough resistance within the party to that takeover that they can't win (without cheating). The danger to the Democrats is that the fissures between the groups in the party are deep enough that it is becoming more likely that a split will happen.

#12 mudbug on 2020-02-17 16:38 (Reply)

Passionate kissing is cool.

#13 tim ferrell on 2020-02-17 16:43 (Reply)

Thanks to an inconsiderate witch-spelled-with-a-b seated in front of me, I spent a miserable several hours pinned into my seat virtually unable to move. I ended up with seriously swollen feet, ankles, and lower legs; took a couple of days to subside.

The second time this happened, the person in front was even more inconsiderate, only reluctantly putting her seatback up so I could eat and go to the washroom, and complaining the whole time. That flight ended with my feet and legs even more swollen, to the point I had to wear compression stockings for a week before they were back to normal. I was lucky there was not serious long-term damage, but I can't fly any more without wearing compression stockings.

It may be a person's "right" to recline, but if doing so traps the person behind, then don't do it. That person also has rights.

#14 Frances on 2020-02-17 17:20 (Reply)

While I sympathize with what you said I do not believe that merely having the person in front of you recline was the total problem. The seats don't recline very much. They used to recline more and even then it did not so limit your movement that you couldn't get out of your seat. By your description you have a health problem. It is not uncommon in older people but if you don't attend to it this problem will get worse. Some people should wear compression sox when sitting for long periods of time.

#14.1 Anon on 2020-02-17 18:09 (Reply)

All of that is probably true, and you have my sympathy, believe me (million-miler talking here), but the person in front of you is not the one responsible for seat design and leg room, and is also not the one who assigned you to your uncomfortable seat. Nobody has a right to demand that somebody else be compelled to sacrifice the value of the money they paid for their ticket, for another's comfort. It's my opinion that the sector needs more regulation to protect consumers from the airline's profit margins, and I can think of no small-government champions who would disagree that it's overdue.

#14.2 Aggie on 2020-02-17 18:13 (Reply)

Replying to Anon and Aggie: the seat in front DID recline that much, and I suffered the consequences. Mind you, both women went for FULL RECLINE and wouldn't consider how it imprisoned me. Have read other postings where passengers have ended up with the seat in front virtually in their lap because - while the seats were placed closer and closer together - no adjustment was made to the ability to fully recline.

I agree, it's the airline (and I haven't travelled on that particular airline since the second incident), but every traveller should have equal rights with respect to comfort. Aggie - you seem to suggest it was fine for my comfort (and health) to be sacrificed so the person in front could stretch out and nap; it has to be a two-way street.

#14.2.1 Frances on 2020-02-19 22:58 (Reply)

The San Francisco corruption story is a non-story. I supported Mayor Breed and expect to support her again when compared to others who were and will be running like Boudin. And the prosecutors will not try to pick a jury to try Nuru; can not be done locally. I prefer dishonesty to evil.

Like money support for the IRA, arms for anti-Marcos rebels, the cab driver training collapse and the pol that slide by when Shrimp Boy went down; nothing ever comes of these matters other than lawyers fees.

#15 SF Jeff on 2020-02-17 19:28 (Reply)

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Monday, February 17. 2020

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