Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, May 30. 2026

Saturday morning links

An amateur just solved a 60 year-old math problem using Chatgpt


Did Northeastern American Indians fertilize their crops with herring? 


Ocean "Acidification" -- Another Fake Scare That Won't Go Away


Never Admit These 7 Things When a Cop Asks ‘Do You Know Why I Stopped You?’


Even the Big, Blue Towns Are Sick of the Democratic Freak-Show


Bringing Back Normality - And striking fear into Democrats


TGIF: The Donald Trump $250 Bill, and more

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:20 | Comments (14) | Trackback (1)

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QUOTE:
Ocean "Acidification" -- Another Fake Scare That Won't Go Away... Some might even call the change in ocean pH “slight.”

The current change of 0.1 in ocean pH represents about a 25% increase in H+ ions from pre-industrial levels. That itself is not the significant issue, but the associated reduction in available carbonate ions is. This can make shell formation in marine organisms, such as pteropods, more energetically costly.

If ocean acidification stabilized, many species would likely have an opportunity to adapt. However, rapid ocean acidification is expected to continue. Unless humans further restrain their carbon emissions, H+ concentration could reach 100-150% above pre-industrial levels.
#1 Zachriel on 2026-05-30 09:39 (Reply)
* The pH scale is logarithmic.
 
#1.1 Zachriel on 2026-05-30 10:10 (Reply)
I’m curious how these ‘pre-industrial’ ph levels in the ocean were even measured? Considering that the ph scale was invented in 1903. The concept of alkaline and acid came along about 1770’s. The industrial revolution is considered to begin around 1760.

Ocean measurements of ph levels have only been going on for a couple of decades. And the number of them is very sparse compared to the vastness of the oceans. The error of these ocean going instruments is plus or minus 0.1.

If we are really serious about the health of the oceans, we would be all over the Chinese and their industrial fishing methods. But, as the saying goes, China already has communism.
#1.2 B. Hammer on 2026-05-31 16:17 (Reply)
B. Hammer: The error of these ocean going instruments is plus or minus 0.1.

Robotic buoys measure pH to about ±0.01 pH units. Research ships can measure pH to about ±0.002 pH units. There are thousands of Argo robotic buoys deployed. Of note, the precision of multiple observations can be higher than the precision of any individual observation. The observed rate of change is about -0.002 pH units per year, which is consistent with expectations from other evidence.

B. Hammer: I’m curious how these ‘pre-industrial’ ph levels in the ocean were even measured?

In similar ways to how other findings about the past can be established, such as the age of the Earth from the decay of uranium or the temperature of glacial periods from oxygen isotope ratios. Or the classic example of Edmond Halley's hypothetico-deduction of the Earth's rotation from the retardation of the pendulum.

One way to measure pH is to determine atmospheric CO2 from the past, which is in an equilibrium reaction with the oceans. This can be compared to the ratio of boron isotopes in marine animals, which is dependent on ocean pH. These can be compared to other proxies, such as carbonate dissolution in sediments. Then we note the modern direct observations of the decrease in pH.

It's the confluence of multiple lines of evidence that provide scientific confidence. The story of how the Earth's age was established is instructive.
#1.3 Zachriel on 2026-06-01 08:48 (Reply)
Argo Robotic Floats
#1.3.1 Zachriel on 2026-06-01 12:08 (Reply)
QUOTE:
An amateur just solved a 60 year-old math problem using Chatgpt

That shows the power of human-AI interfacing. AI may not replace humans generally, but human-AI may replace humans more generally—like how a human-operated steam-hammer replaced John Henry.
#2 Zachriel on 2026-05-30 10:24 (Reply)
z-man; The use of technology was benign and perhaps worrisome, when it enabled a human operated steam-hammer to replace John Henry; when technology enables us to transmogrify John Henry into a steam-hammer, its use becomes diabolically grotesque.
#2.1 Ulithi on 2026-05-31 16:31 (Reply)
Ulithi: The use of technology was benign and perhaps worrisome, when it enabled a human operated steam-hammer to replace John Henry; when technology enables us to transmogrify John Henry into a steam-hammer, its use becomes diabolically grotesque.

People at the time did not think it benign, nor was it always benign. The same steam engines that made trade more efficient also transported troops in war. And even in the best of circumstances, the introduction of new technology is disruptive.

Every technological change has included positive and negative aspects for humanity. Spears are for hunting or for killing people. The internal combustion engine meant automobiles, but it also meant tanks. Rockets meant space exploration and exploding missiles over cities. New AI drones are being used for peace and for warfare.

The article showed an example of a human-AI interface solving mathematical problems, so that is tentative evidence to go with the historical pattern. The historical pattern shows people who panicked over technological change. It shows positive and negative aspects of each change. And it shows that change is inevitable.

That doesn't mean we should ignore the problems inherent in AI or any technology. Sounding the alarm is the right thing to do when you see a fire. Just that there is reason to believe the future is not totally dire for humanity.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
#2.2 Zachriel on 2026-06-01 08:08 (Reply)
"Bringing Back Normality - And striking fear into Democrats"

California has a chance of getting a Republican governor and LA could get a Republican mayor. If this happens the first thing that they should do is audit the budget and every state and local office and find out where all the money went. California is corrupt and the Democrats are stealing taxpayers money. THAT will strike fear in the Democrats.
#3 OneGuy on 2026-05-30 10:32 (Reply)
guy; I doubt there is a congenital difference in their devotion to honesty between demonocrats and repulsivecans. Having either brigand troop exercise one party control would not diminish the pilfering. Normality in politics only conjures up visions of Honest Abe for naive sheeple and Madison Ave. admen. Honesty is anomalous- corruption the norm.
#3.1 Ulithi on 2026-05-30 13:04 (Reply)
re "Bringing Back Normality - And striking fear into Democrats"

I wouldn't be surprised if the cheat machine is being oiled up and a bumper crop of harvested ballots awaits this fall, ensuring a dem win.

Even if Pratt wins, he will be one man against a hostile city council and city bureaucracy. While he may act as a brake on the madness, I do not see how he will effect any real change.

I recall the optimism when Schwarzenegger was elected governor. The Democrats repeatedly bitch slapped him and put him in his place, real fast. Nothing changed. It is hard for me to see how it will work out differently for Pratt.

I hope I am wrong.
#4 feeblemind on 2026-05-30 12:53 (Reply)
Herring ??

I don't know about the Indians but my maternal grandfather in NJ, born 1895, did. As kids my brothers and I helped him dipnet herring during their spring spawning run at inlets along the shore then bury them within the drip line of bushes and fruit trees in his yard.
#5 tljhound on 2026-05-30 13:13 (Reply)
I had a friend in grade school, good kid, grew up to be a doctor, we never stayed in touch after school. But about 1952 He and I and a few buddies were playing football in his yard and something happened. In an upstairs window I saw a boy, about 10-12 looking out the window at us playing. There was something wrong in the way he looked so I didn't look away and my friend saw where I was looking and looked up at his brother. The game ended quickly, a little tense and our other friends left and I was talking to my friend. He looked like he was going to cry and explained that is older brother was autistic. A few weeks later I was in the house and saw the older brother and he had all the symptoms I know about now but knew nothing about when I was 9. I never heard him speak but he would make noises sometimes. He never looked at me he looked kind of down and sideways. If you tried to talk to him he would get nervous and make erratic moves and noises and mom would come into the room and take him somewhere. I don't remember ever seeing another person with autism until many years later.

Today we have a lot of autistic people and some would try to convince you it is because of vaccinations or other environmental factors. But, all of the other autistic people I have meet/seen in my lifetime have seemed more or less normal compared with my friends brother. I am by no means trying to deny or mitigate mental health conditions, autism or the many other conditions, they are real and very difficult for family to deal with and for society too. But the fact remains that most of the autistic people today don't seem to be autistic and certainly not in the way of that autistic boy from 1952. Why? I think I know why. I think that the medical community benefits from an autistic diagnosis and the educational community also benefits and of course the family benefits. Again a disclaimer, I'm not saying the medical, educational and family are all grifters. What I am saying is that it is very much like that old "proverb" that when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.

Why does this matter? I agree that the children we today label as autistic do indeed have some form of behavioral and/or mental health issue. But, with all the attention and money thrown at the problem it created a situation that could be exploited by actual grifters. And it seems that there is growing evidence that most of the federal and state money spent on autism was fraudulently stolen. A crime against taxpayers and against families dealing with real autism.
#6 OneGuy on 2026-05-30 13:30 (Reply)
I would largely agree. The diagnostic criteria have expanded, so that significantly milder presentations are accepted now. As with any new explanation, there are also attempts to cram things that only half-fit into the box. Something similar happened with ADHD and OCD.

I don't trust clinical wisdom to settle things down and balance this out, because psychology attracts over-explainers. But larger and larger genetic samples should get us there - in fact, they already are. We will likely be recategorising and renaming different versions over the next couple of decades. Unfortunately, now that people's careers depend on certain answers being true it will be hard to dislodge current beliefs. As a great deal of the intervention is under the heading of education I am even more pessimistic, as that is a field that has become anti-scientific in practice.
#6.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2026-06-01 01:38 (Reply)

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