May, 2021 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The hunt for politeness continues.
One wonders, was it his feathered tail or his gobble-gobble?
(Misplet wrod correxed.)
Geeking Out 0
One of the things I miss from my old place in Delaware is my 21 rose bushes. But I still have virtual flowers. (And, to be honest, we have lots of other flowers on our deck.) On the other hand, living in a condo, I don’t have to mow the lawn. That’s something I don’t miss.
Selective Breeding 0
Elizabeth Catte discusses the history and legacy of eugenics in the United States with Sam and his crew.
This is a longer video than I usually post, but it is well worth a listen. As the discussion points out, we have a way of covering up forgetting covering up the uncomfortable parts of our history.
You can see the dynamic today in the attempts by right-wingers to ban critical race theory.
It’s All about the Algorithm, Abysmal Algorithms Dept. 0
I have a Gmail account (mostly because I have an Android phone and a Google account is required for updates to the device), which I use mainly for news alerts. It is not my primary email address and I do not share it with others except by accident. (That is, when I’m using my email client, I sometimes accidentally compose a message when the Gmail account, as opposed to my primary email account, is in focus.)
The IMAP interface for Gmail includes a mailbox labeled “Important.”
I have observed that the emails which Google considers to be “important” to me are invariably not.
Indeed, in this case, Google is never right and always wrong.
Frankly (I do everything frankly), I find it rather gratifying that their algorithm is not infallible.
“Foxmania” 0
Capitol insurrectionist claims that Fox News made him do it.
Property Values 0
A black homeowner tries a test and finds false equivalances.
“I decided to do exactly what was done in the article,” Duffy said. “I took down every photo of my family from my house. … I took every piece of ethnic artwork out, so any African artwork, I took it out. I displayed my degrees, I removed certain books.”
Duffy asked a white male friend to sit in on the home appraisal and did not declare her race in her application or communications with the appraisal company. The new appraisal came back at more than double the first two, valuing her home more than $100,000 higher.
Much disgusting more at the link.
Vaccine Nation 0
Aside:
In our house, we believe in facts. We’ve gotten both Pfizer shots and continue to play it safe.