With the Presidential election but five weeks away, this is a good time to revisit Milton Friedman’s ten-part Free to Choose each Friday before the election as a reminder of why politically good sounding policies are often bad economics.
The six episode: What’s Wrong With Our Schools
Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: Whichever party controls the White House when it comes will suffer for it.
First, a little ironic mood music:
Carrying on…
Can’t exactly create economic prosperity with tax money when there isn’t much there left to tax, like in Minneapolis.
“Commercial real estate bears a disproportionate share of the city’s fiscal burden. As those values decline dramatically, the short-term fix will be increasing residential property taxes. That will reduce residential real estate values, and drive more upper-income residents out of the city. Which could turn into a financial death spiral.
“Why are Minneapolis’s problems so acute? Because of crime. Formerly a low-crime city, the George Floyd riots and accompanying attacks on law enforcement have caused a dramatic increase in the rate of serious crime. That has caused businesses, as well as individuals, to avoid the city. With leases continuing to expire, there is no reason to think the downward trends have bottomed out.
“The City of Minneapolis, meanwhile, is exploring ways of redeveloping George Floyd Square in a manner that will, in the mayor’s words, ‘honor the life of George Floyd, and point toward a more equitable future.‘”’ Somehow, I don’t think that is the focus that the city needs if it is to recover economically.”
One of the more insidious assaults on Western Civilization is the attack on science and scientific expertise. Sometimes this done by a direct assault that not only posits the validity of anti-science “ways of knowing” and the rights and freedoms that allowed scientific innovation to flourish, but also the demand that medicine and space be “decolonized”. Other times this is done by subversion of substitution, specifically painting things like mysticism and animism as “science”. The incorporation of these non-Western “ways of knowing” is a wolf in sheep’s clothing amongst us. And that incorporation is woke.
“My drive is to make science a safe, equitable, inclusive space that’s accessible for everyone. The content we teach in chemistry or biochemistry is all in a Western context. I’m trying to work out how we can share the discoveries other people and cultures have made, so science isn’t taught through just one lens.
“I wanted to build a curriculum that creates an accessible experience and builds a sense of belonging in science, technology, engineering and mathematics while respecting cultural perspectives. In Western science, humans are organized at the top of systems, whereas my Indigenous world view has interconnectedness at its centre.
“When teaching chemistry, I try to include an engaging story. For example, what were the thought processes and experiments used to first identity subatomic particles? There are also Indigenous world views on how we perceive the Big Bang that I share. With Naomi Lee, a biochemist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, I co-wrote The Chemistry and Culture Workbook for the Reformed Experimental Activities (REActivities) programme, a redesigned chemistry curriculum with a more student-driven, inclusive approach. It incorporates Indigenous knowledge in chemistry with laboratory experiments to follow along.
“Outside the classroom, I’m interested in finding the unique mentoring styles that serve our students best. The lived experiences I’ve had guide what I share with students and how I bring perspectives to spaces that other people don’t have a chance to share. Maybe I will be able to loosen my DEI and antiracism focus a bit when more faculty members are open-minded, or when the US National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation are allowing more creativity in grants and when lab spaces become more inclusive. For now, there are some places where I will not give a talk because I don’t think they’re inclusive. My work isn’t going to change them; it has to come from a higher institutional level.”
Pictured: The application of indigenous wisdom?
Transgenderism is a rejection of biological reality and of genetic truth. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is open to female decedents by blood of Patriots who contributed to the Revolutionary cause in the American War of Independence. So, of course, transgender interests are trying to allow men in.
1/ Sexually confused men are invading yet another women’s group. It's perhaps their most absurd target yet: a group grounded in genetics, the Daughters of the American Revolution. Happily, members are channeling the rebellious spirit of their forebears and fighting back. 🧵
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) September 23, 2024
2/ DAR bylaws have always been clear. It’s for the daughters—female descendants—of Revolutionary patriots. As a genealogical organization, DAR takes biological integrity so seriously that only biological descendants—i.e., not adopted family members—are eligible for membership. pic.twitter.com/sYpwOm6PN9
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) September 23, 2024
3/ A small group of the DAR’s leadership now appears to believe that men can be women. They even contend that such men have always been allowed in the DAR.
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) September 23, 2024
4/ According to an internal FAQ document, members are expected to pretend that “transgender women” have always been eligible and that their inclusion took place “organically,” as if implicit in bylaws written before “transgenderism” was even thought to exist. pic.twitter.com/Q1iYYK6BTn
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) September 23, 2024
One of the reasons why the Gramscian “slow march through the institutions” works so well is because most people don’t care about underlying fundamental things and only care when, and only so long as, their superficial sense of normalcy is threatened. This is actually a sane thing for most people who spend their time just trying to live their lives in peace and quite. It also doesn’t mean that this sub rosa dismantlement and replacement of the pillars of society isn’t a threat; quite the opposite: That is why it is such a threat.
In other words: Out of sight; out of mind. The Left will occasionally overshoot or become over confidence to act too overtly, only to face strenuous opposition. This retreat is seen as a total victory when it is only a strategic withdraw from overt elements, rather than the ca 90% of the woke iceberg still lurking below the visible view. Thusly, the Left but continues to work towards that day when it can, not fight overtly, but declare openly that victory has already happened. The woke roots continue to spread like the weeds they are. DEI rebranding and hiding it’s true intent is one of the more obvious ways they do that… and that rebranding towards bland and blasé innocence continues on.
“Over the last year and a half several states have taken action against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) on college campuses. But banning something never results in its eradication. A year ago, we wrote about this problem – that DEI isn’t going away, it’s just going underground. Whether campuses are renaming their DEI offices, or moving administrators into other departments to do the same work, DEI still exists.”
With the Presidential election but six weeks away, this is a good time to revisit Milton Friedman’s ten-part Free to Choose each Friday before the election as a reminder of why politically good sounding policies are often bad economics.
The fifth episode: Created Equal
Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: The future belongs to woke migrant strippers.
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
Nothing says “education” like twerking and a lap dance!
“[A] video saw the school’s mascot Thor take off the principal’s hat and throw it away – before twerking in front of him as students cheered.
“Nunes leaned back in the office chair, exposing his bare stomach with his half-buttoned shirt.
“The principal appeared to enjoy the dance before suggestively setting off a gold confetti cannon from the side of his hip.
“Nunes then switched places with the mascot, pretending to push him down into the chair before crouching down to dance.
“As students cheered, Nunes grabbed a microphone and shouted, ‘What happens in Buhach stays in Buhach,’ which received wild cheers from the crowd of students, some of which had gathered around the principal and the mascot.”
Ah yes, college, where you have the freedom to do what you want… except for missing out on the “optional” training for “diversity and inclusion”.
NEW: The University of South Carolina required all students to affirm the value of "diversity and inclusion" as part of a mandatory training this summer.
Then, when I reached out for comment, USC claimed the training was "optional" despite telling students it was "required."🧵 pic.twitter.com/hYoWnMDhD0
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) September 5, 2024
The development of technology from crude robot automata to more complex and humanlike bodies has seen developments, such as artificial living skin and artificial wombs, now includes artificial leg muscles.
“Researchers said on Monday they had designed the first robotic leg with ‘artificial muscles’ — oil-filled bags allowing machines to move more like humans — that can jump nimbly across a range of surfaces.
“The small, disembodied robot leg was shown hopping over grass, sand and rocks in a video released alongside a new study in Nature Communications.”
Breakthroughs such as this replicates how human movement works and can can contract and relax similar to human muscles.
“The Swiss-led team of researchers was inspired by the 600 muscles in the human body to create something that can walk and jump in a more fluid, agile manner.
“To do this, they used ‘artificial muscles’, also known as electrohydraulic actuators.
“These soft actuators, which resemble freezer bags, are filled with oil and have electrodes attached.
“The way the liquid contracts and expands allows the technology to more closely mimic animal muscles.
“The electrostatic system also means that when the robot knee is in a bent position, such as a person would have when squatting, the system uses less electricity than traditional motors, the study said.”
This certainly would make it easier to develop efficient “spider” tanks that can walk over hilly and rough terrain.
While this can result in energy efficient robots, more importantly the ability to simulate human muscles means we are closer to cyborg catgirls.
Now, catgirls and other kemonomimi cyborgs can run, frolic, and even skip around happily.
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