Just thinking out loud: Will she be withdrawn because of all the backlash surrounding her nomination?
Will the demented and senile 46th President have to nominate someone else, hopefully a lesser controversial candidate?
Monday, February 28, 2022
Cornell’s UN climate author warns of ‘rapidly closing window’
Oh well, the report was co-written by a, what appears to be, a naive political activist and scientist!
The pseudoscience of the Global Warming Hoax and Climate Change religion!
Humans survived the Medieval Warm Period (950-1250 AD) and the Little Ice Age (1300-1850 AD). Humans will just do fine! Humans would even do much better without all this grotesque alarmism, scaremongering, and pseudoscience!
The only window that is rapidly closing is that the more and more citizens of the world are realizing that they are being indoctrinated on a daily basis with propaganda and demagoguery!
"The report – “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” the second installment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment – written by Cornell’s Rachel Bezner Kerr and 270 global colleagues, published Feb. 28. It was compiled by the IPCC’s Working Group II and serves as a guide for international policymakers to safeguard and strengthen nature as a key to a livable future.
“Our report demonstrates that climate change – including increases in climate hazards such as flooding, drought or cyclones – is already affecting food systems, and particularly food security in vulnerable regions,” said Bezner Kerr, ..."
Rachel Bezner Kerr in Malawi. (Her t-shirt says End Hunger Fast)
Johns Hopkins University lives in a bubble
There is a war going on in the Ukraine, the largest in Europe since 1945! What does JHU release on Monday 2/28.2022:
"... Hundreds of thousands of refugees, hospitals without power or oxygen, spiking levels of radioactivity, and racism"
Yes, the biggest concern in the Ukraine are a few isolated incidences of racism! Besides Chernobyl where else does the medical school suspect spiking levels of radioactivity to come from?
"... Low O2: Medical oxygen supplies—critical for patients with complications ranging from pregnancy to COVID-19—are nearing “a very dangerous point,” ..."
War victims are not mentioned!
"... What Happened in Wuhan
A trio of new preprint research articles add to evidence that the pandemic originated in Wuhan’s massive Huanan Seafood Wholesale market, supporting a zoonotic origin story similar to that of HIV, Zika, and Ebola. ..."
Is this really published by a leading U.S. medical school? Do they really not know that that HIV, ZIKA, and Ebola are all transmitted by bodily fluids, while SARS-CoV-2 is airborne! Even the comparison with those three disease is highly questionable!
"... Nearly Half of Humanity Threatened
Widespread disruption traced to human-induced climate change is already posing a “grave and mounting threat” to billions of people around the world—with those least likely to cope facing the most suffering, warns a new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. ..."
Of course, the pseudoscience of the Global Warming Hoax and the Climate Change Religion had to be mentioned too!
Hit kleptocrats where it hurts most - take their loot away
Very recommendable! This article contains some serious food for thought! There are still too many lousy dictators (kleptocrats) running too many countries on this earth!
"... Seize back the ill-gotten profits they’ve looted.
Autocrats respect hard power and cold cash. In the kleptocrat world, that translates as power at home and cash secreted abroad.
Using government to steal from the people and the state—and ever fearful of the future—autocrats and their buddies loot, and then stash the loot beyond the reach of the state they’re robbing.
Putin runs a ‘rogue mafia state’, turning Russia into ‘a gas station with nukes,’ observes the former Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
The big gambit available to the West, Kasparov writes, is to confiscate the cash the rogues stash: ‘Kick Putin’s mafia state out of the international institutions it uses and abuses to spread corruption. Seize the hundreds of billions in assets he and his cronies hide in the West and kick out the oligarchs and their families.’ ...
European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, when he announced EU sanctions on Russia and then tweeted, ‘No more shopping in Milan, partying in Saint-Tropez, diamonds in Antwerp.’ He quickly deleted the vivid tweet ...
The big gambit available to the West, Kasparov writes, is to confiscate the cash the rogues stash: ‘Kick Putin’s mafia state out of the international institutions it uses and abuses to spread corruption. Seize the hundreds of billions in assets he and his cronies hide in the West and kick out the oligarchs and their families.’ ...
European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, when he announced EU sanctions on Russia and then tweeted, ‘No more shopping in Milan, partying in Saint-Tropez, diamonds in Antwerp.’ He quickly deleted the vivid tweet ...
Going after the cash is complicated and grand corruption skips by a lot of laws. The 189 countries that are party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption each have laws criminalising corrupt conduct. Yet kleptocrats enjoy impunity because they control the ‘justice’ in the countries they rule.
The war launched by Putin’s dark mind calls for sanctions, containment and new ways to punish and push back. One answer is to create an international anti-corruption court (IACC).
An IACC would be a court of last resort, holding kleptocrats accountable (and grabbing their accounts). The court would recover, repatriate or repurpose stolen assets, punishing corrupt officials but also professional enablers (step forward, lawyers, bankers, accountants and real estate agents).
The IACC could be established by a small number of founding member states, so long as they include several major financial hubs where lots of cash gets stashed (step forward, the UK, Europe and the US).
The existing International Criminal Court doesn’t cover crimes of corruption and amending its statute would require a two-thirds vote by its 123 member states. ...A campaign for the IACC launched last year when leading citizens from 45 countries (Nobel laureates, former heads of state and government, high court judges, former cabinet ministers, business leaders) signed a declaration of support.
The multilateral model for the fight against grand corruption is the successful international campaign to ban landmines. ...
At this early stage, Canada and the Netherlands are the countries stepping up to the diplomatic challenge of establishing the court by treaty. ..."How digital media could help end the conflict in Ukraine
Yes, the media and the Internet influence on the outcome of this terrible invasion of the Ukraine by Russia could be enormous!
Wars are not only decided by military and weapons, but by minds and hearts!
"In the lead-up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week, much of the information the public received was from open-source intelligence. Commercial satellite imagery, mainstream media coverage and social media video footage all combined to provide a detailed picture of the Russian military build-up. ..."
India’s stake in the Ukraine conflict
Recommendable! History is never pure and simple. India is a case in point!
"... India’s abstention [on the UN Security Council vote] was less welcome and puzzled as well as disappointed many Indophiles. Ukraine’s ambassador to India, Igor Polikha, expressed deep dissatisfaction with India’s vague generalities and boilerplate statements on an immediate ceasefire, dialogue and respect for legitimate interests of all sides, rather than specific and strong condemnation of Russian aggression. India’s special relationship with Russia, he said, made it one of the few countries that could shape Moscow’s policy.
The bigger defence-cum-diplomatic worry for India is the developing Moscow–Beijing axis. China gets 77% of its arms from Russia. Shortly before the Ukraine invasion, China and Russia announced a ‘no-limits partnership’ that includes supporting each other’s policies on Ukraine and Taiwan. For all these reasons, India would be wary of contributing to any further consolidation of the Moscow–Beijing axis, either by the West or by its own actions...."
To understand why India abstained, we must look at the complex array of India’s principles and interests that are engaged in the Ukraine crisis. To begin with, this includes the presence of around 18,000 Indian students in Ukraine. Under contemporary conditions of India’s noisy electronic media, no government in New Delhi can afford not to be sensitive to their welfare and, if necessary, safe evacuation.
India has traditionally portrayed itself as a global champion of the inviolability of state sovereignty and territorial integrity on behalf of developing countries against once-colonial powers and weak against strong countries. Russia’s brutal and full-scale invasion violates this foundational Indian foreign-policy value as well as strong material interest, given its own many restive regions, in opposing foreign powers dismembering existing states. That said, Moscow has historically been a major diplomatic ally that has often in the past protected New Delhi’s back in the Security Council. Russia remains India’s most important arms supplier, accounting for almost half of total arms imports (and 23% of total Russian arms exports—its biggest market) in the 2016 to 2020 period. Israel, France and the US are the second, third and fourth biggest sources.
Yet, because India is trying to reduce its dependence on Russia by diversifying arms imports, Russia’s share dropped by half from 70% to 49% from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020. US imports also fell by 46% and those from France and Israel went up by 709% and 82%, respectively, in the same five-year periods. Moreover, in recent years Russia has also become Pakistan’s second biggest arms supplier, albeit still only a fraction of China’s dominant share. The bigger defence-cum-diplomatic worry for India is the developing Moscow–Beijing axis. China gets 77% of its arms from Russia. Shortly before the Ukraine invasion, China and Russia announced a ‘no-limits partnership’ that includes supporting each other’s policies on Ukraine and Taiwan. For all these reasons, India would be wary of contributing to any further consolidation of the Moscow–Beijing axis, either by the West or by its own actions...."
Volodymyr Zelensky was a Jewish comedian. Now the world's eyes are on him.
Simple clothing instead of suits! Unpretentious and with humor! Best of luck and success to him and the Ukrainian people! May he have the strengths and fortitude to resist the Russian invasion.
Is this Jewish man the reason why Putin the Terrible wants to "denazify" the Ukraine? (I admit, a bad joke)
"Four years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky was an actor on the humorous Ukrainian TV show “Servant of the People,” starring as an unlikely president of the Eastern European country. ...
Over the course of a few years, Zelensky — who is the first-ever Jewish president of Ukraine, a country with a long and complicated Jewish history — has quickly become one of the most consequential and prominent Jewish world leaders in recent decades. And given his nonpolitical roots, one of the unlikeliest. ...
Zelensky was born in a Russian-speaking area of eastern Ukraine to Jewish parents, a mother who was an engineer and a father who is a computer scientist. His father’s father, Semyon, served in the Soviet Red Army during World War II; Semyon’s father and brothers were all murdered in the Holocaust. ..."
Over the course of a few years, Zelensky — who is the first-ever Jewish president of Ukraine, a country with a long and complicated Jewish history — has quickly become one of the most consequential and prominent Jewish world leaders in recent decades. And given his nonpolitical roots, one of the unlikeliest. ...
Zelensky was born in a Russian-speaking area of eastern Ukraine to Jewish parents, a mother who was an engineer and a father who is a computer scientist. His father’s father, Semyon, served in the Soviet Red Army during World War II; Semyon’s father and brothers were all murdered in the Holocaust. ..."
Switzerland Sanctions Russia, Breaks Neutral Status
Bravo Switzerland! This is huge! This move by Switzerland is probably unprecedented in post 1945 history!
Make the Kleptocrats in Russia pay! The end of Putin the Terrible's dictatorship is near!
"Switzerland's Federal Council said on Monday that it was adopting the EU's sanctions against Russia.
The package includes freezing Putin's personal assets, effective immediately.
Switzerland said it would close its airspace to Russian aircraft and bar people close to Putin from entering."
"... Für Russen ist die Schweiz ein wichtiger Finanzplatz. Laut Angaben der Nationalbank lagen 2021 auf hiesigen Konten russische Vermögenswerte im Wert von rund 15 Milliarden Franken. Auch Oligarchen wie der Putin-Vertraute Gennadi Timtschenko leben hier. ..."
According to the Swiss central bank there are CHF 15 billion of assets held by Russian oligarchs in Switzerland. One of Putin's confidants Gennadi Timtschenko lives in Switzerland.
Turkey Says War Exists in Ukraine, Allowing It to Block Russian Navy at Bosphorus
Good news! Bravo Turkey! What a surprise! For years you could not be sure whether Turkey was a NATO member on paper only!
This is the first time since World War II that Turkey invoked this measure!
"Turkey’s foreign minister said Sunday that the situation in Ukraine had become a war, a legal distinction that paves the way for Ankara to potentially ban Russian warships from entering the Black Sea through a strategic chokepoint.
Turkey’s government had said on Friday it was working to determine whether a state of war existed in the region. In wartime, Ankara can block some warships from countries involved in the conflict from accessing the Black Sea under the 1936 Montreux Convention.
“We came to the conclusion that the situation in Ukraine has transformed into a war,” said Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, speaking on CNN Turk. “We will implement all articles of Montreux transparently.” ...
Ukraine asked Turkey on Thursday, the first day of the invasion, to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to Russian warships.
The request put pressure on Turkey, a NATO member that also has close ties to Russia. ..."
How this Ukrainian restaurant owner is fighting the Russians
Ukrainians have to impose curfews in cities in order to protect their citizens so the Ukrainian defense forces can kill Russian saboteurs! War is hell!
Sunday, February 27, 2022
AMAZING Scenes from American FREEDOM CONVOY!!!
Unfortunately, Steve Turley was lazy again. He did not say where and when this was filmed.
However, I am looking forward for the Freedom Convoy to arrive in Washington, DC!
Sweden to send arms to Ukraine in break with tradition
Bravo Sweden! This is huge!
"Sweden announces it will break its doctrine of not sending arms to countries in active conflict and send military equipment, including anti-tank launchers, to Ukraine.
The decision to send 135,000 field rations, 5,000 helmets, 5,000 pieces of body armour and 5,000 single use anti-tank launchers is the first time Sweden has sent weapons to a country in armed conflict since the Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson tells reporters."
Elon Musk praised for providing Ukraine with internet access
Bravo Elon Musk! Way to go to help Ukraine while being under attack from Putin the Terrible!
Putin the Terrible is trigger happy with nuklear weapons
It was quite shocking to learn that Putin the Terrible activated nuclear weapons while he is invading the Ukraine!
There were several reports that Putin the Terrible is a risk or thrill seeker!
Please Russian elite do something about it quickly! Will I wake up tomorrow and Putin the Terrible is arrested and relieved of all his powers? Hope so!
Drowning in the scientific literature? These smart software tools can help
Yes, it is overwhelming how many new research papers of your interest are published almost on a daily basis! To keep up is hard! Publish or perish has not yet perished over the decades!
Among other things, the article suggests using visual mapping tools to find new papers of interest. These kind of tools have been around for a few years. I have not really tried it yet.
I have been using Semantic Scholar for several years now and I am quite happy with it!
Isospin magnetism and spin-polarized superconductivity in Bernal bilayer graphene
Good news! Are we getting closer to room temperature superconductors? Although, this article seems to be more on the exotic side and not a breakthrough.
"Superconductivity observed in “twisted” bilayers of the two-dimensional (2D) material graphene requires the layers to be carefully stacked on top of each other at a very precise angle. Zhou et al. found superconductivity in the most common form of bilayer graphene, called Bernal, which does not require such precise manipulation ... The researchers subjected the samples to an external electric field, but superconductivity emerged only after they also turned on an in-plane magnetic field. This unusual effect of a magnetic field, which normally acts to suppress superconductivity, is suggestive of exotic, spin-triplet pairing in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene"
My main blog posts regarding the SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 global pandemic
Since I wrote a lot of stuff about it, let me try to consolidate a bit!
Why it is a relatively harmless disease
Why the cure was worse than the disease
Why it became the biggest scandal of the 21st century!
Geothe Institute: Decolonizing German and European History at the Museum
In accordance with being a banana republic the private public Goethe Institute features events like this!
So the German government supports something like a Bildersturm of the 16th century!
Germany is still tremendously exaggerating the fairly harmless Covid-19 pandemic!
You find my main blog posts regarding the SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 global pandemic here.
More reasons not to attend such a event driven by a narrow minded ideology!
"COVID-19 Admission Policy for Goethe-Institut Washington: as of March 1, 2022, the Goethe-Institut Washington requires that all guests be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Negative tests or exemptions in lieu of vaccine proof will not be accepted. Please present proof of vaccination and valid government-issued photo ID at the door; mask-wearing will be enforced full-time within the building."
Germany′s chancellor explains reversal on Ukraine weapons policy
Bravo Chancellor Scholz! For once, the otherwise mostly banana republic of Germany, did the right thing! Before this decision, the German government acted abysmally towards the Ukraine and the impending aggression and threats by Russia.
Germany will be sending 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles. This is a game changer!
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Understanding Russian President Vladimir Putin
Very recommendable! You learn a lot about Putin the Terrible!
Putin der Schreckliche sich sehr wahrscheinlich verkalkuliert mit der Ukraine!
Das scheint sehr gut möglich! Das Ende seiner widerlichen Diktatur ist womöglich eingeläutet! Mehr Wohlstand und ein besseres Leben für die russischen Bürger nach Putin der Schreckliche!
"... Bemerkenswert hingegen war der Auftritt Putin, der bereits bei seinen jüngsten Auftritten aufgeschwemmt und unkonzentriert wirkte. Doch der Auftritt am Nachmittag des Donnerstag zeigte deutlich mehr. Putin wirkte nicht nur unbeherrscht, er wirkte fast schon verzweifelt. Und machte mit seinen Äußerungen deutlich, dass er zwar weder wahnsinnig noch verrückt geworden ist, wie manche westeuropäischen Medien unsinniger Weise behaupten, jedoch tatsächlich in der von ihm oder seinen Geheimdiensten gestrickten Gegenwirklichkeit lebt. Sein Auftritt war mehr als die übliche Kriegspropaganda – es war der Ausfall eines Mannes, dessen Weltbild vor dem Zusammenbruch steht. ..."
A giant tortoise was caught stalking, killing and eating a baby bird
To paraphrase Hobbes: "... and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of [a baby bird], solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short"
Who would have thought that a tortoise can be a carnivore when the opportunity arises!
A Seychelles giant tortoise lunges towards a noddy tern chick in the first documented instance of a tortoise hunting. Moments after this frame was captured, the tortoise killed the chick, later swallowing it whole.
Ukraine supplies 90% of U.S. semiconductor-grade neon
Just another example of how much is at stake in the Ukraine after Putin the Terrible invaded it!
"... According to research firm Techcet, Ukraine supplies more than 90% of the U.S.’s semiconductor-grade neon, a gas integral to the lasers used in the chip-making process, while Russia supplies 35% of the U.S.’s palladium supply, a rare metal that can be used to create semiconductors. ..."
U.S. run military biolabs in the Ukraine propaganda
This new propaganda is circulating and repeat in Western media to give Putin the Terrible some cover for his military invasion of the Ukraine!
I do not have time to investigate this claim, but I have a strong hunch this is largely baloney.
Very likely, there is an active and intensive civilian research cooperation between the U.S. and the Ukraine in many fields!
Ransomware used as a 'decoy or distraction' in Ukraine attacks, researchers say
Modern warfare is different! Good hardware is not sufficient anymore if you cannot protect or defend your IT infrastructure!
"... Cyberattackers deployed ransomware in several instances to serve as a “decoy or distraction” as they targeted organizations in Ukraine with disk-wiping malware on Wednesday, just before Russia’s invasion of the country, researchers at Symantec said. ...
ESET reported that the wiper was installed on hundreds of machines in Ukraine, and followed distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting Ukrainian websites earlier in the day. ...
In the attacks Wednesday, Symantec researchers said that the destructive malware was deployed against defense organizations as well as financial, aviation and IT services companies. And ransomware was a component of the attacks in some cases. ..."
ESET reported that the wiper was installed on hundreds of machines in Ukraine, and followed distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting Ukrainian websites earlier in the day. ...
In the attacks Wednesday, Symantec researchers said that the destructive malware was deployed against defense organizations as well as financial, aviation and IT services companies. And ransomware was a component of the attacks in some cases. ..."
Brave Russians are protesting the invasion of Ukraine
Hope, Putin the Terrible has miscalculated this time and this will be his last military adventure before he is ousted!
Apparently, 500 and more Russian anti war protesters in dozens of cities in Russia were detained!
"... An open letter criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been signed by more than 600 Russian scientists. It comes as other universities and national academies across Europe sent messages of support to their Ukrainian colleagues. ...
In a letter posted on the trv-science.ru website, Russian researchers describe the war with Ukraine as ‘unfair’ and ‘senseless’. The signatories point out that many of them have relatives, friends and scientific colleagues in Ukraine, and say that the attack is a ‘cynical betrayal’ of previous generations of Russians and Ukrainians who fought together during the second world war. ...
The letter states that the invasion will isolate Russia and turn the country into an international pariah, making it impossible for scientific work in the country to carry on as normal."
In a letter posted on the trv-science.ru website, Russian researchers describe the war with Ukraine as ‘unfair’ and ‘senseless’. The signatories point out that many of them have relatives, friends and scientific colleagues in Ukraine, and say that the attack is a ‘cynical betrayal’ of previous generations of Russians and Ukrainians who fought together during the second world war. ...
The letter states that the invasion will isolate Russia and turn the country into an international pariah, making it impossible for scientific work in the country to carry on as normal."
Mindestens 560 Festnahmen bei Anti-Kriegs-Protesten Bürgerrechtler melden Demonstrationen gegen den Ukraine-Krieg in Dutzenden russischen Städten. Die Polizei nahm demnach abermals Hunderte Aktivisten fest.
Ketanji Brown Jackson Speaks At Press Briefing After Being Named Supreme Court Nominee
This was a very weak and not at all convincing presentation! She spoke at least half of the time about her family! That she was borne on the same day as some other judge ...
Vladimir Putin dresses down Russia's spy chief
This is indeed a very bizarre video of Putin the Terrible! There are some reports that Putin the Terrible also has some cognitive or mental issues at age 69! He has isolated himself, he may not trust his inner circle anymore, he is extremely afraid of Covid-19.
Friday, February 25, 2022
Scientists find neurons in the human brain that only respond to singing
Amazing stuff!
"... In 2015, neuroscientists at MIT identified a population of neurons in the auditory cortex that responds specifically to music. In a new study that appeared today in the journal Current Biology, the same team of researchers led by Sam Norman-Haignere have identified specific neurons in the brain that light up only when we hear singing, but not other types of music. ..."
From the abstract:
"How is music represented in the brain? While neuroimaging has revealed some spatial segregation between responses to music versus other sounds, little is known about the neural code for music itself. ... The inferred components replicated many prior findings, including distinct neural selectivity for speech and music, but also revealed a novel component that responded nearly exclusively to music with singing. Song selectivity was not explainable by standard acoustic features, was located near speech- and music-selective responses, and was also evident in individual electrodes. These results suggest that representations of music are fractionated into subpopulations selective for different types of music, one of which is specialized for the analysis of song."
A neural population selective for song in human auditory cortex (public access)
Video of Ukrainian woman confronting Russian soldier goes viral: Put sunflower seeds in your pocket 'so at least [flowers] will grow' when you're killed
If this story is true, it is amazing in several respects! E.g. she has to thank this Russian soldier that he did not shoot her!
I have a dumm feeling this video is fabricated! It is a bit too good to be true!
As a propaganda video it is certainly powerful!
"... The sunflower, which is Ukraine's national flower, is often said to represent power, strength, warmth, and more ..."
Biden to select Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court nomination
I hope every U.S. Senator will reject this nomination based on skin color and gender outright and without any hesitation! Tell the demented and senile president to try again!
Any U.S. Senator, who goes along with this charade by the 46th President, ought not to be reelected anymore!
This is an affront to the principles on which the U.S. was founded! Do not undermine meritocracy! The U.S. is not a banana republic nor does it need kangaroo courts!
This sure is another of several low points of the administration of the 46th President!
One may also take not of the supposedly African sounding first name of this nominee! She studied at the leftist Harvard University.
Thursday, February 24, 2022
PEGASUS: ISRAEL'S SPY system that has SCANDALIZED the WORLD
Very recommendable! An Oregon Pension fund is a major shareholder! This is quite a story! Used around the world for all kinds of purposes!
John Kerry's response to Ukraine invasion: 'I hope President Putin will help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate'
Who is more demented and senile, the 46th President or his U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate?
I believe, John Kerry was never sharp! He is a mediocre lifelong career politician of which we have to many! Probably, his only noteworthy lifetime achievement was his opposition to the Vietnam War.
Harvard University: Upending Putin’s Russia-Ukraine myth - A Critique
This is almost a laughable article put out yesterday (2/23/2022) by the Harvard University! Very disappointing as the largest war in Europe since 1945 unfolds! This is a really bad joke coming out of one the (left leaning) elite universities of the U.S.!
Just to give a flavor of this mediocre article:
"... I don’t mean that the conflict has to do with history ...“It’s not normal to have an ongoing war with a much larger, nuclear-armed neighbor. ...
“What’s most important is that people understand that Ukraine has opera houses, … that Ukraine has kindergartens, that Ukraine has literature, ..."
“What’s most important is that people understand that Ukraine has opera houses, … that Ukraine has kindergartens, that Ukraine has literature, ..."
The 46th U.S. President is responsible for two major invasions, one at home and one abroad!
A demented and senile 46th President unwilling or incapable of preventing millions of illegal immigrants to invade across the southern border of his country could not prevent Putin the Terrible to invade Ukraine.
And then take the Vice President Mistress Kamala who is frequently giggling and perpetually unprepared for any task!
How many millions of barrels of crude oil is the U.S. importing now from Russia? The U.S. became a net exporter of fossil fuels and fossil fuel independent under President Trump!
The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan only reinforced this weakness!
Sachverständige plädieren für Pflichtversicherung gegen Elementarschäden auf Gebäude
Bürger aufgepasst! Mehr Mandate und Gängelung vom Staat
Was steck dahinter?
Klimawahn in der Bananenrepublik!
Die Scheinwissenschaft des Global Warming Hoax und die Climate Change Religion!
Klimawahn in der Bananenrepublik!
Die Scheinwissenschaft des Global Warming Hoax und die Climate Change Religion!
Despite southern border crisis, CBP agents asked to deploy to Europe for Ukraine conflict
Wonderful, the Dimocratic Party with the demented and senile 46th President does not only defund the police, but also deploy border patrol agents to faraway countries! (Caution: Irony)
"For the second time in a year, the Biden administration is seeking to divert Customs and Border Protection officers from the southern border crisis to an overseas conflict, this time to help process people fleeing the Russian assault on Ukraine. ..."
Hat die SED Kanzlerin Merkel die Energiewende betrieben um Putin der Schreckliche zu stärken?
Angesichts der jüngsten Vorgänge in der Ukraine ist dies Frage nicht völlig daneben und wahrscheinlich auch nicht rein spekulativ!
Wie gut kannten sich die DDR Merkel und der KGB Offizier Putin? Die Biografie der SED Kanzlerin ist noch längst nicht vollständig geschrieben.
Was this the communist fraternal kiss of death for the Ukraine!
Hier ist meine Abrechnung mit der SED Kanzlerin!
Altbundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder ist ja schon lange vereinnahmt von Russland!
Wird die EU endlich Polen und Ungarn entschlossen unterstützen angesichts der russischen Aggression
Leider muss man da bei schwachen Ursula von der Leyen seine Zweifel haben! U.a. ist sie ein Zögling der SED Kanzlerin Merkel!
"... Die Entwicklung ist eine Erinnerung daran, welche EU-Länder im Krieg zwischen Russland und der Ukraine die Hauptlast tragen werden: die Grenzstaaten Polen und Ungarn. Auch die Slowakei und Rumänien grenzen an die Ukraine, aber die letzten 15 Jahre haben gezeigt, dass auch in Friedenszeiten viele Ukrainer nach Polen gehen, um zu arbeiten, und viele ukrainische Magyaren nach Ungarn. Auf Polen und Ungarn also kommt das größte Problem zu. Aber die EU behandelt diese beiden Länder, als seien sie selbst das größte Problem. ...
Im Vorfeld der jetzigen russischen Offensive versuchte Weißrusslands Diktator Lukaschenka, die EU mit Flüchtlingen aus Nahost zu erpressen. Polen reagierte mit dem Bau eines Grenzzauns, analog zu jenem in Ungarn. Die EU verstand offenbar nicht, dass sie Ziel eines hybriden Angriffs war, und verweigerte Polen jede finanzielle Hilfe für den Zaunbau. ..."
Im Vorfeld der jetzigen russischen Offensive versuchte Weißrusslands Diktator Lukaschenka, die EU mit Flüchtlingen aus Nahost zu erpressen. Polen reagierte mit dem Bau eines Grenzzauns, analog zu jenem in Ungarn. Die EU verstand offenbar nicht, dass sie Ziel eines hybriden Angriffs war, und verweigerte Polen jede finanzielle Hilfe für den Zaunbau. ..."
Dennis Prager: COVID-19 and the colossal Failure of America’s Major Religions
This is a great commentary by Dennis Prager!
What Prager forgot or omitted to mention is that the major religions also completely failed to support those citizens who objected vaccination for religious reasons!
My main blog posts related to the Covid-19 global pandemic: Why SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 is a relatively harmless disease and why the cure was worse than the disease and why it became the biggest scandal of the 21st century!
"... Even more concerning has been the reactions of America’s great religions—specifically, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons (Latter-day Saints), and Jews. The government issued irrational (as well as anti-religious and unethical) edicts and nearly every church and synagogue obeyed.
These churches and synagogues closed their schools to in-classroom instruction despite the fact that COVID-19 presented virtually no threat to young people.
Exponentially more children have been hurt by closing religious and secular schools and, later, by making children wear masks—even outdoors—than by COVID-19. ...
Recently, some churches and synagogues told their congregants that children as young as 5 had to be vaccinated in order to attend services. It is immoral to give young children a COVID-19 vaccine for which we have no long-term safety data, and especially when children are not at risk from the virus. ...
Recently, some churches and synagogues told their congregants that children as young as 5 had to be vaccinated in order to attend services. It is immoral to give young children a COVID-19 vaccine for which we have no long-term safety data, and especially when children are not at risk from the virus. ...
Given the sheeplike behavior of so many of America’s religious leaders and institutions, the question is: Why?
There are both similar and different answers for each religion. The similar reasons are that most religious institutions and leaders have become largely indistinguishable from their secular counterparts. With the exception of attending church or synagogue, most Christians and Jews think and act like most secular Americans. ...
Or has religion largely become something that serves only to make adherents feel good? ...
On Aug. 12, 2021, the First Presidency [of Mormons] (whose president is, not surprisingly, a physician) released a statement saying, “We urge individuals to be vaccinated,” and, “We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders.” ...
One obvious answer is that most non-Orthodox Jews are on the left. And the left lives in fear (of COVID-19, of global warming, of secondhand smoke, of diving boards, and much else) and is prepared to subvert any freedom to assuage their fears. In any event, freedom is not a left-wing value ..."
There are both similar and different answers for each religion. The similar reasons are that most religious institutions and leaders have become largely indistinguishable from their secular counterparts. With the exception of attending church or synagogue, most Christians and Jews think and act like most secular Americans. ...
Or has religion largely become something that serves only to make adherents feel good? ...
On Aug. 12, 2021, the First Presidency [of Mormons] (whose president is, not surprisingly, a physician) released a statement saying, “We urge individuals to be vaccinated,” and, “We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders.” ...
One obvious answer is that most non-Orthodox Jews are on the left. And the left lives in fear (of COVID-19, of global warming, of secondhand smoke, of diving boards, and much else) and is prepared to subvert any freedom to assuage their fears. In any event, freedom is not a left-wing value ..."
EEG of dying man shows hypoactive state of brain activity right before death
One hast to ask whether the attending medical staff should not have tried to rescue the man after he had his heart attack or did they try?
"... While an 87-year-old man with epilepsy was strapped to a machine that scanned his brain, searching for signs of seizures, the patient, unfortunately, suffered a heart attack and died shortly after. But the man’s tragic death offered scientists the opportunity of a lifetime, allowing them to record brain activity 30 seconds prior to and after the patient’s heart stopped beating. ...
The recorded brain waves suggest that, as we die, we experience the same neural activity as during dreaming, recalling memories, or meditating. ..."
The recorded brain waves suggest that, as we die, we experience the same neural activity as during dreaming, recalling memories, or meditating. ..."
From the abstract:
"The neurophysiological footprint of brain activity after cardiac arrest and during near-death experience (NDE) is not well understood. Although a hypoactive state of brain activity has been assumed, experimental animal studies have shown increased activity after cardiac arrest, particularly in the gamma-band, resulting from hypercapnia prior to and cessation of cerebral blood flow after cardiac arrest. No study has yet investigated this matter in humans. Here, we present continuous electroencephalography (EEG) recording from a dying human brain, obtained from an 87-year-old patient undergoing cardiac arrest after traumatic subdural hematoma. An increase of absolute power in gamma activity in the narrow and broad bands and a decrease in theta power is seen after suppression of bilateral hemispheric responses. After cardiac arrest, delta, beta, alpha and gamma power were decreased but a higher percentage of relative gamma power was observed when compared to the interictal interval. Cross-frequency coupling revealed modulation of left-hemispheric gamma activity by alpha and theta rhythms across all windows, even after cessation of cerebral blood flow. The strongest coupling is observed for narrow- and broad-band gamma activity by the alpha waves during left-sided suppression and after cardiac arrest. Albeit the influence of neuronal injury and swelling, our data provide the first evidence from the dying human brain in a non-experimental, real-life acute care clinical setting and advocate that the human brain may possess the capability to generate coordinated activity during the near-death period."
Russian Stock Market Rout Wipes Out $250 Billion in Value as Russia attacks Ukraine
Hope, the rich and powerful in Russia come to their senses, enough is enough of military adventures and kick out Putin the Terrible!
Searching for supernovas
Very recommendable! This video also features amateur astronomers all over the world!
Ukrainian member of parliament has a message for American public
Very recommendable! Stand with the people of the Ukraine!
Ukraine is the only country in history that gave up nuclear weapons to please Russia!
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Will Taiwan be next?
The Ukraine is under attack from Russia!
Is this there a analogous Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact between Putin the Terrible and Xi Jinping?
I am afraid yes! Hong Kong is already annexed by the Communist Party of China!
One of the few credible threats left to Taiwan is that they will totally destroy their economy and their infrastructure with the least possible number of casualties in the face of a Chinese invasion!
Western countries will be caught off guard with a demented and senile 46th President of the U.S. at the helm! Macron is weak! Trudeau is a fool and tyrant! Olaf Scholz has no backbone! Boris Johnson is wobbly! Australia is lately also not reliable!
Ronald Reagan - Cure Inflation: Say No to Government Spending
Very recommendable! Lots of original and great Ronald Reagan remarks!
Klimaschau: Klimaprogramm für EU-Landwirtschaft ist nicht klimawirksam
Sehr empfehlenswert!
Die Rohstoffe wie Metalle, die für die Elektrifizierung benötigt werden, sind nicht billig und die einhergehenden Umweltschäden sind enorm.
Die Umkrempelung der Landwirtschaft ist höchst dubios!
Lachgas ist 300 mal so effektiv wie CO2 und wird in der Landwirtschaft produziert.
Google Sheets: Tips & Tricks
Will be amended as time goes by! 😄
Data Validation
- Custom formula for uniqueness of values in a column with only text values:
=EQ(COUNTUNIQUE(A:A), COUNTA(A:A))
Google AppsScript
- Just learnt that if you define your JavaScript classes in one .GS script file, it has to be above the the other .GS script file if you want to inherit from any those classes in the other .GS script file. Awkward!
Lieferkettengesetz: EU-Ware ohne Kinderarbeit und Umweltschäden?
EU mal wieder naiv und dumm! Am EU Wesen soll die Welt genesen! Europäische Überheblichkeit triumphiert!
Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen werden belastet! Größere, multinationale Unternehmen geben die extra Kosten an ihre Kunden weiter etc.
Kinderarbeit ist nicht unter allen Umständen zu verteufeln!
Überzogene Umweltvorschriften in andere Länder zu exportieren und aufoktroyieren ist u.a. eine Missachtung der Souveränität dieser Länder!
"Die Europäische Kommission will mit dem Vorschlag sicherstellen, dass Unternehmen bei der Herstellung ihrer Waren und der Bereitstellung von Dienstleistungen nicht gegen die Menschenrechte oder Umweltstandards verstoßen. Das umfasst internationale Arbeitsnormen wie das Verbot von Kinder- und Zwangsarbeit oder das Streikrecht. Auch um Klimaschutz geht es. Die Kommission betont, dass ohnehin schon ein Drittel aller großen Unternehmen das macht. ..."
'Dangerous by design' metaverse apps allow children to access immersive digital sex clubs
No doubt, immersive virtual reality worlds can be dangerous not only for children!
How can you protect yourself or children from this kind of harassment or predation? There is little doubt, that immersive virtual reality will be used for entertainment, education and much more in the near future.
"A researcher who went under cover in the metaverse as a 13-year-old girl witnessed grooming, graphic sexual material, and threats of rape.
The researcher, the BBC reported, used an app with a minimum age rating of 13 and visited virtual reality rooms where other users’ avatars were simulating explicit acts. The researcher, whose online presence depicted that of a 13-year-old girl, was shown sex toys and condoms and approached by several adult men. ..."
Guinness certifies world’s heaviest strawberry in Israel
What a strawmelon!😄
"The record-breaking strawberry measured 18 centimeters (7 inches) long, 4 cm (1.57 inches) thick and 34 cm (13.3 inches) in circumference ... weighed 289 grams (about 10 ounces)"
Reducing herbicide use with AI by distinguishing weeds from crops
Good news! Impressive! Human ingenuity at its best! I am sure this is only the beginning of new revolution in agriculture (how about e.g. vertical agriculture)!
"... Cameras installed on the “boom” – that’s the 36-meter-long arm affixed on the sprayer that dispenses the herbicide — capture data from the entire field.
Where are the weeds (Greeneye’s algorithms recognize and classify more than 200 types)? Are the crops healthy? Are there any diseases in the field? Are the crops receiving the micronutrients they need? Are the correct fertilizers being used? ...
The company has amassed a database of millions of images from many different fields, crops and growing regions. Greeneye’s AI compares what it sees with what it’s already learned about specific crops.
Greeneye hopes to produce precise “weed maps” that will help farmers pick the right crop-protection products and use less of them."Johns Hopkins University: On Racism: A New Standard For Publishing On Racial Health Inequities
Johns Hopkins University featured this article today here: "Signs of progress: ... the term “racism” didn’t belong in a scientific paper; now it is increasingly seen as a legitimate area of scientific study."
Once upon a time e.g. Eugenics, Phlogiston, Miasma theory were also considered a legitimate subject of scientific study! See also my An Inconvenient History of Science.
Beware when ideological demagoguery and indoctrination infiltrates science! This is a totalitarian approach!
"... To address the shortcomings listed above, we propose several standards for publishing on racial health inequities, intended for researchers, journals, and peer reviewers.
Researchers
- Define race during the experimental design, and specify the reason for its use in the study. Such definitions should be couched within a sociopolitical framework, not a biological one, that explicitly reviews all relevant social, environmental, and structural factors for which race may serve as a proxy measure. For the reader, these additional details enable careful interpretation of study results and implications. But for authors, it engenders critical thinking about racial constructs that prevent the reification of race as a biological entity.
- Name racism, identify the form (interpersonal, institutional, or internalized), the mechanism by which it may be operating, and other intersecting forms of oppression (such as based on sex, sexual orientation, age, regionality, nationality, religion, or income) that may compound its effects. A critical race theory framework lends authors a vocabulary for discussing racism and its potential relationship to the study’s findings. And naming racism explicitly helps authors avoid incorrectly assigning race as a risk factor, when racism is the risk factor for racially disparate outcomes.
- Never offer genetic interpretations of race because such suppositions are not grounded in science. If race and genetics are being expressed jointly, painstakingly delineate the intended implication.
- Solicit patient input. Use community review boards or form patient panels to ensure the outcomes of research reflect the priorities of the populations studied.
- Identify the stakes. “All policy is health policy,” and all research on racial health inequities has implications for broader public policy and clinical practice. Inform readers of these potential applications.
- Cite the experts, particularly scholars of color whose work forms the basis of the field’s knowledge on racism and its effects.
Journals
- Reject articles on racial health inequities that fail to rigorously examine racism. This will require continuing education on the part of existing editorial staff and efforts to hire and promote new editors who are well versed in critical race theory and its application.
- Revisit editorial and publication guidelines, including the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals, regularly to ensure they capture the evolution of racial definitions and sociopolitical structures. Publicly share the guidelines online and with peer journals.
- Consider compensating reviewers particularly reviewers of color who are often asked to share their expertise without remuneration.
- Use experienced reviewers who have demonstrated, through their own scholarship and work, facility with racism and its pathophysiologic mechanisms.
Reviewers
- Be critical of work that reifies biological race or provides a genetic basis for racial differences in health outcomes. Inform the editors and authors that such statements are unsubstantiated and request clear explanations of suggested genetic etiologies to ensure such claims are not misinterpreted as biological race.
- Review the citations and when appropriate recommend authors expand their literature review to include the wealth of data on racism.
- Consult experts and inform the editors if one’s individual expertise is insufficient to advise regarding an important aspect of the paper from study design and methodology to the analysis.
- Closing the gap in racial health outcomes in the United States will only be accomplished by identifying, confronting, and abolishing racism as an American tradition and root of inequity."
Freedom Convoy GoFundMe organizer denied bail due to 'substantial likelihood' to 're-offend,' could face 'lengthy' prison term
Tyranny in Canada! Freedom protesters are being treated as dangerous criminals! Wake up citizens of Western countries!
Ronald Reagan: “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again.”
Can Israel Anchor a Defense Alliance of Moderate Arab States?
Recommendable! The tacit answer is yes!
"... On his recent (February 3, 2022) trip to Bahrain, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his Bahraini counterpart. It is a Security Cooperation Agreement, an expression of Israel’s interest in forming a NATO-like alliance in the region, meant to be an anti-Iranian regional alliance ...
In late November of 2021, Gantz visited Rabat, Morocco, to sign a similar agreement he had signed in Manama, Bahrain. In late January 2022, Gantz traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with an Israeli delegation of senior security experts to examine how Israel could help the Emiratis with an advance warning system, and the interception of missiles and drones. ...
It stands to reason that similar visits to Saudi Arabia took place, albeit clandestinely. ..."
In late November of 2021, Gantz visited Rabat, Morocco, to sign a similar agreement he had signed in Manama, Bahrain. In late January 2022, Gantz traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with an Israeli delegation of senior security experts to examine how Israel could help the Emiratis with an advance warning system, and the interception of missiles and drones. ...
It stands to reason that similar visits to Saudi Arabia took place, albeit clandestinely. ..."
The U.S women's soccer team reaches an equal pay settlement
Do women soccer games have as many fans, spectators, and viewers as men soccer games?
Do women soccer games attract as much advertisement money as men soccer games?
However, soccer is not a very popular sports in the U.S. anyway. If the commercial performance is not the same, then why equal pay? If indeed women soccer games have a greater commercial success than men soccer games, then they ought be paid higher than men!
Let's see how this affects the other major sports in the U.S.
The African Continental Free Trade Area explained
One of the largest free trade areas in the World is forming, the African Continental Free Trade Area among 40-55 African countries!
Classical liberalism for more prosperity and economic development in Africa! Most likely hundreds of millions of people will come out of poverty if the free trade area is realized!
Agriculture may benefit greatly from the free trade zone!
Stanford University: We Can Restore the Earth's Climate If We Want to -- And We Should
Stanford University promotes the Global Warming hoax and climate change religion!
What an fool! What a pretense of knowledge!
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Twosday, the 2/22/2022
Today is a special date!
No human will live on a calendar date with more 2s until the year 2222!
Credits: My wife pointed out Twosday!
Canadian Parliament: 185 Yes to 151 No Votes for the Emergencies Act Motion
Democracy is a tyranny by the majority! ("argued John Stuart Mill in his 1859 book On Liberty.)"
All citizens in Western democracies wake up!
At least 34 Members of Parliament in Canada have little or no consciousness about their acts!
Only two times since 1945 was an emergency act invoked in Canada by a prime minister! First by father Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s and now by his son!
"The Canadian Parliament voted Monday night to approve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s motion to invoke the Emergencies Act by a vote of 185 for and 151 against. ..."
Tyranny: Canadian Parliament Votes for Emergencies Act Motion
Canadian, Jewish Liberal Party Member of Parliament: 'Honk Honk' Is 'Acronym for Heil Hitler'
This lunatic or even delusional MP is a member of the same party as dictator Justin Trudeau! She is a dual citizen of Canada and Israel.
With unhinged or deranged politicians like her and Justin Trudeau any democracy can become a tyranny!
"... As a Jewish member of Parliament and a descendant of survivors of the Holocaust, as well, I, like many Canadians, was shocked to see Nazi and Confederate flags. [How many flags did she see? Where these flags part of the protest?] I was dismayed and angry and hurt, horribly hurt.
So how many Nazi flags does it take? How many donors from the Capitol riots — it’s 1,100 and counting who have donated to these illegal blockades — [does it take?]. How many guns need to be seized? [How many guns were seized? Was any of the guns used in the protest?]
How much vitriol do we have to see of “honk honk” — which is an acronym for “Heil Hitler” — do we need to see by these protesters on social media? [How many truckers honked in honor of Hitler?] ..."
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