Strega

@Reg- Yes, the doctor and priest are dual symbols of institutional authority. It’s strong imagery, but it blurs historical and factual accuracy. Not every State or Nation uses both so it is not a “long-standing custom”. Your symbolism is compelling on the first read but you are rather weak on empirical accuracy.

The doctor’s presence might be leg…[Read more]

Naw man, you uppin my skill levels! And I needz it bad.

Just started listening to a U of Minn CIDRAP podcast this week, and coincidentally ran into a short (below) about the beginning of state (and other lesser than federal) agencies rising to fill in the gaps of our suddenly increasingly incompetent federal public health agencies. (I think the west coast states have started something too, but I…[Read more]

Wow, thanks Reg. Glad I finally got to reading this.

I mentioned before that I’m incompetent in topics of history. I often even fail at accurately recalling the history of myself.

High school pre-college tests ranked me at 99th percentile in science, 95th percentile in math, 35th percentile in humanities and history, and others I’ve forgotten.…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Tá roinnt teangacha agam, cuid acu ar chaighdeán passable, cuid eile caighdeán “turasóireachta” an-bhunúsach. Ach tá an Ghaeilge líofa agam chomh maith, nó ar a laghad bhí mé nuair a bhí mé níos óige. Má chaitheann mé seachtain i nGaillimh (abair) tagann sé ar ais chugam. Is í an teanga is deacra a fhoghlaim.

[Read more]

This singer’s even in tune.
And that second line, “Oww!”.

was/is414x736

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I finally discovered that, after pasting short’s URL, all you have to do is change the word “shorts” in the URL to the letter “v“!

I also put this tip in the TIPS group, so if youtube ever changes how this trick works, please let me know and I will update how this tip can or can’t be made to work properly.
—– —– —–…[Read more]

@Enco –  I ‘misspoke’ – I usually format the USB drive completely. Type each line, one at a time, from a command prompt in Windows to fully and safely delete data so it can be re-used.

diskpart
select disk 2
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
assign
exit

As a bit of an aside, have you ever considered how difficult English is to learn vs. most other languages?

Yes. When I am in America I speak Hinglish with my extended family. At home I am currently learning Tamil. Soon I will try to only speak Tamil in my house so it’s now a case of “Hindi theriyathu poda” and I will have to get the t-shirt for t…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
As though a lack of ideological diversity isn’t the sine qua non of indoctrination! As though that lack of ideological diversity isn’t in part a reflection of show me the money.

I think that progressive values have a momentum of their own, especially with the young.  The human race has a doctrine of helping the needy and vuln…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Many U.S. students will very likely start going to Chinese Universities soon.

Might be a good idea for all American schools to start teaching Chinese.

When I was young (I’m 79 now, so a long time ago), the choices were French, German, and Spanish. French was recommended as the language of diplomacy, German for kids…[Read more]

Many U.S. students will very likely start going to Chinese Universities soon.

@Simon, – The coordinated flight of birds or the efficiency of an ant colony are examples of true emergence. It is complex order arising from simple, local rules. Each agent behaves independently, yet their interactions create a collective intelligence without any central plan or higher consciousness.

It’s legitimate emergence because the…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
The problem in colleges isn’t indoctrination. It’s a lack of ideological diversity.

The right seems to be on a mission to expose universities as centers of leftist indoctrination. Too often we professors waved away the charge. We called these assertions naive at best, Trumpy at worst. Students, we rightly noted, are…

[Read more]

Thanks for the comment Jake. I was also thinking that old age is wasted on the not-so-young, to twist G.B. Shaw’s line for when people mistake religiosity for wisdom. Needing a comfort blanket against existential fear doesn’t make you wise; it just means you’re still afraid.

Real wisdom comes from remembering what it felt like to be young — cur…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
It sounds plausible, even scientific, but it doesn’t predict, measure, or model anything.

But surely the behaviour of flocks of birds – organisation – emerges from the behaviour of single birds, following a few simple behavioural rules, and the organised behaviour of ant colonies emerge from ants, which have a l…[Read more]

Re the second long read post above; The word “emergence,” when used uncritically, inherits the same intellectual vice as theism. It offers comfort where explanation is difficult. It sounds plausible, even scientific, but it doesn’t predict, measure, or model anything. It stops being a descriptor and starts being a substitute for under…[Read more]

Have a great week!!

I was jogging in the park recently. I passed an older man on a bench for the 3rd time in a row (I do 6 laps – 5k). He quipped….’you are in 4th place’. No, I replied, “I am winning because I am still in the race”. On the next pass he was still grinning. It got me thinking……

Atheism, when treated not as mere disbelief but…[Read more]

was414x736 = viewed on an iphone.