Morning Ed: World {2017.02.21.T}
UK abortion docs have more business from Ireland than they can handle.
Hey, not everything is terrible! (Excepting the fact of the circumstances that required 669 to be saved, of course.)
A lot of things are terrible, though.
Putin brings the band back together.
Behold, the eighth continent! And why it matters. The “sunken continent” is usually assigned to the Atlantic, but the Pacific makes way more sense.
This makes sense, when we think about which Israeli Jews are reproducing in large numbers and which ones aren’t.
Is this the most American story or the most Florida story ever told?
Well, this stinks.
Regarding the Eagle and the Alligator [note to self about future pub name] I was going to say, “Pics or it didn’t happen” but darned if there aren’t pics.
Now, somewhere I’m sure there’s a metaphor about the Deep State (alligator) and Trump (eagle) and being rescued by people who see the symbol of our nation as an actual bird that needs savin’ … and wading into an Alligator pond to do it. But I’m not sure I could make the analogy work.Report
An eagle killing a serpent is of course already the symbol of the United States (*)
(*) the United Mexican States (**)
(**) official name of the countryReport
Ok, not sure where you are going with that, because its a picture of an eagle that just had the shit beat out of it by a reptile and had to be rescued by common people… so maybe a metaphor for La Cristiada? I get it. 🙂Report
There are reptiles and reptiles? And the ones in the swamps are more dangerous to eagles?
There’s a lot of metaphors this discussion can be milked forReport
Mmnmnnmn, Alligator MilkReport
The Seattle story is a good reminder for people that utilities don’t simply happen, and that a lot of infrastructure is humming in the back, unnoticed, and way to many times forgotten by politicians and taxpayers.Report
Although in this case, this is less about being neglected by TPTB than it is a nasty case of bad timing (losing a pump in the middle of record rainfall).
A better lesson to learn is that covering everything in concrete and asphalt has downstream effects. We have stuff like porous concrete, and pavers, etc. that should be incentivized wherever appropriate (driveways, parking lots, sidewalks, etc.).Report
I harp on this all the time in the soils class I teach; perhaps I should actually use the Seattle story as an immediate example.
(Many of my students are essentially Industrial Hygiene majors so they may wind up in a career that has an impact on this)Report
Among the lessons…
Combined storm/sanitary sewer systems are an excellent example of the “it seemed like a good idea at the time” principle. Split systems don’t load the treatment plants more when there’s heavy rainfall, although they do allow low levels of certain pollutants by letting runoff from roads go untreated. There are ~700 combined systems still operating in the US, likely costing over a trillion dollars to fix (eg, Washington, DC’s $2.6B fix). The vast majority of these are in the extended Rust Belt area.
It would be fun to see the reliability analysis to see if the cascading failure starting from a single failed component was included.Report
Especially given how climate change will alter the initial assumptions quite a bit. Even best case scenarios result in the maxes & mins getting further apart (e.g. Seattle can expect higher rainfall amounts during the winter due to stronger storm systems).Report
I found the image of ultra Orthodox partying teens to be interesting. They are religious enough to wear the mandated clothing and modest dress and separate by sex but secular enough to dance to techno and smoke weed.
There is something to learn here. I am not sure what though.Report
Semi-serious question – there’s nothing about marijuana that would not make it kosher, correct?Report
K,
Not unless you rubbed it in pig fat or something. Plants are automatically kosher.Report
Not that I know of but it is still a rebellious teenage thing to smoke and a lot of ultra Orthodox do look down on modern music and culture if hypocritically so. In the US, a lot of them will have a TV that stays locked up until the kids go to sleep.
I just find it interesting which taboos stick and which don’t.Report
Then there is recreational drug use and rumspringa. This is the most Amish news story ever: Abner Stoltzfus and Abner King Stoltzfus (no relation to one another) were indicted for dealing cocaine to other Amish youth, their source being the Pagan motorcycle gang.Report
Needs more hand-churned butter and ice cream to be truly Amish. Or quilt making.Report
Cue Weird Al singing “Amish Paradise.”Report
A few ultra-Orthodox Rabbis have approved of medical marijuana and deemed it kosher on the grounds that it alleviates pain. The issue of recreational drug use in Judaism is complicated. We aren’t a religion that believes in no alcohol and nothing in the Torah explicitly prohibits other mind-altering drugs.
Dancing to Techno music is also fine under Jewish law as long as you don’t do it on the Shabbat. Most of the dancing is free style, so you aren’t touching a person of the opposite Judaism and dancing is a very important part of Chassidic Judaism.Report
Christianity has a much simpler view of mind-altering drugs, namely “I’ll have what John of Patmos was having”Report
U.S. appeals court upholds Maryland’s ban on assault rifles
https://www.yahoo.com/news/appeals-court-upholds-marylands-ban-assault-rifles-063643096.html
They say “weapons of war” are outside the 2nd amendment. I guess my Remington 700 is going to be next given that it’s the basis for the Marine Corps M40 sniper rifle. What will liberals think of next?Report
Dude,
It’s Maryland. Maryland. A .38 cal snub nose revolver that is rusted so much the action doesn’t work is a “weapon of war”. Did you expect less from these idiots?Report
This is what happens when you pretend that “a well regulated militia” was never part of the Constitution.
Heller’s premise is that the right protected by the Second Amendment is the right of self defense, and that it has nothing to do with militias or being prepared for war. Heller specifically carved out of its scope several arm possession bans that did not have a direct relationship with self defense
From Heller, Scalia says:
“Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions […]
“We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those “in common use at the time.’ 307 U. S., at 179. We think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of “dangerous and unusual weapons.” (55)
“It may be objected that if weapons that are most useful in military service – M-16 rifles and the like – may be banned, then the Second Amendment right is completely detached from the prefatory clause. But as we have said, the conception of the militia at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia duty.” (55)Report
Md has claimed that the “assault weapons ban” are weapons of war. No military would use such weapons that Md’s law covers. It’s complete bullshit. It doesn’t pass the smell test.
Fully auto weapons were already severely restricted by federal law decades ago. But that didn’t stop Md’s “won’t somebody think of the children” Assembly from passing a law who’s only real value is to score political points with the electorate.Report