Eh, my definitions of "good" and "evil" are less common than I'd like (though there is a lot of overlap on pragmatic issues when it comes to my local community).
I'm not sure that discussions of morality will get you to the destination you want to go... not with the Omnicause the way it is.
Sure. I don't see any reason for the Democrats to change anything.
I mean... are you gonna vote for Vance? You a big Vance fan? You gonna turn your back on BIPOC, AAPI, and LatinX solidarity in order to vote for Tax Cuts?
I just know the timeline that starts with Jerry Brown and ends up somewhere around where the engineers explained that it still can't do it on schedule.
This guy explains that the 2008 plan that got approved was pretty much unattainable pie-in-the-sky stuff:
The 2008 high-speed rail plan approved by California voters required the train to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in no more than 2 hours and 40 minutes. At the same time, the project promised to serve the downtown of every major and not-so-major city in between, including Merced, Madera, Fresno, and Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley and the high desert city of Palmdale.
Those travel time promises, combined with that route map, meant that California High-Speed Rail would have to reach speeds of 220 miles per hour. In 2008, only a couple of trains in the world reached that speed, and it’s still the fastest any high-speed trains currently travel. Add in California’s mountainous, earthquake-prone topography, and you’ve set yourself up for one of the most difficult engineering projects ever attempted. All of this had to be accomplished by an agency, the California High-Speed Rail Authority, that had never built a single mile of track.
In other words, the project was set up for failure.
The conclusion talks about how plain bagels are better than no bagels after enough failed promises of everything bagels.
I don't know what would have been possible if California did it smarter instead of how they did it. But it seems like doing it dumber might have worked too.
It has? I'm asking skeptically because I have not heard about any particular increase in policing disproportionately targeting people athletic enough to jump stiles.
Do intelligence agencies even work with evidence? What do they do other than get fashion models to sleep with scientists and get them to admit stuff on camera?
Oh, you may have misread what the story said. It didn't say "the German scientists concluded that it had an origin in a lab". Here, let me copy and paste what the German news said again:
For five years, the Federal Intelligence Service has assumed that Corona originated in a Chinese laboratory. The BND classifies the laboratory thesis as “likely” and is “80 to 95 percent” sure. Since then, the German government has kept the BND’s findings secret that the virus originated in the biolaboratory in Wuhan. This is reported by NZZ, Zeit and SZ.
The biggest problem that the rail-lovers have is that we can't build new tracks at all.
I'd be interested in some high speed rail myself... The ability to go from Frisco to LA in a couple of hours would be pretty sweet. LA to Vegas would be pretty sweet.
But we can't even drop a proof of concept. *EUROPE* is our proof of concept.
For five years, the Federal Intelligence Service has assumed that Corona originated in a Chinese laboratory. The BND classifies the laboratory thesis as "likely" and is "80 to 95 percent" sure. Since then, the German government has kept the BND's findings secret that the virus originated in the biolaboratory in Wuhan. This is reported by NZZ, Zeit and SZ.
This whole "wypipo" being denied rights thing might become a problem if the only people who agree that Jewish folks aren't white are White Supremacists and Jewish folks.
Remember when BIPOC, LatinX, and AAPI became a thing?
You'll note the two groups of people who aren't included in that.
Libs want to believe the GOP isn’t worthy of winning, or governing. Unfortunately for them, in reality that’s not the GOP’s problem. That’s the Demos’ problem, as we talked about above.
As messages go, it's great. The biggest problem is that if you have an organization in charge of a city that has failed to run it, getting rid of a handful of people at the top won't change much.
California's high speed rail problem will not be fixed by changing governors nor some key mayors of some key cities. Even if you did a full replacement of the state House, it wouldn't make it possible to end up with HSR in 2035.
So there's a bit of a downside for people who embrace the message.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25”
Does "obey laws" cover civil statutes?
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That chick should be fired *SO* fast.
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Eh, my definitions of "good" and "evil" are less common than I'd like (though there is a lot of overlap on pragmatic issues when it comes to my local community).
I'm not sure that discussions of morality will get you to the destination you want to go... not with the Omnicause the way it is.
On “The New Suit”
"In my defense, in 68 years there's going to be a movie about pants like this."
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25”
Sure. I don't see any reason for the Democrats to change anything.
I mean... are you gonna vote for Vance? You a big Vance fan? You gonna turn your back on BIPOC, AAPI, and LatinX solidarity in order to vote for Tax Cuts?
Here's a page where you can donate to Columbia University.
"
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Harris got 66% of the Jewish vote.
Biden got 68% in 2020.
Clinton got 71% in 2016.
Obama got 69% in 2012 and 78% in 2008.
Kerry got 76% in 2004.
Gore got 79% in 2000.
You have to go back to Dukakis in 1988 to get a number lower than Harris got: 64%.
On “Of Amtrak, AI, and Arguing About Trains on the Interwebs”
I honestly don't know.
I just know the timeline that starts with Jerry Brown and ends up somewhere around where the engineers explained that it still can't do it on schedule.
This guy explains that the 2008 plan that got approved was pretty much unattainable pie-in-the-sky stuff:
The conclusion talks about how plain bagels are better than no bagels after enough failed promises of everything bagels.
I don't know what would have been possible if California did it smarter instead of how they did it. But it seems like doing it dumber might have worked too.
On “Movie of American Gent Worrying over European War”
Layout was, apparently, used the same way that we use "stash" today.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25”
Yossele was the name given to the Golem of Prague.
On “Of Amtrak, AI, and Arguing About Trains on the Interwebs”
Huh.
Was that all it'd take?
How tough would that be to set up in NYC?
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I admit that I'm primarily thinking about Merced to Bakersfield.
"
It has? I'm asking skeptically because I have not heard about any particular increase in policing disproportionately targeting people athletic enough to jump stiles.
"
There's also a bit of a crime problem that nobody wants to talk about.
Ride on Bart? Maybe you have to deal with unpleasantness. The worst thing you have to deal with in your car is a bad DJ.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25”
Do intelligence agencies even work with evidence? What do they do other than get fashion models to sleep with scientists and get them to admit stuff on camera?
That's not even science.
"
Well, if we could have explored one of those dozens of effective alternatives, that might have been nice.
"
Oh, you may have misread what the story said. It didn't say "the German scientists concluded that it had an origin in a lab". Here, let me copy and paste what the German news said again:
"
This is where the "for five years" is the important part of the sentence.
They concluded this back in 2020.
Which tells us we should do what differently next time?
Apparently crack down on racist conspiracy theories twice as hard.
And gets China to tell us the truth how exactly.?
Maybe we should offer more funding?
On “Of Amtrak, AI, and Arguing About Trains on the Interwebs”
The biggest problem that the rail-lovers have is that we can't build new tracks at all.
I'd be interested in some high speed rail myself... The ability to go from Frisco to LA in a couple of hours would be pretty sweet. LA to Vegas would be pretty sweet.
But we can't even drop a proof of concept. *EUROPE* is our proof of concept.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25”
Speaking of Covid, German Intelligence has concluded that it's most likely from a lab leak rather than from a wet market.
"
This whole "wypipo" being denied rights thing might become a problem if the only people who agree that Jewish folks aren't white are White Supremacists and Jewish folks.
Remember when BIPOC, LatinX, and AAPI became a thing?
You'll note the two groups of people who aren't included in that.
On “So Let’s Put Together a Democratic Party Ad Campaign”
Professional Managerial Class.
You know the people who were able to do their jobs 100% Work-From-Home with just a laptop and a cellphone?
Those guys.
"
Libs want to believe the GOP isn’t worthy of winning, or governing. Unfortunately for them, in reality that’s not the GOP’s problem. That’s the Demos’ problem, as we talked about above.
It is the year 2021. Change the nouns.
That's where we are.
"
As messages go, it's great. The biggest problem is that if you have an organization in charge of a city that has failed to run it, getting rid of a handful of people at the top won't change much.
California's high speed rail problem will not be fixed by changing governors nor some key mayors of some key cities. Even if you did a full replacement of the state House, it wouldn't make it possible to end up with HSR in 2035.
So there's a bit of a downside for people who embrace the message.
But, in the short term, it's a good message.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/10/25”
It's like he read the story!
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Gavin Newsom hosted Charlie Kirk on the first episode of his podcast. We're coming up on episode number four and his special guest is... STEVE BANNON!