The Department of Education has just sent a dear colleague letter to the nation’s schools informing them of its interpretation of their legal nondiscrimination obligations.
It interprets SFFA v. Harvard broadly to apply to “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life. Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race.”
It also says the department “intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance with the applicable statutes and regulations based on the understanding embodied in this letter beginning no later than 14 days from today's date.”
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding.”
I'm not sure that normalizing "people of this gender/race have negative traits and that's why there aren't more of them as employees" will get us to where you want to go, but I'm willing to find out.
One of the best dark comedy moments from his 45 term was actually moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He said he was gonna do it and, by gum, he did it!
And no one will ever be able to use the whole "we're gonna move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem!" applause line in a campaign speech ever again.
Yeah, the current algorithm is something like 1 out of 8.
If they made it 1 out of 33, people who hadn't bought one since the 80s would think about picking one up, you know, for the drive home. (Cheaper than a scratch ticket.)
Here's the part that grabbed me... under Section 2 Policy:
(a) all federally funded health research should empower Americans through transparency and open-source data, and should avoid or eliminate conflicts of interest that skew outcomes and perpetuate distrust;
Oof, yeah, that's a good point too. Now I'm wondering how many calderas are somewhere on that line... okay. Preliminary glance says that the red line is pretty safe when it comes to popping one of the planet's many zits.
So if it's coming straight on, we probably want to nudge it left a bit.
If we have enough time, maybe we can have it hit the moon and throw it out of orbit and oh my god we're all gonna die
"Please sign this petition in support of Gaza!"
"Which one?"
"The Animal Rights one."
"Oh, no thanks. I was hoping it'd be the Environmental Justice Gaza."
I think that it had yearly trainings where a bored instructor droned over slides that mentioned concepts like "white privilege" and how "MAGA" is a White Supremacist term.
I'm sure that there was stuff in there that talked about the Tuskegee Airmen and the importance of women during Vietnam.
I asked about this on the video but I'm still confused. I'm sure you've seen this map of the most likely places for the asteroid to hit:
I'm confused about how there's, apparently, a 2% chance for the asteroid to hit or miss the planet but, if it its, we're relatively confident that Canada is safe.
If the asteroid could miss the planet entirely, it also strikes me that, if it hits the planet, it could hit pretty much anywhere. Maybe it'll hit Australia, maybe it'll hit Ireland, maybe it'll hit the Caldera in Yellowstone and we'll get one heck of a show.
"Maybe it'll hit, maybe it won't, but if it does, it'll be around the equator and on this particular half of the planet" strikes me as putting all of the certainty in the wrong freakin' place.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
Speaking of DEI...
"
*I* am not suing anybody.
The AG of Missouri is.
As to how far the AG will get... Well, I understand that AGs are pretty arrogant and think that they can indict sandwiches.
I imagine we'll find out in the coming months whether there is egg on anybody's face.
If we hear that there's a settlement out of court... how do you think we should read that?
"
Well, so long as Starbucks didn't come out and say "we're going to be hiring on the basis of race", they should be free and clear.
"
Oh, is that how the court rules on stuff? "James Damore wrote an essay for Google, therefore we find for Starbucks."
"
Yes. "This is covered by 'Freedom of Speech'", they should be able to argue.
I am 100% down with this.
"
I'm not sure that normalizing "people of this gender/race have negative traits and that's why there aren't more of them as employees" will get us to where you want to go, but I'm willing to find out.
"
Given that surely Starbucks wasn't stupid enough to put something like "diversity goals" in a corporate memo, this won't get off the ground.
On “Beware: Promises Being Kept”
One of the best dark comedy moments from his 45 term was actually moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He said he was gonna do it and, by gum, he did it!
And no one will ever be able to use the whole "we're gonna move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem!" applause line in a campaign speech ever again.
Well, until the Dems move it back.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Tootsie Roll Pop Indian”
When I was a kid, I always thought it odd that grownups would announce upcoming weather by appealing to a knee or an elbow or a shoulder.
Now? Yep. Gonna snow tomorrow.
I hope you can get some heating pad time in tonight and this weekend.
"
Yeah, the current algorithm is something like 1 out of 8.
If they made it 1 out of 33, people who hadn't bought one since the 80s would think about picking one up, you know, for the drive home. (Cheaper than a scratch ticket.)
On “Thursday Throughput: Doomsday Rock Edition”
And the failure to get access to that research is currently holding said nutjobs back?
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
Max doesn't even get half of how nuts it is.
(And we all read the Methods of Rationality back in 2019!)
On “Thursday Throughput: Doomsday Rock Edition”
This sounds like it's going to be political but it's not intended to be.
Trump put out an executive order today: ESTABLISHING THE PRESIDENT’S MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN COMMISSION
Here's the part that grabbed me... under Section 2 Policy:
Open source data?
Like... that's an unequivocal good thing? Right?
On “Kelly Pool — The Suspicious One”
Two bits in 1919 was $4.81 in today's money.
Which ain't that bad? I mean, for a sandwich with meat and gravy?
On “Thursday Throughput: Doomsday Rock Edition”
Oof, yeah, that's a good point too. Now I'm wondering how many calderas are somewhere on that line... okay. Preliminary glance says that the red line is pretty safe when it comes to popping one of the planet's many zits.
So if it's coming straight on, we probably want to nudge it left a bit.
If we have enough time, maybe we can have it hit the moon and throw it out of orbit and oh my god we're all gonna die
On “Deficits, Debt, and DOGE”
I'd be interested in seeing Reuters' report on defenses against deception, now that I think about it.
Oh, it's talking about automated defenses... like automatically figuring out who is doing the phishing on the other side of a bot farm. Reading the contract, this is actually a fairly interesting thing to be researching.
Kinda surprised it went to Reuters instead of a handful of autists in Silicon Valley, though.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
"Please sign this petition in support of Gaza!"
"Which one?"
"The Animal Rights one."
"Oh, no thanks. I was hoping it'd be the Environmental Justice Gaza."
"
...do we really want to normalize "these protests are due to invisible funding" even as Literally Lucius Malfoy is ripping apart USAID?
"
Once Gaza becomes Florida East, maybe we can change Ukraine to Gaza II.
On “From Politico: Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong.”
Here's a bombshell from Zillow via Fortune Magazine:
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
What do I think DEI in the military did?
I think that it had yearly trainings where a bored instructor droned over slides that mentioned concepts like "white privilege" and how "MAGA" is a White Supremacist term.
I'm sure that there was stuff in there that talked about the Tuskegee Airmen and the importance of women during Vietnam.
On “Open Mic for the week of 2/10/2025”
A Greek member of the EU's Parliament sent a formal letter to Elon Musk asking if there were any USAID funds used on migrants to Greece.
Is it really a good idea to make public that these funds were used?
Shouldn't this be done behind closed doors or something?
On “Thursday Throughput: Doomsday Rock Edition”
So, if something will hit, it's most likely to hit somewhere around the equator?
I guess Tunguska threw me off.
"
I asked about this on the video but I'm still confused. I'm sure you've seen this map of the most likely places for the asteroid to hit:
I'm confused about how there's, apparently, a 2% chance for the asteroid to hit or miss the planet but, if it its, we're relatively confident that Canada is safe.
If the asteroid could miss the planet entirely, it also strikes me that, if it hits the planet, it could hit pretty much anywhere. Maybe it'll hit Australia, maybe it'll hit Ireland, maybe it'll hit the Caldera in Yellowstone and we'll get one heck of a show.
"Maybe it'll hit, maybe it won't, but if it does, it'll be around the equator and on this particular half of the planet" strikes me as putting all of the certainty in the wrong freakin' place.
On “The USAID Fight Is About Power, Not Spending”
The "bad vibes" experienced by the people who were most upset about the video leaving for a week.
"who": the people feeling the bad vibes
"what": the bad vibes in question