My mind has many nooks and crannies ... like an english muffin
Diversity Training or Divisive Training?
· ☕ 871  words life  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
UPDATE: Apparently a judge has blocked the order. See USA Today The President reportedly signed an executive order banning diversity training in federal agencies, the military, federal contrators and grant recipients. I use the word “reportedly” because you can read the literal words of the order differently depending on your philosophical persuasion. Executive Order 13950 bars the military, federal contractors and federal grant recipients from teaching “divisive concepts”. OK, what are “divisive concepts”?
The Speed of Swoosh
· ☕ 496  words life  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Have you ever heard somebody say something that you think is so incorrect that, to use physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s phrase “Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig, es ist nicht einmal falsch!” — “That is not only not right, it is not even wrong!”? As a result you see it as your duty to jump in to correct them. I am as guilty of that as anyone - why else this blog.
Pomplamoose is Up For a Grammy - Best Jazz Vocal Ablum
· ☕ 268  words music  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Pomplamoose, one of my favorite little jazz music groups is up for a Grammy in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. The album is ‘En Francais’ which is a collection of French jazz standards. This is impressive seeing as They don’t have a record label deal or a publicist other than their youtube channel. Nataly Dawn, the vocalist, spent a large part of her childhood in France and Belgium which is where she picked up a love for French jazz and her pronunciation.
That which can be destroyed by the truth should be?
· ☕ 208  words life  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Author Pat Hodgell in her book Godstalk has a character say “That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.” I think we can probably all agree that often little white lies can keep relationships from blowing up, so maybe the statement is too broad. But during the disputes about fake news and lies on Facebook and Twitter, maybe we should look at the corollary: “That which is created by lies shouldn’t be”.
Stop Comparing COVID-19 Death Rates
· ☕ 509  words health politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
I really get tired of people comparing death rates from COVID-19 v. XYZ and thinking that is the end of the story - it isn’t so bad. NO. As the Mayo Clinic says, most people who have it recovery completely within a few weeks. But many people end up with lingering problems because it damages the lung and other organs. Organ damage caused by COVID-19 Organs that may be affected by COVID-19 include:
Government Obligations?
· ☕ 789  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
For any of you small government types reading this, the following applies to state and local governments as well as the Federal govt. The Supreme Court has held that the government (police or social services) does not have a duty to protect individuals from harm, even when they know harm will occur. See DeShaney vs. Winnebago 489 U.S. 189 (1989) and Town of Castle Rock vs. Gonzales. See also Warren v.
What do Peace and Liberty Mean?
· ☕ 346  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Mike Lee, US Senator from Utah tweeted the following on Oct 7, 2020: “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.” Subsequent tweets included “We’re not a democracy”, Government is the official use of coercive force-nothing more and nothing less. The Constitution protects us by limiting the use of government force" and “The word ‘democracy’ appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy.
Grapefruit?
· ☕ 268  words health  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
I like grapefruit. The real kind, not the pink sweet kind. However, I have just read an article https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/grapefruit-history-and-drug-interactions indicating that you need to be careful when drinking it and taking prescription medicine. Drug manufacturers determine dosage based on how much of the drug your body will actually ingest. Grapefruit knocks out several of the enzymes that would otherwise be reducing the drugs to an inactive form. Net result, your body actually absorbs a lot more of the drug than the dosage assumes and you overdose.
Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste - Part Two
· ☕ 986  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
I can’t possibly express the anger I feel at the irresponsibility of a tweet saying don’t fear COVID. As of Oct 6, there have been 1,038,534 COVID deaths globally and 208,433 COVID deaths in the US. https://covid19.who.int/ There have been 35 million globally confirmed cases, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people who survived, but have respiratory and other problems caused by COVID. There is a reason to fear COVID but as I have expressed before - I can’t make people care about other people.
Use the Right Tool For the Job
· ☕ 327  words life politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
When all you know is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In the most recent case, the UK managed to drop almost 16,000 COVID-19 cases from their result compilation because they were using Excel in the data gathering process. Excel has a limit on the number of rows or columns and apparently the amount of data exceeded one or the other of those limits. A BBC Report claims that the row limit was breached because someone chose to use a very old file format.
New Caledonia Narrowly Votes No on Independence From France
· ☕ 299  words international  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
New Caledonia voted no today on its second of three votes on independence from France. The first vote was in 2018 and the no votes came in at 56.7%. This time, as expected, the no votes came in narrower at 53.26%. Turnout was 85.64%, which was four points higher than the 2018 vote, evidently showing that people felt their votes would count given the expected tight vote. Polling stations were kept open after the scheduled closing time so long as there were people in line to vote.
Happy Reunification Day Germany
· ☕ 105  words Germany  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Happy Reunification Day to Germany. I’ve been in Berlin both before and after the wall fell. Its nicer to be able to just walk across the street. Maybe we can all work towards reducing the polarizing behavior that is acting like a psychic Berlin wall in so many countries. By the way, can anyone tell me why east and west Berlin still use different street lamp bulbs? Nightime aerial photos clearly show a color difference.
Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste - Part One
· ☕ 593  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
This post will likely get deleted as things progress, but my innate cynicism is too strong to keep quiet right now. So, I just saw the news that President Trump tweeted that he had tested positive for COVID-19. It is interesting that it happened the same day that a Cornell study claimed the President was the single greatest source of covid disinformation. This also has national security implications. See a twitter thread from Sam Vinograd, a national security expert, written before the news but after a White House Staffer tested positive.