Tagged: news
I Propose A Guessing Game
Read the following paragraph from a news article and guess the year.
I offer that the first and major clue is the last line, “…got into the papers.”
This puts us back before the internet. So pre-90s.
I’m not from New York. I have only visited once. There may be names that a New Yorker would know are old and therefore help date the event. But I don’t know them.
The idea that people are fighting about the elevation of a flag is immemorial, so that doesn’t help. But add “American” to the kind of flag and obviously we’re post-1776.
A quick review of steel’s development indicates post-1856 and Bessemer Process.
“Medical students” as a phrase immediately calls to mind post-WW2, so post-1945.
This means, if you guessed anywhere between 1945-1990, I’d say you “won” my game. Congratulations!
Of course, the true winners of the true game are those who can withstand the “hype” to which the news cycle demands undying attention.
The real date is 1970. That means for 65 years we have recorded evidence that some Americans want to lower the flag and others want to raise it back up. Or, 65 years of “Same $&@%, different day.” Or, 65 years of “Nothing to see here; move along.”
My Money on What Bongino “Saw”
I’m so tired of conspiracy theorists. Lunatics one and all. I can’t even listen for amusement anymore. Thanks for nothing, guys.
Want to know where my money is bet on Dan Bongino’s claim?
Bongino’s talent, if you ever listened to his podcast, is keeping an audience in suspense. It’s an impressive skill, but ultimately no different than selling nothing burgers.
Want to know what he “saw”?
He will soon report that what he saw was bureaucracy.
That’s it.
On The Virality of Being Caught
Like many, many of you, I too watched more than one video of the recent Coldplay Kiss Cam Catch.
Why?
Firstly, because it already was “viral” and so I deemed it worthy of the peek.
Secondly, because the very idea of “getting caught” requires that generally suppressed emotion “shame”.
“Shame”, then, is what caught my attention. Is anyone ashamed anymore? Apparently, the answer is “yes”.
Maybe not the Parents who are castrating their children. Maybe not the Doctors who are overlooking every single problematic behavior in favor of chemical treatments. Maybe not the blue, green, or pink-haired faggots. Maybe not the Marxists. Maybe not the Politicians in general. Maybe not Celebrities. Maybe not Professors. Maybe not MegaChurch Pastors and Boards. Maybe not Blacks. Maybe not Illegal Immigrants. Maybe not Gang Bangers. Maybe not New Yorkers or Californians.
But that couple at the Coldplay concert did. And we all recognized it immediately.
They were living some kind of bliss, some kind of pure illicit fantasy—forbidden love—right up until the moment they were not. Just an amazing thing to consider. Where exactly were they until that moment?
The song in Romeo and Juliet comes to mind. “A Rose will Bloom/It then will Fade”.
On Indian Plane Crash Preliminary Report
I figure faithful readers might be curious what their pilot blogger thinks about the recently published findings about the airline disaster in India.
In short, the findings are: according to cockpit recordings, one of the two pilots looked down and saw a fuel switch “off” when it should’ve been “on”. (For reference/context my helicopter doesn’t have such a switch—there is a cutoff lever for stop fuel flow during fires, but digital technology keeps the engine going.)
That pilot says (paraphrase), “Why did you cutoff the fuel?” The other pilot answers, “I didn’t.”
They then attempted to fix the situation and didn’t have time.
When boys are freely being boys, there is a game/mentality where you do the “wrong” thing as you blame it on the other person. Like, the older brother grabbing his younger brother’s hand and using it against him while saying, “Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!” It’s hilarious.
That is the way I perceive these facts, as presented.
Also for reference, the USAF teaches, regarding field of “switchology”, that in crew aircraft (and I will often do it still by myself) the best practices included stating, “I have identified the xx switch.” Followed by, “I am placing the switch in the xx position.” Put militarily, “No fast hands in the cockpit.”
It is very difficult for me to imagine that the “I didn’t” pilot was lying. And a mistaken action during this “critical phase of flight” is just as difficult. So my experience tells me the inquisitor flipped it (for probably forever mysterious reasons) and then caused confusion by “Why did YOU do that?” questioning, for whatever other forever mysterious reasons.
To be clear, the switch has a feature which requires the pilot (or anyone) to first it pull up and then flip it. This mechanical feature was designed so that it/critical-switches cannot be “bumped” accidentally.
Now you know. I wish I could provide better consolation.
Who Knew?
Who knew that the rivers would flood to the extent that they did?
That is the only question that matters. Who knew?
Not, “What were the warnings?” Not, “Would pre-DOGE situation have known?” Not, “When did…?” No.
Who knew?
Is there any meteorologist that would claim that they were interpreting the data and the data suggested that what happened was possible to happen?
Who knew?
If the meteorologists thought, “Zero chance of 26ft rise, but non-zero chance of 25 foot rise,” then we want to know that.
If they thought, “Unlikely, but non-zero chance of 26ft rise,” then we want to know.
None of the other questions matter until someone admits that they knew the floods could happen precisely as the floods did happen. It doesn’t matter which warning system was in place. It doesn’t matter when the warnings were given. DOGE doesn’t matter. Nothing matters until we learn if any human being on earth (likely a meteorologist in TX) knew that the floods would play out as they did play out.
I, for one, did not know that what happened in TX was possible.
What I want to know now is who did know.
Two Novel Thoughts As We Wait (Wink Wink) on Iran
Firstly, I love how the media made Iraq out to be some super fighting force in the days Desert Storm 1. The big claim was “fifth strongest” military in the world. But let’s run with this. They were wrong. Next, Afghanistan was supposed to be cavemen. Now, the media wants me to be worried about Iran’s response. Did you they not see the response that the strike aircraft saw? Zero. Zilch. Nada. No response. They didn’t even know the planes were in the air. But sure, media (wink wink), we’ll wait for the response.
Secondly, this is the largest attack/action that has occurred in my non-fighting age days. As in, 9/11 was a large impetus for my wanting to join the AF. And I did join the AF to help get revenge. But right now, even if WW3 somehow starts, I have a new feeling like, “Well, I hope my company doesn’t fold during the war. I don’t know how else to make money.”
Time will tell.
Do I Make It Rain?
Obama breaks silence.
Did you see how soon it was after I expressed sincere desire to hear his thoughts? To be clear, I am declaring that I manifested it.
If you missed it, here is what he said.
“Thirteen years ago, my administration acted to protect young people who were American in every single way but one: on paper.
DACA was an example of how we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. And it’s an example worth remembering today, when families with similar backgrounds who just want to live, work, and support their communities, are being demonized and treated as enemies.
We can fix our broken immigration system while still recognizing our common humanity and treating each other with dignity and respect. In fact, it’s the only way we ever will.”
Decent, if weak, opening.
Second para is trash entirely. “Who just want to live” is as disrespectful as it gets.
Third para brings to mind the question: just how much dignity is required to fulfill the definition of dignity?
People are told, “You can self-identify and leave.” That seems dignified.
Then they are not physically abused during their arrest. Seems pretty dignified to me.
They are fed for free. That seems dignified.
I just don‘t know what more is necessary. Many Americans would be fine with much more aggressive tactics and techniques to resolve the “paperwork.”
In the end, Obama played his role perfectly—while demonstrating again that he has no power besides attracting our attention.
Reading Log 6.9.2025
Heart of Darkness was a spur of the moment addition to what I had lined up. I stepped out of my car in my sister’s neighborhood and the neighbor whose yard I was parking in front of, and of whom I inquired if the parking spot was okay, became chatty and mentioned he’d read the book 10 times. He mentioned many other things about it too. I hadn’t read it in years (there’s a review on here from a decade or so ago). So I figured I’d give it a re-read. It is scary. Definitely not for kids. And yet it is a must read. Also, the film adaptation Apocalypse Now is probably the best adaptation of any book/story ever.
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Freud is someone I kinda disdain with all my heart. What a waste.
So everyone is living on the planet, all hunky-dory, and then one man says, “You know that feeling in your belly, the one you get when you haven’t filled your belly in a while? Well, we get hungry and have needs in our minds too, don’t ya know? Oh, and this means we invented religion.”
I enjoy reading people who I disagree with—I like trying to imagine arguing with them. So there’s that. But Freud is someone whose influence I could live without. I will say this, though. Rather, I’ll let him say it.
Freud went on to declare that Marxism and its “suffer now, be rewarded later” propaganda was, to him, no different than religion—and needs to go, too. So with that I say, Freud, ol’ buddy ol’ pal, pull up a chair. Let’s get you another round.
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I had been reading that Eddington for far too long. I am happy to be finished with it. He is exactly my style and we see the same world. The main takeaway that an honest man like Sir Eddington gives is the truth about the speed of light. He very clearly explains that the speed of light is, in fact, not unsurpassable. Instead, what the physicists mean is the speed of light is universal. His analogy is that it is the “wood grain” of the (wood)universe. Even while he was alive they had experimentally collided electrons or whatever together and gone “faster” than the speed of light. But that doesn’t affect the fact that nothing is faster than the speed of light. This is because the speed of light is the separation of time from space. So if you were to go “faster”, you’d be combining time and space, which is clearly unimaginable.
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I picked up this book on AI for obvious reasons. And guess what? My instincts were right again. There is nothing to fear. AI does not learn. It does not read. It does not understand.
In short, the computer nerds learned from the brain nerds that between 1. a conscious decision to move the body, and 3. the brain-activity that moves the body are 2. many other brain-activities whose purpose is unknown. So the computer nerds built (2.-like) delays between “do this” commands and “do this NOW” action. And then, the computer nerds programmed the “do this NOW” action to respond to “you failed” responses with (actual jargon alert) back-propagation. It is this back-propagation that is “mysterious” and where the nerds say the AI is “learning”. But again, the AI is not learning, it is following commands and making exceedingly subtle adjustments. The trouble for the nerds is the time it would take to map out all the exceedingly subtle adjustments of back propagation is considerable—and even if they took the time, they’d simply have a ton of data points and not really any necessary reason to draw one conclusion from another as to why the program executed either 1. that many actions or 2. those actions in particular in order to not “fail” again.
Talk about navel-gazing.
Regarding handling and “seeing” images, the computer nerds, this time, learned from the eyeball-nerds. In short, the eyeball nerds have learned that there is a distinct method to how we see, which essentially goes from big to small. Like, outside, blue sky, green earth, forest, tree, tree branch, tree leaf, leaf veins etc.
So on an image, the computer nerds tell a program to find edges first, and then go from there. Again, AI does not see anything. It just is really good at the game of “memory” (unless humans screw with images in certain, invisible to naked eye, ways.)
One final comment of recommendation for this book. (You really should admit ignorance and read it.) The author describes the phrases “AI Spring” and “AI Winter”. And she proceeds to use them throughout her description of AI’s history. In short, AI “astounds” someone (Computer beats Chess Champion), and money shows up in large amounts. The computer nerds take the money and promise everlasting life. This is AI Spring. Then the computer nerds fail to deliver. The money dries up. This is AI Winter. The cycle repeats. ICYMI, we are currently in AI Spring, more like AI Monsoon. But winter is coming. It always does and always will. Withstand the hype! You can do it!
Do Not, Please Do Not Listen to Tim Pool Over A Pilot
I have only just begun listening to a podcast where Tim Pool is making the case that Civil War is right around the corner.
For the record, the sequence of videos was, “Tim Pool destroying some woke comedian” (that was my first introduction to the man and never harmful to watch woke people learn they are not the only people) and then the current one, “Tim Pool with Konstantin…”
If I search, I probably will find that I have shared the following war story before on here. But it is still relevant and I like telling stories that make me look good.
So there we were. (If I was a plane pilot, Top Gun-style, I would hold my hand out flat, palm down, to represent me in my plane. But I was flying a helicopter so we chopper pilots twirl our index finger like the “whoop-dee-doo” signal.)
So there we were.
In formation—combat spread.
Two (could have been more) Pave-Lows flying across the Iraqi desert in the middle of the night.
The cockpits are illuminated, low-lightedly, by the various aircraft instruments and, given this occurred in 2008, full-color multi-function displays which currently show a map and the helicopter symbol. (Pretty standard for any navigation today—but it was high-speed for military aircraft back then.)
The general way missions are flown is the aircraft commander manages, and the co-pilot flies. So I was on the controls.
According to the MFD (moving map, remember), there was a decently large body of water in front of the helicopter symbol. According to the earth in front of us, there was a trickle of a stream.
The aircraft commander, apparently focused on the MFD, questioned aloud my decision to incautiously continue approaching this cousin of the Pacific—especially since we did not even have our HEEDS bottles on us (little scuba gear things that we would fly with when flying over water in case we went down).
I was astounded and unable to check my astonishment and said, “Uh, there’s no lake.”
He proceeded to look outside which of course became a source of great shame.
The 53 has two pilots and a flight engineer up front. The FE sitting between the heroes.
Besides the MFD, there were FLIR screens and one of the FE’s (“seat”) duties was to call out “feet wet” and “feet dry” as appropriate so that we could all arm our HEEDs bottles etc.
On this night, Seat came through for me big time as he saw the trickle approaching and said, “Feet wet…feet dry” even faster than you just read them. Lol. So funny.
Do you understand me? Tim Pool, to get going, even used some other podcaster’s “one screen, two channels” witticism/analogy to describe what is happening in the country of late.
Hahahahaha.
Wrong.
There is only screen on and screen off.
Turn. Off. The. Screen. (At least if you desire, at least some of the time, to live under the banner of truth.)
Education Cannot Result In Less Education
I have two HS Freshman and two more kids that will soon be entering kindergarten in sequence (this fall and fall 2027). Faithful readers already knew as much. Likewise, you know that I read, for pleasure, as much as any human. The substance of what I read, with only limited deviations—mostly enacted to prove I am not AI—includes great books, great essays, and great articles.
Consequently, education is always on my mind—whether my own education, my kids’ education, or your education.
Education.
What is education?
One of the great articles I recently read was from, “Reporting Vietnam: Part One”. It was written by Susan Sheehan, and entitled, “A Viet Cong: A Defector Tells His Story 1965”.
This defector, this poor soul, this (Victor) Charlie was recruited and had to sit through, and later lead other Charlies in, “political studies”.
I doubt any of us would consider what the VC were doing was “education”.
If you read any current news on the subject of education, you’ll come upon articles and propaganda about school choice. How long has it been? Since GW Bush, right? Maybe earlier.
The anti-school-choice folks run an argument that insists that because available money will be directed to White Christian Nationalist Schools (my understanding of their latent fear), the already poor blacks will receive a worse education.
But this simply is not true. I know, because I am educated. And education cannot lead to less education anymore than there is only one everlasting total of wealth to be divided among Earth’s occupants. Less education is possible. But it is never the result of education.
People who are educated, to a man, know that the poor blacks find themselves in one of the most fortunate positions fate has ever given humans. It is theirs to either exploit or abuse.
The available money that these anti-school-choice folks seem to believe will be siphoned to the White Christian Nationalist Schools in some manner of a deviously rich-get-richer, power helps power, or even plain ol’, unpunished theft, believe it either A. will be spent on indoctrination or “political studies” (NOT education) or B. will be spent on education in its true sense. (The truth, of course, is even in the best educational institution, it will be some mix, as purity is hard won.)
If A., then the fight isn’t about money, but about the definition of education. If B., then the folks arguing against school choice aren’t making an argument. Instead, they are manifesting envy in their wish to sabotage the education of others—an immature, “I can’t have a good life, so you don’t get one either” attitude.
I know this to be true because I believe education cannot result in less education.
So, to my anti-school-choice readers: if what you fear is White Christian Nationalist Schools are not conducting education, then say so. But be ready to be asked to explain just what exactly you wish to do with the poor blacks if you had enough political clout to direct the available money to them.
As for me, I say that the most natural thing in the world is to deregulate education. It should be completely pay-to-play, every parent for themselves. Public schools must be abolished. The educated rich will more than happily subsidize earnest poor black families who agree to attending institutions which conduct education. (Yes, I am suggesting written plans/agreements, which could be broken/dissolved, that include formal declaration of what the education will include and how the student and their family will perform.)
How do I know? Because education cannot result in less education. There are many ways to be confident that education is occurring. For today, I’ll simply say that one certain, though incomplete, way to discern that the so-called “educational” experience is not education is that accountability is never agreed upon or assessed.
Public schools must be abolished. Always supporting “school choice” seems the most natural first step. On the other hand, supporting “public schools”, or what is the same, supporting “the perfectly even or fair expenditure of money per student”, seems the most natural expression of “doing the same thing and expecting different results”.
No matter how you frame it, education cannot result in less education.
Captain’s Log 