Jeff Zucker fired/resigned as the head of CNN. Purportedly because he was secretly dating an employee. Is that the real reason, or can we hope that the board of directors want a different or less slant at CNN?
Meanwhile, Punxsutawney Phil wishes everyone on the good ship Neo a Happy Groundhog Day! Of course you all know that if Brandon saw his shadow this morning, we get six more months of kabuki COVID theater.
Maybe the Dam is leaking a bit after the Johns Hopkins study on just how bad the lockdowns were, and how ineffective they were. Will there be more?
Interesting about the NM Senator, Lujan, suffering a Stroke. I would not wish a Stroke on anyone, not even my worst enemy. My Mom died from a Stroke. Unless he dies or resigns the NM Gov can’t appoint a replacement, which would also be a Dem. In the mean time the Senator will be a “fun” place to be.
Sen Lujan reportedly had decompressive surgery to relieve increased pressure on his brain. If true, that is a big deal. This surgery involves removal of a section of the skull to allow the brain to swell without compressing the healthy brain. The skull piece is kept in a freezer until the swelling resolved, which takes a few weeks. Another operation is then done to replace the skull flap. Complete recovery typically takes months, even if there is no residual damage.
“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht”
TommyJay said…Is that the real reason, or can we hope that the board of directors want a different or less slant at CNN?
There’s almost certainly a lot more to the story than has been revealed so far. Evidently the woman with whom Zucker was having an affair was some kind of an advisor for Andrew Cuomo or something? With all the scandels, the pediphiles and other assorted sex pests, CNN isn’t merely a dumpster fire, but a burning dumpster filled with fireworks.
Jeff Zucker fired/resigned as the head of CNN. Purportedly because he was secretly dating an employee. Is that the real reason, or can we hope that the board of directors want a different or less slant at CNN?
As far as I can tell, their business model has been to pander to the Democratic Party’s enragés. If they want to build a news organization of the sort Ted Turner originally assembled, it might be wise to simply shut down CNN and start fresh, because the brand is trashed. A fresh start might mean retaining the hourly employees and the salaried support staff, but canning the line employees en bloc. At the very least, everyone implicated in generating the editorial matter in their public affairs programming would have to go. (They have entertainment programming as well).
Oooh, you’re knotty.
According to the co-bloggers over at Small Dead Animals, the Canadian truckers reached their fundraising goal of $10 million CAD (a loonie is currently worth 79 cents in U.S. dollars) some time this morning. One person donated $30,000 CAD.
In other news: following Ron DeSantis’ example, Republicans in Congress are speaking out in support of the Canadian truckers: “‘The truckers in Canada have done more for freedom than the entire Democrat party the past two years,’ Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said. ‘They are not some “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.” The American people, and freedom loving people across the globe, are tired of the Left’s tyrannical policies. By standing against vaccine mandates, these truckers are simply standing up for liberty. We are behind them.'”
More quotes, videos from Canada, and links to Canadian sources at the link:
And a quick covid note: for the first time in 2 months we had a national net decrease in new daily cases… -75k. My main concern now is that next week we start hearing about how great Biden is for his policies on beating the virus. Never mind nothing the administration has done has altered this natural course of the virus. I’m sure there will be an uptick in his polling in about a month when the omicron has disappeared.
That pile of rope is a disaster, being an old Boy Scout as well as sailing boats for decades disorganized rope makes my head hurt, almost a migraine thing. That is a perfect metaphor for current politics, a big disorganized pile that is useless if an actual work task is required.
OldTexan speaks for me, that pile of rope is just screaming for someone to organize it. Disorganized rope is dangerous rope.
Never step in the bight of a line.
To Art Deco’s point – here’s a question I’ve been asking myself: Could a straight up news network – truly attempting to deliver news, unbiased, 24/7 – make it? It would ultimately all come down to advertising dollars and viewership. I like to think it could, but if it could, wouldn’t it have already?
What would Ashley say about such a heap of line, acceptable? Knot! Fit to be tied, he’d be!
Hemp rope – the climbing rope we used as teenage rock climbers was 3/4″ x 100′. rope. We knew it wouldn’t standup to a long fall. So, we didn’t tempt fate as much as when, after
WWII, nylon ropes became available. What an advance they were. They would actually hold a significant fall and, along with the dynamic belay technique, made climbing much safer, which allowed limits to be pushed. A few years later the Europeans developed the nylon rope made up of thousands of parallel strands of nylon encased in a woven nylon sheath -the kernmantle rope – another giant leap for safety and ease of handling. They were light enough that standard rope length became 150′. They also have enormous elasticity, making an arrested fall much less jolting.
As for an organized rope. In rock climbing we always found it best to pile the rope on the belay ledge. It never got snarled when piled loosely. Aboard ship that might not work as the rope normally moves out much faster. I was never a Boatswain’s Mate in the Navy but noticed that all ropes were carefully coiled just so. Different scenarios call for different techniques. 🙂
The Redskins are now the Commanders. So, anyone buying season tickets to see the Washington Commies play? The jokes write themselves.
Well, can’t have this thread unravelling so here’s a link:
Alan Colbo– One source maintains that the team took its new name from the Bidens’ new puppy. IOW, the team has gone to the dogs.
The other joke making its way around the Web is that the Washington players will go commando on the field.
Neo’s server dropped one of my posts too. Maybe it’s had a reaction to its latest booster?
Pa+cat. Lol. Seems if I check the box to save my email (cookies) it drops the post.
And so from now one, and it will be that, those who support the Washington Team of Football will call their fellows Comrades.
Not bad, Om. Not bad.
But do you know to make a @#%^ splice?
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series was all my naughtical education.
I’ll second J.J.’s comment on organized rope. My family did a lot of water skiing in my youth. In the early days the tow line was neatly coiled when stowed and snarls and knots were a frequent problem.
Later, we just piled the line into the box like cavity beneath the seat cushion, taking care to lay the handle on the top of the middle of the pile. Redeploy by tossing the handle into the water. Worked perfectly every time.
“The surest way to lose an argument is to concede the premise put forth by the person taking the other side of the debate. His starting premise is, at the very minimum, not harmful to his argument. Most likely, he starts with a premise that makes his conclusions inevitable. It would be insane to start from a premise that must lead to a contradictory conclusion. If you concede his premise without considering this strong possibility, you are sure to lose the debate.
This is why it is always good to be wary of people who claim to support your argument, but who insists upon conceding the premise of your opponent. Either that person is stupid or they are trying to undermine your argument. This has been the history of conservatism in America. They concede the premise to the Progressives, while claiming they can win the argument against the Progressives. This was famously observed by Robert Lewis Dabney a century ago.
.
.
.
This is why non-interventionism is seen as a bigger threat to the current order than a nuclear exchange with Russia or war with China in the Pacific. To accept the fact that there are some places around the world that are not the business of the American empire opens the debate about the limits of empire. Once we accept that there is a line beyond which it is immoral for us to go, the debate is about where to draw the line and neoconservatism has no argument for this.
Further, if we concede that Russia has legitimate interests in Ukraine, rooted in their history and culture, then we must concede that history and culture exists as something other than social constructs. In other words, to take the claims of Russia seriously is to question a fundamental premise of the current order. This is where it becomes plain that American interests in Ukraine have little to do with reality on the ground and everything to do with the prevailing morality of Washington.
This is why the neoconservatives insist that the American people have a strong interest in protecting Ukraine. If they can make that the premise of the debate, there is never a reason to question the endless meddling in the region. The debate is about how to meddle in their affairs, not whether we should meddle in the region. The former serves the interest of the neocons, while the latter excludes them from the debate, something that needs to happen sooner rather than later.”
Well Z first you need a fid, or a marlin spike, and a bit of time, to make a splice or an eye, aye, a bit of time.
They’ve switched to the latest flavor in calculus textbooks — the Briggs-Cochran 3rd Edition. It’s about 1300 pages long and weighs 6 1/2 lbs. It reduces calculus to hundreds of recipes, explains each in microscopic (and somewhat confusing) detail, then arranges each chapter to fill about an hour of class time.
My teacher is a small young woman. She stands at the front of the room, shouting through her mask, explaining each recipe and writing very fast on the blackboard. She’s got to check off a dozen boxes before the hour is up. She asks if there are questions, but there rarely are.
Students scribble furiously in their notebooks, gaze vacantly into space or sneak peeks at their phones. We don’t have time either to think much about what she says. We’re just checking boxes too.
There is no big picture. No relating what we’re learning to the real world, say, how a GPS phone uses calculus to locate itself in relation to a satellite. No sense of how it fits together in mathematics.
I don’t quite recognize this as learning. It’s just drill-and-kill recipes. By the end of class I’m half-exhausted from watching the teacher work so hard at the board.
I guess I can see some argument that the kids taking calculus are fairly average and are not going to become mathematicians. So the greatest good is to drag as many as possible across the finish line based on quantifiable skills, never mind how soon they forget it all or how unpleasant the process is.
Today I was driving to my cafe and I got stopped behind an Amazon truck parked halfway into the road. I waited. The Amazon driver did his business at the house, then *ran* back to his truck, flung open the truck door, leapt into his seat and drove off.
Is this the future? Where every spare moment is squeezed out of every working day to check the next box as quickly as possible?
@Huxley:
That doesn’t sound like fun at all! Hate these modern super thick money gouging textbooks. Spivak + the Calculus Made Easy book recommended by Feynman himself would be more like it.
Just learned from the South China Morning Post that Feb 2 is 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses.
@ huxley –
I entered college as a math major, because that’s the STEM discipline I enjoyed most in high school (the literature courses were just entertainment; I saw no need to have other people tell me what to think about what I was reading).
After my first year – which is where I encountered Calculus – I switched to the computer programming and statistics courses (my degree is officially in Applied Mathematics).
The people who actually understand the theory of calculus and know what they are doing (as opposed to just running the algorithms) are a breed apart from the rest of us.
@AesopFan:
Yup… I can recall an engineering professor saying something like “Don’t ever talk to even an Applied Mathematician, let alone a pure ditto about what we’re doing here with Laplace Transforms… they won’t like hearing about it and you won’t like hearing what they have to say about what you really ought to be doing either.”
@ PA Cat –
One of the commenters at SDA linked this news post, which talks about the city’s response, the lack of violence (dangerous or otherwise), some arrests, and the new domestic terrorism weapon – honking.
Area residents have complained of sleepless night because of the noise from the downtown core since the weekend. But one member of the convoy said that the demonstrators are staying within Ottawa noise bylaws.
“The horns have not been honking all night long the past few nights. They actually stick within the Ottawa bylaw. There are no horns honking between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.,” Jeff Gaudry, who came from Vernon, B.C., told CTV Morning Live on Wednesday.
“The weekend when everyone was here, there was quite a bit of a celebration going on,” he added. “But the people that are here right now, we actually respect the city of Ottawa. The streets have never been cleaner.”
Test comment from computer instead of phone
Zaphod, AesopFan:
I’ve still got my copy of “Calculus Made Easy” by Silvanus Thompson.
From Feynman’s “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out” it’s clear Feynman read Silvanus T., but his real go-to book as a teen autodidact was “Calculus for the Practical Man” by J.E. Thompson.
Fascinating article here, including pages of Feynman’s own notes:
Gordian? Not!
Tweet of the day yesterday
Lauren Boebert
@laurenboebert
Should the Buccaneers promise to replace Tom Brady with a woman of color?
5:20 PM · Feb 1, 2022
all you need now is some light poles, and certain gov’t workers and some assembly
Here is an interesting article as to why Trump’s ascension to the presidency was met with a massive tsunami of opposition from the deep state.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/02/20/trump-elite-brexit-rome-crisis-glenn-reynolds-column/98132442/
Jeff Zucker fired/resigned as the head of CNN. Purportedly because he was secretly dating an employee. Is that the real reason, or can we hope that the board of directors want a different or less slant at CNN?
Meanwhile, Punxsutawney Phil wishes everyone on the good ship Neo a Happy Groundhog Day! Of course you all know that if Brandon saw his shadow this morning, we get six more months of kabuki COVID theater.
Maybe the Dam is leaking a bit after the Johns Hopkins study on just how bad the lockdowns were, and how ineffective they were. Will there be more?
Interesting about the NM Senator, Lujan, suffering a Stroke. I would not wish a Stroke on anyone, not even my worst enemy. My Mom died from a Stroke. Unless he dies or resigns the NM Gov can’t appoint a replacement, which would also be a Dem. In the mean time the Senator will be a “fun” place to be.
Sen Lujan reportedly had decompressive surgery to relieve increased pressure on his brain. If true, that is a big deal. This surgery involves removal of a section of the skull to allow the brain to swell without compressing the healthy brain. The skull piece is kept in a freezer until the swelling resolved, which takes a few weeks. Another operation is then done to replace the skull flap. Complete recovery typically takes months, even if there is no residual damage.
“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht”
TommyJay said…Is that the real reason, or can we hope that the board of directors want a different or less slant at CNN?
There’s almost certainly a lot more to the story than has been revealed so far. Evidently the woman with whom Zucker was having an affair was some kind of an advisor for Andrew Cuomo or something? With all the scandels, the pediphiles and other assorted sex pests, CNN isn’t merely a dumpster fire, but a burning dumpster filled with fireworks.
Jeff Zucker fired/resigned as the head of CNN. Purportedly because he was secretly dating an employee. Is that the real reason, or can we hope that the board of directors want a different or less slant at CNN?
As far as I can tell, their business model has been to pander to the Democratic Party’s enragés. If they want to build a news organization of the sort Ted Turner originally assembled, it might be wise to simply shut down CNN and start fresh, because the brand is trashed. A fresh start might mean retaining the hourly employees and the salaried support staff, but canning the line employees en bloc. At the very least, everyone implicated in generating the editorial matter in their public affairs programming would have to go. (They have entertainment programming as well).
Oooh, you’re knotty.
According to the co-bloggers over at Small Dead Animals, the Canadian truckers reached their fundraising goal of $10 million CAD (a loonie is currently worth 79 cents in U.S. dollars) some time this morning. One person donated $30,000 CAD.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/02/02/the-citizens-of-the-world-love-freedom/#respond
In other news: following Ron DeSantis’ example, Republicans in Congress are speaking out in support of the Canadian truckers: “‘The truckers in Canada have done more for freedom than the entire Democrat party the past two years,’ Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said. ‘They are not some “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.” The American people, and freedom loving people across the globe, are tired of the Left’s tyrannical policies. By standing against vaccine mandates, these truckers are simply standing up for liberty. We are behind them.'”
More quotes, videos from Canada, and links to Canadian sources at the link:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-congress-canada-trucker-convoy-vaccine-mandates-trudeau
And a quick covid note: for the first time in 2 months we had a national net decrease in new daily cases… -75k. My main concern now is that next week we start hearing about how great Biden is for his policies on beating the virus. Never mind nothing the administration has done has altered this natural course of the virus. I’m sure there will be an uptick in his polling in about a month when the omicron has disappeared.
That pile of rope is a disaster, being an old Boy Scout as well as sailing boats for decades disorganized rope makes my head hurt, almost a migraine thing. That is a perfect metaphor for current politics, a big disorganized pile that is useless if an actual work task is required.
OldTexan speaks for me, that pile of rope is just screaming for someone to organize it. Disorganized rope is dangerous rope.
Never step in the bight of a line.
To Art Deco’s point – here’s a question I’ve been asking myself: Could a straight up news network – truly attempting to deliver news, unbiased, 24/7 – make it? It would ultimately all come down to advertising dollars and viewership. I like to think it could, but if it could, wouldn’t it have already?
What would Ashley say about such a heap of line, acceptable? Knot! Fit to be tied, he’d be!
Hemp rope – the climbing rope we used as teenage rock climbers was 3/4″ x 100′. rope. We knew it wouldn’t standup to a long fall. So, we didn’t tempt fate as much as when, after
WWII, nylon ropes became available. What an advance they were. They would actually hold a significant fall and, along with the dynamic belay technique, made climbing much safer, which allowed limits to be pushed. A few years later the Europeans developed the nylon rope made up of thousands of parallel strands of nylon encased in a woven nylon sheath -the kernmantle rope – another giant leap for safety and ease of handling. They were light enough that standard rope length became 150′. They also have enormous elasticity, making an arrested fall much less jolting.
As for an organized rope. In rock climbing we always found it best to pile the rope on the belay ledge. It never got snarled when piled loosely. Aboard ship that might not work as the rope normally moves out much faster. I was never a Boatswain’s Mate in the Navy but noticed that all ropes were carefully coiled just so. Different scenarios call for different techniques. 🙂
The Redskins are now the Commanders. So, anyone buying season tickets to see the Washington Commies play? The jokes write themselves.
Well, can’t have this thread unravelling so here’s a link:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashley_Book_of_Knots
Ashley is still the man, and his book is still in print.
Every so often a new knot is invented. And there are those mathematicians who study topology and physicists who are fond of string.
“The capitalists will sell us the rope we’ll hang them with….”
No doubt…uh, just hold on a sec….
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5fobcc/did_anyone_actually_say_the_capitalists_will_sell/
Alan Colbo– One source maintains that the team took its new name from the Bidens’ new puppy. IOW, the team has gone to the dogs.
The other joke making its way around the Web is that the Washington players will go commando on the field.
Meanwhile, in the tug of war between Durham and the Hillary Gang (with her deeply embedded legion of crooked accomplices), one continues to wonder if “hoist” will ever, ever meet “petard”…
“…Durham Investigation of Obamagate Expands”—
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/02/02/huge-durham-investigation-of-obamagate-expands-n1555338
H/T Instapundit.
Thought you might like to see this link – https://ianleslie.substack.com/p/the-banality-of-genius-notes-on-peter
Seems Neo’s server was not liking me today, so this is just a test post.
Hmm…seems to be working now. Anyway here’s a very young changer who was featured on Laura Ingrahm last night. Thought Neo would be interested:
https://www.prageru.com/presenters/amala-ekpunobi
Physicsguy–
Neo’s server dropped one of my posts too. Maybe it’s had a reaction to its latest booster?
Pa+cat. Lol. Seems if I check the box to save my email (cookies) it drops the post.
And so from now one, and it will be that, those who support the Washington Team of Football will call their fellows Comrades.
Not bad, Om. Not bad.
But do you know to make a @#%^ splice?
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series was all my naughtical education.
I’ll second J.J.’s comment on organized rope. My family did a lot of water skiing in my youth. In the early days the tow line was neatly coiled when stowed and snarls and knots were a frequent problem.
Later, we just piled the line into the box like cavity beneath the seat cushion, taking care to lay the handle on the top of the middle of the pile. Redeploy by tossing the handle into the water. Worked perfectly every time.
One for the VDH Fans:
https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=26505
Ukraine on the Brain:
“The surest way to lose an argument is to concede the premise put forth by the person taking the other side of the debate. His starting premise is, at the very minimum, not harmful to his argument. Most likely, he starts with a premise that makes his conclusions inevitable. It would be insane to start from a premise that must lead to a contradictory conclusion. If you concede his premise without considering this strong possibility, you are sure to lose the debate.
This is why it is always good to be wary of people who claim to support your argument, but who insists upon conceding the premise of your opponent. Either that person is stupid or they are trying to undermine your argument. This has been the history of conservatism in America. They concede the premise to the Progressives, while claiming they can win the argument against the Progressives. This was famously observed by Robert Lewis Dabney a century ago.
.
.
.
This is why non-interventionism is seen as a bigger threat to the current order than a nuclear exchange with Russia or war with China in the Pacific. To accept the fact that there are some places around the world that are not the business of the American empire opens the debate about the limits of empire. Once we accept that there is a line beyond which it is immoral for us to go, the debate is about where to draw the line and neoconservatism has no argument for this.
Further, if we concede that Russia has legitimate interests in Ukraine, rooted in their history and culture, then we must concede that history and culture exists as something other than social constructs. In other words, to take the claims of Russia seriously is to question a fundamental premise of the current order. This is where it becomes plain that American interests in Ukraine have little to do with reality on the ground and everything to do with the prevailing morality of Washington.
This is why the neoconservatives insist that the American people have a strong interest in protecting Ukraine. If they can make that the premise of the debate, there is never a reason to question the endless meddling in the region. The debate is about how to meddle in their affairs, not whether we should meddle in the region. The former serves the interest of the neocons, while the latter excludes them from the debate, something that needs to happen sooner rather than later.”
Well Z first you need a fid, or a marlin spike, and a bit of time, to make a splice or an eye, aye, a bit of time.
You can loose Zman.
Petition to Justin Trudeau supporting Canadian trucker convoy:
https://lifepetitions.com/petition/petition-stand-with-canada-s-truckers
So. I’m taking Calculus 1 … again.
They’ve switched to the latest flavor in calculus textbooks — the Briggs-Cochran 3rd Edition. It’s about 1300 pages long and weighs 6 1/2 lbs. It reduces calculus to hundreds of recipes, explains each in microscopic (and somewhat confusing) detail, then arranges each chapter to fill about an hour of class time.
My teacher is a small young woman. She stands at the front of the room, shouting through her mask, explaining each recipe and writing very fast on the blackboard. She’s got to check off a dozen boxes before the hour is up. She asks if there are questions, but there rarely are.
Students scribble furiously in their notebooks, gaze vacantly into space or sneak peeks at their phones. We don’t have time either to think much about what she says. We’re just checking boxes too.
There is no big picture. No relating what we’re learning to the real world, say, how a GPS phone uses calculus to locate itself in relation to a satellite. No sense of how it fits together in mathematics.
I don’t quite recognize this as learning. It’s just drill-and-kill recipes. By the end of class I’m half-exhausted from watching the teacher work so hard at the board.
I guess I can see some argument that the kids taking calculus are fairly average and are not going to become mathematicians. So the greatest good is to drag as many as possible across the finish line based on quantifiable skills, never mind how soon they forget it all or how unpleasant the process is.
Today I was driving to my cafe and I got stopped behind an Amazon truck parked halfway into the road. I waited. The Amazon driver did his business at the house, then *ran* back to his truck, flung open the truck door, leapt into his seat and drove off.
Is this the future? Where every spare moment is squeezed out of every working day to check the next box as quickly as possible?
@Huxley:
That doesn’t sound like fun at all! Hate these modern super thick money gouging textbooks. Spivak + the Calculus Made Easy book recommended by Feynman himself would be more like it.
Just learned from the South China Morning Post that Feb 2 is 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses.
@ huxley –
I entered college as a math major, because that’s the STEM discipline I enjoyed most in high school (the literature courses were just entertainment; I saw no need to have other people tell me what to think about what I was reading).
After my first year – which is where I encountered Calculus – I switched to the computer programming and statistics courses (my degree is officially in Applied Mathematics).
The people who actually understand the theory of calculus and know what they are doing (as opposed to just running the algorithms) are a breed apart from the rest of us.
@AesopFan:
Yup… I can recall an engineering professor saying something like “Don’t ever talk to even an Applied Mathematician, let alone a pure ditto about what we’re doing here with Laplace Transforms… they won’t like hearing about it and you won’t like hearing what they have to say about what you really ought to be doing either.”
@ PA Cat –
One of the commenters at SDA linked this news post, which talks about the city’s response, the lack of violence (dangerous or otherwise), some arrests, and the new domestic terrorism weapon – honking.
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-expect-freedom-convoy-protest-to-grow-this-weekend-1.5764002
Test comment from computer instead of phone
Zaphod, AesopFan:
I’ve still got my copy of “Calculus Made Easy” by Silvanus Thompson.
From Feynman’s “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out” it’s clear Feynman read Silvanus T., but his real go-to book as a teen autodidact was “Calculus for the Practical Man” by J.E. Thompson.
Fascinating article here, including pages of Feynman’s own notes:
–“A look inside Feynman’s calculus notebook”
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.9099/full/
–“Calculus for the Practical Man”
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462654/page/n1/mode/2up