Home » Open thread 9/16/23

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Open thread 9/16/23 — 46 Comments

  1. This parrot has better speaking skills than Kamala Harris; at least one can understand what the parrot is saying.

  2. One of my friends at the college I taught was a biologist, really an ornithologist. He admitted he was a bit biased. He would do a guest lecture for me in astronomy when we came to the section on extraterrestrial biology. He made a good case, and provided several examples of bird intelligence and tool use. Given they evolved from surviving dinosaurs, the idea of humans as the only example of intelligence evolution is mistaken. He also pointed out the obvious example of cetaceans.

  3. We’re seeing polls; 2/3 of Americans or more don’t want Biden or Trump for President, 2/3 of Americans or more are now in favor of age limits for President.

    I don’t think most people care about age, they care about competence, but it’s people grasping at straws because the two party system we have controls the process and, once again, it is barreling towards two, and only two, candidates many (in this case most) do not want.

    The control, power and strength of the two parties immensely stifles democracy in the U.S. We need either no parties (nearly impossible to legislate) or additional, legitimate parties with power commensurate to the RNC and DNC.

    And some years some third parties have viable candidates but the RNC and DNC (with the press as their accomplices) winds up the electorate into a Yankees vs. Red Sox fervor where a vote for anyone but the RNC or DNC candidate is a vote for the other or a “wasted” vote.

    The majority of Americans do not like the current situation but those who make money off of it do* and, once again, we find ourselves in “the most important election” in history where one “must vote” for the RNC or DNC candidate to prevent the Republic from ruin.

    It is very depressing.

    *Much easier for PACs and corporate interests to get their way by throwing money to only two parties; rather than 4, 5, 7. The media’s ratings go way up as the MMA/WWE style battle rages on. RNC and DNC politicians grow rich from all the lobbyists and PACs funding the system.

  4. Parrots are very cool… but parrots can be total asshats. My daughter & fam got one and it bonded with Molly, my granddaughter. Everyone else be damned.

    It would parrot-cuss me, Jeff or my grandson Griffon every time we walked by and try to bite us if we got too close. “Too” meaning withing beak reach.

    I watched the little son-of-a-bitch walk across the entire back of their couch just to bite Jeff on the ear.

    One day Molly had it on her arm, the door was open and the demon bird flew out and away to join the flocks of parrots in FL’s skies.

  5. RTF notes that the RNC and DNC “wind up the electorate into a Yankees vs. Red Sox fervor”– given the ineptitude of the RNC, I think Yankees vs. Mets is more like it. Never forget that the 1962 Mets set a record (for both leagues) for the worst regular season that still stands– 40 wins–120 losses.

  6. RE: China—western vlogger “serpentza” explains China’s bizarre “spit fighting,” and the reasons for it.*

    This all has to do with the fact that if you injure someone in China–say, you slug them–you can end up paying not only for their medical bills, but all sorts of other compensation for them, which could last your lifetime—you are tied to them, and I’d imagine that this situation gives people a lot of incentive to fake, or to magnify the seriousness of their supposed “injuries.”

    Then, there is also the “Broken Vase” scam to consider, where someone, say, steps in front of your car and then falls down, and accuses you of hitting them, hoping to get compensation.

    Thus, spit fighting, has developed, where Chinese spit at each other, since that is not legally considered “injuring” someone, although after COVID it should be.

    P. S.–When I was in the military and arrived in Japan in the early 1960s, all new arrivals were given a briefing on what to expect and things to avoid.

    On of the tips we were given had to do with this idea that, if you injured a Japanese, you could be required to pay them compensation, and sometimes to do so virtually for your entire life—you were tied to them.

    However, if you killed them, you only had to go through the ritual of visiting their close relatives, telling them you were sincerely sorry, and offering them a small symbolic amount of money in compensation, that was it.

    So, the advice we were given was that, if we accidentally ran over someone, and they were still alive, we should back over them, to make sure that they were dead. (Serious advice? Tongue in cheek advice? I was never quite sure. )

    * See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edCiBHToOVk

  7. Firefly, I wonder about slipping Trump support has more to do with the realization amongst those OK with Trump that he is devisive, ie. causes too much TDS in both Dems and some Repubs, than his policies. You can’t govern when so many people literally can’t think straight when Trump’s name is mentioned, as we’ve witnessed.

  8. Thomas Sowell’s newest book “Social Justice Fallacies” is out, and so The Hoover Institution host Peter Robinson has a new interview with him up on YouTube.

    Here is Robinson’s post at X (or Twitter before Musk):
    “THOMAS SOWELL on UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE. My interview with Tom is up on YouTube at this very hour.
    youtube.com
    Consequences Matter: Thomas Sowell on “Social Justice Fallacies” |…

    https://youtu.be/pn2gda_phAA?si=rpsOhUC6_cE_odmM

  9. One day Molly had it on her arm, the door was open and the demon bird flew out and away to join the flocks of parrots in FL’s skies.

    Olignocella:

    One afternoon in San Francisco I noticed a flock of parrots in a stand of trees near North Beach. I was quite excited by my discovery.

    Wild parrots in San Francisco!

    Then I learned they were old news.

    https://www.kqed.org/news/11185731/where-did-the-wild-parrots-of-san-francisco-come-from

    I still loved the wild parrots. I would look for them, but mostly I would hear their screeching, then sight them.

  10. RE: Parrots–For some reason YouTube has decided that I want to see a lot of videos about parrots as pets.

    Unfortunately, the conclusion I’ve reached after looking at a few of these videos is that these birds are loud, messy, often destructive, occasionally bite, need a lot of personal attention from their owners to keep them in good psychological health (they normally are part of a flock, but, from what I saw, they bond to you, and you take the place of their parrot sexual partners, and they can be very jealous).

    Ultimately parrots cost a hell of a lot of time and money.

    Moreover, a very long-lived bird like an African Grey could be a multi-generational commitment.

    It seems that to keep parrots in good health you practically have to reorganize your life around them, and their needs, otherwise they do things like pluck out all of their feathers, and a naked parrot is not a pretty sight.

  11. Watched it again. My favorite exchange was “You’re funny.” | “Sorry, can’t help it.”

  12. P.S. Get, say, a screeching, high decibel Macaw, and if you have any nearby neighbors, they will likely be paying you a visit to complain about the noise, and I don’t think that you could ever have a Macaw in an apartment or condo, unless you had some pretty extraordinary soundproofing.

  13. Snow on Pine:

    Unacknowledged? I wonder if anyone will ever get around to writing books or making movies about UFOs? Tis truly a mystery how long they have been “unacknowledged.”

    Or not at all.

  14. If you want a bird, and have land, get chickens , ducks , guineas or geese. The chickens especially are more useful.

  15. The chickens especially are more useful.

    –Jon baker

    Good eatin’, but poor conversationalists. I assure you. 🙂

    I’m only 71 and not ready to settle down. When I am, I may get an African Grey.

    My Tai Chi teacher had one and brought it to all her classes. Spooky bird. I couldn’t tell what it was thinking, but I could tell that it was.

  16. Had a friend with an Amazon Yellow Nape we would occasionally ‘bird sit’. Really loved that bird but, yes, too much investment to have one full time.
    They can be very jealous. The bird came into her life first and absolutely hated her husband. Would attack him whenever the chance arose. Laughing maniacally!
    They do seem to be fairly high on the animal intelligence scale.

  17. My sister once had a green parrot named Lorito that was quit fond of Doritos. She would sit outside and wolf whistle at the people walking by. Didn’t like men though.

  18. TJ,

    I listened to the Thomas Sowell podcast on Uncommon Knowledge. It’s very good. I didn’t know the stuff about IQ averages. Would that our President at age 80 had one half of Sowell’s intellect and energy at age 93.

  19. Open Thread Sunday: Russo-Ukraine war

    Russian Defence Production 2023 – Can Russia keep up with equipment attrition in Ukraine? – Perun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctrtAwT2sgs

    00:00:00 — Russian Defence Production 2023
    00:01:34 — What Am I Talking About
    00:02:47 — Assessing Defence And Industrial Production
    00:10:11 — Budgets And Indexes
    00:17:38 — Corporates And Workforces
    00:23:27 — Output Measures
    00:27:54 — What’s Going On In The Russian Data?
    00:31:45 — Russian Equipment Patterns
    00:50:40 — The Drone Effort
    00:58:26 — What About Sanctions
    00:59:55 — Endurance And A Changing Russian Army
    01:03:08 — Scenarios And Failure Points
    01:08:09 — Conclusions
    01:09:58 — Channel Update

  20. Re: “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”

    Another Mike:

    I am aware of the film and may get to it someday. I’m a bit conflicted about my old hometown these days.

  21. My other favorite intelligent animal is good old Ocky, the octopus. Such wonderful creatures.

    There are at least three separate incidents online of an octopus caught on the beach as the tide goes out, in danger of asphyxiation, then a human or humans move Ocky so he’s underwater again, and later Ocky returns to show gratitude.

    Here’s an example from the Red Sea:

    https://animalchannel.co/octopus-thanks-family-saved-it/

  22. @ huxley – “I’m a bit conflicted about my old hometown these days.”

    I fear you will not be pleased with this either.
    A “walking tour” of Berkeley as it is now.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv89eQqZ_6Q
    “Berkeley is a city in the east side of San Francisco. It’s home to the University of California, Berkeley, south of the university, are cafes, shops and music stores but lately most of them are CLOSED”

  23. @ Abraxas “Massive stream of Venezuelans in Darien Gap headed here.
    At least they left their parrots back home.”

    Also, apparently, food, tents, clothing, and other things that scouts carry on simple week-end camping trips.
    Who is providing all of the necessities of life to these thousands as they travel for hundreds of miles?

    Cartels control the Darien — who pays them to let people through?

  24. Fourteen minute testimony of PhD toxicologist, microbiologist MD Anderson trained Dr. Lanci Lindsay before SC Senate Med Affair Ad Hoc Committee on mRNA injections.

    She’s given testimony at CDC and FDA, attempting to get these injections recalled because of the contamination found in every vial examined.

    “We have never done this before.”
    “We don’t give experimental products to pregnant women. We don’t give experimental products to babies. Please protect your citizens.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjQQ7kkj3Bs

  25. RE: UFOs—Say AARO, DOD, and NASA—forget about the past, “we need more data”

    Richard Dolan has been researching the UFO phenomenon for more than 30 years now, and he points out that, over the last 80 years, there has been the accumulation of an incredible amount of world-wide “data” on UFOs, both military data and civilian data, much of it probably without enough detail and corroboration, some of it undoubtedly useful, all of this “data”–on the surface–ignored by these agencies.*

    This accumulation certainly enough to—if these agencies really wanted to, and were serious about it–winnow through and pick out the best cases, and probably thousands of them.

    I note that, for instance, Jacques Vallee has said that he had put together a searchable database of more than 200,000 such sightings when he worked for Bigelow Aerospace, and that this database still remains secret.

    Why hasn’t anyone mentioned this database. and tried to get a copy, to see if it contains anything useful?

    The Agencies above talk and act as if UFOs were a brand new phenomenon, which they are just starting to grapple with, that they are baffled and starting from square one, “de novo.”

    Thus, this all just seems to be a vast charade–an attempt to continue the government’s 80 year cover up and disinformation campaign.

    They’re playing dumb, and I presume these agencies will all eventually try to say, well, we did our best, we looked, and there’s “nothing to see here folks, just move on.”

    See, for instance, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N-YKQ62Rtc0

  26. RE: UFOs and “data”

    In the middle of reading Australian investigative journalist Ross Coulthart’s new book about the UFO phenomenon titled, “In Plain Sight,” and this is a very apt title, since he details the mountain of “data” on UFOs–the decade’s long trail–which he has been able to review–talked to the witnesses, read the documents–demonstrating that, in fact, this mountain of evidence is right in front of us, staring us in the face, if only we want to acknowledge and see it.*

    * See https://www.harpercollins.com/products/in-plain-sight-ross-coulthart?variant=33085128572962

  27. RE’ UFOs–why not see the mountain of evidence?

    I can think of several reasons, but perhaps the primary one for each one of us is that, if you acknowledge that UFOs are real, that some small percentage of these sightings–say 5 plus percent–are of craft far more advanced than any current human technology, and that they show the signs of being under intelligent control you, then, have to admit that a very advanced likely non-human intelligence is involved–could be an ancient and parallel terrestrial evolutionary line, could be extraterrestrial, could be from another dimension, or time, could be an alien AI, could be a combination of several of these–but still a likely “non-human intelligence, a “NHI.”

    And, if you are in the military, you have to admit that for all of your technology and armaments, you are powerless to stop these UFOs from going wherever they want to go, and doing whatever they want to do.

    And once you admit that as a likely possibility, you have to completely revise your world view–who you are, what your place in the Universe is, and the nature of that Universe–you’ve been hit by “ontological shock”–and, I’d imagine, no one wants that.

    No one wants that.

    Thus, the willful blindness to the mountain of evidence, to the “data.”

  28. om–The opposite was very conceivable and comforting–all was as it seemed–except, that, there is now a lot of accumulating, very discomforting and disconcerting evidence to the contrary, saying that all is not what it seems.

    Some people have “seen the elephant,” and are pointing to it and shouting “look over here,” but far too few–so far–are listening and looking.

  29. You choose to believe what you will. Some see pink elephants. Whether you were comforted before or after, again is a question of who you ultimately put your faith in.

  30. Barry Meislin:

    So that’s where you go to find UFOs?

    The other UFOs (Unidentified Floating Objects (don’t touch)) and hope the chlorine or bromine levels are adequate!

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