Links of Possible Relevance, Part 42

‘It’s too late’: Alabama doctor shares final moments of Covid patients, urges vaccination
This is almost as fake as the Jewish doctor treating the Neo-Nazi that I posted about a few months ago. It has all the tells. The only thing that would make it a more obvious ploy is if Antonio Planas (the article’s writer) and his editor elbow-nudged the reader about the overlap of Trump supporters and people who refuse the jab, though I’m sure some outlets did that. Most people reading it would make that connection anyways.

I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike | NYT Opinion
Not a fake story, but there’s something unspoken here. The Nike coaches likely didn’t want to do anything different with her than other athletes, male or female. They have unlimited money and the best professionals on hand; they know what works and what doesn’t. I think they wanted to put her on a PED regimen (she may have already been on one), and she didn’t want to do it, someone at NYT caught wind of it and turned it into a weird “men bad”/healthy body image story. Those angles sell much better than illegal steroid use ones.

Government report can’t explain UFOs, but offers no evidence of aliens
Well, then…what are they?

The Psychology and Rise of the Mid-Wit
If it’s easier to get degrees in a subject, you’ll for sure get more legitimate experts, but you’ll also get a lot more folks that are not quite expert in the subject…yet they have the same credentials. Too many college degrees flooding the market muddy the signal, so there’s no way to know who is really an expert in anything.

Blade Runner 2049 – Memory Facility Scene [HD]
The audio seems a bit low for me, but I really like this scene, even as a disconnected, standalone narrative. I like the “real human responses” bit of dialog, which foreshadows, and gives a t both of their reactions at the end.

Hunter Biden’s abstract art to sell for $500K to ‘anonymous’ and ‘confidential’ collectors says his ex-con agent, raising serious questions about WHO the buyers are
Money laundering.

Italian Artist Sells Invisible Sculpture For $18,000
More money laundering.

The Artist Behind That $18,000 Invisible Sculpture Is Being Sued
Hah.

Seminar speakers announced – Tolkien and Diversity
What is this silliness? Christopher Tolkien dies and it all starts going to hell.

A thread rating the root systems of various plants
“Cirsium spinosissimum (Spiniest thistle)
– wow
– knows what it wants
– cirsium spinosissimum drinks YOUR milkshake!
– a true industrialist
9/10”

Kurt Vonnegut on 8 ‘shapes’ of stories
Stories, like life itself, need to go up and down.

4 Comments

  • Graham says:

    I would rather buy an invisible sculpture than an artwork by Banksy.

  • Ed Hurst says:

    On the fastest girl story, I would counter that my experience tells me there is a fierce prejudice out there among folks in my generation and a little earlier, and it does run against girls in particular having any thickness at all, but against men, too. I did rather well in cross-country when the course included hills, simply because I was hefty and my legs were strong enough to allow me to run full tilt downhill and not lose control. Skinnier guys could beat me on the climbs, but I made up for it on the down slopes, where they had to fight the slope to stay in control. Coaches didn’t care if I could actually win; they kept preaching I had to lose weight, more than was actually safe. I actually lost strength and it made me ill so I dropped out of training. While the story with NYT may be twisted a little, there’s a nugget of truth about there being a prejudice.

    Speaking of prejudice: The US Military has a lot to do with promoting mid-wits. If you have real genius in common stuff, the Army hated you. All of the training seeks to take away your advantages and level the playing field so nobody could really excel, and the more ordinary folks didn’t get discouraged. I was able to discern it because of my background in psychology before joining the military. Really talented people can either go into special services or would be driven out.

    • Jay DiNitto says:

      I don’t think your assessment is wrong, I just find it hard to believe she was the only one who went through something like that. Other people at that level must experience it as well. I think she was just in the right place/time, caught the attention of the right people, for the story to happen.

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