SBLV

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Predictions for The Big Game? Chiefs are -3 1/2. I’ll take Tompa Bay and the points on that one. O/U is 56 1/2. I’ll take the under but ONLY by a FG. 53 is a better number. And straight up? Currently TB +150, KC -175. Think it’ll be close. I’ll take TB for a profit. Final score TB 26, KC 25.

Trying to clean up my “where did I watch” post. Still remember a student last year who was incredulous when I told him I’d watched them all as they happened!

This year plans up in the air but I’m thinking Kim and I at her place. We’ve had some offers but watching the big game with a bunch of strangers just isn’t my cuppa.

Believing, convincing and burden of proof.

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Let’s say I believe something. I believe A happened and I believe B happened and I believe that because of that C happened. I can go through the rest of my life happy as a clam, never rocking the boat, so long as I keep my belief to my self. There is no burden of proof involved.

But let’s say I believe A happened and I believe B happened and I believe that because of that C happened AND I believe you should believe this TOO. So I attempt to proselytize you. I need to PROVE A and B happened and that as a result C happened in order to convince you. The burden of proof falls upon me.

Let’s flip it again. I believe A happened and I believe B happened and I believe that because of that C happened you get wind of my belief and seek to change MY mind. This SHOULD flip the burden of proof, shouldn’t it?

And yet, so often, it doesn’t. If belief C is controversial/un-PC/radical then the burden of proof STAYS on me. “How can you believe such a thing?” Why? What am I missing here?

What I’m consuming this month

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A couple of the (better) podcasts I listen to do a “what are you consuming” bit and I’ve found it to be interesting and informative. It’s pointed me in a few right directions. May start spewing this every 3-4 weeks to see how it goes. So THIS month:

I’m working my way through the newest incarnation of Sid Myers’ Civilization VI. The one with all the weird add ons n stuff. Most of the add ons are useless but the fixes and nerfs are nice.

TV? I’ve started my appreciation of Letterkenny. NOT for everybody. Pitter patter.

Movies? After October and December’s lists things have slowed down a little and I’m rewatching some old faves. Rounders. Ocean’s Eleven (the REAL one.) To Kill a Mockingbird. And Lawrence of Arabia.

Music? Billboard’s #1’s from before 1960. Some GREAT country classics.

Food? Mom’s soup beans. Year two on Hello Fresh. And enjoying a little more wine.

Reading? The Federalist Papers. And an interesting “book club” style approach to The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.

Podcasts: Had fallen a year behind on Russ Roberts’ Econtalk. Catching up slowly. If you haven’t listened you should. To ALL of them. There’s maybe five skipable episoded since 2006. Pushing 800 episodes. His coverage of the housing and finance crisis is PERFECT. Also catching up on Philosophize THIS! Up to episode 113 (December ’17.)

He wasn’t a viking!

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Y’all know I can occasionally get a wild hair up my @$$ about some silly little thing just because it starts down a slippery slope. And so it is with the “Viking” who led “the insurrection” earlier this month. So here’s a quick fact-check and some questions and insinuations which may flow therefrom.

  1. He wasn’t dressed as a Viking. Obvious to a LOT of us for several reasons. First, the horned head-dress. Vikings didn’t wear them. I know. I know. The Geats wore them. Beowolf was a Geat. The whole horned helmet wearing Viking thing came from costume designer Carl Emil Doepler who included them in the 1870’s era production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
  2. So why did the media insist on referring to him as “a guy dressed as a viking?” See that reference to Wagner above? Ring cycle? Y’all know about the Nazi/white supremacist connection there right? It’s a VERY short step from “Viking” to “Nazi” to “White Supremacist.”
  3. So what WAS he dressed as? Why don’t you ASK him? Multiple YouTube video interviews exist. He’s from Arizona. He self-identifies as a shaman (a word typically associated with Asian and North American so-called indigenous persons) who might also be termed a Medicine Man. Dude was LARPING as an American Indian.

But we can’t call him THAT, now can we? Doesn’t fit the narrative. And might tend to impugn the integrity of a protected minority group.

Gonna be a long four years.

A little more science

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now that the goalposts are being rapidly relocated with the change in the Oval Office which my friends on the left assured me would not happen.

Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Science with several informative links.

Why Those Who Claim To ‘Follow The Science’ Are More Likely To Ignore It I’ve said it before but if keeps applying and becoming more important: I’ll believe it’s an emergency when the people telling me it’s an emergency start acting like it’s an emergency. Joe Biden Violated His Mask Mandate Within Hours of Signing It. Rules are for the little people. cf: Heritage Foundation creates interactive map for those who literally want to follow lib hypocrisy And from the Peanut Gallery: Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Mask Hypocrisy

Environmentalist groups are suing so the EPA can keep the science behind its regulations a secret. Because if science means anything it means blindly trusting authority.

And this is nothing new: The Rise and Fall of Facts.

And the point? Why ‘Just Follow the Science’ Won’t Solve All Our Problems

This is my crazy post

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IMHO I haven’t really done a crazy post in a while but today, for obvious reasons, I’m feeling the need. So here goes.

We Can’t Get Back To Normal If People Think Spreading COVID Equals Murder.

DOJ Researcher Releases Study Indicating Massive Election Fraud in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

10 Times Democrats Urged Violence Against Trump And His Supporters

THAT’S DIFFERENT BECAUSE SHUT UP: Squad Member Ayanna Pressley Called for ‘Unrest in the Streets’ Last Year.

House Dems Unanimously Block Resolution Condemning Violence and Rioting. “House Democrats unanimously blocked a resolution condemning acts of violence and rioting—including the ‘deliberate targeting of law enforcement officers’

Hey Corporate Execs, Here Are Some Democrats You Can Dump For ‘Undermining Democracy’

Adlai Stevenson: “My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”

Political Amnesia: Look at All the Democrats Who Boycotted Trump’s Inauguration.

Yes that’s a lot of rambling mumbo jumbo. And I feel MUCH better for having shared it.

According to science …

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IF we took everyone in Ohio and buried them up to their necks six feet apart, within a week there would be NO Corona in Ohio. Science, right? They couldn’t touch their faces, and we could mask them ALL. Doesn’t disagreeing with that policy proposal therefore make you “anti-science?” Can we PLEASE be done with that stupidity?

And speaking of stupidity: Asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 didn’t occur at all, study of 10 million finds. “Only 300 asymptomatic cases in the study of nearly 10 million were discovered, . . . A total of 1,174 close contacts of the asymptomatic positive cases were traced, and they all tested negative for the COVID-19.”

Of COURSE he did. Governments always do. Dr. Fauci Admits He Has Treated The American People Like Children

As harped on MONTHS ago, viral load matters: You’re Infected With the Coronavirus. But How Infected?

With apologies (although not many) to Leonard Read: I, Lockdown

COVID Lockdowns Have No Clear Benefit vs Other Voluntary Measures, International Study Shows.

Check up

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A little physical evaluation. Going to the doc in 10 days to do the evaluation that I DIDN’T get last fall because I coughed in the waiting room. Running went by the wayside right after Halloween. My body doesn’t handle the cold like it used to. “Back in the day” I’d run in chill factors down to 32 until December, then I’d lower that baseline 1 degree a day to 0 for January, then raise it again 1 degree a day starting in February back up to 32. That helped me ease into the Ohio winter without being silly. But my 60+ bod doesn’t handle the cold as well and since I’m doing it for “health” right now, not competition, I’ve set 32 as my threshold.

Weight started up about the same time. Went from 209 in September to 219 on Halloween. Have held steady at 219-222 ever since. Of course Thanksgiving, Christmas, butter cookies and football all make it difficult to “watch weight” from Halloween to mid-January anyway. But I’m back to walking 2 miles every other day or so. Won’t run until I notch a week under 220 as a favor to my knees. Gonna start mixing the Dare Bee Foundation work in as well. A little stretching and flexibility. Back to Hello Fresh as well after about a month off.

March will see a relocation back to Brice. Hopefully I’ll get my Soloflex back and reinstalled in “The Boiler Room” of my basement. Have a nice (if dated) treadmill I need to move from moms as well. Those three changes should eliminate a lot of the excuses and get me back under 215 by March. That means my running should be back to meaningful in the spring.

Way too much stationary time in the classroom. Dare Bee and paying attention to my “step alarm” should fix that. Resting BPM was 52 this time last year. It’s jumped to 54 this season. Hasn’t been 52 since July. I’m blaming not taking my AmLodipine. Solely my fault. Remedy that next week. Haven’t had a weekly sleep score of 90 since mid-September (start of school.) Been 88 and 89 since the holidays which portends a return to normalcy or what passes for same in these parts. And I’m getting 7 1/2 to 8 hours per night so that’s fine.

Next three months? Continued dietary prudence (sweet consumption is dropping, alcohol consumption monitored,) incremental increase in exercise frequency, duration and difficulty. Good to go by 63rd birthday?

Second class citizens

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Not second class so much …. but afterthoughts.

Substitute teachers. And for the most part we’re OK with that. We’re appreciated for what we do, but it’s surprising when we DON’T get thought of. The example that prompted the post: lunch. I’m always invited to the lounge or the classroom where everyone in “my department” is dining but I always feel out of place. And during da ‘Rona there are schools that won’t serve me lunch. Oh, they HAVE lunch – but because money was SO clean in the Before Times and is deadly now, they won’t handle it! I know which schools are which and can now plan accordingly, but it made for a few sketchy days back in August. And it’s a school policy. The lunch room staff is almost ALWAYS awesome to us subs.

Since this was a hot topic seemingly MONTHS ago: Robert Heinlein on the value of an education doctorate.

Go read Dr. Biden’s thesis if you like. I’ll wait. And if requested I’ll post the last two papers I wrote for law school for comparative analysis.

unrelated but my favorite headline of the week: Evil Fascist Dictator Censored And Voted Out Of Office

Science!

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because I need to take my mind off the dark stuff.

COVID Resistance On the Rise

I prefer to support freedom of the individual, NOT freedom of the Commune. Study Finds Asymptomatic Spread Not a Significant Source of the CCP Virus Pandemic.

Just to put things into perspective: Lockdowns Have Caused More Children To Drop Out Of School Than Americans Have Died Of COVID

Nationwide analysis suggests masks increased the spread of COVID-19.

Progressives have made a mockery of the slogan ‘listen to science.’

Remember that curve we were supposed to lockdown for two weeks to flatten? Two weeks became two months became two seasons and is about to become two years. Here’s a little something policy makers seem to be ignoring. Viruses gonna virus. Yup. That’s it. And we KNOW how viruses virus. Back to that curve. The space UNDER the curve represents the number of people who have had the virus. And we’re ALL gonna get it. Most of us will either feel NO ill effects or minimal. But the virus WILL spread to us all. With one exception. Those with an immunity (either natural or due to a vaccination) will likely NOT get it. But as that time sequence of the case-curve moves forward there WILL be surges (which appear as waves.) This isn’t new nor is it necessarily a failure of government policy. But eventually we will ALL be “under” the curve. And to flatten the curve is to stretch out the duration. So the longer we delay the spread or prolong the vaccination process the longer we’ll be dealing with all the attached silliness.