Caring about what you actually control

Posted: September 25, 2021 by ng36b in economy, News/opinion, Uncomfortable Truths
Tags: , , , ,

Apparently its a thing to not have kids due to climate change.

https://www.popsci.com/environment/having-children-climate-change/

‘It’s a human right to decide whether or not you want a child. It’s not a human right to drive an SUV or fly in planes.’

-Sara Watson

The article references a survey of 10,000 young people (16-25), with 59% “very or extremely” worried about climate change, and 45% “said their feelings negatively affect their daily life.”

After actually reading the survey, my biggest critique is that there is no control group. The survey asked questions like “Do you think the previous generations did not take care of the planet?” Are you surprised that 81% said yes? I would take it more seriously if we had a control group to measure how much young people at that age normally hate authority figures because, fun fact, that’s typical for that age group. I thought my parents were morons when I was 18, and it wasn’t until my late 20s that I realized “Gee, maybe Mom and Dad were pretty smart about the choices they made.” That age group is also naturally anxious about…well, everything, yet we don’t have a control to compare the normal anxiety to climate anxiety.

Control groups are really important in studies. We’ve seen this in COVID-19 vaccine discussions. I’ll see a headline “Woman dies of (insert crazy condition here) a day after receiving the (insert vaccine here)!” OK, that’s sad, but that’s all we know. Did this woman have underlying health conditions? What else was going on at the time? And what’s the normal rate of dying from these conditions? It’s similar to the “bacon causes colon cancer” discussion. Once you realize that it takes eating a pound of bacon a day to raise the less than 1% chance of colon cancer to…less than one percent, you quickly realize the study is nonsense.

Actual solutions to problems aren’t typically sexy. There’s an apocryphal story about an elevator mechanic called in to to fix elevator timing in a large skyscraper. He tested all elevators and spent a day investigating where things could be wrong. Finding nothing wrong with the elevators, but still being told that people are “waiting too long,” he installed mirrors near all the elevator doors. Soon people were fixing their hair and adjusting suit coats, and the complaints disappeared.

In terms of climate change, there are a lot of things we can change now, on our own, without government telling us to. Driving and flying less is inside our control. Composting and having a small garden are inside our control (at one time, Victory Gardens accounted for over half of US agricultural output). Better insulating homes to reduce electricity costs is inside our control. Spending less time on social media, which relies on big server farms consuming fossil-fueled electricity, is inside our control.

Will not having kids help? Is that something inside our control? Would that actually help climate change?

Doubtful. Even Vox (Vox!) has doubts. And from looking at the sort of people running movements like BirthStrike, I have to wonder if its simply a continuation of how they were already inclined to think vs. a movement inspired by climate change. Wouldn’t a control group be nice to compare this to?

Which makes me ask, is the movement to not have kids really just an extension of pre-existing beliefs? If so, do you subscribe to those beliefs? I find the belief that humans are bad for the planet and need to be eradicated (the only logical end of not having kids) pretty sickening. I’ll place my faith in us getting smart about the planet and cleaning it up. I’ll happily do my small part, knowing that long term, its only through thousands of small actions that we’ll actually help the planet in any long term scenario. And I don’t need the government to do anything to get started.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. If you want to support me, please purchase my book, To Build A House, on Amazon.

Draft Day Thoughts Under the Fedora Cam Can? AOC present, Durham surprise, Babylon Bee nails me and another one on the list

Posted: September 24, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Will have no time for news today as from 10 AM till about midnight I’ll be running the draft in my Pursue the Pennant 1969 draft league so here are some random thoughts on random things:

Sports: Was it just a month ago that there were a ton of people arguing that Cam Newton should be the starting QB for the Patriots? It has now been three weeks and two games into the season and not a single team decided that he was good enough to sign. That speaks volumes.

It’s been suggested that AOC’s vote of “present” on funding Israel’s defensive Iron Dome is a sign that she is running for the Senate in NY vs Chuck Schumer. I think it’s actually more likely that Nancy Pelosi wanted as few votes against from Democrats as possible since there is no way that AOC is going to convince any voter who favors Israel that she is in their corner, particularly over Chuckie Schumer.

I was very surprised that John Durham actually produced an indictment in his investigation. I presumed it would just be a report. The real question to me is will there be any more such indictments?

Yesterday because of the draft I had my laptop with me at work for my lunch break and I made the mistake of reading this from the Babylon Bee while I was drinking:

That the Biden administration is allowing yet another false narrative to take root would surprise me if their entire power was not based on false narratives.

Finally I found myself playing with another Atheist on twitter yesterday who assumes all people who believe in God are simple minded. The only thing more laughable than the weakness of his arguments is his casual dismissal of some of the finest minds in history or any mind from the past might actually have insight that he does not.

I’ve added him to my prayer list with the memory that at one time C. S. Lewis was an unbeliever as well. After all he has his whole life to figure it out and who’ll pray for him if I don’t?

1969 League Draft 1 PM EST Friday Rules

Posted: September 23, 2021 by datechguy in dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
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We have already started the draft (details here and here) but at 1 PM EST on Friday things start officially under the following terms:

  1. If it’s your turn to draft you are expected to make your pick within 15 minutes of the time you are notified.
  2. If you are aware that you will not be available you can submit a list to the commissioner for him to pick from:
    • Example In round 2 the Expos know they have to be somewhere between 5-7 PM They can submit a list to the comish to pick from and if the Expos turn to draft come up at that time the comish will choose the 1st name on the list that has not already been picked.
  3. If for some reason you know you can’t be available at a specific time you can defer your pick later in a round.
    • Example: The Pirates 2nd round pick is coming up and they realize they can’t be there when their time comes up and have not submitted a list. They can voluntarily defer their pick either to after a specific team or just to a later time. they will then make their pick when available that round (if not available see below)
  4. If a player has not submitted a list, or deferred their pick and they fail to make their pick they will drop a draft position so the draft can carry on.
    1. Example: In round 4 Oakland’s pick comes up, they have not submitted a list after 15 min the Met may make their 4th round pick and Oakland will pick after them. If after the Mets pick they do not submit a pick or a list after 15 min they will drop to the end of the round after the Yankees.
  5. If at the bottom of the round we still have neither a pick nor a list then one of two things will happen:
    1. If a proxy drafter is available he will make a pick for you based on who is available and what you’ve already picked
    2. If a proxy is not available you will automatically choose the best undrafted player from the franchise you have chosen at a position that you have not yet filled:
      • Example: In round four Oakland’s pick comes up and he has not submitted a list and 15 minutes passes and no proxy is available. He will pick the best available Oakland A’s still in the draft at a position he has not filled:
        • Example: If the two best A’s available by round four are Sal Bando (3B) and Rick Monday (CF) the A’s in this situation will pick Bando unless they’ve already picked a third baseman (say Brooks Robinson). If that is the case then Monday will be the pick and the draft will continue.
  6. One or more proxies may be available in the draft room. The job of the proxy is to make a pick for an unavailable player. If a player has an assigned proxy that he’s arranged to pick for him then he may make a pick for him at any time said player is not available, if he has not then a general proxy will make a pick as needed.
  7. 50 pick rule IMPORTANT Our goal is a minimum of 50 picks & or 3 complete rounds whichever is higher. Once the 50th pick of any given day or the 3rd complete round is complete then the 15 minute rule is suspended and people can pick at their leisure. This is intended to give people time to re-evaluate their teams needs and the players remaining. Of course I’d encourage anyone ready to pick to go ahead and pick. Every early pick shaves time off the draft.
  8. As soon as the final draft pick is made the rest of the undrafted players will be put back into the “available” list and will be subject to waver picks after week six, (see here)
  9. Finally remember THIS IS A GAME the goal is fun so let’s do our best to move in that direction above all.

People around the world are beginning to rise up against Coronavirus restrictions and vaccine mandates

Posted: September 23, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

For the past eighteen months I have been continuously amazed and sickened at how meekly people around the world have accepted the trampling of their most fundamental rights and freedoms, all in the name of fighting the Coronavirus  I have been especially disappointed and saddened at the unquestioning acceptance of outright tyranny here in the United States.  For the past year an a half I have been waiting in vain for people to rise up and say in a very loud voice enough is enough.  Until that happens I know that these restrictions and mandates will continue

Finally, just in the past week or two, people around the world are beginning to rise up and say enough.  Australia appears to be the epicenter of this world wide resistance. That does not surprise me because no nation has traveled further along the road to absolute tyranny than the land down under,  This article chronicles what is going on in the land of koala bears and kangaroos. 

An inflection point has been reached in Australia with the government COVID-19 lockdowns, forced vaccinations and now, vaccine passports. What is happening today in the state of Victoria, specifically the Melbourne metropolitan area, is an outcome of more than a year of heavy-handed government rules and regulations deaf to the voices of the average man, woman or family. There is a middle class & blue-collar backlash taking place, and Americans would be wise to pay attention.

Things recently came to a head when the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, began outlining the rules and regulations for opening society back up after almost a year of total lockdown. The always futile attempt to block the COVID-19 virus through a policy known as “COVID-ZERO” was abandoned. The new approach is to open up society and the economy by forcing everyone to take the vaccine, and then allowing only the vaccinated to participate in the economy as varying percentages of the population are double-vaxxed, and admittedly, later, booster-vaxxed.

Over the course of two days protests began, spread, and escalated into riots because the people are completely fed up with the dystopian  nightmare they have been living.

On Monday 9/20 [AU time] a large group of members of the biggest trade union in Australia, the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), went to CFMEU headquarters to confront their leadership, CFMEU Secretary John Setka.

Their demand was essentially simple – to have their voices heard and use the power of the trade union to stop the Victorian government overreach. The union members wanted their leadership to block the new vaccine mandate and stop the creation of a two-tiered society as outlined by Premier Dan Andrews.

On Tuesday 9/21 [AU time], the trade union members took to the streets in even larger numbers, now joined by blue-collar workers of all stripes who identify with the cause. Even workers who did not previously like the union members or their prior political tactics are joined in common cause over the issue of COVID-19.

The protesting ranks swelled. Tens-of-thousands of non-union workers joined with the trade union protesters in solidarity. Notice this is an interesting repeat of history when you consider Poland in the 1980s and the working class alignment to push back against the totalitarian regime of the former Soviet Union.

France has also become a hotbed of protests and riots because of the draconian nature of the restrictions and mandates instituted by President Macron.  As in Australia, vaccine passports are proving to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.   Check out this Breitbart article.

The streets of France were flooded for the ninth straight week with protesters against President Emmanuel Macron’s vaccine passport scheme, with an estimated 121,000 demonstrators marching throughout the country, including about 19,000 in Paris.

In the French capital, there were four demonstrations against the pass sanitaire (vaccine passport) on Saturday, with demonstrators chanting “Macron, your pass, we do not want it,” “Macron, resign,” and “no to dictatorship”.

Even in New York City protest have begun over vaccine mandates.

The people of Holland are just as pissed off about the mandates and restrictions as everyone else.  They are taking to the streets in protest, however, they are doing it in a truly Dutch manner.  This headline from Louder with Crowder 150K DUTCH PEOPLE PROTEST RESTRICTIONS WITH RAVE, FUNKY DANCE MOVES. MEDIA…? says it all.

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