Lab Leak Theory

Just want to remind all, I've been pro lab leak theory since 2021. 

Now, a Senate committee and Vanity Fair are reporting on more evidence for the lab leak theory.

As I said before, the cover up and initial reaction to COVID is the reveal. With zoonotic origins, China would've been gotten the word out sooner. If they had nothing to hide, they wouldn't have hidden it.

CVS

Signed up for bivalent booster. Asked me my "Sex Assigned At Birth." We officially are in 1984. 

LatinX

But what if you identity as Mexican? Are you required to identity as Latinx to get your hands on the money?

Tarantino

Didn't need to clarify Kanye's claim that Django was his idea. No one in their right mind thought Kanye was speaking the truth.

Why We Must Read Great Books

David Brooks writes about rising global emotional inequality. He ponders why in India and China there is rising unhappiness despite rising wealth. Here's the thing - rising wealth means rising wealth inequality. And rising inequality means rising unhappiness. This is what's known as irony. And only those who read and can well observe the world can comprehend such contradictions. 

The dum dum reaction is to censor the books that acknowledge such things in favor of books that validate their wrong assumptions.

Climate Protesters

Can we be sure the climate protesters destroying famous works of art aren't being sent by AI art algorithms to get rid of the competition? 

No Trust

I already don't have high trust for doctors or mental health professionals, but it's only going to get worse.

Have people figured out that "social justice" and DEI in the workplace is just a method to disguise mediocrity? 

Logging

TV: House of the Dragon S1 Finale

I have several problems with the show, despite wanting to watch it. Dramatically I'm unsure how the filmmakers want us to feel about the characters and factions. Simply put, are we supposed to be on team Rhaenyra or team Alicent? The filmmakers seem ambivalent. With GoT, our sympathies clearly lie with Stark vs Lannister although they manage to complicate these feelings later on in the show.

The book Fire & Blood is written like an academic history of Westeros and my critique is such a POV doesn't play as effectively as a TV drama. The show tries to disguise itself as a TV show when in fact, the source material is actually fake non-fiction. 

My other problem is with how the show handles these situations of childbirth. My question is why? These scenes have minuscule dramatic impact. Pure cringe.

"Secret" Star Wars Film 

Someone is going to need to explain to me what makes a film in development a "secret" film vs. a non-secret film.

Logging

Film: Triangle of Sadness

Enjoyed going to theater, but felt the film opted for a message and theme at the expense of human behavior. And by that I mean, I accuse the filmmaker of making the characters behave in ways inorganic to their nature in order to make an abstract point.

And I guess I expect Palm d'Or level films to rise above thematic cliches such as rich people suck, but perhaps that's foolish of me. 

Film: The Banshees of Inisherin

I yearned to be more blown away.

Faulty Assumptions

LA spent billions on homelessness only to double the homeless population, solve absolutely nothing, but managed to employ a bunch of regulatory busybodies. 

Here are the faulty assumptions:

1) We can build "affordable housing." The houses aren't affordable. They are extremely costly to the taxpayer (600K plus).

2) The homeless should get to live in LA communities. Venice beach is some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Why would we build services for homeless in this area? It's an absolutely beyond insane use of resources.

I have the solution. Permanent Burning Man in the Nevada desert. How much will it cost per person. Not 600K, but the price of a single bus ticket to Nevada. There, all the homeless activists will be employed to build toilets, housing, and provide free drugs and music and art installations to entertain the homeless. This will solve multiple problems at once - get rid of the homeless, get rid of the homeless activists, and let all of them live their American dream of doing jack shit.

Thoughts on NBA Players 2022 

Kahwi - he is my favorite player to watch. Underrated intelligence, a feel for the moment, can make brilliant plays on both ends, a good shooter that can score at all levels. Physical beast. Just too bad he's always hurt. 

CP3 - he's on my fantasy team and tbh, I'm very worried this is the year father time catches up.

LeBron - I'm not worried about father time for this guy. I wish he were a better shooter from deep. I wish he had better players around him, although this is largely his own fault. He's a tremendous passer, but any arguments for GOAT status need to reconcile the fact the Warriors owned him for the entire 2nd half of his career.

Draymond - not out of the question this guy finds himself in jail at some point in his life. I find him super irritating and an overrated defender. He matches up well against larger players, but faster players like Kahwi or Pascal Siakam or even Robert Williams render him a liability. Good passer though for a big man. Obviously a critical piece for the Warriors, he toughens them up.

Kyrie - love watching him play, but wouldn't want him on my team.

Westbrook - oooffff.

AD - when he's cooking, he makes it look easy. 

Steph - most innovative player in my lifetime. A winner and team leader at Jordan, Magic, Bird level. Impossible to say anything bad about the guy. Flaw is defensive prowess, but makes up for it with intelligence, and gravitational impact on the other end. 

Michael Porter Jr. - a very difficult player for me to watch, the guy seems like he can't even dribble. But he's 6'10" with a brilliant, smooth stroke. And the bad back at his age. I just don't know. Can you imagine LeBron passing to him wide open instead of Westbrook and Pat Bev? Good lord.

Joker - maybe my second favorite player to watch. Incredible durability and efficiency. Completely unique. Greatest 2nd round draft pick in history of NBA, right?

Trey Jones - seems a little small and slow to my eye on first impression, but we'll see...

Devin Vassel - eye test looks good at moments, but in past seems like he disappears. Hard for me to tell.

Luka - tough, uses big body incredibly well. Great skill, but a tad overrated as a shooter. Complains too much, but might have a really good team around him this year. 

Ayton - looks like he could be Hakeemish, but isn't. Bad hands. Bad feel for the moment. Looks like a big guy who can stay healthy, his movements are smooth. Better shooter than you could think. But doesn't seem to block a lot of shots or get as many rebounds as he should. 

Zinger - great shot blocker, but bad rebounder. Has a smooth stroke, but shoots a poorer percentage than you'd like. Feels to me like not quite a winning player, but capable of putting up the most insane fantasy stat lines.

TBC

Logging

Film: The Lion King, 1994

I prefer the play it was based on.

Book: Fire and Blood

The chapters related to House of the Dragon. One of my favorite characters in the GRRM universe is Mushroom.

Film: The Outfit

Felt like a play. Might've been better as a play. Wonder if it was written as a play.

A number of people have recommended this film to me -- I was a bit negative on it overall. Didn't like the supporting cast at all. And I found it a bit predictable...

Agree With This 100%

Could use more cop types as teachers and more teacher types as cops. 

"Diversity" as we use it now actually encourages conformity in terms of personality types. Authoritarians of all races gravitate to conservative institutions like police forces and neurotics gather in liberal institutions like schools.

Contrarian

Because our society is so annoying at the moment, I'm finally grateful for my contrarian streak. It now empowers me to be aggressively normal which I imagine is good for my long term health. 

NOTE: If I had a podcast, I'd call it aggressively normal.

I Notice

A lot of white people talk about their own mental health in progressive public spaces because I think it allows them to be temporarily absolved of sin and therefore able to speak freely.

Vibes

Trans activists give me Jehovah's witness vibes.

Whoopi on Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle complains that one of her past jobs didn't fully express who she was as a human being. 

Brilliant

Toward the end, an analysis of how maritime powers defeat continental powers.

The proper comparison is not US vs. China in terms of military, population, size of economy. The proper comparison is:

US/Japan/Europe/India/Vietnam/Philippines/Taiwan/Indonesia/Australia/New Zealand vs. China

Changes your perspective.

Yikes, If True

A decapitation of the Chinese semiconductor industry. 

Proposal on Taiwan

Interesting point here - even if China were to lose a round 1 battle for Taiwan, they would keep coming back for round 2, 3, etc. And the US would not aid Taiwan continuously because we simply do not have the same overriding interest in Taiwan's freedom. Very strong point.

So here would be my counter. Were China to take Taiwan either by force or some type of Hong Kong type of diplomatic/economic scenario, the US should offer a fast-tracked citizenship program to any Taiwanese who wants to leave and become part of the United States. Taiwan is a country of 23 million people. We could make plans to relocate up to 10 million of them split between Honolulu, Stockton, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. All the best Taiwanese companies and executives would be invited. 

Let's get started on setting up more Ding Tai Fungs and the welcome wagon. California public schools would suddenly become at least middle of the pack in the country in one fell swoop.

Psychos

Oil protesters throw soup at Van Gogh painting.

Only a spoiled, disaffected child could come up with such an idea.

The One of Many Problems With "Hate Speech"

Now you can be investigated in Norway for hate speech for seeing a biological difference between men and women.

Reality is now a crime.

This Week Anyway

With Nury Martinez resigning and Kanye getting his bank account cancelled, the burdens of anti-racism seem to disproportionately affect Black and Brown people. 

Sorry Folks, But This is Creepy and Psychotic

Stanford doctor in their own words about underage transgender surgeries.

The next part where is where she transitions into how complex (and expensive these surgeries) are and why insurance companies and the government should pay (her) to do them. 

These surgeons have become the annuity salesmen of their generation.

LA City Council

Notice how the lunatic uber white progressive homeless advocate who represents the westside on the city council has maneuvered himself into the victim of racism. Quite the magic trick.

Dave Chappelle tried to warn us.

Logging

TV: Los Espookys S2 E1-3

Laugh out loud in moments, but the tone does get a bit tiresome after awhile. Best in small doses. 

TV: House of the Dragon

I really like it now.

Math

Maybe "new math" is doing its job of making it super easy for the teachers to not teach the students anything.

Asian students are probably doing well because they're putting their kids in Kumon.

Better Essays

One of the better essays of the year, pointing out 2022 might be the year Fukuyama was proven correct. 

Interesting data point I hadn't heard before: the poorest per capita Chinese people in the world live in China. Point being: Ethnic Chinese are more successful in every other country/system they go to than China. Perhaps one could argue the rich and talented leave, but maybe that tells you all you need to know about the Chinese system.

Also, this: autocracies lie about their economic growth by a study of lights at night. Quite an elegant study.