Say, Why Is Science So Darned Straight?

By William Teach September 5, 2015 – 8:18 am

Things That Are Important at the Paper Of Record, as brought to us in the opinion section by Manil Suri

Why Is Science So Straight?

MANY years ago, over lunch at our university cafeteria, I came out as gay to a colleague in the engineering department. “I didn’t realize you were so unconventional,” he said. I tried explaining to him that being gay was innate and had nothing to do with wanting to subvert convention, but he refused to retract his label. Looking back, perhaps he was correct.

For I had violated an unspoken convention of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics): the invisibility of its L.G.B.T. members. (snip)

The lack of visibility isn’t restricted to academia. My partner, a civil engineer, recalls meeting just two other gay engineers professionally, in a 35-year career.

Statistics are hard to come by, but an analysis by Erin Cech, a sociologist at Rice University, of federal employee surveys found 20 percent fewer L.G.B.T. workers in government STEM-related jobs than should be expected.

Underrepresentation is just one factor that reduces visibility. Unlike women and minorities, whose status is usually obvious, sexual orientation is a hidden characteristic. The fact that a sizable proportion of the L.G.B.T. STEM work force is closeted (43 percent, according to a 2015 estimate) further deepens this effect.

Hmm, it kinda sounds like people want to focus on work, and do not really care what one’s sexual orientation is.

An essential step is to break self-perpetuating patterns of concealment. Teachers must come out not just to colleagues, but to students — some of whom will need role models, and all of whom must get used to visible L.G.B.T. professionals to prepare for future workplace settings.

In other words, forcing others to share in your personal life in a work environment. Personally, I do not care if you’re gay, or like to cross-dress during your off hours. I’d be interested in things like the type of books you read, where you like to go on vacation, what kinds of TV shows and movies you watch, etc. I do not need to know things about your sexuality, and that applies to heterosexuals, too. But, hey, this isn’t about getting to know someone, it’s all about Social Justice And Stuff!

More critically, STEM culture must rein in the pressure to separate professional and personal identities. It should view its workers more holistically, welcoming their interests and differences as sources of enhanced resourcefulness.

See? Social Justice And Stuff. Turning work into a cocktail party, rather than, you know, work. Maybe people just want to work, to solve the problems they are paid to solve, to build the things they are paid to build, to discover the cures they are paid to discover? No, sorry, can’t have that! We must have a Discussion Of Importance on non-work related Issues!

This sort-of goes with the notion that Burning Man is very, very White. Founder Larry Harvey made some silly comments on the subject, but, really, it comes down to “maybe there are some things that Whites like to do that Blacks don’t”. Are we to force Blacks to attend Burning Man?

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Hillary Is Totally Sorry You’re “Confused” About Her Email Scandal

By William Teach September 5, 2015 – 7:53 am

See, it’s not really about the potential violations of federal law, including the Espionage Act. It’s not about her potentially exposing classified and sensitive government information, much less improperly handing the same. It’s not about the potential for the information to be hacked. Nor about the server being insecure. Nor using the server being a way to avoid oversight and freedom of information acts. And don’t even get her started on illegally wiping the server. Not, it’s all your problem

(NBC News) In an exclusive interview with NBC News/MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday, Hillary Clinton said she’s “sorry” there’s been so much controversy over her private email server, but declined to apologize for the decision to use it. She also suggested that GOP front-runner Donald Trump is unqualified to be president and weighed in on the surprisingly robust challenge to her candidacy from Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders.

“At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions, but there are answers to all these questions,” Clinton said of her email server after being pressed by Mitchell on whether she should apologize for the controversy that has dogged her campaign from the outset. “And I take responsibility and it wasn’t the best choice.”

Those questions are so easy to answer that her tech support guy has told Congress he will plead the 5th to every question (which, really, is only viable if the answers would incriminate himself). But, hey, you’re confused! You just don’t understand, I guess, why Hillary would refuse to use the legally required State Department email address and system, along with approved devices.

She explained that she had used a personal email account as a senator from New York and didn’t spend much time considering alternatives when she became secretary of state in 2009. “I did all my business on my personal email [in the Senate],” Clinton said. “I was not thinking a lot when I got in [to the State Department]. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world. I didn’t really stop and think what kind of email system will there be.”

She wasn’t thinking  a lot. She didn’t stop and take the time to think. If this doesn’t make it into a Republican commercial hammering her, the GOP should give it up. Those kinds of comments do not exactly inspire confidence in her capabilities to be POTUS.

Anyhow, ignorance of the law is not an excuse, as the saying goes. Well, I once got away with doing 45 in a 35 because the speed limit sign was hidden behind a tree, and the previous section of the road was 45. But, hey, I wasn’t sending classified information on North Korea via insecure email in contradiction to the law, which she was supposed to be read in on when she took over State. She received briefings on What Is Allowed And What Is Not Allowed. She would have had people Telling Her These Things. She chose to ignore.

But, hey, this is all really you’re problem, you know.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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We’re Saved: Warmists Record Song About Climate Change

By William Teach September 4, 2015 – 4:02 pm

But, not just any Cult of Climastrology member

(Star Tribune) Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and Fergie have joined forces to record a song about climate change.

Sean Paul, Leona Lewis and Colbie Caillat also appear on “Love Song to the Earth,” which was released Friday on iTunes and Apple Music via Connect.

The song was created to support a U.N. conference in Paris this December that’s aimed at reaching a deal with more than 190 nations to keep global warming from reaching dangerous levels.

Good thing all these music folks aren’t using tons of fossil fuels and using lots of energy, eh?

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If All You See…

By William Teach September 4, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled boat, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the days is Nice Deb, with a post on a Black militant declaring war on Whites

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Bummer: Climate Change Could Force Orioles Out Of Baltimore

By William Teach September 4, 2015 – 10:30 am

Oh, not the baseball team, which played to a completely empty stadium months back, due to Democratic Party voter violence, but the birds

(Inside Climate News) More than half of North America’s birds may lose most of their current home range by the end of the century due to climate change, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

The study models a range of scenarios with a range of greenhouse gas emissions and predicts how the distribution of nearly 600 North American bird species will change because of rising temperatures. Even under the most hopeful scenario, the study found that 126 species will lose more than 50 percent of their current range––with no opportunity to expand to more hospitable locations. In some cases, species will lose almost 100 percent of the area suitable for their survival. (Snip)

“The Baltimore Oriole, state bird of Maryland and mascot for Baltimore’s baseball team, may no longer nest in the Mid-Atlantic, shifting north instead to follow the climatic conditions it requires,” Langham said in an email.

Why do Warmists sound like Flat Earthers, always expecting, nay, demanding, that the natural world (something they see on TV, as they liver in their big cities) always stay the same?

“It’s kind of a wake-up call that many of our more common species even could be in jeopardy in the coming decades,” Siegel said. “We need to get land management right to do the best conservation that we can in the face of climate change that is largely inevitable.”

These species survived multiple coll and warm periods. Most surely survived the last glacial age. I think they can survive a whopping 1.4F increase.

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Surprise: Iran Thumbs Nose At US Over Deal

By William Teach September 4, 2015 – 7:19 am

Brave, brave Sir Corey Booker came out this week as supporting the Iran Deal, calling it “deeply flawed“. If this was your company negotiating with another, and you were getting the short end of a “deeply flawed” deal, would you be interested in signing it?

You can actually find quite a bit of negative talk from those who say they support the deal. Mark Warner said in his statement “While I choose to support the deal, I am not satisfied with it as a final measure and will support efforts to shore-up its weaker points.” In other words, he knows it is very weak. We see similar things from so many other Democratic Party supporters and Senators. Meanwhile

(Fox News) Even as President Obama was securing the Senate support necessary to assure passage of the nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran’s top defense officials were scoffing at U.S. claims the pact will restrict the Islamic Republic’s military ambitions.

The president has been twisting arms and Secretary of State John Kerry reassuring lawmakers that the deal between Iran and the P5 +1 – members of the UN Security Council plus Germany – will ensure international inspections and bar Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons. This week, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., became the 34th member of the Senate to back the controversial and unpopular deal, meaning that if it is defeated in a vote as expected, Obama will have enough support to sustain his certain veto. But Iran’s military brass has answered the U.S. nose-counting by thumbing their nose at America.

“Iran does not plan to issue permission for the [International Atomic Energy Agency] to inspect every site,” Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan told Al Mayadeen News Wednesday. “U.S. officials make boastful remarks and imagine that they can impose anything on the Iranian nation because they lack a proper knowledge of the Iranian nation.”

Sounds like Iran is saying that they all that “anytime, anywhere” inspections talk was thrown out the window.

On the same day, a top Iranian general told troops preparing for a massive military drill involving up to 250,000 men that “the U.S. and the Zionists should know that the Islamic Revolution will continue enhancing its preparedness until it overthrows Israel and liberates Palestine.”

Not that Democratic Party supporters care much about the destruction of Israel.

Obama has gone to great lengths to assure skeptics that the deal assures genuine oversight of the Iranian nuclear program, and in an August 19 letter to Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., he said the deal is the best chance to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons, which he acknowledged would pose a major threat to Israel.

Brave, Brave Sir Heidi Heitkamp, one of the other Very Brave Dem senators who came out late, spends a bit of time yammering on about how great the inspections are, as do many other Democrats. Yet, here’s Iran noting that inspections will be controlled by Iran, and they will enforce lots of restrictions. They are telling us what they will do. Why won’t Democratic Party supporters and officials listen? Is it that they want a deal, no matter how bad, to give Obama a “win”? Do they understand that the fallout will land squarely on their heads?

Ms. Heitkamp notes “As part of the deal, Iran committed to never develop nuclear weapons and agreed to permanently abide by enhanced inspection protocols.” Apparently not. They never agreed to the first, and won’t even acknowledge their nuclear weapons program, and are telling use they won’t abide by the enhanced inspection protocols.

She also writes “Earlier this year, I helped introduce legislation – which Congress passed – to make sure Congress votes on this deal.” Will Heidi force her Democratic Party Senate colleagues to vote on it? Ask her here.

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Uh Oh: Burning Man Is Bad For “Climate Change” Or Something

By William Teach September 4, 2015 – 6:59 am

Is nothing safe anymore?

(USA Today) While Burning Man is the world’s largest Leave No Trace event, the weeklong festival drawing 70,000 people to the Nevada desert has a major, albeit dispersed, environmental impact.

What they mean is “climate change”, not the environment.

From the constant hum of generators powering air conditioning inside luxury RVs to the trucks vacuuming out waste from the ever-filling 1,600 port-a-potties, vehicles play a central role in this event.

The vast majority of attendees drove here, despite organizers’ efforts to push bus service. They have made progress on carpooling, however, by charging stiff vehicle access rates.

Others flew in from around the world, and the Burning Man airport itself was expecting to see more than 2,000 flight arrivals and departures over the week. At the temporary airport, planes land directly on the desert floor.

The tax revenues alone hint at the size of Burning Man, which pours $55 million into the northern Nevada economy annually as visitors gas up, buy cases of bottled water and pack their coolers full of beer.

All of those are considered bad for Hotcoldwetdry.

Like many attendees, MacHenry and his friends consider themselves environmentalists. They commute by bike or mass transit and talk knowledgeably of carbon footprints. MacHenry said he feels a little bit like Al Gore, flying around on a polluting airplane to warn people of the dangers of global warming.

“Is it bad for the environment?” asked Mark Reynolds, executive director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a grassroots advocacy organization. “Yes, of course it is. Is it something we should spend a lot of time and energy getting worked up about? I don’t think so.”

Of course not. Members of the Cult of Climastrology want Everyone Else to suffer for their beliefs, just not themselves.

The even is super worried about actual pollution, such as glitter and trash. They must haul out their own trash, as there are intentionally no trash cans. They’re even super concerned over leaving flowers in the desert. But

But there’s no limit to how many generators attendees can haul in, and some of the luxury camps seem to keep their car-sized generators running 24/7 to power the motor coaches, air conditioning and flush toilets set aside for their guests. A constant stream of trucks enter the side gate of the event, bringing in ice, fresh water and even produce for those who made advance arrangements. While “radical self-reliance” is one of the central tenets of Burning Man, nothing prohibits attendees from using their money to make it more enjoyable.

Of course, all the attendees and the organizers make all sorts of excuses for this, one of which is “they’d do it at home”. Which is rather the point. If the Believers aren’t willing to do their part for their beliefs, why should Skeptics and fence sitters think that this issue of man-caused global warming climate change be anything other than a convenient talking point meant to push for greater taxes, changes in the economic system, and more control of our lives?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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If All You See…

By William Teach September 3, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a reflection of the desertification of the world from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on over half of immigrant families being on some sort of welfare.

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We Could Be Totally Doomed By A “Gray Swan” Hurricane ‘Cause Climate Change

By William Teach September 3, 2015 – 10:07 am

I know you were asking “hey, where’s today’s scary story? I want a scary story!” Here ya go

A ‘gray swan’ hurricane could be worse than anything we’ve ever seen

Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina topped the list of the worst storms to ever hit the US when it triggered a 28-foot-tall storm surge that swept over Mississippi and broke a levee that flooded New Orleans.

But even with all that destruction, Katrina is not the worst storm that could have hit the US.

In a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers simulated thousands of hurricanes that could hit sometime in the next century. (snip)

Risk managers call completely unpredictable and devastating storms “black swans,” but in this paper, the researchers are describing devastating storms that are actually predictable, and they’ve ominously named them “gray swans.”

What does all this mean? Essentially, they’re saying that because of anthropogenic climate change, the seas are rising faster and faster (a fable, by the way), and we’re soon, well, in the future, going to see these monster hurricanes, including hitting the places that do not usually get hit or suffer from hurricanes typically. Total doom.

Why are they pushing this? Well, because hurricane landfalls have significantly decreased since the time we were told that the big season of 2005 was the “new normal”. It’s been over 9 years since a major hurricane hit the US. Since 2008 the US has only seen no more than two barely-a-hurricanes make landfall, and it can be argued with data that neither was a hurricane at landfall. Superstorm Sandy was supposed to be the next “new normal”. None since.

Eventually, though, the Atlantic hurricane climate will flip, as it always does, and hurricanes making landfall will become prevalent again. All the prognostications from the Cult of Climastrology now will allow they to say “see? We told you so!” when that happens, despite this always happening, and fools and brain-dead Warmists will believe them.

The authors point out that these hypothetical storms are all extreme cases, but understanding the risks is critical when we start planning things like future city infrastructure. It also drives home the point of how devastating climate change may be if allowed to run amok.

There you go. Doom.

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Will Hillary’s Email Shenanigans Burn The White House?

By William Teach September 3, 2015 – 8:16 am

That’s the question Commentary’s John R. Schindler poses

Hillary Clinton’s email problems are already causing headaches for her presidential campaign. But within American counterintelligence circles, there’s a mounting sense that the former Secretary of State may not be the only Obama administration official in trouble. This is a scandal that has the potential to spread to the White House, as well. (snip)

EmailGate has barely touched the White House directly, although it’s clear that some senior administration officials beyond the State Department were aware of Hillary’s unorthodox email and server habits, given how widely some of the emails from Clinton and her staff were forwarded around the Beltway. Obama’s inner circle may not be off-limits to the FBI for long, however, particularly since the slipshod security practices of certain senior White House officials have been a topic of discussions in the Intelligence Community for years.

Hillary Clinton was far from the only senior Obama appointee to play fast and loose with classified materials, according to Intelligence Community insiders. While most counterspies agree that Hillary’s practices—especially using her own server and having her staffers place classified information into unclassified emails, in violation of Federal law—were especially egregious, any broad-brush investigation into security matters are likely to turn up other suspects, they maintain.

Where does all this go? No one is sure at this time. What will the FBI find? What will Congressional investigators find? Will the highly politicized Department of Justice quash the FBI and any potential charges?

This is a serious issue, and the lack of transparency and the slow-walking of the investigation smacks of an attempt to minimize the damage to Hillary and the Obama administration, much in the way the Nixon WH attempted to minimize Watergate. And it is serious, regardless of what Liberals claime

(Washington Times) One of the most serious potential breaches of national security identified so far by the intelligence community inside Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private emails involves the relaying of classified information concerning the movement of North Korean nuclear assets, which was obtained from spy satellites.

Multiple intelligence sources who spoke to The Washington Times, solely on the condition of anonymity, said concerns about the movement of the North Korean information through Mrs. Clinton’s unsecured server are twofold.

First, spy satellite information is frequently classified at the top-secret level and handled within a special compartment called Talent-Keyhole. This means it is one of the most sensitive forms of intelligence gathered by the U.S.

Second, the North Koreans have assembled a massive cyberhacking army under an elite military spy program known as Bureau 121, which is increasingly aggressive in targeting systems for hacking, especially vulnerable private systems. The North Koreans, for instance, have been blamed by the U.S. for the hack of Sony movie studios.

Again, if Hillary was a Republican, Democrats would be screaming for her head on a silver platter (and, yes, Republicans would be calling for her to drop out of the race, and face charges). Democrats, though, will ignore all rules of law in order to obtain power.

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