Joey Does Number Bonds – Close Enough For Government Work!

Buildings keep falling down in America. What the heck’s going on?

Is it bad science?

Champlain Towers South, for example, was erected in 1981. These buildings may face loads and other threats that designers did not anticipate, including those linked to climate change.

…what are you going to do with an area that never had high snow loads before, and suddenly, one winter, there’s a storm in the South like one you’d normally get in Boston? We design roofs based on historical records for snow, but those rare events aren’t so rare anymore. We have bigger hurricanes. We have longer heat waves. It’s a challenge for us, as structural engineers, to keep up with those changing demands. – Scientific American

Or maybe bad math? What if building engineers used the kind of modeling/statistics that Professor Neil Ferguson, who led the COVID-19 modeling team at Imperial College in London, used to develop the public policy of lockdown in Britain and America?

We now know the model was so highly flawed it never should have been relied upon for policy decisions to begin with.

As we learn more about the new coronavirus, it is imperative to continue to update the assumptions used in these models. - Heritage

Or maybe the failing infrastructure is partially the result of bad social engineering?

Workplace diversity and inclusion is a top priority.

To attract more female candidates, avoid using too many “masculine-type” words (e.g., ambitious, dominate, challenging) in your job posting. Check out if your job posting might be turning off female candidates using this nifty tool here.

Please note: I’m aware that it’s considered both racist and sexist of me to even think there may be a connection between diversity hiring and reduced performance. But having done a corporate training rotation in HR as Employment Manager for a year way back in the early 80s, I know about such things. While I’m quite certain methods and measurements have changed, I’m likewise assured that human nature hasn’t. If your job performance is based on how well you meet diversity goals you will meet them, no matter how. If knowing that and saying it makes me a white supremacist, so be it: like racism itself the words no longer mean anything.

But back to the problem at hand, it’s so bad that Putin has declared “the age of American Dominance” to be over. Perhaps that’s because he sees how we are educating the youth of this country. And I’m not just talking about the cultural brainwashing of anti-Western, anti-American sentiment, I’m talking about the basic skills of reading, writing and, most importantly, arithmetic.

Case in point: when Raj was at therapy earlier this week his Physical Therapist (PT) – a young white male - came over while he was working with one of the Physical Therapy Assistants (PTA) – young white female - and asked him “are you good at math?” Because he is, Raj responded “yeah, pretty good,” thinking that he was going to get an interesting problem to solve. But the PT proceeded to explain: they had done a patient survey the day before and he was trying to figure out how to calculate the percent of people (7)  out of the total (38) that responded positively to a question. Yes, you understood me correctly: he needed help calculating a percentage, despite having a cell phone in his pocket with a built in calculator 100 times more powerful than the first one I owned, and likewise having access to the Google machine that contains how-to resources on everything from baking a cake to building a backyard rocket. And still he wanted help performing a simple, basic life skill. No wonder they now have tips automatically calculated and printed for you right on the check now.

At this point I feel compelled to mention that getting your PT certification in Michigan requires not just a 4 year degree, but a 7 year degree. That’s right, 3 years post-graduate training. And PTAs are required to have a two year degree (that includes a course in statistics, I checked) and pass a state board certification test. Nor am I saying that all, or even most, PTs and PTAs can’t do simple percentages. In fact Raj and I have several nieces in the field all of whom I will guarantee could do that calculation blindfolded and tied up. Nor am I saying that Raj’s PT couldn’t have eventually figured it out on his own.  I’m just surprised that, rather than do so, he just took the easy route and asked somebody he was pretty sure would know how – with no apparent sign of embarrassment whatsoever.

What I’m saying is that the gap between ‘education,’ skills, and the ability to think and solve problems is growing faster than the infamous “income inequality gap” and is far more worrisome. I wonder if there’s any statistical correlation between the Common Core Curriculum and the new-found dumbness of our younger citizens? Not that there’s anyone left around that would be able to calculate it if there was.

And not that it matters, what with the new standards of performance we’re developing.

Joey B does number bonds. Close enough for government work!

It All Looks Quite Shady

I forgot that today is FLOTUS Friday, and what with Dr. Jilly hitting the Vogue cover (photography by none other than the legendary Lefty Annie Liebowitz!) my little math story will have to wait another day.

I didn’t bother to read the article until the Jerusalem Post took time out of their busy day to mock America’s fawning media coverage of the FLOTUS: Why did ‘Vogue’ call Dr. Jill Biden a ‘goddess in stilettos?’

The real reason God created hosiery

I would say Dr. Jilly looks more like an aging school marm than a goddess given these feet, legs and hands but what do I know compared to America’s leading fashion rag mag. Aided and abetted by some of the world’s largest, most expensive fashion houses – not that the media is interested in that aspect of FLOTUS fashion now that we have a reasonable Democrat in office again – Dr. Jilly certainly turns heads these days.

From the Dolce and Gabbana collection: dots and flowers and stripes, left, butterflies are free to fly, right, and zebras and lemons, below.

And more lemons and florals from Oscar de la Renta.

Then there’s this lady-like pink ensemble from Lele Sadoughi.

Too bad it didn’t fit

But allow The Jerusalem Post to describe Vogue’s obsequious coverage:

As if the title of its cover story – “A First Lady for All of Us: On the Road with Dr. Jill Biden” – wasn’t sufficiently sycophantic, its accompanying content reads like a parody of a totalitarian regime’s propaganda sheet.

Those observing the current Orwellian climate in the United States no longer gasp at each new move by “progressives” to control society’s collective mind, but some take occasional breaks from tearing their hair out to laugh at the more egregious examples…Not that he was trying to be funny. On the contrary, he was clearly proud of praising Jill Biden, in all seriousness, for the “several degrees” that earned her the “title [of doctor] that she has every right to.”

To stress that she’s not just a teacher in girlie garb, he said that during her many trips around the country, “the role she’s fulfilling is, in many ways, neither first lady nor professor but a key player in her husband’s administration, a West Wing surrogate and policy advocate.”

The perfect “West Wing surrogate and policy advocate” outfit

…Yes, he wrote, “Joe Biden is boring – and that’s not a complaint.”

Of Dr. Jill, on the other hand, he said, “You generally hear her before you see her because she is often laughing. She is, quite simply, a joy multiplier.” [ed. – “joy multiplier” is no doubt part of the new Common Core math, of which we’ll explore a bit more tomorrow.]

THE SACCHARINE language doesn’t end there. “Part of what makes the Bidens’ right-out-of-the-gate successes so extraordinary is that they seem to have perfectly read the room,” he asserted. “We have been through this enormous, collective trauma, and here’s a calm, experienced, empathetic president, and here’s a first lady who is driven, tireless, effortlessly popular, but also someone who reminds us of ourselves.

She’s selling a new vision for how our most fundamental institutions ought to work – infrastructure, education, public health – even as she goes to extraordinary lengths to keep a real-world job, to stay in touch with what makes her human and what matters most.”

Whatever it is she’s selling I’d suggest you not buy it; not from her or anyone else shoveling it.

It all looks quite shady.

For Every Action…

Today we’re doing the science of cause and effect, aimed primarily at Liberals who don’t seem to grasp even the basics of this concept.

Let’s start with a simple, real world, example, in reverse order:

Effect:

Cause:

 “Indian Point Energy Center (I.P.E.C.) was a three-unit nuclear power plant station located in Buchanan, New York, just south of Peekskill. It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 36 miles (58 km) north of Midtown Manhattan. The facility has permanently ceased power operations as of April 30, 2021.”  - via Instapundit

Not a difficult concept: if you decommission electricity generation plants without replacing their capacity you generate less total energy. Ergo, when it gets really hot, or cold - I’m talking to you Texas, but it could be anywhere – you will not have enough electricity to meet peak demand. Keep it up and soon you won’t have enough energy to meet minimal demand. Especially if you add the recharging of electric vehicles to the load.

Fact check: California didn't require electric car owners to stop charging during the heat wave. No, they simply told people when to charge. But hey, if things go really critical they’ll simply cut your power so you can’t charge your car – or run the AC.

Still not convinced? Let’s do another one.

Effect:

Murder, crime rates soared across American cities last year and YTD 2021 is making 2020 look good by comparison. 

Cause:

In 2020, Seattle diverted almost 20 percent from its police budget and saw a 61 percent increase in homicides, the highest number in 26 years

New York City slashed a massive $1 billion from its police budget and saw a 97 percent increase in shootings. Portland took a $16 million slice out of its police budget and so far in 2021 has seen the homicide rate soar by a whopping 1,900 percent compared with the same period in 2020. Portlanders have become increasingly frustrated by slow and unreliable responses to 911 calls – The Federalist

Despite the left’s insistence that the crime increase, like everything else, is due to the pandemic, the answer is really much simpler: defund police and you get…more crime.

Decommission power plants and you get less energy.

See how simple science is?

Newton’s Third Law: for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.

This Pepperidge Farm Memory Was Brought To You By The “Big Guy”

 

*I don’t spell the memes I simply post them

Wow! And that was way back when Old Joe was just a lecherous old Gingerman,

Rather than the half-baked Snickerdoodle he is today

This Pepperidge Farm memory was brought to you by the Candy Man.

AKA the “Big Guy”

White Guilt and the Tyranny of the Minority

Joe Biden said he “respects” Gwen Berry’s Childish Olympic Protest. 

Berry called the playing of the National Anthem  a “setup” – in that I guess she believes everything is about her, the third place winner in the Olympic tryouts hammer throw competition.

“I feel like it was a setup, and they did it on purpose,” Berry said of when the anthem played. “I was pissed, to be honest.”

“They had enough opportunities to play the national anthem before we got up there,” Berry said in Oregon, where the Olympic trials are being hosted. “I was thinking about what I should do. Eventually I stayed there and I swayed, I put my shirt over my head. It was real disrespectful.

I’d agree that it was a setup, but I question who set it up. Seriously, do all the female (regardless of the preferred pronoun) Olympic hammer throwers wear 6 inch eyelash crawlers for the competition? And carry their “Activist Athlete” t-shirt with them just in case they feel the need to protest the offensive playing of the national anthem of the country they’ve freely chosen to represent?

Probably not. But whereas we live in America, the (formerly) land of free speech I, like Joey, can “respect” Gwen’s decision to act like a petulant child. However that by no means requires me to refrain from excoriating her for her inappropriate anti-American diatribe (uh-oh, “tribe” - a word I’m not supposed to use anymore). It doesn’t mean she shouldn’t face consequences for her behavior; I’m in favor of throwing her off Team USA as she clearly hates the USA. Why would we want her representing us?

But no. As we are currently living not in the land of the free but rather in the land of the tyrannical minority, Little Miss-it’s-all-about-me will instead get a huge contract with somebody - most likely Nike: we’re-all-about-China - to hawk their shoes and become a millionaire – which has always been Gwen’s real objective.

“I don’t need to do anything sport-wise,” she said. “What I need to do is speak for my community, to represent my community and to help my community. Because that’s more important than sports.”

Let’s be clear: the “community” that she represents is a community of one.

As it is for the lot of these BLM, ANTIFA, Take-a-Knee Anti-American exhibitionists; i.e. “believe in something, even if it costs you everything” Kaepernick. The hypocrisy drips from these characters like condensation from an AC unit on a 101 degree day.

Mostly what the athletes believe in these days is white guilt and the tyranny of the minority

A Little Civility, Please

Good morning and happy mutt-day to all.

Today I am asking all of you to read or re-read my Blog Rules which have been thoughtfully posted at the top of the blog’s righthand column since the Obama Occupation.

They have not been retracted, rescinded, overruled by any judicial body nor have they been arbitrarily changed by fiat or executive order. They have not been invalidated by a fraudulent vote and they have not been removed by a truck in the middle of the night.  They’ve simply been somewhat ignored as I’ve been lax in surveillance and enforcement because while I don’t mind providing daily commentary, I don’t like having to play Sheriff.

This is Jacee, the sheriff, doing the work most Americans are unwilling to do

And some of you have been lax in following the rules -  which is just rude.

That - that right there is rude!

The crudeness and personal sniping that has crept into many of the comment threads has started to annoy MOTUS, you can tell she’s annoyed when she speaks of herself in the third person. Trust me, you will not like MOTUS when she is annoyed.

The rules have not been updated since I established them and hence they still reference certain organizations, functionaries and petty dictators associated with characters who theoretically relinquished their titles/offices as of 2017.  I will perhaps update them at a future date to include current references, but said dated references in no way negate the rules. They were and still are perfectly clear. I direct your attention specifically to Rules III – V:

III.

Commenting is appreciated and encouraged, as is disagreement; butt as this is a wholly owned subsidiary of MOTUS Inc.™ and in no way owned, subsidized or authorized by the U.S. Government, your first amendment rights do not apply here. If you don’t like it, take it up with Eric Holder.

IV.

Accordingly: trolls may be zapped without due notice. Unduly profane, racist or pornographic commentary or imagery may be deleted by staff (me) or management (me again). Please note however that “staff” and “management” may not always see offensive items immediately as “they” may be goofing off doing other things. Life is short and MOTUS cannot live on resistance alone.

V.

In case of disputes over what constitutes profane, racist or pornographic speech and imagery, the final arbiter of good taste and decency will be the sitting Secretary of Promiscuity and Propaganda (also me). All complaints should be forwarded to Organizing for Action. Just tell them “you’re in” and they’ll take care of everything for a small donation.

No specific incident or post has initiated this reminder. I’ve just become uncomfortable with the increasingly crude way thoughts are tossed about in the comment thread, sometimes at other commenters sometimes just in general frustration. It reminds me too much of the incremental demise and subsequent collapse of standards in the culture at large. I can’t do much about that but here, in my little fiefdom, I can. So here’s the deal: I know you want to cuss, everybody wants to cuss these days. Somedays I personally use every cuss word in the book. But I would like to maintain a tiny corner of civility on my blog if for no other reason than to remind us  how the world used to be. Accordingly I would appreciate it if you would all attempt to do the same: be civil to those whose opinions you disagree with or simply ignore them; when the need to curse overwhelms you please use the polite convention of filling in the letters of the bad words with asterisks or other characters of your choosing – or borrow Jettie’s “fek off.” For the record, I don’t consider “hell” “ass” or “damn” real cuss words – you know what sort of “commentary” I am talking about.

Example of non-cuss invective:“You’re a lying dog faced pony soldier!”

So please, disagree with each other all you like but keep the commentary safe-for-work, and avoid hurling unnecessarily colorful invective at other MOTI.  If you really don’t like somebody’s viewpoint you can block them from your comment stream.

I have no intention of monitoring comments as made, as noted above I have to desire to do that and I generally don’t have time to either, most certainly not on a real time basis. However when I do see unnecessary and unwarranted crudeness and vulgarity I will delete your comment because…see Rule III above. I’m not going to serve as a hall monitor but I will be keeping an eye on things.

Because some of you guys don’t seem to be able to follow the rulz.

Just don’t make me come down there. You won’t like me if I have to come down there.

All I’m asking for is a little civility, like we all used to enjoy.

Back when the world was a better place.

Our Best Weapon

Bad news for Progressives. Good news for America. Trump’s back.

He won’t just shut up as his critics demand and his supporters are growing increasingly belligerent.

More than OK, really; I relish it.

Me? I intend to remain caffeinated at all times. In fact I’m going to steel myself for another day with a couple of these donut cones filled with covfefe ice cream with a side shot of espresso.

Caffeine, it’s our best weapon. Prove me wrong.