What's Good For The Goose

You've gotta love it when lefties squeal when their own tactics are used against them:

LEFTISTS ALWAYS REGARD LEFTIST TACTICS AS INDECENT WHEN USED AGAINST LEFTISTS: Michelle Wu seeks to ban protesters from demonstrating at her home in the early morning.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, whose home has been the scene of anti-vaccine mandate protests, is trying to ban protesters from demonstrating at her house in the early morning. . . .

“Boston has a strong legacy of activism, and it’s important to uphold and protect the ability to speak out and advocate fiercely to keep our democracy strong,” Wu said in a statement. “But in a moment of divided national politics, we can’t normalize the harassment and hate spilling over into our communities. Boston must model not only bold, urgent policies, but also inclusive, empowering politics.”

It’s always “harassment and hate” when it targets leftists, and “justified anger” and “mostly peaceful” when done by leftists. When the Obama crowd sent busloads of protesters to CEO homes during the financial crisis, Democrats lost the moral standing to complain about this stuff. Not that that will stop them.

Scratch a leftie, and a totalitarian bleeds.  And a hypocrite.

A Tale of Two Vladimirs

What do I think of Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine?  What do you expect?  Totalitarians are gonna totalitate.  The bigger issue for Americans, specifically conservative Americans, is this:

 

What do I think of Vladimir Poutine's attack on his own citizens, who were peacefully protesting?  Same question in reply:  What do you expect?  Totalitarians are gonna totalitate.  What disappoints me is that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mounties, completely shot their hard-earned and well-deserved good reputation by serving as Poutine's hired thugs:

 

Both Vladimirs have some 'splaining to do, and I hope it doesn't go well for either of them.

Mexico City Monuments

Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec ruler after the Spanish killed Montezuma:

 

The Monument to the Six Boy Heroes, six cadets who died in the defense of Chapultepec Castle during the Mexican-American War:

Diana the Huntress:

 

"The Angel" atop the Monument to Independence: 

The Monument to the Revolution (1910-1920):

Teotihuacan By Balloon

One of the highlights of my trip was seeing the pyramids of Teotihuacan from the air.  Here are a couple of videos to give a flavor of the flight:

 

So cool!

Update:  here's a model of Teotihuacan at the National Museum of Anthropology:

Sally Kellerman

During my trip to Mexico City (more pics and video coming) I saw that Sally Kellerman had died.  She played Major Houlihan in the original M*A*S*H movie and also was in the Star Trek pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Kellerman was a guest at Vul-con 2016, the convention in Vulcan, Alberta, marking the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.  Here she was at a Q and A:

It seemed obvious to me at that time that she wasn't all there mentally anymore, and it was wrong of whoever put her up on stage in public like that.  

May she rest in peace.

Up Up and Away

Today I took a dawn hot air balloon flight over the pre-Aztec ruins at Teotihuacan before exploring them on foot:

Looks like my video file sizes are too big, I'll have to see what I can do.

 

Update:  I posted video here, and here's my certificate of flight: 

 

Two's Day!

We made it!  Today is Tuesday, 2/22/22.  Two's Day.

I'm sure the date is significant somehow :-)

You'd Think He Wouldn't Have to Worry About This, Being As It's So Cold In Finland and All

I have nothing to add to this:

Remi Lindholm, 24, of Finland, spent over an hour traversing the shortened men's 50km mass start free race in brutal temperatures and howling winds, causing his penis to become frozen, Reuters reported.

An (Arctic) Blast From The Past

From 18 years ago:

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world...

We'd better get on the ball, we only have 2 years left to sink those cities. 

Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 ‘catastrophic’ shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine, disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated.

Erlich was wrong with The Population Bomb, and now Randall and Schwartz are, too.  They never give up, though, they never quit trying even in the face of 100% incorrect decisions over the last 50+ years.  Instead, they double down.  Every. Single. Time.

Today's Happenings

I went to Chapultepec Park today, what a fun place for an outdoor gathering!  And let me tell you, thousands of people were gathering!

I took the subway there with the twin goals of seeing the National Museum of Anthropology as well as Chapultepec Castle, the home of Mexican presidents until the early 20th century and a key target of the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War.  Sadly, even though my guide book and the web site both said Chapultepec Castle would be open today, by early afternoon it was most surely closed.

Fortunately I had already been to the National Museum of Anthropology and got to see one of the greatest of Aztec artifacts, the Stone of the Sun:

I got snapped at by a guard for taking this selfie--not because selfies are forbidden, but because I removed my mask to take it:

So for my next selfie with my Olmec buddy, I kept my mask on:

The closest I got to Chapultepec Castle was this picture:

I had a interesting experience later in the evening.  I found a hole-in-the-wall in which to have some dinner, and given the prices I assumed the portion size couldn't be huge.  So I ordered two "tortas", which turned out to be sandwiches akin to paninis, and a glass of "platano con leche"--a full liter+ of milk with a banana whipped into it.  Well, I was quite impressed when the tortas were delivered, there was no way I needed to eat both!  So I ate one and packed up the other to take with me.

If you've ever been to Mexico, you know about the begging.  There's a lot of it, and the people doing it often look like they genuinely need to.  On those rare occasions when I give to individual beggars, I try to do so subtly, but given the sheer number of them here, I usually just ignore or go around them.

I was carrying this torta back to my hotel room, and a small, old, thin man approached me with his hands out.  I said "no" and started to go around him when he pointed to the bag and asked, "comida (food)?"  Again I started to go around him, but I didn't need this torta and he clearly did.

I hope he enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the first one.  I still feel sort of guilty for not giving it to him immediately.

 

Update:  I went back to Chapultepec earlier in the day on Wednesday the 23rd and toured the castle.  It was muy coolissimo.

I Made It!

This morning as I was in a miles-long customs line in Guadalajara, I'd have sworn I wasn't going to make my connecting flight.  A lady pointed me to a line (with no signage!) for those of us with connecting flights, and it was shorter and went much quicker.  Even so, I'd have sworn my suitcase wouldn't make it to my flight, which was scheduled to leave in under 20 min.

When I landed in Mexico City, my bag was one of the first ones on the carousel!  A not-so-long taxi ride ($15!!!) got me to my hotel 6 hrs before check-in time.  Ugh.  They guarded my bags while I went out and did some walking.  Later the hotel got me into a room 2 hrs before check-in, and I rested for 3 hrs as I didn't sleep on the overnight flights.  Then I went out again, consuming street food like it was going out of style.  GAWD the Mexicans know food!

So, here's me at the Plaza of the Constitution in front of the National Palace and Metropolitan Cathedral:

Proof I'm really here!

The Left's Religion

I live in a blue city in a blue state, meaning I can’t so much as walk to the CVS without seeing a certain sign in half a dozen front yards. You know the one: “IN THIS HOUSE, WE BELIEVE: BLACK LIVES MATTER, SCIENCE IS REAL, WAR IS PEACE, MY LIFE FOR AIUR” and whatever the hell else they’re on about these days.

The sign has become so commonplace, so utterly oblivious to its own irony, that it feels less like a show of defiance than a profession of faith. Think of it as the left’s very own Nicene Creed, the statement of belief that Catholics recite every time they go to mass. One imagines a congregation of the pink-haired standing in pews: “I believe in Science, and in xis only son Dr. Fauci, creator of BIPOCs and TERFs"...

The idea that progressivism has become a religion is by now so familiar as to be unremarkable. The so-called New Atheists who had hoped the decline of Christianity would usher in an age of perfect rationality have been disappointed. Instead one faith appears to have replaced another. The apocryphal old Chesterton quote hangs in the air: “When a man stops believing in God, he doesn’t believe in nothing, he believes in anything.” Emphasis on anything: racist highways, de-gendered Spanish words, you name it...

So while progressivism might be religion, it’s stupid, hypocritical bad religion. We Catholics sometimes get tongue-tied mumbling words like “consubstantial,” but I’ll take that over a wan sloganeered imitation any day of the week.  link

Read the whole thing.

Vladimir Poutine Doesn't Like It When The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

link

Lefties aren't known for their consistency.

Goldilocks Doesn't Live Here Anymore

I don't have a lot of suitcases.  In fact, I have two, plus an overnight/carry-on bag.

Tried to fit my trip's clothes in the smaller bag.  Just a bit too small, and even if I could fit everything in it, which I cannot, I wouldn't be able to bring anything back with me (and I love t-shirts).  So we go to Option B.

I break out the big suitcase, the one that can easily hold 2 weeks' worth of clothes, including coats.  Keep in mind that I won't be gone for 2 weeks, as I only have 1 week off work, but this is the only suitcase I have that will work.  Way too big, plenty of leftover room in there; I can bring back shirts, towels, and a few sombreros.  If you yell into that suitcase you'll hear an echo, but at least it carries everything I need it to.

The carry-on is packed to the gills.  I like to keep all my electronics with me, not in checked baggage, so my laptop, video camera, and all chargers go there.  So does a change of underwear and a clean shirt, a neck pillow for the flight, a mini-toiletries bag, my guide book, and a small documents portfolio.  This bag could stand to be a little larger, but then it could fall afoul of carry-on size limits should an airline decide to enforce those, so I guess this is as big as it can get.

These are definitely First World problems.  I'm thankful to head off on this adventure tomorrow night.

The Best New Nickname for Canadian Tyrant Justin Trudeau

Vladimir Poutine.

Hey, he’s only suspending civil liberties temporarily, right?

Freedom

 The title can't get any clearer:

When "Freedom" Is Problematic, Discussion Ends

The problems of inequality were generally the result not of freedom, but of denying people freedom. Slavery, segregation, and various other institutionalized forms of racism from days gone by were, at their very core, anti-freedom efforts.

You don’t erase the sins of anti-freedom through anti-freedom policies.

That’s like trying to cure cancer by causing cancer. It’s insane.

They go on to lament the idea of pursuing individual freedom over social good, but as I just pointed out, most social ills are the result of too little freedom at some point or another, not too much.

Plus, the individual is the smallest minority possible. If you protect individual freedom, you protect freedom for each and every collective group you care to name.

That is unless your goal isn’t to protect their freedom but to set them on a whole new pedestal.

Which, when we get down to it, is what we’re currently looking at.

When I was young I never envisioned problems like this, that's for sure.

Mask Mandates and Lockdowns

First, Johns Hopkins put out a meta-study of the effectiveness of lockdowns:

Abstract 

This systematic review and meta-analysis are designed to determine whether there is empirical evidence to support the belief that “lockdowns” reduce COVID-19 mortality. Lockdowns are defined as the imposition of at least one compulsory, non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI). NPIs are any government mandate that directly restrict peoples’ possibilities, such as policies that limit internal movement, close schools and businesses, and ban international travel. This study employed a systematic search and screening procedure in which 18,590 studies are identified that could potentially address the belief posed. After three levels of screening, 34 studies ultimately qualified. Of those 34 eligible studies, 24 qualified for inclusion in the meta-analysis. They were separated into three groups: lockdown stringency index studies, shelter-in-place- order (SIPO) studies, and specific NPI studies. An analysis of each of these three groups support the conclusion that lockdowns have had little to no effect on COVID-19 mortality. More specifically, stringency index studies find that lockdowns in Europe and the United States only reduced COVID-19 mortality by 0.2% on average. SIPOs were also ineffective, only reducing COVID-19 mortality by 2.9% on average. Specific NPI studies also find no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on COVID-19 mortality. 

While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted. In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.

Prior to the 'rona, lockdowns were not considered useful responses to pandemics.  What changed, do you think?

Now let's move on to mask mandates:

Mask mandates are predicated on the effectiveness of “universal masking” in which everyone wears a mask to keep case numbers lower. One of the leaders in proposing universal masking, Monica Gandhi of UCSF, has unfairly been accused of being an anti-masker for talking about the limitations of her own strategy and the much greater importance of vaccination campaigns.

But there’s no avoiding it: The benefits of universal masking have been difficult to quantify. One controlled study in Bangladesh showed a small but statistically significant benefit — among people who consistently used masks, 7.6% got symptomatic infections compared to 8.6% in the control group. Other studies have been inconclusive.

It is intuitive that a barrier ought to prevent germs from being emitted into the air. But if that’s true, why isn’t there more evidence for the benefits of masking two years into the pandemic? Experts associated with The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota have laid out a more complex analysis: Given the current understanding that the virus is transmitted in fine aerosol particles, it’s likely an infectious dose could easily get through and around loose-fitting cloth or surgical masks...

All those factors may explain why the states with mask mandates haven’t fared significantly better than the 35 states that didn’t impose them during the omicron wave. Rhode Island, where I live, has had a mask mandate since mid-December; nonetheless, we saw our January surge rise far higher than any other state. There’s little evidence that mask mandates are the primary reason the pandemic waves eventually fall — though much of the outrage over lifting mandates is based on that assumption. Many experts acknowledge that the rise and fall of waves is a bit of a mystery, as epidemiologist Sam Scarpino explained to me on my podcast.

What is clear is that states with high vaccination rates have fewer hospitalizations and deaths, and that booster shots are essential for anyone over the age of 65 or at high risk of severe disease.

So why are 'rona restrictions being eased throughout the United States and Canada?  I'm inclined to believe it's not the science that's changed, but the polling.

Layers and Layers of Fact-checkers

If CNN gets something like this wrong, what else are they getting wrong?  

Travelers going to Hawaii won't need boosters to be considered fully vaccinated, and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Bermuda are making entry easier.

Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, as shown by this Google Earth screenshot:

Not Just Another Pretty Face

I refer to American figure skater Nathan Chen:

The 22-year-old has been on leave since the fall of 2020 from Yale University, where he is majoring in statistics and data science. He opted to pause his education and focus on skating after the pandemic began.

Statistics and data science. Nice.

Booking Was Harder Than I Thought!

Today was the day--gotta book that flight to Mexico City!

Doing so was not easy.

I've been tracking hotels and flights on Expedia for more than a week.  I've known what I want--which flights, and where I want to stay.  Today I hopped on Expedia to book it.

I got my hotel, I got the type of room I've wanted, I got the flights.  When I click on the button to pay I got a message that "the flight you selected is no longer available".  Which flight, outbound or inbound?  There was no indication.

So I went back to the reservation and changed the outbound flight, and still got the error message.  I went back to the reservation and changed the inbound flight, and still got the message.  What sort of fresh hell is this?  I tried it several times and got the same problem each time.  Are none of these flights valid?  And if not, why do they show up?

I went to a discount web site I periodically use, but no good came of it.  Decided to try to book directly through the Aeromexico web site.

The hotel I'd chosen on Expedia was available, but one I hadn't previously seen was on the Aeromexico site.  I was able to get a larger room with a king size bed for only $50 more, and this option wasn't available at the other hotel I considered.  This one also did not offer a free walking tour of the historic downtown area, but my guide book and the internet can handle that.

So I booked it.  There were a few glitches, like my credit card not going through--but after several minutes I figured out that my credit card company was texting me during each attempt to see if the charge was legitimate.  Good call!

Then I had to pay for baggage, and for an emergency exit seat on the one flight leg during which I'll be awake and able to appreciate the extra room!  I have aisle seats on each flight, which is nice for someone of my age.

The 6 day trip will cost me about $2000, which is a lot for a week, but my plan is to get the most out of that week--including a balloon ride over the pyramids at Teotihuacan!  I'll be sure to have the video camera batteries charged for that!  And a friend of mine from Guadalajara may be able to zip over for a day or two, or perhaps we will be able to meet for lunch at the airport during my 4-hour Guadalajara layover on my way home.

I just checked the safe and I have 590 pesos (about $28 US) from my last trip to Mexico.  That should tide me over until I get to an ATM machine in the city.

Now I just have to get through the next week of school, and avoid injury and illness!