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Comment Re: Kids (Score 1) 161

Literally: https://www.city-journal.org/a...

To address large racial disparities in disciplinary actions, St Paul public schools openly changed the standards of punishment: something that would get a white student expelled would for a black student barely result in any punishment at all.

They were quite open about it.

The results were... Predictable.

Comment Re:Curious catch 22 (Score 2) 219

If they import one hundred million foreigners driving up competition for housing (housing costs rising) and employment (wages stagnating or decreasing), they also break the social contract.

And if they bribe up all the politicians to further this and buy out all the media to make this palatable to the masses, then they are doing what they have been doing for 3000 years in every society they've ever lived in. And for some reason it's illegal in many places to say that.

Comment I looked at cable tv yesterday... (Score 2) 32

So I looked at cable tv yesterday.

I had access to a remote control and a tv with "all the channels" so, for the first time in several years, I started clicking around through the channel guide and selecting stuff more-or-less at random.

I selected a dozen or so different channels and there was only ONE that wasn't playing a commercial when I selected it. One. Single. Channel.

I even waited for a minute or two on some of the channels to see what the programming looked like, and I got to watch more ads and a few station promos. And that was it.

In only one single instance did I see any actual programming at all.

I was amazed. I'm certainly not missing anything by not watching cable tv.

I remember when cable tv was a new thing in the 70's and the selling point was "no advertising." Times certainly have changed.

Comment Re:"shrug" (Score 1) 155

And I'd say you're deeply committed to your theology but whatever.

ANY long-lived species on this planet has - self evidently - survived multiple near extinction events.
What part of "repeatedly survived" is unclear for you?

10 people fall off a cliff, 9 die. 1 survives.
That one and 9 others fall off another cliff, 8 die. The original survivor and one other.
Those 2 and 8 others fall off another cliff, 4 die. The 6 survivors include the previous 2.
Those 6 and 4 more fall off a cliff, 9 die. The original survivor from the first cliff is still alive.

You "clearly this means he's going to die if he falls down a hill!"

Comment Re:Corals [Re:"shrug"] (Score 1) 155

"| Corals date from before the Cambrian explosion, about half a billion years ago.
No they don't. This is a flaw"

AFAIK Jung's study last year pushed coral/algae symbiosis back to the Devonian, no?
https://www.nature.com/article...
It's short of 500mya, but not meaningfully so to my point.

"98% of corals failed to survive the KT* extinction,"
At least from what I can see (summarized at) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ( but also from other sources ) it wasn't 98% of corals, it was 60% - the 98% is JUST warm water corals, which is basically already what I'm saying:
"Approximately 60% of late-Cretaceous scleractinian coral genera failed to cross the Kâ"Pg boundary into the Paleocene. Further analysis of the coral extinctions shows that approximately 98% of colonial species, ones that inhabit warm, shallow tropical waters, became extinct. The solitary corals, which generally do not form reefs and inhabit colder and deeper (below the photic zone) areas of the ocean were less impacted by the Kâ"Pg boundary. Colonial coral species rely upon symbiosis with photosynthetic algae, which collapsed due to the events surrounding the Kâ"Pg boundary,[71][72] but the use of data from coral fossils to support Kâ"Pg extinction and subsequent Paleocene recovery, must be weighed against the changes that occurred in coral ecosystems through the Kâ"Pg boundary.[35]"

One might argue that a 40% survival rate vs 24% (for all species collectively) in such a catastropphic event/span would strongly suggest that corals are particularly durable.

Comment Re: dumb question (Score 1) 187

They WANT to know. I don't believe they NEED to know to do their job.

To be clear, I think a good employer WOULD make a good case to their staff that it's necessary, if it is.

But work isn't a democracy: they're saying "do x, I give you money" - that's it, that's the deal.

ESPECIALLY if that was the original deal when you were hired (ie anyone pre 2019, really). If you change the terms (well I want to work all the time from home now) they're free to ALSO change the terms (ok we're paying you 75%) and then you decide if you continue to be an employee.

I'd say *demanding* to stay home and work in your jammies sounds a lot like a 3 year old not wanting to go to school, too. So yeah, that's how it's treated.

Comment Re:"Lean NASA" failed in the 90's. (Score -1, Flamebait) 60

Or, it could be that pretty nearly all government agencies were "fluffed" with nearly-worthless DEI hires, departments, and administrations over the past 4 years and nothing of value will be lost.
Let's check JPL levels historically, shall we?
| Year | Approximate Staff Level | Notes/Source Summary |
| 2010 | ~5,000 | Based on 2008 NASA budget planning for FY2009, committing to maintain 5,000 employees amid post-recession adjustments. |
| 2011 | ~5,000 | Stable from prior year; no major changes reported in mission-driven workforce. |
| 2012 | ~5,000 | Consistent with early 2010s growth in planetary missions (e.g., Curiosity rover). |
| 2013 | ~5,000 | Aligned with Near-Earth Object Program expansion; steady state. |
| 2014 | ~5,000 - 5,500 | Gradual increase tied to Earth science and outer planet missions. |
| 2015 | ~5,500 | Reflects ongoing investments in data science and workforce diversity initiatives. |
| 2016 | ~5,500 | Stable; focus on Spitzer Space Telescope management and Mars rovers. |
| 2017 | ~5,500 | HBCU/URM internship expansion signals sustained staffing. |
| 2018 | ~6,000 | Peak near-term level; $2.5B budget supports growth in robotic exploration. |
| 2019 | ~6,000 | Continued stability with Juno and Cassini mission support. |
| 2020 | ~6,000 | Pre-pandemic baseline; telework shifts but no net reduction. |
| 2021 | ~5,500 | FY2021 budget of $2.4B; includes on-site subcontractors, but core staff steady. |
| 2022 | ~6,000 | Slight rebound post-COVID; Zippia demographics report ~6,000 total. |
| 2023 | ~6,000 | End-of-year figure before 2024 cuts; shutdown impacts minimal. |
| 2024 | ~5,500 (end-of-year) | Major reductions: ~100 contractors (Jan), 530 employees + 40 contractors (Feb, ~8% cut), 325 employees (Nov, ~5% cut). Starts at ~6,000, ends at ~5,500. |
| 2025 | ~4,950 (as of Oct) | Additional 550 employees laid off (Oct, ~11% cut) as part of restructuring; figure post-layoff from ~5,500 baseline. |

So another less politically loaded but entirely accurate title might be "JPL staff returning to historically normal levels" mightn't it?

Comment Re:The Empire is dead. (Score 1) 126

"If they don't like it they're free to do as imgur did and make a token effort to block UK visitors."

Why should it be on them to make any effort, token or otherwise, to block UK visitors?

If I left my lawn mower in the front yard that doesn't mean the guy who stole it was in the right because I didn't make an effort to protect it from theft.

If they don't block their website and some schnook reads it who's not supposed to be there, that's on the schnook, not on the website.

Comment The judgment will also bind other manufacturers (Score 3, Interesting) 105

"The judgment on the five lead defendants will also bind other manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover, Vauxhall/Opel, Volkswagen/Porsche, BMW, FCA/Suzuki, Volvo, Hyundai-Kia, Toyota and Mazda, whose cases are not being heard to reduce the case time and costs."

Excuse me? Since when is that a legal procedure?

We're having a trial to find out if these guys are guilty. And then we'll consider these other guys guilty and penalize them too.

Aren't they entitled to a trial?

Your neighbour has been found guilty of assaulting the mailman. Since you live on the same street we're sending you to jail too.

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