CharonY

I don't think they will be. There are farmers who believe that avian influenza is a federal ploy to steal their farms. And now with their guy in place they will be safe (by not testing). The issue is also that avian influenza is a reportable disease. But if no one is testing....

I mean, if there is no testing and no regulation to cull infected birds, we might get some suspiciously cheap chicken nuggets eventually.

Within the first week of this administration, they are starting a muzzling program, where federal researchers are not allowed in engage in "external communication". These would include the CDC and NIH (avian influenza, anyone?). This would also pause systems that are needed to evaluate research grants. But good news, a pause has also been ordered on all federal grants and loans. So there wouldn't be any grants to disburse, anyway. This applies to many other federal programs, including food programs and housing. But for the context in research, some see it is a strong indication that the administration seeks to control narratives by crippling critical resarch. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/28/us/trump-news-executive-orders?smid=url-share

Most of your energy expenditure is basal metabolism. I.e. the majority of your energy expenditure is entirely independent of physical activity.

Oh yey. The US tried to export democracy with guns. Now they try fascism with bots. What a time to have a brain.

Not sure if I mentioned that, but I have been looking over some data related to grade inflation and it seems that at least for those countries I looked, grade inflation is worse in countries with tuition (e.g., Canada, USA) are higher than in countries without. That likely is associated with the incentive to keep student longer around and have higher graduation rates. That being said, it seems that globally (or at least in Western systems) there has been quite a bit of grade inflation overall, just slower for those with exclusive public funding.

To be honest, I suspect that most AI companies don't want folks to look that closely. I would actually be more surprised if they didn't as most are treating it a bit like Wild West (as evidenced by the numerous ongoing lawsuits).

I think both are related to various degree. Also, considering that quite a few folks TikTok, facebook, twitter, etc. as their main source of information, bot-generated content has been on the menu for quite a while. While they may have originally been human-generated, the short format, plus the propensity of certain folks to keep sharing that nonsense, made them highly prolific regardless of their source. Of course, the amount will continue to increase with AI but I think one of the bigger issues is that they will look more sophisticated (especially images).

Plus, the overall method was largely empirically derived over a long time period. There really was no founder, but a whole lot of pioneers.

That is pretty much it. Stock values are to a large degree dependent on investor's sentiments and expectations. I.e. value is a derivative of factors rather than a hard-wired to products. To me, it seems that stock bubbles is not that different to things going viral on the internet. And I suspect the internet has added volatility to some degree, especially in the tech sector. I am pretty sure that Chinese actors would be happy to use American shit to further their agenda, too. After all, they use twitter a lot outside of China.

It is more of a matter of semantics related to the nonsensical order. Developmentally, all human embryos develop the same way and they are physiologically indistinguishable (which is why at conception makes zero sense). Only after 6-7 weeks we start to see sex differences emerge, mostly by the actions of androgens. Embryos that either do not produce androgens and/or are immune to continue to develop female characteristics. There is a little bit more nuance but that is basically all that is needed to follow these two arguments. My argument is basically because of the stipulation of "at conception" and the production of small gametes (reproductive cells) we are all sexless- there are no gametes at conception. The other interpretation is more based on the expected physiology and at conception up to 6 weeks we all follow the same (female) pathway, as androgens are absent, we are all female.

Very good point, and there are of course other chemical differences. We have evolved extremely sophisticated mechanisms to expel CO2, based on the fact that it is a gas. SiO2, on the other hand, isn't. I am sure that there a also thermodynamic constraints and at minimum the whole metabolism would have to be rewired, assuming it is possible in the first place.

Well, it is not just trolling, it is just a repetition and expansion of his racist actions during his first presidency. There were many stories of how ICE targeted POC and disrupted communities which was not limited to undocumented folks. There was a wave of outrage and apparently everyone forgot again. So now they do it, but even more uninhibited. Hospitals again are targeted which is going to be huge problem for public health and just a few days in, there is already a report that they detained a Puerto Rican veteran. And we are not even a week in. Meanwhile the racists and fascists will bank on the fact that most folks are tired of it and just let them reign freely.

The only form of intelligence they like, it seems. Pedantically I would add that even with female traits, at this point gametes are not formed (oogenesis starts around week 7, IIRC), hence the sexless comment. But obviously that is not really the point and I suspect we are doing that because we do not want to think too hard about of the ramifications of the order. I wonder what some of my US colleagues who regrettably are Trump voters think now. (I know what the others think).

I don't think that is happening. The whole movement has cult-like aspects and they happily adjust reality (remember in 1984 where they switched which faction they were forever at war with?) to fit their narrative. Recently, a Jan 6 convict tried to decline the Presidential pardon said: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/us/politics/pamela-hemphill-trump-jan-6-pardon-rejection.html?smid=url-share While it is great that some folks regained their perspective, for many more it will remain out of reach. Critical thinking skills are on a massive decline (for a variety of reason) and it just help perpetuating fantasy parallel to reality. Regarding the pet story a poll (https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/Reactions_to_Harris_Trump_Debate_poll_results.pdf#page=6) showed that among folks intending to vote for Trump 52% (22; 30) said that Haitian are definitely or probably eating their dogs. 20% think it is probably false, only 5% state it is definitely false. Interestingly, support for this statement is highest in the mid-income brackets (50-100k- 30% def/prob true) but it seems it is because in the lower brackets (24%) there are more non-white folks (white folks are more likely to think it is true). In the higher income brackets (21%) the rate might be related to educational levels, but they have not asked that, I think.

JohnDBarrow has been asked to leave for consistent use of bad faith arguments.

A very short answer is this: DEI split the American community because it challenged a system that heavily favoured white men.

Excuse me, kid? Are you purposefully obtuse? He was 50 when he assaulted Carroll, and around 60 when he confessed that he would randomly assault women. So as long as he hasn't been convicted to assault women in the, oh last 4-8 years, he clearly is not a misogynist? We expect discussions to be had in good faith, and this is pretty strong evidence that this is not happening here.

Well, various agencies also urge federal workers to snitch on co-workers if they try to evade the DEI (and other language) crackdown. Free speech indeed. Folks who got into a hissy fit by false assuming that accidentally misgendering folks could lead to termination or even prison, now want to punish people who are not misgendering folks the way they want to. Shows that all of it was just projection.

He does not care for Hispanic people, even if they vote for him. Remember how he tried to deny help to Puerto Rico following a hurricane or his insults before the election.

Look, if at this point you do not know that he has sexually assaulted folks (with one civil conviction verifying that) and his loooong history of misconduct and other issues you have some serious reading to do (or listening, in case of the bus tape). To be able to ask meaningful questions one needs at least a minimum of a baseline to formulate questions from. If none of the mentioned things rings any bells, consider yourself lucky and you might as well stop your inquiry as apparently you live in a magical place where media does not reach you.

One probably should add "male" in there somewhere (despite the fact that by executive order they don't exist anymore, either).

And that is why there were "past seasons".

I should add that among some colleagues there is a bit light-hearted discussion whether my reasoning (i.e. we are sexless) is more accurate or whether we are actually all female because we are all following the female gonadal build until week 6-ish. The more worrying discussion is what the health agencies (research and medical) are going to do now. And folks in the particular vulnerable space are afraid, as even they did not expect such an aggressive move early on.

Or, we have algorithms neatly dividing us up so that we can never gain critical mass. I should also have added in OP that this is yet another attempt to abuse science to get to a predefined conclusion. It is just blatantly obvious due to how haphazard it is. Like written by a first year computer science student hearing about gametes the first time (and potentially "female") but failing to recall how it is spelled. Like me, typing on a tablet.