Elon & Twitter 4

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Twitter admits to "moderating content." 

Most of us want content that is both free and courteous, but what about hateful speech? We don't want that. The trouble is, it's not entirely a black and white distinction.

When Twitter bans or removes content, they say that it's hateful or untruthful. But many of us are convinced that a large part of it is not hateful - just an opinion on the political side that Twitter opposes.

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"Shadow banning," one way to moderate content on social media, is described by Wikipedia as  "blocking or partially blocking a user or their content . . in such a way that it will not be readily apparent to the user that they have been banned." They deny doing this. 

An interesting thing happened earlier this week on Twitter. Political commentary on the opposite side from left-leaning Twitter has somehow blown up. One politician saw an amazing hike in the rise of his followers on Tuesday, from a norm of 2-3k to a huge 51k. Politicians on the left saw their numbers fall.

Someone else (not left-leaning) gained 220k followers in two days. He wonders if someone at Twitter "took the shackles off my account. Wonder if they’re burning the evidence before new mgmt comes in?"

Elon & Twitter 3

Update to this post

Twitter's board of directors voted unanimously to take Elon Musk's offer to buy the company.

At first, the board tried to stop the sale. Maybe it's because they collectively are paid about $3 million per year, and Elon intends to pay them nothing. Or maybe it's because they and the staff really want to continue censoring speech they don't like, and Elon intends to make Twitter more free. Maybe it's both.

Corporate boards are obligated by law to protect the interests of the company and the shareholders. It's called "fiduciary duty." It seems like shareholders would be well-served by the sale because they would make a profit from the price Elon offered. He reminded the board of this.

Comic satire website Babylon Bee has a take on Twitter's well-known preference for censoring speech:

(cont'd tomorrow)

Kill Covid-19

There is big news for victory over the pandemic: Covid-19 virus is airborne, that is the disease spreads by people breathing very small particles suspended in the air.

Size and weight of the droplet is important. Big heavy droplets can be trapped by a facial mask, but very small airborne particles will go right through it. So, masks won't stop you from getting sick. (Studies are listed here.)

World Health Organization (WHO) claimed back in 2020 that Covid-19 was spread by big droplets -- not airborne. Why they claimed this "fact check" is not clear.

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That same year (2020), 239 scientists came together to claim that it is airborne, and that it should be fought in the air.

There's something more effective against Covid-19 that works and should have been pursued earlier in the pandemic. It's called "ultraviolet disinfection" and it destroys the virus in the air. Too bad it was ignored for so long.

Punk eek 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Here's a giant question for Darwin's theory: if all today's animal species very slowly and gradually evolved over millions and millions of years from other species, one small change at a time, then where are the fossils of those intermediate forms?

Paleontologists (fossil scientists) Gould and Eldredge tried to come up with an answer to this question because of "their honest recognition that the countless intermediate forms which should be expected from evolutionary theory are simply not there."

Yesterday's video about punctuated equilibrium really got into the weeds, too much information. But here's a summary.  The paleontologists' explanation was that evolution didn't happen gradually, but rather fast and between long periods of stasis. So fast, in fact, that all those intermediate forms between species didn't leave fossils! 

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Before he died, Gould abandoned his punk eek theory.

from Evolution News

Punk eek 1

(cont'd from this post)

Many in the field of science, mathematics, technology, education have gone all in for Darwin's theory of evolution (all living things evolved in a long line of inheritance from the first living cell, depending on how their varied inheritance affected their survivability).

But the big problem with this theory is that the fossil record mostly doesn't show a history of species changing into different species, which you would need. Scientists who want Darwin to be right in spite of the fossil evidence try to think of ways it could still be true.

The next example of scientists trying to help Darwin's theory is a theory called "punctuated equilibrium" or "punk eek."

from Evolution News

Oligarchs 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

A whopping 90% of Russians are against the war on Ukraine. This is the estimate of Oleg Tinkov. In 2014 his net worth was reportedly $8.2 billion, but now it's shrunk down below $1 billion, due at least somewhat to sanctions laid on him and his holdings by the U.K.

He takes a strong stand against Putin's war in a post on Instagram: "I don't see a single beneficiary of this crazy war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying." Since he probably knows Putin, he offers some advice to western countries: "find a way to end the conflict that does not embarrass Putin."

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He's not protecting Putin's tender feelings, but rather he's being practical. We all want Putin to pull out of Ukraine, but he may never do that if it makes him look weak or foolish. An end to the war is the goal.

If this man is a member of the oligarchy, as the article below claims, what is he risking with his public opposition to the immensely powerful and rich people he knows, the oligarchs who control Russia?

from "Oligarch Rants Against 'Morons' Amidst Putin's 'Crazy War'", The Street

Oligarchs 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So several countries want to inflict economic pain on Russia as a penalty for attacking  Ukraine. Financial sanctions are forcing Putin and his co-thugs to pay a price for their brutality.

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Forbes estimates that elite Russian billionaires have lost about $290 billion in net worth since before the invasion. They name names and here are a few:

Roman Abramovich, net worth $6.9 billion -- assets frozen so far are a premier soccer team, a Gulfstream jet, and a 15-bedroom mansion in London

Mikhail Fridman, net worth $11.8 billion -- London properties including a $100 million estate have been frozen by the U.K.

German Khan, net worth $7.8 billion -- London properties have been frozen

Alexei Kuzmichev, net worth $6 billion -- his two yachts were frozen by France

Alexey Mordashov, net worth $13.2 billion -- his yacht and $115 million villa were frozen by the Italian police

from "The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Russian Oligarchs," Forbes, April/May 2022, pp.104-112

(cont'd tomorrow)

Oligarchs 1

Oligarchy is defined by Merriam-Webster this way: "a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes." Members of the small group are oligarchs.

Sure, Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia, the leader out in front, the point man. But he's not alone. Unofficial, unelected partners cooperate with him and with each other. Favors and deal-making keep fellow members of the group enormously rich and powerful.

An ice arena was built ($100 million) by Iskander Makhmudov to be used at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Afterwards, he gave it to the Russian government. Nothing in the article tells us what favor this generous gift repaid.

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An effort is being made to punish the Russian oligarchy for the war on Ukraine. 

from "The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Russian Oligarchs," Forbes, April/May 2022, pp.104-112

(cont'd tomorrow)

Micro world

A human hair's width is about the smallest thing our eyes can see, unaided. But an ordinary microscope reveals detail in the micro world that looks quite different from our normal point of view.

You can see a flower and its parts in your garden, but it takes a microscope to reveal what is on those parts - things that a smaller organism, like a bee, would interact with. That micro world fascinates scientist Gary Greenberg.

He takes photos using the microscope (with different spots of focus) and uses a computer program to stitch them together into a single focused image. 

NASA hired him to examine grains of sand from the moon. They are formed differently from sand on earth, and they look different.

Elon & Twitter 2

Follow-up to this post

At first it appeared that Elon was going to join the Twitter board of directors, then he thought it through a little more, and then he said no. Then he wrote an official letter to Twitter in which he offered to buy the whole company for $43 billion.

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His offer is a considerably higher price per share than Twitter stock was valued before he bought the 9% he now owns, just days ago. So the purchase deal would be profitable for current owners. 

But the company's board of directors is opposed to the sale. It looks like they have a different motivation than making a business profit. It looks like they want to continue to censor the speech of people who think differently from them. Elon says freedom of speech is important.

This story is not over yet.

from CNET

The Chosen 1

Up until a month ago, we had not seen "The Chosen." 

Rumor said that it was a good show, but I didn't put my faith in that rumor because of . . my previous experience with faith-based entertainment.

It's different in a number of ways and it's better. In fact, I agree with the rumor - it is good and I recommend it. So glad we finally started to watch. 

If Good Friday and Easter are feeling a bit stale to you, watch episodes from Season 2 being livestreamed tonight, Saturday, and Sunday. Jesus Christ and the disciples will take on new color. It's not cringey.

Giga Berlin

A couple of weeks before Giga Texas opened, Tesla's first European manufacturing facility opened on March 22 in Germany: Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg.

Keeping up with consumer demand for their cars is a challenge for this company. Delays and waiting lists are the rule while they work to ramp up their output. Back in 2017, CEO Elon Musk famously predicted a period of "production hell."  

As many as 500,000 vehicles annually will come out of this factory, mostly Model Y. Up until now, cars were shipped from the Shanghai plant to fulfill demand in Europe while buyers waited 5-6 months. Giga Berlin will be a huge strategic asset for Tesla. No wonder Elon danced at the grand opening.

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Giga Texas

Gigafactory is a good term for it: the largest factory building in the world by volume, it's fifteen city blocks long with 70,000 solar panels on the roof. This is the new Tesla factory in Austin, Texas, and it just opened.

As Elon puts it, raw materials go in one end of the building, a lot of stuff happens, and then new cars come out the other end. He calls it the "most advanced car factory the world has ever seen," and it's packed with energy-saving and water-saving technology.

Half a million Model Y's will be produced here annually, and the brand new cyber truck will be made here next year.

Fifteen thousand were expected at the big celebration, "Cyber Rodeo," and Elon (wearing a black cowboy hat) drove himself onto the stage to deliver the keynote.

from Fortune

Any color 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

How should the horrible history of slavery in our country be addressed? First, with true facts about what happened, plus the effects of them. Then what?  

Ndona's counsel is to tell the truth, but not to fixate on the history and the blame. To make today's reality better, as good as we want it to be, we have to re-focus:

"Hard times, slavery, segregation, in spite of all of this, we're still here. We have to talk about the bad, but we have to talk about the good! We have to say, this is what happened, this is the result. If it's a negative result, what are we going to do to turn that around? We're not going to continue to dwell on "you did this, you did this" . . (from yesterday's video)

Bitter hopelessness is not the right path, though some choose it. Ndona has it right.

Any color 1

When Ndona Muboyayi ran for school board, she posed questions about how and why things were taught in her kids' schools. Proudly affirming her identity as Congolese and American, she also wants to share insight she learned in cross-cultural experiences. Sometimes she hits resistance in American schools. 

A teacher was planning a unit on genocide, so Ndona urged her to to include Rwanda as a recent modern example. But the teacher still left out the Rwandan genocide. 

Ndona thinks that these African black-on-black genocidal murders had the potential to undermine the whiteness-is-evil narrative taught in her school system. So Rwanda's history had to be ignored for the sake of the narrative, the ideology.

Ndona teaches her children that evil can come in any skin color. Any. Skin. Color.

Elon & Twitter

When you're massively wealthy, as Elon Musk is, you have social influence, as Elon so obviously does. You also have the means to support your position on issues that you think are important.

Hence, the news that last week he purchased about 73 million shares of Twitter stock. It makes him the biggest shareholder in Twitter, even beyond the recently exited CEO, Jack Dorsey. 

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What's the connection? Elon believes strongly in the principle of free speech. He asked his gigantic following (80+ million) what they think:

"Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?"

They said "No," and they're quite correct. According to the new CEO, Twitter's role is to "focus less on free speech" and more on censoring speech they judge to be unhealthy. There's no doubt whatsoever that the speech you see on Twitter is the speech which they, in their role as judge and jury, allow to be seen.

Musk may try to change that. He'll be in a position of influence because, as their biggest stockholder, he's joining their board of directors. He had to promise to limit himself to only 14.9% of the company's shares 😄

As one analyst says, "It's time to get out the popcorn and watch the developments over the coming months with Musk on the Board." Agreed!

Ramaswamy 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Vivek developed the ability to recognize abandoned ideas for medicines that could still help people and that could be mass produced profitably. Maybe he'll lose millions of dollars doing testing on some drugs that will never succeed. But he believes this will work and he chooses to take the risk. It's the classic picture of a startup business in a free enterprise environment.

But he stepped aside from the day-to-day CEO duties of his companies to focus on a hot issue in American life that he cares about, the wave of wokeism and its promotion by big companies.

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As a young American business insider, he learned more than he wanted to know about corporate life. He appreciates the money he makes with good business ideas empowered by his talent and hard work. But he most certainly does not like the games that are played within the woke corporate bubble. He says they put up a fake progressive "do-good smoke screen" to make more money and grab more power.

"Basically, being woke means obsessing about race, gender, and sexual orientation . . . even though generations of civil rights leaders have taught us not to focus on race or gender."

from NYPost

Ramaswamy 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Vivek Ramaswamy grew up in the state of Ohio, the son of immigrants from India. He graduated from high school as class valedictorian in 2003, with achievements in tennis and in piano. He then earned a degree in biology summa cum laude from Harvard, and later a law degree from Yale. Clearly, this is a gifted individual.

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Biology training in college helped qualify him to manage the biotech portfolio at QVT Financial, where he worked from 2007 to 2014. He started his own biotech companies and Forbes put him on their cover in 2015. They ran a story on him in 2016 when, at the age of 31, he took his second biotechnology company public.

Drug companies pursue the making and testing of particular drug products, depending on research which predicts that the drugs will be successful - that is, that they will be safe, effective on a real problem, and can be profitably manufactured.

Ramaswamy's distinctive contribution has been his talent to pick up good drug ideas that were dropped by other drug manufacturers - and pursue them until they are successful by the above standards. 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Ramaswamy 1

Many Americans wonder how "woke" radicalism could possibly have spread so fast. Big businesses didn't serve the far left in the past. What happened?

A remarkable man, Vivek Ramaswamy, saw it happening in his business connections. He explains:

More on the experiences of this individual tomorrow.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Rescue kids

Danger, tragedy, death are all happening in Ukraine.  But there's purpose-driven heroism as well.

Vlad Finn lived on the streets for two years as a small boy. A Ukrainian orphanage later became his home, then an American couple adopted him and his brother. At the age of fifteen, Vlad had new parents, family and country. Today his heart is touched for orphans who are still there.

Tyler Merritt is a U.S. veteran with tactical warrior experience, a special skill set. Together with a few other veterans in the Aerial Recovery Group, he's on the ground with refugees at the Ukraine-Poland border. 

ARG's mission: to save lives, eliminate confusion, maximize support and accelerate recovery.

Last week they took a window of  72 hours to walk across the border and rescue orphans. The veterans have the skills to get the job done, and Finn is there as a volunteer. Merritt says that they were moving a 30-passenger van of kids when Russians stopped them, pulled out two caregivers, and executed them. 

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from The Stream

Fuel dilemma 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

According to one German foreign policy expert, the right choice is clear: they should stop buying Russian fuel. "So what are we waiting for? How many bombed cities are enough?" But . . would German voters be so supportive that they happily turn down their thermostats 2-4 degrees next winter? Politicians get nervous about that kind of thing.

A perfect solution in their minds would be to suddenly go all-green, to rely completely on their solar and wind power, end their fossil fuel dependence completely - and thus fuse climate policy with energy security once and for all. (The European Union is aiming for that goal as well, with a plan to cut gas imports from Russia by two-thirds this year.)

But they're not there yet. So some combination of other, imperfect options will probably prevail. Natural gas, Germany's most important imported fuel, could conceivably come from Norway, America, Qatar, Azerbaijan. But these countries have very little more to sell.

Too bad. The U.S. was on track in 2017 (video above) to become the biggest exporter of LNG (liquified natural gas) in the world by 2022. 

Imagine the difference if we were already providing the LNG Germany needs. Western countries currently support Russia's economy with the purchase of gas/oil/coal at the rate of $1.1 billion/day. What happened to U.S. natural gas?