(cont'd from this post)
Quick response is required in an emergency. If someone has a stroke and receives proper care within 90 minutes, the outcome can be good.
Your body has a number of quick emergency response systems, and your blood clotting system is one that could save your life.
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Discrimination in favor of only one sex is illegal in education, right? Yes, since 1972 Title IX "protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance." It was enacted to protect women from discrimination and ensure a level playing field.
For fifty+ years the emphasis has been on elevating women's opportunities. Women have earned more bachelor's degrees than men every year since the mid-1980's.
Would you be surprised, then, to find out that discrimination is back? That it happens commonly and frequently in higher education?
Lots of programs, scholarships, and awards are open to women . . but specifically closed to men. Economist Mark Perry "has filed a whopping 410 Title IX complaints against universities that offer programs or awards for women, but not men." Discrimination was wrong when it was used against women, and it's still wrong when it's used against men. "Many vulnerable boys are falling behind."
(Go here to see women's bachelor's degrees from 1971 to 2020.)
from Forbes
(cont'd tomorrow)
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
A bit of a kerfuffle blew up along political party lines when Oliver Anthony released this song, "Rich Men North of Richmond."
"Nine million views in five days"-- that tells you it went viral. Lots of people like it because it hits a nerve with them, i.e. they identify with its message. His video inspired this comment from a viewer: “And just like that you became the voice of 40 or 50 million working men” (this comment was liked by 11,000 other viewers).
(cont'd from this post)
Young, able men stay out of the job market today in high numbers. It's not good for them to be disconnected in this way and it's not good for the rest of us in this country. So we wonder, "what's going on with men and their jobs?"
Masculinity is involved. All sex/gender issues are up for grabs today if even a Supreme Court judge can't define what a woman is -- but, as that judge hinted, the definition of sex is a question for biology. So here's the biological answer: men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome in their DNA. Masculine traits generally follow.
Guess which sex takes more life-threatening jobs:
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
A bacterium is a one-cell organism, obviously lacking eyes and all other body parts that animals have, and even lacking a nucleus. Fifty of them lined up would cross the diameter of a human hair.
But inside them are those complex molecular machines, and they do amazing things.
Picture the bacteria living in a small, weedy pond. There's too much oxygen at the surface, so they need to stay toward the bottom where there's less. Having no eyes, how do they know which direction is the bottom?
Within these one-celled bacteria is a factory - yes, a factory - which manufactures magnetic crystals that are drawn toward earth's core. Watch the video to see how it works:
(cont'd from this post)
Biochemist Dr. Michael Behe begins #5 in his series on "Secrets of the Cell" by saying, "What was a mystery to Darwin is now well known. We know that the cell has codes and transmits information that regulates the size and shape of living things."
Complicated machines made of molecules do the individual cell's work. Many of these molecular machines are irreducibly complex.
They could not have randomly evolved without direction or guidance. If a part of a molecular machine like the bacterial flagellum happened to evolve, it could not be selected by "natural selection" to survive and be passed on to the next generation . . because it would not give any survival advantage by itself--not until all the parts had evolved and were in place.
That's irreducible complexity.
A system of patriarchy was the arch-villain in the Barbie movie (or so I've heard), a system where men hold the positions of power and women are oppressed. It's a core belief of feminists that we live in such a system and that it ought to be "smashed." But maybe a segment of men have taken the notion too far.
Millions of young men have opted out of the labor force, seven million in the prime of life and dependent . . on someone else to support them. As a percentage of the whole number of able men who could work, it's as bad as the Depression years of the 1930's.
Even feminists who want to smash the patriarchy couldn't have had this end in mind. Idle and unmotivated men without purpose, without responsibility, without vision, should be nobody's ideal.
Something suboptimal - something no one wants - is going on with too many of our young men in this culture. We'll pursue it in future posts.
Neither having children nor not having them is the secret to happiness for women. Neither being married nor being single is the secret to happiness for women.
But the chance of happiness for a woman is significantly increased when the two factors are combined. (Ditto for men.)
Combine marriage with children and with church attendance? Those three factors put together must make for a good chance of happiness.
In a (mostly minority) suburb of Los Angeles, parents resist the schools' telling students that they can/should change their sex -- they resist strongly, taking the fight to their local school boards: "How dare you teach these lies to our kids?!"
Los Angeles County, using federal government funds, builds "Wellbeing Centers" in schools where Planned Parenthood-trained staffers carry out PP agendas.
Skirmishes like this one take place all over the country. Parents used to trust their local schools to teach their local values. Then they found, to their horror, that something weird happened when they weren't looking. The people who run the schools at some point devolved into strangers with opposite values. And it seems those strangers don't respect parents' opinions.
As these parents take a stand, they have to call on their courage. They are often awkward in the spotlight. But they're determined to call a halt to the damage being done to children.
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges come to a total of 252 as of last January, as reported here, valued at $1+ trillion. A list of them is here.
Little-known Chinese investments in the U.S. include Forbes magazine, founded in 1917 by the grandfather of the current Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Steve Forbes. The family still owns 20%, but an investment group based in Hong Kong bought a majority share in 2014, with Steve keeping both of his titles.
Real estate also seems to be China's target in addition to businesses. In 2021 they put $6 billion into U.S. housing, the most of any foreign country (Canada being second, India third). Mortgage rates are irrelevant, as most of these purchases are in cash. Land purchases have raised some alarms (here and here).
Why? It's suggested that China has a housing deficit, and that they need farmland for food production. But lawmakers wonder if this glut of investment in American property constitutes a potential national security threat.
"Popsicle" started up back in 1922 with the idea from an eleven-year-old boy. He left a drink with a stick in it outside overnight in the winter, and you know what happened to the drink. As an adult, he started selling the product. Now everybody knows what a popsicle is.
"Gerber" was started back in 1927, when an entrepreneur started selling the baby foods his wife was making.
All American companies . . when they started. All three now belong to owners in other countries, and so do a lot of other well-known American brands including IBM, Holiday Inn, Ben & Jerry's.
China is a major factor in American business, owning part or all of these: General Motors, Starplex Cinema, Hilton Hotels, and lots more.
from Street Insider
But CNN can't or won't recognize what she's doing, so they said she's "soaking it all in." No doubt she is doing that as well, but it's hard to believe they couldn't identify the obvious posture of prayer. Babylon Bee calls it, here 😄
We who lived through that time will never forget the terrible attack on America on 9-11-2001 playing out in real time on our tv's. I remember a radio announcer saying, "We're in a war with somebody." At the time, no one knew who that was.
Families who lost somebody that day keep memories of their loved ones. A wife remembers that day in this post from 2018:
Deena Burnett said of her husband Tom, "He just felt that whatever God's plan was for him, it had something to do with the White House and was going to impact a lot of people."
On September 11, 2001, Tom was on Flight 93. He and three others determined to "do something" when terrorists took over the airplane to use it as a weapon against the United States.
It is thought that the terrorists planned to crash the plane into the White House. Tom and the others formed a plan to gain control of the cockpit, but somehow the plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Tom's God-given destiny was to help save the White House from Islamic terror.
He grew up in Bloomington MN and is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
By drilling into the tusks and remains of extinct mammoths, researchers managed to get their complete genetic code. So Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences wants to re-create them by 2028:
"We have the DNA, the technology, and the leading experts in the field. Next, we will have the woolly mammoth. Alive again."
Protecting the environment where mammoths used to live seems to be the motive. They see the animal as a "vital defender of the earth."
Others have been working on the project for years, Harvard University being one example, and the method seems to be the same. It is to take bits of the DNA of ancient mammoth remains and add them to a modern elephant embryo's DNA. The baby will develop within its modern elephant mother.
"Colossal believes that bringing back mammoths could help restore the arctic tundra, preventing the thaw and release of stored greenhouse gasses."W HAVE THE DNA,THE TECHNOLOGY AND THE LEADING EERTS IN THE FIELD. NEXT, WE WILL HAVE THEWOOLLY MMOTH. ALIVGAIN.VE HNATHE TECHNOLOGY AND TLEADING EXPERTS IN THE FIELD. NEXT, WE WILL HAVE THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH. ALIVE AGAI
Some say that the LGBTQ movement is more than a civil rights matter, an effort to get fair treatment for the gay community. They say it's an aggressive movement to normalize gay behavior and specifically to bring children onboard at an early age. Where do they get this idea?
It arises naturally from situations like this. An Oklahoma elementary school hired a well-known drag queen to be the school's principal in June. Not only that, but this man was arrested twenty-some years ago for child pornography and drugs.
I hesitate to put the photos in this post. You can see them here (at X, formerly called Twitter) and here.
from Allsides
Haven't seen much in the news about self-driving research lately. As the technology gets closer to the goal, it becomes more difficult. The closer they get to Level 5 (perfect performance, to the point that you can sleep while your car takes you somewhere), the harder it is to go further.
At some point in any pursuit, you have to evaluate whether the goal is still worth the resources you must pour into it. Uber, the ride-sharing company, did that and sold off their self-driving unit in December of 2020.
Five hundred million dollars - $500,000,000 - was what the unit cost them every year. The total cost of their effort to achieve the goal of autonomous cars was about $2 billion, what some call a total waste of money.
The company has started to make an operating profit, at last.
from Mind Matters
As a coffee drinker, I like to discover that there's something good about drinking it (put "coffee" in the search bar to see those things). But I never saw this coming - the grounds may be economically valuable.
Charred coffee grounds, when added to concrete, make it 30% stronger, according to researchers in Australia.
A previously (nearly) useless substance now valuable? That demonstrates the tremendous economic value of innovation. Knowledge/ideas/imagination create wealth.
from Science Alert
Follow-up to this post
So many give support to the trans-gender movement: school systems, corporations, athletic teams, etc. Who doesn't? Religious people, including Christians, are known for challenging this anti-science wave. But there are non-religious people, too, who believe in science and reality.
Atheist Peter Boghossian takes a firm stand, as does writer J. K. Rowland. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova, openly lesbian since 1981, also stands against the wave, especially with regard to women's sports competitions including "trans-gender women" (with male bodies).
She expresses it on X (former Twitter):
"Come on USTA - women's tennis is not for failed male athletes- whatever age. This is not right and it is not fair."
She's correct. It's manifestly unfair.
from MSN
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Evolution, change over time in living organisms, is driven by random variation (random gene mutations) and "natural selection," meaning that good mutations spread when individuals with that mutation have a survival advantage.
But gene mutations don't typically install new, beneficial features. Genetic mutations may help the species adapt to its environment, but not by giving it new updates--like a new generation phone with updated features.
"In short, helpful mutations don't install new features-- they are not a DNA upgrade." They don't add a new functions that create higher forms of life.
