The Decline of Western Civilization

[Tidewater]

Here is an interesting take.
Sabine Hossenfelder is a German and holds a PhD in theoretical physics. She does comment on social issues as well.
In this video, she addresses dumb EU rules on things that a supranational government should not bother itself with while also, stymying technological advances like AI, driverless taxis, and technological companies overall.

You cannot buy a bottle of ibuprofen that contains 100 pills, but you can buy 5 packs of 20.
Brussels seems to have the attitude, "How much unnecessary, oppressive policy can we get away with before the Union starts to fall apart?" My advice to Brussels would be, "How about none? How about you do not control things you do not need to control? And stick to issues you can and should do something about at the Union level, like foreign policy and interstate trade?

 

[crimsonaudio]

Brussels seems to have the attitude, "How much unnecessary, oppressive policy can we get away with before the Union starts to fall apart?" My advice to Brussels would be, "How about none? How about you do not control things you do not need to control? And stick to issues you can and should do something about at the Union level, like foreign policy and interstate trade?

Brexit says hi.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

America is in a golden age. Are we headed toward a Roman ending?

From wealth to technology, America is surging. So why do experts fear a Roman downfall could be on the horizon?

reason.com

We media types obsess about America's problems.

But we should acknowledge that today, life in America is better than life has been anywhere, ever.

For most of history, the norm was hunger, disease, illiteracy, slavery, and war.

There were a few exceptions (from some of those problems)—so-called golden ages, Ancient Athens, Rome, the Renaissance, etc.

 

[Bazza]

 

[Bazza]

 

[CrimsonJazz]

University of Minnesota Page Warns of ‘Whiteness Pandemic,’ Sparks Fierce Backlash

A University of Minnesota webpage describing a so-called “whiteness pandemic” is drawing sharp criticism after laying out a framework that

ijr.com

A University of Minnesota webpage describing a so-called “whiteness pandemic” is drawing sharp criticism after laying out a framework that urges White Americans to “halt and reverse” the issue through antiracist self-reflection and parenting.

“Whiteness refers to culture, not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility,” the university claims, calling them “covert expressions of racism common in the United States.”

The site goes further, asserting that families are key drivers of systemic racism.

One paper highlighted on the webpage surveyed mostly liberal White mothers with incomes over $125,000, concluding that “Family socialization into the centuries-old culture of Whiteness…perpetrates and perpetuates U.S. racism, reflecting an insidious Whiteness pandemic.”

What's really amazing about this is that not only did someone get paid to put that page together, there are people who will take this lunacy seriously.

 

[75thru79]

The shocking rise of Gen Z college freshmen who can’t even do basic math — as grade inflation means graduation rates are rising

The University of California San Diego has reported a staggering 30-fold increase in the number of students unable to do basic arithmetic over the last five years.

nypost.com

Good thing all the Gen Zers will still have their education to fall back on when times get tough.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

The shocking rise of Gen Z college freshmen who can’t even do basic math — as grade inflation means graduation rates are rising

The University of California San Diego has reported a staggering 30-fold increase in the number of students unable to do basic arithmetic over the last five years.

nypost.com

Good thing all the Gen Zers will still have their education to fall back on when times get tough.

That squares with a claim I recently heard regarding some college graduates who only read at an eighth-grade reading level.

 

[JDCrimson]

That squares with a claim I recently heard regarding some college graduates who only read at an eighth-grade reading level.

The skills of young people we interview are pretty low.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Gee, let's see......

- everything has an app
- "you won't always have a calculator" turned out to be a TOTAL LIE!
- AI, ChatGPT, grok give me the answers to questions (even when they're wrong)
- Cliff Clavin's "little known facts" can now be supported OR refuted using the same internet
- "your truth" was a colossally stupid idea but if you pointed that out, you were called a bigot
- "outcomes based education"
- "Ebonics makes you bilingual" (let me tell you something: it was black people around me who threw the biggest fit about that back in 1996 when it was all the rage)


As far as the 8th grade reading level, it was "the average reading level is 8th grade" back when I testified in court in 2006 and my boss said, "You'll be the smartest person in the room. Seriously." The latest I'm seeing is that it has lowered to the sixth grade, which is why I've said the reading level explains how Donald Trump is President because you're not running for President of the USA, you're running for President of the 6th grade class (and they LOVE all that sexual innuendo humor).

 

[Tidewater]

This is interesting.

A couple of books:
Edward C Banfield, The Moral Basis of a Backward Society. "Amoral familialism"
Joesph Heinrich, The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous. The West is Individualistic, analytical, rules based, high level of social trust. have a focus on autonomy. The West is focused on individual things. The West is focused on individual person. The West is focused on intentions (not outcomes). The West has a guilt-based culture (as opposed to a shame-based one). We trust strangers (vice only kin). The West is focused on nuclear family (vice extended family or clan).

This is not to say other cultures must be proselytized. I am willing to absolutely insist immigrant accept Western mores as a condition of coming here. Want to live in a backward society? Fine. Stay in (or move to) one. If you come here, however, you must become westernized.

Garett Jones, The Culture Transplant: How Migrants Make Economies They Moved to More Like the Ones They Left. "If the only thing you knew about each nation on the planet was the fraction of that nation with ancestors of European descent, and you did the best job you could trying to predict average modern income per person, using just that fact, you'd be able to predict two-thirds of all global income differences."

 

[arthurdawg]

Here is an interesting take.
Sabine Hossenfelder is a German and holds a PhD in theoretical physics. She does comment on social issues as well.
In this video, she addresses dumb EU rules on things that a supranational government should not bother itself with while also, stymying technological advances like AI, driverless taxis, and technological companies overall.

You cannot buy a bottle of ibuprofen that contains 100 pills, but you can buy 5 packs of 20.
Brussels seems to have the attitude, "How much unnecessary, oppressive policy can we get away with before the Union starts to fall apart?" My advice to Brussels would be, "How about none? How about you do not control things you do not need to control? And stick to issues you can and should do something about at the Union level, like foreign policy and interstate trade?

The UK sells paracetamol in blister packs of 16 in general stores, and 32 packs in pharmacies.

Their rate of people using it for committing suicide is lower than the US, where one can buy a 500 count bottle.

I suspect the same applies to their ibuprofen packaging.

 

[Tidewater]

The UK sells paracetamol in blister packs of 16 in general stores, and 32 packs in pharmacies.

Their rate of people using it for committing suicide is lower than the US, where one can buy a 500 count bottle.

I suspect the same applies to their ibuprofen packaging.

There are probably some missing causal links between packaging and suicides.

 

[arthurdawg]

There are probably some missing causal links between packaging and suicides.

The research suggests having to pull apart several dozen blister packed tablets gives people time to think about what they are doing as opposed to downing a bottle with whiskey, passing out and the critical damage occurring.

 

[Its On A Slab]

The research suggests having to pull apart several dozen blister packed tablets gives people time to think about what they are doing as opposed to downing a bottle with whiskey, passing out and the critical damage occurring.

When I was getting ready to do my long runs in the early AMs this past Summer, I would always reach for Immodium in order to forestall the dreaded "runner's trots". However, I always had the package open and pill extracted the night before.

Why would you put that kind of medication in blister packs that are nearly impossible to open without a knife or scissors.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

When I was getting ready to do my long runs in the early AMs this past Summer, I would always reach for Immodium in order to forestall the dreaded "runner's trots". However, I always had the package open and pill extracted the night before.

Why would you put that kind of medication in blister packs that are nearly impossible to open without a knife or scissors.

Excellent question. One little boy swallowed a depleted hearing aid battery (they retain about one volt) and it killed him. They will burn a hole in either children or pets digestive system. Now, they are in packs which require scissors to open. Of course, once they're depleted, if the parent or grandparent doesn't dispose of them correctly, they are equally as dangerous. So the only beings made safe are those enterprising enough to open the pack, open one and swallow it. IOW, the >99.9% are inconvenienced to protect the <.1%...

 

[arthurdawg]

When I was getting ready to do my long runs in the early AMs this past Summer, I would always reach for Immodium in order to forestall the dreaded "runner's trots". However, I always had the package open and pill extracted the night before.

Why would you put that kind of medication in blister packs that are nearly impossible to open without a knife or scissors.

Immodium is an opiate with most of the pain killing effect removed by chemical side chain modifications, but if you take enough you can get high from it. People were buying bottles of 200 of them and mixing 50-400 tablets with milkshakes and drinking them...

So they cut the numbers and put them in blister packets.

 

[Tidewater]

A little back on topic,

Poland will not accept EU Migration Pact, says Tusk​

This is part of Hungary's (and Poland's, and Slovakia's, and Bulgaria's, and Italy's, etc.) fight over immigration policy. Either a member state accepts the EU-imposed quota of migrants or it send €20,000 per migrant to Brussels in "solidarity payments."
I seems Brussels authorities are intent on finding out how painful they can make EU membership before more leave. "What can we get away with?" seems to be Brussels' motto.

 

[Bazza]

Gene Simmons just gave some very blunt advice to the son of Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California.

"Mr. Chairman, if you'll indulge me, for Mr. Simmons, not on the bill itself, but my youngest son. His name is Diego. He's ten years old. He has quickly fallen in love — not with the bass, but the electric guitar," Padilla said. "What advice do you have for him?""

Have a fallback position," Simmons deadpanned, prompting the Senate hearing room to erupt in laughter.