Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 7,783 Comments »

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50 Comments / 7783 Comments

  1. @ honeybee:
    HoneyBee said “Romulan clocking devices are used for immoral purposes” did you mean cloaking? This chestnut came to mind:

    “3. The government opened an official state zoo some miles inland from
    the Pacific Ocean. The first problem that they encountered was that the
    porpoises in the porpoise pool required a diet of baby sea gulls if they
    were to live forever. So the director of the zoo sent an attendant down
    to the ocean to bring back baby sea gulls for the porpoises. However –
    while the zoo attendant was down at the beach, the lions escaped from
    their cages and began to surround the porpoise pool. So that when the
    attendent returned to the zoo carrying thousands of young gulls he was
    forced to make the split- second decision – to run and jump high over the
    lions in order to get the gulls to the porpoise pool. He did so quite
    successfully, but he was arrested.
    What was the charge? [*Answer below]

    3. :::Transporting young gulls across state lions for
    immortal porpoises.”

    http://people.virginia.edu/~pm9k/Writings/morals.steve

  6. Who does Israel’s Health Minister think he is, Michele Obama?

    “Litzman: Say ‘no’ to doughnuts if you can
    Health Minister calls on the public to find a healthy alternative to the jelly doughnuts which are eaten during Hanukkah.”
    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221577

    Or, well, He’s from the United Torah Judaism party so i guess that makes him some kind of conservative? So, maybe he’s taking a stand against liberalism here in the form of implicit criticism — would that be a “dog whistle” — of the liberal hero, JFK, who, during the crisis of 1961, famously tried to rally the spirits of the beseiged citizens of West Berlin by making them laugh when he roared, “Ich Bin Ein Berliner*”

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_(doughnut)
    [note: the article cited above claims that JFK used it correctly and that this is an urban legend. I strongly disagree on the grounds that this version is funnier.]

  8. @ honeybee:
    For some reason studies usually just pick men or women to study. I have tried to find out the clinical effectiveness of various chinese herbal teas only to find that they only studied women. Or are you just being politically correct as in:

    Monty Python’s The life of Brian – I want to be a woman

    https://youtu.be/sFBOQzSk14c

  9. Sebastien Zorn Said:

    “A recent study conducted by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel suggests the higher-than-average life expectancy among Israeli males is a consequence of their compulsory 32-month service in the IDF.”

    And the women.

  10. @ honeybee:
    I’m wondering what the story is with the new labor secretary. Here’s a great one:
    “Awl” (2015) kdrama:

    “Lee Soo-In has the kind of temperament where he has to do the right thing no matter what. After his discharge from the military, he has worked at a large retail market. One day, his boss orders him to fire temporary employees at the store. Lee Soo-In refuses to do so and decides to join the labor union. He and the temporary employees struggle against unfair dismissals”. Based on a true story.

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3bi1s0

    And while we’re on the subject:

    “A recent study conducted by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel suggests the higher-than-average life expectancy among Israeli males is a consequence of their compulsory 32-month service in the IDF.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/12/08/research-indicates-israeli-men-live-longer-due-military-service/

  13. @ honeybee:
    You prefer actors to soldiers.

    You want “Galaxy Quest” (1999) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/

    I feel that way about doctors:

    https://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/ryoko-yonekura-to-return-for-4th-season-of-doctor-x

    https://www.viki.com/tv/27237c-doctor-x-2014
    Like a cross between Dr. Ben Casey(that’s the cat’s name, in fact) a spaghetti western and Thelma and Louise

    One of my favorite themes
    https://youtu.be/Jjnl3CZIzPc

  17. @ honeybee:

    Whatever. I’m not interested in symbolic grievance mongering over the past. I’m interested in destroying the enemy in front of us. The question now is should Trump have appointed him. Lincoln said it all when his generals objected to Grant being appointed over them citing his alcoholism: “He wins battles. If it will help, find out what brand he drinks and send a case to all of my other generals.”

  22. On identity politics:

    A relative was grumblng to me about how J.S. Bach didn’t train any of his daughters to be composers. It did no good to mention that one was a singer who helped her father, another married one of his students, and his last wife, Anna Magdalena Bach was one of his students and in fact, may have composed some of his best known works instead of being the copyist we know her to be. He wrote the famous notebook for her, And Vivaldi, who was a teacher in a girl’s school for the illegitimate children of nobility and clergy only wrote for women. and Costanze Mozart was the first female impresario who in fact, made her husband world-famous after his death. And I didn’t feel like saying rudely, “so what, shouldn’t you be more worried about contemporary Islamic gender apartheid than grievance-mongering about injustices in the West that were corrected a long time ago?”
    So, I thought how about satire: Next time, I will ask if she had heard about the class action suit against Bach. It will be a landmark case that will decide questions of both temporal and geographical jurisdiction. Can a 21st century U.S. Court have jurisdiction in an 18th century German Statelet? And could Bach argue that he is exempt from prosecution on the grounds that he is dead? Thorny legal questions for our time. And for the related fields of time travel and alternate history.

  25. @ honeybee:

    Oh, why didn’t you mention it before! He should have thrown his medals on the White House Lawn like “Reporting-For-Duty” – Kerry, or better yet, directly at his Commander-in-Chief, publicly. Yesss. Got it. Natch. Just one question, do you think he should have washed it all down with a nice hot cup of coffee or the medals would have been sufficient? Maybe sepuku? Or is that too Japanese.

  29. @ honeybee:

    How did he betray anybody? The Defense Secretary spoke and speaks for the Defense Dept. And the commanding general works for the Defense Dept. And I read nothing in the statement about “workplace violence.” It just said the government would stay out of it to give the defendant the presumption of innocence in a court of law since he had 32 charges against him and was facing the death penalty. Obama is the one to blame for the way that one was handled. Geez, can’t you take the trouble to read it even when I print it out? If I go away and leave a string of biscuits around your neck on a necklace, will you starve to death because you were too lazy to turn it around?

    Here it says the government called it that to avoid calling it terrorism while he was being tried so as not to prejudice his case. That’s obviously coming straight from Obama. You seriously expect the whole military brass to resign over one injustice? I’m sure they have had to overlook a whole lot more in their million years in the military. Frankly, anybody who works as a cog in an organization has to. Especially in a country whose system, thank god, is based on the subordination of the military to the civilian leadership right or wrong. He’s guilty of nothing but the very association with the military that qualifies him to change things now that he is a civilian.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/06/nidal-hasan-s-murders-termed-workplace-violence-by-u-s.html

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/04/obama-to-finally-award-fort-hood-workplace-violence-victims-with-purple-hearts/

    Here’s good news for prevention:

    DoD Releases Plan to Allow Personnel to Carry Firearms on Base

    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/11/21/dod-releases-plan-allow-personnel-carry-firearms-base.html

  31. Sebastien Zorn Said:

    No, yours. It’s clear from the article that you have your facts wrong. Since you are apparently one of those older folks who don’t click on links,

    No just lazy new you would do the task for me.

    Sebastien Zorn Said:

    older folks

    Yes I am, about 2,000, but after the first 1,000 who counts.

  32. @ honeybee:
    No, yours. It’s clear from the article that you have your facts wrong. Since you are apparently one of those older folks who don’t click on links, I will quote it for you. Generals don’t call the shots. They work for the Defense Secretary who works for the President. From the article:

    “In rejecting the victims outcry, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s spokesman cited concern that having the government weigh in could bias the case against Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 42, who is awaiting trial and faces the death penalty if convicted.
    When asked how Mr. Panetta plans to respond to the victims, his spokesman took a day and a half to respond, eventually emailing a statement Friday night.
    “The Department of Defense is committed to the integrity of the ongoing court martial proceedings of Major Nadal Hassan and for that reason will not further characterize, at this time, the incident that occurred at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said in the statement. “Major Hassan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder, and 32 counts of attempted murder. As with all pending UCMJ matters, the accused is innocent until proven guilty.”

    He says it himself in the first article I enclosed:
    On Gitmo which he ran:
    “I do not do policy — whether it opens or closes, whether it ever should have opened.”

    and

    “He bristles at reports he and other military officials have stymied the president’s push to transfer out detainees and close the detention facility for good.

    “It’s an insult, frankly, to a serving military officer or a civil servant in this building to be accused of — whether we agree or disagree with any of the policies, that we would in any way impede the progress,” he said. “My only role in transfers is give me a name, give me a country, give me a timeframe, and I will get the person to that country.”

    http://www.defenseone.com/business/2016/01/heres-what-americas-longest-serving-general-most-fears/125024/

    It wasn’t his job to make policy. Just to carry it out. At the Executive level. Get it?

    Until Now. It’s Brilliant of Trump to promote from within the ranks. This is somebody who will be taking over the job of his former immediate superior and rectifying what both he and Trump saw — but he was formerly powerless to correct — are policy errors in the Dept. of Defense.

    Does not compute! – Lost in Space

    https://youtu.be/ZBAijg5Betw

  35. yamit82 Said:

    What did you advise how to make buns, cakes and stews?

    Sugar pie, you name the subject and I’ll advise. Send an email to Palm Tree.com..

  37. yamit82 Said:

    Well in fact I saw him the other day and his uniform and shield really did shine.

    Was he carrying a spear or a sword. Does he still have that “hot” chariot? Inquiring mind want to know.

  38. honeybee Said:

    I love what wearing the uniforms. You should have seen Barack in his shinning armor.

    Well in fact I saw him the other day and his uniform and shield really did shine.

  40. Sebastien Zorn Said:

    . As far as Ft. Hood or other allegations, you have to enclose links to articles for me to consider them.

    Kelly can the FT. Hood shootings, ” work place violence” thus denying the dead and wounded soldiers benefits and the Purple Heart.
    As for you and your consideration. Perhaps a good beef steak might improve your cognitive abilities. Otherwise no me Importa !!!!!!!!!!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FnO3igOkOk

  43. Homeland Security is staffed with mostly former DoD personnel. However, he had not had a lot of ‘soft’ postings that would have given him exposure to the more intelligence and civilian areas of the security equation such a role demands. And he is 66, but then most of the ‘picks’ are beyond retirement age, including Trump.
    It seems to me that this is a factor many have ignored. Trump is a ‘reluctant’ president in that he likely knows he only has a single term in him; he should have run against Obama in the first term, but the GFC was consuming his business attention. But, he wanted, maybe needed change.
    To make change happen, one needs focus and discipline. Hence the generals. Trump will make decisions and direct his generals who will then carry out the orders like no civilian political appointee could in the Obama or for that matter Bush administrations.
    This is typical of Trump’s choices in past business life. He has always picked people to get the job done, not because they won a popularity contest of some sort, or came with a Masters from Harvard.
    The problem is the generals he picked. While all military officers become ‘politicised’ by the time they get to the BG rank (Kelly got his in Iraq!), and certainly are ‘politicians’ by the time they retire, some do this better than others (see Petreus, Chrystal). All of the generals so far selected have fairly large axes to grind, and Kelly perhaps more so given the loss of his son in Afghanistan which Obama pronounced a loss (in different PC terms). Who wants to lose a child for no gain at all?
    There is also a different reason for selecting these particular people. The Pentagon has by far the greatest budget liability for Trump, and he can do nothing about it until 2018. After that he is going to move very fast and very ‘hard’ because as any businessman knows, low debt is the best position to operate from, but there is no ‘innovative’ tax tactics in the international finance domain. So I predict a major reform in the DoD, though its going to have to be innovative since personnel has already been ‘cut to the bone’ in terms of personnel. So likely some very expensive programs are going to be shut down, the F-35 being prime contender. It seems to me the Tweet on the AF1 was a sort of forewarning to Defense indistry sector that affordability is now requirement #1 in Defense acquisition.
    And the changing attitude to Russia confirms this. Trump does not see a reason to invent a conflict with Russia to satisfy the budget needs of the 17 US intelleigence agencies that say so because ISIS and China are not challenge enough to them. I recently challenged a former ‘professional’ on LinkedIn to provide three military threats Russia poses to the US national security based on these 17 agencies, and he tried to change the subject three times before turning to analysing my person, the common escape route to the intellectually dishonest.

    Americans are going to ‘live in interesting times’, and so is the World to some extent.

  44. I like what I am reading in this article — otherwise I don’t know anything about him. As far as Ft. Hood or other allegations, you have to enclose links to articles for me to consider them.

    http://www.defenseone.com/business/2016/01/heres-what-americas-longest-serving-general-most-fears/125024/

    I am sure it will be fine. I have confidence in Trump’s ability to pick the right people for the job.

    But, nobody has commented on the most important issue here. Isn’t Gene Kelly amazing? I mean did you see that? Gliding and Tap dancing on roller skates like an olympic ice skater on a street, occassionally stopping dead in his tracks. Wow! The singer/dancer in the Jets song was pretty amazing too.

    Shouldn’t somebody who can do that be in charge of Defending the nation?

  45. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    “Israeli archaeologists reveal prehistoric man’s plant-based diet
    Study reveals ancient humans’ diet in Paleolithic era was mostly plant-based, countering common claim that ancient humans’ diet was protein-heavy • Scientific journal dubs Israeli study as “earliest known archive of food plants.”

    Yori Yalon

    Prehistoric seed and fruit collectibles | Photo credit: Yaakov Langzam

    Remains of plants believed to be 780,000 years old were unearthed during excavations at Gesher Bnot Yaakov, a Stone Age archaeological site in the Hula Valley in northern Israel. The discovery provides a testimony of our prehistoric ancestors’ plant-based diet in the Paleolithic era, countering the common claim that ancient humans’ diet was based heavily on animal products.

    Professor Naama Goren-Inbar of the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has long studied findings of hominid crafts in the Levantine corridor, through which hominins migrated from Africa to Europe and Asia. In her study, titled “The plant component of an Acheulian diet: A case study from Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel,” which was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the extensive research revealed that the more than 20,000 remains of edible plants that were discovered provided evidence of the variety of plants and vegetables available to the prehistoric human.

    According to the article, the important discovery is the “earliest known archive of food plants,” and the results shed light on prehistoric humans’ ability to adapt to new environments as well as colonization beyond Africa.

    Goren-Inbar and Dr. Yoel Melamed of the Life Sciences Faculty at Bar-Ilan University have identified 55 species of edible plants. “In recent years, we were met with a golden opportunity to reveal numerous remains of fruits, nuts and seeds from trees, shrubs and the lake, alongside the remains of animals and man-made stone tools in one locality,” Goren-Inbar said.

    “Our region is known for its ?abundance of plants, but the real surprise was a discovery of plant-based sources in the lake [Hula Lake] itself. We found more than 10 species that grew here in prehistoric times but don’t exist today,” Melamed said.

    The excavation team also found stone tools and animal fossils on site, which, Melamed explains, were preserved due to unique natural conditions.

    “The site was submerged underground [in the waterlogged soil of the lake] in humid conditions and lack of oxygen, aided by the fast covering of layers of sediments,” Melamed said.” http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=38565

    —

    MainAll NewsIn Other News…Israel is the ‘Most Vegan Country in the World’

    Israel is the ‘Most Vegan Country in the World’
    Israeli cuisine lends itself to veganism, and the large vegan community led to Domino’s first vegan pizza – but there’s a radical fringe.
    Contact Editor Arutz Sheva Staff, 22/10/14 09:30
    Share

    Vegan burgers (illustration)Vegan burgers (illustration)Thinkstock

    Israelis are starting to flock to veganism and forego all meat and animal products, to the point where even the IDF now has options for vegan soldiers.

    “Four percent of Israelis define themselves as vegans, it’s the most vegan country in the world,” according to Omri Paz, organizer of the “Vegan Fest” fair, where stands offered pea-based hot dogs, tofu doner kebabs and wheat gluten goulash.

    Like vegetarians, vegans do not eat meat, but they also eschew all animal products – including milk, eggs and honey – with some also refusing to wear leather or use cosmetics tested on animals out of a desire to show mercy to animals.

    The Vegan Fest in Tel Aviv, where veganism has the most acolytes, attracted 15,000 people in a day.

    The most-visited stand at the specialized food fair was that of US pizza giant Domino’s, which last year launched in Israel a vegan vegetable pizza topped with soy cheese, a global first for the company which has reportedly sold 300,000 of them so far.

    In Tel Aviv, one of the city’s best known restaurants Nanushka, renowned for its vodka-laced grills and party atmosphere, announced in February it was going vegan and completely rewrote its menu.

    Israel’s vegan community took center stage recently when the popular Big Brother TV show saw vegan activist Tal Gilboa win.

    In the IDF as well, soldiers are now offered leather-free boots and a small allowance to buy themselves alternatives to the food in mess halls.

    Facebook is full of dedicated Israeli vegan communities and is divided into sub-groups, such as “vegan teenagers” who want special menus in school canteens.

    Israel is predisposed to veganism according to some, who note fruit and vegetables are an important part of most people’s diet, with staples such as hummus and falafel made from chick peas.

    Also Kashrut, the Jewish dietary law, forbids the mixing of meat and dairy products, which has led to widespread acceptance of substitutes, particularly non-dairy toppings and desserts.

    Radical veganism

    However there is an edge to some radical members of Israel’s vegan community who have made the shocking comparison between meat eating and the Holocaust, calling the meat industry a “Holocaust of the animals” in a statement angering many for trivializing and downplaying the Nazi genocidal atrocities committed on Jewish people.

    Rafi Grosglik, food sociologist at Tel Aviv University, said of this comparison that “it is precisely in this provocation that the power of persuasion which is so important to us lies. It’s also interesting to note that Israeli vegans are often at odds with the Hindu or hippy vegan culture and instead employ a rhetoric of force which favors violent activism.”

    That violent activism was on display in 2012, when a small group of radical vegan activists calling themselves “Life269” – after the number branded on the ear of a calf they freed from the abattoir on an Israeli farm – emerged from the shadows.

    In Tel Aviv’s central Rabin Square in front of horrified passers-by, they branded the same number on their own bodies with a hot iron. Since then they have left the bloodied heads of sheep in a public fountain in the city, and released herds of cows from factory farms in nighttime raids.

    The activists, whose actions have been widely seen on the Internet, spent several days in custody. They have also spawned copies, with Life269 now operating in about 40 countries.

    AFP contributed to this report.

  46. @ yamit82:
    I am not seeing things like you are. I am seeing things through the eyes of a businessman/developer who wants to identify and solve problems for the most part and is not seeing it only as rewarding folks with a piece of the pie. I think he will want someone who can relate to the culture of the dept, carry his message and goals to that culture and give him reliable feedback and info in reverse. Priebus was chose because he could relate to he senators and congressmen and their culture, including ryan. the 3 mmilitary men are all in charge of a chain of command culture so instead of sending a civilian politician he is sending a military man of their culture or moreso. He sends them someone like them but carrying his messages and explaining in their style. If the person is competent to achieve his goals then his method makes sense. Why give these positions to civilian politicians who will not only be disrespected but cant relate to those he talks to. Trump knows what that means as he talks at the level of the oridinary man to the ordinary man, so he is aware of that importance in different dep cultures. I havent looked closely at some of the lesser posts like HUD, DOE, I expect that SOS is between Bolton and Guiliani but then I dont know what he thinks are the important characteristics.. I cant see petraeus and dont understand it in SOS but maybe he knows something i dont. I am glad he is not just picking folks as a reward. Forget about the gossip and just look at the choices and consider is it possible that he had a logic other than reward for his pick. Bannon and Kushner I beleive give him advice, i read that christie had stocked the transition team with all the establishment figures. For Trump to get in again I beleive he wants to show exactly what he delivered and get re elected on the basis of his achievements. In that case his picks would mainly probably relate to how HE, not me, sees the path to achieving his goals. He also has a couple of think tank type teams on economy and other things who give him their opinions… if I were him I would want to see all the pros and all the cons on any decision I was looking to make or on any analysis.. I would not want an echo of my own voice because that would make me unsuccessful. He might very well be serious about getting things done but whether I like all his goals is another thing. some might be too conservative for me. I am hoping for a pragmatic non ideological approach based on the success of the solution and not whether it is conservative or liberal. Things need to run well at value for cost and policy needs to have common sense and be successful. Its hard to filter out the fake info from the real on any issue… I am hoping he will do that and make sensible decisions based on real info.and not politics, kickbacks or ideologies. E.G. I have no idea what the real facts are on “climate change”… he might not either at this point. If he turns out to be bullllshiit then whats new, he would likely be less dangerous than the other choice.

  48. @ bernard ross:

    For someone who demands and requires loyalty he has apparently thrown his most loyal supporters and defenders under the bus Rudy and Newt for example not to mention Christy. Looks like he is going mainstream Republican in his appointments some much more librul than his base and his promises to them…. Ribeus is a Ryan supporter and Republican elitist surrogate….. I have said many times he is sooo shallow and arrogant that whoever compliments him last gets his support back….Huckabee defended him and supported him against all critics and has nothing to show for it. Be careful who you screw on your way up because you will meet them on your way down.

    I am curious who is his main advisor for his appointments so far???

  49. yamit82 Said:

    I was being facetious but he is a fool and she did’nt have a pretty face so that makes him more the fool.

    maybe is wasn’t just her face?

    yamit82 Said:

    Trump is romantically in awe of the military….

    Me too.