ChatGPT proves that universities are collections of second-rate humans (Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness)

by philg

One of my theories for why colleges are facing price resistance (example) is that colleges and universities are now, by definition, collections of second-rate humans. The first-rate humans have all been hired by Nvidia or the AI companies. That’s obviously true in engineering and computer nerdism, but the AI companies also want to do great things in medicine, law, literature, art, etc. It is difficult to think of a truly effective human in any academic field who couldn’t be useful at OpenAI or Anthropic and, therefore, since these companies have infinite money and infinite impact, they should be able to hire away anyone that they think they need. Maybe it makes sense to pay between $0 and $6,440/year in tuition for University of Florida (Go Gators!), but how can it make sense to spend $70,000+/year on tuition at a lower-ranked private university, e.g., University of Rochester?

Where are America’s first-rate mathematicians now working? “OpenAI Says It Has Cracked One of Math’s ‘Millennium Problems’” (New York Times) gives us a hint:

OpenAI said on Tuesday that its newest artificial intelligence technology had solved one of the “Millennium Problems,” a collection of important unanswered math questions meant to push the world’s leading mathematicians to new heights.

The company announced that one of its latest models, which has not yet been released to the public, needed just 88 hours to solve what mathematicians call “the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem.” This problem involves a series of equations that are often used to predict the weather.

The equations describe the movement of water and other fluids. The Navier-Stokes problem, which has no clear practical value, asks whether these equations completely break down in certain situations. OpenAI’s proof claims to have defined just such a situation.

This would imply, at least theoretically, that the laws of physics themselves would break down under certain conditions: that, for example, water could be made to spontaneously explode. But mathematicians and physicists do not believe that this mathematical breakdown could really lead to such an outcome in the physical world.

What does OpenAI get besides bragging rights?

The Navier-Stokes problem was one of seven “Millennium Problems” selected by the Clay Mathematics Institute in the year 2000 as a way of tracking the progress of mathematics in the new millennium. The institute, founded by an American businessman named Landon T. Clay, offered a million dollars for the first correct solution to each problem. Before OpenAI’s announcement, only one of the problems had been solved.

Dr. Evil would be happy (below), but isn’t $1 million what a receptionist hired in 2023 at OpenAI earns every month now as his/her/zir/their stock vests?

Aside from no taxpayers having been injured in order to fund this, the beauty of the biggest news in mathematics in 23 years (since Grigori Perelman’s proof of the Poincaré conjecture in 2002–03?) is that it has absolutely no practical implication. Solving the Navier-Stokes equations hasn’t gotten faster or easier because of these AI/math nerds. The bizarre situation where the equations can’t be used (what ChatGPT proved existed) doesn’t exist in our universe.

Perhaps someone in what’s left of Hollywood could make money off this, nonetheless… how about a movie called “Navier-Stokes” in which a diverse crew of NASA astronauts go through a wormhole into a parallel universe where Navier–Stokes singularities arise naturally in ordinary fluids and don’t have to be forced with 88 hours of GPU crunching? Aliens are discovered who get around by exploiting vortices produced by these singularities. Air turns into plasma without any warning. An enormous sea monster threatens our heroes, but then a massive whirlpool suddenly forms for no reason in the alien sea and the monster is dragged into the abyss. The astronauts themselves are safe within their ship, though, because it turns out that the life-size hollow titanium bust of George Floyd that President AOC mandated be included just outside the ship’s Islamic prayer room resonates to break up singularities that are forming within the cabin air. The crew also discovers that they can be safe on the alien planet surface if they travel together like a Christian saint procession, with the Bust of Floyd held in front of them.

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Potential Maskachusetts jurors surveyed regarding Lindsay Clancy verdict

by philg

I was gathered with friends, mostly from Brookline, Maskachusetts, to celebrate the marriage of a widow to a widower. In keeping with the spirit of this joyous occasion, I surveyed everyone on how they would have voted if they’d been on the jury in the Lindsay Clancy case.

All of the women except one young hater (conservative) would have voted to acquit (“not guilty by reason of insanity”, but the insanity was temporary and, therefore, the government would have no reason to detain her further). A Joe Biden Democrat in his mid-60s married to a Mamdani/AOC Democrat also voted to acquit (i.e., liberal male is the functional equivalent of “female”). A Brookline resident whose politics are driven by hatred of and contempt for Republicans and Trump also voted to acquit (“she’s already been punished enough”).

The remaining men all voted to convict Lindsay Clancy of at least some degree of murder. “Someone like that needs to be removed from society,” said a young man. “There has to be a consequence.  Jeffrey Dahmer was psychotic, but he was still convicted,” said the boy’s father.

Half of the group were MDs and all had harsh words for the psychiatrists and psychologists who pumped Lindsay Clancy full of various medications (that said, nothing she was on had a known side effect of psychotic violence and it was unclear what she was actually taking from among the pills that she’d been prescribed).

(Based on my skimming of press coverage of the trial, I personally would have voted to convict her of the lowest degree of murder available. Her attempt to kill herself after the murders was certainly evidence of irrationality if not insanity and a first-degree murder is supposed to be rationally planned, I think. Maybe I would have voted differently if I’d heard all of the evidence and been instructed by the judge in the law.)

Based on this survey, I don’t think the Commonwealth will be able to convict Lindsay Clancy unless prosecutors can contrive a means of excluding female Democrats from the jury or, perhaps, reduce the maximum charge to something minor.

Update: I sat next to an 86-year-old lady on JetBlue SFO-FLL. She wasn’t a phone addict like everyone else and, therefore, we had a conversation. When the Lindsay Clancy trial was mentioned on her seatback TV, I asked Rhoda how she would have voted. “You put away a rabid dog so you have to do the same with a rabid person.”

Loosely related, a sad-funny X exchange:

Separately, the gathering of these Brookliners was actually in Silicon Valley. To make everyone from Massachusetts feel at home, the locals were kind enough to engage in outdoor masking (Menlo Park; under-nose Faucism):

(Quite a few indoor maskers, of course, as well, e.g., in retail establishments. There was, unfortunately, a serious dearth of social justice signage. People in Silicon Valley, apparently, care primarily about themselves and their money, unlike the virtuous folks in San Francisco and the East Bay.)

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Brookline, Massachusetts bookstore

by philg

My first stop during the August trip to Maskachusetts was in Brookline, which vies with Cambridge for intellectual elitism and maximum credentialism.

A stroll to the bookstore in Coolidge Corner began with these apparently contradictory scenes. A halal family in what was formerly a Jewish suburb and a haram Rainbow Flag celebrating sexual activities that are punishable by death under Islam.

Brookline Booksmith offers free whistles (“look out for your neighbors”; in case the undocumented are living in the $3 million house next door) and a sacred Rainbow Flag on its front door:

There were no Black people either shopping or working in the store, but there is a well-stocked Black Studies section in case Claudine Gay walks in:

Prof. Dr. Jason Arday, Ph.D.’s final work was featured in “Non Fiction”:

According to just the above two pages, the man came back from not having the ability to use language for his first 12 years and also from (1) a serious head injury, (2) epilepsy, and (3) a brain tumor.

What else do Boston-area intellectual elites like to read? 3 out of the Top 100 titles are about the sex habits of hockey players:

Were there any books regarding people who have unusual sex habits but who don’t play hockey? I’m glad that you asked, but unfortunately several of them implied that 2SLGBTQQIA+ is associated with poor mental health (because of all the haters in Maskachusetts?):

See also… (Trans History is a Staff Pick; 4.9 stars at Amazon vs. 4.4 for The House of Mirth)

(Will the sequel to Fat and Queer (4.7 stars on Amazon; Anna Karenina is rated 4.4) be Ozempic and Queer?)

Another staff pick is a book that I reviewed here back in 2015 (Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (a.k.a. majoring in partying and football)):

“Nobody is raped in the physics lab in Missoula if for no other reason than nobody Krakauer followed took a physics course to begin with.” (me, in 2015)

Another prominently featured book:

Did you ever wonder “why your rage is hiding and how to let it out”? If so, Women are Angry is the book for you. (You can identify as a woman at least while you’re reading the book.)

Bulletin board on the way out:

Yard sign observed on my way up to Maine… (the residents of Lincoln, who show their support for the undocumented by refusing to relax the 2-acre zoning minimum, want to “De-ICE” Hanscom Field, the local Gulfstream airport and USAF base (no based military airplanes, however; it’s part of the “chair force”))

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Salary Survey (San Francisco AI/robotics and New Jersey radiology)

by philg

Happy Labor Day and National Payroll Week (imagine creating a system of taxation so complex that no company could pay its workers without the assistance of a contractor who in turn must rely on at least 1 million lines of software).

What does it cost to hire decent people these days? A similar-vintage (i.e., old!) friend in San Francisco recently started a job at a VC-backed AI/robotics company. It would have been rude to ask how much he is getting paid, so of course I did. “About $400,000 per year in cash,” he replied, “plus $500,000 or $600,000 in lottery tickets.” Apparently, the tax value of the lottery tickets is much lower than $500k and, therefore, the current taxes on what might turn out to be worthless aren’t severe.

If you’re wondering why your health insurance bills are so high… A mid-career radiologist friend was offered $1.3 million to work at a community hospital in New Jersey. She turned it down because she doesn’t agree with the progressive politics of the state, a disagreement that would be exacerbated by New Jersey’s high taxes (10.75% for state income, ranked #49 for tax environment by the Tax Foundation; the most recent ranking for tax burden, the percentage of peasant income taxed away by the governing elites, has New Jersey taking 13.2% vs. 15.9% in New York and 7-9% in the most efficient states, such as New Hampshire, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida). As a legacy American (white/Christian) she probably wouldn’t enjoy being represented by her replacement Adam Hamawy, an Egyptian immigrant to the U.S. with an “association with a terrorist Muslim cleric” (Politico) and “an opponent of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and a supporter of a complete arms embargo and the right of return for Palestinian refugees” (Forward).

How soon before all of America’s smart people post “Gone to the Klondike” signs on their doors and can’t be hired because they’re doing AI startups?

Anyone else want to contribute some data on real-world recruiting and pay right now? I feel that the BLS data aren’t the full picture. Median pay for a software developer was supposedly around $131,000 in 2024, but does that include people who can’t program and who work 2 hours/week while being paid for 40 at a state government agency or contractor? I’m more interested in a survey of what it costs to hire someone who is capable and productive.

Related:

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Boeing 767 crash in Miami

by philg

Friends have been asking me to help them understand the recent Boeing 767 crash at KMIA (see “5 dead, 5 injured after Amazon cargo plane overruns runway at MIA, sheriff says” (NBC)).

The plane is reported to have crashed at 1758Z, two minutes before 2 pm Eastern time. Based on recordings at liveatc.net, however, it seems that the crash was closer to 1753Z. Here are the weather reports before and after:

METAR KMIA 061853Z 00000KT 10SM TS SCT025CB SCT070 SCT170 BKN250 29/24 A2993 
SPECI KMIA 061813Z 20012G17KT 10SM TS SCT025CB BKN048 BKN100 BKN250 30/23 A2992
METAR KMIA 061753Z 19017G26KT 10SM TS SCT020CB BKN048 BKN150 BKN250 30/22 A2994 RMK AO2 PK WND 18026/1752 WSHFT 1737 SLP137 TSB12 OCNL LTGICCG E-S TS E-S MOV E CB DSNT NW 
SPECI KMIA 061713Z VRB03KT 10SM TS SCT030CB BKN050 BKN250 32/22 A2992 RMK AO2 TSB12 OCNL LTGICCG S TS S MOV E

Although the closest report to the crash is the 1753Z METAR and the wind was 19017G26KT (from 190 true at 17 knots, gusting 26), shortly after the crash the ATC Tower is heard telling listeners that the wind was only 190 at 8 (source: ATC app, an interesting new service). Depending on which weather report we think was applicable at the moment of the landing, there was a tailwind component of somewhere between 3 and 8 knots on Runway 30 (magnetic 304; true heading of about 300 (Miami magnetic variation is 5W)).

It is unclear why the heavy Boeing was assigned Runway 30, which is only 9360′ long and, due partly to a displaced threshold, has a “landing distance available” (LDA) of 7913′. That’s enough to allow a B767 to land in 60% of the available runway, but doesn’t leave a lot of additional room for error considering the typical final approach speed of 130-140 knots. Runway 27, by contrast, offers nearly 13,000′ of LDA and has more favorable alignment with wind coming from 190.

Typical Florida summertime heavy rain does not seem to have been a factor in this accident, but in any case all of the runways at KMIA are grooved and that’s supposed to prevent hydroplaning (the “dry” braking distance is used for planning even if the runway is actually wet). ATC communications with other aircraft before the accident don’t reveal anything out of the ordinary. The accident aircraft did not declare an emergency or report any issues prior to the accident.

Most runway overruns are caused by excessive energy: too much airspeed and too much altitude. It is tough to dissipate this energy if one lands halfway down the runway at a higher-than-standard groundspeed (remember that kinetic energy varies as speed squared). Why isn’t there a computer in an expensive jet that looks at the GPS position relative to the runway and the groundspeed and shouts “Go Around!” if an overrun seems likely? There is, but not for the typical jet. Airbus ROPS (Runway Overrun Prevention System) was introduced in 2009 on the A380 and has now been extended to the entire family of idiot-proof airliners. It says “Runway Too Short!” if it expects an overrun. Embraer has something similar called Runway Overrun Awareness and Alerting System and deploys it on airliners as well as on the single-pilot Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 personal jets (where “personal” means “affordable for Nvidia and AI company employees”). The Embraer system arrived on the Phenom 300E in 2020 and has a clearer warning: “Overrun; Go Around”. The Europeans are supposedly trying to require that all newly registered airliners have something like this.

Not a great day for aviation and, so far, not enough information to begin to guess at the cause of the accident.

Update (attempted go-around after touching down, which was abandoned four seconds later):

Update 9/9/2026, from the NTSB:

A sad reminder of part of my 2022 NBAA Report:

I learned that only 1% of unstable approaches result in a go-around (it should be closer to 100%).

Related:

  • “Pilot in Amazon Cargo Plane Crash Repeatedly Flunked Flight Tests” (TIME 2019, regarding a B767 crash into the water near Houston)
  • Amazon cargo 767 runway overrun at Vancouver in 2024: after some mechanical problems, which they knew would require a higher approach speed (no slats), the crew ran off the end of 08L, 9,940′ long. The same airport has an 11,500′ runway, 08R, but it was closed for maintenance at the time (on the third hand, it was immediately opened for use after the overrun so presumably the airport could have cleared the maintenance personnel and made 08R available). They had enough fuel to go to Sea-Tac, only 110 nm away. That has an 11,901′ runway. Lesson: if you know you’re in trouble, go to the biggest airport you can reach!
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Elephants in Boston

by philg

I visited The Great Elephant Migration, “a coexistence story”, in Boston’s Back Bay. You can see them through September 13, 2026.

The life-size elephants are made in South India out of an immigrant plant that a sign regarding the elephant “Kashmiri” (Kashmir is a great example of coexistence between Muslims and Hindus?) describes as an “invasive weed”:

The immigrant, Lantana camara, as portrayed by Wikipedia: “L. camara can outcompete native species”. (Immigrant humans make life easier for natives, in other words, while immigrant plants consume scarce resources and make life either miserable or impossible for natives.)

It’s important to platform indigenous ways of knowing:

You can prepare for the experience by stocking up on “essential” cannabis on Boylston Street, right next to the Apple Store (maybe you’ll need to be stoned in order to be able to handle Apple’s AI-era pricing?):

Folks treating themselves to new $10,000 MacBooks stroll right by an unhoused neighbor without bothering to stop:

The Public Garden features a slaveholder:

I tried to rescue this abused puppy, but my friend refused to hand him over:

(Tough to know what will happen to the Samoyed breed now that Taylor Swift has one.)

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Metropolitan Museum of Art Visit

by philg

Wrapping up the report on my August 2026 trip to New York City, here are some photos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I went on Friday evening, which I think is the minimum crowd time.

Walking in at 6 pm…

There’s a great Della Robbia exhibit through January 2027. If only the Optimus robots would be ready to recreate these for our house!

Regardless of your “gender expression”, you can pop into the “Women’s Restroom” and ponder how long it will be before Andrea Della Robbia is celebrated as a pioneering trailblazing female artist:

Public behavior has deteriorated in NYC to the point that the Met had the Gubbio Studiolo entirely closed off. This confined space of beautiful inlay work was previously simply open, then they put a guard next to it (10 years ago?). When I visited it was sealed off from the poorly-behaved masses who might damage the fragile work.

You don’t have to go to the costume area to see a wide variety of outfits. In the image below, a halal example of female modesty and a haram display of flesh (at the time that I took the photo, I didn’t notice the sword position).

If Elon would deliver on his robot promises, maybe we could keep our clothing in this armoire instead of in IKEA furniture:

The musical instruments section has been remodeled (and expanded?):

Second harpsichord from 1670 Italy. The harp was made 300 years later in West Africa. Note that Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown collected at least 3,600 musical instruments. If that isn’t a sign of mental illness, what would be?

Circling back to the core collection of the Met, is there any reason for Europeans to resist low-skill immigration? No. Visitors are informed that “Europe” has no real meaning, either geographically or culturally. A Muslim Indian immigrant to Europe is just as European as someone who can trace his lineage back to Charlemagne.

An immigrant from Nanjing could also be considered “European”, of course, but the museum has hatefully segregated these artworks from Nanjing (an amazing special exhibition in which 400-year-old works on paper look as though they were made yesterday):

How empty does the Met get at night? Almost quiet enough to appreciate the art! That said, if you want to see the entire museum you’ll need to arrive closer to 4 pm in order to finish by the 9 pm close.

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Immigrant population down; total number of jobs up; how?

by philg

We’re informed that immigrants come to the United States to work, not to enjoy our cradle-to-grave welfare state for four generations.

We’re informed by the U.S. Census Bureau that the number of foreign-born residents of the U.S. (a.k.a. “immigrants”) is down by almost 3 million. “Census Bureau Survey Shows Total Foreign-Born Down 2.9 Million” (CIS, yesterday):

since January 2025 … the government’s monthly household survey, officially called the Current Population Survey (CPS), shows an unprecedented 2.9 million decline in the foreign-born population — naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, long-term temporary visitors, and illegal immigrants.

Latin American non-citizens who arrived in 1980 or later account for all of the decrease. This population overlaps significantly with illegal immigrants.

Only 44 percent of the decline in the foreign-born are workers; the rest are children, the elderly, and other non-workers. This fact, along with employment gains by the U.S.-born, mitigates the impact on the labor market and may help explain why the survey of businesses does not show a dramatic decline in workers.

The total number of people working in the United States is up (CBS, today):

Here’s a wider picture of steady-then-increased numbers of workers as immigrants departed:

The increase doesn’t seem to have been caused by an increase in the working-age population, which is down slightly over the same time period:

How can this apparent paradox be explained?

One possible explanation is that immigrants displace the native-born in the labor force. When an immigrant with a job leaves, his or her job is sometimes taken over by a native-born American who had been sitting on the couch playing Xbox. If that were true, though, we’d see an increase in the labor force participation rate and/or a decrease in unemployment rate over the same time period, but that hasn’t happened.

Another explanation is that immigrants were working off the books and, therefore, their jobs weren’t counted in most government surveys. If this were true, we’d see a divergence in CPS data, which asks people “did you work for pay?” vs. Current Employment Statistics (CES) data, which asks employers “did you pay someone to work in at least a quasi-legal fashion?” I ran out of brain power and asked ChatGPT to resolve this possibility:

And in the particular January 2025–August 2026 comparison we just calculated, the divergence isn’t enormous once you compare the CPS consistently: CPS total employment is roughly +0.3 million, while CES payroll employment is roughly +0.8 million. So the data could accommodate some loss of informal immigrant employment, but they don’t by themselves demonstrate it.

What’s left as an explanation, given that we can’t abandon the axiom that foreign-born residents of the U.S. are the hardest workers and, certainly, are never on what used to be called “welfare”? We’re living in the Age of Miracles?

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New York City: taxpayer-funded immigration lawyers,

by philg

Housing is a human right, but the New Yorkers I observed in August were as indifferent to their unhoused neighbors (and any associated pit bulls) as they were to the enormous piles of garbage on the sidewalks every night. Examples:

What would New Yorkers rather do than fund apartments for those currently homeless? Spend $6.50 on a cup of coffee rather than suffer the indignity of having to operate a Mr. Coffee machine (pick one up for $18 while getting a Halloween costume at Target and then make coffee for 25 cents per cup?).

Immigrants, on the other hand, are entitled to both sympathy (“Fuck ICE”) and tax dollars (city-funded immigration lawyers plus city-funded advertising to make sure that the undocumented use the city-funded immigration lawyers):

Consistent with Is LGBTQIA the most popular social justice cause because it does not require giving money? (2019), rainbow flags were everywhere. One’s commitment to this cause can be satisfied by posting a flag or a sticker. No need to pay for housing nor a immigration lawyers. Compare and contrast:

(Lululemon proclaims their commitment to the 2SLGBTQQIA+ with a sticker and a statement about how they don’t tolerate “hate”. At the same time, they operate stores in Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Grok:

These countries generally criminalize male same-sex sexual activity (female activity is less consistently or explicitly addressed in some codes).

Saudi Arabia: Illegal under Sharia law (no fully codified secular penal code for this). Penalties can include imprisonment, flogging, fines, deportation (for foreigners), and the death penalty in some interpretations/cases (especially for Muslims or aggravated/repeated offenses). Courts apply traditional Islamic jurisprudence.

United Arab Emirates: Illegal under federal law (and stricter local codes in some emirates). Same-sex acts and extramarital sex are criminalized. Penalties include imprisonment (federal minimum of roughly 6 months in recent framing; local codes historically up to 10 years in Dubai or 14 in Abu Dhabi). Death penalty is theoretically possible…

Kuwait: Illegal for men. Consensual intercourse between adult men is punishable by up to 7 years’ imprisonment under the Penal Code.

Qatar: Illegal. Penalties include imprisonment (commonly cited up to several years). Death penalty remains a theoretical possibility under Sharia for Muslims in some interpretations of related offenses, though documented application specifically for private consensual same-sex acts is limited.

In short, Lululemon maintains a commercial presence (and has expanded it) in countries where the activity referenced in the original NYC store messaging is illegal and can carry severe penalties, while displaying progressive inclusion messaging and a progress pride flag in markets such as New York.

What if you need to buy some sacred Rainbow Flag items? The good news is that there is at least one store. The bad news is that it has apparently been vandalized in hate-filled NYC (where “hate has no home”, except for all of the haters who commit hate crimes at 7X the per-capita rate vs. Palm Beach County):

What can be purchased there?

In other retail news, CVS keeps everything locked up and inflation has been running at 50 percent lately:

The twin pillars of Queers for Palestine remain robust in NYC. I visited a friend who is supporting the #resistance by mail-ordering olive oil purportedly farmed by an Arab who calls herself “Palestinian” in a village NW of Jerusalem. (Why “purportedly”? At least the Italian extra virgin olive oil is mostly fraudulently relabeled Tunisian (New Yorker 2007).)

A May 2023 post from the retailer of this $47 (plus tax and shipping for only 500ml) product:

The Zaatar Arabic Restaurant, nestled in the heart of Gaza, embodies the essence of Palestinian cuisine, offering a delightful fusion of traditional flavors and contemporary twists. It serves as a testament to the innovation and creativity of Palestinian chefs who seek to preserve the authenticity of their culinary heritage while adding a modern touch.

So, the next time you find yourself in Palestine, make sure to venture into the bustling Gaza Market or explore the markets of Ramallah, Bethlehem, and beyond. Immerse yourself in the sights, smells, and tastes of Palestinian cuisine and experience firsthand the remarkable connection between the markets and the extraordinary flavors that grace the tables of Palestinian households and restaurants alike.

The page includes a video of pre-October 7 Gaza market life. A follow-up 2024 post says that “for Palestinians, the harvest remains a powerful act of resilience and resistance”.

What does resistance taste like? Terrible, in my opinion! If I wanted to support the Arabs who call themselves Palestinian, I would instead buy Arbequina olive oil at a fraction of the price from Hamas’s allies in the Islamic Republic of Spain.

I’m not sure that New Yorkers will have the energy, in the long run, to promote Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Party of Allah (“Hezbollah”), et al. They might have to turn their attention to the conflict between what’s culturally acceptable for their recent arrivals and the legacy population. Haram and halal outfits for women on Houston St.:

Maybe the adult who is modestly covered can tolerate the half-naked female parading down the street, but once Muslims are the most powerful voting bloc in NYC will they want their children exposed to this? That sundress made sense in the 85-degree heat, but it would certainly not be allowed anywhere near the above-mentioned olive farm nor in Gaza!

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New York City: new land acknowledgments and reminders that white women behave poorly in public

by philg

A report on an August trip to New York City. My favorite sign was one in the subway, officially reminding customers that it is white women who are typically the most poorly behaved group of humans. Why won’t these Speakerphone Americans use headphones?

Also new, I think, are the land acknowledgements near Central Park regarding Seneca Village, a settlement of “approximately 225 people” who were Black. Examples from the Public Theater and from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

This is kind of confusing. We must acknowledge Native Americans, who were dispossessed usually without any compensation, and condemn the dispossessors (white people). In the case of some of the land that is now Central Park, apparently there were dispossessors who happened to be Black. Unlike white dispossessors, the Black dispossessors are virtuous and must be acknowledged. (According to Wikipedia, the Black property owners of Seneca Village were paid market value for their land because it was acquired by eminent domain.)

Who else must be acknowledged? Those behind the “Latinx Freedom Movement” in the 1960s (they were Latinx ahead of their time and the term “Latinx”?). The billionaires who created today’s Hudson Yards remind us that capitalism is the root cause of inequality (humans were equal prior to the advent of this evil system, which, unfortunately is still practiced in Palm Beach County where one of the above-mentioned billionaires fled).

More of the exhibit, which reminds us that the reason we have immigrants is not due to an open border+cradle-to-grave welfare state, but rather because of U.S. military intervention in Guatemala, Cuba, an dthe Dominican Republic. (Our military interventions in India also explain the large number of Indians now living in the U.S.?)

Speaking of Hudson Yards, “The Vessel in NYC’s Hudson Yards reopens with safety netting 3 years after spate of suicides.” (CNN, 2024; the Chinese can build thousands of miles of high-speed rail or several new NYC-sized cities in 3 years, but Americans need 3 years to install some ugly nets?)

Don’t forget to mask when outdoors on the adjacent High Line:

It is safe to unmask when inhaling healing marijuana, however, which is available on nearly every block. LA Olympics ambassador Snoop Dogg has his own brand of weed, apparently, and smoking cannabis all day is “safe and legal”:

I’m too stoned now (just from looking at the above images) to continue writing, so I’ll post a follow-up with the rest of the photos…

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