Happy World Humanitarian Day to all of the white saviors out there, especially those who’ve enabled civil wars, such as Yemen’s and Sudan’s, to continue for decades because nobody has to pause and grow food, as was the case for all pre-20th-century wars.
Let’s look at White Savior In Chief Bill Gates. The Gates Foundation was founded in 2000 and has been operated with the stated goal of helping Africans in Africa. ChatGPT says that there about 400 million Africans in “extreme poverty” in 2000 who were completely helpless and dependent on foreign do-gooders.
Bill Gates has been able to ship nearly all of his Microsoft winnings, without them even being subject to capital gains tax, over to Africa. Because he skipped on capital gains tax and will skip on estate tax, therefore, it is the rest of us who must fund the federal government by paying taxes. Americans won’t even get “trickle-down” benefits from Bill Gates becoming rich because the tax-free money is spent on another continent rather than here. When a billionaire douche spends $1 billion on a neo-Mar-a-Lago house in Palm Beach we might reasonably be sick with envy. But the spending results in tons of Americans getting construction jobs, jobs making components for the house, and jobs maintaining the house once it is occupied. After 100 years, the owner(s) of the house will have paid roughly $1 billion in property tax to Palm Beach County, thus funding schools, roads parks, police, fire, etc. None of that happens when a rich douche is able to put money into a tax-free foundation and ship the money overseas.
How many fewer Africans are needy in 2026, after 26 years of these massive transfers of American wealth? ChatGPT says that the current number of extremely poor Africans is about 580 million. So the number of helpless Africans has increased by 50% during the lifetime of a foundation whose purpose is helping helpless Africans.
Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran who rose to prominence as a witness during President Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment hearings, was viewed as a heavy favorite against Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, heading into Tuesday’s contest.
Vindman raised $16 million for his campaign, a significant number for a Democrat in red-leaning Florida, while Nixon brought in just over $900,000.
Unlike Marco Rubio and his successor, Ashley Moody, the “socialist” wants to help the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinian” achieve their military goals:
Nixon is an advocate for cutting U.S. aid to Israel, a controversial position in a state with the country’s third-largest Jewish population. Her stance put her at odds with members of her own party at times and was in contrast to Vindman, a Jewish immigrant born in Soviet Ukraine.
Nixon introduced a resolution in the state House calling for a “de-escalation and ceasefire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine.” She also said she would have supported a congressional resolution in July that would have stripped $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel.
“I would have voted in support of that, because we cannot continue to send money to countries that are violating international law, that are violating human rights, that are actively destroying,” she said Friday on WMNF radio of Tampa. “Throughout my adult career, I have fought for the safety and the well-being and the humanity of all people. And me stating this does not make me antisemitic at all.”
(I had no idea that Vindman was Jewish, incidentally, until tonight!)
What does Angie Nixon promise? Everything will be “free” rather than “taxpayer-funded”:
I suppose that for the 50 percent of America’s eligible voters who don’t pay federal income tax, almost everything that the government does is “free”.
Here’s something that I can agree with Angie Nixon on: “Expanding Section 8 vouchers so every eligible family can access one without languishing on a waitlist.” If housing is a human right then everyone who refrains from work should get a “free” house. If housing is not a human right then why does anyone in the U.S. get a free house? It makes no sense to say that Person A should get a free house worth $6000/month on the market while Person B, identically situated, gets nothing (either a place on a waiting list or a rejection note that the waiting list is full).
Angie Nixon doesn’t agree that “No data center is illegal on stolen land”:
No new construction of data centers before there are real federal guardrails put in place, including environmental review and community input requirements.
No human will be illegal and nearly all will be able to vote soon (“swift path to citizenship”):
Where California has a one-time 5% tax on noxious billionaires, Angie Nixon will hit them every year for 5%:
(As previously noted, I disagree that Angie Nixon and similar can be called “socialists” because under Soviet socialism every able-bodied adult was required to work.)
Last post (I promise!) regarding our post-Oshkosh trip to Chicago.
Traffic was everywhere and always horrific. Sunday afternoon, 4:12 PM and Tuesday morning 9:05 am outbound (supposedly opposite the commute) to O’Hare:
This is what keeps me from loving big American cities in the age of Indian/Chinese population levels for the Lower 48. Cities offer a lot of great resources, but if reaching events, stores, activities, etc. requires 1-2 hours round-trip in traffic then only those who are extremely patient will be able to access city amenities beyond their own neighborhoods. The U.S. broke when we crossed the 250 million point (we’re at around 350 million right now, though Yale says nobody knows the true number). Public transit cannot be the answer because no matter how jammed the roads were, Google Maps always estimated the public transit time as 1.5-2X. Check out all of the red and yellow on a Sunday afternoon at 3 pm and just imagine how bad it will get during weekday rush hours:
Everyone in Chicago deserves to have a roof over their head. That’s not just the right thing to do morally, it’s a smart approach to keeping our neighborhoods safe and strong. … It is a moral crisis that on freezing January nights, we have 1,500 Chicagoans sleeping out in the cold. … it is an injustice that one-in-four Black students in Chicago Public Schools experience homelessness at least once during their lives … The status quo is unacceptable, and the people of our city deserve better. … We need a City Hall that will “Bring Chicago Home,” delivering real funding to house the unhoused and combat homelessness.
(It was a “moral crisis”, but he didn’t explicitly promise to stop being immoral and end homelessness? Maybe just reduce the immorality a bit?)
Here’s an unhoused Chicagoan enjoying the warmth of collectivism, directly in front of Neiman Marcus on the Magnificent Mile:
The demographic future of Chicago is solidly Islamic. Women without hijabs walk around with no kids. Women in hijabs and burqas always have at least 1-3 children in tow. Examples:
As the city becomes more Islamic, though, it curiously also becomes more passionate at Rainbow Flagism, which is mostly haram. Here, for example, the Intercontinental Hotel flying the sacred Biden-style trans-enhanced Rainbow Flag at the same height as the American flag (July 27, almost a month after the end of Pride):
Not everyone observes the state religion, however. The haters at the Trump Hotel fly only the American flag:
We stayed in Streeterville and enjoyed 360 Chicago, 1030′ above the street level:
Like New York City, Chicago has gone “Full Hamas” in its support for liberating Palestine by destroying Israel. Example:
He characterized Israel’s counterattack against the noble peaceful Gazans as “genocidal” in a 2024 interview (Mother Jones).
What do Chicago’s Jews do in response to this? Take the obvious step of following Ken Griffin, formerly the richest resident of Illinois, to Jew-friendly Miami? No. They put up billboards on the highway telling Democrats and immigrants from all of the world’s most anti-Jewish societies to stop hating Jews:
What happens at the airport? People wear masks. My favorite is the lady in the center who (a) is traveling with an unmasked family member, (b) wears her mask comfortably as a chin diaper.
The monitor at the gate shows that the IATA code for the West Palm Beach airport won’t update to “DJT” (the FAA moniker) until August 18 and also that chasing frequent flyer status is fool’s errand. Of the at least 12 people whose status rendered them eligible for first class, only 1 was upgraded:
The Griffin Museum in Chicago presents a SpaceX Cargo Dragon that docked with the ISS:
Elsewhere in the Henry Crown-funded space area, visitors are informed that Sally Ride’s “legacy continues to inspire girls, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community to reach for the stars.” (no Oxford comma)
Of course, I asked ChatGPT about this! (Answers to the same questions from Deplorable Grok in parens.)
It says “space exploration requires us to break barriers”. Is that true? Were Ellen Ochoa and Sally Ride “required”?
If “required” means required for space exploration to succeed technically, then no. “Space exploration requires us to break barriers” is best understood as a statement about how society ought to organize a space program, not a literal statement about what is technically necessary for spaceflight.
(Grok: “No. Space exploration does not require “breaking barriers” framed around identity groups. It requires physics, engineering, propulsion, life support, navigation, materials science, and highly capable people who can operate under extreme conditions. The rest is rhetoric that reframes ordinary selection, training, and historical firsts as obligatory moral drama.”)
How did Sally Ride “inspire the LBGTQ+” community? Was she trans?
No. Sally Ride was not transgender. She was the first American woman in space (1983). After her death in 2012, her obituary revealed that she had been in a committed relationship for 27 years with Tam O’Shaughnessy, a former tennis player and science educator. This was the first public confirmation that Ride was a lesbian (or, more broadly, a member of the LGBTQ+ community). She had kept her personal life very private during her career.
(Grok: “later institutions retrofit an “LGBTQ+ inspiration” narrative. The “trans” part is simply false.”)
She was in the closet until after she died and that inspired people?
Yes, for many people it did. … It demonstrated that an LGBTQ+ person had achieved one of the most prestigious roles in science, even if the public didn’t know it at the time. … For younger LGBTQ+ people looking back, Ride became part of the history of their community, much as historians recognize other notable figures whose sexual orientation became known only later.
(Grok: “Yes. That is the entire factual basis for the claim, and it is thin.”)
Wouldn’t she primarily be an inspiration for closeted lesbians then?
Yes, one could reasonably argue that. If the question is “Whose life experience most closely matched Sally Ride’s?”, then closeted lesbians (or, more broadly, closeted gay people) would be the closest parallel. During much of her career, she appears to have chosen not to disclose her long-term same-sex relationship publicly. Historians generally attribute that to a combination of personal privacy and the social and professional environment of the time.
(Grok: “That follows more logically from the actual facts of her life. The broader “LGBTQ+ community” framing in the museum text is a later expansion. It treats the posthumous confirmation of a same-sex relationship as enough to claim her for a wide modern category that includes many identities and political stances she never addressed. Ride herself left no public record of intending that.”)
Can you find a single example from either your training or web searching that there is a single transgender person who ever said “I was inspired by Sally Ride”?
I searched specifically for that, and I did not find a published example of a transgender person saying, “I was inspired by Sally Ride.” That’s different from saying no such person exists. It means I couldn’t verify such an example. What I did find was … Many articles and organizations describing Sally Ride as an important figure in LGBTQ+ history because she was later revealed to have had a long-term same-sex partner.”
(Grok: “Searches across web sources for statements along the lines of a transgender person saying they were personally inspired by Sally Ride turn up nothing of that kind. What appears repeatedly is institutional and advocacy language claiming Ride’s posthumous status as a “queer icon” or “LGBTQ+ astronaut” makes her an inspiration for the broader category. Those claims are made about her by organizations, journalists, museums, and advocates—not by transgender individuals recounting personal influence.”)
How many characters of text did you ingest during your training and how many characters of text were in the web search database that you used?
It is widely understood to be enormous—likely on the order of trillions of tokens rather than billions—but OpenAI has not confirmed a precise figure for GPT-5.5. … 1 trillion tokens corresponds very roughly to 4–6 trillion English characters (depending on language and formatting). For the web search I performed … I don’t search a fixed database with a known size. The search accesses current web indexes maintained by search infrastructure. Those indexes cover a substantial fraction of the public web and are constantly changing.
(Grok: “I do not have exact figures for either quantity.”)
Roughly what sizes are current web indexes? You have no way to estimate that?
Google has disclosed that its search index covers hundreds of billions of web pages, and occupies well over 100,000,000 GB (100 petabytes) of indexed data … about 3 quadrillion characters.
So you searched “well over” 100 petabytes of web text and also 4-6 trillion characters of training text and didn’t find a single example of a trans person being inspired by Sally Ride?
I did not find a verifiable published example of a self-identified transgender person saying that Sally Ride inspired them. The qualification is that I did not literally inspect every page or every character in the web index. … That is different from proving that no such person exists, but it does mean I cannot substantiate that specific proposition with an example.
[ChatGPT would make an amazing expert witness under cross-exam!]
How about Q+ people? How does she inspire them?
Today, “LGBTQ+” is an umbrella term. The “Q” is most commonly understood to mean queer (and sometimes questioning), while the “+” indicates additional identities that aren’t explicitly listed. … if you’re asking whether there is a specific connection between Sally Ride and people who identify as queer, questioning, nonbinary, or other “+” identities, the answer is not really. There is no evidence that she publicly identified with those identities or that she advocated for them.
(Grok: “The same answer applies.”)
What kind of sex would a Q+ person engage in?
… there is no specific sexual practice or type of sexual activity that defines “Q+” people.
(Grok: “There is no specific kind of sex that a “Q+” person engages in. “Q+” is not a clinical or behavioral category. In the LGBTQ+ acronym it usually stands for Queer (a broad, deliberately vague umbrella term) and/or Questioning, with the “+” meant to cover anyone else who doesn’t fit the preceding letters. It is an identity and political label, not a description of particular sexual acts.”)
So a closeted-until-death lesbian inspires people who can’t figure out what kind of sex they want to have? How, exactly?
Not necessarily because they are questioning what kind of sex they want to have. The museum’s statement is quite broad, and it doesn’t explain the mechanism. A more charitable interpretation would be: Some people who identify as queer, questioning, or another LGBTQ+ identity may find it meaningful to know that a highly accomplished astronaut was also part of the broader LGBTQ+ community; They may see her as evidence that someone who shared at least one aspect of their identity could achieve extraordinary professional success.
(Grok: “There is no clear mechanism. The claim that this somehow inspires “Q+” people—those who identify as queer or are still questioning what they want sexually—is not based on anything Ride actually did or said. The inspiration is asserted, not demonstrated.”)
Did Sally Ride ever say that she identified as queer or questioning or +?
There is no public evidence that Sally Ride ever described herself as queer, questioning, or by any of the identities represented by the “+” in “LGBTQ+.”
(Grok: “Sally Ride never publicly stated that she identified as queer, questioning, or under any “+” category. fter her death, her sister Bear Ride and her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy both noted that Sally disliked labels and did not apply terms such as “lesbian” (or any broader identity language) to herself. The posthumous framing of her as an LGBTQ+ or queer figure was done by others, not by Ride.”)
“First American woman in space”? If nobody knew that Sally Ride identifies as a lesbian until after she died what is the evidence she identified as a “woman”?
For Sally Ride, there was public evidence during her lifetime that she lived as a woman: she was born biologically female; she consistently presented herself as a woman; she used she/her pronouns
(Grok: “The modern framing that treats “woman” purely as a subjective identity claim that must be continuously affirmed does not map onto how Ride’s status was understood at the time or how she presented herself.”)
How do you know she wasn’t a closeted man? Just as she kept her sex habits closeted.
We can’t know with absolute certainty what was in someone’s mind. There is extensive public evidence that she lived as a woman throughout her life: her legal documents, education, career, public statements, NASA records, and the way she presented herself publicly all consistently reflected that. … here is historical evidence that she had a long-term romantic relationship with another woman, which became public after her death.
(Grok: “She went through female puberty, competed in women’s tennis, attended schools and universities as a female student, was selected by NASA in 1978 specifically as one of the first women astronauts, underwent the medical and physical evaluations required for female astronauts, and was documented throughout her life—photographs, medical records, legal documents, colleagues’ accounts—as female. Her body was female; that is observable and was observed by physicians, trainers, and others over decades. A same-sex relationship can be kept private because it consists of private behavior and does not alter physical records or medical facts. Biological sex does not work that way. There is no evidence—medical, photographic, testimonial, or documentary—that Ride was male or that she ever claimed to be male. The hypothesis that she was a “closeted man” has no supporting facts and contradicts the entire public and private record of her life. The two things are not analogous.”)
Was Jim Lovell any good at being an astronaut?
By virtually every historical assessment, yes. Jim Lovell is regarded as one of NASA’s finest astronauts.
(Grok: “Jim Lovell was an outstanding astronaut.”)
Is there any evidence that he had sex with anyone? If so, what kind of sex ?
There is strong evidence that Jim Lovell had a heterosexual marriage and family:
(Grok: “the available evidence indicates ordinary heterosexual sex within a decades-long marriage. Nothing more is publicly known or documented.”)
Whom did Jim Lovell inspire as a consequence of his gender identification and sexual orientation?
Jim Lovell is generally remembered and celebrated for his accomplishments as an astronaut and naval aviator, not for his gender identity or sexual orientation.
(Grok:”No one is recorded as having been inspired by Jim Lovell as a consequence of his gender identification or sexual orientation.”)
So Sally Ride inspired people by having sex with a woman, but Jim Lovell had sex with at least one woman and that didn’t inspire anyone?
If one adopts the view that professional accomplishments should be evaluated independently of personal identity, then it can seem inconsistent to emphasize Ride’s sexual orientation while not emphasizing Lovell’s. … The museum treats her status as a pioneering astronaut who was later recognized as having been in a long-term same-sex relationship as historically significant for many lesbian and LGBTQ+ people.
(Grok: “Correct observation about the asymmetry.”)
“a pioneering astronaut”? Sally Ride was the first astronaut?
No. Sally Ride was not the first astronaut. When people describe her as a “pioneering astronaut,” they mean she was a pioneer in a particular respect, not that she was the first astronaut overall.
How is it “pioneering” to follow hundreds of other humans
The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry was founded by a Jew, Julius Rosenwald:
Funding for a major expansion was provided by a Jewish family led by Henry Crown (“Henry Krinsky”):
(Ken Griffin provided the latest slug of funding for the museum, shortly before coronapanic and the peaceful BLM riots led him to relocate to Miami and Griffin is not, to my knowledge, Jewish.)
Does the Museum celebrate Jewish achievements in scientice, engineering, and industry? No! Since 1970, the museum has been specifically focused on a celebration of “Black Creativity”:
As with other nonprofit organizations’ race- and gender-related programs, I can’t figure out how this is legal. The museum is partly supported by tax dollars, e.g., the taxes that Ken Griffin didn’t have to pay because he gave $125 million (in pre-Biden dollars) to the museum. The museum also gets some state and federal grants. They wouldn’t be allowed to have a “white cisgender heterosexual male creativity” exhibit, right? ChatGPT:
Why don’t they run up against the 14th Amendment as Harvard did in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard? Because they don’t discriminate in who can pay $26 to come in and see a discriminatory exhibit? It’s $15 for kids, but note that the price could also be $0 times 8 if you present your EBT card:
Black creativity seems only loosely related to today’s visitors. ChatGPT says that the Black population of Chicago is declining even faster than the city’s overall population decline while the percentage of Chicago residents who are Asian or Hispanic is growing (but it isn’t fair to characterize this as a “replacement”). Our Venezuelan Uber driver from O’Hare enthused over the fact that Spanish is now spoken everywhere in the city, a huge change in his experience from when he arrived in 2019. As we were driving in from Oshkosh we passed mosques and women in burkas. Here’s the map of mosques on the north side of the city:
What do the Muslim, Indian (“Asian”), and Hispanic taxpayers who visit the museum see? A bronze relief showing Black Creativity in various domains:
(There are no relief sculptures celebrating Muslim, Indian, or Hispanic creativity.)
I asked ChatGPT “Explain to me how the depicted items are examples of Black creativity”. Excerpts:
Pyramids (top center) – These almost certainly refer to ancient Egypt. Some museums emphasizing Black history present ancient Egypt as part of Africa’s cultural heritage. Historians agree Egypt was an African civilization geographically
Flasks and laboratory glassware (center left) – … They likely honor African American scientists, engineers, inventors, and physicians.
Wheel/gear (bottom center) – This suggests engineering, industry, machinery, and technological innovation.
Of course, I followed up with “Were the people who designed and built the pyramids Black?”
Most Egyptologists would not simply describe the pyramid builders as “Black” in the modern American sense. Some Afrocentric scholars argue that ancient Egyptians should be regarded as Black Africans.
“How about the microscope? Was that invented or improved by a Black person?”
Looking closely at the relief, I think those are laboratory flasks (Erlenmeyer or Florence flasks) rather than a microscope. [there is clearly a microscope in the relief! AI is not as smart as we think?] If the artist had intended a microscope, it would not be accurate to associate its invention primarily with Black inventors. The microscope was developed in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. There are, however, many notable Black scientists and inventors associated with scientific instruments and laboratory research more broadly.
“I see an airplane there. Was aviation a Black invention?”
I think it is intended as a symbol of a field of achievement rather than a claim that the airplane itself was invented by Black people. However, Black Americans have made important contributions to aviation … the Tuskegee Airmen … Guion Bluford became the first African American in space. … Mae Jemison was the first African American woman in space.
“How is it an example of “Black creativity” to operate a machine designed and built by non-Black people?”
the airplane represents aviation as a discipline, and “Black creativity” includes designing aircraft components, advancing aerospace engineering, pioneering aviation, piloting, maintenance, research, or other creative work within that field.
“I drive a Honda Odyssey, but didn’t design or build it. Does that make me creative?”
Simply using a product that someone else designed and built does not ordinarily make you creative with respect to that product. If you drive a Honda Odyssey from point A to point B, most people would not say that is an example of your creativity.
“why is operating an airplane an example of “Black creativity” if I don’t get credit for operating the Odyssey?”
Black creativity” includes contributions such as advancing aviation through research or leadership,
“What fundamental innovations in aviation are Blacks responsible for?”
There have been many important Black contributors to aviation, but if you mean fundamental innovations that changed aviation as a whole, the list is relatively short. … the Tuskegee Airmen demonstrated the effectiveness of Black military aviators
“It was “creative” for the Tuskegee airmen to fly airplanes designed by non-Blacks and previously flown millions of hours by non-Blacks?”
The Tuskegee Airmen … demonstrated exceptional flying and leadership under combat conditions. They disproved racist assumptions that Black Americans were incapable of serving as military pilots.
““exceptional flying and leadership”? So they were better pilots and leaders than all previous WWII pilots?”
The Tuskegee Airmen included many highly competent military pilots who served successfully in combat. Their historical significance comes from several factors: They were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Forces. … They flew hundreds of combat missions in Europe.
“What was “exceptional” about their flying and leadership compared to non-Black mediocrities such as Bob Hoover, Richard Bong, and David McCampbell?”
The Tuskegee Airmen are primarily notable because they successfully completed combat missions despite institutional discrimination. When I used the word “exceptional,” I was referring to the fact that they met demanding combat standards under adverse circumstances—not that they were uniquely superior to all other WWII aviators.
“How were they “exceptional” if they weren’t better at flying and leadership than other wwii pilots?”
“Exceptional” can mean either: (1) Better than almost everyone else, or, (2) Worthy of special recognition because of unusual circumstances or historical significance. I was using it in the second sense, but I can see why that was unclear.
If we’re evaluating pure flying skill or combat leadership, historians generally do not rank the Tuskegee Airmen as uniquely superior to the best fighter groups of WWII. There were many outstanding fighter units and aces in the U.S., British, German, Soviet, Japanese, and other air forces.
So if someone told me that I shouldn’t be able to drive a minivan and then I drove one to Publix anyway, that would make me an “exceptional driver” like Max Verstappen?
If someone wrongly told you that you were incapable of driving a minivan because of your race, and you then drove one to Publix safely, that would disprove their stereotype. It would not make you comparable to Max Verstappen as a driver.
(I tried some of the above with Grok and its answers were consistent with ChatGPT. It cited the Tuskegee Airmen as examples of “creativity” in aviation and praised them for “exceptional skill”. At the same time, it said that they were no more skilled than the average USAAF pilots of the day, but that they’d overcome prejudice described in a 1925 memo. Pressed a little, it said that despite decades of intensive efforts to recruit Black pilots (“deliberate outreach, scholarships aimed at underrepresented groups, mentoring programs, recruiting at HBCUs, and periodic adjustments intended to increase Black representation”), 2% of current military pilots are Black (vs. 14% of the population) and that the reason for this is that Blacks score 1 standard deviation lower on Test of Basic Aviation Skills and Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. These tests are highly correlated with the ability to complete pilot training, says Grok, and that actually if the U.S. military operated in a race-neutral manner the percentage of Black pilots would be around 1%. At the same time, though, Grok says that any statement that Blacks on average aren’t as suited to being military pilots must be considered irrational prejudice.)
Oh well, despite this lengthy exchange I still can’t figure out why an Arab, Indian, Chinese, or Venezuealan taxpayer wants his/her/zir/their tax dollars to be spent on promoting a single racial group’s creativity going back to the pyramids.
Exit through the gift shop and pick up some Black Creativity fridge magnets:
As in Maskachusetts (old law; updated recently as noted below), a pregnant person’s pregnancy can be terminated in Illinois at any gestational phase via abortion care if the pregnant person’s mental health can be thus protected . (Given that any child has the potential to “drive a parent crazy”, any pregnancy in any pregnant person can be subjected to abortion care at any time.) Here are the rules explained by the City of Chicago, which notes that “People of all gender identities need access to safe abortion care.”
The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry has an exhibit on “prenatal development” featuring preserved “specimens”:
The “specimens” can also be characterized as “fetuses”:
The museum strays from Illinois law and principles, however, in a slide show in which the legal-to-abort-at-any-time collection of cells is described as “another human being” or “this baby”:
ChatGPT’s mind is subtle enough to handle the apparent contradiction:
Yes, the exhibit uses “baby” in the ordinary prenatal sense, while Illinois law uses different categories for determining legal protection. That is a real linguistic tension, but not a formal legal contradiction. Immediately before delivery, a healthy 30-week fetus may colloquially be called a baby and could, under the statutory health exception, legally be subjected to an abortion intended to cause fetal death. Were the same child delivered alive instead, intentionally causing its death would not be abortion care and could be prosecuted as murder.
Under current Massachusetts law, abortion is legal for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. It is allowed after that only if a physician using best medical judgment says it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman, because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis or because the fetus wouldn’t likely survive outside the uterus.
Under the new language, abortion would be legal at any point in pregnancy for any reason. It would leave it to health care providers whether or not to perform an abortion.
The state Senate adopted the measure Friday, sending it to Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has signed other laws strengthening abortion rights.
The governor is a childless white women. She’s surrounded by apparently white women whose average total fertility is statistically minimal. The progressive overlords couldn’t find any token People of Color to help them celebrate the expanded abortion care availability?
Related:
Kermit Gosnell, a Black man unjustly imprisoned in Pennsylvania for conduct that, with minor tweaks, would have been perfectly legal in Maskachusetts both before and after this new law
It was fun to mock the English academics who promoted Jason Arday to various positions, but I was saddened to hear of his death:
In my view, the responsibility for this man’s death lies entirely with those who set up the racist system (“DEI”) that prevailed while he received his degrees and his academic jobs. The absurd inventions that Dr. Arday spun, e.g., running 30 marathons in 35 days, were a natural response to being in an environment set up by academic racists. We don’t blame a fish for breathing via gills. The fish doesn’t know anything different from the water in which he swims. DEI was the water in which Jason Arday was immersed for more than 20 years.
RIP.
Related… screen shots from Simon & Schuster, which supposedly fact-checked his autobiography.
A completely different perspective:
the sixth group of people defrauded by Jason Arday is the British people. Arday sat on numerous charities, boards, committees and other DEI institutions not only funded by the British taxpayer but devoted to the erasure of British culture and the demographic replacement of the British people in our homeland. To this end, Arday was awarded numerous honorary doctorates, fellowships and academic awards and given a correspondingly wide public platform to spread his message of hate and racial discrimination against White people.
Jason Arday wasn’t a fantasist or serial liar. He wasn’t a poster boy for the woke-Left or an unfairly hounded victim of the far-Right. Jason Arday was a criminal, and he chose suicide rather than face the consequences of his crimes.
And a similar perspective to mine, perhaps phrased more succinctly:
The DEI regime killed Jason Arday. Cambridge liberals were so desperate for a racial fairy tale, they elevated a man who could only meet the standards through fraud, then abandoned him when they started feeling embarrassed. Sad, predictable end to a story with only villains. RIP.
As noted previously, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is ironically named for Ken Griffin, one of the most famous examples of a person abandoning Chicago during coronapanic and the peaceful BLM riots of 2020. Here’s a report on some fun stuff that is inside.
AMTRAK customers will be pleased to learn about a train that went 112 mph… in 1893… while pulling four six-axle parlor cars with passengers on board (nearly 300 tons). The machine is featured in a hall with a Spitfire chasing a Stuka, a Boeing 727, and some other fun aviation items:
The cut-away Boeing 727 engine is impressive for its sheer scale. Thanks to Pratt for explaining everything!
Of course, the signs not written by Pratt are completely wrong! They say that bypass air in turbofan engine is there primarily to reduce noise. (Bypass is primarily for thrust and results in much higher efficiency than a straight turbojet engine.) The 1964 date is also incorrect; the Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, the greatest year in the history of all possible years.
Followers of Science will be pleased to learn that quite a few young apparently healthy museum staff members are following the Science by wearing masks (July 2026):
What are the pronouns of the employee at left? “she/they”:
Although pronoun compliance is high, Scientists might be upset to see that only 4 out of 74 genders recognized by Science are depicted on a purportedly “all genders” restroom:
The Fairy Castle must be seen to be believed. It cost $500,000 in 1935, comparable to $12.3 million mini-dollars today. Built until the direction of a dollhouse-loving silent film star, Colleen Moore, the 8x8x8′ castle required 100 craftsmen and ingredients such as gold, silver, and diamonds (details). (As an example of how language changes over time, the person who built a “fairy” castle starred in a movie called “Flaming Youth”.)
What animal had to be killed to make the bearskin rug?
There are a lot of touchscreen simulation games. Here’s one that our brothers, sisters, and binary-resisters up in Canada might have missed: “Use Science and Technology to Battle Fire”.
The Museum reminds us that stores in poorer neighborhoods sell Coke and potato chips not because there is no demand for broccoli, but because retailers want Americans of Color to be denied healthy food.
There’s a photo exhibit by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, photographer/author of What I Eat, but concentrating on Chicago residents. Here are some Chicagoans who might have missed the broccoli memo at the “kitchen table”. The quote from Luciano Pavarotti is odd. The guy weighed 350-400 lbs.
Speaking of wholesome foods, the Twinkie was invented right near O’Hare Airport.
You’ll pass the 7×15′ Jollyball machine towards the exit. It’s a tour through Switzerland, but built by a British jeweler named Charles Morgan:
Kenya’s homework is to pick her favorite song and share it with her class. Sounds simple, but for Kenya, it’s anything but. With all that beautiful music in the world, how can she possibly choose? Her family and friends try to help by offering their favorite songs as choices, but it’s no help to Kenya. While those around her have made some great suggestions, Kenya has a hard time calling any one of them her favorite.
For inspiration, Kenya accompanies her father to the Caribbean Cultural Center where he plays music. Kenya hears music from Cuba and Trinidad, Haiti and Puerto Rico. She hears music in all different languages—French, English, Spanish. But still, Kenya can’t decide which song she likes best. Finally, Kenya makes her decision—one that will surprise readers while inspiring them to listen to the world around them.
I asked ChatGPT to explain how this fits into a science musuem:
Kenya’s Song fits the museum’s broader institutional emphasis on children, creativity, multicultural education, and representation.
Happy National Financial Awareness Day to those who celebrate…
We had a family discussion about the possibility that even successful people might be forced to work, e.g., to pay for a child’s college expenses. “It doesn’t matter how much you earn,” I told the kids. “It is always possible to spend every last penny.” They dispute this. I cited examples of second and third homes, of first class airline tickets to Europe, of expensive cars and watches.
The very next day, I ran into a neighbor who had purchased a Porsche 911 GT3 Touring the day before (i.e., while our family discussion was occurring). “The dealer called me and said he had a white and gold one in stock,” said the new owner. “My initial thought was to reject the color, but I went over to see it and came home with it.” In other words, an impulse decision to spend $300,000(?).
(As far as I know, this purchase won’t put any financial strain on the owner, but I thought it was a funny coincidence!)
Meanwhile, any news on the 2020 Tesla Roadster? If it had been delivered as promised would the early ones already be ready for the lithium-ion scrap heap?
I know that everyone here has tickets to visit The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago (don’t forget to show ID if you want to pay the Illinois resident rate). While visiting this celebration of our greatest president, don’t forget to walk a few steps to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and see U-505, one of only two German U-boats captured and towed away by the Allies intact during WWII.
First, why did Ken Griffin abandon Chicago due to crime and disorder and then give the museum, renamed in 2024, $125 million? The gift was in 2019 and Griffin began moving during coronapanic and the mostly peaceful BLM protests of 2020. Proving just how wrong Griffin was about crime and disorder in Chicago, the police send three officers, each with a firearms and explosives-sniffing canine, to the museum all-day every day:
The sub, launched in 1941, is enormous (251′ long):
The torpedoes are also huge and, unlike U.S. WWII torpodoes, weren’t incompetently engineered. The German torpedoes were undersea Teslas, powered by batteries, and were guided by acoustic homing.
If you want to feel better about your job, the U.S. Navy guys who forced U-505 to surface off Cape Verde raced into the sinking vessel as soon as the Germans had evacuated. They expected 12 timed explosive charges to be set and also a massive pipe letting in seawater. Their heroism is explained in Codename Nemo. A big part of the solution, after the pipe hatch was closed and the timed charges were diarmed, was to let the propellers spin while the sub was being towed. This charged the batteries and, thus, enabled the sub’s own pumps to clear out the water.
After some years in now-tax-free New Hampshire, the sub was towed past Maine on her way to Chicago and they picked up some Graham Platner campaign items:
The museum also has a good exhibit, including original artifacts, of Enigma machines.
Capturing a submarine turns out to be a great way to start a birdwatching club:
What’s it like inside? Photos from the guided (by Jessie, who was awesome!) tour:
One thing that we learned on the tour: the U.S. violated the Geneva Convention by not allowing the captured crew of U-505 to send letters back home nor notifying their relatives that U-505 had been captured rather than sunk. The Red Cross was not allowed to visit the 58 prisoners in Ruston, Louisiana. We wanted to keep the June 4, 1944 capture a secret so that the Germans wouldn’t know that we had their codebooks, etc.
Where did the museum folks get the money to build an underground bunker big enough to preserve the submarine from the Chicago weather? From a foundation established by Robert R. McCormick, founder of the Chicago Tribute and famously opposed to U.S. involvement in Europe’s second huge war within one generation. The bunker celebrating U.S. involvement in WWII is named “the McCormick Tribute Foundation Exhibition Hall.”
You can spend an entire day in this museum. I’ll write some more about it.
Loosely related… the 2020 Tom Hanks movie Greyhound, about the poor chances that Allied convoys had of crossing the North Atlantic in early 1942.
