Open Thread 106

First time on Moscow Metro after couple of months on June 12 (Russia Day), within minutes have ascertained for myself (n=~50) that Corona will rage here until herd immunity. Mask wearing at ~60% (well short of the needed 80%), of which a quarter wear them opened up anyway.

At this point – well, actually, as of two months ago – I am reasonably sure that this will be the case for most of the world outside East Asia and Australasia (short of effective vaccines going into mass production soon).

Comments

  1. Please keep off topic posts to the current Open Thread.

    If you are new to my work, start here.

  2. We are all going to get it anyways so I wouldn’t worry about it.

    I wanted to ask you about Masha and The Bear. It’s a Russian cartoon that my kids absolutely love. Some of their friends love it too. Is this an instance of growing Russian soft power? Are more great cartoons coming out of Russia that I should know about?

  3. ImmortalRationalist says

    What do you think of Yudkowsky’s ideas on how to reform law enforcement?

    https://medium.com/@yudkowsky/a-comprehensive-reboot-of-law-enforcement-b76bfab850a3

  4. Masha’s Tales are also on Netflix. Leo and Tig had positive reception from my 2 year old, but not as great as Masha.

    If you are in the mood for some old school really good stuff, look up Hedgehog in the Fog and Bremenskie Muzikanty – rave reception from the 2 year old.

    And yes, it is all a top secret KGB plot to gets kids worldwide to love bears. It is commanded by Putins’ personal bear. 🙂

  5. songbird says

    In a way, NK shelling the joint-meeting building in Kaesong might be looked at as a de-escalation of their normal cycle of shelling SK, since the building is in NK territory. I wonder if it shows a woman’s touch?

  6. Kent Nationalist says

    I read to the word ‘punition’ then I had to stop because I was laughing too hard.

  7. Kent Nationalist says
  8. Are more great cartoons coming out of Russia that I should know about?

    Zen-Buddhist series Smeshariki
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikoriki

  9. Europe Europa says

    I’ve noticed mask wearing seems to have increased a bit in the UK, it’s gone from probably under 5% to maybe 10-15%, probably because they’ve made mask wearing on trains mandatory (not other forms of public transport though). Still very low by most international standards however.

  10. AltSerrice says

    Barely any mask wearing here in Ireland despite the government finally advising they be worn last week. Sunny weather has also ended and all forms of lockdown being lifted, with the exception of limited customer numbers inside businesses. Still only ~10 cases detected daily, now the question is whether it will begin to rise.

  11. Hyperborean says

    In a way, NK shelling the joint-meeting building in Kaesong might be looked at as a de-escalation of their normal cycle of shelling SK, since the building is in NK territory. I wonder if it shows a woman’s touch?

    I think it is intended as a symbolic insult. North Korea fired a lot of missiles in March as well as some before South Korea’s election in April, however unlike usually, due to the Corona-chan emergency, their actions were basically ignored.

    This time they chose a target which destruction has a very blatant visual effect and even stated what they were going to do over the weekend.

  12. songbird says

    This time they chose a target which destruction has a very blatant visual effect

    Good point. In 1921, the IRA burned the Custom House in Dublin. On a certain level, it was a WTF move – there were some old historical records in the building. But it was very visual, and was in many world newspapers.

  13. I have read Putins’ article, I thought it was common sense stuff and everybody knew that, no revisionism needed.

    Baltic states are dumb – they were really occupied in 1941 by the Germans so complaining about a brief Soviet stay in 1940 is a moot point. Also, Lithuania was invaded and occupied by Poland, up to and including Vilnius, so they really have no grounds for complaining as it was a rump state back then. Anyway, once the Baltics got occupied by the Germans, it was obvious they couldn’t stay and serve Hitler’s armies forever, so Soviets entered in 1944-45.

    Generally, for most people in Poland, ending up in the Soviet occupation zone in 1939 was like winning a lottery ticket, despite Katyn and all that.

    And there was never going to be a two front war to help out either Czechoslovakia, or Poland, or even USSR itself, if it was only up to so-called ‘Western Allies’. World War 2 was called ‘Phoney War’ for a good reason until Hitler got tired of French and British cat and mouse games, and started his offensives.

  14. Once upon a time, not too long ago, those in the know at this website assured me that an abundance of sunlight and warmer weather would act as buffers against the Coronavirus pandemic. Not perhaps a complete Chinese wall, but that things would at least be simmering down. I’d be visiting my neighborhood outdoor pool and swimming laps to help me lose some unwanted pounds, with little risk of being infected.

    Well, with 106 degree weather becoming the everyday norm in AZ, and more sunshine than water in the Pacific ocean, just the opposite is happening. Day after day, we’re experiencing greater and greater increases than at anytime that the pandemic started. From 6/17 – 6/18 there were 2,519 new infected individuals reported, and records are increasing every single day from the day before.

    The most likely culprit is that AZ opened up too early and reversed the original strict discipline regarding social distancing. Bars and restaurants, especially in the trendier youth oriented parts of town are full of patrons (especially on weekends) trying to revive a party like, laissez faire attitude.I’m afraid that the grim reaper is not too far behind – the predictions of the sun’s benefits to help quell this tsunami were too optimistic and incorrect.

  15. Vishnugupta says

    Completely OT :

    One of the ways one is passing time in this lockdown is watching movies and TV programs with English subtitles.

    Yesterday I finished watching an 8 part Russian TV series ‘Cold Shores’ which i found quite gripping though in the same mould as Scandinavian crime dramas.

    So basically I am looking for recommendations on quality TV serials/movies from members here..

  16. A new study of Hubble Constant has been published. The published value of the constant is 73.9 km/s/Mpc.

    https://phys.org/news/2020-06-distance-bolster-basic-universe.html

    This contrasts with the predicted value based on our standard cosmological model and our studies of cosmic microwave background radiation. Predicted value is 68 km/s/Mpc.

    Why do we care, aside from the fact that our model appears to be experiencing some technical difficulties? Because Hubble Constant measures acceleration of the expansion of the universe and therefore determines its age (higher acceleration means shorter time to get to present size means younger universe).

    The if 74 is correct (and it looks more and more so), then universe is only 12.7 billion years old rather than commonly accepted 13.8 billion. This matters because there are stars known to be older than 13 billion years old. For example, Methuselah (HD 140283), is 14.5 billion years old.

    Now, it is well known and understood that spacetime is a flexible concept, so time traveling stars are nothing unusual. But I would expect time travel to impact large regions of space such as galactic clusters, not individual stars. Methuselah though is by itself, very close at 190 light years away, and it is heading almost straight for us (it will pass 120 light years away at closest approach, practically next door by galactic scales, nevermind universal).

    I mean, how crazy is that? A time traveling star coming from more than a billion years before the birth of the universe is heading straight for us! What are the odds. I’m not saying aliens, but Aliens! 🙂

  17. Belarusian Dude says

    Mildly popcorn worthy drama in Belarus regarding upcoming elections. An opposition candidate got arrested and now a good chunk of people are seething, coping, and dilating as a result.

    Imo this is just the zmahartards being cucked by the Chad KGB Lord Luka, given before claiming to join the opposition the man was in gov’t and closely attached to the Luka regime; fairly high chance all of this was pre planned by both parties; people never actually flipflop like that, I just don’t buy it.

    I’ve said it before: without my favourite arms dealer and money launderer from the BLDPR as candidate I have no interest in voting but there’s still a lot of fun viewing these elections.

  18. “Money lanudering” and “arms dealer” needed in Belorus? What in the world is going on there?

  19. Toronto Russian says

    Trains (Паровозик Тишка). Seems to be loved around the world – it’s translated into a ton of languages including Vietnamese and Indonesian.
    https://youtu.be/51AONIFdzts

  20. How could a star exist more than a billion years before the birth of the universe?

  21. Hyperborean says

    I don’t know if any of the other Scandinavian commenters have remarked upon it, but I think Denmark’s attempt to deal with the ghetto problem is from the perspective of honest Liberalism is interesting ideologically (though since it proceeds from the premises of Liberalism still flawed).

    While it won’t solve the fundamental dilemmas of a universalistic nationalities policy, it at least contributes to the legitimisation of the state pursuing action and the idea of that the clannish metics cannot use individual rights they do not believe as a shield.

    Denmark has compiled this “ghetto list” annually since 2010; the criteria are higher than average jobless and crime rates, lower than average educational attainment and, controversially, more than half of the population being first or second-generation migrants. The government essentially sees these neighbourhoods as irremediable urban disasters, and in May 2018 it proposed dealing with them by mass eviction and reconstruction. The homes of up to 11,000 social housing tenants could be on the chopping block.

    […]

    In addition, the law itself applies differently in these neighbourhoods. The first stage of the government’s so-called ghetto deal set higher penalties for crimes, and allowed for collective punishment – by eviction – of entire families if one of their members commits a criminal act.

    Other laws seem designed to force the integration in Danish society of immigrant communities. Pre-school children must spend at least 25 hours a week in state kindergartens with a maximum migrant intake of 30%, and face language tests. Otherwise their families’ benefits can be revoked.

    But the most stringent part of the plan came into force on 1 January 2020, when these areas must slash their public housing stock to no more than 40%. To achieve this within 10 years, entire blocks will be emptied and converted into private and co-operative housing, from which people on low incomes will be barred. In some cities (though not Copenhagen) the blocks will simply be demolished.

    Current tenants will be offered alternative accommodation, but no control over its location, quality or cost. Those who refuse can now simply be evicted. Adding insult to injury, the eviction and renovation plans will be paid for from proceeds from a fund paid into by public housing tenants themselves.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/how-denmarks-ghetto-list-is-ripping-apart-migrant-communities

    A note on how the Danish government defines “Western” and “Non-Western” groups:

    Western – Anglosphere +EU and associated states like Norway, Switzerland, Andorra, etc.

    Non-Western: Ex-Yugoslavia minus Slovenia and Croatia, Russia, Ukraine, Bielorussia, rest of the world.

    Not perfect since there are some false positives and negatives but capable for working measures.

    Currently the definition of “Danish origin” is: At least one parent is born in Denmark and possesses Danish citizenship (born or acquired) as well as no dual citizenship.

    I thought that would lead to false positives where Non-Western decendants are classified as Danish but this chart seems to separate them into “Children of decendants: Danish origin” (the red part). (I remember there was some debate over how to prevent the false positives, but was not aware that it was implemented).

    https://www.dst.dk/-/media/Kontorer/01-Befolkning/Herkomst_Vestlig–ikke-vestlig_stor-lup.jpg?h=900&w=900&la=da

    I don’t think there is much in English but the statistics themselves are available here.

    https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/befolkning-og-valg/indvandrere-og-efterkommere/indvandrere-og-efterkommere

  22. I was always quite skeptical about that. Just the fact of outdoors spread being apparently rare would imply that climatic conditions don’t have much to do with it.

    It seems what happened is that the earliest strains were just considerably less contagious – that is why, perhaps, the West Coast never exploded like NY or Italy did. And why the WuFlu didn’t spread in, say, Thailand. The strain that came to, or developed in, Italy was much more contagious.

  23. Thulean Friend says

    It is noteworthy how timid the US neoliberal establishment has been in advocating for racial redistribution in light of the Black Lives Matter protests. Reparations became a mainstream topic in the liberal press a few years ago, but when push comes to shove there is scant apetite to advocate for it even when the issue is burning hot.

    Instead, most of the debate has centered around symbolism (statues) or narrow police reform.

    I suspect that there is genuine elite fear that their comfortable position would be endangered. It’s one thing demonising low-hanging fruit like working-class Trump voters who have little economic or political power. But a serious attempt at racial redistribution would hit the neoliberal elites very badly. Race and class does not perfectly align in the US but there is significant overlapping. You cannot push racial economic redistribution without getting into classwar politics. It’s inseperable.

    Reminds me how Amazon found out that increased diversity helped keep labour conflicts low in Whole Foods, which helps against unionisation. The system is content inciting the masses against statues or perceived police overextension, but a hard line is drawn at any serious economic reform.

    ‘Woke capitalism’ is not new. Belle époque France had a similar dynamic where the rhetoric was one of liberal uplifting but actual inequality remained very high all throughout the period, something which Piketty has drawn attention to. This is an old rouse and it seems it works just fine not just against the right (“its da immigrantz stealin’ our jerbs!”) but also the left (“da ebil white voters!”). Marx was wrong, class is a weak identity marker, at least for the poor.

    The revolution of the proleteriat was always a mistaken analysis. In reality, revolutions/revolts are always elite competition. As Pareto explained many years ago.

  24. A great resource for older films and some TV series: https://archive.org/details/moviesandfilms?and%5B%5D=espionage&sin=

    This one is great for documentaries: https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

  25. Out of all of the Scandinavian countries, I always tend to find Denmark is the more conservative when it comes to immigration. I’ve spoken to Danes in the past and compared to the Swedes, most of them had a negative opinion on immigration, particularly from the Islamic world. What is more surprising is that this attitude stretches back into the early 2000s, well before the Alt Right and Identitarism started to become more mainstream.

    Overall, I think Denmark has the potential to survive. I think that they are heavily limiting the immigration there already. I think that if they can successfully get their native birth rates to replacement level (which is feasible as they do have high birth rates there) and with a strict integration focus, they could essentially survive as a white majority society with a small non-white minority that eventually ‘whitens up’ so to speak.

    Also some interesting news. Due to the recent BLM riots, I’ve noticed on twitter alot of your average and mainstream Brits actually showing what I’d call white Identitarian signs. It’s something you’d only find say on white nationalist sites 10 years ago but these days, more seem to be sympathising with white identity politics. I think the statue pulling and the heavy crime associated with it really has started to shock the mainstream.

    Now obviously it’s not going to lead into full blown WNism but you never know, it might lead to more pro-white identity politics down the line…

  26. Thulean Friend says

    It’s an interesting topic though it would be more correct to categorise their attempts as liberal paternalism. They are essentially trying to spread out the immigrant communities by the jackboot of the state. This may work to some extent since Denmark has far fewer ethnic minorities, but there are real moral concerns about forced assimilation.

    In my view, if you want to have non-Western immigrants you have to be prepared for the fact that many of them will retain their cultural identities. I suspect in the Danes’ case the concerns aren’t just socio-economic but also cultural. It’s basically ‘muscular liberalism’, which is a tried and tired trope.

    There are only two outcomes that can lead to any success:

    1. Stop all non-Western immigration and focus on forcible assimilation policies while Denmark is overwhelmingly of Western cultural background. This has some chance of success but is dubious from a human rights PoV as it is essentially a form of cultural imperialism at wiping out the identities of the immigrant communities.
    2. Completely throw away the current paradigm of a nationality-based immigration system and embrace one based on cultural norms. This has hithertho been hard to implement, given how easy it would be cheat for potential migrants. You just tell the authorities what you know they want to hear, and nobody can know if you’re lying.

    But this is changing. Ground-breaking research into genetics have shown that not only is intelligence largely inherited but so is morality/character. So it won’t be long when you can just administer a genetic test and get someone’s polygenic score on various character traits. Take those with favourable results in and all this nonsense about ‘non-Western culture’ anxiety melts away. The only people left will be pure racists who are terrified of melanin but those can always be bulldozed.

  27. Thulean Friend says
  28. sudden death says

    Those who have Chinese Coronavirus, but never will have symptoms, are everywhere.

    Any hard data to back it up? Cause at the moment scientific studies paint quite different picture, e.g. 77% of “asymptomatic” patients developed symptoms one week later after initial testing:

    One week after testing, the 13 residents who had positive test results and were asymptomatic on the date of testing were reassessed; 10 had developed symptoms and were recategorized as presymptomatic at the time of testing (Table 2). The most common signs and symptoms that developed were fever (eight residents), malaise (six), and cough (five). The mean interval from testing to symptom onset in the presymptomatic residents was 3 days. Three residents with positive test results remained asymptomatic.

    https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6913e1.htm?s_cid=mm6913e1_w

    Even majority of those who can be called asymptomatic after testing AND follow up health checkups, have been found to have internal damage revealed on CT scaning, even if less severe than symptomatic cases:

    Although lung parenchymal and airway abnormalities were more frequent in symptomatically than asymptomatic cases, noticeably, we found lung parenchymal changes on CT in up to 54% of the asymptomatic cases. In those who showed CT abnormalities, asymptomatic cases showed significantly predominance of GGO, while consolidation was predominant in symptomatic cases. Similarly, the CT severity score was significantly higher in symptomatic cases than asymptomatic cases in both lower lobes and on total lung assessment.

    However, differences were observed in the extension of the lung involvement as calculated by the mean CT severity score. The maximum total lung CT score was 11 in asymptomatic cases and 17 in symptomatic cases. In addition, the predominance of opacities also differed between the two groups; GGO was predominant in asymptomatic cases, whereas consolidation was predominant in symptomatic cases.

    Some studies have reported clinical-radiological dissociation in COVID-19 (20). For instance, several previous reports described asymptomatic cases who had evidence of lung opacities on chest CT (4, 5, 13). These observations have been confirmed by the results of the present study, highlighting the relative high prevalence of CT abnormalities even in asymptomatic cases. The presence of the subclinical CT findings in COVID-19 is an enigma. To the best of our knowledge, such cases with subclinical CT abnormalities have not been reported in either Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-Cov) infection. Several hypotheses could explain this discrepancy. One possibility is that these cases have developed immunity against SARS-CoV-2 due to re-infection, leading to subclinical presentation. Such a case of relapse was reported from China and a suspected case of re-infection from Japan (21, 22). Other possibilities are that such cases are still in the healing phase of COVID-19, and the symptoms may have already subsided by the time of admission and CT scan. However, the lack of typical characteristic of the healing stage of COVID-19 pneumonia have not been frequently observed (e.g., perilobular pattern), weakening this hypothesis (9, 19). Other possibilities include a discrepancy between the timing of CT positivity and clinical symptoms like in other types of pneumonia. The clinical-radiological dissociation noted in many of COVID-19 cases in this cohort is a conundrum that still needs further investigation.

    https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/ryct.2020200110

  29. “… those in the know at this website assured me that an abundance of sunlight and warmer weather…” – One preacher here succeeded convincing Steve Sailer to buy five humidifiers.

  30. FYI: the mask in the picture is an industrial one, with an exhalation valve.

    It will protect the wearer, but NOT protect people around the wearer.

    They are I think now banned in California. Wonder how long it will take everyone else to notice?

  31. Hyperborean says

    It is noteworthy how timid the US neoliberal establishment has been in advocating for racial redistribution in light of the Black Lives Matter protests.

    The USA already has racial distribution, they just refer to it as “Affirmative Action”.

    I suspect that there is genuine elite fear that their comfortable position would be endangered.

    I hold a different view.

    American Liberals have and are repeating the mistakes of European Liberals of the previous centuries who believed that they could spout all sorts of order-upending rhetoric without ever threatening their own bourgeois position in society or lifestyle until it was too late to escape their Saturnian punishment.

    Though the Liberal hold on institutional power has ensured that they get their desired rotten vegetable brain, I think they underestimate just how serious the young Bazarovs they have spawned and who will ultimately sweep them away really are.

  32. Infectivity of the virus increases when UV is above 10. It’s probably because of social factors, as people are indoors to avoid the intense sun.

    “UV has a robust U-shaped effect on the reproduction number, with a minimum around 6.3 (Figure 1-D). At a low/moderate UV of 3, a unit higher UV decreased R0 by 3.5% (0.4-6.4%). At a high UV of 10, a unit higher UV increased R0 by 4% (1.8-6.3%). ”

    When it is above 25C,the effect of temperature reduces infectivity more significantly per each additional degree.

    “We found a robust effect of mean daily temperature, which is best characterized within two regimes, below and above 25oC (Figure 1-C). Temperatures higher than 25C were associated with lower transmission rates (by 3.7% (CI: 1.9-5.4%) per additional degree) while those below that threshold had a smaller impact (0.4% (0.14-0.66) reduction per degree).”

    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.05.20092627v3.full.pdf

    Not perhaps a complete Chinese wall, but that things would at least be simmering down. I’d be visiting my neighborhood outdoor pool and swimming

    Because people like Trump are senile idiots- his scientific advisors say to him that “all other things equal” higher temperature will reduce infectivity by an undefined amount, and then he summarizes it like:

    https://twitter.com/RobertMaguire_/status/1248599142525517826

  33. I never realised that transporting molotov cocktails was permitted normally. I guess the second amendment covers a lot of ground.

  34. Already mentioned 2 of them, and my tastes might not be refined, but I’ll list the last four movies I enjoyed on some level:

    Brewster’s Millions (1945, Hollywood, romance-comedy) might be a little sappy, but I appreciated the anti-materialist message and the fact that it seems like an American film (that is, as an extinct cultural identity today) One of the bit characters seemed like Jewish propaganda, but I haven’t read the original book to see if he was added or not.
    Train to Busan (2016, Korean, zombie movie) CGI is a bit sketchy, has a lot of plot holes, but I honestly think it is the best zombie movie I’ve seen
    They Shall Not Grow Old (2018, documentary footage of WWI) watched the extended version. Parts of it were too crass for me – a scene of a latrine (Yuck!) – the bawdy closing song – but I enjoyed other parts of it.
    The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006, Japanese anime). Parts of the plot seem silly or non-nonsensical, but I appreciated what seems to me to be a kind of subtle Japanese viewpoint, which included character traits like shyness given life in a way that I don’t think they could be today in a Western film concerned with the politics of diversity or selling to a global audience. The film also had a small intergenerational message, which would be difficult to find in Hollywood film today.

    Recently watched The Wandering Earth (2019, Chinese sci-fi). Contra AK, I would call it a bad movie – very derivative. But, still, I guess it had a positive family message, and didn’t push diversity too much. IMO, currently the Chinese seem to be really underperforming in film, I’m not sure I’ve seen a mainland film yet that I enjoyed. Wish I was in charge of the whole operation…

    BTW, I’d be interested if you can recommend any Indian movies. I’ve actually never seen one, unless you count Slumdog Millionaire.

  35. Covid-19 already present in Italy in mid-December, sewage water tests show
    https://www.rt.com/news/492352-italy-covid-mid-december/

    How many people have REALLY been infected with Covid-19 in China? Data shows 1.2MILLION people had the ‘flu’ in December – 10 times higher than normal
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8439183/How-people-REALLY-infected-Covid-19-China.html

  36. Hyperborean says

    This has some chance of success but is dubious from a human rights PoV as it is essentially a form of cultural imperialism at wiping out the identities of the immigrant communities.

    How do you square this nonsense above with the nonsense below?

    But this is changing. Ground-breaking research into genetics have shown that not only is intelligence largely inherited but so is morality/character. So it won’t be long when you can just administer a genetic test and get someone’s polygenic score on various character traits. Take those with favourable results in and all this nonsense about ‘non-Western culture’ anxiety melts away. The only people left will be pure racists who are terrified of melanin but those can always be bulldozed.

    To achieve your Dictatorship of Virtue you would have to employ “cultural imperialism” and “wipe out the identities of the immigrant communities”.

  37. Is this a Cars knockoff?

  38. another anon says

    What do you think of Yudkowsky’s ideas on how to reform law enforcement?

    Why should we think anything at all?
    Why should Yudkowsky be an authority on crime, police work and law enforcement (or anything else)?
    The world had enough problems with self proclaimed “universal experts” “reforming” and “rebuilding” things they knew nothing about.

  39. That’s not true. If he coughs, shouts or sneezes, the projection of droplets will be covered by the mask and just leaves by the valve point. So it has all the benefit of “medical masks”.

    In addition (unlike with the medical mask), the N95 mask will greatly reduce the probability that he will be infected. As his probability of being infected is significantly reduced, he will be less likely to accidentally be infected in public (his chance of infecting others, is partly a result of his chance of being infected himself).

    • A problem is inadequate eye protection, aside from that he has optical glasses. He should at least wear some clear ski glasses or one of those spit-shields for the metro. Otherwise you’re still hoping that someone doesn’t cough or sneeze on your face, which is quite possible in a crowded metro.

    Mucus membranes around eyes are believed to be one of the main portals of entry for respiratory infections.

    If someone sneezes/coughs near your face, your face will likely be hit with a lot of water droplets, even if mask stops them going near your mouth.

  40. Dacian Julien Soros says

    Please give us a hint: is it AR or IoT? or maybe something orthogonal to both? I don’t want to click on that link, since each click dramatically increases the number of page views for that loser. “Waste time learn nothing”, as Weihan says.

    Like, who cares what he thinks? Trump and the American Senate couldn’t give a damn about his autistic screeches. The Democrats are just biding their time until autumn. I have no clue about local California politics, but I doubt anybody gives a damn about that lard mound opinion.

  41. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/certain-type-n95-mask-harm-covid19-spread

    Granted it is very hard to know when to believe “official” statements, but I think that the aerosol particles that COVID-19 spread in are not at all stopped by the exhaust valve of such a mask.

    You do make a good point though: yes, by preventing himself from being infected, that does ultimately benefit everyone else. But surely better to protect himself and others at the same time, yes?

    It’s not an issue for an industrial mask, you want to protect the coal miner from coal dust, but who cares if the coal is exposed to the flu? But not typically thought appropriate for medical purposes, that’s been the standard view for decades.

  42. This terminology of yours has puzzled me in the past:

    Completely throw away the current paradigm of a nationality-based immigration system

    For the most part, I don’t consider that to be the current system in the West. But I take it you are using the term “nationality-based” not in an ethnic sense, which is differently than I’d use it.

    Of course, I’ve mentioned my preferred system before. Genetic-distance: with screening of open-border radicals. Repatriation of some groups – for instance, it is a plain fact blacks cannot be integrated. Then acknowledge European countries as ethno-states, to encourage intergenerational solidarity and pro-social attitudes – banning all diverse advertisements and depictions of signaling diversity. For ease of use, we’ll define this as returning to a level of at least 95% European, and complete freedom of association – no forced hiring of non-Europeans, or casting them in national tax-funded media programs. Or hate-speech laws. or wealth transference to other groups. HBD will be taught in Civics classes.

    We will adopt an attitude of non-involvement in Africa. Find alternative sources of minerals other than Africa – recycling, the seafloor, or, if need be, space. People participating in African charities will lose their citizenship.

    For anti-racist cosmopolitans such as yourself – there would be diverse cities created by treaty in desert coastal regions of Arabia and Africa, using nuclear (or solar?) desalination. We would send the gays and trannies there too, in order to improve the morals of society and create a safer environment for children.

  43. Belarusian Dude says

    Well he’s obviously not doing it in Belarus, mostly just distributing post Soviet surplus across Europe and cleaning the money in Austria

  44. Well, the most direct form of time travel that all of us experience is time dilation – the faster you move the slower the time. That makes you younger.

    Mass stretches spacetime around it, this is how we model gravity in relativity theory. Rotating mass grabs spacetime and drags it with it, carrying everything located in this spacetime. It is called frame dragging effect. For rotating black holes, geometry of spacetime is described by Kerr metric, which is basically a bunch of math telling you how things move. Beyond a certain point, spacetime will move faster than light, this will make things inside go to the past. It is not exactly a mechanism to go see your great grandma, but you will have more time on your hands than you realize.

    This works on small scale with black holes, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work on larger scale some time (billion years or so) after Big Bang – all you need is a large rotating mass, and I’m sure there was a lot of that around. So a star getting caught up in a massive frame drag and getting sent to the past again would not surprise me.

    Why is it here though? The only decent sized object around is Saggitarius A* – black hole in the center of our galaxy. I could be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge, it is not rotating. And Milky Way is old, so it’s not like we split off from something more massive as far as I know. If some supermassive rotating black hole evaporated nearby, I’m sure there would be some evidence for that.

    Its weird that such strange and rare star would be heading for us. Talk about winning a lottery with one in a quadrillion quadrlion chance.

  45. Thulean Friend says

    There is no reason for cultural imperialism as you wouldn’t impose a moral system on an unwilling group of people. You’d naturally select people with similar moral values as the basis for your immigration policy. Lika barn leka bäst.

    Furthermore, the idea of ‘culture’ is rather amorphous anyway. To me, what someone eats or the colors on a woman’s dress or the songs/language of a particular person is quite irrelevant. To the extent I care, the more diversity the merrier. Makes life more interesting and varied. What matters far more is someone’s ethical values.

    You’re still stuck in a group-thinking paradigm where specific groups hold certain ‘values’. But there is far more heterogeneity within each group than between them. Select the bests one – defined here as having a strong moral core – out of each group and discard the rest.

    FWIW, I am not cardinally opposed to intelligence testing either, but as I’ve explained in the past, intelligence is strongly correlated with ethics. So you select for the latter, and you get a lot of the former. This is something Heiner Rindermann has conclusively proved in his magisterial ‘Human Capital’ book. What he doesn’t speak about is the genetic revolution that is quietly underway, which has immense implications for every aspect of life, including immigration policies. But just going for very intelligent people is not necessarily good either. Everyone is needed, including people in the trades.

  46. another anon says

    Out of all of the Scandinavian countries, I always tend to find Denmark is the more conservative when it comes to immigration. I’ve spoken to Danes in the past and compared to the Swedes, most of them had a negative opinion on immigration, particularly from the Islamic world. What is more surprising is that this attitude stretches back into the early 2000s, well before the Alt Right and Identitarism started to become more mainstream.

    Yes, Denmark is the real deal, the closest thing to real “patriotic ethnostate” in the making, and the whole thing is staying completely under the radar of Western government, media and NGO.
    When was the last time you heard someone calling Denmark racist, fascist, islamophobic and Nazi country?
    This is how things shall be done.

    While blowhards like Orban are talking loudly about “Christian values” and “Soros conspiracy” are demonized by West as “fascists” and lionized by the “alt-right”, while all they care about is enriching themselves and their families.

    https://helpers.hu/work-permit/how-to-bring-work-force-from-india-to-hungary/

    Are you planning to move or expand your business to the EU? Then Hungary is the best choice, with quick and easy company formation, instant EU VAT number, and simple work permit procedure if you want to bring work force from India – or any other part of the world.

    Work permit for Indian citizens

    In Hungary, there are no restrictions on nationality when it comes to work permit and residence permit application. As a result, you can bring work force from India or anywhere else; if all requirements are met, the application process will be fast and smooth.

  47. Erik Sieven says

    by the way, in the news today we learn that COVID-19 can be found in water probes from northern Italy from mid-December.

  48. Claims in the article do not seem based in accessible research. Depending on the design of the mask, they could surely seem to be against intuitive rules of physics.

    Air travels through the filter medium of the mask in both directions. The valve just helps to improve the airflow, to reduce an excess of carbon dioxide.

    The exit valve on Karlin’s mask is facing downwards. If he coughs or sneezes, most of the droplets in the sneeze would surely be filtered (better than in a medical mask) by the filter material of the mask as they travel through it laterally, while the portion of the air which would exit the mask via the valve will be directed at downwards angle.

    • When people attempted to film videos of such coughs (without specifying if the mask has a valve or not), most of the droplets are travelling laterally. So with the mask Karlin has, most would presumably be filtered for particulates, as they pass through the filter medium. (And all types of masks look a lot better than no mask for reducing the distance/amount of spread of droplets).

  49. Under restrictions, most pools by me are reopening anywhere between June 29- July 3. The gym I belong to will be reopening July 8. Said gym doesn’t get crowded. In the cardio room, every other unit will be taped off from use.

    I proposed to my local legislators Covid-19 testing and periodic follow-up testing, for those seeking to use such facilities.

  50. Hyperborean says

    There is no reason for cultural imperialism as you wouldn’t impose a moral system on an unwilling group of people.

    I am fairly sure the MENA people currently in Sweden would be unhappy with your ethical revolution, hence you would need to impose your views upon them.

    To me, what someone eats or the colors on a woman’s dress or the songs/language of a particular person is quite irrelevant.

    I thought you supported artificial meat for moral reasons?

    What if the certain nationalities are callous about animal cruelty or biodiversity? Or human cruelty for that matter?

    You’re still stuck in a group-thinking paradigm where specific groups hold certain ‘values’. But there is far more heterogeneity within each group than between them. Select the bests one – defined here as having a strong moral core – out of each group and discard the rest.

    What are the specific traits that you consider as composing a “strong moral core”? And what specific ethical values are you looking for?

    FWIW, I am not cardinally opposed to intelligence testing either

    Nationality is deeper than intelligence.

  51. Aslangeo says

    Mask wearing is compulsory on buses too in Britain, also London Underground, but not in shops. At the supermarket this morning I would say that about 20% were wearing masks, no demographic trends, few wearing gloves

  52. Vishnugupta says

    Well I’m not much of a Bollywood fan but once every couple of years something fairly decent is produced here.

    I would recommend:

    Section 375

    This is a controversial but well made movie on how certain laws pertaing to sexual assault are misused by women to ruin men.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8144834/

    Haider

    Basically a Hamlet themed movie set in Kashmir.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3390572/

    Company

    The original mob movie.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296574/

  53. I’ll be dating myself on how long ago I started noting the gross inaccuracy of laying most of the blame on the USSR for the start of WW II.

    Some still go on to the contrary, which is why there’re instances like Putin’s recent comments on the subject which (as you note) is nothing new.

  54. Mitleser says

    Reminds of the fall of “good whites” in US state media Duke of Qin talked about.

    https://twitter.com/qin_duke/status/1273573640722952192

  55. …as people are indoors to avoid the intense sun.

    Not in many parts of the United States they aren’t. In fact, outdoor activities increase significantly here during warmer weather. I agree there has been a big campaign to make people afraid of the Sun, but few Californians or Floridians or Texans have bought into it much beyond slathering themselves with sun screen when they head to the beach.

    Yesterday, June 18, 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all Californians to wear masks while in public places. It will be interesting to see how this will all play out in what was once called The Golden State, but now is more accurately described as The Rainbow State.

    There has been a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, not only in California, but also in Texas, Florida and other southern states. I think many of us were hoping that higher absolute humidity, warmer weather, and more sunshine would inhibit SARS-Cov-2’s infectiousness during the summer months, but it doesn’t seem to be happening so far.

    It’s important to keep in mind the sobering fact that we have only about six months experience with this bug. Nobody knows what this thing might do in the future. If the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic is any guide, the COVID-19 pandemic might get worse before it gets better.

    Even 102 years after the Spanish Flu pandemic, researchers are still trying to pry loose all of its secrets.

    Readers of the Unz Review can be grateful, therefore, for the great number of geniuses posting here who’ve already figured out all there is to know about COVID-19.

  56. Daniel Chieh says

    The exit valve on Karlin’s mask is facing downwards. If he coughs or sneezes, most of the droplets in the sneeze would surely be filtered (better than in a medical mask) by the filter material of the mask as they travel through it laterally, while the portion of the air which would exit the mask via the valve will be directed at downwards angle.

    I sent that mask(and some others) to Mr. Karlin; I appreciate the analysis – I think though that I only was looking into making sure that he could actually have some masks during the crisis, I have to admit.

  57. A much better option to what Stelter peddles:

  58. If you run PCR with any primers on wastewater, you can almost guarantee an amplicon.

  59. I thought it was common sense stuff

    I assume the audience of his article was people in the ZOG states, if that is so then he cannot seriously believe that common sense stuff will be accepted. Surely by now he, or at least some of his advisors, are noticing that things like BLM and the woke mobs are the ruling ideology, and they obviously will have zero affinity to what Putin is peddling and that Russia will be treated as nothing else but a fundamental evil.

  60. I am highly unlikely to die from COVID-19 being in early 30s and no known comorbidities, so I don’t stress over it unreasonably.

    Goggles would help but they’re less efficacious than masks.

    I don’t bother with masks at all outside (only 20% of people do, at best – so not as if I’m making any difference; I give people a berth, a wide one if they’re elderly, and leave it at that), wear a cotton mask in shops, etc., and only bother with the n-95s in especially crowded locations, such as the Metro.

  61. This is incorrect. Main benefit of pretty much any mask is that it disperses the outflow in a narrow column around you, instead of a large sphere.

    If enough people do that, the coronavirus is contained.

    However, the world outside East Asia appears to be populated by subhumans who can’t be bothered with such simple measures.

  62. To be fair, The National Interest is a cut above the usual ZOG stuff. I used to comment there before they pulled the section out. Maybe Putin, or some of his bears, even read my comments. 🙂

    National Interest is funded by like Richard Nixon foundation (of all people!), and they pride themselves on belonging to the realist thought on geopolitics. That doesn’t make them pro-Russian, but it makes them vastly less delusional compared to neocon/neoliberal insanity. Probably why Putin picked them – he is not looking to be liked, but he would prefer someone lucid.

  63. prime noticer says

    i still don’t get why AK is so bothered or worked up about this thing, considering he has written for years about population bottlenecks and population groups and population size effects on future generations.

    this virus almost only kills useless people. the survivors, 99.9% of us, will come out the other side better off. well, if we can avoid ludicrously idiotic economy shut downs.

    and so what if it kills 0.5% instead of 0.1%? or whatever the eventual, accurate number is. that still means that hundreds of thousands of useless people who are NET NEGATIVE FOR GDP will be gone. and, the global population will still go UP, not DOWN, in 2021.

    in a political vacuum, the entire virus exercise looks like good practice, akin to clearing out old dead brush in a forest. what we want to avoid is anarcho-tyranny, not a virus expediting a clean up of the Social Security and Medicare rolls.

  64. anonymous coward says

    IMO, currently the Chinese seem to be really underperforming in film, I’m not sure I’ve seen a mainland film yet that I enjoyed.

    The decent ones are not translated and can’t be found on English-language resources, for some reason. But don’t expect anything deep or profound in any case.

  65. Hartnell says

    Yes, Denmark has done a good job in heavily regulating immigration. I think the population is still 90 percent ethnic Danish. They also keep getting more tough on immigrants due to the influence of the Danish People’s Party continually having a role in government. So all in all, I think Denmark has a chance to survive.

    As for Eastern Europe, I think their leaders are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, they do want to reject immigration and keep their countries a native as they possibly can. On the other, due to the mass emigration of their youth to the West, they are stuck with huge labour shortages and need migrants.

    It all depends on how they handle this. The Russian method of immigration actually works as it is a revolving door policy. The Central Asians go to Russia for work, they earn money and go back home as wealthier people. That immigration could work for the Visegrad group.

    If they decide to go for a fully legalised multi-kulti society in the long run, then as you know we are looking at the Visegrad states going down the Western European path. If that is the case, they are about 30 years behind.

    They will argue “well they are doing the jobs we won’t do and it is all legalized” but the West also accepted legalised migrants to do the dirty jobs to begin with too. Many of these once working communities soon devolved into slum areas 3 generations on. As we see with the North Africans in France, the Pakistani communities in the UK, etc, etc.

    Let’s hope Visegrad continues to learn the lessons from the West and restricts the immigration to the bare essential and follows more the Russian method.

  66. Some evidence that IQ is overrated, is that there seems to be an IQ sweet spot, and it seems to be well short of the theoretical maximum of 300, given that the median IQ for physics noble prize is 150, so IQ is not really the be all and end all to getting rich, or success in life and career, basically there is a minimum IQ requirement for job, and everything after that is a combination of soft skills that have very little to do with IQ, like EQ, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, etc.

  67. Well Confucianism is not really a very deep philosophy, it is a prescribed series of rituals and duties that everyone is expected to follow to maintain order on Earth, in accordance to precepts laid out by Heaven to man, such as a sovereign’s duties to his subjects, the subject’s duty to his sovereign, the obligations of friend to another friend, the duties a wife to a husband and vice versa, the duties of parents to children and vice versa, the duties of living people to their ancestors who passed away, the supreme importance of filial piety, following these duties and rituals correctly will ensure the proper order on Earth. If you are someone who has problems obeying authority or your elders, then tianxia is not really a place for you to live, and your entire bloodline will get exterminated.

  68. Basically China is a society of collective responsibility, so if you commit treason against the emperor, unlike in Russia where only the person gets killed, in China the entire family over the age of 15 including first cousins get executed.

  69. Toronto Russian says
  70. Philip Owen says

    I did once recommend to an audience of Russian diplomats that there should be a cut out, stand up display of Masha and the Bear at the entrance to every Russian Consulate and Embassy. So disarming, literally. Not even the UK Russian Trade delegation took me up on it.

  71. Philip Owen says

    Air conditioning. It’s cooler inside.

  72. What if there were multiple Big Bangs and each Big Bang only affected a “limited ” region of a multiverse infinite in both time and space?

    Imagine throwing pebbles in a very large lake: circles formed by each pebble would be Big Bang phenomena, there might be more than one circle on the water that wouldn’t interfere if the lake was large enough and you threw paddles far enough from each other.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2006/may/05/spaceexploration.universe

    On the other hand, a star might possibly cross from one Big Bang area into another. Or a simpler explanation: a dating error for this star.

  73. Europe Europa says

    The problem with this civ nat “only Muslims are the problem” mentality is that non-Muslim black immigrants are probably the most violent and criminal of all, yet most won’t say a word about that because that would be “racist”.

  74. Philip Owen says

    No big consumer outlets (supermarkets, pharmacists, newsagents) in the UK seem to be willing to take on stock of respirators. They are terrified that the plague will expire and they will be left with millions of unsaleable masks.

    Also, almost all the Chinese producers make 10 packs. At £1.50 each, minimum, a 10 pack of KN95’s is a £15 purchase. Not an impulse buy. Noticeable in a trolley full of groceries. I will be pushing my guys to do a 3 pack. This might also work as a promotional item. Free handouts to employees, clients or the general public depending on the business. Door unlockers as promotional items too.

  75. Very interesting, when should it arrive at its closest to our solar system?

  76. Females don’t breed for IQ, not even in humans. A tall, broad shouldered bad boy will score far more dates in high school compared to geeky chess club president.

    Females look for quality immune system, proper calcium deposition rates and muscle development, and whatever hormones direct risk management, with the emphasis on risk. IQ only matters for resource acquisition, nothing else, and rates far lower even then. Intelligence has not been developed as a proper channel for advanced technological development.

  77. Good question, I haven’t seen that number so I took a stab it it myself.

    From current position to closest approach it will cover 190 – 120 = 70 light years. A light year is about 10 trillion km, so that’s 700 trillion km. The star is a speedster going at 1.3 million km/hr. Assuming straight line, it will take ~62,000 years. Because space and angles, I would say 100,000 years or so. Which is not that long, geologically speaking.

  78. brabantian says

    On captivating TV series to view –

    At their best, French and Italians do television series better than anyone

    A French gem running for the last 5 years is Le Bureau des Légendes – English ‘The Bureau’, about the French spy agency DGSE, France’s CIA equivalent

    A brilliant series, putting to shame the dreck out of Hollywood

    They do lots of scenes internationally, many in Russia and Ukraine; plus Russian hackers in Thailand etc … AK might enjoy reviewing the French portrayals of his countrymen

    From Italy, the mafia crime series Maltese, and a bit older, Romanzo Criminale, are also superb

  79. Kent Nationalist says

    Zionist puppet Tommy has taken the worst possible course of action towards the right wing protest in London last week; he said he would come, encouraging his supporters to go, and then pulled out at the last minute because he said he didn’t want to offend blacks.

  80. another anon says

    In related news, Dungeons & Dragons finally recognized that #GreenLivesMatter

    Another day, another victory for social justice.
    Another day, another nail to the coffin of racism and Elvish supremacy.

    https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2020/06/dd-wotc-announces-inclusivity-updates-to-orcs-drow-and-vistani.html

    D&D: WotC Announces Inclusivity Updates To Orcs, Drow, and Vistani

    https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/1273416468172902400

  81. “ swimming laps to help me lose some unwanted pounds”

    Freestyle, medium speed, nonstop (!) for one hour: Around 8 Mets, or about 600 calories. The body is isocaloric at about 15 times body weight. Let’s say I am 160 pounds. That means I am isocaloric at 2400 calories. After the 600 cal loss of the swim I will have lost a quarter of a pound. The trick, when I get home, is to not eat a 600 cal muffin. (A muffin is not really health food, no matter what Starbucks would have me believe.) The principal calorie value of the swim is that if I am about to eat the muffin, I will remember how hard the swim was, and decide that the muffin is not worth it.

  82. Morton's toes says

    I heard he lost a lot of weight with a revised shangri-la diet where he triples the olive oil dose. Have not seen one of those selfies in his bathroom mirror wearing a dick-stick-out swimsuit though.

    Also 95% of the people I know who are fat and lose a lot of weight quickly gain 110%-140% of the loss and soon are even fatter than before they were going through all the diet pain.

  83. anonymous coward says

    A tall, broad shouldered bad boy will score far more dates in high school compared to geeky chess club president.

    No sane, functioning society allows its females to ‘date’, much less date in high school.

    So your whole premise is false; of course an insane society will incentivize insane behavior.

  84. Late high school is about the breeding age for humans throughout most of history. And females have their own strategies on who they breed with, social mores notwithstanding. So sorry to say, but your great grandma was a whore. Its not a terrible thing either, it maximized your survival chances.

  85. Europe Europa says

    I suspect “Tommy” was acting under state orders to destroy the “defend the statues” movement, I think that for what ever reason they want the symbolism and media frenzy of Churchill’s statue, among others, being torn down and destroyed and the statue defenders were potentially getting in the way of that which is why the police and media went out of their way to ensure they were beaten and humiliated in the media.

    The story they keep reporting of the white “racist” protester rescued by the hulking black man seems completely staged as well, the fact he is a former policeman, looked like some sort of transvestite in one of the pictures they used, didn’t even look injured, his name is “Mr Male”, his wife’s called “Karen”. It’s all so ridiculous it was clearly staged, yet people seem to believe this nonsense.

  86. anonymous coward says

    ‘Dating’ isn’t breeding. What planet are you from? ‘Dating’ is the gentrified way of promiscuous ‘safe sex’; read: sterile sex that doesn’t lead to children or relationships.

    The people that breed aren’t the people who ‘date’.

    Also, whores don’t have children either, it cuts deeply into their earnings and must be avoided if at all possible.

  87. Thulean Friend says

    I am fairly sure the MENA people currently in Sweden would be unhappy with your ethical revolution, hence you would need to impose your views upon them

    Once again you’re stuck in group-thinking. The people I would want to reach wouldn’t be unhappy. The same is true in every group.

    What are the specific traits that you consider as composing a “strong moral core”? And what specific ethical values are you looking for?

    A commitment to non-violence (though not pacifism at all costs. Some amount of self-defence is necessary is a predatory world). Fair treatment for those who need more help, a strong commitment to the environment and so on. People who can compromise on the means but never the goals.

    Nationality is deeper than intelligence.

    Nationality is an invention and an ongoing creation. Intelligence is largely inherited. One can be changed, negotiated, discarded or expanded. The other is largely fixed.

  88. Thulean Friend says

  89. Philip Owen says

    Not in medieval Europe. Women married in their mid 20’s after working as servants away from typically leaving at 12-14 years old. The independent work and delay was seen as giving them choice of husbands. The men were a few years older; stable enough to be tenants on a plot of land.

  90. Hyperborean says

    Once again you’re stuck in group-thinking. The people I would want to reach wouldn’t be unhappy. The same is true in every group.

    If you want to create a Pacific Ocean seastead, then you can select the population, but if you want to transform pre-existing countries then you have to confront the issue of the resident population.

    Nationality is an invention and an ongoing creation. Intelligence is largely inherited. One can be changed, negotiated, discarded or expanded. The other is largely fixed.

    What does it matter if the house is Biedermeier or Le Corbusieresque? It is all the same to me so long as I have a place to sleep, my Soylent Green and my minimalistic Ikea furniture.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DkVRL2po0Y8

  91. Jatt Arya says

    https://pashyaka.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/the-mind-of-an-unmadist/

    Good comparison of Abrahamic universalism v Hindu JatiPratha ie tribal consensus.

    See especially section on Hindu attitude||

  92. Europe Europa says

    It’s amusing how Trump’s trade representative is now saying that he won’t even consider agreeing a deal with Britain before the November election, an election he is far from certain of winning.

    Most Brexit supporters see the US trade deal as the “make or break” deal for Brexit, so the fact Trump couldn’t be less interested in talking about it is not a good sign. Also, Trump is ironically regarded as relatively pro-British by US standards, any new US president is likely to be even less amenable to a trade deal with the UK than he is. His trade rep even said that a deal with the UK is unlikely to pass Democrat controlled Congress if the EU and especially the Irish Republic are unhappy with any terms of Brexit.

  93. Look at the picture a little closer.
    Don’t you notice anything?
    Zoom on the picture and look and Masha’s head.
    This picture was edited.
    Probably for lulz, but maybe not.
    After all Nickelodeon and Disney’s are already owning the turf of young minds ‘ imagination development.
    Who needs competitors from a distant totalitarian country?

  94. Europe Europa says

    Nationality is deeper than intelligence.

    I would tend to agree with that, high IQ white Brazilians tend to identify far more with low IQ mestizos than they would a foreign white of high IQ. Same goes for high IQ “Aryan” Indians with low IQ Dravidians, likewise most white Americans would identify far more with an American negro than some white Brit or German.

    The downfall of philosophies like ethnic nationalism and IQ nationalism is that in the real world cultural/civic nationalism wins every time. Ethnic nationalism and IQ nationalism are nothing but theoretical philosophies that fall apart in practice.

  95. This is a piece written for Hindus and full of Hindu lingo, why should it be of any interest for non-Hindus?

    (Except for it revealing the exotic aspects of the Hindu psyche that is…)

  96. White Americans were pretty race conscious back in the year 1920. I mean California and Oregon had laws banning Whites marrying Asians, Blacks, American Indians and Native Hawaiians until 1948 and 1951.

  97. sudden death says

    Look at the picture a little closer.
    Don’t you notice anything?
    Zoom on the picture and look and Masha’s head.
    This picture was edited.
    Probably for lulz, but maybe not.

    More likely “edited” by creators themselves when making the cartoon, lol:

    https://irrussianality.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/masha.jpg?w=640

    https://handofmoscow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4fcb764e9e81c6a137f56cf5ddd85469.jpg

  98. Based on my Crusader Kings experience, and reading up on royal/noble families, it looks like they married at like 5, and had first kids in early 20’s. If you want to have first kid at 20, 18-19 would be a good time to start getting frisky. Waiting til mid 20’s would be dangerous given high infant mortality – you would need to pop 5-10 kids to ensure decent family size. I wouldn’t recommend having kids in mid 30’s with medieval healthcare.

  99. Dating, breeding, same hormones are involved.

  100. Jatt Arya says

    The main point is how it talks about different tribes first pursuing their own interests then joining a pan Indic elite.

    Ie how caste actually functions free of foreign interference

    Even with foreign interference there hasn’t ever been a time when a tribe who rose up didn’t use that power to kick out foreign people and religions.

    This whole idea of separating Brahmin from everyone else is about Breaking India||

    Endia will end up spreading Sikh raj to globe||
    Also Sanskrit isn’t a Hindu language not my fault you’re dumb.

    https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/640459736919048202/723925532424667169/Khalistan_Map.png?width=1182&height=665

  101. You cracked the code – Masha is actually Felix Dzerzhinsky in drag.

  102. Kent Nationalist says

    I believe that is only true of Northern Europe, in Southern Europe women married at much younger ages.

  103. Jatt Arya says

    For the people asking about Bollywood movies.

    You watch Border & other Sunny Deol films or you gay||

    Full movie on youtube also:

    https://1337x.to/torrent/387711/Border-1997-Hindi-720p-DvDRip-CharmeLeon-Silver-RG/

    Here’s a subtitle file time fixed.

    https://pastebin.com/PBtLgGxz

    https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/sublanguageid-all/idmovie-41933

    Dis Mishra (Brahmin) stole this vid off my acc b4 I deleted it lol|| Pranaam :prayers:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Longewala#:~:text=The%20Battle%20of%20Longewala%20(4,of%20Rajasthan%20state%20in%20India.

    120 Singh vs 2000 soldier & 40 tank.

    Movie still used for recruiting & they’ll play songs from it on Soldier funeral processions||

    This song:

  104. Thorfinnsson says

    I might be the most significant solar optimist.

  105. Also Sanskrit isn’t a Hindu language not my fault you’re dumb.

    Whose language is it ?

  106. Mr. Hack says

    It appears that you and Karlin, at least where the effects of sunshine and coronavirus are involved, have differing opinions? See his comment #26.

  107. Astuteobservor II says

    From Chinese news. Their experts think this was all orchestrated to fuck up the trade talks between recp members. Like all the previous actions. Like the thaad missile, comfort women, the island row. This newest balloons that insults north Korean first lady is the same thing to the Chinese experts.

    They all happened after recp talks got seriously under way.

  108. An American Woman feeling the call of the Revolution!

    https://youtu.be/oAl5PH1XQuA

  109. raven lunatic says

    seriously

    seriously

    you’ve watched t-34, right? the russian movie? it gives me goosebumps and im not even russian

  110. sudden death says

    Looks like stable genius just admitted publicly that all the initial abysmal failure of testing ability in USA actually was ordered by him:

    https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1274500811486228482

  111. Thorfinnsson says

    Also 95% of the people I know who are fat and lose a lot of weight quickly gain 110%-140% of the loss and soon are even fatter than before they were going through all the diet pain.

    This is also what the epidemiological research shows. Some infer from this that dieting is not possible and is in fact unhealthy. Mostly fat people who have given up such as JayMan and the whole “fit but fat” (LOL) crowd.

    The reason is that people treat the diet as an acute medical intervention to rapidly lose excess weight rather than as a permanent lifestyle change to maintain optimal health. Or to simplify–a goal vs. a system (h/t Scott Adams).

    So they go ahead and shed the weight, and with the weight having been shed, return to their old eating habits. Only often even worse owing to binging after “deprivation” (whether real or imagined). And since weight loss without an appropriate LBM conservation strategy typically also results in the loss of substantial LBM, their post-diet metabolic needs are lower and thus they gain weight faster.

    This is like trying to get over alcoholism by abstaining from alcohol until you are no longer hungover.

  112. Rather than just hand waving and froth at the mouth citing report from the trash news, which SARSCoV2 clade is more asymptomatic? Clade 20A LombardFLu is very stealthy and so it is one of the killer SARSCoV2 clade. WuFLu so far is relatively more symptomatic and can relatively easier to track down and isolated and so less lethal, as can be seen from the fatality rate between the the Atlantic rim regions and the Pacific rim regions (even between NY and CA). GISAID June classification Clade 20A is split out from the previous classification A2a (YankFlu). Ya, split the clade to dilute and bury the obvious dominant source.

    https://i.ibb.co/z2JT2t0/asymcla.png

    It is interesting that someone can publish a paper with just 9 data points. However the data are what I am looking for and they can be cited. There are talks of COVID.19 asymptomatics however the data are hard to come by.

    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.10.20097543v2
    Estimating the extent of asymptomatic COVID-19 and its potential for community transmission: systematic review and meta-analysis

    The public accessible GISAID SARSCoV2 dataset has grouped the full sequence SARSCoV2 data into 5 genetically similar Clades, i.e. 19A (WuFLu), 19B (APECFlu), 20A (LombardFlu), 20B (NATOFlu) and 20C (SwedeFlu). My initial speculation is that from various observations Clades 19A and 19B can present in population without being observed, especially during the common flu season. However, it seems that the newer clade 20A (LombardFlu) is even more stealthier which might explain why it can busting through soft lock-downs as it is quite asymptomatic, the only clade with very statistically significant results amoung the 5 clades, with the odd of false positive of about 1/325, much better than the usual threshold of 1/20.

    PctAsymp = +12.08 +0.677*Pct20A; #n=9; Rsq=0.7363; p=0.003077 ** (VSig)

    Since the p-value is so low that I’ll stick my nect out to asserted that that is valid, while the other clade results cannot be asserted unless more data are available.

    So clade 20A (LombardFlu) seems to be stealthier than the clade 19B (WuFlu) and so are more infectious. Clade 20A (LombardFlu) together with clade 20B (NATOFlu) are also the killer clades that cause higer fatality, while clades 19A and 19B have negative slopes, i.e. fatality rate reduced with higher presence of the clades.

    LogFatalPMC = +0.025Pct20A+2.22; #n=73; Rsq=0.0946; p=0.008111 ** (VSig)
    LogFatalPMC = +0.027
    Pct20B+2.43; #n=73; Rsq=0.0912; p=0.009425 ** (VSig)

    LogFatalPMC = -0.026Pct19A+3.77; #n=73; Rsq=0.147; p=0.0008315 *** (VVSig)
    LogFatalPMC = -0.035
    Pct19B+3.35; #n=73; Rsq=0.0745; p=0.01949 * (Sig)

  113. Blinky Bill says

    Does anyone want to chime in on what’s going on in Libya, Turkey vs Egypt. Does anyone care ? Does it even matter ?

  114. Anonymous lurker says

    This is completely random, but it cracked me the hell up:

    Don’t know if you guys ever played the Command & Conquer RTSes in the 1990s (C&C, Red Alert, Tiberian Sun)… There were FMV cutscenes in those games with outrageously ridiculous propaganda, to set the mood for the upcoming mission/conflict, often with some reasonably attractive woman reading off a teleprompter with feigned passion, cheaply shot with some chromakeyed background (green screen).

    We’re there. I just don’t know if the US is “GDI” or “Nod” right now.

    (Nota bene, the unintentional humor gets amplified like crazy if you have some experience with post-2014 Crimea, so a lot of my personal giggles might stem from that)

  115. sudden death says

    Lukashenko lately personally went figuratively “1 on 1” against Belarus (pro-RF?) Maidan – probably those few videoed in some square were Gazprom banker Babarika supporters as he was talking about searches in that bank, also tried to made fun of his “3% Sasha” moniker and demanded not to call him “moustached cockroach”, lol 🙂

    https://youtu.be/1TnT17FzVOU

  116. So, are you following this entire “3 gorges boutta blow!11!!” thing?

    I know, started by a bunch of apes and schizos who fail to understand that the Chinese distort satellite image deliberately, but ya never know…

  117. anonymous coward says

    Eating chocolate, eating shit, same stomach secretions and involved.

    The commentariat here is quickly approaching Vox Day tiers of idiocy.

  118. OK stable genius, which one is eating shit in your analogy – dating or breeding? Both dating and breeding are important and even pleasant activities, but eating shit doesn’t appear to be so? Unless you personally enjoy eating shit, in which case, I won’t begrudge you. We all have our kinks.

  119. Romanovs hundred years later:

    https://romanovs100.com/

  120. Philip Owen says

    The aristocracy married very young. The peasants postponed marriage until they had the economic base – rented land. Indeed, you are right, the population did not explode and childbirth was hazardous so postponing to the mid 20’s was a life extender. Having a child in your employer’s barn at 15 would not be.

  121. Philip Owen says

    True. They tended to join multigenerational households. Nothern Europe had nuclear families.

  122. Vishnugupta says

    Thanks for recommending ‘The Bureau’.Just finished watching all 50 episodes. Overall I found the series to be probably the best TV series I have seen in over a decade.

    I just hope they don’t ruin it next year like how House of Cards was ruined after the first two seasons.The last few episodes of The Bureau S05 by the new director were decidedly inferior considering the extremely high standards the show had set.

    Do you have any other recommendations of TV Series/Movies ?