This seems important: telling people to “trust science” can backfire, as it leads them to also trust & spread pseudoscience that looks science-y (like fake articles with scientific references). Better is to remind people to think like scientists, critically consideing all claims. pic.twitter.com/Xcoal4YaBv

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) July 9, 2021

That’s why I relentlessly make fun of the “Believe science” mantra chanted constantly by mainstream liberals.

These women are not on skates or hoverboards, etc.; just technique:

Further attempt at the infantilization of women. Goaded and aided by some feminists, I think many women are wish to keep the advantages of being seen as children without holding on to the disadvantages.

That won’t work, but I understand the reasons behind it. But it’ll fail and is failing.

The first ten on today’s playlist:

How Britain Became the First Country in the World to Surrender to Covid.

There were and are far fewer restrictions in the US than the UK. Why is the case rate so much higher there? The vax rates are about the same, and testing isn’t different enough to account for it all. Is it the temperature? My guess (and it’s a bit more than guess) is that the Delta variant does less well at higher temperature and humidity found across most of the US now as compared to the UK.

Anyway, that’s a good example of how to lie with statistics, because here is the UK Covid death rate:

A lot of people really do want us hiding inside forever.

I wonder if the pandemic lockdown lifers are the closeted BDSM types finally letting a version of their freak flag fly in public? You know, those who would like to be tied up in one place and voluntarily abused?

Right now, during the pandemic is their first real chance to to inflict that on the rest of us. OK, I am kind of joking. Mostly. It wouldn’t be people in the actual BDSM community. Most of them are all about consent. It’d be people who would never let themselves do such “bad” things as actual BDSM, though they feel the draw, but have to get there another way — and that way is inflicting their control fantasies on the rest of us.

That has to be the explanation for at least some of the “blue state scoldy people,” to steal Angie Schmitt’s great phrase.

Great performance, and she’s seen the inside of a gym (her abs!).

Johnson and Javid obviously don’t want any annoying statistics to mess up their triumphant abolition of all anti-COVID precautions after July 19th.

(Meanwhile, in Scotland, we’ll still be masking/distancing into August: Sturgeon isn’t stupid …) https://t.co/XnQXdxTt1v

— Charlie Stross (@cstross) July 8, 2021

Where’s the end, though, Charlie? Covid isn’t going away. Still going to want people to socially distance and be in lockdown in two years? Ten years? Twenty? In this way of thinking it will be eternal, and I do believe it’s what these people want. There has to be a halt somewhere to the distancing and lockdown mania, though. It was supposed to be with vaccines. What happened to all you vaccine triumphalists (and I am one too) now that we have very effective vaccines?

We should certainly let the people hide inside crying who want to do that, sure. Not the rest of us, though. We should not have to do that for those who just want to harm everyone else. Let them harm each other and leave us the fuck alone.

Is this street legal? How do we report this? Who do we report it to?

cc: @PortlandPolice @PBOTinfo pic.twitter.com/lId7klkaPA

— Hami (he/him) (@hamiramani) July 7, 2021

What an abomination, but the truck itself is street legal. However, the tint is probably illegally dark and I can almost guarantee the catalytic converters have been removed for better performance, which is also not legal of course.